Daughter
Chapter 38 – Stasis
"Gracie."
Elda shot up, sweat sticking to her skin. She raised a hand to her forehead as she breathed heavily. She desperately tried to push fleeting images of Vala out of her mind. Struggled to turn off the sound of her mother's voice ringing in her ears. It was dark in their studio apartment. They only had the light of their data pads glowing.
She glanced over to Smith. He was asleep.
She looked toward Crawford. He was sitting up, staring back at her.
"Another nightmare?" he asked quietly.
"Sorry," she whispered apologetically. "Go back to sleep."
"I was already awake. Had one, too."
Elda's face crumpled briefly in empathy. The after-effects of their toxic gas exposure always crept up on them at night. It was a wonder they didn't wake Smith every time. They could distract themselves during the day. But the quiet of night did nothing to keep away the memories dredged up by their hallucinations.
Crawford held out an arm, inviting Elda to sit with him.
She didn't hesitate to settle into the spot next to him and lean her shoulder against his.
"Your mom again?" he asked quietly.
"Always her. You? Was it your dad?"
"Yeah."
They both remained quiet, letting the even rhythm of Smith's breaths serve as an anchor for reality. He was calm. With him setting the example, they could be calm, too. They didn't say anything more. Talking about what they were both dealing with didn't seem to make either of them feel better. They just took solace in the fact that they were both suffering together.
When morning came, Smith awoke to find them sitting next to each other asleep. He shook his head at them. This had been going on for days now. Aurelia told them to come back to her medical facility if they needed anything. But they both refused to let her help them with their emotional challenges. He couldn't convince either of them to take her offer.
Smith checked his data pad for messages. He found one there from Aurelia's brother, Noem, telling him where to report to today. The loading crew would be moving a bunch of heavy items from one part of a manufacturing facility to another. He now had the address for that assignment. They had about two hours before he and Crawford would need to get to work. That was enough time for the trio to take turns using their single bathroom and for a morning briefing over breakfast.
He decided to let his friends be and take the first turn. They needed their sleep. They suffered from insomnia, so every minute they could get was precious. He stepped into the small bathroom and shucked off his clothes. He slid open the drawer designed to freshen them up while he cleaned himself in the sonic shower. They needed to be carefully arranged on the rack, so every corner would have even exposure to the dry cleaning chemicals this station used instead of a washer and dryer. After the drawer slid closed, he stepped into the stall and hit the commands. Sonic pulses activated to gently scrub the dirt and grime off of his skin. A jet fan behind him vacuumed the debris away.
When he walked out of the washroom, he was in the same clothing he slept in, but at least he was fresher. They didn't have enough money to stock up on extra garments. The boys had their Lucian Alliance uniforms, their party clothes, and their station work wear. Once they saved up enough, they'd be able to buy Smith an extra set of party clothes. Aurelia performed at the clubs with her crew a few times a week. He needed to show up in something different at least once in a while. Luckily he wasn't the only patron to have just 1-2 outfits. It seemed to be the norm here, in contrast to the excessive abundance of his home country on Earth.
Smith patted Crawford's shoulder to wake him. His eyes shot open, startled, but he didn't make a sound. He knew Elda was still right next to him. Crawford gently laid her down on his mattress as he got up. She remained asleep for now. His buddy clapped him on the back supportively, but didn't say anything either.
When Crawford was done in the bathroom, Elda had woken and was already busy scanning the latest station news on their shared data pad. She did this every day, looking for signs of anything that could lead them to Reynolds. Smith was doing the same, focusing on the visual aids that went with each report. He still couldn't read the written languages here. A few words in Goa'uld were recognizable to him, but that was the extent of his fluency. The only thing they all had gotten good at was reading the numbers. They had to keep track of their tight budget very carefully.
"Look at this," Elda said, speaking up now.
Crawford leaned over to see the data pad. "What?"
"Says here that an official is ordering the clean-out of certain large storage spaces. Sounds like people need to pick up their things or risk losing them forever." The trio had learned that anything considered trash here was cannibalized to harvest raw materials from. The really unusable leftovers were incinerated to replenish the gasses the station used for power. They didn't have landfills or chuck rubbish into space. Nothing was ever wasted on this station.
"You think we might catch a break and see something to do with stasis pods?"
"Dunno. Might be worth a look."
"Alright," Crawford agreed. "Go check that out today while we're on the clock." He adopted his authoritative tone, being the most senior ranking member of the team present. He only outranked Smith based on time in grade, not necessarily by his actual title. They respected his position in the hierarchy. A clear chain of command would serve them better than the three of them constantly squabbling over what to do next. They deferred to Elda's expertise when the job required it. But otherwise, Crawford was in charge.
Elda nodded compliantly. Having her free to roam the station all day meant someone could be actively searching for Reynolds while the boys were busy earning funds for their operation. She sometimes felt guilty not bringing in any income herself. Yet her unpaid efforts had yielded some leads. They learned a lot about the station on mini-ops meant to follow up on them. And they'd begun to work more cohesively together. The group leaned on Smith being a charmer. Crawford could be intimidating. All three could turn on false personalities when the situation called for it. Elda was relieved by the boys' natural talent for this sort of work. She was confident she could build upon it.
The trio was truly becoming a little team, a sub-unit of SG-3.
And despite several disappointments, they hadn't given up.
Crawford patted her knee before Elda could fall into the rabbit hole of endless station reports. She handed over the data pad and accepted his hand to get up. After she headed into the bathroom, Crawford sat down in her spot to wait. They could all leave for breakfast when she was done.
Smith took the time to carefully check his blaster. "Rellie said she's gonna take me to a new venue tonight."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah, different entertainment district I guess."
"How are things going?"
Smith shrugged. "Every time I think I get close to learning anything to do with stasis pods, she changes the subject."
Crawford quirked his brow. "You think she suspects something?"
"I don't know, man."
"Let's see what Elda thinks when she's done."
Smith nodded to agree.
They made it to a restaurant for breakfast and sat together in a corner, as far away from other patrons as possible. Elda looked contemplative over Smith's report. "Maybe you need to talk around the topic then. Try asking her what the rest of her family does for a living. Maybe someone she knows is in the business of handling pods and that's why she's being evasive," Elda guessed. "It could be a taboo subject around here."
Smith scrunched his face. "Okay," he agreed hesitantly. He couldn't imagine why such a thing would be off-limits to talk about. But he'd been surprised before. They all knew there was still a lot to learn about station culture.
A chime popped up on the data pads. It was an alarm for the boys to leave for work. Crawford slid the shared pad over to Elda to hang onto. He could bum cash off Smith when it was time for a meal break later. She needed the data pad to provide her vital information as she roamed the station looking for Reynolds. They would have gotten her a third device, but she had no income to load it with. It was easier to just use Crawford's earnings instead of constantly transferring a share to an empty bank. Smith had to reserve his income for fake-courting his mark.
The marines got up to leave, but Elda grabbed Smith's sleeve. She nodded for Crawford to go on ahead. Smith leaned back down toward her inquisitively.
"Is she getting serious with you?" Elda asked with a warning tone.
Smith grimaced. "I hope not."
"Smitty, tread carefully."
"I know, Baby."
She eyed him critically. "What about you?"
"I'm good."
Elda looked at him dubiously.
"I'm good!" he repeated.
She pointed a finger at him. "Don't fall for her."
"I won't, alright?"
Elda simply stared at him. Then she gave him a light shove to encourage him to leave. She watched him go, shaking her head. She didn't believe him. He was attracted to that pretty mark. And those smiles of his were genuine. She felt the need to constantly remind him that they were planning to leave someday. He couldn't invest in that girl. It would just make it hurt more when they finally had to go.
She hoped they would find Reynolds soon so that he wouldn't have to risk his heart.
Elda got up with renewed determination. Maybe they'd find him today.
SG-1's shuttle had been hovering outside of the space station for a day now. Every day on the outside equaled about 8.5 days on the inside of the time dilation bubble. By now their young counterparts from SG-3 should have already settled in. Whether or not they had gotten anywhere with their mission was a big question mark.
The only signal the shuttle was receiving was from the station's external buoy. In her boredom, Vala had taken to interrogating the buoy with the shuttle's communication system. She randomly found data packets hidden inside the object's code. Apparently, if one knew where to look, one could read about the history of the station while waiting for it to open back up.
Daniel suspected such information was left there on purpose, perhaps to educate outsiders or to advertise that the station had long-established dominance in this region of space. Maybe both. Either way, one had to respect what humans had achieved here since commandeering the massive structure. They may not have built it, but they still managed to keep it afloat above a gas giant with several moons.
"Interesting," Daniel said to himself at the co-pilot's console. He reached up to the HUD to swipe to the previous page of text. The linguist squinted, going back over what he read in Goa'uld one more time. He had to make sure he understood this right. It was fascinating.
"What," Mitchell said next to him.
"Says here that when humans first stumbled upon the station, it was occupied."
"By who?"
"I'm trying to figure that out."
Mitchell glanced over to look, but all he saw was garbled text that didn't make much sense to him. He could read a bit of Goa'uld, but not quite to the degree that Daniel could. He didn't have a knack for learning it like the team's well-educated linguist did. By the time Mitchell had joined SG-1, Daniel was already light years ahead of him.
But the scholar wasn't too proud to enlist the opinion of a native speaker from time to time. "Teal'c," Daniel called out.
The Jaffa stepped up.
"What do you make of this?" he said, pointing at a particular section of text.
Teal'c leaned in to carefully scan written words glowing in the air above the console. "This refers to a race of ancients. But not in the same manner that Alterans are typically described."
Daniel rubbed his chin as he narrowed his eyes. "That's what I thought."
"What is it, Jackson?"
"I have a hunch. But I still need to cross-reference this passage against everything else in here. These historical texts are massive."
"At least someone around here has something to do," Mitchell quipped. His eyes darted back to the main pilot's console, seeing absolutely nothing different than the last twenty times he checked ship's status. He craned his neck around Teal'c to see behind them. Both of the women on board were taking a nap in the crew compartment. They leaned against each other while sitting up. He smiled at the pair then turned back to Daniel. "Keep us posted."
"Mmm hmm," Daniel answered distractedly.
Elda sat with her legs dangling on the edge of a platform. She had been observing the activity by the storage spaces for a few hours now. She sat on a sub-level higher than the commotion below, unnoticed and unbothered in the shadows. The station official who had demanded the clean-out was there, directing people to different compartments to obtain their things. Apparently, he needed the spaces for something significant and was remanding the storage rentals back into his custody.
Quite a few people had gotten into arguments with him already. But each time, he seemed to win by flashing some sort of decree written on his data pad. It was entertaining to watch at first. But by the fourth or fifth argument it had gotten old.
Elda observed people take back a variety of things. Her mind swam with prices as she evaluated each haul, imagining what she could have made by fencing them in her timeline. She noted crates of weapons. Boxes of data pads. Carts filled with fragile-looking vases. One storage space had apparently been housing a sleeping lizard, which was none-too-happy to have been disturbed by the move. It took three people to wrangle that large creature. She had to admit, she knew of no fence who would want that. It made her quirk a smile. That would have been a fun challenge.
The people lining up to claim their things dwindled. Soon, the station official was typing furiously into his data pad. A chime caught Elda's attention on hers. He just put out official notice that the planned auction would begin as scheduled. Anyone's items that had not been claimed were now being sold off. The proceeds would go back to the station. Supposedly. Elda suspected the station official would really just pocket any money he made off of other people's things.
She considered leaving now but the objects being brought out by a crew caught her eye. There was one large item in particular that captured her attention.
It was a stasis pod.
Elda hooked her arm around the railing post near her to lean forward without falling. She squinted her eyes. It was empty. She deflated for a moment. But then Elda realized, she could follow this stasis pod to its new location and find out what people did with such things here. And with any luck, it would be brought to where other pods were already being kept. Maybe one of those others pods would be hosting Reynolds.
She decided to wait to see what would happen. She kept her eyes glued on the auction, waiting for a potential buyer to show an interest in the stasis pod. Eventually a rather tall individual in a dark robe arrived. He rounded it, looking the pod up and down as if analyzing its worth. Elda then observed him tapping into his data pad.
The station official seemed to receive his bid and nodded. He shouted out at the people, inviting counter-bids. Some people glanced over, then chose to place bids using their pads. There was a bit more back and forth, but Elda could tell that the tall one was the winner. She slid backward from her perch and stood. It was time for a little pursuit.
She followed the buyer as he and a couple of station workers carted the large pod out of the storage area. Elda made sure to stay above and behind them so she wouldn't draw too much attention. They maneuvered through back corridors she had yet to explore. She made it a point to turn on her data pad's tracking beacon so the marines could find her if necessary. It was how Smith found them in the power generation facility several days before. They were lucky that feature existed at all. Otherwise she and Crawford would be dead right now.
The group paused at a gigantic set of blast doors. There was something about the way the seams of the doors interlocked that made her think they were air-tight when closed. She watched as the tall buyer used a keycard on a small pedestal to open them. The doors rumbled loudly as they slid open. Elda watched with fascination as inner bolts retracted automatically. The tall one pocketed his access card and led the workers in with the stasis pod.
The door shut loudly behind them.
Elda pulled out her data pad and dropped a pin on this location, saving it for future reference. When the boys got off work, she would show this to them. Then they would figure out a way to get in. Maybe she could have them distract the tall fellow while she pick-pocketed him and stole his access card.
She remained where she was, waiting for the group to come back out. When they did, the workers' cart was now empty. She followed the buyer when he entered the bustling common area of the station. Hidden in the crowd, she tailed him just long enough to watch him enter a residential district on the orange level.
Elda narrowed her eyes, gears now turning in her head.
Crawford purposely stepped backwards when Elda blinked her eyes at him. His movement made him bump into someone. "Whoa. Sorry, man," he said apologetically.
The other person righted himself and glared at Crawford.
The marine had the good sense to appear chagrined as he kept his hands plainly visible around his food tray in the restaurant. He backed away, bowing his head in further apology.
The man harumphed as he moved on, robes swaying around him. What he didn't realize was that Crawford's accidental push gave Elda the perfect opportunity to slip her hands into his robes and steal his access card. All she had to do was sit at the bar and wait for him to come close.
This part of the plan went off without a hitch. It had taken her another day's worth of surveillance to determine the tall buyer's routine and realize that he favored this restaurant. He seemed to visit it for all of his meals. The shopkeepers knew him and prepared his orders with haste whenever he walked in.
Now all Elda had to do was casually finish her drink and walk out as if nothing had happened. Crawford dutifully stayed in another part of the restaurant and ate slowly. They had to play it cool and not rush out the door. That would only make them seem suspicious. Smith remained outside, pretending to be busy reading the free station reports on one of the vertical kiosks scattered around the common area. But he was secretly watching out for his teammates in case the buyer came back with trouble.
Later, they all met up at the location Elda pinned on the map. She grinned at them when she held up their newly acquired access card between two fingers.
"I knew you could do it," Crawford said quietly to her, referring to her innate ability to steal. She might have been offended when he called her out on it before, but she certainly didn't deny her advanced skill.
Elda tilted her head and smirked haughtily at him. She used the keycard on the pedestal to activate the blast doors. The marines held their weapons ready at the sides of the opening. Their eyes darted in. Elda pulled out the blaster Jasuf had given her and joined them as they went in. The doors automatically shut behind them.
It looked like another storage facility inside. Large crates were stacked up everywhere, some with large sheets draped over them. It smelled different here. There was a stale scent to the air.
The trio sensed that no one was here as they silently moved further in. They didn't relax, however. There were too many places for someone to hide. Smith came upon a smaller set of doors with a window. His eyes widened when he peeked in. Without a sound, he got his friends' attention and waved them over. Elda pulled out the access card and used it to open the doors.
Inside were several stasis pods lined up in neat rows. A motorized cart stood ready off to the side, clearly designed to transport these pods to wherever one wanted them to be. The group quickly surveyed the rows. Maybe one of these pods would finally be Reynolds.
Unfortunately, he wasn't here. They were all empty.
"Damn," Crawford complained under his breath.
Elda found herself drawn to a console on the far end of the room. She tried using the keycard to activate it. The HUD instantly lit up with data scrolling rapidly across.
"What you got?" Smith asked quietly, stepping up next to her.
"Not sure yet," Elda whispered back. "Looks like vital signs." She glanced at the pods to confirm they were empty. She looked back at the screen confused.
"Whose?"
"No idea."
"Yo, we got company," Crawford whispered urgently by the door.
When Smith and Elda turned to look, shadows were indeed looming closer. She quickly hit a button to turn off the HUD and dashed behind a stasis pod. The marines had already done the same.
Voices came near. Everyone's eyes darted around, looking for an alternate exit. But there was none. They gripped their blasters more firmly as the voices grew louder.
"He claims he has taken on too many clients," a male voice commented as a pair of men walked into the room.
"That is his problem, not ours," someone else groused.
"He's willing to pay. I say we take a few of his jobs and charge him double for each." The men approached the console Elda had just taken a peek at.
"Hmm. We could use more pods."
"Exactly. We take two of his, deal with the contents, then dump them when we're done."
The HUD activated. The same information Elda had just seen scrolled across the display. Luckily, she hadn't done more than look. She had no time to interact with the console and change the view to something else. Neither man seemed to notice anything different about it.
"Here. Take your pick."
"These are the ones he already has?"
"Yes."
They leaned in to study the data. Then they argued about which pods would be worth their time. Elda glanced at the marines. They were calm. For now their presence in the shadows had not been noticed. She remained expressionless, a signal to her teammates that they could afford to wait. This was an opportunity. They could listen in and gain valuable intel.
After a few minutes, the two men settled on their choices. It sounded like they were planning to take on a few of the easier jobs. One of the men brought up a feed showing a close-up of someone inside a stasis pod. Vital signs framed the unconscious person's face. Elda narrowed her eyes. There was a mark on the person's forehead. The view quickly changed to someone else before she could scrutinize the image further. The men appeared to send a message through their console, identifying the pods they were willing to accept, and then shut it off.
They left the way they came.
The trio remained still. They wanted to be sure the men didn't return. After several minutes of silence, they relaxed. Crawford moved to the door and glanced out its small window. "Clear for now," he whispered. "Baby Cakes, get back on that console."
She motioned for Smith to join her. Elda re-activated the HUD and began clicking around in menus.
"What do you think they were talking about?" Smith wondered quietly. He stared at the screen with her, but didn't understand any of it.
Her eyes darted left and right along the text. "I'm not sure. But it didn't sound good." She tried to find commands that would bring back live feeds of people in stasis pods. It seemed to be buried among the menus. And not everything was translated live into Goa'uld so she could read it.
"How's it going?" Crawford whispered as he continued to guard the door.
"Found it," Elda murmured. She activated a display that seemed to show an array of identical symbols. She clicked on one. It brought up an image of a sleeping person in a stasis pod somewhere else on the station.
"She's checking the mug shots," Smith whispered to their group leader.
Crawford glanced back at them. There seemed to be two dozen symbols in the array. His eyes returned to the window.
Elda went through the list systematically. About half-way through, she and Smith's eyes went wide. His hand immediately went to her shoulder and squeezed. But Elda already knew to stop there. This is what they were looking for.
They were staring at a live feed of Reynolds, seemingly asleep.
"Shit. Where is he? Where is he?" Smith asked rapidly.
Elda scanned the data associated with the Colonel. "I don't know! He's alive, though."
"Looks like he's still on ice. You think they haven't gotten to him yet?"
"It's possible."
"Crawford," Smith called hurriedly. "Switch." He took his friend's place so he could go see.
"Holy fuckin' shit. There he is," Crawford muttered. He pulled out his data pad and tried holding it up to the HUD. Nothing happened.
"Nice try, but I don't think this works like everything outside. It doesn't invite interaction with the main station database."
"Elda, click around some more. See if you can get his location."
She backed out of this command function and carefully scanned the menus. She bit her lip as she tried to sort through a mixture of untranslated text. The system was like a maze. Several minutes later, she found something. "Quick, save that!"
Crawford used their data pad to take a photo of a station schematic with a dot blinking in a specific spot. "That's where he is?"
"Maybe."
"Let's go check it out then."
Daniel leaned back in the co-pilot's seat, mouth slightly agape. "Furlings," he declared in wonder.
"Say what?" Mitchell said next to him. He glanced at the display before Daniel, but still couldn't make heads or tails of what was written there.
Daniel pointed at it. "It's plain as day. Right here. Furlings built that station."
"One of the original races? Buddies with the Alterans?"
"They were supposedly part of the Ancient Alliance, yeah."
"Cool." Mitchell then furrowed his brow. "This mean anything for us? Operationally?"
Daniel stammered and sputtered. He looked at his CO sheepishly. "Uhh. No?" Then the archaeologist grinned. "It's just really, really cool."
Mitchell let out a small laugh. He patted his friend's shoulder. "Whatever floats your boat, Jackson."
The trio arrived at the specified location to find it was locked behind another set of doors. Their data pads seemed to indicate this was a restricted area. Only station personnel were allowed. Their stolen keycard could give them access, but they were hesitant.
Elda suggested that only Smith go in. If he were caught he could somehow explain away his presence using his connection to Aurelia, the station master's daughter. It was a stretch, but the marines didn't have any better ideas for how to move forward.
Smith moved in and began wandering around, staring at unmarked doors for random buildings.
Behind him, one of them opened.
"Gordon?"
He whipped around, surprised. Then he turned on a mega-watt grin. It was the same sort of smile he used while he flirted. "Rellie!"
Aurelia looked at him suspiciously. "What are you doing here?"
He refrained from swallowing. It would be too obvious a sign of his nerves. "Just exploring. I'm off work. This is what I do in my free time. There's so much station left for me to see." He tried shrugging casually and looking nonchalant.
She breathed in slowly. She narrowed her eyes and was about to warn him that he shouldn't be here, but he interrupted.
"What are you doing here?" Smith asked curiously.
Now she swallowed. "Station business."
"Something to do with your dad?"
Aurelia blinked a few times. "Something like that," she said evasively. She didn't seem too thrilled to be here. "Gordon, you shouldn't be in this area. How did you get in here anyway?
"Uhh… well someone else opened the door, and I just walked in right after 'em."
She rolled her eyes. Some of her station colleagues were a bit too lax with security.
"Did you even bother to use your data pad?"
Smith looked sheepish.
"I told you before, it will give you a full public schematic of the station. Everything is labeled. You don't actually have to 'explore.'"
Smith shrugged. "Where I'm from, seein' is believin.' It don't mean nothin' on a data pad. I wanna see all this cool stuff with my own eyes." He attempted to present himself as nothing more than a curious explorer. Someone innocent who was here by mistake. It wasn't that far off the mark. He never meant to be on this space station in the first place. And he hadn't done anything wrong since he'd been here. At least not until now.
"Hmpf. I see you. And I don't believe you." She crossed her arms.
"Rellie," he said hesitantly. He could really use Elda's advice right now. He felt like he was in hot water. And it bothered him that Aurelia had appeared right where they thought Reynolds might be. Was she on the wrong side of this? Maybe Elda's constant badgering was worth it. He hadn't committed to any sort of relationship with this mark. Their time together was fake. He didn't have to get hurt again.
"We have plans tonight," Rellie reminded him. She needed him out of here before anyone else caught him. She would surely get in trouble. "Go get ready."
Smith sighed apologetically. "Right, right." It felt like she was giving him an out. He flashed her a smile and turned around.
She watched him uneasily until he was out of sight.
"Why are you still here?" a male voice suddenly called from the doorway.
She glanced behind her. "I am leaving."
"Aurelia."
She turned fully to face the speaker. He was quite tall.
"Return here tomorrow. I fear that a few of these occupants will require your attention once I release them. They need to survive until my interrogations are complete."
She nodded her head, expression clearly displeased. "Yes, Uncle."
The team gathered behind Daniel's seat at the co-pilot console. He was busy pointing at the HUD as he switched between different passages he had marked. "So when human refugees who were fleeing the Goa'uld made it here, the Furlings gave them sanctuary."
"They were still alive?" Sam said in disbelief.
"I guess so."
"A race as advanced as them could have prevented the rise of the Goa'uld," Teal'c pointed out.
"If they were as advanced as we think they are, maybe they didn't worry about what us 'youngins' got up to," Mitchell retorted. He wasn't denying that the Goa'uld were a serious force to reckon with, but simply pointing out that they would be considered small cake in the eyes of a race that rivaled the power of the Ancient Alterans.
The Jaffa seemed to understand his meaning. He did not take offense. He merely hummed in response.
"And then what happened? To the refugees?" Vala prompted Daniel to continue.
"From what I'm able to gather, the Furlings saw great potential in the human race. See, they were already planning to leave. This space station was an outpost of sorts, far away from their usual territory. The arrival of the humans gave them an opportunity to hand it off to caretakers who could continue the upkeep of the station in case they needed it again later."
"I take it the Furlings never came back," Vala said.
"Well, here's the thing. They may have never left."
Sam's eyes went wide. "Daniel?"
"I mean, the original Furlings that were there may not still be around anymore. But their DNA might be left behind."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Mitchell interrupted. "You saying there was some mixed breeding going on?"
"Human-Furling hybrids?" Vala squeaked incredulously.
Daniel shrugged. "Could be." He gestured back at the HUD. "This text implies that control of the station requires Furling genetic code. The Furlings didn't want to stick around, so they somehow inserted their DNA into the humans who came to live there. Now I can't say if this happened with the original refugees or if it was done gradually across generations."
"Sounds kinky," Mitchell commented.
Sam smacked his arm.
Teal'c spoke next. "A race such as the Furlings could have likely manipulated genetic code without the need for copulation and interbreeding, ColonelMitchell." Everyone turned to the Jaffa, impressed with his point. "We have seen this occur with the Asgard," he reminded.
Mitchell scratched his chin. His beard stubble tickled the pads of his fingers. "Okay, that does sound more plausible," he conceded.
"Still," Vala mused with a mischievous smile, "I wonder if any of them did try to do the deed with each other." She patted Daniel's arm. "What did Furlings even look like? Would they have had the right parts to sex up humans?"
"Oh God," Sam muttered.
Mitchell grinned, thoroughly entertained with the pirate's naughtiness.
Daniel's eye twitched at his girlfriend. "They were humanoid. Just a lot taller than most of us."
"Oh…" Vala said deviously. She waggled her brow at Cameron suggestively. He laughed aloud.
Smith smiled admiringly at Aurelia as she stepped off the dance club's stage. Her teammates were also stepping off the platform in all directions. The crowd was busy cheering for them as the dancers caught their breaths. A virtual display hovered above the stage. It showed a meter filling up with bright color and a number continuously advancing on top.
The dancers regarded it with quiet satisfaction. They were earning a lot of zimas with this performance. Their shares were automatically being divided among each of them by a predetermined proportion. People in the crowd were holding up data pads toward the meter and tapping, apparently contributing money to show their support. One of the dancers stepped back onto the platform to greet the crowd and thank them. The people cheered even louder for him. He was one of the most popular ones on the team.
Smith handed Aurelia a fresh drink while some of her teammates gazed down at their own data pads to check their personal earnings. She quickly gulped it down. She smiled as she handed the empty glass to him. He set it behind him on the railing. "You guys did great!" he complimented her.
"Thanks," she mouthed, breaths now calming. The loud music resumed so that the patrons could now continue dancing on their own. No one else stepped onto the stage. Everyone knew it was reserved for performances only. This dance venue stood to make a lot of money tonight, having secured Aurelia's troop for a show. It attracted patrons from all over the station. The ever-flowing alcohol made every single one of them feel extra generous with their zimas.
Smith and Aurelia joined her crew gathered at another railing. They easily included him in their conversation and banter as the group relaxed in the club. Elda and Crawford were not there. They hadn't been invited. Upon Elda's insistence, Smith generally excluded them from time spent with his female mark. She didn't want the pretty girl to get confused by their presence. Elda needed her focused on and infatuated with Smith, so that she would more readily spill the beans, as Carolyn called it.
He now had new instructions. Smith needed to get Aurelia to explain what she was really doing in the restricted area earlier that day. And to see if he could turn her. It would seem it was time to take full advantage of her privileges as station master's daughter.
Meanwhile, Elda and Crawford were busy trying to confirm Reynolds's location. They now had a description of what things looked like beyond those locked doors. They were taking advantage of the lights being dimmed to reflect nighttime on the station. There was no sunset here. The visual signal was necessary to promote proper sleep among the inhabitants. It also offered shadows that the pair could dart among as they got in.
They reached the door Aurelia had supposedly exited from, then carefully went through, blasters raised. The smell of antiseptic chemicals immediately assaulted their noses. Consistent chimes and beeps filled the air with noise. It was dark. They could barely see a thing.
The pair stayed close to each other. Their shoulders remained in constant contact as they moved forward as one through the pitch black. Neither dared to use the data pad in here, for fear that activating it would reveal their presence somehow. Thus, they had no light source of their own to use. The only visible lights were the ones beckoning them in the distance.
They came upon a section with rows and rows of stasis pods. Their hearts beat faster. Elda sheathed her blaster and tugged on Crawford's sleeve silently. She made him come with her toward the beginning of one row. Together they peeked into each of the pods. A faint glow emanated above each stasis pod's occupant, just enough to recognize a face within.
When they got to the second row, Reynolds was sleeping peacefully inside the third stasis pod.
Crawford wrapped an arm around Elda's shoulders to silently congratulate her on a job well done. Now they just had to figure out how to get the Colonel away from here. They stayed together as they tried to find a motorized cart like the one they noticed in the storage facility.
The room's lights suddenly turned on, causing them to squint against its brightness and immediately dive behind a console for cover. They reached for their blasters again, but paused when they heard a familiar voice.
"You two are really something else," a female voice complained.
Their heads popped up. Elda and Crawford blinked. Aurelia and Smith were standing there in front of them. Smith was grinning. "It's alright, guys," he said reassuringly.
The pair stood and moved around the console to face them. They both put away their weapons. Crawford glanced back toward the entrance, noting it was closed. "Aurelia," he greeted. "Nice seeing you again."
"Mmm hmm," she intoned back, arms crossed. She was still wearing her performance gear.
Smith continued to smile, also in his party clothes. "So?" he asked.
Elda and Crawford grinned. "We found him," Elda reported excitedly. She gestured toward the array of stasis pods filled with people.
Aurelia didn't seem surprised. It looked like Smith read her in as the trio had previously agreed. She began moving toward the rows. "Which one?"
The group gathered before Reynolds's stasis pod.
Aurelia tapped at some buttons on a panel. A small screen on the pod activated to show her information like the medical reports back in her facility. These were not being conveniently translated into Goa'uld. Elda would have never been able to read it. "He's alive, but barely."
"Is it safe to let him out?" Crawford asked.
"No." The trio deflated. "He needs immediate medical treatment. More than I can provide right here. He needs surgery and time to recover."
"How long?" Crawford inquired.
"Too long, for your purposes." Aurelia drew in a breath. "Gordon tells me you intend to leave as soon as dilation ends," she said with disappointment. "But he'd need to stay admitted to a medical facility for longer than that."
"So if we let him out now, we'd be stuck here longer?"
"Probably."
"He's safer staying in there, then," Smith concluded, "until we can get him back home and let our own docs treat him."
"We can't just leave him here, though," Elda retorted.
Smith agreed, "No way. That interrogator is gonna get to him eventually. Then it'll be lights out for Reynolds when he's done."
"We need to hide his pod then. Elda, would this fit in the shuttle?" Crawford asked.
She looked up and down at the independently-powered stasis pod housing Reynolds. "Umm… maybe? It would be a tight fit. The entire crew compartment would be unusable." Elda then asked, "How can we get this pod out of here?"
"I don't see any of those carts," Smith noted, looking around.
Aurelia sighed. "My brother could help."
"Noem?"
"Yes."
Smith looked at Crawford. "What do you think? Read him in, too?"
Crawford's jaw moved back and forth within his mouth. "I don't see what other choice we have." He then turned to Aurelia. "Would you be able to erase our guy from the system? So no one comes looking for him?"
Aurelia tilted her head. "I have the access. But my uncle may still notice."
"Your uncle?" Crawford asked with astonishment.
"Her uncle is the interrogator," Smith explained glumly.
"Oh boy," Elda muttered. Then she had a thought. "What if we don't erase him? What if we just make it looked like he got picked up by the subcontractors?"
Her marine friends' eyes lit up. "Baby Cakes, you're a genius," Crawford complimented.
She smiled. "Blame my genetics."
The shuttle hatch opened on the deck of the George Hammond. Two people in flight suits stood ready with salutes to greet SG-1 as they disembarked. Cameron and Sam dutifully saluted back. One of the airmen spoke. "Sirs, welcome aboard the Hammond."
"Thank you," Cameron replied. "What's our status?"
"Ship commander is ready to see you on the bridge, sir. He can explain status."
The Colonel nodded. Then he turned to his team. "I'll go. You guys settle in. Wash up. Stretch your legs. We can meet up for a briefing over some real food later." The remainder of SG-1 nodded. Everyone dispersed.
Later, they reconvened in the ship's mess hall as planned.
"Three days out here," Sam explained. "Twenty-five and a half or so on the inside."
"Hard to imagine," Daniel commented.
"You think they got the job done by now?" Cameron wondered aloud. He bit into his sandwich greedily, happy to be eating something other than MREs for a change.
"Let's hope," Sam said.
"This better be worth it," Vala said, also enjoying her food.
"I have no doubt that our young counterparts are putting in their best efforts. The haste they displayed with their sudden departure demonstrated their motivation," Teal'c declared.
The team nodded in agreement.
Daniel quipped, "They're like the younger, edgier version of us." He quirked a smile.
"You feelin' old, Jackson?" Mitchell challenged.
"Oh he still has lots of fight in him left," Vala disagreed with a smile. She bumped shoulders with Daniel affectionately.
The time dilation ended as expected. But of all the signals that now emanated from the station, none were coming from SG-3. "Where are they?" Mitchell complained.
"We told them to get a message out just as soon as they could," Sam reiterated, also disappointed.
"Could it be lost in all this communications traffic?" Daniel wondered as he looked over the shoulder of the officer on the bridge handling comms.
Teal'c warned, "If they are incapacitated they may not be able to send a message,"
Vala glanced at him worriedly. "You think something bad happened to them?"
Mitchell addressed the ship commander now. "Are we reading any of SG-3's subcutaneous transmitters?"
The officer glanced down at a display on the arm console of his seat. "Negative. Looks like that sort of signal is being jammed."
Daniel grimaced. "We might need to go over there ourselves. See if we can find them."
Sam clenched her jaw as she studied another display. "Daniel's right. We can't beam over, either. We'll have to board it by ship."
"Back to our shuttle, then," Mitchell declared.
"We need to be ready to pay docking fees," Vala reminded.
"We should have it covered, Princess," Mitchell responded, referring to the stash of galactic standard bars the Hammond kept on board for occasions like this.
It required some back and forth on Vala's part to get some of the locals to explain how everything worked on the station. Apparently data pads were freely available. They used one to query the station database for Elda in an attempt to contact her. It showed she was unavailable to respond, but did offer a location.
Vala couldn't fathom why Elda was allowing herself to be easily located at all. That went against her previous habit of staying anonymous. She wondered if there was some good reason for it. And she didn't quite understand why there were stats attached to her name.
SG-1 followed the live directions on the data pad to an entertainment district crowded with people. They looked around, confused, wondering why SG-3 would even be down here. Loud thumping beats invaded the air. Patrons brushed shoulders as they waited in long queues. Vala observed that many of the young women here appeared to be dressed in fashions that resembled the outfit she saw Elda wearing on the comms. It made her suspicious.
When they finally found members of SG-3, the team adopted varying looks of surprise and consternation. Elda and the marines were inside one of the dance venues. They had no zimas to get in, so they were forced to observe them from afar through the wide-open entrance. Around them, young people spoke excitedly as they waited to enter the club.
Elda was up on a raised platform with a bunch of other girls, bouncing around to loud music. She seemed to be moving along with the others in perfect sync. Smith and Crawford were both cheering her on, drinks in hand.
The song ended and the crowd yelled. Crawford pulled a data pad out of his vest pocket and stared down at it distractedly. Elda approached to look with him, chest heaving from the activity. SG-1 watched as Crawford said something about the display and grinned. She matched his smile. He handed her the drink in his hand and she downed it easily. A few of her fellow performers were busy pointing at a virtual meter above the stage, quickly rising as the crowd continued to hoot and holler for them. Many patrons were aiming data pads at it.
"What. The. Hell," Daniel complained.
"They're partying!?" Mitchell yelled incredulously.
Vala put her hands on her hips as she narrowed her eyes.
"Huh," Sam intoned more calmly. "They look fine." She tilted her head curiously as she watched them.
"Perhaps this is why they did not send a message immediately," Teal'c surmised. "It would not be apparent that dilation has ended in one of these venues."
"It is pretty loud," Sam noted. "And distracting." Her eyes were drawn to the strobe lights of the club. The venue was filled with people bumping into each other as they all attempted to move about the crowded space.
"You saying they forgot?" Mitchell questioned with annoyance.
His friends didn't answer. Sam just continued watching, slightly amused now. This was the sort of experience her daughter would have missed out on by not growing up on Earth. She was glad to see her actually having a good time.
Now the crowd roared loudly again as new performers stepped onto the platform. This time, a random girl seemed to be pulling on Smith's hand. He was roped into the next song, but didn't seem to mind it. His friends yelled encouragingly at him as he participated. The dancers seemed to be doing well judging by the way the crowd continued to be excited.
"Who knew he could move like that," Mitchell muttered.
"Maybe he had extra motivation to learn," Vala figured, eyeing his beautiful dance partner.
Soon Crawford and Elda were saying their goodbyes to their mutual friends in the club. They walked out, shoulder to shoulder, staring down at the single data pad between them. They seemed giddy for some reason.
Neither of them noticed SG-1 watching them as they were about to brush past. Before any of them could get the pair's attention, a camera ball floated into their faces. An extravagantly-dressed man walked up to them and spoke.
Crawford and Elda paused and turned on mega-watt grins for the camera. She did a little wave. He placed a gentle arm around her shoulder. They answered some unheard questions, maintaining eye contact with the camera the entire time. It was soon over and the pair moved on, grinning down at the data pad as they were before. The man who approached them turned the camera ball to himself and spoke into it, apparently acting as some sort of entertainment reporter here on the station.
"Elda!" Mitchell tried calling out. But the crowd and the music were so loud that she couldn't hear him.
The pair got lost in throngs of people as they walked away.
"They're leaving Smith behind," Daniel muttered.
"Eh. He seems fine," Sam said. "Come on." SG-1 began weaving their way through the crowd to try and catch up.
Teal'c pointed when he spied the pair getting onto a lift. The team quickly chased after them, noting which level they exited on. The common area was busy; they had to wait a few minutes for the next lift to take them where Crawford and Elda had gone.
Vala had to query the station's database to find her again. This time it led them to a shopping district. They finally caught up to them there, where the pair was busy leaning down and staring wide-eyed at something in a window. They were practically drooling.
"Dammit, SG-3," Mitchell complained loudly so they could hear.
The two of them looked up, surprised.
"Colonel Mitchell?"
"Cameron?" Elda's face it up. "Hi, guys!" She waved enthusiastically at them. Then she turned to Crawford. "Oh shit. Did we miss it?"
Crawford was already staring in the direction of the station timers, which were currently paused at their version of zero. "Uhhh… I guess so." He grimaced. He offered the military members of SG-1 a proper salute. But he looked ridiculous doing it in his party clothes.
Sam grinned at him while Mitchell scowled. "Whatcha guys doin'?" she asked.
Elda smiled again. "Shopping!" She grabbed the data pad out of Crawford's hand to show it to her. "We just earned enough zimas to get him a shiny, new blaster! Latest model. Very, very nice."
"Almost as good as her new one," Crawford added, gesturing to the one resting plainly on her thigh.
Vala pointed. "Where did you get that?"
Elda just smiled modestly, eyes hinting at something. "Tell you later." The men of SG-1 quirked their brows. Vala looked at her suspiciously.
But Sam continued grinning. She waved a hand at them. "Well, don't let us keep you waiting," she said encouragingly.
Mitchell turned to look at her pointedly. "Colonel," he complained. It almost sounded like a whine.
"Oh. Right. Did you complete your mission?"
"Huh? Oh!" Elda responded. "Oh, yeah! Ages ago. Reynolds is fine."
Daniel blinked at how at ease she seemed. "Where is he?"
Crawford answered, "He's safe in a stasis pod. We have him hidden on Elda's ship."
"Where is your shuttle?" Vala asked.
"Blue dock. Our vestibule is…" Elda twisted her mouth around the next words uncomfortably. "…erun-theti-lau." She shook her head and waved a dismissive hand around in the air. "Their designations are different here."
"Clearly," Daniel retorted.
"Why is he still on ice?" Mitchell demanded, still unamused.
"Sir, he's in dire shape, medically. We were advised by a professional that if we let him out, he would need intensive care. But it would last longer than the rest of dilation. Plus we'd have the problem of paying for that care. Everything here is fee-based."
"It was better to leave him in there. The stasis pod is keeping him alive for now. He isn't deteriorating in there… yet. We figured he'd be better off recovering on Earth anyway," Elda added.
SG-1 blinked at their surprisingly reasonable explanation.
"So, what have you been doing since you secured Colonel Reynolds?" Mitchell asked. Teal'c tilted his head in interest.
Crawford and Elda looked at each other and smiled mischievously.
"Waiting out dilation," the marine reported innocently.
"While… partying?"
Elda pursed her lips. She tilted her head and nodded in agreement. "Honestly, this has to have been the most fun I have ever had on an acquisition job." Her eyes darted around as she seemed to get lost in memories, as if to confirm her own statement. "Ever."
Sam laughed aloud hysterically.
A/N: Big thanks to those of you who dropped reviews for the previous chapter. It seemed to be quite a hit :). Glad you're enjoying this fun party. I'm happy to report that the wait for Elda to join SG-3 is over. As we move along, we'll now get to witness the hijinks she'll get up to with her new best buddies. The adventure continues. Stay tuned!