Notes: As promised, Chapter 19…which ended up having some extra words added so it got even longer :D
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ACT 1 – DISCOVERY
Chapter 19 – The Wall
It hadn't taken long for Saoka's Security to deal with the two criminals. The one Oneakka had taken down himself had required some minimal medical care before being handed over to Alliance Enforcement, who had arrived through the Portal to collect them.
Unsurprisingly, both males were already known to Enforcement, though under different names to those displayed on the identification they had been carrying. However, Enforcement's facial and fingerprint scans had revealed their true identities and criminal histories.
Whereas the reason for what had happened today had been provided by Raven.
Apparently, the lead instigator had recognised her within the crowd while she and Amel had been shopping, and the other male was, according to their true files, his cousin. Having stumbled on Raven here, the two males had decided to take advantage of the moment to enact their 'revenge' for the death of their former relative whom Raven had been forced to kill during a near-assassination attempt on Creass a number of years ago. Apparently their relative, one Zuka Sasturas, had been a Bounty Hunter who had taken a contract to kill Creass in an attempt by his employers to takeover Dreamstation. Zuka had gotten real close too, according to Raven, having killed two of her Security staff, injured far more, and almost murdering Creass.
Given sight of the long dead Zuka Sasturas' record by Enforcement, Oneakka had been shocked at the extensive criminal record. Born on a central Alliance planet, even as a young boy Zuka had been in regular trouble with the authorities, then serving several short prison sentences in his teens for various incidents of aggravated assault. As an adult though, Zuka had never been convicted of any crime – most likely due to the fact that he'd kept his bounty hunter work and currency outside the Alliance – but his name had remained well known to Enforcement and Division. They'd never found any evidence they could pin on him and then one day he'd simply vanished, leaving his record open and untouched for the years since. Enforcement were now able to close that file, given Raven's report of what had happened to Zuka, though it was possible his relatives might provide some more information for them.
Oneakka was well aware that there were plenty of criminals in the galaxy, had dealt directly with a number, but Zuka's criminal record had been unnerving. An Alliance-born criminal brought up in a family with more than enough currency, he had still chosen a life of brutality that Oneakka associated more with the Wraith than Humans who lived under the peace provided by the Alliance Military and the Elite. He knew there were brutal Humans, of course there were, but seeing the male's full history set out like that, having seen his two relatives' responses to coming across Raven, it was a stark reminder of the life she'd lived.
The scum she'd lived among, the brutality she'd faced and seen regularly from Human monsters.
Monsters that, like today, might be all too ready to exact revenge on her for what they saw as past slights.
Though Raven now had a clean record within the Alliance, and he trusted entirely in her past choices to protect herself and others, her past held a lot of undesirables that could track her.
How many more random moments like today could happen? How many more coincidental meetings with someone who might recognise her and want to hurt her?
Creass alone was a significant threat, but Oneakka was prepared for that one. Though Raven had refused to provide information on her former employer, Oneakka still received regular updates from Division in their tracking of him. No one knew where Creass was currently based, but he was clearly still active out there beyond the border. Raven had insisted that Creass wouldn't hurt her, but her faintest hint of uncertainty had been obvious to Oneakka, so he'd made sure to keep pressure on Division to provide him with regular updates on their search for Creass. And if even a hint of a bounty was put on Raven's name, Division were under orders to alert him – or, if he was away on rotation, Massa - immediately.
But he'd not really thought how many randoms who had used Dreamstation might want to harm her. Surely thousands, hundreds of thousands, must have used Dreamstation in the ten years she'd been its Security Lead; if even a tiny percentage of them held grudges towards her, then that was still a significant number.
And the threat could last for the rest of her, hopefully very long, life.
She hadn't even known today's scum on sight, but they'd known her face.
Anywhere she went, someone could recognise her.
It was a worrying, somewhat panic-inducing fear that he'd worked hard to ignore while he'd overseen the handover of the two criminals to Enforcement and then given his statement to Station Security. They'd barely taken a statement from him, considering his tiny involvement, but he'd taken his time before returning to the site of the incident at the back of the furthest marketing hall where Raven and Amel were still giving their statements.
And the longer he delayed returning to them, the more the anger had started to dominate over his fear for her.
He just couldn't believe the way Raven had decided to handle the situation. When faced with an unknown and clearly dangerous threat, she'd decided the best thing to do was to lure her attackers into the back corner of the marketing hall to deal with them herself. She hadn't gone straight to Security, hadn't gotten herself into a safer location; no, instead she'd sent him a quick text link, sent Amel away to safety, and then decided to put herself in the most stupidly vulnerable position alone in a corner.
He was so angry with her that he'd barely said anything to her since the attack, other than to make sure she was unharmed, to which she had said she was fine…while smiling.
Smiling?!
She had been attacked in a public place and seemed almost cheerful about it.
And he'd seen how close to her that knife had been.
He'd been having a nice time in Khepri' workshop too, having sorted the armlet commission details and had been watching a teaching session where Khepri had been showing a group of apprentices how to forge tiny filaments. He'd been enjoying the dry heat off the furnaces and the feeling of being far away from the pressures of his medical review and recovery.
Then his pad had vibrated with an alert.
He swore he'd felt the blood drain from his face when he'd read Raven's call for help.
He'd made it out of the workshop in moments, shouting an apology to Khepri, and the shop assistants had already had the curtain open for him through to the shop. He'd vaulted over the counter and made it out the shop in seconds. Outside, he'd shouted to the Guard on duty to alert Station Security of an incident and that he was on his way down to the main level. He couldn't quite remember making it to the main stairs and down the first two flights, but by the time he'd reached the first floor level, two of Station Security had emerged to join him, and a group of them had started gathering at the bottom of the stairs.
Raven hadn't told him which marketing hall she had been in – unhelpfully – but he'd recalled her and Amel talking in the Transport flight from the Facility about coming here to buy things to decorate their quarters. He hadn't initially used his pad to scan for Raven's Beacon during the mad dash down the stairs, but had used the time to shout down to the waiting security that he had two members of Elite staff under attack in a marketing hall that likely sold furnishings and decorations for a home. That had clearly meant something to them, as most of them had raced off to the left, the few left behind waiting to join him as he reached the main floor and raced after the others.
Finally running on a flat surface, he'd checked his pad, the search alert frustratingly slow to locate Raven's Beacon, which had finally flashed as directly ahead, Security already leading him in the right direction.
It had turned out that the marketing hall they needed had been the last of three big halls. Security had begun their search efficiently ahead of him, breaking into small teams to efficiently check each aisle of the halls while more poured on ahead. The civilians had started scattering, shocked at the sight of so many Security and an Elite Warrior moving with clear pace and intention. Though the central planets of the Alliance had not seen a Wraith culling in a very long time, there were plenty of others in the Alliance who associated a running Elite with danger, and had started evacuating the halls of their own volition. Oneakka hadn't worried about that, trusting Saoka's staff to deal with civilian management, he'd just pushed on. Racing after the leading group of Security and Raven's Beacon beyond them.
Then Amel had appeared, rushing towards him with panicked big wide eyes. She'd told him Raven was in the back hall, that she was luring her attackers into the far back corner.
Leaving Amel with a Security member, Oneakka had raced on, his panic having only increasing at hearing Raven's stupid plan.
In the end, it had been Zuka's cousin who had revealed where the attack was underway. As Security had entered the last marketing hall, the criminal had spied them immediately through from the back of the hall and the idiot had pulled out a small, but powerful, zircon blaster.
That had really caused panic; the blaster fire sending civilians scattering in all directions, and screaming had filled the air as Security had exchanged fire with Zuka's cousin.
But Raven hadn't been there, and Amel had told him about the stupid plan, so Oneakka had cut away from the fire fight, racing down one aisle and through to the next, working his way as fast as he could around panicked people, the clutter of stalls and the limited spaces between them.
Then he'd seen movement through an avenue between several stalls; had seen Raven dodging hurriedly backwards away from the long fast arm striking out at her throat with wild slices of a bright shiny knife.
The battle fury had hit him in a powerful rush at the sight and he'd powered through the space between the stalls at an angle just out of the enemy's peripheral vision. He'd happily smashed into the male scum, forcing him away from Raven and into the stall opposite. The male had crumpled easily after that, and it had been shockingly satisfying to slam the scum down onto that stall.
And she'd made a joke afterwards!
Having now made his way back to the scene of the incident, he found Raven still being interviewed, though the tables had turned. She was now somewhat chewing out the Security staff member about what she judged to be major lapses in the station's security.
Standing close by, he held his tongue as he watched Raven ask the unfortunate Security female why there weren't live camera feeds being monitored. It was all clearly above the female's pay-grade, but she handled it well, no doubt used to victims being upset after a crime.
Except Raven wasn't upset, she was instead using her 'Security Lead' voice, listing out what needed to be changed here on Saoka's station.
She didn't even look angry about the security issues. She didn't look shocked, unnerved, or even simply relieved to be alive!
Glancing away from the frustrating female and her determination to keep behaving like she was a Security Lead, solely in charge of dealing with everything and apparently unable to do something so simple as to…
He made himself take a breath and looked back along the aisle to where the owner of the plate stall upon which he'd ended the fight was clearing up the damage. Oneakka had offered to pay the Trader to replace his broken wares, but the Trader had turned down the offer, saying Saoka paid compensation for anything damaged in 'criminal events'. In fact, the Trader had looked excited at talking with an Elite, and Oneakka had to wonder if there wouldn't be some new sales technique to be used by the male going forward. He watched the Trader putting the large broken pieces of plate carefully into a box, separate from the smaller bits and debris he was sweeping into a rubbish bag. It was possible the large broken pieces of plate would now be sold as 'touched by an Elite during a battle' trinkets, as it wouldn't be the first time Oneakka had seen that. Still, if the Trader could make some additional currency off the damage, why not?
Oneakka turned back to Raven, who appeared to have finished her list of the station's failings and the Security member began running through the final standard questions on how they could reach Raven if they had more questions and so forth.
Oneakka locked his eyes on Raven's profile, checking again for any signs of bruises or delayed shock, but she still looked completely normal. She wasn't favouring one leg over the other which might have indicated an injury, and she was standing tall, so she hadn't hurt her back or shoulders. She looked completely unaffected.
It just plain angered him.
Why hadn't she just walked out through the marketing halls to find Security? How hard was that?
No, instead she'd decided to lead her stalkers away to deal with them herself, with no weapons on her except apparently Amel's shopping bag!
Stupid female!
Her days of pit fighting were long gone, but clearly she had forgotten that.
The only positive of the whole matter, he abruptly realised, was that this had been his first combat since his injury. Though he could feel an ache in his wound site, it wasn't anything worse that what he felt after a heavy rehab session.
In fact, he felt good. He knew some of that was likely due to post-battle reactions, his system flooded with residual adrenaline and chemicals that kept him alert and ready in case another threat appeared.
Like having to deal with the absurd female who thought it was safer to stand alone with her back to a wall rather than get help!
But besides that, he felt good.
Despite failing his medical review, his body and experience hadn't failed him in the moment. He'd had the strength and muscle memory to react without thought of his injury. He'd gotten the job done, like he'd always done before.
The proof of his capabilities felt like a sharp splash of cold water over his former sullen mood and doubting worries. He'd dedicate himself to his new rehab plan and get back to battle rotation, however long it took. What were a few months in his life dedicated to recovery? He'd just use the time to get stronger than before, advance his flexibility understanding, and maybe see about assisting Massa in some Recruit training sessions. Use the time to help share his experience and educate people not to put yourself alone in a corner when there was better help available.
Movement down the aisle ahead drew Oneakka's attention and he saw Saoka himself emerge from between his Security staff. The Station owner looked round at the blaster damage to several stalls and then turned and started heading this way. Oneakka wasn't overly surprised. Anytime he was on the station, Saoka usually turned up, mostly just to ask about Si.
As usual, Saoka was dressed like he was in some sort of fashion show; his clothes were clearly made of expensive fabrics and tailored to his figure to produce a lean shape with a thin waist. Behind Saoka followed his ever-present Assistant/Bodyguard, Nanuet. Nanuet, like his employer, wore expensive tailored clothes, but in Nanuet's case he looked like he had been squeezed into them. A naturally heavy-set male with multiple layers of thick muscle on top, Nanuet looked out of place in the outfit. Still, he was never one to underestimate. Nanuet was loyal to Saoka to the point of death, in Oneakka's opinion, as Nanuet had even thought to draw a weapon on Oneakka himself the last time he'd been on this station with Raven. Admittedly, Raven had just opened up an old hack into the station's computers, but still there were very few who were brave enough to move to draw a weapon on an Elite.
Oneakka watched as Nanuet's gaze locked onto Raven as they approached, clearly remembering her little backdoor hack into station computer and probably the years of back and forth between Saoka and Creass when Raven had been on Dreamstation.
As the two males drew closer, Oneakka stepped up next to Raven, keeping his eyes on Nanuet.
"Honoured Elite Oneakka. Seeal," Saoka started to greet them while he was still metres away. "I am so sorry at what has happened." His suave smile widened as he focused on Raven. "But clearly the right people were here to deal with it."
Oneakka assumed he was including Raven in that assessment, which clearly wasn't correct, because she should have gotten help.
"Why weren't the criminals identified by facial recognition when they came aboard your station?" Oneakka demanded as the two males arrived, both stopping a polite distance away, Nanuet's wary focus now settling onto Oneakka.
"Honoured Elite," Saoka began with his smooth Trader's voice, "we have thousands of visitors here by the hour and we do not have as sophisticated tech as the Military and the Elite," Saoka explained as he slid his hands into his tailored trouser pockets. Oneakka didn't approve of the body language shift. "But, of course, if the Elite wish us to install such devices and will give the currency and tech-"
"And pick up on all the unsavoury types with suspicious histories you allow to use your stations?" Raven interrupted him.
Saoka smiled at her. "Suspicious histories like your own?"
"I have a clean record," Raven countered. "Unlike your security procedures."
Saoka frowned at her lightly. "If you have some suggestions with your vast experience…?"
"There should be Security stationed in all these separate marketing halls."
"We have regular patrols," the Security female from the right answered that, no doubt supplying what she'd wanted to originally while Raven had listed the failings to her.
"Well, where were they?" Raven asked Saoka.
"They came to your aid within…" Saoka paused.
"Two point three standard minutes," Nanuet supplied instantly. Oneakka frowned at the statistic, wondering when the clock had started on that measurement. When he'd informed Khepri' privately hired Guard outside the shop perhaps?
"Once the problem had already started," Raven argued to Saoka. "These back sections of the halls are prime places for criminal activity."
"We have little crime here," Saoka told her, still smiling.
"There are well known pickpocket gangs who work all your stations," Raven informed him.
"Really?" Saoka lifted his eyebrows dramatically, but clearly he wasn't surprised. "If you would be willing to supply some names and gang labels to us, that would be really useful."
Oneakka didn't look round at her beside him, but he suspected Raven was frowning at that response.
"Or maybe they get a cut of what they make?" She suggested thoughtfully.
"This isn't Dreamstation, Seeal," Saoka smiled at her, "where such practices are commonplace. Unlike there, most of our customers do not have a criminal record. This is a marketing station which tens of thousands use daily, so it is not surprising that a few might slip through our net of security. We are not here to play the role of Enforcement and judge."
He didn't sound in anyway upset about all this; in fact he appeared to be enjoying the exchange with Raven.
"Though," Saoka added, "I would be more than open to making any additional changes to tighten security. If you wanted a job here working for me, I would pay you very well."
Oneakka glared at him.
"After I ignored your other offers?" Raven asked.
Offers? She'd never mentioned that.
"I respect someone who knows their value, and I have great patience," Saoka grinned at her.
"You respect my backdoor hack into your computer. Employing me would keep it in-house, unless you've already gone to the difficult time and expense of replacing all your hard-drives?" Raven asked, and Oneakka could hear the smile in her voice.
"If you join my employment, you'll find out," Saoka tried to tempt her. "Working for me would allow you to put your full talents to good use."
"I'll keep the offer in mind," Raven replied. She'd never want to work for Saoka, would she? "For now though," she continued, "you should do a thorough investigation of those false identifications they used and how they passed your checks so easily."
"Already underway with the help of Alliance Enforcement," Saoka replied with a faint bow of his head. "And, of course, as a thank you from me for your discovering and arresting the criminals, all three of you may eat in the Top Royal restaurant for free. On me."
The Top Royal was a lavish, highly expensive restaurant up on the very top level of the station. Oneakka had never been, but Si had eaten there plenty with Saoka; well, before Si had stopped talking to Saoka following the revelation of stolen Elite goods passing through Saoka's stations.
"It will have to be another day," Raven told Saoka.
"Anytime," Saoka smiled.
Oneakka had had enough of this. "If you've finished with Seeal and Amel, we have places to be."
"Of course, Honoured Elite. Thank you for your intervention in today's events."
Oneakka nodded.
"And would you pass along my greetings to Honoured Elite Si?"
As expected.
"He's on a long mission right now," Oneakka informed him and Saoka nodded with a faint smile of what looked like gratitude, which wasn't necessary, as Oneakka had just told him the facts. It was up to Saoka if he wanted to worry over Si so much.
"Thank you all again for today," Saoka added more formally to end the conversation, glancing over to where Amel had arrived. Saoka smiled and bowed his head to her, Amel looking rather flattered by the attention, and then Saoka turned and headed away.
Nanuet though held his ground, his attention on Raven with a steady, silently pointed look before turning to follow his employer.
Raven turned to Amel as she reached them. "Are you okay, Amel?"
"I'm fine," Amel grinned, seeming to have gotten over her earlier panic during the incident. "Are all your visits off-world this interesting?"
"Only most of them," Raven joked.
She was still making light of what had happened.
After she'd almost died because of her foolish, self-reliance kick.
"I'm sorry I broke your new mugs," Raven added as she moved around behind Oneakka and picked up Amel's bag, handing it back to its owner with an apologetic smile.
"That's okay," Amel answered. "One of the Security staff gave me tokens for more than enough currency for me to replace anything damaged."
"Oh good," Seeal smiled, again seeming so unmoved by what happened that it was getting ridiculous.
"We should get back to the Facility," Oneakka told them firmly.
Raven turned to him, the first time in awhile that she'd given him her full attention. "I need to collect my necklace from Khepri," she smiled.
Why was she smiling so easily when she'd just been attacked? Almost killed?
The female was insane.
"Fine, let's go," he uttered as he strode away from her, leading the way past Station Security still overseeing the investigation and tidy up, and back through the rest of the marketing hall. He didn't stop until he reached the main staircase again and started up it, not looking back to check that the females were keeping up with him.
As he worked his way up the staircase, he could feel the chill left behind as the adrenaline drained from his system. He really could do with eating something and maybe banging his head against a wall in frustration at how stupid Raven had been, but he kept his composure as he led the way back to Khepri' shop.
They'd collect the necklace, maybe Amel would replace her broken things, and then, once they were off Saoka's big showy station, he'd have a conversation with Raven about what she'd done.
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The smell of the dank hallway was somewhat lessened by the strong smell of the foam in the storage case as John lifted out the last sconce. They were surprisingly heavy for their small size, but looked like they had survived their little swim from a few years back.
Ahead of him, Rodney had one sconce in his hands while Skan was scanning it with his Elite sensor pad thingy. Presumably nothing was being found because both of them looked unimpressed. John focused on carrying his sconce to the waiting three holes in the hallway's wall. Jackson was already there and trying to fit his sconce into the first socket.
"It doesn't appear to fit," Jackson grunted as he adjusted the light fixture as John passed him, heading to the next socket along.
"They may be specifically shaped to a corresponding interface," Rodney suggested as he moved past John.
John hefted his sconce, lined the back of it up with the socket and pushed it easily into place. A strangely satisfying tone rang as the sconce settled into its housing. "This one fits fine."
"Then this one must go over there," Rodney said as he quickly reversed his path away from the third socket, Jackson passing him as they switched places.
John watched as Rodney lined up his sconce and it easily slid into the wall and another, slightly lower, tone sang out from it. John couldn't remember sconces doing that before, but then he'd never had to put one up on a wall before.
A higher tone rang from behind him and he turned to see Jackson's sconce was now in place, completing the three light fixtures in a row in this random spot in a dead-end hallway.
"That's odd," Jackson frowned. "Each light made a different tone when we plugged them in. Does that usually happen around here?"
"Not that I've heard," John frowned as he reached forward and gripped his sconce again, planning to pull it out of the socket and slot it back in to replicate the sound, but with just one touch the sconce sang out the same tone as before. Okay, that did seem odd.
Jackson tapped his sconce and his higher tone rang out again.
"Well, they've been banged around a lot, under water for a few days…" Rodney shrugged. "Maybe they're just broken."
"No, it's a puzzle," Jackson declared.
"The resonance of the tones is unusually long-lasting," Skan noted from behind.
Everyone turned round to face Skan, who had his attention still focused on his Elite pad.
"What? Really?" Rodney asked rapidly, sliding into place next to the Elite, peering at the little screen. "Tap one again," Rodney ordered, presumably towards John and Jackson.
Jackson was the one to carry out the order, the high pretty tone playing loud again in the hallway.
"Oh," Rodney peered closer at Skan's pad, not in any way respecting the warrior's personal space, but Skan didn't seem to mind. "Play the tone again," Rodney instructed Jackson as he lifted his Ancient tablet.
Again the tone rang.
"It's not showing on this," Rodney frowned at the Ancient screen.
Ah, that sounded very hopeful! "Hiding from Ancient scanners?" John uttered. "Sounds like we're onto something," he grinned round at Jackson, but the Archaeologist was frowning at the sconces.
"Our sensor pads are calibrated to detect faint Wraith-stunner frequencies," Skan told Rodney and John snapped his attention back round.
"Wraith tech?" He asked worriedly.
"No," Rodney dismissed the idea immediately though. "He just means their sensor pads are set up to read frequency harmonics."
John wasn't sure how that was much of an explanation, or why the Ancient tablet hadn't been able to detect them, but at least there was no Wraith tech involved.
"Tap yours," Rodney looked up towards John.
Resisting the urge to make a joke, John turned, reached out and tapped the sconce he'd fitted into the wall. The tone rang out, slightly lower in pitch than Jackson's sconce had played.
"See the frequencies in the sound, the way they harmonise?" Skan said to Rodney, pointing at something on the pad's screen. "And it is surprisingly sustaining."
Rodney nodded as he looked up and around the hallway. "It must be the materials used for the walls and ceiling in here, it's almost amplifying the tones."
"It is a puzzle," Jackson repeated his conclusion, but with even more conviction. "I think we need to activate the tones in a specific order."
Rodney looked towards Jackson with a frown. "What, you mean like a three digit code? You know how easy that would be to break? There are only six variations," he gestured to the sconces.
"Well, maybe we need to activate them a number of times in a specific order," Jackson replied. "Do either of your sensors recognise any of these three notes?"
"What, so we can play an old Ancient tune?" Rodney scoffed sarcastically.
Jackson looked round to John with a look of barely controlled impatience. John gave him an understanding look before turning to face the sconces again. "So, we just try various combinations?" he asked. "See if a door opens up somewhere?"
"Let's try one tone of each first." Jackson suggested before tapping his sconce.
John tapped his, adding a second tone and then reached to the first sconce to his left, tapping that to add the final tone to the delicate music.
John stepped back, looking around the hallway, hoping to see a door miraculously opening somewhere.
But nothing happened.
"Well, first go didn't work," John declared as he reached out and tapped his sconce again, starting the next sequence. To his right, Jackson hit his sconce and John then reached to his left again, activating the last one.
Again nothing seemed to happen as the tones echoed out together. He and Jackson turned on the spot, checking all the walls of the hallway. John even angled himself to look up at the ceiling one way down the hallway and then the other.
Absolutely zilch.
"Anything showing on your sensors?" John asked Skan who still had his eyes fixed on his pad.
"The combination of the tones are harmonising perfectly," Skan reported.
That was presumably a 'no' then that he had anything useful.
John turned back round and reached forward, tapping his sconce again, then reached to the left, activating that tone, and then Jackson tapped his sconce.
Yet again, nothing happened anywhere as the tones died away slowly.
John reached to the left, starting the next sequence.
"Hold on for a second," Rodney called, his voice arriving from further down the corridor.
John stepped away from the sound game as the first tone faded away by itself. "You got something?"
Rodney was down at the dead-end of the hallway, his fingertips resting against the end wall that John had checked over earlier.
"Come here and push against this wall," Rodney waved John over to him.
"I've already tried that," John pointed out, but headed towards him.
"Just humour me, okay?" Rodney asked as they passed each other, Rodney heading back towards the sconces. "I think I'm onto something here."
John watched as Jackson stepped back to stand alongside Skan as Rodney stood by the first sconce.
"Okay, on the count of three," Rodney instructed, "push against that end wall as hard as you can. Okay?"
"On three," John agreed, flattening his palms against the end wall of the corridor.
"Ready?" Rodney asked. "One…two…three, push!"
John shoved all his weight against the wall, which seemed a crazy thing to do outside of a calisthenics training session, but he trusted Rodney so put everything he had into the push.
He heard the first tone ring, the second and then the third behind him…
And suddenly it was like the wall wasn't there anymore and he stumbled forward, right through the wall and into a pitch black space behind it.
He whipped one foot solidly forward to stop himself face-planting into the floor, but the floor was slippery with fine grit under his boot and he had to stumble forward another step before he finally got his balance in the darkness.
A blue light abruptly snapped to life above him, then another to the left. More lights flickered to life, running from the left round what was now obviously a room ahead of him. Ancient consoles lit up, wall screens flickering to life, an Ancient pedestal coming into view at the far end, and yet more consoles, screens and tables to the right.
"Oh wow," John uttered at the sight, his arms still held out to his sides from having kept his balance.
There was a shift of sound behind him and he heard footsteps arrive. Looking round, he saw Rodney just behind his shoulder, but nothing but a plain wall behind him. Was it a disguised forcefield of some kind? But it had felt like a normal, solid wall before.
"Controlled magnetic harmonic resonance," Rodney grinned as he reached John's side.
"What?" John frowned at that lack of any clarity.
"Apparently Tesla was close to something like this before Edison trashed his lab," Rodney added gesturing excitedly back towards the solid-looking wall. "That wall was specially designed to destabilise when bombarded with a very specific harmonic resonance," Rodney continued. "That's what the tones were! And the strong magnetic property of the particles is what keeps the door from just crumbling into dust. It's a great way to hide a door, because, you know, if you're looking for a door to open, it's never going to be found. It's like a hologram, only better because it's solid mass until the tones are playing."
That was just crazy, and brilliant.
John looked back towards the wall again, seeing it seem to sway fuzzily and Skan abruptly strode through, his gaze locking onto Rodney.
"The harmonic resonance destabilises the wall's matter," Skan said, seeming thoroughly impressed.
"Exactly," Rodney grinned at him. "It's amazing."
Another fuzzy wall moment followed behind Skan and Jackson walked in, his eyes widening and his mouth falling open as he looked around the room, the blue-tinged light of the Ancient screens reflected in his glasses.
"Janus' lab," Jackson uttered with a smile full of wonderment.
John nodded and looked back around to the circular room of glowing screens and consoles. "We found it," he grinned.
They'd actually found it.
And somewhere in here, if Janus was to be believed, there was something that was going to help them fight the Skerti.
Something to help Teyla and everyone else in this galaxy.
They'd done it.
0000
Seeal wasn't sure what the problem was, but Oneakka was in a seriously grumpy mood now.
She'd left Amel in the marketing hall to replace her broken mugs and had hurriedly followed him up the stairs back to Khepri' shop, throughout which he'd said absolutely nothing to her. Khepri though had been far more pleasant company. He'd done an amazing job on her pendant, the metal gleaming and its edges smoothed in way that she'd never realised was needed. It looked better than the day she'd found it. With its shiny new chain, she had put the necklace on and smiled at the wonderful result in the mirror. Khepri had fussed a little over the length of the chain, clearly wanting her to be happy with it, which she really was and had repeatedly told him as much.
She'd happily paid for the amazing work, though had been a little shocked that the price had been far less than she had predicted; clearly Oneakka got a really good discount.
So, wearing her new gleaming repaired necklace, she'd said goodbye and thanks to Khepri and followed the silent grumpy Oneakka back out of the shop. Amel was waiting for them at the base of the stairs, her bag looking suspiciously fuller than even before the mugs had been broken.
"Did you replace the mugs?" Seeal asked as she stepped off the lower step and reached her side.
"I got the replacements, but then thought, why not get some more, so I purchased the matching small plates. Then I spied those long scarves we saw on the way into the first marketing hall, and thought I could drape one over the doorway to the bathroom in my quarters, add some colour and soften the frame."
Seeal hadn't even considered that doorframes might need to be 'softened', but she got the idea Amel was after. "Great," she smiled and looked round to see Oneakka was stood a few metres ahead, arms crossed and clearly impatiently waiting for them. She gave him a questioning glare, but he looked away, his jaw clenching.
What was his problem? Unless he'd pulled his wound during the fight? Was he actually in pain and covering it with being cross? Annoyed that he needed to go rest?
Seeal turned back to Amel. "Are you finished here or…?"
"I'm all done," Amel grinned up from admiring the repaired necklace, her eyes sliding away to Oneakka and back. "And we've probably had enough of an adventure for one day."
Seeal nodded. "I agree, let's head back." She'd been a little worried that what had happened would have turned Amel away from their budding friendship, but Amel appeared to have taken it in her stead; in fact, she seemed to have almost enjoyed the 'exciting turn of events' as she'd phrased it earlier. So Amel was at least good company as they followed Oneakka's grumpy fast pace back across the station's main lobby.
The shopping crowds had parted for him before when they'd arrived and headed through this lobby hall, but now people were literally scurrying to get out of his way. Clearly it wasn't just her who thought he looked best left alone.
As they reached the long queue that led into the Portal Room, Oneakka simply walked around it, striding ahead past everyone, jumping the line. It was what Elite did, one of their privileges, but she didn't really consider just going home to be reason enough to jump ahead of everyone else in the queue. Still, she said nothing, just waited to one side with Amel as Oneakka discussed the dial out with the Portal staff. The second the latest incoming Portal shutdown, it began to dial out. Within a minute it locked and exploded back to life and, after a beat, the Portal staff had conferred with those on the other end on the Facility's moon and Oneakka was striding towards the Portal.
Seeal followed, but at her own measured pace, Amel beside her.
As she stepped through the wormhole, the controlled warmth of the station's atmosphere transformed into the wild, faintly whistling air across the bare plateau on which the Facility's Portal stood.
Oneakka finally stopped his stompy striding ahead and turned towards them, but his eyes were on Amel. "Amel, would you excuse us please," he asked with a strangely polite tone for his tense grumpy face.
Seeal guessed maybe she was going to have give a statement to the Security staff here about what had happened on the Marketing Station. She didn't get why that was necessary, why it didn't include Amel, or why it couldn't wait until they got back to the Facility, but she didn't question it. Yet.
Amel also took the request in her stride, giving Oneakka a polite smile in return. "Of course, Honoured Elite." She then turned to Seeal. "I'll get a Transport and see you later?"
"Yes," Seeal smiled back at her. "Got to get our presentation ready for tomorrow."
Amel smiled, then nodded to Oneakka and headed off towards the waiting line of Transports.
Oneakka though was walking off to the left, which was the opposite direction to the Security station set to the side of the plateau. Instead, he seemed to be heading to the isolated side of the flat space, away from any staff or the Recruits sitting bored in the line of Transports at the far point of the plateau; it was a strange choice, but Seeal followed him, running her eyes over how he was walking. If he was in any pain, it wasn't showing, but the grump clearly was.
Having reached a distance he seemed to think appropriate, he finally stopped, turned his back towards the Transports in the distance, and finally looked at her as she reached him.
"What's wrong?" She asked as she stood opposite him, aware of Amel's Transport taking off up into the air far behind him. "Did you hurt yourself back there?"
"What you did was stupid," he said forcefully and loudly.
He wasn't grumpy; he was angry.
And calling her 'stupid'?
"Excuse me?" She glared back at him.
"That station has hundreds of Security staff and you go and walk away from them?" He asked angrily. "You put yourself in a corner to face off against an unknown number of enemies alone?! That is the most stupid tactic I've ever seen in my life!"
She'd seen him angry before, seen him argue, battle, and question her before, but he'd never ever talked to her like she was stupid before. It was as shocking as it was infuriating.
"I'm sorry," she said back, matching his harsh tone with her own. "Am I hearing this right? I get attacked by two idiots and you're calling me stupid?"
"You don't give an enemy an advantage like you did," Oneakka kept on though, his eyes wide.
"Don't talk to me like I'm a Recruit, Oneakka," She pointed up at him, her own anger flaring her voice louder. "I handled the situation just fine."
"Zuka's cousin had a zircon blaster," Oneakka stated.
"What?!" She frowned. She hadn't known that. How had no one mentioned that? "How the hell did he get that through Station Security?" She asked. She'd just assumed the weapons fire she'd heard had been Security firing at the cousin, not exchanging fire with him!
If she'd known about that earlier, she'd have had plenty more to say to Saoka. There weren't supposed to be any weapons on that Marketing Station except those carried by station staff and visiting Elite, like Oneakka. She glanced down to his Facility borrowed holster and stunner, suddenly realising that he'd not used the stunner during the fight.
"It doesn't matter how he got it there, he had it," Oneakka argued back though, snapping her attention back up to his face.
"Of course it matters," she frowned at him. "Their security measures are clearly more in need than-"
"You're not a Security Lead anymore," Oneakka interrupted her, leaning into her personal space as if that helped make his statement any more obvious.
"Yes, I'm well aware of that, Oneakka," she scoffed at him.
"Are you?" He asked angrily. "Because you should have gotten help."
"I did," she stated back. "Yours!"
"Then you should have come to me, not send a text link and send Amel to bring me in," he argued louder now.
The air here closer to the edge of the plateau felt sharper than usual, the wind cutting across her left cheek. That was the reason why her face felt flushed and she felt the absurd urge to cry. She pressed down at the reaction while keeping her anger as high as she could in the face of Oneakka's disrespect. Of all the things he'd done and said before now, he'd never treated her like this before.
"I knew you and Security would be there within minutes," she told him firmly, struggling to keep her tone under control. "Zuka's Brother was a Talker, so I kept him talking as long as possible to allow help to arrive, which it did and proved my strategy worked fine."
"It barely worked," he scoffed, shifting his weight back and looking off across the moonscape to his right.
"Explain to me exactly how it didn't work, Oneakka," she asked him angrily, stepping forward herself now, not allowing him to control the pressure.
"That knife was millimetres away from your throat," he snapped, glaring back at her.
She frowned at that clear exaggeration. "It was nowhere near that close to me. You saw things from a completely different angle. I had plenty of space, unlike your choice to shoulder barge into someone with a knife in their hand."
"I hit him from behind his right shoulder joint, forcing him and the knife away from me," Oneakka pointed out, which admittedly did make sense.
"Well, my attack and defence was equally as well thought through," she countered. "You think that's the first time I've been attacked with a knife, Oneakka? Please!"
"That doesn't make it better, Raven!" He shouted at her.
The force of his shout and the clear emotion in it shocked her, not because of the volume or intensity he'd used, but because of the underlying point.
Was he angry at just her tactics or was it because she'd almost been hurt?
If that was his point, he was making the wrong one because she already damn well knew what that felt like.
He dared call her tactics stupid after what she'd seen him do?!
"You walked onto an irradiated Wraith Hive that was literally falling apart from the inside. I told you that was stupid and you ignored me. And what happened? You got impaled and I was the one that found you dying in a long smeared pool of your own blood. So don't you dare," she shouted as she pointed at his face, working to pretend she couldn't hear the waiver of emotion in her voice at the old scared trauma at what she'd had to live through on that Rogue Hive because of him, "call me stupid."
She was aware that her breathing was fast, that her heart was pounding in her chest so forcefully that she could feel it against the inside of her chest-bone. But she kept her eyes locked with his, furious at him in a way she wasn't sure she'd experienced with anyone before.
He looked away though, stepping back a pace from her, forcefully snorting a breath out through his nose.
"I'm an Elite; that's what I do," he stated as he met her gaze again, his anger seeming less now, but hers wasn't. She could feel it boiling through her entire body.
"And I've spent my whole life fighting against people like Zuka's Brother," she told him loudly through the stinging air. "I was fighting for my life in the snow when you were still safe with your family with Jin visiting. I've spent decades fighting people, Oneakka. Humans, not Wraith, so you have no right to call me stupid for doing what I've always done."
He looked away from her again, his pale face flushed red from his residual anger and, perhaps, from some of the sharp wind in the air. She saw him snort again.
She clenched her jaw tight, working hard to blink away the threatening emotional tears while he wasn't watching her.
He looked back at her. "Fighting smart is more important than just fighting because that's what you've always done."
"I do fight smart, Oneakka," she argued back at him. "Because I wouldn't be so stupid to go walk onto a collapsing Wraith Hive like some people."
"You walked into that Hive too," he pointed out with a glare.
"To save your dumb, stubborn backside."
He looked away again, but not as far away this time, his arms crossing over his chest.
"I thought I had earned more respect from you," she told him, hearing her voice tremble with hurt, but hopefully the wind was covering most of it.
He frowned at her. "This isn't about respect, Raven."
"Of course it is," she dismissed. "You don't respect my experience. I assessed the situation on that station and my priority was to keep those two idiots away from as many of those civilians, including children, as possible, and keep them contained somewhere where they could be easily identified and captured. I kept them distracted, after I sent a message to you for help, and I sent Amel out of harm's reach to go get more help. You can look at any tactical decisions and point out holes after the fact, like purposefully walking into structurally unstable Hive and then being surprised when you fall down a giant hole in it almost killing yourself."
"You're not an Elite, Raven," he said, his voice calmer now.
She pulled a face that that random comment. "Yes, I'm aware of that," she told him. "Plenty of people aren't Elite. Me not being an Elite doesn't mean you're allowed to judge me and tell me how to behave."
"I'm not saying how you should behave," he argued.
"Then what is your point?" She demanded loudly. "I'm the one who got attacked and you seem more interested in pointing out my flaws and mistakes rather than, I don't know, making sure I'm okay after something like that."
"I asked you three times if you were hurt and you said no," he stated forcefully.
He had?
"Okay, fine," she conceded.
"Are you keeping to that story, or did you actually get hurt?" He followed up.
"I'm fine," she insisted.
"This is going to happen again," he stated, emphasising each word.
She frowned at his obscure point. "Us arguing by a Portal?"
"People recognising you from your Dreamstation days," he explained. Oh right, she'd already guessed as much.
"Yes, it probably is."
"Then we need a better strategy to deal with it."
"Like what?" She frowned.
"Like you being armed with something more useful than a bag full of cushion covers and ceramic mugs," he waved one hand back towards the Portal.
"I can't carry guns and knives anywhere I want in the Alliance like the Elite," she pointed out.
"There are other weapons, Raven. Like tasers or chemical sprays."
Oh, she hadn't thought of that. "Well, I've never used those before," she argued.
"I'll show you how to use them," he insisted angrily.
"Fine," she spat back.
"Good," he nodded, crossing his arms again.
"Whatever," she found herself crossing her arms too as she glared back at him.
Again, he was the one to break eye contact first, looking grumpily off into the distance.
Her heart was still banging away in her chest.
Silence hung in the air as the wind pushed a little harder against her.
She looked past him to the Transports. "So, can we go back to the Facility now?" She asked, her anger still vibrating in her voice.
He turned away and strode off towards the Transports without another word.
As she followed, this time she was grateful for his back turned to her, as she felt the rush of post-adrenaline and a mix of conflicting upset emotions. The urge to cry was ridiculous and she used every bit of willpower she had to crush it. She'd maybe let it out when she was back in the privacy of her quarters, but she'd not let him see her cry.
He reached the first waiting Transport and climbed up into it, not waiting for her to board first like he usually did of late.
She followed him inside the ship and sat on the bench seat next to him, but crossed her arms and legs and leaned as far away from him as the cramped space allowed, her shoulder uncomfortably crushed up against the wall of the Transport.
The small ship lifted off in tense silence and she kept her eyes out the transparent side of the Transport, watching the moonscape rushing below without really seeing it.
He'd called her stupid?
He was the stupid oaf.
And she certainly wasn't going to talk to him again until he apologised.
Earlier she'd been so pleased to see his former pre-injury confidence returned, but maybe it wasn't such a good thing after all. She preferred the softer, more open version of him she'd spent the last months with during his recovery. But then that probably wasn't who he normally was, just how he was when he was vulnerable and sick.
She guessed things were changing back again.
Clearly not for the better.
00000
TBC