Chapter 6 - The Return, Part 1
The Jumper flew through a blue and green colored circular wormhole, with stars that looked like streaks of white lines, and in less than a second the Jumper flew out of the gate. The drive pods extended out of the ship and it flew toward space.
O'Neill piloted the Jumper far enough away from the planet and prepared to jump to hyperspace, but stopped when something came to mind that concerned him, deeply.
"By the way, any idea of how long we can stay cloaked before we're detected?" O'Neill asked.
All of SG-3 didn't answer. They just shared confused expressions. Not that they didn't have an answer, they just weren't sure. For all they knew, they could be blasted instantly when they leave hyperspace. O'Neill looked at his passengers and wasn't in favor of their response, or lack-there-of.
"That long, huh?" O'Neill sighed, then turned his attention, and focused on activating the hyperdrive. A second later, a hyperspace window opens, and the Jumper shot into it, and disappeared, along with the window.
P4J-386 - Holding Cell 1
Pain. Dizziness. Kim had a headache that she never felt before, and wasn't sure if she wanted to stay awake, but awoke for the second time, and opened her eyes, it felt like it had gotten worse. Not only did her head hurt, but she couldn't see anything. All she saw was blackness, like she was in a coal mine without any light.
Kim closed her eyes for a few minutes, before opening them. Her head felt better, and her eye sight was returning, but it was still a little blurry. Kim scanned the room, only to find four other people in the cell with her.
Scrambling over rather slowly, Kim started to wake everyone up. Slowly, Carter, Vala, Bonnie and Tara started to wake up, going through the pain, dizziness and blindness Kim went through.
Tara sat up, holding her head. "What just happened?"
"I believe someone used a Goa'uld shock grenade." Carter said, getting to her feet.
"A what?" Tara asked.
Carter shook her head, and then responded. "That's not important right now. What's important is that we find a way out of here."
Almost on cue, there was a sound coming from the entrance. Coming from the corridor, was the sound of footsteps. Kim moved to the corner, making herself hidden, and unnoticed by the guards when they entered.
Two guards, dressed in black robes, came to the cell. One of the guards, turned their head toward a console, and the forcefield was lowered. Before they entered, one of them looked where Kim was, and she found herself being thrown across the room and she landed on the ground. Without a threat, they entered and it looked like they looked around, but no one was sure of they were actually looking. Their faces enshrouded in their hoods.
"Who are you and what..." Bonnie was thrown back to the wall by an invisible force, she then slumped to the ground.
Without uttering a word, one of the guards, lifted up their hand, and Vala was pulled off her feet and toward them.
"Hey!" Vala shouted as she was pulled toward the guards. "I'm coming. You don't have to be pushy."
Vala was taken out of the room, and the forcefield had been raised. After they were gone, everyone remained in silence for nearly a minute, until Tara broke the silence.
"What do they want with Vala?" Tara asked with confusion.
"Who knows?" Bonnie replied, getting to her feet. "But right now finding a way out just got harder."
"I agree." Carter replied. "Whoever captured us had artificially evolved their people, giving them powers."
"You mean like telekinesis?" Tara wondered.
"Yeah, something like that." Carter replied.
"Okay." Kim said. "So, what do we do?"
"The locator chips that have been implanted in us are broadcasting our location." Carter said. "All we have to do is wait and hope Stargate Command can rescue us."
"You're assuming that they are not jamming the signals." Kim said.
"If they are," Carter said. "Then getting out will be even harder than we thought."
P4J-386 - Holding Cell 2
Mitchell, Jackson, Teal'c and Wade had been kept in a cell, far from the others. They had been left there since the guards brought them there and left.
When they re-gained conscious, they experienced temporary blindness, dizziness and pain. It took several minutes for the symptoms to fade.
After staggering to his feet, Mitchell managed to speak clearly. "What in the world just happened there?"
"I'd say that we were taken prisoner." Jackson sarcastically replied while stating the obvious.
"Really?" Mitchell sarcastically replied. "What was your first clue? Our missing equipment or just the nature of our situation?"
Daniel perked up when Mitchell mentioned the word missing. "Speaking of missing," Jackson said. "Where is everyone else?"
By now, everyone had quickly looked around. They were in a black and golden colored room, with a doorway at the end that had no door. There was no seat for another to sit upon. Kim, Bonnie, Tara, Vala and Carter were not in the cell with them.
"There is no doubt that whoever captured us, wanted to keep us separate." Teal'c said, getting to his feet. "They are most likely kept in another cell, far from here."
"That will be typical." Jackson grunted in agreement.
Mitchell also nodded in agreement, then walked toward the doorway and reached out. He recoiled as a forcefield gave off a slight shock, barely hurting him.
"Ah!" Mitchell said, directing his attention to his companions, pointing at the forcefield. "Don't touch that." Holding his hand, due to some pain, Mitchell turned around and faced his cell mates. "Any bright ideas, anyone?" He inquired of everyone.
There were a few moments of silence. Everything was taken from them. Weapons and equipment. They had nothing on them to help them when the enemy came for them for whatever reason. Mitchell had waited a few minutes for any ideas, but nothing. He sighed, and then dropped to the ground.
-Stargate Command-
It has only been a few hours after General O'Neill left on a rescue mission, and they have not heard from him since. It was expected that he would return after six hours, but even Dr. Lee wasn't sure when they should expect him to return.
The General's phone rang, and he answered it. "General Landry."
Landry was in his office, looking over a report. They had been getting numerous reports from the Tok'ra, about someone out in the galaxy planning something that no one knew, as least, not yet. Landry was getting a headache just looking through the folders, and he understood it all.
The General listened for a moment then responded. "Send him in." General Landry hung up the phone as another man entered. Dressed in a blue and white military suit and a brown military styled haircut, with some white and gray hairs, indicating advance age "If it isn't General Steve BarkWhat bring you here?"
Barkin had rejoined the military close to the start of the Stargate program, or in this case, was pulled out of retirement and was made a part of the program. Barkin had to leave everything he was doing behind and moved closer to Cheyenne Mountain. He never has been off-world, either on another planet, or in space, though.
Barkin was affected by Ron's death, but not a whole lot, but enough. He and Ron may not really have gotten along with each other, but Barkin still had respect, especially after Ron made the football team, even though he never showed it.
Barkin responded, remaining his usual charming self, minus the charm bit. "I haven't been here in a long time, so I came back to see how everything is going." General Barkin replied, and then the room was filled with silence.
Landry knew that there was more and wanted to make it apparent that he knew. "You're not here to check things out. You were sent by the International Oversight Advisory and I'm betting that there's something important you need to say."
Barkin nodded. "I'm here to report that if O'Neill doesn't succeed with his rescue mission, then we must go under the assumption that they have been comprised and must lock out their I. and invalidate their personal authentication codes."
"It's only been a few hours." General Landry replied.
"I know that, Landry, but we don't have any information of who's behind this." General Barkin sighed. "I've known Possible and her team for many years, and I hope they get back."
"Then we better hope that Jack can pull off this rescue mission." General Landry replied to Barkin.
"Unless the Poseidon lives up to our expectations." General Barkin said, offhand.
General Landry was surprised. "I thought that the Poseidon was days away from being finished?" The commander replied.
"That's not all true. We've been conducting a shakedown, making sure everything is working properly. We're still unsure of how it will handle." General Barkin said. "Especially in battle."
-Geosynchronous Orbit - Earth-
Currently orbiting Earth, was a newly constructed Daedalus-class Battlecruiser, the Poseidon, and was conducting the shakedown of the new ship. If it lives up to expectations, then it may end up being the most advanced ship Earth has ever built, with technology given from the Asgard, and technology researched and brought from the Pegasus galaxy, from Atlantis.
Sitting in the commander's chair was Colonel Joseph Conner, newly appointed as commander of the Poseidon. For the better part of the last few hours, they've been conducting a shakedown. Making sure that everything is working properly.
Conner was very surprised when he learned what he was being assigned to. He almost thought that the general had a sense of humor, but after one full minute of dead silence, the realization of what he was told begin to sink in.
That was a few months ago.
When he saw the ship that he was going to command, his mind was going back to all those science fiction movies he stayed up all night watching. Science fiction was no longer fiction, but science fact. Life was getting much more bizarre.
"What's the status report, Major?" Colonel Conner requested, after he came out of his thoughts.
"We're currently operating at 90 percent, sir." Major Rogers replied, as he started to read off the console. "Shields, propulsion, hull integrity, communications and hyperdrive are operational. Weapon systems and sensors are almost completed."
"We're making good time, Major." Colonel Conner replied with half a smirk.
"You're telling me."
Everyone turned their attention toward the front of the bridge. Just standing there was a man in brown robes, with his hood on. The top portion of his face was enshrouded in his hood. He was about 6 feet tall, give or take a few inches. As far as anyone knew, there was no way their mysterious passenger could have gotten there without anyone on the bridge knowing. What was more bizarre was that no one saw this man until he spoke.
Colonel Conner stood and took a few steps toward the man. "Who are you?" He demanded.
A smiled appeared on his face. "You can call me Caelus and I'm here to commandeer this ship."
In response to Caelus' intentions, a few guards reached for their weapons, but every gun that everyone had on them was ripped away from them by an invisible force. Conner stared in shock at what just happened. Things just kept getting more bizarre.
Caelus looked around the bridge, then back at the Colonel. "Unfortunately, you and your crew don't fit into my plan." Caelus said in the most sinister tone possible. "So I guess that I must do something to rectify this most unfortunate circumstance."
P4J-386
The Jumper left hyperspace close to a desolated planet with little vegetation and much desert. The planet looked like it was bombarded from space by weapons fire and even debris that fell from space. But that wasn't what O'Neill cared about. Right now, he was on a rescue mission. O'Neill activated the cloaking as soon as he possibly could, so they could get to the planet, undetected.
Piloting the Jumper, O'Neill flew toward the planet, closer to the surface. It was not long after he got closer to the ground that a structure loomed in the distance. It was mostly built into the mountains, so it was hard to tell how big it actually was. There was no vegetation around, so it would be hard to land and proceed by foot without being noticed.
The Heads-Up Display appeared and readouts appear superimposed over the front windshield. "Ok. We need a good place to set." As soon as O'Neill finished, the H.U.D. lit up with a route leading to a secure area, at least less than a few hundred feet away from the entrance.
"I guess that's where we will land." Lt. Mooney said out loud.
"Ya think?" O'Neill said with a bit of sarcasm.
The Jumper flew towards the area and touched down on the ground. Reynolds and his teams grabbed some extra weapons, while O'Neill opened a panel to reveal a small hand-sized device with a screen on it. He takes the Life Signs Detector off the wall and puts it into his jacket pocket. They disembarked from the Jumper and the general closed the hatch to the cloaked ship.
"Ok, kids." O'Neill said in a heavy Minnesotan accent, as they walked away. "Remember where we parked."
It didn't take long for O'Neill and SG-3 to reach the door, which sat just inside a small cave of the mountain. When they approached the door, it didn't open, neither was there a way to open the door.
"Should have figured that they would keep it locked." O'Neill turned to his companions. "Don't they ever learn?" In response to the locked door, O'Neill pulled out three blocks of C4, and attached them onto the door.
O'Neill started to move away, but Reynolds stopped him with a question. "You think that will be enough, sir?"
O'Neill looked at the door, and at the three blocks of C4. "You're right." O'Neill then proceeded to place three more, but at the lower half of the door. They got clear of the cave and stood next to the rock wall. "Fire in the hole." O'Neill raises the detonator, and presses the button. Nothing happens. There was no explosion.
Reynolds looks at the general "What happened?"
O'Neill frowns and was confused as he looks around the corner, only for the C4 to promptly detonate. He ducks back around the corner as Reynolds cringes from the noise. O'Neill looked back around the corner again. This time, there was a rather large hole in the door.
"Alright, let's go." O'Neill ordered.
They run to the door, which has been demolished by the blast, and make their way through, and several feet into the complex, and soon find two separate corridors. O'Neill took out his Life Signs Detector, which beeps rapidly several times.
"We've got a few people, or whatever, not to far." O'Neill said as he kept his eyes on the Life Signs Detector. He studied it for a moment, which turned into five minutes as he tried to understand the device and of where to go. O'Neill looks up, and points down one of the two corridors. "Reynolds, take . . ." O'Neill stared at the three others, trying to remember what their names was.
Reynolds quickly spoke up. "Major Morrison, Lt. Mooney, and Captain Bosworth."
"Right!" O'Neill tried to hide his oblivious about the names of the others but was unsuccessful. "You take Mooney and Bosworth. Morrison, you're with me. Find the prisoners and don't engage the enemy unless it's necessary."
"Yes sir. Mooney, Bosworth. Let's go." Reynolds ordered as he led them down the left corridor, while O'Neill and Morrison went down the right corridor.
-Stargate Command-
Klaxons were currently blaring throughout all of Stargate Command. "General Landry to the control room. Repeat. General Landry to the control room." Walter called through the P.A.
Moments later, Generals Landry and Barkin came down the stairs from General Landry's office and into the Control Room.
"What's going on, Chief?" Landry inquired of the Sergeant.
"The Poseidon reported an intruder on board, just before we lost contact with them, sir." Walter seemed calm, like usual.
"What kind of-?" The general started, but stopped when several people, including Colonel Joseph Conner, the commander of the Poseidon, had appeared out of a bright white light of the Asgard beaming technology. Every other crew members had been beamed throughout the SGC.
"I thought we had a frequency . . . " General Barkin never had the chance to finish what he was saying as he was beamed away.
-The Poseidon-
Barkin was beamed in the center of the bridge, and unaware of what was happening. From his position, he could see Earth in the distance with some cloud cover.
"What's going on?" Barkin said, knowing that someone was behind him.
"Huh? Oh, I'm just taking the ship." The other person casually responded from behind.
Barkin froze. That voice sounded strangely familiar. But it couldn't be. He turned and was shocked at the man sitting in the commanders' chair.
"Cheese and crackers!" Barkin shouted. The man was dressed in brown robes like a monk of a monastery with pure snow white hair, which was whiter than anything Barkin saw, but that wasn't what got to him. "This isn't possible."
"Of course it's possible. And as of, oh, several moments ago, I'm in command." Caelus responded with an unusual amount of joy.
"Yeah, I can see that." Barkin said. The General had a combination of groaning and sighing. In all his years of being a part of the Stargate Program, something like this has never happened. He spent his time at the Pentagon, doing paperwork and tried to have a normal Military life. In the last ten years, he never had an incident like this.
"Yeah, I-I've beamed the crew safely away." Caelus said.
"I know. I was there when they were beamed in." Barkin replied, somewhat annoyed.
"Yeah."Caelus said slightly slowly. "But as you've probably figured out by now, I'm going to need you."
Barkin crossed his arms, and glared at Caelus. "It was obvious when you beamed me aboard." The General narrowed his eyes. "What I don't understand is what for."
Caelus shrugged. "I don't have the skills to fly a ship. You do. Case closed."
Sighing, Barkin reluctantly took a seat in the pilot's station.
The Poseidon broke orbit and cleared the planet before entering hyperspace.
P4J-386 - Corridors
Two people crept down a dark corridor, which the higher ranking Air Force officer could have sworn that they just came down this corridor. On possibly seven different accounts in the last hour or two. As far as the General was concerned, they were lost, but he didn't want to say. It wasn't until ten more minutes that Morrison caught onto the fact that there were lost.
"Are you sure you know where we're going, sir?" Morrison inquired of the general.
"I'm just getting my bearings, Major." O'Neill replied.
"Translation: We're lost." Major Morrison said.
O'Neill looks from the Life Signs Detector and over to Morrison. "What makes you say that?"
"Do you know where to go?" Morrison asked.
"Of course I do." O'Neill showed the Life Signs Detector to Morrison. "We're these blue dots." The screen adjusted to show a level beneath them, where several more dots are located, in a square room about the size of a cell. "And we need to go here, and I'm almost sure this is where they are."
Morrison raised an eyebrow. "Almost?"
"Hey! This doesn't really tell who's who." O'Neill said. "Just only if they are living."
Morrison rolled his eyes and let out a sigh of frustration, wishing that he was ordered to go with Colonel Reynolds. The only upside of going with O'Neill was that he had a Life Signs Detector and could spot anyone coming. The downside was almost everything else. The general never admitted to being lost. Just 'getting his bearings' or in other words, 'I'm lost, but I don't want to admit it'. Morrison followed O'Neill down the corridor and in a crossroad with three other directions. In the center of the crossroad, was a ring transporter. Morrison went and stood within the ring transporter while O'Neill activated it.
"Sir." Morrison quickly said.
O'Neill stopped before he pressed the last button to complete the ring transporter sequence. "What?"
"Do you know whose going to be at the other ring platform?"
O'Neill pressed the last button and got into the ring transporter. "Not a clue."
Rings rose up out of the ground and O'Neill and Morrison disappeared in a blinding flash of light, only too appeared from out of another set of rings on another level that looked identical to the level they were just on. Four different corridors and they curved so neither O'Neill nor Morrison could see down any of the corridors. O'Neill examined the Life Signs Detector again. The several dots had got closer with at least one moving dot moving from the other dots.
"Careful. We have one on the move." O'Neill and Morrison then went down one of the golden colored corridors, toward the blue dots.
O'Neill and Morrison continued down the corridor for nearly ten minutes before they heard footsteps that sounded eerily familiar.
"I don't like the sound of that." O'Neill said.
O'Neill then ducked behind an alcove, barely sticking out of the wall, on the right side of the corridor while Morrison got onto the opposite side, and waited until it got closer, but then it stopped. Confused, O'Neill looked at the Life Signs Detector to find out what's what. The blue dot had stopped short in a four-way crossroad. What happened next, neither O'Neill nor Morrison expected. A volley of a weapons fire shot toward them.
"I guess it's safe to say that our position's been compromised." Morrison said as he readied his P-90.
O'Neill put his Life Signs Detector away and readied his P-90 as well. "What was your first clue?" O'Neill leaned out, firing his P-90, only to see the bullets to have no effect, not even leaving a mark. "Oh, great! This day just keeping getting better and better."
O'Neill was right. He caught a glimpse at the warrior. There was no mistaking. The bullets were having no effect on the black armor with the glowing bluO'Neill adjusted the weapon and fired an energy blast, eliminating the soldier.
When O'Neill was sure that the enemy was down, he and Morrison went to check on the soldier O'Neill stood over the fallen soldier, when static came from his radio, then a voice.
"Sir, we've got a problem." Reynolds' voice came from the radio.
O'Neill presses the 'talk' button on his radio. "What kind of problem, Reynolds?"
"We just got ambushed by some super soldiers, sir." Reynolds replied. "Be on your guard."
There was a slight pause as O'Neill thought for a moment, before speaking. "Thanks Reynolds. I don't know what I'd do without you." O'Neill sarcastically replied.
"How many super soldiers did you encounter?" Reynolds asked as soon as O'Neill had finished.
O'Neill looked down at the soldier. "Just the one." He responded. "What did you find?"
"There was a gate activation and many people left the planet. I couldn't tell, but I think one of them was wearing an SG-1 badge." Reynolds replied. "That was before we were attacked."
'Oh great.' O'Neill thought. "Do you know where they went?"
"Sorry, sir." Reynolds replied. "The Stargate was well guarded and we didn't get to the DHD in time. However, we found some cells and we're almost there."
"Alright. Keep me informed. O'Neill out." O'Neill pulled the Life Signs Detector out of his jacket pocket and looked at it. They were getting closer to their destination.