Chapter 17: The Hurt…
Sub-Level 14, Stargate Command
Ortega shot up, completely taken by storm from the news Alexeyeva presented him and Witkowski.
"Santa Madre de Dios!" He squeaked. 'Holy Mother of God'.
The Major frowned, bitter at the information, and shook his head in disbelief.
"Are you sure that's what he said?" He asked.
The Lieutenant Colonel nodded.
"Da, Major," She replied. "Teal'c gave enough detail that I knew what he was referring to,"
Ortega sank his head under his hands, feeling ashamed of himself.
"Now I really feel bad for the chica," He mumbled. "With all those jokes I threw her way,"
Witkowski spun on his chair towards the Sergeant, crossing his arms.
"Most of them weren't even that good," He replied.
"Heh," Ortega replied, rolling his eyes. "At least I try,"
The Major could only shake his head.
"Don't," He replied. "Seriously."
Ortega leaned against the table, facing the other two.
"But what do we do?" The Spaniard asked.
The Major shrugged.
"What can we do?" He asked.
The Sergeant scratched his chin, thinking.
"I don't get it," He said, referring to his confusion about how the sudden change of Williams' mood between their first day and now.
"I mean…she's a–"
"NYET!" The Colonel cut in, placing her right hand to stop the Sergeant's sentence. "Do not dare say what I know you're going to say!"
The Sergeant gulped, nervous at the Russian's sudden raise of tone.
"We will not call her that," She added. "The last thing we need on our minds is the fact that one of our own is…"
The Colonel was cut off as the door opened. Stepping inside was Private Williams in a fresh set of clothing.
"Sorry I didn't make it earlier," She said, closing the door behind her.
She gave the smile that she had shown since the team's inception.
"I was in the middle of lunch when I remembered that you and the guys wanted to start talking about our next move against those bastards,"
The Russian and the others nearly dropped their mouths when they were surprised by the Canadian's sudden appearance. The Colonel, in honest opinion, could have sworn that Williams overheard the entire conversation and that the only reason she was there was to confront the rest of the team.
"Ah, Private Williams," The Russian said, smiling uneasily. "Um…we're glad you could join us,"
Noa scratched her head, herself confused.
"What's with all the faces?" She asked, referring to the sudden shock among her teammates.
None of them said anything.
"You all like as if someone just died," Noa added.
"It does," Ortega commented, in a sarcastic manner. "Doesn't it,"
Witkowski punched the Sergeant's arm in response.
"Bloody moppet," The Englishman coughed out at him.
Noa sighed, realizing that her secret was discovered. Her smile faded and her head tilted over.
"I should have known that alien dude was gonna spill it," She mumbled, grabbing a chair from the desk nearby and sitting on it.
"Then there is no longer a point in lying to ourselves, is there, Private Williams?" Alexeyeva asked, her expression stern.
The Canadian shook her head, agreeing with the Colonel. Then she stood up, looking at her team.
"I'll be right back," She told them. "I want to show you all something,"
Williams left the room as silence was all that was left.
Ortega rubbed his arm, mumbling in Spanish.
"Oh stop your bitching," Witkowski replied, rolling his eyes. "It's not like I hit you that hard,"
"Easy for to say, Major," Ortega replied, still rubbing his arm.
"Have you been hitting a punching bag recently, like really hard?"
The Major scoffed.
"I got one standing right next to me," He replied.
Then Ortega shifted his position to be further away from the Englishman which caused a chuckle from the Major.
"Are either of you curious about what Noa wants to show us?" The Russian cut into the conversation in hopes of changing the subject. Both men shrugged.
"It's anyone's guess at this point, Colonel," The Spaniard replied.
The trio didn't know what to make of what the Canadian brought back when she returned. In her hands, was a box which she held closely. Noa methodically handed it to the Colonel, whom was surprised that she was handed the box.
"You can open it, if you'd like," The Canadian said to her.
Alexeyeva nodded and did as advised.
The Major and Sergeant also joined in, behind the Colonel, and peered inside. The contents made all three raise their eyebrows.
"What is all this?" The Russian asked.
"Inside," Noa spoke quietly, looking away. "Are the things that almost killed me,"
Ortega pulled out a Subscriber Identity Module card, normally used for phones, from the box.
"Interesante," He mumbled, examining the object.
"Bomb parts, am I right?" The Major asked, taking his own piece.
Williams nodded.
"Some were recovered from the IEDs after we detonated them ourselves," She replied.
"Anything from the first time you had to manually disarm a bomb yourself?" The Russian asked.
"Most of what I have actually is," The bomb-specialist replied.
Witkowski seemed a bit touched, given his previous history with such devices.
"It's kinda strange, really," He commented. "That all this duff can be turned into the number one killer our soldiers face over seas,"
The Russian wasn't as excited.
"This is truly interesting," She added, shaking her head. "But why on Earth would you want to show us this?"
Everyone was now eyeing the Colonel, thinking she somehow insulted the Canadian.
Noa suddenly became seemingly interested about something that was on the desk.
"I feel that I need to get someone to know about what's under the 'happy-go-lucky' girl thing." She replied as she crossed her arms, keeping her eyes away from the others.
"Or maybe I just want people to care,"
The Colonel nodded.
Placing her hand back into the box to pull something else out, she found something…depressing.
Almost immediately, Noa reached out and grabbed the object out of the Russian's hand, hiding it in her pocket before anyone else could see.
"What was that?" Ortega asked the Colonel, curious.
Glancing once at the Canadian, who shook her head, Alexeyeva shrugged.
"Nothing of 'importance'," She lied. "Let's just give everything back to Williams,"
The Russian had begun taking back some of the things her team took and returned them into the box. Before anyone could say anymore, the alarms started blaring, followed by Harriman saying "SG-26 to the control room" over the loud speakers.
"Wonder why they would be calling us," Ortega commented.
"We should go and check it out," Williams replied, leading the team out of the room.
Witkowski and Ortega looked at their commanding officer, who in turn looked back. They could see the fear on each other's faces. Fearing what, was the question. As the Major and the Sergeant followed the Canadian, Alexeyeva was the last one to leave. Looking one last time at the box on the table, the Colonel frowned as she did. Finally leaving the room, the Russian would later realize that she would never get a chance to ask Williams why she decided to show the box to her or the team.
Or why show it to them now.