Chapter 9: All Too Easy
As the transporter hummed to life around them and the lights came on, a huge amount of tension left the room. Sensing their presence, the panel in the wall slid open, revealing a map of the city and all operating transporter locations, represented as glowing red dots. Daniel hit the one closest to the control room, and the sound of clicking stopped, even as the doors hissed apart.
Blinking in the now strong lights of the corridor, they made their way to the gateroom. Vala looked around the corridor, rather put out by the lack of action. Now she knew what was out there, … like just a couple of bugs … she'd just as soon one or two popped their ugly little heads into view. Anyway …
The door to the gateroom opened in front of them and they walked through.
Daniel took in the now functioning room, data streaming across the screens and a scan of the area around the planet showing what appeared to be a space battle. Mitchell lowered his zat as the door hissed shut again behind them. "Hiya," he drawled, "great to see you back in one piece."
"Yes, yes," answered Daniel. "What's that?" Mitchell followed his gaze to the screen. "Ba'al's bitten off more than he can chew. He's gone into battle against an Ori warship with four Al-kesh."
"Four Al-kesh!" exclaimed Vala. "He must be even madder than I thought! Then again, even Katesh thought he was slightly bonkers …"
"Yes, well, we can discuss how mad Ba'al is later …" started Mitchell.
"And what could be so much more important?" asked Vala.
Mitchell continued, despite her glare, "… but right now we have to go rescue McKay and Davidson." He paused to look over to where Bolton was standing, handing tools to a hand rising up into sight above the control panels. "How's it coming, Carter?"
The other three were almost surprised when an answer came back, as they hadn't even realised that she was there. "How's it comin'? "
"Alright actually … I think we've found our problem. One of those bugs got in here and it's tripped on a wire … connected to the distress signal … I've turned it off, but …"
"So at least we shouldn't get any more guests," said Daniel, pleased.
"Oh, no …" continued Carter. She stood up, holding something half melted and a strange shade of blue, in her hand.
"That's not what I think it is, is it?" asked Daniel.
"What is it?" asked Mitchell rather wearily.
"This is a major control crystal. We can't dial out!" said Carter grimly. She tapped in a co-ordinate on the DHD, but instead of the gate spinning, nothing happened.
Mitchell grimaced. "Well, we'll have to dial out manually then." He breathed in deeply, "but first, Teal'c, Daniel, Vala, let's go save the brain."
As the bugs broke into the transporter and found it empty the Overmind almost lost its patience, Well, now it had proven stealth would not so easily take this prey, especially now that the brightness was back. Perhaps a more direct method was in order…
The transporter delivered them to the corridor leading to the ZPM room, in which McKay and Davidson were trapped. Mitchell peered around the corner. Davidson stood, looking up at the ceiling and around at the walls, while McKay sat on the floor in a very un-McKay like manner. Amazing he had managed to get down, bad back and all. Mitchell walked around, waving the others up behind him.
Davidson spotted him and shouted, "Stop!" Mitchell stopped suddenly, with Vala bumping into him. McKay glanced up and waved rather glumly. Mitchell was on the verge of asking "What?" when Vala said, "Hey guys, look at this." Mitchell focussed on the item she was pointing at, mere inches from his face. A bullet hung suspended in seemingly mid air, but then he saw the greenish glint. Some kind of web spanned from the floor to the ceiling.
"A web thing …"
"Just like I said."
"Yeah, well," said Mitchell, and was going to continue, only that McKay didn't take this comment too well.
"See, see! Nobody ever takes a word I say seriously," he said accusingly. "Not even in life and… and … death moments …" He trailed off as a scratching noise, like a zombie tapping on the roof of your car, on a dark night, started up. "Just cut the thing … Did you bring a blowtorch or something?"
"Spot on," replied Daniel. Teal'c marched forward, hefting some kind of bizarre Ancient contraption.
"Are you sure that thing's actually safe?" queried Mitchell.
"Indeed," answered Teal'c, as he switched it on. "Colonel Carter believes so, at any rate."
"Yes," said Vala evilly. "She reckoned there was only a small chance of it exploding … 50-50 I think it was…" McKay took several quick steps backwards and then glared at Mitchell as he covered up a laugh rather poorly. Teal'c began cutting, a thin beam of yellow energy digging into the web. At first it resisted, but then darkened along the edges and slowly, a slit appeared. It quickly grew and soon Davidson could slip through, Daniel holding open the hole with the barrel of his gun. McKay followed him and then stopped, torn between two ideas. The first and original thought won.
"Ah … um … Teal'c," he said rather nervously, looking up at the Jaffa. Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "Could you cut me a sample of this stuff?" Teal'c swung the laser cutter around, nearly knocking McKay over, and cut out a circular piece. "Great …," said McKay, stuffing the sample into a ziplock bag and hastily following the others into the transporter.
Ba'al glared up at the sky. Why he'd consented to be the one watching the drilling, he didn't know, but he had. But what the hell was going on? He turned his gaze to the four warriors preparing to lift the mobile ringing platform into place over the hole in the ground. Nice and easy he thought, as the warriors swung it smoothing across and … with all luck on his side, into place. Once again he glared up. Well, he thought, I'll just have to go down myself then. He ordered the warriors to each pick up their assigned canister of gas and then moved onto the ringing platform. He closed his eyes momentarily and hit the button to ring down.
Crash!
The noise echoed around the control room, followed by the sound of rings activating. Carter and Bolton turned to the gate. A smoking half MALP sat next to the vanishing rings, which quickly left behind Ba'al and four Kull warriors.
"Oh no …," said Carter. "Supersoldiers!"
"Sorry about that," said Ba'al, waving his hand in the direction of the half MALP, "but you really shouldn't leave those things lying around like that …"
At this moment the others arrived back.
"Heard a noise …," Daniel paused and looked down the stairs. "Oh, you're here."
"Yes, Daniel Jackson … so, where did you want your gas?"
Mitchell stepped aside to allow Ba'al to come up the stairs and then turned to McKay. "Well, come on McKay – as the expert here – where do you say?"
"Well, firstly, three points," said McKay, glancing at Ba'al and almost completely ignoring the question. "A, is he safe?" he queried, glancing at Ba'al. "B, are they safe?" he continued pointing at the warriors. "And C, am I safe?" Ba'al's eyes flashed.
"Um …, nope, not particularly," answered Vala.
"Just answer the question McKay …"
"OK, OK, just let me think …" Mitchell could almost see the plans of the city flowing behind McKay's eyes as he thought it over. "Alright; at the base of the tower there's the central ventilation point. It would flood gas through the whole city – I think .."
"Rodney …," growled Mitchell. (Maybe he had learned something from Sheppard after all.)
"I'm sure, OK – is that what you want to hear?"
"Yes, McKay, that's exactly what I want to hear. … OK, Teal'c, you and I will take McKay and Ba'al down to this ventilation system … Everyone else – hold the fort.
From the place where the transporter had delivered them, McKay had estimated the ventilation system to be several minutes walk. However, he'd made this assumption from the condition of the rest of the city, which was near perfect. But this deeper, lower section of the city had taken massive amounts of damage over the years, because of the weight of the city and the rocks pressing down upon it. Some parts of the city were buckled beyond recognition.
"As I just said, Ba'al, beyond recognition," retaliated McKay when Ba'al commented on his navigation skills, after they took yet another wrong turn. The Kull warriors stomped along behind them, marching in unison, never seeming to tire.
"Yes, Doctor McKay, I heard you," replied Ba'al. "I'll try to get us there in less than three days, if you'd give me that, but no, the all knowing human just ploughs straight on, leading us ever deeper …"
At that McKay decided he'd had enough. "Take it then," he snapped, tossing the handheld map device to Ba'al, who caught it deftly as it spun towards him. It died in his hand. He shook it, frowned and then assumed his smile again. "Ha! Gene controlled. Well, continue on, Doctor McKay," he said, handing it back.
"OK, left here," muttered McKay and started up a passage that looked like a cardboard box that'd been hit by a small cargo train.
"It'll be a wonder if the ventilation even still works," mouthed Mitchell to Teal'c.
"Indeed."
Several corridors later, many of which would be better described as hollowed out lumps of metal, Mitchell's radio hissed and Daniel's voice came through. "Mitchell?"
"Yeah, Mitchell here," he answered, "What's up?"
"Well, not to rush you or anything, but that gas would be nice now!"
Mitchell nearly tripped over a cluster of broken pipes lying across the ground as he followed Ba'al along a narrow passage.
"The bugs just turned up," said Daniel, who'd paused momentarily to fire off a burst from his zat. "Those explosives you rigged up around the place held off the first wave, but now we're down to the zats."
"Yeah, well, I thin we're nearly there, only Ba'al and McKay keep arguing about the direction …"
"OK, then … good luck …"
Daniel cut the communications and gazed around the room in the momentary calm. Mitchell's explosives had brought the whole place down, almost sealing every opening the bugs could come through, slowing them down, but he could already hear them burning their way through the ceiling now. He pointed his zat at the ceiling and fired. Somewhere above him there was a thud as something heavy fell to the ground.
"OK, everybody, fire at the ceiling!" he shouted. "Stop them from getting in that way!" All around him, blue energy bolts shot up hitting the ceiling. Blue static sparkled all over the surface and presumably on the other side, as more thuds followed.
Across the room from them, rubble was pushed forwards and a row of bugs piled out, followed by rank after rank swarming out and across the walls. SG-1 and Davidson and Bolton stood at the far end of the room, firing shot after shot into a quickly advancing black swarm …"
Finally they'd arrived in a large circular room, in which seven silver grey cylinders were projecting from the ground; six spaced around the room and one in the centre of it. "OK," started McKay as they walked through the door. "Each one of these regulates a different part of the city." He turned to Ba'al, who motioned the Jull warriors forward.
"So, one would be for the city's central tower …," started Ba'al.
"While each of the others, does a drive pod each."
"Drive pod?" asked Mitchell.
"Well, when the city flew each 'wing' contained an engine cluster," retorted McKay flat out. "Anyway," he continued and hit a sequence on a panel in the otherwise smooth surface of the central cylinder, "we need to connect a canister to the central one and one to tow others and so on." The top of the column rose off, exposing multiple control crystals, wiring and several pipes attached to a secondary column, which had risen with the lid. Ba'al moved up beside him and watched as McKay quickly cut into one of these pipes and pushed a thick rubbery tube into the hole. Ba'al had a warrior position a canister next to it and connected it up to the other end of the tube and then undid the seal.
"That's it?" asked Mitchell rather incredulously. Somehow these things always looked so simple. McKay nodded and moved to the next column and began the same process over again. The only noise in the bright room was a gentle hissing of gas.
"All to the simple, hey Teal'c?" He paused for a moment. "I just hope we got it in time."
"Indeed, Colonel Mitchell," came the steady reply.