Captain Stewart Crichton RMC sat back against a sandbag, his G36M still hot. He saw the Aussie team go running and as his own men lay either dead or wounded, he wanted revenge. A tick in the back of his neck told him, where that lot where going, is where he could vent his anger. He picked himself up and looked toward his C.O., Macara was too involved in organising the policing of the dead and surrendered enemy to notice if one of his team leaders went missing, so Stewart rolled over the top of the barricade and headed for the nearest LRPV.
"Excuse me mate?" He asked the driver, a burly looking US Marine.
"Sir? Can I help you?" The dark skinned sergeant casually wiped mud off the fender he was leaning on, as he himself seemed pre-occupied by the grisly scene before him.
"Yes you can sergeant. I would like to borrow your Lerp, it seems the good Captain Doctor MacGregor has gone off that way..." He pointed in the general direction. "...and I believe it would be in our interest for someone to go after her, she has a bit of a start on me."
The older man looked Stewart directly in the eye. "Sir, we have about less than thirty minutes by my guess before this place gets ugly again....."
Stewart was sure the big man was going to turn him down, he fiddled with the zat gun in its holster.
"...so I suggest you get going after her Captain, she's going to be needed shortly as we count our wounded and those injured of the prisoners we've just wasted so many lives rescuing, but take care of her sir, she likes to be handled gently." He opened the door and then walked towards the scene of carnage, there were so many bodies and wounded, with the little estimated time remaining, every hand was needed. Stewart jumped in and started the engine, he almost turned it off and decided to help at the battle sight, but that tick in his neck told him no, go now.
Sitting for a moment in the truck's seat, he looked around and was thankful it was the automatic version, he had trialled in the manual LRPV and just could not come to terms with the 16 speed gearbox, he shoved the gear lever into drive and lurched off, driving down the line of sandbagging until he came to an opening some forty metres north easterly. As he turned to angle upward onto the higher ground a red headed Marine Captain hailed him down, he stop and she opened the opposite door and climbed in, she nodded to him.
"Julie Henderson USMC, you look like you're headed my way, mind if I tag along?"
"Nope, not at all." Crichton was a man of few words but he added. "How'd you know where I was heading?"
She leaned across the centre console and turned the ground mapping radar on. "I overheard the coms squawk from the Aussies, I know their code, so I was going to go after them myself, and then I saw you coming, two and two."
"Yeah right." He said as he gunned the big diesel and followed a well worn path heading north. In a very few moments he crested a rise to see the Australian's had caught up with the Captain/ Doctor and her group, just a little further on, beyond them in a low gully of swampland lay the Ori warship now sitting above the mire on thousands on sandbags, it also appeared to be running on power.
Anne turned around when she heard the engine of the LRPV, after berating SG16 for coming after her, she was in no mood for more to join the posse, she had a job to do, and she'd rather do it alone, she was of a mind to send them all back, yet there was a little protocol involved here. Anne was not a combat officer and by all rights she herself in hindsight she not be here, but that was something she could not explain to those gathered about her.
"Bloody hell now what." She exclaimed as the vehicle pulled to a stop not a two metres away. The light was beginning to dim toward dusk as a male and female officer clambered out of the truck. They came toward the group, weapons unslung, Anne went straight to them.
"Julie! What the hell are you doing here? Isn't there enough to do with the clean up? Please go back and take these others with you."
"Doctor I know there is something here and maybe our mission is not complete. That ship looks to me to be active, at best we should perhaps make sure it doesn't get off the ground before we return."
"No I'm not having you risk....."
"We tried to tell the Doctor the same thing Captain, but she insists on going there alone, well with these others she came with at least." Baker said with a little uncertainty.
Four days ago.
The young woman handed her supervisor the letter, he read it and then read it again. "Are you sure about this? I mean I know you are worried about your family, but I need you here...."
"I have thought about this for a month Abraham, and believe me, if there were any other way, I wouldn't be asking for this." She hefted her gun from the holster and placed it on the table in front of her.
The supervisor looked at it and thought for a moment. "Alright then thirty seven, but I won't accept your resignation. I'll give you an extended leave and I'll expect to see you back here sometime soon, how does that settle with you?" He took the gun and placed it in his drawer, took a folder and pushed it across the table.
Thirty seven opened the manilla folder. "Airline tickets, passport?"
"I've known you long enough haven't I? Good luck and take care," He stood and shook her hand warmly. "And don't forget Hayden, you still represent this agency and the Air Force, but at this time we have no idea of your movements, are we clear?"
"Yes sir and thank you sir?" She turned and walked out briskly, her long red/auburn hear swaying as she went down the long corridor.
Two days ago
The PA announcement seemed loud in her ears as she stood before the customs official. "Passengers from QA nineteen please proceed directly to customs." It was the third time she had heard that since she entered the vast Los Angeles airport. Her flight, was delayed by a storm crossing the Pacific from Hawaii, but at least she was here now. The officer went through her bags thoroughly, asked the usual questions and then directed her to the domestic terminal for the ongoing flight to Colorado.
A tall athletic blonde walked into Poor Richard's restaurnat, she saw the man she had arranged to meet sitting in a both alone, typical black suited spook. She waived the waitress away and proceed straight to his table and sat opposite him. "Agent Barrett?"
He stared at her hard, took note of the blonde hair hanging across her shoulders. He laughed a small chuckle. "Damn straight I am Hayden, or is it thirty seven, or....."
"Don't even go there...Malcolm." She held her hand up and said his name with emphasis. "Now is everything arranged?"
He leaned across the table, close to her face, the Chanel perfume was intoxicating. It always was on her. "You are going to get me into a lot of shit for this if you screw up." He said softly and handed her a key.
"I don't come empty handed, here." She slid a photograph across, he looked at it and sat back, stuffing the picture in his jacket pocket. "It's him alright, you say this was in Hong Kong last week?"
"Yes, and I have two agents in his circle now. He won't do a thing without us knowing. Say how many frigging clones did he make anyway, and how do you know this is not the real deal?" She placed the key in her jeans,
In a hushed voice he answered. "We don't know the answer to either. Whether the one SG1 witnessed being de-snaked was the real one, or a clone no one can be sure now. The host certainly doesn't know. We talked to him for months, yet it was always the same. His answers only conferred what we knew about the original, nothing more." He shrugged his shoulders and stood. "Well I better be going...." He mouthed her name silently. "...take care and if you see your cousin, say hello for me."
"I will and thank you again." She sat for a moment pondering something before standing, then pushed her six foot frame up, she topped the NID agent by inches, close to him she said. "Maybe I'll take up that dinner date sometime." She smiled at him.
He laughed softly. "Heh, that was what three years ago when we first met." He looked at the wedding ring on her hand. "You still miss him don't you?"
"Yes...but you know I do eat now and then." They left together, Malcolm paid his tab and headed for his car once they were outside, he turned before opening the door. "I'll hold you to that." He got in and she watched the black sedan slowly drive away, then headed for her rental and within minutes she was on her way to the safe house in Colorado Springs.
Twelve hours ago
The security fence was no problem, neither were the dogs, they actually tried to lick her face when she knelt to offer them a very special morsel. The lock on the lid of the escape hatch tube didn't faze her either, and finally twenty seven levels down she reached her final obstacle, she listened for movement by placing her ear to the metal of the door, at three in the morning there should only be a bare security in the place. Hearing nothing, she proceeded to remove the eight screwed locks one by one, using an acid that would leave no smell. The commanding officer would have a small problem to deal with when it was reported the place had been breached, but they would not trace it back to her.
Now finally she was in, no one was about, she could hear the faint sound of conversation, toward what she knew to be the Gate room, but nothing else. Medlab one was her destination and she moved on. Walking casually she was within ten metres of the room, when an older airman, a Master Sergeant came toward her, he looked briefly at her, seeing she had her cap on and saluted smartly.
"Ma'am." Was all he said, and proceed on his way. She took note of his name tag, 'Walter Harriman' then carried on her way until she found herself in the front room of the medical wing.
She scanned around looking for the locker Malcolm told her of and found it, took a few steps back and turned right into the ward, one nurse and two patients in there, the nurse was dozing by one of the beds in a chair. Returning to the front room and the cabinet, she took out her ever present kit and had the door opened in seconds, she found the vials and the air powered injection gun, loaded a single blue vial and went to the computer terminal. There she found the bracket to hold the gun and placed it there, and hacked the computer. She found all her data there, so Agent Barrett had not let her down so far. It took only a minute to download her ID into the vial, then she removed her jacket and shirt and inserted the personal locator into her shoulder with a soft hiss of air from the gun. The young woman replaced everything re-locked the cabinet and as calm as she came in, went looking for the room she knew would be set aside for her. On level nine she found it opened the door with her new identity card, which worked perfectly and entered. Closing the door softly she then turned the light on and found a kit bag on the bed, and a note. She read it.
"Your folks are going to be so pissed, just so long as they never find out it was me." It was signed Malcolm Barrett. She folded it, tore it and then went into the small bathroom and flushed it away. Now all she had to do was wait. After undressing she got into the comfortable bed and was asleep in moments.
Walter never missed much. The second he was in his chair in the control room he was on the computer. His watch buddy, hadn't even noticed he had slipped away to the toilet, as he snored in the other chair. Walter would wake him shortly as they were both due to go off watch at four. He mumbled the name to himself "Hayden" and typed it in. There were six on the SGC files, scanning down, he found the one he was looking for. A RAAF Flight Lieutenant who had come in from the Gamma base four days ago, awaiting transfer to one of the new cruisers, the 'Fraiser'. That was her face, he was looking at, but he just could not place seeing her before. He looked at the log time and saw she had arrived when he was off watch. Well ok he thought, but there was something strange about her. Her looked hard at the face, wiped his glasses and looked again. "Damn, a lot younger, but if she's not related to Colonel Carter, I'm drunk." He softly said, then nudged the airman beside him.
Macara had managed to get almost all of the captives and most of his wounded off when he got the call. "Incoming in less than twenty minutes" . He looked at his watch, the self destruct on the damaged four o' one was set to go off in about twenty three minutes. He had it set to lethal, so very little within a fifteen kilometre radius would be standing, except perhaps the gate. With urgency he rallied his troops, sporadic gun fire could be heard as the mopping up operation took place, coms calls went out to every team leader still left standing and the last two Tornado's had left, only one remaining to ferry the last of the ground forces back to the Victory, and that would be crowded to say the least.
The strange dark craft came streaking in toward Keira Porter's craft and immediately opened a broad range channel. "Lady get your people out of there now, you have visitors."
"I know we've got four vessels about fifteen minutes away." She replied anxiously.
"Yeah and the rest, they've brought bloody reinforcements, you have less than ten, now get out of here, I can't hold them but I'll do my best." Then he was away again, lost in the darkness of space.
Macara stood by the loading ramp as heard heard Porter's call, he turned to O'Hara as the big man climbed out of the LRPV. "Is that the last Sergeant?"
"No sir, Captain MacGregor and those with her are still afield sir."
"Shit. Close the ramp, pilot get us airborne now and head for that first Toilet bowl ship." The four o' one began to lift even as the ramp was still closing, the pilot skimming the tree tops and turned to the north.
Elena answered the last coms message and confirmed she called, to the others. "They're leaving we have hostiles inbound, we must get out of here." She looked to the horizon and saw the small drop ship lift and turn toward their position.
"No time for that. Some of you get in the truck, the rest run as fast as you bloodywell can for that ship." And to suit her words, Anne turned and bolted the two hundred odd metres towards the Ori vessel. SG16 close on her heels, the rest clambered and squeezed themselves into the rear of the LRPV, at tight squeeze, but with the rear door ajar, they somehow managed. Julie and Elena sharing the front passenger seat, that door slammed shut and Stewart gunned the engine.
Stewart didn't even think about it, he knew there would be no room in the four o' one, they were on their own now, and some how they had to get off the planet, he knew about the self destruct on the wrecked Falcon six, and he overheard the message from the orbiting cover ship. The others in the truck agreed and urged him on. But if the Captain's group entered the Ori ship first, they may end up being as good as dead. He tore past those on foot and lined up for a platform that seemed to be a landing into the ships hold. Amy Sutton saw the truck go past and picked up the pace being the smallest. "What the fu..." She screamed.
High above the planet Porter's craft was getting updated contacts by the second, her EWO couldn't keep up with the stream of data coming in, in the next instant a call came through all their headsets from the Victory. "Porter get the hell out of there no........" A massive bolt of energy ended the transmission as the picket exploded in a savage ball of flame, her escorts took the hit as well and the four o' one with six three o' sevens were wiped from existence.