Fic:: WIP::Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves IV:: SGA/SG-1::[b]
Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves IV
an Alternate Universe SGA/SG-1 Crossover
by Auburn
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four [a] [b] [c] [d]
Janet had lent her support to the plan to rescue the people being held by the Genii, so she figured she had an obligation to make it go as smoothly as possible. She didn't go to the ring room when they brought aboard the five Satedan assault squads, but she made a point to show up at the conference room where the rest of the crew met Dranta Kell and his seconds, Ronon Dex and Liraz Tyre.
Daniel caught up to her just before they sat down and gave a sotto voce warning. "They've got a thing about size, so don't be surprised if they try to push you around."
Given that, Janet felt a little surprised when Kell called out to her at the end of the meeting. "Doctor, yes?"
"Yes," she said.
"I would appreciate if you would allow our medic to liaise with you."
"And your medic is?" Frankly, she was a little surprised that the Satedans even bothered with a medic, but as a member of the USAF, she knew judging an entire culture by its military could be misleading. Kell was a soldier and had to put on a front of toughness that might not reflect his own character, never mind Satedans outside the ones she'd just met.
"My wife, Melena," Dex said. He waited a beat and added sardonically, "She's a doctor."
"Wonderful, maybe we can learn something from each other," Janet said. She didn't let herself blush, despite knowing Dex had read her immediate conclusion of nepotism.
"She's in the quarters we were assigned."
"I'll come with you and show her the way to the ship's infirmary."
Kell exchanged a look with Dex that Janet caught despite both men's annoying height. She just couldn't read it. Maybe Daniel would have, but Janet didn't have his anthropological skills.
"Good, you can keep me from getting lost," Dex said.
"No one told you how to navigate?" Janet asked as she started down the corridor to the interdeck elevator. Dex shadowed her like a large, looming sheepdog.
"Got told to stick with blue or green lines and doors and how to manually close one of those airlocks," Dex told her.
"Well, that's a good beginning," Janet said. "I think I can tell you a little more."
Janet pressed the button for the non-crew quarters deck while Dex watched. Revenge, when it had been conceived as the Prometheus, had never been intended to serve as a troop transport, but the possibility of needing to take a quick reaction force had been factored in. The non-crew quarters deck could be transformed from basic dormitory quarters to cargo enclosures with little difficulty. Though Prometheus had set out with a heavy cargo of supplies for the Atlantis expedition, the possibility they would need to evacuate the expedition in whole or part had been brought up and space allocated to that rather than supplies or equipment.
The Satedan squads, all five of them, had settled into the cabin quarters without comment. There were enough cabins to handle the entire two hundred person Atlantis expedition if necessary, so Janet wasn't sure how the Satedans had divvied up.
"Melena and I took a cabin with this mark on the door," Dex said. He sketched a recognizable twelve. "The rest of Essav are in the next two."
"Essav?" Janet asked. She stepped out of the elevator and started down the corridor. Dex shortened his stride to walk beside her.
"My squad."
She stopped before Cabin 12. "This is it. Remember how we got here?"
"I'm a Weapons Specialist, but I memorized the entire Battle Cycle of Bigar Diys," Dex said. He touched the number code that had been assigned to all the non-crew cabins, 1-2-3-4, and the door slid open. A young woman with curly, light brown hair looked up from a case lying open on one of the lower bunks.
"Ronon," she greeted him.
"Melena," he said and stepped inside the cramped cabin. Janet heard his voice soften. He shrugged in Janet's direction, where she'd stayed in the corridor. "This is their doctor."
"Janet Fraiser," she introduced herself. "I thought I could show you how to reach the ship's infirmary and we could go over what we can and can't do."
Melena smiled at her. "I was hoping for a chance. Your ship - Even Sateda didn't have anything like this. Are the medical facilities equal to it?"
"I like to think so," Janet said. "I had some input on the design. It's a little cramped, but there's a fully equipped OR and extensive emergency care facilities. All the equipment is state of the art." Or better, if you counted that Vala and Mer could both use a Goa'uld healing device.
Melena gestured to the hardsided case she had open. "I was going over my supplies."
Janet eyed the tight quarters and decided being approximately half Dex' size had some benefits. "May I?" she asked with a nod to the doorway.
"It's your ship," Dex said.
"They're your quarters while you're aboard," she told him.
"Come in, if you can get around the grumbak," Melena said. She slapped Dex's arm lightly. "Go count ammunition with Rakai or something. You're in the way."
Dex squeezed by Janet after making a face at Melena. Janet heard him rap on the next door down the corridor.
"Remind me to show you how to use the door chime and intercoms," she told Melena, before bending over the case to see what the Satedan doctor had brought with her.
While what Melena had didn't hold a candle to Janet's infirmary, it still impressed her. Melena explained that Satedan medicine had been considerably more advanced, but she was reduced to what they'd been able to evacuate out through the stargate when the Wraith attacked. That included most of an armed forces treatment element. Melena's explanation made that sound like a stripped down combat support hospital.
"The squads sometimes have a medic," Melena said as they headed for Janet's realm. "We used to get a group of them in for training every quarter. I'm the only doctor who made it through the ring. Perat Squad lost theirs and dragged me out of the hospital to treat the wounded at HQ." Her soft smile disappeared. "I'd be dead otherwise. The hospital where I worked took a direct strike."
"Your people are lucky to have you," Janet told her. "You should start training so that what you know isn't lost."
Melena sighed and pushed her hair back. "I should, but Kell and everyone else are so focused on... Revenge, I guess. Not building again."
Janet pointed to the stylized caduceus on the door into the infirmary. "Anything with that mark on it is going to be medical related. In the elevator, there's covered button with the same mark. In an emergency, you break off the cover and push it: it overrides any other commands and takes you to the infirmary level." She grinned at Melena. "It also activates an alarm, so you don't want to use it without a good reason."
Melena smiled back, then gasped as they entered.
"Let me show you around my realm," Janet said with real pleasure.
"It seems like it would be more efficient if you weren't the only one here," Melena commented after Janet had shown her the operating room.
"It is, but we really only have a skeleton crew," Janet told her.
"How many crew do you have?"
The artless question didn't strike Janet as suspicious. She'd have questions if she'd been on an alien ship among strangers.
"There's Lindsay and Daniel and me," she answered. "Vala Mal Doran and Jehan. Ro-Meredith. Dushka, Signe, Til - we lost Dil to a Wraith - the second shift pilot, Caias, and the first mate's a Hebridan. And Teyla Emmagan."
"But - " Melena frowned. "This ship is far too large for so few."
Janet chuckled a little bitterly.
"Vala and Jehan got rid of the rest of the crew."
Before Melena could ask, Janet added, "Don't ask."
~*~
Lindsay winced as the doors to the fabrication lab opened and she heard Meredith explode: "We're not trying to steal proprietary secrets!"
"Then why do you want our guns?" That was one of the Satedans.
"I need to analyze one - one - of your weapons to find out the tolerances," Meredith snapped. "So that the ammunition we manufacture for you doesn't blow your pot-metal travesties up in your faces."
"Our world stood against the Wraith - "
"Fine, whatever, as far as I can tell plenty of worlds have 'stood against the Wraith'," Meredith interrupted. He nodded to Lindsay as she sidled past the Satedan and headed for her work station. "They ended up flattened." His gaze sharpened along with his waspish tone. "And your boss hires you out in exchange for ammo you can't make any longer, because," he snapped his fingers and pointed at the Satedan, "oh, hey, your planet got smacked down too."
The Satedan growled and started forward, but Meredith extended his hand. "Hand it over." He snapped his fingers when the weapon wasn't passed over immediately. "Sometime this century, if you please."
Lindsay muffled a laugh when the Satedan growled and gave up the weapon he was carrying. Not his primary weapon, she noticed, and wished Vala hadn't agreed to let the mercenaries stay armed aboard ship. He heard her anyway and stared. She ducked her head and opened the spec file for the weapon. He had narrow, black eyes and she hunched her shoulders under his gaze.
Meredith hefted a testing kit over one shoulder and the Satedan weapon in his other hand. "I'm taking this down to the armory firing range to set up the tests. I'll feed the sensor data back to your laptop," he told Lindsay. The Satedan might as well have disappeared as far as he was concerned. Once we have the specs, we can put together a more efficient sabot and propellant load. You can start on a preliminary formula." He waved the weapon and left.
Lindsay wished the Satedan had gone with him. She gritted her teeth and bent over her laptop, then remembered Vala and Dushka's lessons. She wasn't the same woman who had endured endless harassment on Prometheus and before. The Satedan probably could hurt or kill her, but she'd make it cost him and her friends would kill him, starting with Vala and ending with Meredith. She had no doubt.
Her back straightened. "You can leave now," she told him. Her voice didn't shake and she didn't hiccup. She didn't finger the knife strapped to her arm under her jacket sleeve. Don't touch your weapons, Dushka had told her, learn their weight and check their presence. Touching them just gives away where they are to your enemy.
He came around the work bench and peered over Lindsay's shoulder.
"I'm Liraz Tyre."
"I'm busy," she said, "so unless you want to explain to your boss why he doesn't have his ammunition as soon as possible...?"
He stepped back. "I wouldn't want to interfere with a Specialist. I hadn't realized you were - "
Lindsay decided to take a page out of Meredith's operating manual. "Yes, I'm an engineering specialist, not to mention that I helped design the hyperdrives on this ship and know more about Asgard technology than anyone in this galaxy... I could keep this ship running all by myself if I had to." She turned and could almost see Tyre's eyes glazing. This was almost fun. No wonder Meredith ranted so often. "Why are you still here? Go away."
"My apologies for taking up your time, Engineering Specialist," Tyre said. He dipped his head and left.
Lindsay sat back on her stool and blew out a breath that made her bangs flutter. She'd done it. She'd faced him down. With a giggle, she set her stool spinning. "Yes!" She pumped her fist in the air.
~*~
"I thought you were a High Scholar," Ronon commented as Daniel joined Essav Squad in the ring room. He'd geared up for a mission the way he always had for SG1 with a couple of additions, including the tiny radio headset would let him stay in contact with Revenge and the Satedan assault force.
Instead of a pack carrying video cameras, digital recorders, and a notebook along with survival gear, Rodney - Meredith - had outfitted him with a armored tac vest loaded with extra clips for his Beretta and the P90 clipped to it, extra bandages, and the odds-and-ends they'd learned could save a life. A waterproof container of matches and several candles, chem lights, plastic lockpicks, a multi-tool, fishhooks, needles and a spool of superfine, superstrong thread that could be used as fishing line or sutures, an extra-large tube of wide spectrum antibiotic that Janet made up, spare socks, a small pot of fluorescent paint, and chocolate bars. It made Daniel wonder if Meredith still had the allergies that had prompted everyone on SG1 to carry an epipen or if the Tok'ra had fixed that.
"Mmm," Daniel mumbled. He double-checked the strap on his thigh holster then shrugged to settle everything into place. "I'm a decent shot as long as I have my glasses."
"Why do we need him with us?" Rakai complained. He sneered at Daniel. "Even if he can shoot, he'll slow us down."
Ara didn't seem to dislike Daniel, but she held up the tablet Meredith had programmed for the five squads. "We have the pictures of everyone we're looking for on these things."
"So you'll know them," Meredith said, hustling in and heading for the ring controls. "But they'll know Daniel, making it much easier to rescue them so they'll, you know, cooperate and come with you?" He tapped his radio. "Jehan, synch that deep scan we did on the bunker system to the ring controls. I'm going to do a little fine tuning since we'll be sending everyone underground."
Daniel hid a wince. No matter how many times he'd used them, the transport rings made him far more nervous than the stargate. It was the knowledge of being sent through something solid rather than space. Besides, there was always a stargate at the other end of a wormhole to let him get back. Well, not always, but usually.
"Everyone have their transponders?" Meredith asked. "Remember to stand as close together as possible when you trip one, otherwise you might leave some pieces behind."
"We're ready," Dex told him, taking a place next to Tyre and his other two squad mates. Essav was missing a member; Daniel hadn't had the gall to ask if whoever it had been had been lost in the Great Culling. It seemed pretty obvious and if not, then it was likely an even sorer spot.
Daniel stepped into the ring area. He stood with his boot tip at the foot control, but this time, Meredith would be activating the transport. Essav Squad shifted to put him at the center of their formation and brought the weapons into ready position.
The other four squads pressed back against the walls of the ring room. Daniel caught Naghi and Chisa watching him; he'd chatted with both soldiers in the mess hall, the members of Bilat were younger and friendlier than Nirav and Hanad squads.
"Ready," Tyre said.
Meredith met Daniel's eyes and he nodded. "I'm good," he said while flicking the safety off his P90.
"Transporting now," Meredith said.
Daniel squeezed his eyes shut, only opening them after the flare of white against his lids dissolved. He'd learned the hard way to save his vision.
Essav were all still blinking.
"Move," Daniel told them. He pushed at Ara's shoulder. "We need to clear for the next transport."
They were in a empty, high-ceilinged cavern. Distant light infiltrated from above, but the light on Daniel's P90 did a better job of penetrating the shadows and showing the chamber was empty. The walls were wet. Under the noise of Essav squad getting out of the way, he thought he heard the hum of machinery.
"Transporting," Mer's voice whispered through Daniel's earpiece.
"Close your eyes," Dex told the rest of Essav. He learned fast.
Bilat squad stumbled out of the way and took up places on guard.
"Transporting."
Nirav, then Haned, and finally Chavan squads arrived.
"Low profile," Dex whispered and reminded the others, "In and out clean is our goal, not maximum destruction."
Dranta Kell would stay on the bridge of Revenge with Vala and Jehan. Once the captives were located, the ship would rain destruction down somewhere far enough away to draw the Genii's attention and not take out their subjects with friendly fire.
The Satedans moved fast and silently. Daniel had to trot to keep up with their long legs. He found himself wishing he'd used Revenge's gym and the treadmills there more as he tried to keep his breathing quiet. They worked their way deeper and deeper into the Genii's underground facility - it was almost a city. The Genii weren't wasting power on lighting at least, which made keeping to the shadows easier even in the high traffic areas. Daniel switched the light on his P90 off so it wouldn't give them away.
Two soldiers on patrol in uniforms were silently disposed of as they reached inhabited portions; Ara and one of the Haned taking them out with knives. A woman, likely a civilian given her lack of the gray uniforms Daniel already hated for what it said about Genii society - was choked out and left, tied and gagged, in the shadows of an empty office. The vibrating whine of massive turbines somewhere below grew more noticeable the deeper they went.
The Genii hadn't been nice enough to leave any handy You-Are-Here maps posted anywhere. Daniel had been looking, but none of the doors or corridors had any sort of identifying markings. These people were deeply paranoid. Lacking any clues about where to look for the captives, though, they were going to need to ask questions. He didn't anticipate it going well.
Rakai and Tyre snagged an older man in uniform as he turned into the corridor. He had a mug of something steaming in one hand and a folder of papers. Daniel thought he'd be a good candidate to know something. The drink splashed to the floor and the papers fluttered after it. One of Bilat squad gathered them up and the mug. The dark stain of the liquid could barely be picked out under the dim lighting.
Chavan deployed to keep watch on their six. Two of Haned ghosted forward, a sentry standing in place at the corridor intersection.
"Call out and die," Rakai told the man once he was pinned to the wall. The knife pricking the soft flesh under his chin emphasized the message.
"Who are you?" the man demanded. "How did you get here? We have watchers at the Ancestors' ring."
"We don't need it," Rakai taunted. "We've got a ship." The Satedans had adapted to shipboard life fast. A week in hyperspace and they'd begun talking about how a ship could make it possible to go after the Wraith. Daniel had done a lot of listening. All of Kell's solders were fixated on avenging Sateda. Essav squad and Rakai were typical. The specialists like Dex and Tyre were too pragmatic to think they could achieve much, while the regular soldiers like Rakai thought if they fought hard enough and were the best, they could change... something. Daniel thought Kell encouraged the delusion.
Rakai dug the knife in deeper. "We need some answers."
"I won't help you - "
Tyre punched him in the solar plexus. Rakai pulled the knife back just in time to keep from severing something as the man's head jerked forward. Only his head moved. He couldn't double over thanks to the hold the others had on him. Pained gasps were the only sound he made for several minutes. The Satedans waited impatiently.
"You can answer the question, end up tied up and left somewhere, or you can bleed out right now," Tyre promised softly into the man's ear.
"W-what?" the man panted. "What do you want?"
"The Tau'ri," Daniel said. "Where are you keeping them?"
"Wh-who?"
"The Tau'ri," Tyre repeated.
"The captives, the people who came here fleeing a culling, that you're holding here," Daniel added. Smeadon's story meshed with what Teyla knew; Genea had been one of the worlds the Athosians would have fled to after a culling. The expedition survivors would have gone with them. Then the Genii had seen a chance, he supposed. Scientists probably had little value on most low tech worlds, but for one trying to bootstrap its way to parity or better against the Wraith, the expedition's people would have been a sudden windfall.
"I-I don't-"
Rakai opened a shallow slice along the Genii's jawline. Blood poured down his neck. He whimpered and bucked.
"Please - "
Rakai sliced again, parallel to the first cut.
"Next one goes all the way in."
"Tha'an level! Kolya has them kept on Tha'an level," their captive blurted.
Thaan meant fourth rendered by the useful but often unreliable translation download the stargates helpfully added to the brain after several trips through. Daniel's working theory was that the stargate system propagated a holographic rendering of language through the network. The more often you went through the stargate, the clearer the picture it took became. More people who spoke the same language traveling through the gate also added to the sample pool. Years of SG teams going through the stargate back in the Milky Way had made it increasingly easy to understand other stargate using culture's languages.
That didn't explain why Goa'uld had never translated, but Daniel suspected the gate builders hadn't had parasitic megalomaniac snakes in mind. Maybe they fouled the translator system up for hosts and Jaffa.
"How many?" Tyre asked.
The Genii man frowned, obviously confused that they didn't know how many people they were after.
"Si-five."
"Which is it? Five or six?" Rakai demanded.
"Five!"
"How do we get to Tha'an level?"
"Down this corridor, two lefts, down the stairs two levels. There - there are guards. They'll kill you - "
Rakai sliced the knife deep the third time.
Daniel bit back a protest. Only because he knew no one would listen to him. He filed it away to throw at Vala, though he doubted she'd care. If she did object to the Satedans' methods, what she could do about it? Vala would pragmatically declare that the dead Genii couldn't shoot them in the back.
The directions proved good.
Chavan squad went through the door onto the fourth level first and came under Genii fire immediately. The directions had been good but must not have included something. The Genii couldn't be so paranoid they shot at anyone coming through a door, so they must have had some kind of warning. Maybe a motion alarm in the stairwell.
Essav and Nirav went through the doors firing down the corridor at anything that moved. Daniel followed with his P90 at ready too. Suddenly he didn't mind the Genii proclivity for uniforms. It made picking targets much less nerve-racking. He fired a burst at a soldier trying to fire from a low position. The bone-rattling boom of the triple-barreled weapons the Satedans used mixed with the sharper chatter of the P90 and the Genii's own projectile weapons.
Dex slammed Daniel back against the wall in time to avoid being shot in the back as more Genii rushed in from the same stairwell they'd used, catching the assault force in a pincer. He thought they might be in trouble, because the Genii could keep throwing men at them from both sides, but he hadn't realized just how good the Satedans were. They were professionals on a level that he hadn't seen since working beside Jack and some of the best marines the SGC used.
Using one hand to fire at the Genii, Dex activated his radio with the other and spoke. "Revenge, do you read?" The Satedans had understood the reasoning for radio protocols and memorized them the same day Mer handed out the headsets.
"We've got a lock on your trackers, Essav," Daniel heard through his own headset.
Dex kept Daniel pinned to the wall. His breath brushed Daniel temple, hot and with a hint of the peppers from breakfast in the mess. "Fire mission four."
"One distraction coming up, Essav."
The floor under their boots heaved, though distance and the earth between muffled the boom that must have accompanied the weapon firing down from orbit. Dust sifted down from the light fixtures and puffed up from every crack and cranny. A second and third impact jolted everything. The Satedans rode it out like sailors, snapping shots off that drove the Genii back into the stairwell and the other end of the corridor.
"Move," Dex ordered, doing so himself.
Daniel stuck with him.
The wounded were on their feet, except for one of the Chavan. His squad mates stripped him of anything useful then wrapped his hand around a Satedan grenade before rolling him onto his stomach. As soon as a Genii messed with the body, the grenade would roll loose and detonate.
A long time ago, Daniel would have been horrified. He could remember being that man, but today he approved.
The Satedans began clearing the rooms along the corridor methodically. Dex would let Daniel in to check faces if they found anyone inside. The first three only gave up Genii working at equipment that looked like it dated back to the 1930s or 40s to Daniel.
A spat of Czech from the fourth room had Daniel pushing past Dex. He blinked and merged the bruised and ill-looking man wearing glasses that only had one lens with the ID photograph from the expedition records.
"Dr. Zelenka?"
Zelenka peered at Daniel. "Dr. Jackson?"
"This one of yours?" Dex asked.
"Yes," Daniel said absently. He realized that Zelenka was wearing a manacle on one ankle that chained him to the floor. The chain let him reach a work table, a small cot and a toilet in the corner.
"Who has the key?" Dex asked Zelenka with a gesture to the manacles.
"There is no key," Zelenka replied. He raised his foot. "It is welded on."
Dex nodded grimly. "Get under the cot, we'll blow the chain off at the far end, get the rest off back on the ship."
Zelenka nodded.
Explosive Specialist Tyre knelt where the chain was anchored and began packing the Satedan's explosive in place.
"Who else is here?" Daniel asked Zelenka.
"Doctors Kusanagi, Dumais, Wagoner, Abrams, myself and Brendan Gall," Zelenka replied. "At least, I believe so. Commander Kolya may have taken Gall or Wagoner with him."
"Out," Dex insisted as Tyre held up a hand, fingers splayed.
"On five," Tyre said.
"Take cover," Daniel yelled to Zelenka.
Dex pulled Daniel outside the room. Tyre flung himself after them, counting down as he did. "... three, two - "
Whump.
Daniel pushed his way back into the room, coughing and searching for Zelenka through watering eyes. The scientist had already rolled out from under his cot and was coiling the chain around his leg and anchoring it to his belt to keep it out of the way as he moved. Dex let out a grunt of approval.
"Anyone else chained up?" Tyre asked.
"No," Zelenka said. "With the stargate under guard and myself as hostage, Kolya believed the others would not attempt an escape."
"Makes things easier," Dex said. "You know where they are?"
"Three doors down," Zelenka replied, limping after them. In the corridor outside, he paused to kick a dead Genii soldier then looked sidelong at Daniel. "We are to make them better bombs. The radiation down here is five times normal, though we have introduced them to the concept of shielding."
Meredith's voice whispered in Daniel's ear. "Did I hear that right? Because if they'd put in lead shielding we wouldn't be talking on this radio."
Daniel touched the mic control. "Maybe the radioactive material is elsewhere."
Zelenka interrupted, "Kolya took the first bomb somewhere."
"You helped them make nukes?" Daniel exclaimed.
"Wonderful," Mer announced, "nuclear Nazis."
"Because, of course, obviously we wanted to," Zelenka replied in a sour voice. "Except for you, Dr. Jackson, I do not think these are soldiers of the SGC."
"Yeah. That's... " Daniel floundered. "That's pretty complicated."
"Of course." Zelenka helped himself to a weapon from another dead Genii soldier.
The remaining scientists were in the room Zelenka had indicated.
"Gall's with Kolya," Lydia Dumais stated. She glared at Wagoner. "He's the better bootlicker."
"Come on," Daniel said. "We're getting out of here."
Miko Kusanagi smiled through the tears running down her face. "I am so glad you've come."
"Yeah, now the weasels can get theirs," Dumais said meaningfully, her dark gaze still hot on Wagoner.
Meredith snapped something off-microphone and the rumble of another distant explosion rolled the floor under their feet. The scientists looked panicky and uncertain. Meredith announced, "I can't get a lock for the rings. You have to move up to the level where you started."
"Talk about it later," Dex ordered. "I want each of you with one of the squads for protection until we can transport out."
"Stick with me," Daniel told Zelenka.
Dex pointed out Miko, Dumais, Abrams and Wagoner and assigned, "Hanad, Nirav, take the women. Chavan, Bilat, him and him."
Naghi, from Bilat squad, reached for Wagoner's arm. Wagoner reared back. He shook his head. "I don't know you, any of you, I'm not going anywhere - "
"Eddie," Dumais snapped, "if the diversion keeps making the earth move, the crap ass containment at their refinery facility is going to crack and flood these damn tunnels with radiation."
Daniel twitched. "Radiation?"
Wagoner kept shaking his head. He pointed at Naghi. "They're not from the SGC! We can't trust them!"
"We can trust Dr. Jackson," Zelenka insisted.
"Naghi," Bilat's lead snapped, "just grab him."
Naghi obeyed or tried to; Daniel would never have a clear idea of the order of the scuffle that followed. There were just still frames, flipping past like a stack of pictures being fanned with no accompanying sound. Wagoner grabbed up something from the table behind him, white-bright as a laser or a torch, Naghi howled in pain and fired his weapon as Abrams tackled Wagoner. Flip. Blood spread from a hole in Abram's back. Flip flip. Wagoner's mouth stretched wide and Naghi's hand lying on the floor. The cutting laser rolled to a stop against the table leg, its blade drilling a precise hole into the metal wall beyond and Wagoner's head exploded into red mist.
Sound snapped back on. Naghi was screaming.
Zelenka cursed steadily, a filthy, furious litany of languages that needed no translation under the circumstances.
The laser had cauterized Naghi's stump at least. He wasn't bleeding out. Daniel started forward to check Abrams, hoping he might still be alive too. Dex's hand clamped onto his shoulder.
"We go now," Dex said.
"At least get his hand," Daniel protested. "Janet might be able to do something. Or Vala. We have Goa'uld healing devices... "
Chisa scooped up Naghi's hand, shoved it inside her tac vest, then pulled him to his feet by his good arm. He leaned against her, but stayed on his feet.
The Satedans chivvied Dumais and Kusanagi closer between them and grimly headed out, back down the corridor to the stairwell and up. The Genii were waiting above, prompting a second fire fight. Daniel shoved his Beretta into Zelenka's hands and sprayed bursts of cover fire over head as they stayed low as possible and scrambled up the stairs.
Tyre tossed grenades back down the stairwell as soon as they made the next landing.
"Having fun?" Mer asked over the radio but he sounded grim.
"Have you got a lock yet?"
"We have to have the rings directly overhead to work," Mer replied. "You keep moving."
"Yeah, we're being shot at! You're the damned
genius, figure something out!" Daniel snapped back and shot another Genii soldier.
The other Genii pulled back up the stairs.
"Cover!" Tyre shouted and lobbed a grenade through the next landing's doorway.
Daniel ducked, taking Zelenka down with him, and squeezed his eyes shut.
Boom.
Dust and bits of cement showered them. Daniel choked and began coughing on the gray powder. His ears rang over the mad thud of his pulse.
"Move, move, move!" Dex yelled at them. He sounded muffled. Gray dust coated his dreads. He caught the back of Zelenka's pants and lifted him onto his feet with a push to continue up the stairs.
Daniel managed to find his own feet and follow. They had to be near the same level they'd ringed down to by now, he thought, didn't they? Tyre's grenade had driven the Genii back. Except for their dead and wounded left behind, the room beyond this stair landing's door seemed empty. Ugly cracks ran up the walls and only one light remained functional, dangling from a wire in the far corner, swinging and throwing crazy shadows.
Mer declared. "Groups of six, try to find the central open area of whatever room you're in!"
The Satedans separated into squads, stepping over dead Genii bodies scattered around. Daniel glimpsed Kusanagi hemmed in behind the much bigger and taller members of Nirav squad. She'd lost her glasses.
The rings slammed down faster than usual, engulfing Nirav in light and then vanishing upward.
Hanad stumbled into place, taking Dumais with them. Bilat went next. Chisa and another man had Naghi supported between them.
Ara fired at a head that poked around the twisted wreckage of the doorway.
"Go with Chavan," Dex snapped at Zelenka and Daniel.
Before they could even agree, they were yanked to the center of the room. Daniel wondered if he was shocky. He closed his eyes and opened them to the ring room and Meredith snarling at them to get out of the way. He stumbled off the platform. Janet and Melena had Naghi on a gurney and were wheeling him out as the rings activated one last time, bringing back Essav squad.
Meredith locked down the controls and headed for the door.
"Hey," Daniel called.
"No time, they'll need me in the infirmary," Meredith yelled back, "You'll have to take care of the others!"
The airlock door slid closed behind him with a thunk.
Daniel looked around and settled his gaze on the three expedition members they'd retrieved. The Satedans were still quivering with adrenaline and wild-looking, but the ex-captives looked as exhausted as he felt, only confused too.
"You guys," Daniel said, then had to stop to cough and clear his throat, "you guys know the way back to your quarters. I'm going to," he gestured to the other three, "take care of... um, get our people settled in."
"And perhaps answer some questions, yes?" Zelenka asked, his gaze sharp despite the state of his glasses, as he looked around the ring room.
"Yeah," Daniel said tiredly. He realized he still had the P90 in one hand. He let it swing back down on sling clipped to his vest and gestured to the doors.
~*~
Radek limped after Dr. Jackson, Miko and Lydia trailing behind him. The very large and intimidating soldiers were left behind. He did not know exactly what to expect. While the ship they were aboard was unmistakably of Earth manufacture, he suspected that the lack of SGC personnel beyond Dr. Jackson meant they had not been rescued so much as changed captors. Otherwise, he would have expected to at least see a member of Earth's military accompanying their rescuers. He hoped only that they had not somehow fallen into the hands of the Goa'uld.
"Look," Dr. Jackson said wearily, "I know you're confused. But you may need to wait for some explanations."
Ah.
Radek was not surprised.
"Where is the crew?" Lydia asked.
The empty corridors they were walking had begun to disturb Radek as well.
"Back in the Milky Way," Jackson said. He kept walking. "Janet and Novak are the only others left. McKay - you saw him - is from Earth, but not interested in going back."
Radek had spent the majority of his contract with the IOA working either at Area 51 or in Antarctica. He had met Dr. Jackson on occasion there, in Dr. Carter's company, but hadn't been acquainted with anyone else from the SGC; the Americans had not welcomed the addition of experts from other countries to the program. He had read the censored AARs from the first years of stargate exploration, however, and recognized McKay's name, remembered because McKay had been a member of SG-1, a brilliant scientist, and Canadian. In addition, Radek understood that Dr. Carter had been married to him. He'd been under the impression Dr. McKay had been killed however.
He opened his mouth to ask how McKay had survived, then bit back the words. Best to wait, to listen and observe. If what they were told did not agree with what they knew, then that would tell them much about their 'rescuers'.
The chain he had secured around his leg and into his waist band slithered free and clanked on the metal deck. Jackson jumped and spun, fumbling at the weapon he still carried clipped to his combat vest.
"Pardon," Radek stuttered.
Miko darted forward and gathered up the links of the chain, then silently handed them to Radek. Lydia crowded closer to him; whether to support Radek or for his pathetic protection, he was unsure. His fellow captives had followed his lead since they were taken by the Genii, though he had not sought the authority they'd accorded him.
Jackson took a moment to recover. "Sorry, uh, adrenaline."
"Yes," Radek agreed without irony.
"I'd forgotten - Ro-Meredith could get that off for you, but he went to the infirmary to help Janet."
"I wasn't aware the any of Dr. McKay's doctorates were of a medical nature," Radek murmured. He wondered how Jackson would answer.
"They're not, but the captain and he are both able to operate Goa'uld healing devices," Jackson replied baldly.
Radek shuddered at all the implications.
"We'll go down to engineering," Jackson said. "Novak's there. She'll figure something out."
He had little choice but to follow Jackson. Lydia and Miko remained beside him. Radek didn't know if they realized what he had; from what he understood Jaffa could not use the Goa'uld's devices, only those taken as a host. Which would surely explain how Dr. McKay had been reported dead. He could not guess why Dr. Jackson did not appear even disturbed, only tired and annoyed. Perhaps Radek misunderstood.
The elevator Jackson led them toward opened before they reached it. A lanky man attired in black leather held the door open for them. He eyed Radek and his chain with a dark expression, then turned to Jackson.
"Kell said one of them injured one of his men."
"Yes," Jackson replied. The elevator made the five of them a tight fit. "Naghi lost his hand. Wagoner and Abrams were both killed."
"By Kell's people?"
"Yes."
"Then fuck him and his reparations," Jehan declared.
Lydia choked back a laugh, though Miko jumped.
"Ah, Jehan's... "
"Pilot," Jehan said. The short answer didn't invite any further description. He was looking at the chain, no, the manacle on Radek's ankle. His mouth set in a harsh line. He didn't say anything else, but accompanied them to engineering, where a pale young woman introduced as the aforementioned Novak efficiently first removed the chain from the manacle and then used a hammer and chisel to break the sloppy Genii welding job.
"I could do a better job with a soldering gun," she said and seemed surprised when Radek thanked her. She told them about the Asgard hyperdrives while she gathered her tools. "I suppose your specialties are all theory, but if you know some engineering you could work on them. Anyone else we pick up out here, someone will have to teach them to read English, since everything's written in it."
"In exchange for what?" Lydia asked.
Novak gave an abashed look toward Jehan, who had steadied Radek along with Jackson while Novak struck the chisel against the metal, and now slouched against a console. He shrugged. "Talk to Mer."
"He wouldn't have to spend so much time down here," Novak suggested.
Jehan's thin face lit with amusement and Novak giggled. Miko's eyes widened and she covered her mouth. So it was like that on this ship. Relationships were a good sign.
Radek fingered the chaffed skin above his ankle then slid off the table. He'd grown so used to the manacle's weight that it affected his balance even gone. He grabbed the edge of the table, shifted one of the links of chain and sent it over the edge. The chain poured down to the deck link by link before he could catch it.
Jehan stared at it much as Radek would have a poisonous snake, his face gone pale and set, the lightness of a moment before wiped away. He stood and told Jackson, "I'll be on the bridge. Give them any of the empty crew quarters. We don't want them on the same level as the Satedans." His gaze shifted to Radek, then Miko and Lydia. "The Satedans aren't crew. You don't need to obey them. You aren't crew either, so you don't have work stations or duties. Just listen for any all-ship announcements and do what they say, other than that you can do pretty much what you like. You've got a free ride until we stop at the next planet, then you can decide what you want to do."
Radek waited until Jehan had left to ask Jackson, "What sort of crew does this ship have?"
Novak cheerfully answered before Jackson could.
"Oh, we're pirates."
Lydia laughed until Radek feared she would be sick.
Jackson took them all back up ship and warned them which level the Satedan mercenaries were housed on. He pointed out the way to the infirmary and then the rec room and finished in the mess, where a gray-haired woman served them better food than Radek had tasted in months, maybe years. Jackson explained that they were on the former SGC ship Prometheus, now under the command of an ex-Goa'uld host and hunting the lost Atlantis expedition in order to find and loot the lost city.
"It's up to you," Jackson told them. "But if you don't sign on or offer some useful information, they'll probably dump you somewhere." He sighed. "When it's convenient. Which, admittedly, may not happen too soon."
Radek silently checked with Miko and Lydia. They had learned to read each other while the Genii kept them. Lydia shrugged and Miko ducked her head; both of them acceding to whatever Radek decided. He reserved the option to amend his choice, but felt they were better off aboard Revenge than on their own. Perhaps they might even be reunited with the expedition's survivors eventually.
Jehan, the only one of the 'pirates' Radek had met yet, had not been unkind. Novak, a woman of nervous nature if Radek was not mistaken, seemed at ease with him, had even teased him.
"Don't believe him," the gray-haired woman said as she appeared at their table with a pot of hot water and the tea Radek had asked for in place of coffee. "We'll just space ya."
"Dushka!" Jackson protested.
Dushka rolled her eyes. "Are you sure your name is Jackson and not jackass?"
"McKay came up with that, didn't he?" Jackson accused.
Dushka pinched her lips closed between forefinger and thumb, the gesture alien but more easily understood even than 'zipping' them, before returning to the galley she apparently ruled. The small interchange confirmed to Radek that they were in considerably better circumstances than they had been only hours before. He worried about the Satedans, but knew better than to speak of that yet. Miko delightedly prepared the tea which she shared with Radek, while Lydia savored coffee along with Jackson.
They lingered until many of the other crew passed through the mess hall. Dr. Fraiser arrived with McKay and a striking woman in black leather and a creatively cut-out, skintight red shirt.
"That's Vala," Jackson said quietly. "The captain."
"Food," McKay ordered. "Food, right now. Otherwise I'm sure I'm going to collapse right here." He didn't collapse, but he did take a seat at an empty table, cross his arms on the surface and rest his forehead on them.
"Vala Mal Doran," the captain purred to Radek. She leaned close and he couldn't help looking down her cleavage. "Welcome aboard Revenge. I just know we're all going to get along wonderfully." Her attention switched to Miko and Lydia and if anything, her voice turned huskier and more inviting. "Dr. Kusanagi, Dr. Dumais. I'm delighted we were able to get you out of that loathsome hole and away from those tedious Genii."
"Naghi's hand?" Jackson asked.
Captain Mal Doran straightened up slowly and Radek realized she was exhausted.
"Is fine," she said.
"I reattached it," Dr. Fraiser explained. She had on BDUs and a pale green scrub top beneath a white coat. She slumped down into a chair at the same table as McKay. "Vala and Rod-Meredith were able to use the healing devices. He appeared to have sensation and control when we
left. Melena's monitoring him."
"I can do more," Captain Mal Doran offered.
"Not until you and Meredith have both eaten something. Naghi needs rest too. Those healing devices are a huge drain on the body," Dr. Fraiser stated. She scrubbed her hands through her hair, then stretched, before her attention shifted to Radek, Lydia and Miko. "We'll take a look at all of you too."
Dushka set coffee mugs in front of McKay and Fraiser.
"Food?" McKay asked as he groped for his mug without raising his head.
"In a minute," Dushka promised. She handed Vala Mal Doran a bottle of something red and quite obviously not from Earth.
Shortly after, Jehan joined them in company with a face Radek recognized.
"Slečna Emmagan!" Radek exclaimed. "Dr. Carter thought you had been culled." His pleasure at seeing her faded a little. Though he had not spoken to her more than once or twice while they were on Athos, he remembered someone softer. But, of course, that had been before the culling. The terror of the night would never fade, despite the horrors Kolya had inflicted since.
Teyla nodded to him and smiled - a small, controlled smile in contrast to the boundless sorrow in her dark eyes. "Dr. Zelenka, it is good that you have been freed. Dr. Kusanagi, Dr. Dumais, your survival gives me joy. I have found no one from my own people or yours before this, though I returned to Athos."
"The Athosians took us to Genea," Lydia snapped and glared at Teyla. Unlike Miko, who could pretend self-effacement and Radek, who had learned circumspection under the Russians, Lydia hadn't fared well among the Genii; they hadn't appreciated her sharp tongue. She'd expected rescue by the expedition and when it hadn't come, she'd built a hard and bitter shell around herself. She still listened to Radek, but he doubted she would answer to anyone else who hadn't suffered along with their little group.
Teyla bowed her head.
"A mistake."
"Caias and Reckell have the bridge," Jehan reported to the captain. "Kell went down to see his men."
Jehan brushed one hand over McKay's slumped shoulders in passing as he took the next seat. McKay smiled and handed his coffee mug to the pilot, who sipped from it, then handed it back. Radek noticed but dismissed the interaction, too intent on Teyla Emmagan's subtly harder appearance. He wondered how she had survived and if any of those others culled that night had as well.
Dushka brought out plates of sandwiches and finger food. Three were set before Dr. Fraiser, Captain Mal Doran, and McKay. She set more out for everyone else. McKay began eating immediately and loudly. Drippy pieces slid out the edge of his sandwich onto his plate and his shirt. No one paid him any attention.
Lydia tensed to speak again and Radek touched her hand to caution her before she could say anything else bitter. He himself did not blame the Athosians. They had lost their homes, their loved ones and even their planet because of the expedition. If blame were to be apportioned, Radek would set its weight against the Genii, who were as cruel and paranoid as the Communist regimes he remembered from childhood. Which reminded him to remain cautious among these people.
Caution did not preclude kindness in return for the kindness they'd been shown however. He flexed his ankle, relishing the lack of the manacle.
"Though Commander Kolya kept much from us," he said, "the Genii scientists," he curled his lip at so calling them, "were not so security conscious. The Athosians left Genea with the expedition." He sighed. "I do not know any more. Only that Kolya's spies were to look for them as well as any Tau'ri."
Kolya, horrid man, had been furious to have been bested by Dr. Carter. He had not gathered that Carter had been military and thought her just another frightened scientist, nor had he realized the Tau'ri would react so quickly or discover the bunker system hidden beneath their Potemkin village. Rage had even cost him Kavanagh when he killed him. Afterward, he had questioned the captives on where the other Tau'ri might go. Radek and the others still had the scars, but a knife couldn't extract what wasn't there, only screams and lies.
"Wonderful," McKay muttered around a mouthful of food. "We've got a hold full of Visigoths, two dead scientists, and we're no closer to finding Sam and the others than before. This is the crappiest galaxy ever." He winced immediately and glared at Jehan, who must have kicked his foot under the table. The glare turned apologetic when he looked at Radek. "Not that I'm not doing inner cartwheels at having got you three loose, especially since according the mission records, all of you are qualified to take some shifts in engineering."
Radek coughed and then laughed despite himself.
"Yes, I can see that."
McKay took another bite of his sandwich - his third - and asked while chewing, "What were the Genii making you work on?"
Brendan and Wagoner had told Kolya about Atlantis, wetting the commander's appetite for the treasures and weapons of the Ancestors' city. He had demanded they create a power source that would let him take Atlantis and when they couldn't, he'd become obsessed with finding a ZPM. Once in control of Atlantis, Kolya believed he could oust Cowen and rule the Genii. Radek had listened to him boast of his plans while pretending to still be unconscious from a beating. Kolya only wished to destroy the Wraith in order to garner more power for himself. He was a madman and would not listen to warnings. He refused to accept that radiation was sickening all the Genii in the underground city or that returning to Atlantis, even with a power source, would be pointless without someone with the ATA gene.
Radek had stopped speaking of the radiation danger. He'd hoped Kolya would be arrogant enough to handle the refined fissionable materials needed for the bombs.
Instead, Commander Kolya had taken Brendan and his loyalist men to a planet rumored to be the hiding place of an Ancestors' potentia, which Brendan believed might be a ZPM.
"Nuclear weapons," Miko said.
"Their shielding is... very bad," Radek added.
"Oh, god damn it," Fraiser exclaimed. She pushed her chair back and popped to her feet. "Come on. Infirmary now. I want to get an idea of what kind of exposure you've all had. We'll start you on drug regimen and I'll put together a prophalyctic dosage for the Satedans. Stupid, reckless, dumbass idiots."
"I do not believe any of your people were exposed long enough to suffer any after effects," Radek offered, "though I observed a high incidence of what I believe were skin cancers among the Genii personnel assigned to weapons research."
That didn't please Fraiser.
"We're doing this now," she commanded. "Come along."
"Don't bother arguing," Jackson said.
McKay nodded and Jehan intoned, "Resistance is futile."
"Oh, I'm not arguing," Lydia said. She grabbed Miko's hand and pulled her to her feet. "Let's go, Kusanagi. Your bone marrow will thank me."
Miko offered Captain Mal Doran a helpless, embarrassed half-bow as Lydia dragged her toward the mess hall doors. Radek followed more slowly and promised to speak more with McKay later. McKay just waved him on.
Much later, alone for the first time in longer than he could remember, Radek stood in the tiny shower cubicle and allowed the unrationed hot water to run over him and allowed himself to cry in relief. He would not die of radiation poisoning, he would not be tortured, he would not be forced to watch as his colleagues were beaten and cowed into service to a madman or to prostitute his own knowledge to save them. He was as safe as anyone in this galaxy could be.
He'd forgotten to tell them that Kolya had taken both Brendan and the first nuclear device with him to Dagan. Radek told himself he needed to mention that to Captain Mal Doran or someone soon. Perhaps they could save Brendan. Once out of Kolya's clutches, he thought the young scientist might recover and realize nothing good could come of aiding the Genii.
Relief that he was finally free of the Genii himself left Radek feeling fragile and terribly guilty that he was alive. He pictured again poor Wagoner's panic and Abram's futile death trying to save him. They had been only moments from freedom. There was nothing Radek had done that warranted his survival over theirs, only that he had kept his head. He had been a coward; he had not even moved to save Wagoner.
They were dead and he was not. Radek wept until he feared he would throw up the very good food he had eaten. The sobs only ended when exhaustion dragged him to a stop. Radek slapped the cubicle's wall. They were dead and he was alive.
His fingertips had pruned up. If he did not get out of the shower soon, surely someone from the crew would notice the excessive water consumption and investigate.
The crew of pirates, he reminded himself. Pirates. Who would believe it? They had been rescued by intergalactic pirates and alien mercenaries. Radek hiccupped, but held back the hysterical laughter that threatened to overtake him.
He turned off the shower, dried himself and dressed, then returned to the cabin he had been given. He nodded to Miko as she returned from the women's showers and hoped the fogged up lenses of his glasses hid how red his eyes were. Alone once more, he sank down on the cabin's bunk, curled a blanket over his shoulders and fell into a black and dreamless sleep.
~*~
continued in [c]
an Alternate Universe SGA/SG-1 Crossover
by Auburn
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four [a] [b] [c] [d]
Janet had lent her support to the plan to rescue the people being held by the Genii, so she figured she had an obligation to make it go as smoothly as possible. She didn't go to the ring room when they brought aboard the five Satedan assault squads, but she made a point to show up at the conference room where the rest of the crew met Dranta Kell and his seconds, Ronon Dex and Liraz Tyre.
Daniel caught up to her just before they sat down and gave a sotto voce warning. "They've got a thing about size, so don't be surprised if they try to push you around."
Given that, Janet felt a little surprised when Kell called out to her at the end of the meeting. "Doctor, yes?"
"Yes," she said.
"I would appreciate if you would allow our medic to liaise with you."
"And your medic is?" Frankly, she was a little surprised that the Satedans even bothered with a medic, but as a member of the USAF, she knew judging an entire culture by its military could be misleading. Kell was a soldier and had to put on a front of toughness that might not reflect his own character, never mind Satedans outside the ones she'd just met.
"My wife, Melena," Dex said. He waited a beat and added sardonically, "She's a doctor."
"Wonderful, maybe we can learn something from each other," Janet said. She didn't let herself blush, despite knowing Dex had read her immediate conclusion of nepotism.
"She's in the quarters we were assigned."
"I'll come with you and show her the way to the ship's infirmary."
Kell exchanged a look with Dex that Janet caught despite both men's annoying height. She just couldn't read it. Maybe Daniel would have, but Janet didn't have his anthropological skills.
"Good, you can keep me from getting lost," Dex said.
"No one told you how to navigate?" Janet asked as she started down the corridor to the interdeck elevator. Dex shadowed her like a large, looming sheepdog.
"Got told to stick with blue or green lines and doors and how to manually close one of those airlocks," Dex told her.
"Well, that's a good beginning," Janet said. "I think I can tell you a little more."
Janet pressed the button for the non-crew quarters deck while Dex watched. Revenge, when it had been conceived as the Prometheus, had never been intended to serve as a troop transport, but the possibility of needing to take a quick reaction force had been factored in. The non-crew quarters deck could be transformed from basic dormitory quarters to cargo enclosures with little difficulty. Though Prometheus had set out with a heavy cargo of supplies for the Atlantis expedition, the possibility they would need to evacuate the expedition in whole or part had been brought up and space allocated to that rather than supplies or equipment.
The Satedan squads, all five of them, had settled into the cabin quarters without comment. There were enough cabins to handle the entire two hundred person Atlantis expedition if necessary, so Janet wasn't sure how the Satedans had divvied up.
"Melena and I took a cabin with this mark on the door," Dex said. He sketched a recognizable twelve. "The rest of Essav are in the next two."
"Essav?" Janet asked. She stepped out of the elevator and started down the corridor. Dex shortened his stride to walk beside her.
"My squad."
She stopped before Cabin 12. "This is it. Remember how we got here?"
"I'm a Weapons Specialist, but I memorized the entire Battle Cycle of Bigar Diys," Dex said. He touched the number code that had been assigned to all the non-crew cabins, 1-2-3-4, and the door slid open. A young woman with curly, light brown hair looked up from a case lying open on one of the lower bunks.
"Ronon," she greeted him.
"Melena," he said and stepped inside the cramped cabin. Janet heard his voice soften. He shrugged in Janet's direction, where she'd stayed in the corridor. "This is their doctor."
"Janet Fraiser," she introduced herself. "I thought I could show you how to reach the ship's infirmary and we could go over what we can and can't do."
Melena smiled at her. "I was hoping for a chance. Your ship - Even Sateda didn't have anything like this. Are the medical facilities equal to it?"
"I like to think so," Janet said. "I had some input on the design. It's a little cramped, but there's a fully equipped OR and extensive emergency care facilities. All the equipment is state of the art." Or better, if you counted that Vala and Mer could both use a Goa'uld healing device.
Melena gestured to the hardsided case she had open. "I was going over my supplies."
Janet eyed the tight quarters and decided being approximately half Dex' size had some benefits. "May I?" she asked with a nod to the doorway.
"It's your ship," Dex said.
"They're your quarters while you're aboard," she told him.
"Come in, if you can get around the grumbak," Melena said. She slapped Dex's arm lightly. "Go count ammunition with Rakai or something. You're in the way."
Dex squeezed by Janet after making a face at Melena. Janet heard him rap on the next door down the corridor.
"Remind me to show you how to use the door chime and intercoms," she told Melena, before bending over the case to see what the Satedan doctor had brought with her.
While what Melena had didn't hold a candle to Janet's infirmary, it still impressed her. Melena explained that Satedan medicine had been considerably more advanced, but she was reduced to what they'd been able to evacuate out through the stargate when the Wraith attacked. That included most of an armed forces treatment element. Melena's explanation made that sound like a stripped down combat support hospital.
"The squads sometimes have a medic," Melena said as they headed for Janet's realm. "We used to get a group of them in for training every quarter. I'm the only doctor who made it through the ring. Perat Squad lost theirs and dragged me out of the hospital to treat the wounded at HQ." Her soft smile disappeared. "I'd be dead otherwise. The hospital where I worked took a direct strike."
"Your people are lucky to have you," Janet told her. "You should start training so that what you know isn't lost."
Melena sighed and pushed her hair back. "I should, but Kell and everyone else are so focused on... Revenge, I guess. Not building again."
Janet pointed to the stylized caduceus on the door into the infirmary. "Anything with that mark on it is going to be medical related. In the elevator, there's covered button with the same mark. In an emergency, you break off the cover and push it: it overrides any other commands and takes you to the infirmary level." She grinned at Melena. "It also activates an alarm, so you don't want to use it without a good reason."
Melena smiled back, then gasped as they entered.
"Let me show you around my realm," Janet said with real pleasure.
"It seems like it would be more efficient if you weren't the only one here," Melena commented after Janet had shown her the operating room.
"It is, but we really only have a skeleton crew," Janet told her.
"How many crew do you have?"
The artless question didn't strike Janet as suspicious. She'd have questions if she'd been on an alien ship among strangers.
"There's Lindsay and Daniel and me," she answered. "Vala Mal Doran and Jehan. Ro-Meredith. Dushka, Signe, Til - we lost Dil to a Wraith - the second shift pilot, Caias, and the first mate's a Hebridan. And Teyla Emmagan."
"But - " Melena frowned. "This ship is far too large for so few."
Janet chuckled a little bitterly.
"Vala and Jehan got rid of the rest of the crew."
Before Melena could ask, Janet added, "Don't ask."
~*~
Lindsay winced as the doors to the fabrication lab opened and she heard Meredith explode: "We're not trying to steal proprietary secrets!"
"Then why do you want our guns?" That was one of the Satedans.
"I need to analyze one - one - of your weapons to find out the tolerances," Meredith snapped. "So that the ammunition we manufacture for you doesn't blow your pot-metal travesties up in your faces."
"Our world stood against the Wraith - "
"Fine, whatever, as far as I can tell plenty of worlds have 'stood against the Wraith'," Meredith interrupted. He nodded to Lindsay as she sidled past the Satedan and headed for her work station. "They ended up flattened." His gaze sharpened along with his waspish tone. "And your boss hires you out in exchange for ammo you can't make any longer, because," he snapped his fingers and pointed at the Satedan, "oh, hey, your planet got smacked down too."
The Satedan growled and started forward, but Meredith extended his hand. "Hand it over." He snapped his fingers when the weapon wasn't passed over immediately. "Sometime this century, if you please."
Lindsay muffled a laugh when the Satedan growled and gave up the weapon he was carrying. Not his primary weapon, she noticed, and wished Vala hadn't agreed to let the mercenaries stay armed aboard ship. He heard her anyway and stared. She ducked her head and opened the spec file for the weapon. He had narrow, black eyes and she hunched her shoulders under his gaze.
Meredith hefted a testing kit over one shoulder and the Satedan weapon in his other hand. "I'm taking this down to the armory firing range to set up the tests. I'll feed the sensor data back to your laptop," he told Lindsay. The Satedan might as well have disappeared as far as he was concerned. Once we have the specs, we can put together a more efficient sabot and propellant load. You can start on a preliminary formula." He waved the weapon and left.
Lindsay wished the Satedan had gone with him. She gritted her teeth and bent over her laptop, then remembered Vala and Dushka's lessons. She wasn't the same woman who had endured endless harassment on Prometheus and before. The Satedan probably could hurt or kill her, but she'd make it cost him and her friends would kill him, starting with Vala and ending with Meredith. She had no doubt.
Her back straightened. "You can leave now," she told him. Her voice didn't shake and she didn't hiccup. She didn't finger the knife strapped to her arm under her jacket sleeve. Don't touch your weapons, Dushka had told her, learn their weight and check their presence. Touching them just gives away where they are to your enemy.
He came around the work bench and peered over Lindsay's shoulder.
"I'm Liraz Tyre."
"I'm busy," she said, "so unless you want to explain to your boss why he doesn't have his ammunition as soon as possible...?"
He stepped back. "I wouldn't want to interfere with a Specialist. I hadn't realized you were - "
Lindsay decided to take a page out of Meredith's operating manual. "Yes, I'm an engineering specialist, not to mention that I helped design the hyperdrives on this ship and know more about Asgard technology than anyone in this galaxy... I could keep this ship running all by myself if I had to." She turned and could almost see Tyre's eyes glazing. This was almost fun. No wonder Meredith ranted so often. "Why are you still here? Go away."
"My apologies for taking up your time, Engineering Specialist," Tyre said. He dipped his head and left.
Lindsay sat back on her stool and blew out a breath that made her bangs flutter. She'd done it. She'd faced him down. With a giggle, she set her stool spinning. "Yes!" She pumped her fist in the air.
~*~
"I thought you were a High Scholar," Ronon commented as Daniel joined Essav Squad in the ring room. He'd geared up for a mission the way he always had for SG1 with a couple of additions, including the tiny radio headset would let him stay in contact with Revenge and the Satedan assault force.
Instead of a pack carrying video cameras, digital recorders, and a notebook along with survival gear, Rodney - Meredith - had outfitted him with a armored tac vest loaded with extra clips for his Beretta and the P90 clipped to it, extra bandages, and the odds-and-ends they'd learned could save a life. A waterproof container of matches and several candles, chem lights, plastic lockpicks, a multi-tool, fishhooks, needles and a spool of superfine, superstrong thread that could be used as fishing line or sutures, an extra-large tube of wide spectrum antibiotic that Janet made up, spare socks, a small pot of fluorescent paint, and chocolate bars. It made Daniel wonder if Meredith still had the allergies that had prompted everyone on SG1 to carry an epipen or if the Tok'ra had fixed that.
"Mmm," Daniel mumbled. He double-checked the strap on his thigh holster then shrugged to settle everything into place. "I'm a decent shot as long as I have my glasses."
"Why do we need him with us?" Rakai complained. He sneered at Daniel. "Even if he can shoot, he'll slow us down."
Ara didn't seem to dislike Daniel, but she held up the tablet Meredith had programmed for the five squads. "We have the pictures of everyone we're looking for on these things."
"So you'll know them," Meredith said, hustling in and heading for the ring controls. "But they'll know Daniel, making it much easier to rescue them so they'll, you know, cooperate and come with you?" He tapped his radio. "Jehan, synch that deep scan we did on the bunker system to the ring controls. I'm going to do a little fine tuning since we'll be sending everyone underground."
Daniel hid a wince. No matter how many times he'd used them, the transport rings made him far more nervous than the stargate. It was the knowledge of being sent through something solid rather than space. Besides, there was always a stargate at the other end of a wormhole to let him get back. Well, not always, but usually.
"Everyone have their transponders?" Meredith asked. "Remember to stand as close together as possible when you trip one, otherwise you might leave some pieces behind."
"We're ready," Dex told him, taking a place next to Tyre and his other two squad mates. Essav was missing a member; Daniel hadn't had the gall to ask if whoever it had been had been lost in the Great Culling. It seemed pretty obvious and if not, then it was likely an even sorer spot.
Daniel stepped into the ring area. He stood with his boot tip at the foot control, but this time, Meredith would be activating the transport. Essav Squad shifted to put him at the center of their formation and brought the weapons into ready position.
The other four squads pressed back against the walls of the ring room. Daniel caught Naghi and Chisa watching him; he'd chatted with both soldiers in the mess hall, the members of Bilat were younger and friendlier than Nirav and Hanad squads.
"Ready," Tyre said.
Meredith met Daniel's eyes and he nodded. "I'm good," he said while flicking the safety off his P90.
"Transporting now," Meredith said.
Daniel squeezed his eyes shut, only opening them after the flare of white against his lids dissolved. He'd learned the hard way to save his vision.
Essav were all still blinking.
"Move," Daniel told them. He pushed at Ara's shoulder. "We need to clear for the next transport."
They were in a empty, high-ceilinged cavern. Distant light infiltrated from above, but the light on Daniel's P90 did a better job of penetrating the shadows and showing the chamber was empty. The walls were wet. Under the noise of Essav squad getting out of the way, he thought he heard the hum of machinery.
"Transporting," Mer's voice whispered through Daniel's earpiece.
"Close your eyes," Dex told the rest of Essav. He learned fast.
Bilat squad stumbled out of the way and took up places on guard.
"Transporting."
Nirav, then Haned, and finally Chavan squads arrived.
"Low profile," Dex whispered and reminded the others, "In and out clean is our goal, not maximum destruction."
Dranta Kell would stay on the bridge of Revenge with Vala and Jehan. Once the captives were located, the ship would rain destruction down somewhere far enough away to draw the Genii's attention and not take out their subjects with friendly fire.
The Satedans moved fast and silently. Daniel had to trot to keep up with their long legs. He found himself wishing he'd used Revenge's gym and the treadmills there more as he tried to keep his breathing quiet. They worked their way deeper and deeper into the Genii's underground facility - it was almost a city. The Genii weren't wasting power on lighting at least, which made keeping to the shadows easier even in the high traffic areas. Daniel switched the light on his P90 off so it wouldn't give them away.
Two soldiers on patrol in uniforms were silently disposed of as they reached inhabited portions; Ara and one of the Haned taking them out with knives. A woman, likely a civilian given her lack of the gray uniforms Daniel already hated for what it said about Genii society - was choked out and left, tied and gagged, in the shadows of an empty office. The vibrating whine of massive turbines somewhere below grew more noticeable the deeper they went.
The Genii hadn't been nice enough to leave any handy You-Are-Here maps posted anywhere. Daniel had been looking, but none of the doors or corridors had any sort of identifying markings. These people were deeply paranoid. Lacking any clues about where to look for the captives, though, they were going to need to ask questions. He didn't anticipate it going well.
Rakai and Tyre snagged an older man in uniform as he turned into the corridor. He had a mug of something steaming in one hand and a folder of papers. Daniel thought he'd be a good candidate to know something. The drink splashed to the floor and the papers fluttered after it. One of Bilat squad gathered them up and the mug. The dark stain of the liquid could barely be picked out under the dim lighting.
Chavan deployed to keep watch on their six. Two of Haned ghosted forward, a sentry standing in place at the corridor intersection.
"Call out and die," Rakai told the man once he was pinned to the wall. The knife pricking the soft flesh under his chin emphasized the message.
"Who are you?" the man demanded. "How did you get here? We have watchers at the Ancestors' ring."
"We don't need it," Rakai taunted. "We've got a ship." The Satedans had adapted to shipboard life fast. A week in hyperspace and they'd begun talking about how a ship could make it possible to go after the Wraith. Daniel had done a lot of listening. All of Kell's solders were fixated on avenging Sateda. Essav squad and Rakai were typical. The specialists like Dex and Tyre were too pragmatic to think they could achieve much, while the regular soldiers like Rakai thought if they fought hard enough and were the best, they could change... something. Daniel thought Kell encouraged the delusion.
Rakai dug the knife in deeper. "We need some answers."
"I won't help you - "
Tyre punched him in the solar plexus. Rakai pulled the knife back just in time to keep from severing something as the man's head jerked forward. Only his head moved. He couldn't double over thanks to the hold the others had on him. Pained gasps were the only sound he made for several minutes. The Satedans waited impatiently.
"You can answer the question, end up tied up and left somewhere, or you can bleed out right now," Tyre promised softly into the man's ear.
"W-what?" the man panted. "What do you want?"
"The Tau'ri," Daniel said. "Where are you keeping them?"
"Wh-who?"
"The Tau'ri," Tyre repeated.
"The captives, the people who came here fleeing a culling, that you're holding here," Daniel added. Smeadon's story meshed with what Teyla knew; Genea had been one of the worlds the Athosians would have fled to after a culling. The expedition survivors would have gone with them. Then the Genii had seen a chance, he supposed. Scientists probably had little value on most low tech worlds, but for one trying to bootstrap its way to parity or better against the Wraith, the expedition's people would have been a sudden windfall.
"I-I don't-"
Rakai opened a shallow slice along the Genii's jawline. Blood poured down his neck. He whimpered and bucked.
"Please - "
Rakai sliced again, parallel to the first cut.
"Next one goes all the way in."
"Tha'an level! Kolya has them kept on Tha'an level," their captive blurted.
Thaan meant fourth rendered by the useful but often unreliable translation download the stargates helpfully added to the brain after several trips through. Daniel's working theory was that the stargate system propagated a holographic rendering of language through the network. The more often you went through the stargate, the clearer the picture it took became. More people who spoke the same language traveling through the gate also added to the sample pool. Years of SG teams going through the stargate back in the Milky Way had made it increasingly easy to understand other stargate using culture's languages.
That didn't explain why Goa'uld had never translated, but Daniel suspected the gate builders hadn't had parasitic megalomaniac snakes in mind. Maybe they fouled the translator system up for hosts and Jaffa.
"How many?" Tyre asked.
The Genii man frowned, obviously confused that they didn't know how many people they were after.
"Si-five."
"Which is it? Five or six?" Rakai demanded.
"Five!"
"How do we get to Tha'an level?"
"Down this corridor, two lefts, down the stairs two levels. There - there are guards. They'll kill you - "
Rakai sliced the knife deep the third time.
Daniel bit back a protest. Only because he knew no one would listen to him. He filed it away to throw at Vala, though he doubted she'd care. If she did object to the Satedans' methods, what she could do about it? Vala would pragmatically declare that the dead Genii couldn't shoot them in the back.
The directions proved good.
Chavan squad went through the door onto the fourth level first and came under Genii fire immediately. The directions had been good but must not have included something. The Genii couldn't be so paranoid they shot at anyone coming through a door, so they must have had some kind of warning. Maybe a motion alarm in the stairwell.
Essav and Nirav went through the doors firing down the corridor at anything that moved. Daniel followed with his P90 at ready too. Suddenly he didn't mind the Genii proclivity for uniforms. It made picking targets much less nerve-racking. He fired a burst at a soldier trying to fire from a low position. The bone-rattling boom of the triple-barreled weapons the Satedans used mixed with the sharper chatter of the P90 and the Genii's own projectile weapons.
Dex slammed Daniel back against the wall in time to avoid being shot in the back as more Genii rushed in from the same stairwell they'd used, catching the assault force in a pincer. He thought they might be in trouble, because the Genii could keep throwing men at them from both sides, but he hadn't realized just how good the Satedans were. They were professionals on a level that he hadn't seen since working beside Jack and some of the best marines the SGC used.
Using one hand to fire at the Genii, Dex activated his radio with the other and spoke. "Revenge, do you read?" The Satedans had understood the reasoning for radio protocols and memorized them the same day Mer handed out the headsets.
"We've got a lock on your trackers, Essav," Daniel heard through his own headset.
Dex kept Daniel pinned to the wall. His breath brushed Daniel temple, hot and with a hint of the peppers from breakfast in the mess. "Fire mission four."
"One distraction coming up, Essav."
The floor under their boots heaved, though distance and the earth between muffled the boom that must have accompanied the weapon firing down from orbit. Dust sifted down from the light fixtures and puffed up from every crack and cranny. A second and third impact jolted everything. The Satedans rode it out like sailors, snapping shots off that drove the Genii back into the stairwell and the other end of the corridor.
"Move," Dex ordered, doing so himself.
Daniel stuck with him.
The wounded were on their feet, except for one of the Chavan. His squad mates stripped him of anything useful then wrapped his hand around a Satedan grenade before rolling him onto his stomach. As soon as a Genii messed with the body, the grenade would roll loose and detonate.
A long time ago, Daniel would have been horrified. He could remember being that man, but today he approved.
The Satedans began clearing the rooms along the corridor methodically. Dex would let Daniel in to check faces if they found anyone inside. The first three only gave up Genii working at equipment that looked like it dated back to the 1930s or 40s to Daniel.
A spat of Czech from the fourth room had Daniel pushing past Dex. He blinked and merged the bruised and ill-looking man wearing glasses that only had one lens with the ID photograph from the expedition records.
"Dr. Zelenka?"
Zelenka peered at Daniel. "Dr. Jackson?"
"This one of yours?" Dex asked.
"Yes," Daniel said absently. He realized that Zelenka was wearing a manacle on one ankle that chained him to the floor. The chain let him reach a work table, a small cot and a toilet in the corner.
"Who has the key?" Dex asked Zelenka with a gesture to the manacles.
"There is no key," Zelenka replied. He raised his foot. "It is welded on."
Dex nodded grimly. "Get under the cot, we'll blow the chain off at the far end, get the rest off back on the ship."
Zelenka nodded.
Explosive Specialist Tyre knelt where the chain was anchored and began packing the Satedan's explosive in place.
"Who else is here?" Daniel asked Zelenka.
"Doctors Kusanagi, Dumais, Wagoner, Abrams, myself and Brendan Gall," Zelenka replied. "At least, I believe so. Commander Kolya may have taken Gall or Wagoner with him."
"Out," Dex insisted as Tyre held up a hand, fingers splayed.
"On five," Tyre said.
"Take cover," Daniel yelled to Zelenka.
Dex pulled Daniel outside the room. Tyre flung himself after them, counting down as he did. "... three, two - "
Whump.
Daniel pushed his way back into the room, coughing and searching for Zelenka through watering eyes. The scientist had already rolled out from under his cot and was coiling the chain around his leg and anchoring it to his belt to keep it out of the way as he moved. Dex let out a grunt of approval.
"Anyone else chained up?" Tyre asked.
"No," Zelenka said. "With the stargate under guard and myself as hostage, Kolya believed the others would not attempt an escape."
"Makes things easier," Dex said. "You know where they are?"
"Three doors down," Zelenka replied, limping after them. In the corridor outside, he paused to kick a dead Genii soldier then looked sidelong at Daniel. "We are to make them better bombs. The radiation down here is five times normal, though we have introduced them to the concept of shielding."
Meredith's voice whispered in Daniel's ear. "Did I hear that right? Because if they'd put in lead shielding we wouldn't be talking on this radio."
Daniel touched the mic control. "Maybe the radioactive material is elsewhere."
Zelenka interrupted, "Kolya took the first bomb somewhere."
"You helped them make nukes?" Daniel exclaimed.
"Wonderful," Mer announced, "nuclear Nazis."
"Because, of course, obviously we wanted to," Zelenka replied in a sour voice. "Except for you, Dr. Jackson, I do not think these are soldiers of the SGC."
"Yeah. That's... " Daniel floundered. "That's pretty complicated."
"Of course." Zelenka helped himself to a weapon from another dead Genii soldier.
The remaining scientists were in the room Zelenka had indicated.
"Gall's with Kolya," Lydia Dumais stated. She glared at Wagoner. "He's the better bootlicker."
"Come on," Daniel said. "We're getting out of here."
Miko Kusanagi smiled through the tears running down her face. "I am so glad you've come."
"Yeah, now the weasels can get theirs," Dumais said meaningfully, her dark gaze still hot on Wagoner.
Meredith snapped something off-microphone and the rumble of another distant explosion rolled the floor under their feet. The scientists looked panicky and uncertain. Meredith announced, "I can't get a lock for the rings. You have to move up to the level where you started."
"Talk about it later," Dex ordered. "I want each of you with one of the squads for protection until we can transport out."
"Stick with me," Daniel told Zelenka.
Dex pointed out Miko, Dumais, Abrams and Wagoner and assigned, "Hanad, Nirav, take the women. Chavan, Bilat, him and him."
Naghi, from Bilat squad, reached for Wagoner's arm. Wagoner reared back. He shook his head. "I don't know you, any of you, I'm not going anywhere - "
"Eddie," Dumais snapped, "if the diversion keeps making the earth move, the crap ass containment at their refinery facility is going to crack and flood these damn tunnels with radiation."
Daniel twitched. "Radiation?"
Wagoner kept shaking his head. He pointed at Naghi. "They're not from the SGC! We can't trust them!"
"We can trust Dr. Jackson," Zelenka insisted.
"Naghi," Bilat's lead snapped, "just grab him."
Naghi obeyed or tried to; Daniel would never have a clear idea of the order of the scuffle that followed. There were just still frames, flipping past like a stack of pictures being fanned with no accompanying sound. Wagoner grabbed up something from the table behind him, white-bright as a laser or a torch, Naghi howled in pain and fired his weapon as Abrams tackled Wagoner. Flip. Blood spread from a hole in Abram's back. Flip flip. Wagoner's mouth stretched wide and Naghi's hand lying on the floor. The cutting laser rolled to a stop against the table leg, its blade drilling a precise hole into the metal wall beyond and Wagoner's head exploded into red mist.
Sound snapped back on. Naghi was screaming.
Zelenka cursed steadily, a filthy, furious litany of languages that needed no translation under the circumstances.
The laser had cauterized Naghi's stump at least. He wasn't bleeding out. Daniel started forward to check Abrams, hoping he might still be alive too. Dex's hand clamped onto his shoulder.
"We go now," Dex said.
"At least get his hand," Daniel protested. "Janet might be able to do something. Or Vala. We have Goa'uld healing devices... "
Chisa scooped up Naghi's hand, shoved it inside her tac vest, then pulled him to his feet by his good arm. He leaned against her, but stayed on his feet.
The Satedans chivvied Dumais and Kusanagi closer between them and grimly headed out, back down the corridor to the stairwell and up. The Genii were waiting above, prompting a second fire fight. Daniel shoved his Beretta into Zelenka's hands and sprayed bursts of cover fire over head as they stayed low as possible and scrambled up the stairs.
Tyre tossed grenades back down the stairwell as soon as they made the next landing.
"Having fun?" Mer asked over the radio but he sounded grim.
"Have you got a lock yet?"
"We have to have the rings directly overhead to work," Mer replied. "You keep moving."
"Yeah, we're being shot at! You're the damned
genius, figure something out!" Daniel snapped back and shot another Genii soldier.
The other Genii pulled back up the stairs.
"Cover!" Tyre shouted and lobbed a grenade through the next landing's doorway.
Daniel ducked, taking Zelenka down with him, and squeezed his eyes shut.
Boom.
Dust and bits of cement showered them. Daniel choked and began coughing on the gray powder. His ears rang over the mad thud of his pulse.
"Move, move, move!" Dex yelled at them. He sounded muffled. Gray dust coated his dreads. He caught the back of Zelenka's pants and lifted him onto his feet with a push to continue up the stairs.
Daniel managed to find his own feet and follow. They had to be near the same level they'd ringed down to by now, he thought, didn't they? Tyre's grenade had driven the Genii back. Except for their dead and wounded left behind, the room beyond this stair landing's door seemed empty. Ugly cracks ran up the walls and only one light remained functional, dangling from a wire in the far corner, swinging and throwing crazy shadows.
Mer declared. "Groups of six, try to find the central open area of whatever room you're in!"
The Satedans separated into squads, stepping over dead Genii bodies scattered around. Daniel glimpsed Kusanagi hemmed in behind the much bigger and taller members of Nirav squad. She'd lost her glasses.
The rings slammed down faster than usual, engulfing Nirav in light and then vanishing upward.
Hanad stumbled into place, taking Dumais with them. Bilat went next. Chisa and another man had Naghi supported between them.
Ara fired at a head that poked around the twisted wreckage of the doorway.
"Go with Chavan," Dex snapped at Zelenka and Daniel.
Before they could even agree, they were yanked to the center of the room. Daniel wondered if he was shocky. He closed his eyes and opened them to the ring room and Meredith snarling at them to get out of the way. He stumbled off the platform. Janet and Melena had Naghi on a gurney and were wheeling him out as the rings activated one last time, bringing back Essav squad.
Meredith locked down the controls and headed for the door.
"Hey," Daniel called.
"No time, they'll need me in the infirmary," Meredith yelled back, "You'll have to take care of the others!"
The airlock door slid closed behind him with a thunk.
Daniel looked around and settled his gaze on the three expedition members they'd retrieved. The Satedans were still quivering with adrenaline and wild-looking, but the ex-captives looked as exhausted as he felt, only confused too.
"You guys," Daniel said, then had to stop to cough and clear his throat, "you guys know the way back to your quarters. I'm going to," he gestured to the other three, "take care of... um, get our people settled in."
"And perhaps answer some questions, yes?" Zelenka asked, his gaze sharp despite the state of his glasses, as he looked around the ring room.
"Yeah," Daniel said tiredly. He realized he still had the P90 in one hand. He let it swing back down on sling clipped to his vest and gestured to the doors.
~*~
Radek limped after Dr. Jackson, Miko and Lydia trailing behind him. The very large and intimidating soldiers were left behind. He did not know exactly what to expect. While the ship they were aboard was unmistakably of Earth manufacture, he suspected that the lack of SGC personnel beyond Dr. Jackson meant they had not been rescued so much as changed captors. Otherwise, he would have expected to at least see a member of Earth's military accompanying their rescuers. He hoped only that they had not somehow fallen into the hands of the Goa'uld.
"Look," Dr. Jackson said wearily, "I know you're confused. But you may need to wait for some explanations."
Ah.
Radek was not surprised.
"Where is the crew?" Lydia asked.
The empty corridors they were walking had begun to disturb Radek as well.
"Back in the Milky Way," Jackson said. He kept walking. "Janet and Novak are the only others left. McKay - you saw him - is from Earth, but not interested in going back."
Radek had spent the majority of his contract with the IOA working either at Area 51 or in Antarctica. He had met Dr. Jackson on occasion there, in Dr. Carter's company, but hadn't been acquainted with anyone else from the SGC; the Americans had not welcomed the addition of experts from other countries to the program. He had read the censored AARs from the first years of stargate exploration, however, and recognized McKay's name, remembered because McKay had been a member of SG-1, a brilliant scientist, and Canadian. In addition, Radek understood that Dr. Carter had been married to him. He'd been under the impression Dr. McKay had been killed however.
He opened his mouth to ask how McKay had survived, then bit back the words. Best to wait, to listen and observe. If what they were told did not agree with what they knew, then that would tell them much about their 'rescuers'.
The chain he had secured around his leg and into his waist band slithered free and clanked on the metal deck. Jackson jumped and spun, fumbling at the weapon he still carried clipped to his combat vest.
"Pardon," Radek stuttered.
Miko darted forward and gathered up the links of the chain, then silently handed them to Radek. Lydia crowded closer to him; whether to support Radek or for his pathetic protection, he was unsure. His fellow captives had followed his lead since they were taken by the Genii, though he had not sought the authority they'd accorded him.
Jackson took a moment to recover. "Sorry, uh, adrenaline."
"Yes," Radek agreed without irony.
"I'd forgotten - Ro-Meredith could get that off for you, but he went to the infirmary to help Janet."
"I wasn't aware the any of Dr. McKay's doctorates were of a medical nature," Radek murmured. He wondered how Jackson would answer.
"They're not, but the captain and he are both able to operate Goa'uld healing devices," Jackson replied baldly.
Radek shuddered at all the implications.
"We'll go down to engineering," Jackson said. "Novak's there. She'll figure something out."
He had little choice but to follow Jackson. Lydia and Miko remained beside him. Radek didn't know if they realized what he had; from what he understood Jaffa could not use the Goa'uld's devices, only those taken as a host. Which would surely explain how Dr. McKay had been reported dead. He could not guess why Dr. Jackson did not appear even disturbed, only tired and annoyed. Perhaps Radek misunderstood.
The elevator Jackson led them toward opened before they reached it. A lanky man attired in black leather held the door open for them. He eyed Radek and his chain with a dark expression, then turned to Jackson.
"Kell said one of them injured one of his men."
"Yes," Jackson replied. The elevator made the five of them a tight fit. "Naghi lost his hand. Wagoner and Abrams were both killed."
"By Kell's people?"
"Yes."
"Then fuck him and his reparations," Jehan declared.
Lydia choked back a laugh, though Miko jumped.
"Ah, Jehan's... "
"Pilot," Jehan said. The short answer didn't invite any further description. He was looking at the chain, no, the manacle on Radek's ankle. His mouth set in a harsh line. He didn't say anything else, but accompanied them to engineering, where a pale young woman introduced as the aforementioned Novak efficiently first removed the chain from the manacle and then used a hammer and chisel to break the sloppy Genii welding job.
"I could do a better job with a soldering gun," she said and seemed surprised when Radek thanked her. She told them about the Asgard hyperdrives while she gathered her tools. "I suppose your specialties are all theory, but if you know some engineering you could work on them. Anyone else we pick up out here, someone will have to teach them to read English, since everything's written in it."
"In exchange for what?" Lydia asked.
Novak gave an abashed look toward Jehan, who had steadied Radek along with Jackson while Novak struck the chisel against the metal, and now slouched against a console. He shrugged. "Talk to Mer."
"He wouldn't have to spend so much time down here," Novak suggested.
Jehan's thin face lit with amusement and Novak giggled. Miko's eyes widened and she covered her mouth. So it was like that on this ship. Relationships were a good sign.
Radek fingered the chaffed skin above his ankle then slid off the table. He'd grown so used to the manacle's weight that it affected his balance even gone. He grabbed the edge of the table, shifted one of the links of chain and sent it over the edge. The chain poured down to the deck link by link before he could catch it.
Jehan stared at it much as Radek would have a poisonous snake, his face gone pale and set, the lightness of a moment before wiped away. He stood and told Jackson, "I'll be on the bridge. Give them any of the empty crew quarters. We don't want them on the same level as the Satedans." His gaze shifted to Radek, then Miko and Lydia. "The Satedans aren't crew. You don't need to obey them. You aren't crew either, so you don't have work stations or duties. Just listen for any all-ship announcements and do what they say, other than that you can do pretty much what you like. You've got a free ride until we stop at the next planet, then you can decide what you want to do."
Radek waited until Jehan had left to ask Jackson, "What sort of crew does this ship have?"
Novak cheerfully answered before Jackson could.
"Oh, we're pirates."
Lydia laughed until Radek feared she would be sick.
Jackson took them all back up ship and warned them which level the Satedan mercenaries were housed on. He pointed out the way to the infirmary and then the rec room and finished in the mess, where a gray-haired woman served them better food than Radek had tasted in months, maybe years. Jackson explained that they were on the former SGC ship Prometheus, now under the command of an ex-Goa'uld host and hunting the lost Atlantis expedition in order to find and loot the lost city.
"It's up to you," Jackson told them. "But if you don't sign on or offer some useful information, they'll probably dump you somewhere." He sighed. "When it's convenient. Which, admittedly, may not happen too soon."
Radek silently checked with Miko and Lydia. They had learned to read each other while the Genii kept them. Lydia shrugged and Miko ducked her head; both of them acceding to whatever Radek decided. He reserved the option to amend his choice, but felt they were better off aboard Revenge than on their own. Perhaps they might even be reunited with the expedition's survivors eventually.
Jehan, the only one of the 'pirates' Radek had met yet, had not been unkind. Novak, a woman of nervous nature if Radek was not mistaken, seemed at ease with him, had even teased him.
"Don't believe him," the gray-haired woman said as she appeared at their table with a pot of hot water and the tea Radek had asked for in place of coffee. "We'll just space ya."
"Dushka!" Jackson protested.
Dushka rolled her eyes. "Are you sure your name is Jackson and not jackass?"
"McKay came up with that, didn't he?" Jackson accused.
Dushka pinched her lips closed between forefinger and thumb, the gesture alien but more easily understood even than 'zipping' them, before returning to the galley she apparently ruled. The small interchange confirmed to Radek that they were in considerably better circumstances than they had been only hours before. He worried about the Satedans, but knew better than to speak of that yet. Miko delightedly prepared the tea which she shared with Radek, while Lydia savored coffee along with Jackson.
They lingered until many of the other crew passed through the mess hall. Dr. Fraiser arrived with McKay and a striking woman in black leather and a creatively cut-out, skintight red shirt.
"That's Vala," Jackson said quietly. "The captain."
"Food," McKay ordered. "Food, right now. Otherwise I'm sure I'm going to collapse right here." He didn't collapse, but he did take a seat at an empty table, cross his arms on the surface and rest his forehead on them.
"Vala Mal Doran," the captain purred to Radek. She leaned close and he couldn't help looking down her cleavage. "Welcome aboard Revenge. I just know we're all going to get along wonderfully." Her attention switched to Miko and Lydia and if anything, her voice turned huskier and more inviting. "Dr. Kusanagi, Dr. Dumais. I'm delighted we were able to get you out of that loathsome hole and away from those tedious Genii."
"Naghi's hand?" Jackson asked.
Captain Mal Doran straightened up slowly and Radek realized she was exhausted.
"Is fine," she said.
"I reattached it," Dr. Fraiser explained. She had on BDUs and a pale green scrub top beneath a white coat. She slumped down into a chair at the same table as McKay. "Vala and Rod-Meredith were able to use the healing devices. He appeared to have sensation and control when we
left. Melena's monitoring him."
"I can do more," Captain Mal Doran offered.
"Not until you and Meredith have both eaten something. Naghi needs rest too. Those healing devices are a huge drain on the body," Dr. Fraiser stated. She scrubbed her hands through her hair, then stretched, before her attention shifted to Radek, Lydia and Miko. "We'll take a look at all of you too."
Dushka set coffee mugs in front of McKay and Fraiser.
"Food?" McKay asked as he groped for his mug without raising his head.
"In a minute," Dushka promised. She handed Vala Mal Doran a bottle of something red and quite obviously not from Earth.
Shortly after, Jehan joined them in company with a face Radek recognized.
"Slečna Emmagan!" Radek exclaimed. "Dr. Carter thought you had been culled." His pleasure at seeing her faded a little. Though he had not spoken to her more than once or twice while they were on Athos, he remembered someone softer. But, of course, that had been before the culling. The terror of the night would never fade, despite the horrors Kolya had inflicted since.
Teyla nodded to him and smiled - a small, controlled smile in contrast to the boundless sorrow in her dark eyes. "Dr. Zelenka, it is good that you have been freed. Dr. Kusanagi, Dr. Dumais, your survival gives me joy. I have found no one from my own people or yours before this, though I returned to Athos."
"The Athosians took us to Genea," Lydia snapped and glared at Teyla. Unlike Miko, who could pretend self-effacement and Radek, who had learned circumspection under the Russians, Lydia hadn't fared well among the Genii; they hadn't appreciated her sharp tongue. She'd expected rescue by the expedition and when it hadn't come, she'd built a hard and bitter shell around herself. She still listened to Radek, but he doubted she would answer to anyone else who hadn't suffered along with their little group.
Teyla bowed her head.
"A mistake."
"Caias and Reckell have the bridge," Jehan reported to the captain. "Kell went down to see his men."
Jehan brushed one hand over McKay's slumped shoulders in passing as he took the next seat. McKay smiled and handed his coffee mug to the pilot, who sipped from it, then handed it back. Radek noticed but dismissed the interaction, too intent on Teyla Emmagan's subtly harder appearance. He wondered how she had survived and if any of those others culled that night had as well.
Dushka brought out plates of sandwiches and finger food. Three were set before Dr. Fraiser, Captain Mal Doran, and McKay. She set more out for everyone else. McKay began eating immediately and loudly. Drippy pieces slid out the edge of his sandwich onto his plate and his shirt. No one paid him any attention.
Lydia tensed to speak again and Radek touched her hand to caution her before she could say anything else bitter. He himself did not blame the Athosians. They had lost their homes, their loved ones and even their planet because of the expedition. If blame were to be apportioned, Radek would set its weight against the Genii, who were as cruel and paranoid as the Communist regimes he remembered from childhood. Which reminded him to remain cautious among these people.
Caution did not preclude kindness in return for the kindness they'd been shown however. He flexed his ankle, relishing the lack of the manacle.
"Though Commander Kolya kept much from us," he said, "the Genii scientists," he curled his lip at so calling them, "were not so security conscious. The Athosians left Genea with the expedition." He sighed. "I do not know any more. Only that Kolya's spies were to look for them as well as any Tau'ri."
Kolya, horrid man, had been furious to have been bested by Dr. Carter. He had not gathered that Carter had been military and thought her just another frightened scientist, nor had he realized the Tau'ri would react so quickly or discover the bunker system hidden beneath their Potemkin village. Rage had even cost him Kavanagh when he killed him. Afterward, he had questioned the captives on where the other Tau'ri might go. Radek and the others still had the scars, but a knife couldn't extract what wasn't there, only screams and lies.
"Wonderful," McKay muttered around a mouthful of food. "We've got a hold full of Visigoths, two dead scientists, and we're no closer to finding Sam and the others than before. This is the crappiest galaxy ever." He winced immediately and glared at Jehan, who must have kicked his foot under the table. The glare turned apologetic when he looked at Radek. "Not that I'm not doing inner cartwheels at having got you three loose, especially since according the mission records, all of you are qualified to take some shifts in engineering."
Radek coughed and then laughed despite himself.
"Yes, I can see that."
McKay took another bite of his sandwich - his third - and asked while chewing, "What were the Genii making you work on?"
Brendan and Wagoner had told Kolya about Atlantis, wetting the commander's appetite for the treasures and weapons of the Ancestors' city. He had demanded they create a power source that would let him take Atlantis and when they couldn't, he'd become obsessed with finding a ZPM. Once in control of Atlantis, Kolya believed he could oust Cowen and rule the Genii. Radek had listened to him boast of his plans while pretending to still be unconscious from a beating. Kolya only wished to destroy the Wraith in order to garner more power for himself. He was a madman and would not listen to warnings. He refused to accept that radiation was sickening all the Genii in the underground city or that returning to Atlantis, even with a power source, would be pointless without someone with the ATA gene.
Radek had stopped speaking of the radiation danger. He'd hoped Kolya would be arrogant enough to handle the refined fissionable materials needed for the bombs.
Instead, Commander Kolya had taken Brendan and his loyalist men to a planet rumored to be the hiding place of an Ancestors' potentia, which Brendan believed might be a ZPM.
"Nuclear weapons," Miko said.
"Their shielding is... very bad," Radek added.
"Oh, god damn it," Fraiser exclaimed. She pushed her chair back and popped to her feet. "Come on. Infirmary now. I want to get an idea of what kind of exposure you've all had. We'll start you on drug regimen and I'll put together a prophalyctic dosage for the Satedans. Stupid, reckless, dumbass idiots."
"I do not believe any of your people were exposed long enough to suffer any after effects," Radek offered, "though I observed a high incidence of what I believe were skin cancers among the Genii personnel assigned to weapons research."
That didn't please Fraiser.
"We're doing this now," she commanded. "Come along."
"Don't bother arguing," Jackson said.
McKay nodded and Jehan intoned, "Resistance is futile."
"Oh, I'm not arguing," Lydia said. She grabbed Miko's hand and pulled her to her feet. "Let's go, Kusanagi. Your bone marrow will thank me."
Miko offered Captain Mal Doran a helpless, embarrassed half-bow as Lydia dragged her toward the mess hall doors. Radek followed more slowly and promised to speak more with McKay later. McKay just waved him on.
Much later, alone for the first time in longer than he could remember, Radek stood in the tiny shower cubicle and allowed the unrationed hot water to run over him and allowed himself to cry in relief. He would not die of radiation poisoning, he would not be tortured, he would not be forced to watch as his colleagues were beaten and cowed into service to a madman or to prostitute his own knowledge to save them. He was as safe as anyone in this galaxy could be.
He'd forgotten to tell them that Kolya had taken both Brendan and the first nuclear device with him to Dagan. Radek told himself he needed to mention that to Captain Mal Doran or someone soon. Perhaps they could save Brendan. Once out of Kolya's clutches, he thought the young scientist might recover and realize nothing good could come of aiding the Genii.
Relief that he was finally free of the Genii himself left Radek feeling fragile and terribly guilty that he was alive. He pictured again poor Wagoner's panic and Abram's futile death trying to save him. They had been only moments from freedom. There was nothing Radek had done that warranted his survival over theirs, only that he had kept his head. He had been a coward; he had not even moved to save Wagoner.
They were dead and he was not. Radek wept until he feared he would throw up the very good food he had eaten. The sobs only ended when exhaustion dragged him to a stop. Radek slapped the cubicle's wall. They were dead and he was alive.
His fingertips had pruned up. If he did not get out of the shower soon, surely someone from the crew would notice the excessive water consumption and investigate.
The crew of pirates, he reminded himself. Pirates. Who would believe it? They had been rescued by intergalactic pirates and alien mercenaries. Radek hiccupped, but held back the hysterical laughter that threatened to overtake him.
He turned off the shower, dried himself and dressed, then returned to the cabin he had been given. He nodded to Miko as she returned from the women's showers and hoped the fogged up lenses of his glasses hid how red his eyes were. Alone once more, he sank down on the cabin's bunk, curled a blanket over his shoulders and fell into a black and dreamless sleep.
~*~
continued in [c]