Fic: Momma Always Said (Stargate SG-1)
Title: Momma Always Said
Author: rhyana
Recipient: settiai
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Takes place after the events in Continuum and Search and Rescue
Summary: Some days it just does not pay to get out of bed.
By the time the SGC had learned of the Ori's new bioweapon, the plague had already spread throughout the base. SG-12, on a reconnaissance mission to P2X-589, had come in contact with a small group of Priors. The way they turned and attacked SG-12 was the group's clue that these aliens hadn't heard about Adria's or the Ori's demise. They immediately withdrew from the planet, and twelve hours later, all four members were dead.
Twelve hours after that, the entire medical team, save a few who seemed to be immune, had been wiped out. Landry called for a lockdown on the base, but by then it was too late. Colorado Springs fell next, followed by Denver. Colorado was declared a quarantine state, 95% of its population gone in less than a month.
And then the real trouble started.
Cameron Mitchell grew up watching the Corman and Romero horror films and despite all he had seen and done on the other side of the Stargate, he never honestly expected to wake up one morning in the middle of one. It was the scratching that had him on edge. The sound of nails being dragged along the concrete wall outside of his room. The click-click-click as whoever, or whatever, reached a metal door and rapped their nails against the surface.
No, sirree, he thought, no more horror movies for me.
The click-click-click came from outside his door, and he held his breath. He could see shadows coming in from under his door. They were not moving.
Cam looked around for anything to protect himself with. Deep underground, in a secret military base, he never thought he would be missing his P-90 as he was right now. Hell, he'd go for a zat just about now, because he was sure whoever was out there knew he was in here, and he just realized he forgot to lock the damned door.
He checked the drawers in the standard issue cabinet, and let out a pent up breath. A hunting knife, last year's Christmas gift from Teal'c, and a 9mm he must have forgotten to turn in. He tucked the gun in his pants and unsheathed the knife. The click-click-click had started again. Then he noticed the pattern change and his eyes widened.
Whatever was on the other side was tapping out in Morse code.
Hello?
He answered, using the knife to type out his message.
Who?
Carter. Who?
Mitchell.
Thank god. Open up, I see a shadow moving this way.
Mitchell thought for a second.
Are you compromised?
Cam?
Haven't seen you in a few. Did you turn?
If I had, would I tell you?
True.
Shadow's getting closer.
...
Cam?
...
It's Walter, come on Cam open the damned door.
Well, he thought, I'm damned if I do, and all that jazz. If I get out of the room alive, I need to contact Atlantis and warn them. But first priority is the hardest: Stay alive.
He pulled the 9mm from his pants and opened the door.
Tricky little minx. He raised the gun.
Atlantis
"Sir, we are dialing Earth in ten minutes," Richard Woolsey's aide informed him. He was used to the brief weekly contact with the SGC and the IOA, but the young man still insisted to keep him up to date. After six months, it was becoming tiring.
"I've sent my reports on to Dr. McKay, Mr. Davidson. He should have them compressed in time for the dial-in." The aide nodded and returned to his post.
Richard looked at his morning schedule. SGA-1 and 5 had off-world operations that would commence in three hours, with briefings to be held in 15 minutes.
Five minutes before his briefings, the Stargate lit up briefly. One more event checked off his mental list of morning tasks. He turned to walk to the briefing room when he heard Dr. McKay's voice.
"It's marked urgent," Woolsey caught the end of what McKay was saying, and turned to face him. Rodney was frantically pushing buttons to decrypt a message from Earth. He looked up at Richard. "It's a video message."
"We'll play it in the briefing room." The two teams preparing for their missions reported to the room. Col. John Shepard stopped short when he saw the tense look on Rodney's face.
"What?"
"We received a video message from Earth during the weekly dial-in. It was marked urgent." Woolsey explained. McKay pressed play. The group sat up in their seats when they saw Cam Mitchell's battered face appear on the screen.
"Atlantis, there's no easy way to say this, but Earth's lost. One of the SGC teams ran into some delusional Priors who passed on some sort of disease. It's nothing like the previous Prior illness," Mitchell coughs, his face wracked with pain. "This one kills in less than 12 hours. At first it looked like only 5% of the population was immune, but after the first week, that changed. It's 100% fatal."
McKay ran out of the room, his thoughts on his sister and her family.
"The kicker of it is, guys, that's not the worst part of all this. The dead are literally rising. The majority of the base is overrun. Those of us who are still alive will not be in a few hours. We thought the disease was contained to just Colorado, but it seems to be spreading. North America and South America are already reporting zombie sightings, and European news services are reporting people dying in the streets. I don't think we're getting out of this one.
"If they have not left already, keep the Odyssey and the Daedalus in the Pegasus Galaxy. The Apollo was en route before this started. They should be there in a week. Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran were aboard her. Let them know." And again, he began coughing. He looked back into the camera. "Sam's dead. She wanted an early morning snack, but I wasn't in the mood. Teal'c is safe. He's on a Jaffa-controlled world, left a few days before all this started to go down. General Landry and O'Neill were here, both are dead. I haven't checked to see if they're walking the halls just yet. These aren't the Romero zombies, people. They remember who and what they were. And they're clever. Sam... I thought she was okay. Didn't know 'till the door was open. I know Shepard and the rest of you looked up to her. I'm sorry.
"I've made sure this message is sent during the weekly dial-in. I need you to lock out all SGC codes from you computer. I've set the autodestruct to go off ten minutes after this message is sent. That should ensure the gate isn't used to infect other planets.
Looks like you're humanity's last chance. Keep us alive."
The Atlantis crew scrambled from the room, Shepard immediately contacted the Daedalus and ordered her back to Atlantis. The Odyssey was still docked. A tense silence filled the room. Woolsey mentally scrubbed the rest of his schedule.
"So, what do we do now?