Sticks and Stones - Chapter 47 - by Emma Nisbet (grnfield)
As he exited the wormhole, Jack looked around at the gathered people in amazement. Before Hammond had left for the Alpha site he had clearly given orders for the appropriate people to gather in the gate room ready for dispatch upon his return.
As he stepped from the base of the ramp Jack found a fully loaded tak vest thrust in his direction. He automatically shrugged the vest on and turned to the Armoury clerk who was waiting with Jack's standard weaponry. The Colonel held out his hand for his trusty P-90 only to find a small computer terminal forced into his grasp. With a grunt of annoyance, Jack grabbed the stylus and signed his name before handing the terminal back to the clerk. The clerk checked the terminal, nodded and handed Jack the gun. Jack took the P-90 and immediately clipped it carefully to his vest. He was then handed another weapon, a gun that looked like a miniature Berretta but was silver in colour instead of black. With the gun came a clear plastic case through which Jack could see the orange feathered ends that he recognised as tranquiliser darts.
Taking the gun and darts from the clerk Jack carefully placed them inside one of the pockets of his BDU pants before looking at Hammond, who was by now standing half way up the gate ramp, for an explanation.
"All in good time, Colonel. All in good time," came the reply to his unasked question.
Straightening his attire Jack moved until he was side by side with Hammond and stood to attention. The portly General looked approvingly at him and turned to address the room.
"Firstly I'd like to say thank you to everyone for gathering here as I requested. It looks like you are ready to move out as soon as I give the go ahead. As you all know, Major Samantha Carter and Colonel Louis Ferretti are currently being held aboard the Ha'tak vessel above the planet designated P4M-776. This vessel is apparently under the control of the Goa'uld System Lord, Osiris and we do not know of the status of our men at present. When Sergeant Davies left the ship he was informed that they are being held in the Jaffa quarters, not the holding cells, and he was under the impression that the pair of them were in no immediate danger." Hammond paused, waiting for an outburst from Jack, and was both surprised and worried when the other man remained silent.
"Sergeant Davies was assured, by a Jaffa named Dal'nar, that the Jaffa warriors onboard the vessel are not loyal to Osiris and that the troops are serving against their will. Teal'c and SG-3 have verified that the squadrons on the surface of Chamaka were made up of Jaffa allied to numerous different System Lords, many of whom we know to be dead."
Jack raised his eyebrows at this but again refrained from adding a comment.
"This may obviously add credibility to the claim that these warriors are being made to serve Osiris under duress but obviously the information could also be a ruse so that we go in unprepared. As you've seen, along with your standard issue weaponry many of you have been issued with modified tranquiliser dart guns, these are purely for use on the Goa'uld, and are not to be used on the Jaffa warriors. Doctor Fraiser and her team have been working to develop a tranquiliser that will be effective in temporarily disabling a Goa'uld symbiote whilst still inside the host. Some of you who have been here for some time will know that the late Doctor Jackson succeeded in injecting Osiris with a prototype of this drug and that it showed a marked effect. The formula is still not one hundred percent effective but has shown a great deal of promise and should greatly slow down the reactions of both Goa'uld and host once introduced into the bloodstream. The tranquiliser guns you have been given have been modified in such a way as to propel the dart at a lower-than-normal velocity which has been proven to penetrate a Goa'uld's personal shield. The downside of this is that whoever is doing the shooting will have to be closer to the enemy than would normally be advisable; however the drug should work pretty quickly once it is injected. Also it should not matter if multiple darts hit home, even a massive dose of the drug will only render the host unconscious."
Hammond's eyes scanned the room and he saw the dedicated officers absorbing every word as he spoke it. The Texan General felt a sudden rush of pride towards his people. "One other thing we know, is that despite previous intel, the System Lord Ba'al is not onboard the ship. Osiris appears to be working alone apart from the Jaffa. It is not known if other prisoners are being held on the vessel although if any are located then they will be granted refugee status along with the Chamakan population."
Hammond paused in a natural break to his speech. He momentarily turned to Jack and noticed that the other man was starting to get twitchy. He had been astounded that the Colonel had allowed him to speak to the teams for as long as he had without interrupting him once. 'If only all the briefings could be like that', he mused briefly. Truthfully though, George knew that Jack's silence was merely a façade and that the silver haired Colonel was like a tightly coiled spring inside. How much longer the spring remained hidden was something that the General was more than a little worried about and he turned back to address the room once more.
"Due to the fact that the gate on P4M-776 is currently unguarded, we will be sending a replacement MALP probe through in the next couple of minutes. If all is well, SG-5 and SG-15 will accompany Colonels O'Neill and Reynolds to the planet along with Teal'c and Sergeants Bell and Nicholson. Once you are there you will report to Colonel O'Neill for the remainder of the mission. Once the gate is secure I would like the MALP returned to the SGC and I will send through several of Sergeant Siler's team to attempt a repair on the original probe so we can recover that one too."
Hammond looked up at Walter Harriman who was watching from the control room window. "Dial the gate, Sergeant," he ordered.
With the usual whoosh of steam the inner ring of the gate began to spin and Walter began to announce the chevrons as they engaged. Jack and Hammond stepped aside to allow Siler to direct the MALP into position. A final shout came from Walter that the seventh chevron was now locked and, with a whoosh of sound and iridescent blue light the wormhole sprang forwards into the room.
Once the vortex had settled back to its calm, shimmering blue state, Sergeant Siler sent the MALP trundling up the ramp, into the event horizon and far, far across the galaxy.
~#~
Quietly and efficiently Siler walked into the control room, closely followed by General Hammond. The technicians parted as the two men approached the computer terminal in front of the window overlooking the gate room. With more than a little trepidation, everyone in the control room fell silent as they watched the screens for signs of life. The MALP materialised on the other side of the gate and immediately began transmitting.
An audible sigh of relief was heard when the probe was not immediately destroyed by hostile forces. In fact, on Chamaka all was surprisingly quiet. The camera on the probe started scanning from the far left of the clearing. First it picked up the broken remains of the original MALP and then carried on tracking to the right. A large grey object was seen a little way from the gate but it wasn't immediately obvious what the object was. Other than that one anomaly, the clearing was empty of any objects that shouldn't have been there.
Once it became clear that there were no aggressive forces present, Siler was ordered to move the MALP forwards towards the mystery object. The machine trundled across the open space, stopped in front of the object and Siler directed the camera to pan downwards onto it. A sudden gasp was heard throughout the control room as the camera focussed in on the gruesome image of a Jaffa warrior. The side of his forehead was resting on the dirt of the clearing floor and he had blank staring eyes looking sightlessly back towards them. The once-proud warrior bore the insignia of the Goa'uld System Lord Osiris, and had, by the appalling look of horror on his face, died a very sudden and exceptionally painful death.