Thank you for your patience, I give you chapter 4
Burn Notice - Project: Endgame
Chapter 4 - Search and Rescue
Michael and Sam were invited to attend the briefing in Atlantis' conference room as everyone discussed the situation, trying to get to the bottom of it, and do a little damage control.
When you find yourself in an alien situation, whether literally or figuratively, it often helps to simply breathe. Sometimes that's not enough, in this case I recommend a brown paper bag.
"Tok'ra intelligence indicates there are at least fifteen Goa'uld ships in orbit of P4C-191, mostly Al'kesh, but there are might be more hiding in the system. There was no sign of the Odyssey." Woolsey announced.
"They may have already figured out the cloak." Carter suggested.
"If that's the case, then we may have to fire on our own ship." Woolsey soberly reminded.
"Well, the good news is, she can't fire while cloaked." Carter added.
"Let's hope so." Sam interrupted. "Or if we send our guys in, they may just get their butts kicked."
Sam looked over at Mike. "What? I've seen Star Trek ... A little." Sam admitted.
I've noticed that combat against an opponent you can't see, works a lot like fishing. Send in your bait, and when the target takes it, then you come in guns blazing. But when your target can't attack you without revealing where they are, they just stay in the shadows until you leave or until you find them. There's also potential for a lot of collateral damage, that's when you need finesse.
"We could send in Sheppard's team to retake the Odyssey once we get within range of the transport rings." Carter suggested.
"What if they have the rings guarded?" Ronon asked.
"We'll send over one of those Goa'uld shock grenades!" Sheppard suggested.
"Shock Grenades?" Michael asked.
"They're like flashbangs, except they render anyone effected unconscious, blindness is also one of the side effects." Carter explained.
Michael was suitably impressed.
When you have everything stacked against you, it sometimes helps if you can bluff your way out of the situation. Most often you'll need a show of force, and sometimes you can get away without it.
"I'll contact the I.O.A." Woolsey said.
"Not the I.O.A.!" Sam whined. "We might as well give Madeline up for dead."
"Not helping, Sam." Michael interrupted.
Sam realized what he said. "Sorry, Mike."
"Regardless, the I.O.A. is the one we need to convince." Woolsey said. "I'll try not to let you down, Mr. Westen. In the meantime, try not to do anything drastic."
Woolsey excused everyone from the conference room while he tried to get the I.O.A. to sign off on the mission to rescue Madeline Westen, and the retake the Odyssey.
Michael caught Sam after the briefing.
"Two questions, Sam." Michael began.
"Who are the I.O.A. and how would you know about them?" Sam anticipated.
"Something like that." Michael confirmed.
"Let's just say, I have friends in high place." Sam gloated.
"Okay, that tells me how you knew about them. Now who are they?" Michael asked.
"They're a bunch of pansies that have way too much power." Sheppard interrupted.
Sheppard put out his hand, and introduced himself.
"Lt. Colonel John Sheppard."
"What can I do for you, Colonel?" Michael asked.
"Well, Woolsey asked me to take you to McKay's lab." Sheppard gestured for Michael and Sam to follow.
Not ten minutes later, the three people were walking down the corridors of the city, while Sheppard talked.
"Carter and McKay need to get you up to speed on the Odyssey, and the Goa'uld ships, and just about everything else, in the event the I.O.A. approves the mission." Sheppard explained.
Michael and Sam continued to follow Sheppard to Rodney's lab.
Upon entering they noticed Rodney was working on something, to which they didn't know, yet.
"What's up, McKay?" Sheppard asked.
McKay's Lab - Eight Hours Later
"We managed to take out the Wraith hive ship before they launched an attack on Earth." McKay finished summarizing the last few years.
"Feeding on us?" Sam asked.
"Believe me, it's not pretty." Sheppard admitted.
"I can imagine." Michael said impatiently.
"And since then we've been here of the north Californian coast." Carter said.
"Ok, back to this 'Goa'uld', Athena. You didn't talk much about her." Michael began.
"There will be plenty of time for that." Woolsey said walking into McKay's lab.
Michael approached, anticipating a 'green light'. And that's what he got.
"The I.O.A. doesn't want to leave the Odyssey in the hands of a Goa'uld. The Apollo, and the General Hammond have been called into the fight." Woolsey said, there was a 'but' at the end of the comment.
"But?" Sheppard asked.
"You may have to destroy her." Woolsey mourned.
"What?" Michael asked, emotionless.
"I know that your mother may be onboard the Odyssey, but we won't give them up without a fight." Woolsey promised.
Woolsey touched his head set. "Go ahead."
Woolsey listened for a moment, then nodded.
"Very well." Woolsey said then looked at Michael.
"Ms. Glenanne is about to beam down."
"Fi?" Michael asked.
"Oh, bad idea." Sam warned.
"She is a part of your team, isn't she?" Woolsey asked dubiously.
"Well, yeah sure, but..." Sam didn't even finish speaking.
"Let's head down to meet her." Michael said, trying to change the subject.
Atlantis - Stargate Ops
Fiona appeared in a flash of light, alongside two other people. One was dressed in a General's uniform while the other wore the usual Stargate Command uniform.
"General O'Neill, Doctor Jackson." Sheppard said.
"Victor?" Michael asked when he saw Daniel Jackson.
"How did you know my brother?" Daniel asked.
"It's a long story. So, I take it you heard?" Michael asked, not wanting to tell Dr. Jackson his brother was dead.
"What about him?" Daniel asked.
"...He's dead." Michael finally said.
"What? Again?" Daniel asked.
When your in an alien environment, whether literally or metaphorically, you need to learn to accept alien ideas, cloning, people being brought back to life with alien technology. It's not part of the game, but sometimes you play a game with a twist or two.
Michael just look confused, and moved to Fi.
"So, this is where you've been hiding." Fi surmised.
Michael changed the subject.
"Fi, they have..." Michael started.
"I know, after I got to your place and found you were gone, I called your mom's house. It sounded like trouble. When I got there I found these two coming to." Fi explained. Then looked around. "We should go and rescue your mom." Fi suggested.
"We were just about to brief." Michael said.
"Sounds like fun." Fi said.
Atlantis Briefing room.
"The difficulty isn't going to be retaking the ship, it's going to be finding it." Sheppard prognosticated.
"Heat." Michael said.
Every one looked at Michael, he just got a brilliant idea.
"Any vehicle uses energy, and the larger the vehicle, the more energy it uses."
"I'm sorry, I don't understand." Woolsey admitted.
"I think I know where you're going with this." McKay guessed.
"Do you think we could..." Michael asked.
"I don't see why not." McKay encouraged.
"Doctor McKay." Woolsey called, then realizing that if he asked his question, he would need a bottle and a half of asprin, instead he took a more directo approach.
"Can we find the Odyssey, or not?"
"We won't have much time to get into range, but the short answer is 'yes'." Rodney explained.
"We'll need to split up once we get there." Sheppard suggested.
"Clamor in the East, attack in the west. I like where you going with this." Sam added.
Chuck called Woolsey over the comm.
Woolsey listened.
"Gear up, you'll take a jumper. The Apollo and the General Hammond are waiting for you." Woolsey said.
Atlantis - Main jumper bay.
Michael, Sam and Fi, met up with Sheppard's team and a team of Marines
"Fiona looked at the cigar tube that they were going to fly.
"This thing flies?"
"I had the same thought when I first saw them, but they handle pretty well." Sheppard replied.
"And they're armed to the teeth." Ronon remarked.
"Then let's hope Fi never finds herself at the controls." Sam hoped.
One by one they filed into the ship.
Fiona watched Sheppard take a seat in the pilots seat, and then the strangest thing happened. All the lights in the cockpit turned on.
Sam was sitting across from Michael.
"Are you as freaked out as I am?" Sam asked.
"He hides it well." Fi said "He'll probably have a nervous breakdown after this op is over."
With clearance to depart the jumper lifted off, exiting the bay, and engaged its cloak.
Thanks for your patience, but Chapter 4 is finally done. Please read, review, and thank you for enjoying the mess I got Michael Westen into.