The Best-Laid Plans – Chapter 5

Author's Notes – Refer to Chapter 1

Disclaimer – Refer to Chapter 1

A few minutes later, Everett and Greer walked up to the door separating their section of the ship from the section that the Lucian Alliance held. He signaled to Brody on his radio. "Open the door." The door opened, and they and the Lucian Alliance prisoners walked in and to the middle of the hallway. Looking around carefully, Ev saw the door at the end of the hall open, and a woman he assumed was Kiva and a few of her men came down the hall. He gave her an inquisitive look. "Where are your prisoners?"

Kiva answered him. "They'll be here in a moment." She called out to the door where she had come from. "Send the medic in." Another man brought TJ through the door and up to where Kiva was standing. She told her, motioning to the medical bag Greer was carrying, "Check that, and make sure it's what you need." While she was checking it, Kiva pointed to Greer and asked Everett, "Who is this?"

"Ronald Greer is also a medic. I'd like to propose an even exchange—Greer for Lieutenant Johansen."

Shaking her head, Kiva replied, "I don't think so," and then ordered her men, "Bring in the prisoners!"

The Colonel saw three of the civilians on his crew come in nervously as the lights flickered on and off once more. Everyone who had a weapon aimed it at someone on the opposite side of the room. He told TJ, "Start walking this way."

"If she does, I will kill her and the rest of the prisoners."

Greer spoke up. "I have got the shot, Sir. Remember what you said."

"I do," said Ev. He saw TJ move back towards the other men with an apologetic glance and noticed that her lips were moving. "But it will be a bloodbath if we try." Kiva pushed the civilian prisoners towards them and then went back into the Gate Room herself. "Dammit!

Everett, Greer, and the civilians retreated to the other side of the door. Once Brody closed it, they started walking back towards the Control Room. As they walked, Scott and Camille met them. Scott looked at the former prisoners curiously. "Wait a minute. Where are Eli and Chloe?"

One of them said, "They weren't in there with us." Everett nodded for Camille to take them to safety.

The military personnel kept going in the direction of the Control Room. Greer asked, "What was TJ saying?"

Ev replied, "She said, 'Keep Melissa calm, and tell Mac I love him.' Does he know?"

"Yes, when I left the Mess, Peterson was trying to keep him from going ape shit."

"Understood." They arrived back at the Control Room, and he asked the people in there, "What is going on with the lights?"

"We're working on it," said Melissa who was typing rapidly into one of the consoles.

Dr. Rush asked, "What happened?"

Shaking his head in disgust, Everett answered him, "She released the three civilians she had—none of whom was Eli or Chloe. The lights flickered as she was telling us no to exchanging TJ too. Dammit!"

The radio beeped. It was Kiva who said, "Your officer is going to tell you what I think of dishonesty." The next thing they heard was TJ's voice telling them that one of the airmen was dead. After Ev told her he understood, they heard Kiva's voice once more. "I am not at all impressed with how people from Earth handle things. I will get back with you." The radio went silent.

Slamming a wall in frustration as he looked at his pregnant wife, Ev ordered, "Find out what's going on!" He stalked out of the room.

Missy shook her head and gave the others an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, guys. He's just worried about me and the babies."

"It's okay," said Lisa. "I understand perfectly."

"So do I," said Rush who had a contrite expression on his face. "Lass, ever since I went on that unwilling visit to those aliens, Linda has told me that I have more of a tendency to run off at the mouth. If I've upset you, I'm sorry."

"It's all right, Nicholas," said Melissa. "Everett has a protective tendency that goes back to our days of being on SG-16." She motioned to the consoles. "We should figure out what's going on." They started working again. A few minutes later, she noticed that her husband had walked back in with a tray of rations. Knowing that this was his way of apologizing, she smiled at him as he gave it to her. "Are you okay, Ev?"

"I am," replied Everett. "What about you?"

Understanding that he would want her to be honest, his wife replied, "I'm still having Braxton-Hicks, but they're not as bad. Sitting down is helping."

He nodded and touched her shoulder gently. Then he asked the group in a calmer voice "Have you found anything yet?"

"Yes, every crash has been exactly forty-six minutes, thirty-seven point four seconds apart."

"So?"

Missy motioned to Volker who said, "It will be easier to show you. Brody?" The other man walked over to a holo screen and activated it. The screen showed two bright lights rotating in circular orbits. These orbits were marked and intersecting each other.

The Colonel looked at it intently for a moment and then asked, "So, what am I looking at?"

Dr. Rush spoke up. "That our problem. It's a binary pulsar which is a combination of a rotating neutron star and probably a white dwarf orbiting around a single point in space."

"What does that mean for us?"

Recognizing his lack of comprehension, Melissa and the other scientists continued the explanation. "Pulsars give off gamma radiation and X-rays as they rotate - short deadly bursts of ionized radiation."

"The shield and the hull are protecting us right now," said Brody.

She nodded in confirmation. "Right, but the pulsar is literally feeding off of the white dwarf, stripping off material and creating an accretion disc."

Lisa said, "The white dwarf ploughs through that material every orbit."

"Which," stated Volker, "Gives off an even bigger gamma ray burst on top of what we're already getting hit with, and that's why our systems are shutting down. The shield has to draw extra power in order to compensate."

Staring at his screen, a disgruntled Rush said, "And that happens every forty-six minutes, thirty-seven point four seconds. It's what's killed that man ... and it's gonna be what kills us."

Brody shook his head. "It was just bad luck. The Lucian Alliance just happened to dial in when the damned thing was in range. The Destiny had to drop out of F.T.L. to make the connection."

Gazing at all of them, Young said, "Well, why are we still here?"

His wife replied, "Our FTL capability has been compromised." She saw the look on his face that told her he was about to lose his temper again. "Don't yell, Everett! We don't know why yet."

Ev breathed deeply a few times and smiled. "You know me too well, Missy. Sorry."

Rush spoke up. "The shield is what's keeping us alive, but sooner or later it's gonna fail. And when it does …"

The smile disappeared from the Colonel's face. "We're dead."

"Yeah."

"Okay, what's the best way to fix this?"

"You're not gonna like it," said Melissa. "We figured out we don't have to shield the entire ship."

"Just the side facing the pulsar, right?"

"That's right," said Brody.

Lisa motioned to her console. "We'll have to leave some shielding on the underside of the ship, but we should be able to transfer something like ninety percent."

Rush nodded. "Should buy us enough time to restore F.T.L. capability."

A voice came from the door. It was Camille Wray who asked, "So, why haven't you guys done it yet?"

Brody replied, "Because it can't be done from inside the ship."

"Oh," said Everett. He gazed at his wife. "This was what you meant when you said I wouldn't like it."

"Yep," said Missy. "Someone's gonna have to go for a walk, and the only access point is through an area the Lucian Alliance controls." She pointed to her console. Any volunteers?"

Scott and Greer looked at each other, and Scott said, "Sure, we'll do it."

Dr. Rush explained what they needed to do, and when he was finished, Everett told Camille, "While we're gone," He motioned to himself, Scott, and Greer. "Call Kiva, and tell her what's going on and what we need. We have about thirty minutes until the next window."

"Understood," said Camille. The three military officers left so the two that were going to do the spacewalk could get geared up. She activated her radio and explained the situation to the Lucian Alliance leader.

When she finished, Kiva thought for a moment and then said, "Transfer control of all the ship's systems to us and we will let them in."

"You do know we'll all die if they don't do this."

"Yes I do, and I want you to transfer the ship's systems to us."

Camille breathed deeply for a moment. "We'll have to get back with you." She shut the radio off ignoring the scientists that were in there with her.

A short time later, Everett, Scott, and Greer came back in the room. Ev asked, "So, did she go for it?"

"Not quite." She explained what Kiva's new demands were.

Shaking his head, Ev replied, "I shouldn't be surprised."

Dr. Rush said, "Well, we really don't have a choice. They probably won't kill all of us right away."

"Yeah, they won't kill you," said Volker.

He looked at the other man angrily. "I wouldn't be envious of me. You forget I've recently been in their employment. Not a lot of fun."

Everett glanced at his heavily pregnant wife before responding. "I am not a big fan of letting any of them near Missy."

His wife stared at him determinedly. "But you know we don't have a choice, Everett."

Before he could answer her, Young's radio clicked three times, and he picked it up switching it to Channel 6. He spoke into it quietly. "David?"

"Yeah, Everett."

"It's about damned time."

"It took me a bit. Listen, go ahead and transfer control of the ship and surrender yourselves—everyone except for Rush and Brody. Have them go to one of the auxiliary control rooms."

"They'll notice Rush is missing."

"Tell them he panicked and ran away. They'll believe it. The first chance I get, I'll access one of the Gate Room consoles and transfer control of the ship back to Rush."

"Well, when they find that out, they'll start shooting prisoners."

Rush interrupted, "Then I won't let them find out—at least not right away. They can have control of the ship until I decide they can't."

Telford, who had heard Rush, said, "They'll herd all of the prisoners into one compartment, and if they don't, I'll suggest it. When they do, I'll contact Rush on this channel. I'll tell him which compartment so he can vent the atmosphere from the surrounding ones."

"Where are you gonna be?" asked Everett.

"You let me worry about that. Listen, one more thing. Kiva and the rest of them do not need to find out who Melissa is."

A set expression came over Ev's face, and he gazed over at Missy who had a look of fear on hers. "Understood."

"Okay, I gotta go."

Everett turned the radio off and looked at the rest of them. There was a long pause after which Rush said, indicating himself and Brody, "Colonel, we will take the lass with us when we go if you want us to."

The other man shook his head. "I appreciate it, Doctor, but you two will need to move fast, and right now, that's not Missy's forte." He chuckled as he saw her smile ruefully. "I'm gonna let her go with Park and Volker when they take the crew into custody. And we're gonna hope for the very best. Listen, give us a minute." The others nodded, and he took Melissa over to a corner of the room where he took her hands in his. "We're gonna be okay, baby. But, if something happens, you have to know how much I love you—how much I've always loved you."

"I love you too, sweetheart," said Missy. Tears came down her face as she softly stroked his cheek.

He hugged and kissed her and then touched her belly. "And I love you, munchkins. Take care of Mama, okay?" They both felt the kicks in response. "Honey, try not to worry." He saw her raised eyebrows. "I know, I know, but try for me." When he saw her nod, he continued, "One other thing—when they've taken control, you imagine my arms around you, around all three of you, okay?"

"All right, but you've gotta make me a promise too. Be careful. I don't want to raise these babies by myself." After he nodded, she hugged him close to her. "Let's get this done."

They walked back to the others, and Everett picked up his radio to call Kiva. "This is Colonel Young. I am prepared to surrender control of this ship provided certain conditions are met."

Kiva's voice was heard over the radio. "Go ahead."

"I need you to guarantee the safety of my people."

"Agreed."

"Nobody gets hurt during the changeover and no retribution afterwards."

"Anything else?"

"That's all." Ev turned the radio off.

Turning to Brody, Rush then said, "Well, Mr. Brody, time to panic and run off."

Volker interrupted, pointing to Rush's console. "Hold on a sec. We just got a message from an unexplored part of the ship."

The others gazed at them curiously as Rush looked at it. "It's Eli. What are we gonna do?"

Everett replied, "Well, you gotta go. Good luck."

"Yeah, you too," said Rush. He looked at Missy. "And you as well, lass. Don't have those babies before I come back." He grinned and winked at her.

"I'll do my best, Nicholas," replied Melissa with a tremulous smile. "Be careful."

Rush nodded, and he and Brody left the room. Ev then told Lisa and Melissa. "Transfer control to them." They started working on their consoles as he continued, gazing at Volker and Park, "Look after her please," indicating his wife with his head. They nodded in agreement, and he touched Missy's hand in farewell leaving the room to meet Camille, Scott, and Greer who had already left for the meeting point. As he walked, he hoped and prayed that this would work and that his wife would be safe until they were reunited.