Hello! Keep calm... I'm writing as fast as I can, xD. Anyhow, here it is…
Enjoy,
M.
PS: I'm sorry SG-Atlantis fans… I really hadn't been paying much attention to it, so anything that's wrong. I apologize in advance, maybe consider it part of this universe?
Fifteen.
November 16th, 2007
"Colonel Carter, Jordan's team is reporting back," someone called her over. Sam walked towards the main communication area, where the team leader appeared on the screen.
"Colonel Carter, we have a bit of an issue," Major Jordan reported.
"Go on, Major."
"We have spotted two ships surveying the planet. We believe our movement is what made them stop. At the moment, they seem to be hovering in orbit. From our scans, they look like a Goa'uld mothership, even if we have ever seen that kind of ship around Pegasus. Contact with them wasn't established. They might be after what we found here or maybe, they just read our life forms, we can't be sure."
"What have you found?"
"So far, we found a ZPM module and a couple of puddle jumpers. We don't know what else is available here since we landed just a couple of clicks away from our first discoveries, and entering the compound is proving a little more complicated than we first thought it would. We are ready to try and return to Atlantis and prepare a bigger mission to retrieve what we found. However, coming out of the planet…" Jordan trailed.
"Will give away your position, and since you don't know if they are friends or foes, it will endanger you and your crew."
"And even if they don't engage, ma'am. If they follow us, we would be giving them the location of our base," the Major sighed, making Sam close her eyes in despair.
"There's no gate on that planet," she pointed and the man shook his head.
"No, no gate, ma'am. Or, we are yet to find one. We came flying and we must leave flying." He commented and Sam nodded.
"Stay low and contact us in an hour, we will have an action plan for you." She told him.
"Colonel Carter, there's one more thing." They both clenched their jaws. "We decided to wait for as long as we could; to see if they would just go away. But since they haven't moved… we must return a.s.a.p, we are under strict oxygen conditions and, even limiting it, we only have two hours tops, before..." he trailed.
"Then, contact us in twenty." She ordered him and closed the communication. She pinched the bridge of her nose thinking about what to do to rescue her team.
"What are our options?" Sheppard asked from behind her. How was possible for that man to be exactly there when she needed him was beyond her ability to explain things.
"How far are they? And do we still have the Tel'tak's we got as a loan?" John nodded with a grin. They had arrived a week earlier, after a month of travel, and a lot of complaints from all the involved.
"By entering hyperspace, we are an hour away. By puddle jumper, there's a gate close enough from there it would take forty minutes to reach them," someone provided.
"Okay then, we are going to use the Tel'tak's to reach their position. Those two should bring enough attention for them to follow, leaving a window of escape for Jordan's team." She organized her mind quickly.
"And if it isn't enough?" Sheppard asked.
"Then, the team going with me will engage. While the team going with you can help Jordan's team to escape."
"Colonel, with all due respect, you are presenting a risky plan."
"Not risky enough to need to be reported until we return. Also, we don't have time to do anything else without endangering the crew or the base. Get your team ready, and get me a team, volunteers only. I will need someone who understands basic nav of Goa'uld tech."
It wasn't even ten minutes later when they were starting their engines and directing the ships towards the planet where Jordan's team was slowly getting without time. They came out of hyperspace two planets away from their destination. As they slowly approached, they saw the two motherships floating near their final destination. Sam chewed her lower lip.
"Colonel Sheppard, I will accelerate, follow me but not too close, let them believe you are chasing me. McKay, if they follow, use your knowledge and find us a gate, that way if something goes wrong, we can have a way out."
"Even if it cost us two loaned Tel'taks?" John asked.
"Lives are worthier," Sam added. Then she contacted Major Jordan and explained the plan. "All ready?" she asked to the comms and when she got the second, 'yes, ma'am' she accelerated her ship and passed between the two motherships. Despite John's surprise with the speed and ease in which she flew in the space in the middle of the two ships, he followed, passing them by the side. They didn't contact either ship, but one of them fell out of the radar after moving away from them. The second one followed them.
As soon as the two ships disappeared from the radar, Jordan's team started their engine and hovered for a while, waiting to see if the one who had disappeared first wasn't just hiding. Just to be on the safe side, they followed their orders and moved themselves to the closest planet with a gate, and gated back to Atlantis.
On the Tel'tak's the situation was getting more complicated. They were about to reach sub-light and the mothership was still behind them. If the ship decided to engage, they probably wouldn't stand a chance, but for some reason, it just followed them. Two systems later, both ships received the same message, before Sheppard's ship was shot, and that was exactly when McKay opened the communications channel just to say: "Next one has a gate!"
"What about the conditions both of the planet and your ship?" Sam asked.
"Ship's safe, the shields absorbed the impact. The planet is breathable, and it's … we will endure it. Holy smokes it has large amounts of Naquadah deposits. It would be paradise for keeping our fleet!" He added happily.
"Mckay, how good are you with Tel'tak's?" she asked
"What? Why?"
"We are going to board them before they get us all killed."
"And what do I have to do with it?"
"You are going to stay on your tel'tak. Captain Morris will remain in this one. We need all officers hands on deck."
"If that's the only approach…"
"Let's go." Soon all the officers of both crews were standing on their rings bases. "Take prisoners, we will need to know what happened with the second ship. Set C4's in case we need them. Depending on the number of things we find, we will define if we will take them with the ship, with us, or using the gate on the planet below. In any case, the worst-case scenario is using whatever mean of escape to return to Atlantis. All clear?"
"Yes, ma'am!" And then the rings engulfed them.
The cargo bay in which they appeared it was darker than any other cargo bay Sam had ever stood on, and she had known plenty. There were oddities too; when she pointed her light she figured the walls weren't gold, but silver, and there weren't covered with hieroglyphs. Parts of the doors they encountered kept the symbols the same, the other part showed what looked like alteran symbols, making her frown.
However, it was when the officers who stood behind to check the cargo called that she knew that whoever was this ship from, it wasn't Goa'uld. They were no staff weapons, zats. But projectile weapons, different from the humans' ones. Also, a couple of laser weapons…. And something gray, some rocks, and dust… and a bright liquid... plenty of it.
And then, they found them.
They were human looking, but their eyes blue… the same shade of blue she had. But there was something odd in them. She didn't delve into it while she sent the first electrical discharge of the zat towards them. The way they closed their eyes when the blueish light shone in the dark made her understand they were very sensitive to light. She quickly asked someone to find the lights making the whole taking over the ship easier than they thought it would be.
They were around fifty of them, against the eight officers they had. But the fact they were blind under the right environment, made their numbers manageable.
"Communicate with Atlantis, let them know that you are bringing prisoners and to keep the lights dimmed in their cells. We want them to talk, not to torture them. Take them through the gate, it will be faster and safer. "
"Do we know what their cargo is?"
"I'll try to find out," she added, Sheppard ordered to Captain Klein to go with her, and she rolled her eyes.
"Just in case," he grinned. It was fair since the young Captain had the ATA gene and could help her if there was something she couldn't manage in there.
They reached what seemed the bridge and walked to the computer. The thing was amazing, it was the Asgardian computer on steroids, but unfortunately, it was also in a mix of Goa'uld and Alteran that she knew would make things complicated to learn. "I'll guess we will take it with us and ask someone to bring it back to Earth for further studies," she commented through the comms and received a whimper from Mckay followed by a complaint about how it wasn't fair she was having all the fun. And then, she read it… and her eyes widened.
"Just to let you all know, the cargo is Naquadah. In rock, powder and liquid form."
"Liquid?"
"That's what it says… I could be reading it wrong."
"It does say liquid, ma'am," Klein frowned. "I didn't know that was possible."
"I didn't know that either," she frowned. "Sheppard, how are we doing?"
"We are moving the last of them out now, part of our team took the rings down, while we used their escape pods to send them down. Okay, last pod full of unidentified aliens is out. If you have nothing more, I'll ring back to the tel'tak and land to verify the situation of the planet."
"John…" he frowned, there was something urgent in her voice, "ring back to mine."
"What?" he asked confused.
"Ring back to mine and set course to Atlantis. ASAP," she told him, looking straight at the screen.
"Ma'am… is that what I think it is?" Captain Klein face was fixated to the countdown which had started. The bright numbers almost mocking them for trying to steal the ship away.
"You don't want to find out, go to the escape pod and ring back to Atlantis. Go!" he doubted, "It's an order, Captain!"
"Sam?" Mckay's voice came over, she hadn't noticed she had left the comms open.
"Set course to Atlantis, make me a favor, and check what are the conditions of the other planets? John, I'm ordering you enter hyperspace, now!"
"Sam, all of them have a large amount of naquadah in their soil," Mckay added.
"Holy Hannah!" She started tinkering with the main computer to try and find a way to stop it or to enter hyperspace herself.
"What?!"
"Rodney, you need to enter hyperspace as soon as I say. First, I need to ask you a big favor."
"Sam? Please don't do this…" He asked, both hoping no one else was listening to them. But then, the countdown reached forty.
"I'm sorry, Rodney, but, please tell Jack I love him." She whispered the last words.
"Sam!" McKay whimpered back.
"Go!" She added, clenching her jaw
"I can't."
"You must!"
"Please, don't make me do this…" he whimpered one last time.
"Go, Rodney… there's no time."
And then, she was the only ship orbiting the planet.