Author's Note: It took me a lot longer to get this chapter written than I had hoped. However, my muse finally wandered back, and here it is. The next two chapters should more than make up for it, however. There's still about two more chapters left to post and then I will start posting Episode Two- "The Erklong".
SG-20
Episode 1
"Flash Drive"
Ka'cha'nay slowly awoke. At first, all he was aware of was the dull pounding in his head, then that his whole body felt like his feet did when he sat down for too long.
"...at'nic'atel..."
Then he realized that he was leaning against a large metal beam. He tried to move, and found that he was chained to the beam.
Then the memory of the failed rescue mission came back to him. Carefully, he opened one eye and scanned the area. The room was empty, save for Christine, who was similarly chained to another support. The far wall of the room contained a ring platform, but no other signs of technology. No crests or symbols adorned the bare metal walls of the room.
Seeing that they were alone, he set to work on escaping his bindings.
Christine awoke a few minutes later to horrible grinding sound of metal scraping against metal.
"Where are we?" she asked, still half-awake.
"On alien ship, me thinks."
"Oh."
"And me not think they take many prisoners."
"Why?"
"Them stupid. Not check back pockets."
"How does that help us?"
"Keep lot of junk in back pockets."
She instantly put two and two together. "That junk wouldn't happen to include a..."
Her question was answered when Ka'cha'nay held up his now-freed hands, one of which contained a metal file.
"Mill-cut triangle file. Much useful." he stated, bending down and setting to work on freeing his feet.
It was obvious that these aliens had either never heard of a file, or never expected one of their prisoners to try to escape, because he had his feet freed in a matter of seconds.
They were moving toward the door when the strangest thing happened- the entire side wall dissolved into the artificial wave pattern of an open wormhole, moving rapidly across the ship. Christine had just enough time to yell a startled warning before the event horizon swept over them.
Seconds later, the strange blur of the wormhole cleared, leaving them standing again on the deck of the alien ship, looking around them in confusion.
"What was THAT?!" Christine demanded.
"Me thinks that that was the stargate" Ka'cha'nay stated.
" 'Nay, from what we saw, it has to almost two hundred feet long, and at least fifty feet across the main hull. There was no way it could have fit through a gate unless..." she paused, realizing the significance of what she was saying, "...they have a supergate."
"Don't supper-gates usually lead to other galaxies?" Ka'cha'nay asked.
"It's super, not supper, and they usually do."
They paused a second. Finally, 'Nay spoke.
"We'd better get moving."
They moved forward quietly. For some reason, the room's door hadn't been locked, and it whooshed noisy open as they approached. They had barely entered the hallway when the Unas suddenly held up his hand, then pointed to a small box mounted on the wall.
"Wait!" he whispered.
"What?"
"Weapons locker." he stated. "You open?"
Christine turned her attention to the small weapons locker. It was consisted of a metal cabinet about two feet high, mounted into the wall. Closer inspection revealed a hand print-shaped sensor on the the wall beside it.
"I can't open it. It's got a biometric locking device."
Ka'cha'nay studied it for a second, and then announced "I can."
"How? That's the same type of lock they-"
He seized hold of the handle and pulled. The metal cover made a few horrible crunching noises and gave way completely, falling off its hinges, revealing an array of the rod-like weapons the lead alien had carried on the planet. He grabbed one, and instantly an alarm echoed through the ship.
"Oops." he stated, tossing the weapon to Christine and grabbing one for himself.
"We'd better get out of here before the guards-"
"You will drop the weapons and surrender." Two voices announced from behind them.
Christine's weapon instantly fell from her startled hand as they both spun to face the two armor-clad figures facing them, staff weapons pointed directly at their heads.
"You are our prisoners. You can not escape." they stated. "You-"
"Um-seems like we just did." Christine said nervously.
"Anyone who escapes must be destroyed."
Maybe it was just the energy granted by extreme panic, or maybe it was the kind of detachment one feels when one has an charged plasma weapon aimed at one's forehead from two inches away, but Christine suddenly noticed that Ka'cha'nay hadn't dropped his captured weapon. It was still clutched in one reptilian hand, his thumb idly and subtly jabbing at what was probably the control pad.
With a sudden burst of energy, she seized the weapon out of 'Nay's hand, spun it around, and jabbed it toward one of the solders. The weapon didn't fire, but the tip hit him in the eye, so the effect was the same. He took one hand off his weapon to knock the offending object away from his eye.
Which was all the time Ka'cha'nay needed to duck under the point of the other solder's weapon and give him a old-fashioned right hook to the jaw. The solder went down, out like a light. 'Nay spun in time to knock some sort of energy handgun out of the other solder's grasp the same instant he fired it at Christine.
It seemed to be an awful half-second between the bolt left the weapon and when it hit. Christine screeched something illegible as it hit her with a flash of light.
A flash that blossomed and spread, highlighting a wall of energy that seemed to have appeared across the corridor.
The screech faded the instant she realized that she wasn't about to be hit by a plasma round, and seconds later, the energy screen faded as well, vanishing back into the alien weapon still grasped in her trembling hand.
'Nay took advantage of the remaining solder's stunned immobility to land another blow, knocking him out cold.
"What was that?" Christine gasped.
"Weapon produced an energy shield. Protected you."
"It must have some sort of neural interface." Christine said, examining it closely. "I must have accidentally activated it when I panicked."
"Can you make it work again?" 'Nay asked, picking up both of the solder's energy pistols.
"I'll try, but it's probably keyed to these alien's own unique physiology." she stated.
She pointed it at the wall and concentrated hard. Nothing happened. Even though she swished it about in quite a dramatic fashion, nearly hitting herself several times and actually hitting Ka'cha'nay several more, the weapon remained inert.
"Us should get moving." he stated, handing her one of the pistols. She jammed the rod into her belt before accepting the alien handgun.
"I agree." she said, then added "Any idea where the control room is?"
"No, but can't hurt to hunt for it." he stated.
As it turned out, the ship's rather spacious control room was just at the end of the hallway. It was a large room, clearly taking up a good deal of the front of the ship, with two tiers of consoles arranged in a smooth arc facing the large monitor that was currently displaying the space outside. They looked around at the apparently abandoned controls in surprise.
"Ah. So the two strangers have got out of their little predicament." the alien woman stated from somewhere behind them. Christine felt the point of a rod-weapon press into her neck.
Author's Note: Well, what do you think of it? Wonderful? Horrible? Leave a review and let me know! (all reviews are appreciated, even if they are just "nice story" or something like that. Critical reviews are extremely appreciated because they help me become a better author.)