Chapter Summary: A reunion and some background exposition
Chapter Word Count: 4,678
Disclaimer Update: Stargate SG-1 and related IP belongs to others.
A Quick note: Posting frequency? At least once a month, occassionally more, until this side story is complete. This is chapter 3 of 11 in this part.
Andy could feel herself being moved, information being relayed to her by her nanites. She wasn't sure why they weren't allowing her access to her eyes or control of other parts of her body. She'd tried to ask them but all she got back over the nanite interface was a feeling of caution and warning. The nanites wanted her to play possum, though that wasn't how they expressed it. They had her body behaving as if she were unconscious. And wouldn't even connect her to her suit's comm unit, claiming the pseudo-AI that controlled her suit hadn't rebooted.
When she got back to the Clan she was going to have a serious talk with Brittany about this. If she got back. Having a healthy survival instinct was one thing. Deciding she needed to appear unconscious was another. Even as a group they weren't highly intelligent, as far as she knew. They were just carrying out their programming, to protect her in an emergency.
The nanites kept her updated on her position, letting her know when they went up elevators. And where they were. She wasn't sure she believed them that she was several thousand feet underground. They claimed to have triggered her Clan beacon but were unable to detect her team.
From the smells hitting her nose through the suit's olfactory system, she suspected she was in a hospital of some sort, though what they were going to do with her in her hard suit was a mystery. There were only three ways to get it off if they wanted to check her out. A Fleet Medic could pop her suit in an emergency. Her nanites could do the same if they decided her life depended on getting her out of it, and she could pop the suit herself. Which she had no plans to do.
The nanites continued to feed her information. While she was being transported to this hospital, they'd started rummaging around in every electronic device they could interface with. They only had a limited ability to analyze what they found with her suit's pseudo-AI still out of action. Something their programming wouldn't let them fix. And she couldn't reboot it herself without access to her comm unit.
It was very frustrating. No control. Most of her senses shut down and her nervous system blocked. She suspected the nanites were also manipulating her hormones to keep her calm until she could be rescued.
Suddenly, sound started to reach her ears. The nanites had decided to turn on her external mic. And hearing. Just in time, apparently. Now if they would give her back control over her eyes so she could see things.
"What've you got, Doc?" a brusk male voice asked.
"At this point, Colonel, I have no idea," a female voice said. "None of my equipment can see through that material. It looks like a flight suit of some sort but I have no idea what could be inside it."
"Not even the Asgard doohickeys?" he asked.
"Not even the doohickeys," she said. Andy wished she could see this doctor's face. Miranda could send minions running for the hills when using the same tone.
"Carter said she might have something to get her out of it," he said.
"Her?"
"Her," the Colonel said. "If they're human, that's obviously a woman."
"You noticed," the doctor said.
"I don't think our guest is going to like us putting holes in that," another male voice said. "Looks expensive."
"If they die because something happened to them and I couldn't fix it because I couldn't get to it, it won't really matter," the doctor said. "But, as you can see, we can't even cut it off." There was an odd clattering sound.
"Huh," the Colonel said. "Wonder if it's bulletproof. Or staff proof."
"You aren't going to potentially injure my patient trying," the doctor said.
"Hey, Janet," a new, female, voice said, sounding like she'd been running.
"Sam. What's that?" Janet asked.
"High energy beam knife," she said. "It'll cut through almost anything."
"Without cutting my patient?" Janet asked.
"She didn't like my idea," the Colonel said.
"Of course not, sir," Sam said dryly.
"It was just a suggestion, Carter," he said. Andy wondered what he looked like. She could almost hear a pout.
"It's adjustable. We set it to a very shallow depth to test it to see if it'll cut this material. If it does we can remove the suit in pieces. It looks like it's designed to come apart in these spots," she said. "Probably has an emergency removal system if the wearer is injured."
"Do you think there's a way to get them out of it without cutting it to pieces?" the second male voice asked. "Could you hack into it?"
"It's an electromagnetic dead zone," Carter said. "It's not broadcasting anything detectable, and seems to be absorbing anything we point at it. That's why none of Janet's diagnostic tools work. Without something to latch onto, there's nothing to hack."
"Go ahead," Janet said.
"You'll all need to step back," Carter said, "behind the blast shield."
Blast shield? Andy thought. What kind of hospital had a blast shield? An internal alarm briefly went off in her suit, indicating some kind of energy was being applied to a spot on one of her arms.
"Stop!" the second male shouted.
"Danny," the Colonel said. "She wasn't doing anything."
"No, sir," Carter said. "It wasn't cutting. Not even a burn mark. Or any kind of mark."
"So, no cutting the suit off?" Janet said.
"Not with this," Carter said. "Daniel, what were you shouting about?"
"While you were using the knife, it looked like writing appeared," he said.
"Where?" Carter asked.
"Right there," he said. Her suit registered a light pressure above her left breast.
"Watch your hands," Carter said.
"Sorry," Daniel said, sounding embarrassed.
"I'm sure she didn't notice you groping her," Janet said dryly.
"I wasn't groping," Daniel said, defensively. "Use the knife again, at its lowest setting," he said. "Janet, could I have that camera?"
Her suit once more registered an energy source.
"Got it," Danny said. There was a brief pause. "Looks vaguely Mayan, though I don't recognize the dialect."
"The Mayan's had space suits?" the Colonel asked.
"Not like this they didn't," Danny said. "At least one of the Mayan gods was a Goa'uld but they didn't look anything like this. This is closer to one of those cartoons Cassy likes to watch."
"It probably says 'stop poking me'," the Colonel said.
There was a slight hissing sound and Andy felt her helmet unsealing and retracting. The nanites still weren't letting her open her eyes or move, but she could feel air on her face for the first time in hours.
"See," the Colonel said, after a minute of silence, "a woman in a space suit."
"She doesn't look Mayan," Daniel said, sounding puzzled. Andy could feel someone breathing on her, their breath smelling like coffee.
"And she's still unconscious," Janet said.
"Looks like you've got a Sleeping Beauty problem, Doc," the Colonel said. "Danny, why don't you go translate that while the Doc does her thing."
"I don't think you're going to be able to remove the suit even like this," Carter said. "There don't seem to be any gaps in it."
"No, but at least I can run a few tests, and hopefully find out what's wrong with her," Janet said.
"We'll leave you to it," the Colonel said. "Shout if you need us."
"Of course, Colonel," Janet said. Her suit picked up the sounds of fading footsteps as they moved away.
Miranda floated invisibly next to the bed. She couldn't say how she did it, she just was. Time didn't have any real meaning when you were ascended, she'd discovered ages ago. But if she wanted to, she could know exactly how long it had been since she'd last seen her Andrea.
Being ascended wasn't like having godlike powers. It was just another state of being, with some unexpected abilities. So Andrea's appearance here had come as a complete surprise.
She'd taken an interest in these rather intense people and their large metallic ring in a fit of pique. Ascending wasn't something she'd asked for, and certainly wasn't ready for.
She'd been on her way home from a rather unsatisfying trip to Tokyo. Runway Tokyo had been a small, unassuming, and experimental branch off her beloved Runway but the Board of Directors of Elias-Clark had insisted that she take it under her wing and make it do more than break even. She'd known before even going there that it was an impossible task. Fashion in Tokyo was different. Fashion in Japan was different. They gave the appearance of following western fashions but they were different enough that what worked for Runway would be a disaster for them.
She'd known this. She'd explained it to the Board. A traditional Runway approach would not work. Sure, there was some cross pollination. She would occasionally cherry pick articles they ran, and they would run Runway articles that fit their audience. But it was rare. It couldn't be forced.
But she'd had no choice. The Board had given her an ultimatum. Bring them into the fold or else. She'd explained the problem to the editorial board in Tokyo. But they'd been unable to come to a satisfactory agreement while she was there.
And then something had happened to the plane. Afterward, all she could remember was terror and screaming. And praying that she would survive to get home to her daughters and Andrea.
When it was all over, she was alone, on a sandy beach. But she wasn't herself anymore. She was this other thing, an Ascended being. The other Ascended she'd met, so far, were not very communicative. They couldn't tell her how to get home or what had happened to the plane or her people on it other than they hadn't ascended with her. They didn't seem to care about anything except their hobbies of watching the unascended.
She wasn't one of their Ascended, and after a brief flurry of interest they tended to leave her alone, after warning her to not interfere with the unascended in this universe. She wasn't a fan of voyeurs but there wasn't much to do in this place with its differences from home. She wasn't a historian and fashion lost its allure when she couldn't influence it. Sure, she could now wear whatever she wanted with just a thought. But no one who mattered would see it.
She wasn't sure how the large ring came to her attention. It just did. And she started watching them, the soldiers that used it, traveling to far flung places. It was a while before she made her presence known. And she noticed how it seemed to gather the attention of other Ascended, though none she was familiar with.
She found their doctor interesting, for a multitude of reasons. Here was a powerful woman, who was respected by the others around her. She ruled her department with an iron fist but cared about her people. Someone not to trifle with.
At some point she'd introduced herself to the doctor. And occasionally talked with her, finding her a much better conversationalist than any of the ascended beings she had occasional contact with in her wanderings. They left her alone, mostly. Although they had those noninterference rules, they didn't try to stop her from forming a friendship, of sorts, with the doctor.
Silently appearing, Miranda became solid. There was a brief silence in the room as she appeared and then everyone went back to what they were doing. She didn't appear often but they weren't afraid of her.
Nodding to the Doctor, she sat down in the chair next to Andrea's bed. Taking her hand, she concentrated on making a mental link. There was something odd about her presence. She wasn't actually unconscious.
"She's not in a coma," Janet said, joining her. "And she's not asleep. At least not exactly."
Miranda nodded, but kept her eyes on her wife.
"Do you know who she is?" Janet asked. "She appeared in the Gate Room, but not through the gate."
"Possibly," Miranda said, frowning. There seemed to be something blocking her attempts to contact Andrea through her mind. "This thing she is wearing is not something I am familiar with."
"It doesn't want to come off," Janet said, glancing sideways at Miranda. "Nothing we have will cut through it. What should we call her?"
"Andrea, she is Andrea Sachs-Priestly," Miranda said. "She does not belong here." She ran her fingers through Andrea's hair. "How did you get here, my Andrea," Miranda said softly.
"I'll leave you two alone," Janet said softly. "If you need anything let the duty nurse know."
"Anything to report, Major?" General Hammond asked, looking at Janet across the conference room table.
"We know our mystery guest's name," Janet said. "Andrea Sachs-Priestly," she said.
"How'd you find that out?" Carter asked. "Daniel hasn't been able to translate that inscription yet. Is she conscious?"
"No, still playing sleeping beauty," Janet said. "We have another guest visiting today and she told me."
"Another guest? Lady P?" Sam said. "What brought her here?"
"Why does she ever show up?" O'Neill asked grumpily. "She's bored."
"At least she doesn't cause problems like most of our Ascended visitors do," Janet said defensively.
"Yeah, she's just a barrel full of monkeys," O'Neill said, snarkily.
"She isn't an Ancient, Jack," Sam said. "She isn't going to act like them."
"Do we know what she is?" General Hammond asked. "She's here often enough to tell us her name. What else do we know about her?"
"I suspect she's from another universe," Janet said. "One where the Ascended don't exist. All we really know is that she was an important person wherever she is from."
"The 'Lady' thing is a dead giveaway," Jack said. "She has that stiff upper lip thing going on."
"It isn't a quantum mirror situation," Sam said. "I've been unable to find anyone with that name. And we don't know if that would affect an Ascended being anyway."
"What's her connection to our newest guest," General Hammond asked, making a note on his pad.
"She appears to know her in some way," Janet said.
"From the same universe?" Sam said. "Or just a coincidence."
"She said she didn't belong here," Janet said. "Her appearance here appears to be a surprise."
"Search party?" Jack said, appearing suddenly interested. "A search party of one isn't very big. So, we should expect additional visitors of unknown capabilities."
"I agree," General Hammond said. "We need to know what their capabilities are."
Miranda played with Andrea's hair while she tried to find some way through the dense fog surrounding her mind. But she really wasn't sure what she was doing. Some things, like the ability to take physical form, came naturally. Others, like communicating mentally, didn't.
There was a sudden gasp, and she found herself standing on a sandy plain, some kind of dreamscape she suspected.
"Miranda?"
Turning, she found herself looking at the one person, other than her daughters, who could make her smile and her heart hurt at the same time.
"Andrea. My Andrea," she whispered, throwing dignity to the wind and rushing forward to hug her.
"What are you doing in my dream? Are you really here?" Andrea said, her voice cracking. She wrapped her arms around Miranda's waist in a tight hug.
"Are you really dreaming?" Miranda asked. "You're just laying there, not moving. I was worried."
"Do you know where I am?" Andrea asked. "Damn nanites won't let me move. They think they're protecting me from something."
"Nanites?" Miranda asked.
"Experimental," Andrea said. "Part of the hard suit I'm wearing. Too experimental, I think. When, if, I ever get back I'm going to have a long talk with the designer."
"Nanites?" Miranda repeated. "What are they and why won't they let you move?"
"Little tiny nanoscopic things, like little robots. Sort of like antibodies. Except they work with my suit, provide it with extras. Protect me from things."
"What kinds of things?" Miranda asked, reluctantly releasing her.
"All sorts of things," Andrea said. "Something triggered them when I got here, wherever here is, and decided I needed to play possum until my team finds me. So they shut me down."
"Your team?" Miranda said. "You're here, like this, until they show up? Who are they? You're really my Andrea? Where did this suit come from?"
"We've come to take you home," Andrea said. "Found a portal to this place and came after you."
"We didn't have this kind of technology when I was there," Miranda said. "Are you sure you're MY Andrea?"
"I hope so," Andrea said. "The girls are going to be disappointed if you aren't. And the tech is no big deal. Got it from some friendly aliens."
"Aliens?" Miranda asked.
"I hear there are aliens here also," Andrea said. "Not the same kind but still aliens. Ours, the ones we've met, look like humans."
"There are a number of different non-human aliens in this universe," Miranda said, dismissively. "Explain. And where are the girls?"
"Remember that Mayan apocalypse I was always joking about? How we would all take that week off and go to Cancun and I'd do a story about it?" Andrea said.
"Yes…" Miranda said.
"Surprise!" Andrea said. "There wasn't an apocalypse but we did get some alien visitors. The Mayans are their descendants. I agreed to do a job for them and they discovered what happened to your plane. Thy let me come after you and here I am. Wherever here is." She frowned, kicking at the sandy ground.
"And the twins?" Miranda asked, frowning.
"They didn't come on the rescue," Andy said. "They're doing an internship, and while I'm gone my Aunt Sue is watching out for them."
"So, aliens who are Mayans," Miranda said. Her great grandmother had been a Mayan priestess but Andrea didn't need to know that. "The girl's father claimed to have distant cousins from there who were Mayan." And he'd claimed to be alien himself, but explaining that could wait.
"Yeah, the aliens kind of wondered about that," Andy said. "They were looking for family and the girls showed up on their radar, actually some high tech DNA scanner. More alien than most."
"It appears the world has changed drastically since I left," Miranda said.
"That's an understatement," Andrea said. "But I think you'll like it."
"I do not know if I can go home with you," Miranda said. "I've changed, physically, and may not be able to leave this place. But I will find your teammates to get you out of here."
"I'm not going home without you," Andrea said, firmly grabbing her hand.
"We will deal with this situation first," Miranda said. "I'm assuming they have suits similar to yours."
"Yes," Andrea said. "They should be able to unlock the nanites. Or convince them to let me out of here when I wake up. A bit boring being able to listen but not move or say or see anything."
"Do they have names?"
"Harry and Ginny Potter," Andrea said.
"Harry Potter?" Miranda said, raising an eyebrow.
"Not the fictional one," Andrea said, laughing. "It's really Harriet. They have this thing where they can pick their own names when they grow up. The Potter twins are really big fans of those books. But they don't look anything like them. They're five ten and look like escapees from some Swedish fashion show."
"And what exactly do they do?" Miranda asked frostily. "Why are they 'teammates'?"
"Did I mention that all of the Mayan aliens are female?" Andy said. "They're troopers in their version of the Marines. And kind of my bodyguards."
"Bodyguards?" Miranda asked.
"I don't really need them," Andrea said, trying to reassure her. "Lady Shadow wouldn't let me go on this mission untrained. I can take care of myself. But Aunt Sue insisted that I not go alone."
"Lady Shadow?"
"I think you'll like her," Andy said. "But can we discuss the aliens, our aliens, when we get home?"
"As you wish," Miranda said, nodding. "But I expect a full explanation."
"Of course," Andrea said. "How are you going to find them?"
"I have my ways," Miranda said. "I have not been idle here."
"Okay," Andrea said. "Do I get a kiss before you go?" She smiled hopefully.
Nodding, Miranda stepped close, and gently kissed her wife. Without another word, she pulled back from the dreamscape.
Opening her eyes, she found herself being watched by a larger than normal audience, including the base commander.
"Yes?"
"Can you tell us anything else?" Janet said. "I'm assuming you were attempting to communicate with her?"
"Yes," Miranda said. She had no plans to tell them everything, just enough to satisfy their curiosity. "She is who I thought. Her suit appears to believe her to be in some danger and has put her in something similar to stasis, but she is aware of her surroundings. She believes it is in error but cannot fix it herself."
"So, she can hear us?" Janet asked.
"Yes," Miranda said, standing. "Though right now she appears to be sleeping."
"How do we get her out of her suit so we can make sure she's okay?" Janet asked.
"I will have to retrieve her compatriots," Miranda said. "They should be able to unlock her suit."
"If you know where they are we can send someone after them," General Hammond said.
"It would be better if I retrieved them, General," Miranda said. "They may show up here looking for her eventually, but it would be safer if I approached them first."
"I would prefer that you not bring them down here first, Lady P," the General said. Miranda nodded in agreement. He was a reasonable person who made few demands when she visited.
"I shall return shortly," she said. Becoming immaterial, she stepped out of the mountain base. It wasn't teleporting, exactly. But it allowed her to travel quickly.
"So, there are more of them out there," the General said, having returned to his conference room with Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, and Major Fraiser. "Do we have any way to track them before they arrive?"
"No," Carter said. "Still no luck finding something that will detect that type of armor. I've discussed it with Thor and the Asgard have nothing that can penetrate that material or track it. It appears to be more advanced than anything they've encountered."
"Ancient technology?" O'Neill asked. "Or something else?"
"Something else," Carter said. "Lady P seemed puzzled by it, though she appears to know our guest."
Janet snorted.
"What?" Carter asked, turning to the doctor.
"Sam, where were you when the illustrious Lady P first appeared in my infirmary?" Janet asked.
"I don't remember," Carter said, "Why?"
"We were on a strategic mission for the Tok'ra," the Colonel said. "A hairy goose chase thanks to Anise. When we got back, Janet introduced us to her pet Ancient."
"She's not an Ancient, Colonel," Janet said. "Which you'd know if you read my reports."
"Isn't there some doctor patient privacy?"
"She's not a patient," Janet said. "And she is well aware of what I report about her to the General. It's a bit difficult to hide such things from an Ascended being."
"Okay, what'd I miss?" Carter asked, puzzled.
"Her name," Janet said. "Cassy's the one who started calling her 'Lady P' and it stuck. Her full name is Lady Miranda Priestly. And our new guest's name is…?"
"Andrea Sachs-Priestly…" Carter said. "So, they're related?" she asked excitedly. "They don't look like sisters."
"Lady P can be quite chatty for someone who's ascended," Janet said. "She drops in on us because she thinks the Gate will send her home if she uses it the right way. Though she's not really a scientist so she isn't sure what that way is. Just some strange feeling it gives her."
"So we're just going to let some non-Ancient Ascended person use our Gate?" O'Neill said.
"We can't exactly stop her," Janet said. "Once she figures it out she'll use it. Though I suspect this is going to complicate things."
"So, what do you know, Janet," Carter said. "Must be some steamy gossip or something."
"Not exactly gossip," Janet said. "It's right there in my reports. Right, General?"
"Yes, that is interesting," General Hammond said. "So, wherever our Lady P is originally from, her wife has managed to find her. Possibly through some use of time travel."
"Wife?" O'Neill sputtered.
"Time travel?" Carter added. "The few times we've encountered that it hasn't gone well, sir," she said.
"Well, find out how they did it," the General said, standing, "and if there is anything we need to know."
"Yes, sir," Carter said, slumping back in her seat, watching him leave. "Just great," she said, muttering to herself. "Time travel."
"What's wrong with time travel?" Janet asked.
"Flying monkeys," O'Neill said. "Huge piles of flying monkeys."
"It isn't that bad," Carter said, straightening up again.
"Just wait until the NID hears about this," O'Neill said.
"No plans to tell them," Carter said.
"You aren't ruining their reunion," Janet said firmly.
"The NID always finds out," O'Neill said. "There must be a mole."
"Shouldn't you be looking for the mole then?" Janet asked him. Nodding to herself, she picked up her things, got up, and left the conference room.
"So, what else did you find out?" Carter asked, rushing out behind her. "Anything that might be useful?" she added, her voice echoing down the hall.
"Geesh," O'Neill said to himself, looking around the now empty conference room, "Aliens who've ascended, possibly from an alternate universe, and now their families are dropping by for a visit. Teal'c better get back from his off world vacation soon, before everything goes to hell."
Miranda snorted in semi-amusement, as the small invisible spy devices she'd placed in the General's conference room told her what they were doing while she was gone. Thinking nostalgically, she wondered if she'd had them back at Runway if she'd have been half as amused at the results.
She didn't do anything unintentionally. What she'd revealed to Janet and the others she'd befriended at the hidden mountain base had been intentional, just in case, revelations. And now they should provide some protection for Andrea while she was gone. No matter how nosey and annoying the NID could be, no matter how often they interfered with the mission of Stargate Command, they wouldn't dare touch Andrea or her things. Not after the last time she stopped one of their frankly dumb plans. She had power, she was going to use it. Something the other Ascended had learned quickly. Her power, her energy core was just different enough that the had no hold over her, unlike other recent Ascended she'd watched them put in their place, all protests of peaceful co-existence to the contrary.
And now, as she stood, figuratively speaking, above the mountains, she searched for signs of Andrea's compatriots. She wouldn't call them bodyguards, even if that was how Andrea thought of them. She was very curious to meet this Lady Shadow who had managed to wrangle a very stubborn Andrea into doing her bidding. That was assuming she could go home in her current state. She suspected she would just have to risk it. She didn't trust any of these Ancient Ascended meddlers she'd met as far as she could throw them.
There's been a distinctive mental 'flavor' to Andrea's suit of armor. Sort of like ozone that indicated that it didn't really belong here. She just had to stretch her senses and find something like it.
And there it was, four separate living beings giving off the same mental odor. Four, not the two she was expecting. Centering herself, she let the mental feeling pull her towards them. No need to rush.