"No, we really don't know anything else, George," Landry said into the phone handset he held to his ear, leaning back into the plush chair behind his desk. He'd just relayed to Hammond the news of their latest exchange with the Hebrideans on PX8-317. Listening silently to the other General's reply, he started to look concerned, a small frown forming on his face.
"Yes, I'd agree with that," Hank answered. He started to say something further when suddenly the base klaxon went off. Pausing, he looked up with a furrowed brow. "Damn,", he said with a sigh, "the base alert just went up. I'll call you back."
The General hung up the phone, stood and walked out from behind his desk, striding out of his office and into the briefing room. He paused to glance out through the large window into the Gateroom, expecting to see an open wormhole. When he looked, he saw that the Gate was dark. Landry frowned. If there was no incoming wormhole, then that could only mean the threat was already inside the base.
He gray-haired man walked more quickly the rest of the way, hustling down the spiral staircase into the Gate Control Room below. "What's going on, Walter?" he asked hastily, his brow furrowed with concern.
"We don't know yet, sir," Sergeant Harriman said. "The system is saying the alarm was raised on level sixteen at one of the hallway points near a holding room. That's all we've got so far."
The General scowled at the news. Given the prisoners they were holding up there, this already boded very badly. "Get Base Security on the horn, I want to know what's going on up there," Landry answered gruffly.
"Yes sir," Walter replied, dialing the in-base phone he had at his disposal. Suddenly there was a beep at Walter's console. "Sir, we're getting a radio transmission from inside the base," the tech announced.
"Put it on speakers," Landry responded.
Colonel Mitchell's voice filled the room, "Gate Room Control, please come in."
"This is Landry, son," the General replied. "What's going on?"
Mitchell's disembodied voice answered, mingling with Walter as he quietly spoke on his headset. "We were hoping you could tell us, sir," Cam said. "We just heard the alarm go off."
"All we know is that it was triggered on level sixteen," Landry began.
Just then Walter announced, "Sir, Base Security is reporting no unusual activity on level sixteen. The cameras are all clear."
"Did you hear that, Mitchell?" Landry asked.
"Yes sir," Cam answered. "Sounds like we're going to have to go check it out. I'm sending Teal'c with two detachments."
"Very well," Landry replied, adding, "Proceed with caution, Teal'c."
"Indeed," the Jaffa's heavy voice answered over the speakers simply.
General Landry waited as the radio grew silent, the tension building in the air as he waited for the next transmission. He was about to say something, when suddenly Cam's voice filled the room again. "Teal'c's off, sir. I told him to stay in radio contact with me."
"Very good, Mitchell," Landry answered. He paused briefly, then asked with a confused expression, "Why didn't you just phone down, rather than use the radio?"
"I'm already using the phone in the armory, sir," Cam replied. "I'm waiting on Dr. Jackson," he paused, then said, "wait, that's him. I'll radio back when I know more."
"Do that," Landry answered. Then the speakers went silent.
The General grew silent, thinking for a moment. Then he sighed, "Walter, get General Hammond on the line."
Cam and Teal'c stood together in the main armory, the Colonel with the phone to his ear. The room was full of two dozen SFs arming themselves in preparation for what was supposed to be the planned search of all base personnel. Even as full as the room was, men were still arriving and starting to arm themselves. Neither the Colonel nor the Jaffa expected they were going to have the luxury of time for that anymore, however. It was quickly becoming apparent that this was instead going to be a much more active operation.
Mitchell and the Jaffa listened as they heard Walter's voice come forth over the radio, "Sir, Base Security is reporting no unusual activity on level sixteen. The cameras are all clear."
The two glanced at one another as they listened to Landry asking, "Did you hear that, Mitchell?"
Reaching down, Cam keyed up his radio, answering, "Yes sir. Sounds like we're going to have to go check it out. I'm sending Teal'c with two detachments." Teal'c, who was standing a few feet away from the Colonel, nodded as he heard.
The Jaffa immediately turned around and started tapping men on the shoulder, saying, "Gather outside of the armory, down the hallway." They all immediately complied, some answering with affirmative language.
"Very well," Landry's voice came out over their radios, "Proceed with caution, Teal'c."
Reaching up to push the button on his own radio, Teal'c answered, "Indeed."
"Okay," Mitchell said as the Jaffa finished selecting his eight men, then came over to speak with the Colonel. "head up to level sixteen and check it out. Turn on VOX, and stay in contact." The Jaffa nodded, turning to go when Mitchell suddenly added, "Oh, and change over to channel six. The Goa'uld must has taken a host from on base. He might have one of our radios, listening to our chatter on today's frequency."
The Jaffa nodded wordlessly, reaching up to adjust his radio as instructed, donning the ear bud as he turned to walk out of the armory. As he approached the door, he paused to pick up one of the heavier machine guns from a nearby rack. The Jaffa hefted it easily, strapping it over his shoulder as he disappeared through the door.
Mitchell watched him go, then announced loudly, "hear that everyone? Set your radios to channel six! We're changing today's operating frequency." The remaining dozen plus men did so, though Mitchell did not.
He then looked around the room, quickly picking one of the men in the crowd. "Adamson!" he said, continuing, "run down to the Gate Control room and tell them what frequency we're switching to." The man nodded and dashed out at the Colonel's order.
As Adamson left, Mitchell then spoke back into the radio. "Tealc's off, sir. I told him to stay in radio contact with me."
"Very good, Mitchell," Landry answered, his voice crackling on the tiny speaker. There was a pause and then the General's voice came again, "Why didn't you just phone down, rather than use the radio?"
"I'm already using the phone in the armory, sir," Cam replied. "I'm waiting on Dr. Jackson," he said, even as he heard the archaeologist on the phone receiver he still held to his ear. "Wait, that's him," he said into his radio. "I'll radio back when I know more."
"Do that," Landry answered.
Putting the receiver's mouthpiece back into position, Mitchell said "Talk to me Daniel," into the receiver.
Daniel stared at Vala in disbelief. "What?!?" he asked her in an incredulous tone.
"The Goa'uld software just became active," the raven-haired woman repeated urgently, looking back at the laptop's display. She typed a few commands and paused before she said, "The different components spread over your different computers suddenly came to life and started talking to one another..."
"What's it doing?" Daniel asked urgently, his hand still covering the mouthpiece of the receiver.
"I don't know yet, " she said with a distracted voice, shaking her head as she tacked away hurriedly at the keyboard.
Daniel pulled his hand away from the receiver's mouthpiece. "Cam," he said, pausing. After a few seconds, he heard Mitchell's response, then continued, "there's Goa'uld software in the base computers. Vala said it just started running." He paused, listening to Mitchell's reply. "No, you heard right." Another pause. "Uhuh, yeah," he answered, waiting again. "No, not yet," Jackson answered, then growing silent again as he listened on the receiver.
In the silence, Vala tried desperately to remember what was so familiar about the Goa'uld software. Something about it was tickling her memory, taunting her while it continued to elude her. She sighed in frustration as she continued to fumble through the SGC base computers, stumbling from one command to another, from one computer to another, discovering their systems as she tried to discern what the malicious software was doing. She had learned a fair bit about Earth computers when she'd hijacked the Prometheus and when she'd helped Sam earlier today, but it was still only a start. As primitive as their systems seemed to her, she recognized that they were not necessarily trivial and she still had much more to learn yet.
"Vala..."
Daniel's voice suddenly broke her concentration, distracting her from what she'd been doing. She glanced over, though it was clear to Daniel that she was only paying half attention. "Cam says they don't know why the klaxon went off, only that someone up on level sixteen threw the switch." The raven-haired woman frowned as she remembered the fate of the poor tech that raised the alarm against the Goa'uld when she and Sam were attacked just hours ago. She desperately hoped that history hadn't just repeated itself.
Daniel continued, "Teal'c's on his way with some men to check it out, but Base Security can't see anything unusual on the camera system. Can you check to see if the Goa'uld software is interfering with the security feeds?"
"Of course," she answered quickly, looking back at the laptop as she started to peck away at the keys away furiously. Daniel sighed quietly as he waited with anxious expectation. Vala watched the screen with an intent gaze as she typed, frowning after an extended silence. Daniel pursed his lips in anticipation of what her report would be.
"You're right," she began as she studied the screen, typing more commands, "I can't tell exactly what it's done, but the software has definitely gotten its hooks deep into your video system." She paused, then looked at him. "It's injected itself between the digital feeds from your cameras and the software that records and displays the images. I'm guessing it's feeding your computers a pre-recorded loop of boring footage to hide whatever is really going on up there." Daniel listened to her with a tense expression, worry filling his gut.
The raven-haired woman then looked back down and said, "I'm going to see if I can disable it..." She drew in a nervous breath and typed at the keyboard a few times.
As Vala worked on the computer, Daniel spoke into the phone "Cam, Vala says the Goa'uld software's cutting our feeds, giving us garbage. She's going to try and disable it..."
Suddenly the lights went out, plunging the infirmary into darkness.
"Goa'uld software in the base computers?" Cam asked incredulously into the phone he held to his ear.
"You havegotto be kidding me," the Colonel said in disbelief. He paused briefly for Daniel's answer, then asked, "So Vala's monitoring its activity right now? Can she tell us what it's doing?"
Mitchell listened to the answer, "Yeah, we really don't know much ourselves, actually. Gate Control told us that the alert was triggered on level sixteen, but Base Security can't see anything unusual up there on the closed circuit cameras. We've sent Teal'c and a couple of detachments up, but they could use some heads up about what's going on." He paused, then answered, "Yeah, I'll wait."
The Colonel continued to hold the receiver of the wall phone in the armory to his ear, waiting silently. As he did, he changed the frequency of his radio to channel six and keyed it up. "Teal'c, this is Mitchell, come in."
"Go ahead, Colonel," the Jaffa answered.
"Just talked to Daniel again," he started, "apparently Vala's found some Goa'uld software installed on the base computers. Proceed with extreme caution."
There was a pause before the Jaffa answered, "Indeed. We have reached the elevator and are proceeding to level sixteen now."
"Copy that, Teal'c. I'll be in touch as soon as I know more. Let me know when you find something." Cam said. "Mitchell out."
He sighed impatiently as he returned his attention to the phone, listening to the faint sound of the archaeologist talking to Vala on the other end of the connection. Shifting the receiver from his hand to bracing it with his shoulder, Cam took a P-90 that an airman came over and offered him. "Is everyone ready, Captain?" Cam asked the other, clipping the rifle to his vest as he spoke.
"Just about, Colonel," the man answered, glancing around the room. "We'll be set to move out in a few minutes."
"Good," Cam answered He suddenly turned his attention back to the phone. He listened to Daniel intently, then looked at the Captain standing next to him, opening his mouth to speak.
Suddenly the lights went out, plunging the armory into darkness.
"That's right, George," Landry said, speaking aloud in the Gate Control Room, "I'm concerned that we may be on the verge of a foothold situation. I'd like the cavalry to be ready outside our door if it comes down to that."
Just as he spoke, Adamson came running in the doorway of the Control Room, sprinting up the steps. He made eye contact with Landry and opened his mouth to speak, only to cut himself off as Landry glowered, shaking his head.
Just then, General Hammond's voice came in over the speakers. "Understood, Hank. I agree with your assessment and will be making the arrangements. Do you think this is tied to the cargo ship sighting?"
Walter and Adamson both blinked in surprise at this, but each remained silent. Landry answered, completely unawares of their reactions. "I don't know. It's possible, but we just don't have enough information at this time."
"Alright," Hammond replied, his disembodied voice filling the room. "Continue to keep me updated. Expect that forces will be in place at the top of the mountain within the hour."
"Good enough, George. Landry out." At that, the speakers grew silent again. The General sighed. "I knew this was going to be a bad week," he grumbled, causing the Sergeant to grin wryly. "Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse..."
Suddenly the lights went out, plunging the Gateroom and Control Room into pitch black darkness.
Jack sat in the observation deck of the O-R just as he had right after Daniel left to go see to Vala, not having moved once in the time that had passed. For all that while, the doctors and nurses down below had worked feverishly on Sam. More than once there had been a heart-stopping moment when Sam's condition had suddenly and dramatically taken a turn for the worst. Each time, the doctors and nurses flew into a frenzy of activity, doing what they needed to save her. Thankfully, after each time, Jack was able to breathe again after they were done.
Those moments made the wait seem even longer than it was, each instance feeling like an eternity of gut-wrenching horror. He'd been through a lot in his long life, but right here and now was one of the darkest moments for him. He was scared to death, and he felt completely helpless.
"Hand me that clamp," Dr. Challis said absentmindedly down below as he tossed a bloody scalpel into the tray filled with dirty instruments, the used implement landing with a metallic clatter.
"Yes doctor," one the nurses answered as she followed his instructions. While Jeffery Challis had been relaxed and good-natured while operating on Vala before, he was now quite serious and tense. Both he and Dr. Lam were incredibly focused on what they were doing, each working tirelessly to repair the damage from the Goa'uld's murderous attempt on Sam's life.
Jack watched on silently, wondering when they'd ever be finished, wondering when this would ever be over. He ran his hands over his face, sighing heavily as he looked on, the drama below continuing to unfold before him.
Suddenly the base klaxon sounded and the hallway outside the door flooded with a flashing red light, pulling his attention away from the scene below.
"What the hell?" Dr. Challis asked, glancing up for just a moment as a smaller red light flashed up in lofty ceiling of the O-R.
"It's usually not this bad, Jeffery," Dr. Lam answered in a distracted voice, never taking her eyes of what she was doing inside Carter's stomach. "I wouldn't worry about it. Those almost never involve us, unless they need us to fix someone up."
"Well," Jeffery answered with a smile in his voice, "you'd better be careful there, Carolyn." He paused to focus on what he was doing for a moment. "The last couple of days make a liar outta you. Since I got here, we've almost always been brought in, nearly without exception...don't want you to go jinxing our odds on this one, now..."
Dr. Lam glanced up at the other doctor, who winked playfully at her. Both smiled behind their masks, then looked back down to what they were doing.
Up in the observation deck, Jack frowned deeply as he watched the red flashing lights color the area again and again. Given how much had happened in the past few hours, he had a very bad feeling about this new alert. The General grew more tense as the moments slipped by especially since, as before, no announcement came out of the Control Room.
Drawing in a deep breath, O'Neill tried to put it out of his mind. It wasn't very difficult to do. As soon as he looked back down in to the O-R below him, his mind was again flooded with worry for Samantha. Frustration tore at him as he felt the fear for her swirling in his gut mixing sickeningly with the trepidation he felt at back of his mind for the base alarm.
As he sat in silence, the quiet dragging on and on, Jack started to feel the strong urge to go and see what the matter was. There was nothing he could do here for Sam, and each moment he sat here was becoming more and more agonizing as his mind was paralyzed with terror at the thought of losing her. Jack glanced over to the open door once again, his eyebrows knotting together as he considered it. At least out there, he could be doing something, rather than here, waiting for the worst to happen.
"Aha!"
Dr. Challis' voice suddenly seized Jack's attention, pulling his gaze away from the empty doorway and back down to the bustling operating room below. "I've got it!" Jeffery proclaimed triumphantly, pulling out a small, shiny, blood-coated metallic object with the surgical clamp he had in his hand. Jack allowed himself a small smile, suddenly forgetting what he had been thinking of.
Dr. Lam looked up from her work briefly, smiling behind her mask as she saw the bullet clutched in her fellow doctor's instrument. "Good job, doctor," she commended him, immediately glancing back down.
"Why thank you, Carolyn," Jeffery answered with a smile, dropping the slug into a ceramic bowl with a loud clinking sound. He sighed, "though I do have to wonder how many of the lacerations we've been sewing up in here came about because the bullet tore her up all the more while we fished around, looking for the damned thing..." He sighed, then added as he looked back, resuming his work. "We've both seen these kinds of wounds before, Carolyn. Even after we think we've got them all and close her up, we'll get more bleeders in a couple of hours and have to rush her back in here..." He frowned behind his mask as he started to focus on what he was doing.
"I know," Dr. Lam answered with a weary, near-defeated voice. Lifting her head so a nurse could blot the sweat from her brow, she said, "All the more reason that we've got to finish up soon and stitch her up. I'm getting worried about the shock to her system."
Suddenly every light in the operating room and the observation deck went out, leaving everyone in complete darkness.
Artix sat silently in the helm of the cargo ship, staring out into the darkness beyond the main window. The lights inside were dim, allowing the mercenary to look out into the evening sky. He sighed quietly, continuing to enjoy the peace of the moment.
Suddenly a light started blinking quickly on the control array of the cargo ship's helm, accompanied by a synchronous electronic beeping. Artix glanced over at it, then grinned. Reaching out, he slapped the light, which then grew dark and silent. He stood from his seat, picked up his weapon, and turned to face the others.
"It is time," he said simply with finality. The three other men grinned wickedly, each standing and hefting their weapons. All carried a different rifle-like weapon of fair size that was worn with a strap over the shoulder, and each donned a small headset on their ear which had both a microphone and a reticle that went over their right eyes.
The four gathered together in the center of the forward hold, each preparing then brandishing his weapon in readiness, the cargo ship filling with the clacking, metallic sounds. Artix looked at a display on one of the forearms of his armor, and tapped a few controls there. Suddenly a blindingly bright flash of white light consumed the four. When the light vanished, so had they.
Kethmal and the former prisoner waited silently in the holding room as the small device that the Goa'uld had placed on the far side of the floor blinked silently. The seconds ticked by slowly, the human looking to the one next to him for a moment, then looked back at the far wall, waiting expectantly.
Suddenly a bright white light filled the room, momentarily blinding the two.
When the light disappeared, four more men stood in the room. Artix looked over at the other two, asking briskly, "Where are we?"
"A holding room in level sixteen," Kethmal answered in the voice of the Goa'uld. "We are as yet undetected."
"Level sixteen?" Artix answered slowly, a cold anger in his voice. He narrowed his eyes at the other. "You were supposed to position us on the same level as our objective, as close as possible. Instead, you've put us a considerable distance away. Why?"
Kethmal bristled at the other's tone, regarding him dangerously. "I had some unexpected difficulties," he said, furrowing his brow.
Artix glanced past the Goa'uld, spying Agent Michael's corpse that lay in a pool of its own blood. He frowned slightly. "Yes, I can see that," he interrupted, "it still does not answer your ineptness."
The Goa'uld glared harshly at the elder warrior, "Watch your tongue," he said dangerously. "You should," he began, only for Artix to cut him off.
"Save your threats, Goa'uld," he said wearily, "as your kinsman Teranis found, they will do little good." Kethmal stopped short, regarding the mercenary darkly, growing silent at the reference. "What's done is done," the mercenary continued, adding, "we must make do with the situation."
"Yes," the Goa'uld answered, continuing, "These are a weak people and we should not have much difficulty, in spite of the challenges."
Artix chuckled once, raising an eyebrow. "We shall see," he answered simply.
Kethmal paused. "You should recognize this one," he then said, nodding to the prisoner he had liberated.
"Yes," the gray-haired warrior grinned at the other. "It is a welcome advantage that might just make up for this disadvantage you put us at." The Goa'uld bristled at the words, but the mercenary paid him no mind. He met the gaze of the other. "Particularly so, as this is one of those whom I trained."
The former prisoner met Artix's gaze and nodded. "Thank you," he said, "It will be good to use that training to serve my mistress again," he began with a fervent voice, only for Artix to cut him off.
"Your mistress is your concern, not mine," Artix said flatly. "I have no interest in your nation or your cause. Simply remember what I taught you, and try not to get captured this time." The prisoner raised his chin at this, regarding Artix coldly. The elder warrior paid the other no mind, looking away with a complete lack of concern.
"Now then," he began, casting his gaze back to Kethmal. Before he could continue, however, suddenly the base klaxon sounded. The small window in the door filled with a flashing red light from the hallway beyond.
Artix's expression grew even darker as he looked at the window within the door, then glanced back at the Goa'uld icily. "It would seem we are no longer undetected," he said with a hard voice. Striding to the door, he flung it open and strode outside.
In the hallway beyond, he saw a man in an SGC uniform standing by a palm-sized red button on the wall. The man looked over as the door flew open and started to draw his pistol at the sight of Artix. The gray-haired warrior didn't miss a beat as he quickly raised his rifle and discharged it, a silvery-white energy bolt flying out to strike the SF in the chest. The man cried out horrifically as the blast struck him with a crackling sound, flying backwards a few feet and landing on the ground, motionless. A small stream of smoke curled up from the body, the smell of burnt flesh filling the hallway.
Artix looked down the length of the hallway with a hard eye. He waited for a moment, then turned back to the doorway behind him. His face contorted into a scowl as he saw the two guards' corpses on either side of the door. "Kethmal, you fool," he said harshly, gesturing at the bodies as the rest filed out of the small room. "Is it any wonder that we were discovered?"
The Goa'uld regarded Artix with a bitter stare, hatred smoldering in his eyes. He was about to say something when Artix spoke over him. "It would appear we must now take more drastic measures. Thanks to your incompetence, we can no longer rely on stealth."
Kethmal seethed in fury at Artix's words, staring at the mercenary in silence. The mercenary merely stared back at him harshly, a cold look in his eyes. After a few moments, the Goa'uld looked at the console strapped to his forearm. He tapped a few icons on the device and suddenly every light in the area went out, plunging the hallway into darkness.
"Son of a bitch!" Mitchell exclaimed as the lights went out, plunging the armory into utter darkness. He immediately turned on the flashlight on his P-90, an action already being imitated by the dozen-plus men milling about the armory. In no time, the confined room was bathed in a considerable number of pale beams of white light.
"Daniel, what the hell just happened??" he barked into the phone's handset, his voice sharp with irritation and concern. He glanced at the Captain standing hear him in the shadows, the two sharing a dark frown. "Yeah, I'll wait," Cam said bitterly.
Keying up his radio again, he asked, "Teal'c, can you copy me? What's your status?"
There was silence for a moment before he heard the Jaffa's weary voice answer him. "We are in the elevator and the power has gone out."
"Yeah, same down here," Cam answered.
"It is most likely an act of the Goa'uld," Teal'c intoned over the radio, his deep baritone voice emphasizing the portent of the possibility.
"Probably," Cam replied, "I'm worried about what his next move is gonna be." He sighed heavily, furrowing his eyebrows. "If we can't turn this around soon, he's going start doing us some serious damage."
"Indeed," Teal'c answered. Cam could hear the heavy irritation in his friend's voice. He could only imagine the scene in the elevator – eight heavily armed men and the bulky Jaffa, also armed to the teeth, all crammed into the elevator like a bunch of sardines. If they weren't facing such a lethal situation, Mitchell might have laughed.
Just then the emergency lighting came on. The thin spread of lamps actually did very little to cast aside the darkness, instead merely producing countless shadows over the area. "Teal'c we've got emergency power, what's your status?"
"The elevator has started moving again," the Jaffa answered.
"Good," he replied, "let me know when you've reached level sixteen."
"Very well," the Jaffa answered.
"We're down to the batteries," the Captain said with a worried voice, looking at the sparse lighting about them.
"Yeah," Cam agreed. "Whatever this guy did, it must have been a real number on the grid."
The Captain was about to reply when Cam cut him off. "Hang on," he said, then spoke into the phone, "Yeah, we've only got emergency lighting down here, did the Goa'uld do this?" He waited for the answer, then asked, "That's what we thought. Did Vala manage to fix those camera feeds?" He paused, then said with a sigh, "Yeah, I'll hold..."
Mitchell grew silent. He traded tense glances with the Captain standing in front of him, the tension building as they waited for word from either Daniel or Teal'c. It seemed like forever that they were waiting in the silence.
Cam perked up attentively as he suddenly heard Daniel's voice on the phone. "Understood, Daniel. What's she got?" He paused, then said, "Yeah, I'll wait..." The Colonel cursed under his breath, sharing pained glances with the Captain. "I'm getting tired of waiting here," he muttered in a fatigued voice. The Captain chuckled wryly.
Suddenly the Jaffa's voice came over the radio. "Colonel Mitchell," he began.
Mitchell pressed the push-to-talk button on his radio, "Go ahead, Teal'c."
"We have reached level sixteen," came the whispered reply. Having trouble hearing, Mitchell put his ear piece on and plugged it in to the radio. He then heard the Jaffa saying, "the area outside the elevator is clear."
Just then Cam heard Daniel's voice on the phone in his other ear. His eyes flew wide open, a look of shock coming over his face.
"Vala...!" Daniel immediately yelled at her as the infirmary went dark, his voice thick with irritation. As the lights went down, so too the various machines and devices grew quiet, leaving the room still and silent.
"It wasn't me!" she shouted back, adding with a bitter tone of voice, "I hadn't even finished entering the command I was typing!" Daniel grew silent at her agitated reply, realizing that she was perhaps feeling a little overwhelmed. In the too-still quiet of the infirmary, the only sound that could now be heard was the clacking sound of Vala's typing.
Suddenly Daniel heard Cam on the phone.
"We don't know yet," Daniel answered the Colonel. "Vala's trying to figure that out right now, hang on..." The archaeologist grew silent, watching quietly. The laptop provided the only light in the room, it's LCD display bathing the raven-haired woman in a pale light. From his vantage point he couldn't help but admire her beauty, seeing how the the contours of her face were highlighted by the sharp contrasts from the shadows cast by the screen. An uncharacteristically stern expression was on her face. She looked both frustrated and bitterly angry. In a strange way, it only served to accentuate how captivating he was starting to find her.
"The base computers are still up," Vala announced with a confused voice as she continued typing, her voice tearing his mind away from what he was thinking. Daniel shook his head in the darkness, wondering why he was so easily distracted with such inappropriate thoughts when he should have been focusing on the crisis at hand.
"They've got their own dedicated UPS," Daniel answered as he cleared his head. Suddenly about half of the lights in the infirmary came back on and the various machines and instruments started whirring and beeping. "The backup batteries just kicked in," he said absentmindedly, looking up at the ceiling, along with everyone else. Glancing back out into the hallway, the archaeologist noted sullenly that it was still almost totally black, except for the barest of lighting.
Around the room, the Jaffa from Dakara who filled all of the other beds looked about in concern as they muttered amongst themselves. The archaeologist pursed his lips at this, feeling more than a little worried himself. He paused as he noticed one of the Jaffa staring at Vala. He opened his mouth to say something, when suddenly the woman's voice distracted him.
"It was the Goa'uld software," Vala suddenly said with a tense, absentminded voice as her fingers continued to hammer away at the keys. "It activated some sort of emergency breaker system, cutting power to every level it had access to..." She paused, typing a few more keystrokes, then adding with a defeated sigh, "which was all of them..." Daniel watched Vala, listening intently. He waited as her voice trailed off, looking worried as she became distracted by her work on the computer. The raven-haired woman had a very stressed and apprehensive look on her face.
Talking into the phone again, Daniel asked, "Cam, did you get power back just now?" He paused, then added, "Yeah, Vala said the Goa'uld malware killed the power." Another pause, and he said, "Dunno, I'll check. Hang on," Jackson waited a few seconds, then prompted gently, "Vala..."
"What?" she asked defensively, casting a brief, distracted glance at him but then looked back at the computer.
"The security cameras," he started, only for her to cut him off.
"Daniel," she said impatiently, pausing to look back at the computer and tap at the keys a few more times, "I told you, I can't disconnect his software from that subsystem, it's got some kind of protection..."
The archaeologist furrowed his brow at this. "Uhm," he answered, hesitating as he thought for a moment. "No, you didn't."
"What?" she asked in an irritated voice, stopping her typing to glare at him.
"Never mind," he said. Vala went back to typing. "Look, if you can't disconnect his software from the cameras, can you tap into them? Maybe we can see what's going on up on level sixteen..."
Vala paused again and glanced over. Her hard gaze met his and he shrugged. The raven-haired woman relaxed slightly as she grinned wryly at him. "Brilliant idea, darling," she said warmly, looking back down to peck away at the computer again. Within several seconds, she suddenly said, "Got it!"
"Hang on Cam," Daniel said into the receiver. "Vala just pulled up video from level sixteen." He paused and listened to the Colonel, then answered, "Nothing yet, she's still looking through the floor, hang on."
"Let's see..." she said, tapping a few keys and fumbling with the computer's touch pad. As she did, her screen grew darker as the majority of it filled up with the different camera views of hallways and rooms up on level sixteen. Continuing to struggle with the touch pad, she muttered to herself with an annoyed voice, "What a stupid idea for an input device..." Pursing her lips, she grew silent again as she worked, the light level of the display changing repeatedly as she flipped from one camera to another. Daniel held his breath as he waited, struggling to resist the urge to pester her for any news.
Suddenly Vala's expression fell, her eyebrows coming together in distress. "Daniel," she then said with a troubled voice, "you've got...four armed intruders up there..."
"Four?!?" Daniel exclaimed in disbelief. "How did they get in?!?"
"I don't know," she answered distractedly, continuing to study the shadowy images the laptop was showing her, "Wait, there's two others with them. One looks like one of your soldiers, while the other is wearing some kind of weird gray jumpsuit...they're moving around, not sure where to yet..."
"Probably the elevator," Daniel said, then spoke into the receiver again. "Cam, Vala says we've got intruders up on level sixteen..."
As he was speaking, suddenly Vala's eyes flew wide open in disbelief. "Oh, no," she said in a breathless, panicky voice.
"What?!?" Daniel asked, suddenly filled with trepidation at her reaction, pulling the phone away from his ear and resting it on his shoulder again.
The raven-haired woman drew in a deep breath and looked over to the archaeologist. Her deep-blue eyes met his and he was surprised to see fear there. "We are in trouble, Daniel," she said with finality, the tremble in her voice accentuating her dread at whatever it was she saw.
In the darkness, Artix reached out and touched a switch on his weapon. A beam of light issued forth from the end of the barrel. Three more lights activated on his fellows' weapons immediately thereafter. "Now, we should have less difficulty in reaching our objective," he said to the others. "Yarvin, did you pick up the beacon?"
"Of course," one of the three answered.
"Give it to me," Artix demanded. The other hesitated for a moment, then walked over and handed him the small device that the Goa'uld had placed on the floor in the other room. In the shadowy corners of the four beams of light, the mercenary could be seen mounting the device to a spot on his armor that seemed a natural fit.
"Kethmal," the gray-haired warrior said, "how do we reach the target?"
"There is a lift that will take us straight down," the Goa'uld answered, his shadowy form barely discernible at the edges of their lights.
"Take us there," Artix commanded, "We have already waited too long."
The Goa'uld glared at the mercenary, his eyes flashing brightly in the darkness as he answered tightly, "I am not your servant, human..."
Artix cut him off, answering with an acid, impatient voice, "the longer we wait, the more time these humans have to mount a defense. You brought us in to this distant location. You were supposed to gather information and make the preparations and position us correctly." He paused, glaring at Kethmal in the shadowy light. "Now take us, before I decide you have outlived your usefulness."
The Goa'uld said nothing for several tense moments. He gripped the 9mm pistol he still carried tightly, eying the old warrior with a calculating gaze. Then he wordlessly walked past the other, striding down the length of the hallway.
"Delmas, stay close to him," Artix ordered quietly. One of the three he brought with him walked forward, passing by the old mercenary as he followed the orders. "The rest of you, be ready."
"What about resistance?" asked Yarvin.
Artix glanced at him. "Kill any we encounter," he said flatly, turning to follow the other two.
"Daniel say again," Mitchell said urgently into the phone, "there are six intruders on level sixteen?!?"
The Colonel paused as he listened for a reply, twisting his lips into a bitter frown when he only heard the faint sound of Daniel talking to Vala. "Goddammit!" he cursed while he reached up to key up his radio. Speaking into it, he said urgenly, "Teal'c! Be advised, there are six hostiles on your level. I repeat, six tangos on level sixteen!"
Seconds ticked by in silence with agonizing slowness as Mitchell waited for someone to say something on either the phone or the radio. "Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c's voice whispered in the radio's ear piece, "did you say six have infiltrated the base?"
Keying up the radio again, Mitchell answered urgently. "Confirmed, Teal'c. Six hostiles on level sixteen. Proceed with extreme caution, I'm trying to find out more."
The Colonel listened as he heard Teal'c's quiet words, "Understood Colonel Mitchell. We are proceeding. We will attempt to engage the enemy."
"I copy, Teal'c. Be careful," Mitchell replied. Unkeying his radio, he put the phone receiver back to his head, yelling into the mouthpiece. "DANIEL, TALK TO ME!! What the hell is going on up there?!?" Mitchell cursed in frustration as he only heard the faint sound of the archaeologist's voice as the other man still was speaking with Vala. Drawing in a deep breath, he started to yell into the phone again.
"What kind of trouble??" Daniel asked Vala in an worried voice, narrowing his eyes at the woman's reaction to what she saw on the laptop display.
"Artix is leading the intruders," she answered grimly. The archaeologist looked at her with a bewildered expression. Vala paused at his reaction, then blinked, shaking her head. "Right, you wouldn't know him." Drawing in a deep breath, she explained quickly, "He's a mercenary, very well known in the circles I travel, and incredibly lethal. Comes up with his own rather sophisticated inventions and weaponry, a master of combat, tactics, and strategy. No conscience or morals whatsoever." Daniel looked more uneasy the more she said. "The System Lords used him regularly, and since they fell he's done a steady stream of work for the Lucean Alliance." Looking back at the display, she swallowed hard, adding, "With him here, we're all in serious danger."
"What do you think he's here to do?" Daniel asked, though he already expected what kind of answer he might get.
"I don't know Daniel, but wherever he goes," she said tensely, looking back at the archaeologist intently, "very few people are left alive after he leaves to tell of his visit."
Daniel furrowed his brow at this, staring into her dread-filled eyes as he considered her words. Putting the receiver back to his ear, he immediately pulled it back and was suddenly assaulted by Mitchell's yelling. "Cam, I'm here!" he shouted back into the receiver, waiting for the other to quiet. He paused, then started to speak, only to grow silent, looking at Vala with an alarmed expression as he listened to what Mitchell said.
Pulling the phone's mouthpiece down while keeping the ear piece in place, he told the raven-haired woman, "Vala, Teal'c's team has reached level sixteen...!"
She blinked at his words, looking at him incredulously. Hesitating for only a moment, she quickly looked down at her laptop again, hurriedly working the controls as she flipped between cameras. While she did, Daniel put the mouthpiece back and started to speak. "Cam, Vala's trying to see what's going on up there," he started to say, then paused as he saw the woman's eyes fly wide. "What?!?" he asked her urgently.
Vala whipped her head up from looking at the computer back over to look at Daniel, her hair flying about her wildly as she did. "They're about to reach Teal'c's team!" she said in a panic.
Teal'c watched wordlessly as the digital counter on the elevator reached sixteen. The elevator doors started to open, accompanied by the quiet ring of the bell. The large Jaffa immediately leveled his machine gun as soon as the opening doors afforded him the opportunity. He looked down the long, dim hallway with a wary expression, quickly walking out of the small enclosure. The eight men behind him followed suit, each raising their weapons as they went.
All nine moved to fill the alcove in front of the elevator doors, peering around its corners and looking down each length of the three-hallway intersection. After several seconds, the whispered word "Clear" was heard three times.
Teal'c spoked quietly into his headset, "Colonel Mitchell..."
After a few seconds, Mitchell's reply came over the radio, "Go ahead, Teal'c."
"We have reached level sixteen," the Jaffa said in a whisper, adding, "the area outside of the elevator is clear." The Jaffa waited in silence for a reply, furrowing his brow and exchanging troubled glances with the man next to him as the radio hissed quietly.
Suddenly Mitchell's voice barked over everyone's earbuds. "Teal'c! Be advised, there are six intruders on your level. I repeat, six hostiles on level sixteen!"
The Jaffa winced at the loud sound in his ear, even as he exchanged alarmed glances with the man next to him. Teal'c asked softly, "Colonel Mitchell, did you say six have infiltrated the base?"
"Confirmed, Teal'c," came the hurried answer over the radio. "Six hostiles on level sixteen. Proceed with extreme caution, I'm trying to find out more."
The Jaffa shared another brief glance with the man next to him, saying into his headset, "Understood Colonel Mitchell. We are proceeding. We will attempt to engage the enemy."
"I copy, Teal'c, be careful" Mitchell replied and the radio then grew silent. The Jaffa paused as he looked about, considering their options.
"Which way, sir?" the Major standing next to him asked in a hushed whisper.
The Jaffa looked down each of the three corridors, then answered quietly as he gestured down the one that ran straight to the elevator door, "Half of us will proceed down this hallway." He paused, glancing at the other half of his men. "The four of you will stay here and guard the elevator. The intruders' ultimate goal may be on a different level."
"Understood, sir," said the other Major who stood among the four. Teal'c started walking down the hallway, gesturing a forward motion with his hand. The men that were on his half of the alcove followed silently, the five of them raising their weapons up.
The length of the hallway was apparently empty, brightened by the four beams of pale white light shining forth from the P-90s carried by those who walked with Teal'c. The streams of light only partially helped to cast away the darkness, doing little to bolster the sparse emergency lamps running down the length of the hallway.
As he lead the men forward, the Jaffa tightened his grip on the hefty M249 he carried, its lengthy barrel conspicuously absent of a light. They were rapidly approaching the end of the corridor, and the Jaffa frowned as he tried to consider where he'd be most likely to find these intruders. His eyebrows knitted together as he felt the frustration at moving forward unaware of the exact location or direction of his foe. He hoped silently that Michell would very soon be able to relay news from Daniel and Vala as to the exact whereabouts of the infiltrators.
The group came within a few feet of the end of the corridor, which formed a tee with another. Teal'c made a motion with his hand and half of his men moved to the one side, while the rest moved with him to the other. The two sets of men with P-90s each quickly moved to the end of the two walls, one kneeling and the other standing over the other. Simultaneously, the four pointed their short weapons around the corner, bathing each length of hallway with the beams of white light.
"Clear!" barked one of them in a whisper, just as the other echoed him.
"Which way, sir?" one of the kneeling men asked, glancing over.
Picking quickly, Teal'c said simply, "left," nodding in the same direction. The five moved quickly, the two pairs of riflemen forming up on either side of Teal'c.
They had not gotten but a few steps, when suddenly they all heard Mitchell yelling in their earbuds, "Teal'c, you're about have company!!"
Suddenly a hail of energy blasts flew at them from the far end of the corridor.
"Cam, what's happening?!?" Daniel asked urgently, sharing a frustrated and worried gaze with Vala.
The two had been waiting anxiously for news since the archaeologist had relayed Vala's news to Mitchell, the seconds ticking by like hours.
Vala saw Daniel's expression change as he apparently was now hearing news on the phone. "Okay," he said, "I'm going to get some help and get up there. We're five levels down, and the secondary armory is two floors above us." Vala pursed her lips and swallowed bitterly as she heard. Jackson continued speaking, "Vala's going to shut down the elevator, keep them contained to level sixteen.
"I am?" she asked with a surprised voice, blinking at him. Daniel gestured sharply at her laptop, raising his eyebrows at her. "Oh!" she said, suddenly comprehending, looking away to start typing furiously at the keyboard again.
Jackson paused, listening again on the phone as Mitchell spoke. Just then, Vala called over to him, "I've got it, Daniel! The archaeologist watched her with a distracted eye, still trying to listen to Cam on the phone. She glanced over at him, proclaiming with a proud smile, "I've shut down the base elevator, it's stuck between levels eighteen and nineteen!"
Jackson grinned back at her, meeting her gaze. "Great work, Vala," he said answered warmly, though he was still somewhat remote. Speaking back into the phone, he said, "Say again Cam, I didn't catch all that..." He paused, looking away from Vala so he could concentrate on the other conversation. "Okay, good. Also, Vala says the elevator is now shutdown between levels eighteen and nineteen." Another pause, "Right," he said with finality, "channel six, got it. I'll be on the air as soon as possible, and I'll get Vala a radio too. I'm giving you back to the nurse now."
Handing the phone over to Betty, who still sat at the desk, he said quickly, "I need you to be a go-between for Vala and Colonel Mitchell here."
The nurse nodded, answering, "Of course..."
Before she'd even finished speaking, Daniel was already running over to the door on the far side of the infirmary, he peaked his head out the door, looking down the length of the hallway. "Hey, you two!" he shouted. "Come here!" Jackson waited a few moments, and suddenly a pair of SFs came running into view.
"Here, give me your radio," he said to one as they approached. The man hesitated, looking at Jackson with a wary expression. "We've got intruders on sixteen pinning down our guys, you want to quibble?!?" he asked. The SF regarded Jackson with wide eyes, quickly handing over his radio. Jackson took the equipment, then paused, saying hurriedly, "the ear piece too..." The man wordlessly gave him the requested piece of plastic.
"Thanks," Daniel said, taking the ear bud and radio as he turned and jogged quickly over to Vala's hospital bed. He attached the wire to the radio and turned it on, set the channel to number six as he handed it to Vala. "We're going to need you to keep on being our eyes on this one, Vala," he said, making eye contact with her. The woman nodded wordlessly. "Do you think you can access and control that Goa'uld software?"
She drew in a deep breath, letting it out as she glanced back to the screen. "I don't know," she said quickly, looking back up at him, adding with a passionate voice. "but I'll try my damnedest, Daniel."
Daniel nodded and stood to go. Then he paused and leaned in, cupping her face as he kissed her passionately, deeply. Vala responded eagerly, moaning against his lips as she caressed his cheeks.
He quickly pulled away and stared into her deep blue eyes. "Stay safe," she said in a whisper as she stared deeply into his gaze, her deep blue eyes heavy with emotion as she continued to caress his face.
Taking her hands in his, he squeezed them and kissed them as he looked back into her eyes. "I will," he answered firmly. She nodded again, then he quickly left, running over to the door.
"Let's go!" he barked at them as he approached the two men still standing there. The two guards immediately turned and ran after him.
Vala watched forlornly from her bed for a moment. Pursing her lips, she then donned the radio's earbud and looked back to her computer, starting to type again.
Energy blasts flew down the hallway just as Teal'c heard Colonel Mitchell's shouted warning over the radio. One of the men to the Jaffa's left was clipped in the leg by the hail of fire. The man cried out in pain as the energy blast sliced through his thigh. The other four immediately opened fire, the hallway filling with the loud chatter of machine gun fire.
The sudden response was quick to lighten the assault they had weathered, and Teal'c knew not to waste the opportunity. "Pull back!" he shouted at his men between the heavy bursts of his monstrous weapon. The three who could walk were quick to comply, stumbling backwards while maintaining their suppressing fire.
Teal'c quickly walked over to the man who had fallen and grabbed him by the back of his collar. "You must bear the pain!" he said urgently as he pulled the man up, supporting his weight with one hand while his other continued to fire the massive weapon he carried. The airman cried out in pain, grabbing on to Teal'c to try and keep the weight off his bad leg, but nonetheless managing to help Teal'c move himself back behind the corner.
As the Jaffa and the wounded man came behind the corner, the three others continued their fire at the far end of the hallway. Teal'c helped the wounded man to rest against the wall, and looked at the damaged leg. A deep burn could be seen halfway through the man's thigh. At first the Jaffa was surprised to see no blood, but then realized that the would had actually been cauterized by the weapon fire.
Looking just a little down the hallway, Teal'c saw a door in the hallway. "You will be safe in there," he said to the man, as he set down his weapon and hefted up the other like a man carries a child. As he carried the other, the loud staccato sound of the three machine gun fire filled the hallway, along with the shrill shrieks of the energy weapons. When the Jaffa reached the door, he kicked it in, and strode inside.
Setting the man down, he said, "Your wound is not bleeding, you will be fine for a time." He reached into the man's pouches and pulled out the packet of morphine tablets. Ripping open the packet, he shook them into the man's hand. The other ingested the pills without a word, nodding as he breathed heavily, closing his eyes.
Suddenly the Jaffa heard a loud explosion outside of the door that shook the floor. He wasted no time in bolting out into the now silent hallway. Teal'c looked on in shock as he saw in the half-light of the emergency lamps that the three men who were guarding the corner were now laying strewn across the ground, their bodies cut to pieces. For that matter, there was no more corner where the men had been standing. Instead was a gaping half-circle in the solid concrete, about two feet deep into the concrete and four feet high.
The Jaffa absentmindedly closed the door behind him to hide the wounded man and then dashed over to where his weapon lay. The hallway had become considerably darker as the three men's P-90s were now lying on the floor in their cold, dead hands, the beams of light illuminating only the floor. Teal'c quietly knelt down and hefted up his weapon, putting the strap back over his shoulder. He also reached down and picked up the two P-90's closest to him, turning off their lights and clipping one silently to his vest. The other he clipped to a random ring on his vest, hanging near his off-hand. Letting the weapons hang there, he carefully and quietly reached into a vest pocket and produced a small object, manipulating it with his other hand.
The still darkness seemed to become a solid mass as Teal'c knelt completely motionless in the thick shadows cast by the emergency lighting. The large Jaffa waited in silence, the seconds ticking by without end. Then he lifted his chin, raising his bald head as he heard the sound he was waiting for. Footsteps, just around the corner, which would have been inaudible but for the fragments of concrete that were now strewn about the floor.
His heart pounded in his chest as he counted the seconds, a small grin crossing his face. He gripped his machine gun tightly as he raised the other hand, the one that still tightly held the small object. Suddenly the Jaffa released opened that hand, and a tink could be heard as a small metallic handle flew out, reflecting the light as it soared and twirled to the other side of the hallway. Teal'c immediately tossed the object through the gaping hole in the corner. He stood as he threw, and started to walk backwards at the same time. As soon he finished his toss, his now free hand reached to grasp one of the two P-90's on his person. The Jaffa backpedaled as fast as he could.
He counted the seconds as he heard the object bounce the first time. Suddenly there was yelling from around the corner and hurried footsteps scrambling to move away. His grin grew as he counted the last second and suddenly the grenade he tossed exploded, sending shrapnel and concrete bits flying while men screamed. Just as the explosion finished, and the smoke started to billow out, the Jaffa stood to his full height from his position against the wall and ran back to the corner, rapidly circling back out in a wide arc to the far wall.
As he did, he saw one man lying on the floor, and another one limping backwards. Much further down the hall were another four. The Jaffa let loose with a heavy volley of fire from his M249 and the P-90 he held in his other hand. The man that was limping was cut to pieces by Teal'c's weapon fire, his gurgling scream filling the hall. As he fell, his dying cries were answered by the shrill shriek of energy blasts as white bolts came flying at the Jaffa from the far side of the hall.