The Lieutenant Colonel was ready for action, wasn’t he? He sure hoped he was, since he was armed with a G36 and the damned Zat… thing. He wasn’t quite happy about using Goa’uld or whatever-the-everloving-bloody-fuck-spawned alien race tech the Zat was. It was details he didn’t care about. All he knew was that it wasn’t human tech, or even a properly human allied creation.

But for now, he had to be serious, and focused. He was getting on the field. The lives of the men and women were in his hands, as was his own. He’d be going on a two-man permanent mission kill/disable team with Lieutenant Cody, for his own reasons. He’d give the orders for secondary assist/recon/damage teams later, but for now, he and the Lieutenant were alone together. Or at least within speaking distance.

Now this wasn’t just for his own… well, the only way to put it was interrogation. A little less blunt though. In any case, this wasn’t for his own purposes, but for command purposes, and tactical reasons. The Lieutenant, according to whatever info he had available, which wasn’t the Library of Congress by any long bloody shot, was an expert marksman, and a top shot. He was going to use this resource in most of his maneuvers, because hell if it wasn’t a damned good asset.

He wasn’t going to get into the details of his reasoning for now, since he had a job to do. He had grabbed the Anti-Jammer backpack, something he deeply valued as a necessary asset for these kind of missions. All kinds of bloody high-tech shit up in here, he thought. At any other time, he’d have commented on how the “old wars were funner” in whatever irony he still had, but the thought didn’t occur to him in his focused mindset.

“Lieutenant, you’re with me. Get your candy ass with me, we’re getting planetside.”

Cody rolled his eyes at the mans comment. Candy ass? Everything the man made him sound like a complete egotistic fool. On top of that Cody was already bad at listening to the chain of command in the field due to how long he’d been solo, and now he was supposed to take orders from this man? Please. The Canadians intelligence network was too far behind compared to the CIA to even come close to Cody’s level, and they wanted him to listen to a Canadian soldier? What a joke.
He had a job to do though and right now that meant working with this worthless heap of garbage. What constituted using souch foul language, and such an obvoiusly unworthy ego in his eyes? If he didn’t prove useful Cody would just have to eliminate the threat to the ship. After all, if one cannot perform to the proper standards they put everyone else at risk. Williams was a diplomat so if he had to report the incident it might put him on probation with Williams for the fact that he did his job but not under the proper perameters...that of course is if Williams found out it was Cody who did this. For now though this man still had a chance to prove himself so Cody figured he shouldn’t think up the plans...not yet.
Cody turned towards the lieutenant Colonel and gave him a self-confident smile. “Don’t worry sir, I know you think my lack of armaments might seem laughable, and if you know about my ratings on the range then you probably think I should be using a rifle, but you won’t be disappointed I can promise you that sir.” Cody put his hand on his left side pocket and felt the Zat, but more importantly he felt his combat knife. He was definitely ready. “Shall we?” He asked simply awaiting Blaze’s command to beam them to the planet.

“I have no qualms against your arming, Lieutenant, because a pistol or Zat should work just fine.” the Colonel replied, moving forward in swift and long strides. “Command beam is completed. Lets get planetside.” He said once more, turning to face the others, and saluted to the Captain, and stood there, waiting for the other man to join him, with a hard face.

Cody sighed. This was going to be a long day, he could already tell. “Roger that.” A simple phrase, one that he used frequently when it came to orders and military duties. He had to make sure not to overstep his mission parameters on this one now that he was being watched, so no saving an innocent child here and there, no secretly overthrowning a hostile government unofficially, nope. This all had to be by the book now. He stepped next to Blaze and turned on the spot and began to think about Williams. Cody found the man boring, but he had to follow the man’s orders for now so that’s what he would do. Besides Williams was actually decent, and not a complete dim witted fool like most of the IOA. As the thought ran through his mind the beaming process began
As the pair beamed they both found themselves on a clearing high in the mountains above the Ancient Facility. The clearing was small, the treeline was only 5 metres away. The Facility itself was mainly built into the mountainside and only the entrance could be seen. Several figures could be seen outside the door of the facility. The whole thing was two hundred metres away.
The first reaction the Colonel had to the beaming was one of measured confidence, which was absolutely fake. He hated getting beamed, and he got… beam-sick? Was that the term for the utter sickness he would feel everytime he went through the process. He couldn’t quite care, except for the fact that it caused him operational distress. He’d see if this could be solved.

With gusto, he put his hand to his holstered Zat, and moved forward once more, and beckoning for the Lieutenant to come along. The G36 was at his back, next to the Anti-Jammer backpack, which was slightly weighty, but not too much.

Cody blinked and the next thing he knew he was there. It was actually kinda cool, and unlike every other time he’d been put somewhere without going there himself, he wasn’t knocked out to wake up somewhere knew! So this was actually quite pleasant for him. He had his left hand on his pistol ready to draw, but saw no immediate threat as he scanned the area. The trees and mountains here were actually beautiful to behold, and perhaps even picture worthy.

He walked up to the Colonel still scanning the area and then raised a hand and pointed to the entrance of the facility. “There it is sir.” He also noticed that there were people outside the facility and he pulled out the left pistol and readied the weapon. “Given our current fire power, if you’re a good enough shot, we can easily eliminate the targets before they can alert anyone else. Unless you have another idea...Sir.” He almost forgot to add the sir part in there. He hated that soooo much. It was one of many things he didn’t miss now that he’d become more independent.

The colonel reacted by raising his right eyebrow higher than Mount Everest. Obviously this kid was either an idiot, or testing him, and from everything he’d seen, the Lieutenant was not dumb, although he was short of a few nuts and bolts.

Now, according to Canadian Military Penal Code Section Fifteen, this kind of backtalk and insolence worked out as insubordination on the field, and he was damned sure that the Americans, with their bloody ass military, had a similar scripture. He could field-discharge the Lieutenant from here, temporarily, until he became fit for duty. Now, obviously, since he was American, he wasn’t fully under his command, but again, technically, the SG Strike Team was a Joint Procedure, therefore still making him a superior officer to him, and the C/AMPC rule applied to all superior officers.

But of course, current timing was not appropriate, and he’d rather not have to be impaired by a single, rather skilled man. What was more disturbing was the fact that the Lieutenant was testing, or at least thats what seemed obvious.

“Lieutenant, I was not brought on the ship and program because I have friends in high spots, or am some sort of genius. I have neither, but what I do have is a grasp of tactics. So yes, before your insubordination continues, I will inform you that I do have a plan.” he said, with an extremely controlled tone.

Cody smirked as he holstered the weapon. ’Congrats Colonel you passed the first test…’ he thought to himself. Instead of being compliant he just had to push his luck, to find out the colonels limits that is. “Oh well good! At least I can be comforted by the fact that you weren’t born yesterday, Sir! So what might this brilliant plan of yours be?” On the bright side of things he seemed to value the chain of command which meant he had loyalty to some degree. Though it was almost laughable that someone so stuck up would be on this mission. So much for easy going and pleasant times, brothers in arms and all.

Now there was no other options. The Lieutenant was testing him, and psychologically too. This wasn’t the work of some soldier who wanted to know what made his commander tick, that never happened. It was as if he knew that he could get off scot-free, somehow. He doubted, all of a sudden, that the Lieutenant felt that he had control over him, at all.

But insubordination, heavens was this what the Americans did? The man was several ranks below the Colonel, and Harry was getting rather irked. But he’d give the chap one more chance, as he tried to figure out what the Lieutenant was doing. Yes, what was he doing? Sure, he was a sharpshooter, but till date, he’d never seen a man chosen for such op’s because of combat skills, which weren’t extremely phenomenal either, while they were quite good.

“Well, Lieutenant, its simpler than tying your shoelace, assuming you Americans don’t use strap-ons. It should have occurred to you that shooting right from here, or one place is incredibly lacking in smarts. I shall explain that all you have to do is shoot from over that hill to your four. I shall handle to rest. I hope it was to your mind’s liking, Princess-chan?” he said, once more in his monotone.

Cody smiled. “Well if that’s what you had in mind I don’t see why not.” Honestly though. First thing he wants to do is shoot people without clearing it? Last he checked they were trying to make some friends, and try and get into the facility without causing trouble, but that didn’t bother him at all. This was what he was trained for. He chuckled to himself inside his mind. If this backfired what would the captain have to say to the oh so clever Colonel? Though Cody had to admit he was slightly disappointed that he left his rifle in his room. This would’ve been perfect for it.
Cody turned and began to walk and then stopped looking over his shoulder. “So what are you going to tell the captain?” Yet another test, man Cody had a million of the tests set up for people. More importantly though this one would also involve a test on the ship’s Captain. Something that he actually had to be careful about.

“Why, the exact same thing I would have if I’d done what you had suggested, and shot them up front. I mean, its not like we’re killing them, Lieutenant. We have these Zat’s for a reason.” he replied once more, in a slightly jovial theme.

Cody pulled out the zat in his left pocket. “I suppose we did bring these for a reason.” In his head he was shaking his head at the Colonel. Attacking them just to incapacitate the enemy? They’ll wake up eventually, but this was his call. So be it.

-Timeskip 1 hour-

The Colonel shot the last of the guards straight in the face, but only once. He wasn’t killing anyone on this op, or at least for now. He’d managed to take down several of the guards, and all of them with the Lieutenants obviously reluctant help. He grabbed the body, and dumped it in to locked steel structure, a guardhouse of some sort. He clicked his comms, the only thing he would do, due to his own ordered radio-silence, which was the signal for Cody to appear. He’d dumped all the bodies into the building, and no alarm had been raised, so they’d obviously completed their first objective. He waited outside of the camp, approaching the structure.

Cody was actually a little surprised. Despite the desine, and considering it was a pistol like weapon, the Zat had been fairly accurate. Though obviously not following the laws bullets were bound to made it interesting to use. When the Colonel gave the signal Cody came out from his spot and walked over slowly scanning the area just to be safe. They’d accomplished taking the area so now it was time for the clean up. Standard procedure for him really. Make sure no one finds the bodies till after one can get to safety if at all possible, which meant that they couldn’t have all the bodies of the enemies, which would eventually wake up to make noise to be found, lying where the next team would take over.

Cody walked up to the Colonel and just bluntly spoke. “Good idea putting them all in the same area, and since they’re all connected the Zat can spread across all of them getting rid of them all at once.” He slowly raised his Zat looking around one last time before he would dispose of the bodies. This line of work wasn’t pretty, and some might say there was no honor or dignity in it. But without people like himself in the world...well now that he knew about the Stargate Program, the universe. Things would be even worse for diplomacy matters.

The Colonel was extremely surprised by two things. The first was the lack of “sir”, in his words, which was just purely rule violating, raising all his suspicions. But then the second thing was the idea that he was going to kill them. “Stand down, soldier. We’re killing no one here. We have our orders, and as much as I’d like to do this, put the Zat down, Lieutenant. We’re not killing them, just locking them in here. The building’s made of steel and concrete, and I’ve removed all methods of outside communication for them.”, he growled.
“And a Zat shot, from the experience I have, will have them out for more time than we need for this, so theres no need. Do you understand me, soldier?” he once again said, to make it clear.

Cody didn’t lower the Zat, but he turned his head to the Colonel. “Colonel, just because they will be out long enough doesn’t mean anything. When they wake up they will be able to tell their comrades what happened, and then we can be identified. We used weapons that people on this planet can get ahold of easily and are very common in the galaxy from what I’ve read. Killing them gives us a better chance of deniability.”

This was common sense, at least to Cody. Why would the Colonel even care so much? They were the enemy. Until the day there is peace that will always be the case. So every soldier taken out helps, not to mention in scenarios like these it makes it easier to act like it wasn’t you. Especially when you know they won’t be able to do a lie detection test on you.

The Lieutenant’s ruthless and cold thought process was far too dissimilar from a normal soldier’s for the Colonel to not notice. All the more suspicion built up in him, against the Lieutenant. Too much of his life was blacked out, damn those higher ups. It seemed so… intelligent. The military tops didn’t do this, this was civilian work. And god damn, he hated blacking out.

“I don’t think you understood me, Lieutenant, we are under orders. Orders, from the Captain, the IOA Rep, and even my own self, to not take forceful measures. The second planetside team will deal with them, not us. Not only that, I don’t think you understand this well, but you’ve forced my hand. Constantly, I have doubted you, and I have found everything about you blacked out. I will confront you here, for mission safety. What, and don’t you apply spook tactics here, what are you doing here?” He said, letting his frustration and suspicion get the better of his military out-lying personality.

[Deyika and Tonak

Back on the Al’kesh and within the pilot seat, Deyika’s hand steadied itself upon the red orb which held the ship in position where her brother had indicated. Her eyes focused upon the little red dot on the locator that caught the signal from her brother’s tracker. For several seconds longer she watched it, mesmerized by the steady pace and the signal strength until she shifted to the transmitter. Due to the simplicity of the Goa’uld bomber, she could only listen to the ongoings play out as she heard sounds she guessed were the rings tearing through the roof followed by the sounds of her brother’s one liner and punctuated it with a gunshot. Dey guessed Tonak’s pistol was pointed at the Alliance’s little nuisances head or he wouldn’t have wasted the breath.

Naturally, she didn’t flinch or seemed affected by the sounds of violence as she had seen it before, namely the aftermath when things got rather hot. Her hand reached to press a few buttons and ensured the cloak was still maintained. It won’t do well if the Tauri noticed a little Al’kesh hovering there, would it? She mused to herself.

She leaned back into the chair, her eyes scanned the skies for any signs of other ships within her air space then reached over to click another button. She breathed deeply while she waited on her brother to finish up what Kane had tasked him with. Dey wasn’t a fan at playing the sit and wait game for too long. Namely when her brother was out mucking around planetside which never set with her from the start, but was unavoidable in their employment.

Tonak had just finished up placing the ambush on the two Tauri who were in the woods which would prove an ample distraction for he had heard that the long ranged weapon experts had confirmed visuals off the Tauri team at the Ancient Facility. Everything was coming together nicely, he just had to ensure that everything was going to work. It was all set and then it was almost ready to come together in the end.

Once he knew he was alone, he had long ago abandoned the pretense of leading the planet and they had fallen into anarchy which he quite enjoyed. Once out in the town square he activated his communicator. “Dey, give me a pickup. We’re almost done here. We have stuff to do and not a lot of time to do it.”

Dey smirked at hearing her brother’s words on the transmitter. Her fingers pressed the button as she replied to him, her hand released from the red orb and clicked the rings to teleport him onboard. “Got ‘cha.”

Placing the ship on autopilot and still cloaked, she pulled out of the chair then headed to the ring room. It didn’t take long as she knew her ship from top to bottom, inside and out, to arrive when Tonak’s figure was revealed when the rings pulled back. She tossed him an apple she had followed by a comment. “So, everything went well I take it?”

Tonak heard the engines thrum to life as the ship moved, ensuring that it wasn’t in the same place to where the rings would have been detected. Naturally the Tauri again would likely have gotten suspicious with the activation of the rings however that wasn’t a problem right now. He took a bite off the apple after catching it before speaking. “I’ve managed to resolve the situation, it is just a pity however that our local asset didn’t really work.” He shrugged. “Our end goals can still be achieved though so that is something.” He took another bite of the apple.

“I’m going to need to go light some fires near the ancient facility. We have the other two jammed and soon you’re going to go need to start a fight. Everything sound good?”

“From the sound of his little broadcast, the guy seemed to have an ego complex and was a real asshole.“ Dey replied, her body turned to return back to the ship’s bridge.

”I know, and he was and he did. However despite the fact that an asset suddenly turned… well. He snapped really which is a waste we’ve used the rings three times with a Tauri Vessel in orbit. He’s dead and still has a chance to ruin everything.”

“I didn’t think you just shot your gun off for kicks, Ton.” Tonak merely shrugged at that. “I rarely do Dey, I rarely do.”

“I know that, too bad it wasn’t a Tauri at the other side of it rather than a worthless pest. The bullet would’ve been worth it rather than a waste. Anyway, it seems they hadn’t notice us yet thankfully. I kept moving the ship around enough and never in the same location, even added a randomizer for the ship’s autopilot to keep us moving in something other than a straight line. So far, it’s doing well.” She motioned for him to follow her as she started to walk down the hallway, her eyes turned upon him. “What’s next on our list? Hopefully I’m not just the one that has to bail your ass out as usual.”

She nudged him gently with her elbow in teasing before she grew silent for his reply.

Anyone else nudging him would have got a punch in the gut, or worse. However of course after all they had been through he wouldn’t do anything like that to his sister. Though they were twins she was still his little sister. “Oh the next bits going to be fun. I’ll meet you on the bridge in a couple of minutes.” He walked away to the cargo hold and grabbed a case, obviously the design of those used by the Tauri. It was one of his own ones so Deyika would likely be ignorant to the contents.

Walking out he took it to the bridge and opened the case. “You’re going to use this-” Inside there was a Tauri naquadah enhanced bomb. “Tauri by design, incredibly hard to come by and in its current configuration… extremely explosive.” He closed the case back up.“You know the rules concerning the Langford so we aren’t using it on her. Instead I want you to beam it onto the Ha’tak. I’ve convinced them to power down their shields earlier so it will be quite easy and will create a nice explosion, scramble some sensors and put them on battle alert. I’ll tell you when to do it of course, and once you have done it just sit back and watch the fireworks.”

Deyika’s eyebrow raised at the shoddy tech, obvious it was Tauri, and cocked her hips with a bit of attitude. Inside she was impressed at how simple the plan seemed to be and straightforward it was, a little disappointed at first. Then again, it was better than playing just the getaway pilot all the time like before. Her body paced a little, her teeth bit her lip in that nervous gesture, for a moment or two until she replied.

“Alright, seems simple enough. Just leave it near the rings and I’ll get it ready for your signal.” Deyika mused lightly, her head glanced back to Tonak and added while she headed to take her seat up front. “Also...be sure to dispose of that apple core right, not just tossing it away on the floor.”

Tonak just sighed shaking his head walking away with the case, he turned around when he got to the door. “You are really unbelievable. We’re working on a Galaxy changing plot and you’re concerned about an Apple core?” With that he just walked out of the room, flashing the briefest of grins. Several minutes later Dey would have gotten an alert that the ring platforms had activated, indicated that Tonak had headed back down to the planet.

Rea’c and Kayle

Rea’c and Kayle had thoroughly explored the area, and now had been waiting for half an hour for this person or representative to turn up. He had crossed his legs and allowed himself to enter a light state of Kel’No’Reem a she waited for things to progress. Kay did not join him in this, probably feeling she could not also retain her attention. Truth me told he didn’t truly know why however he had nothing better to do. Though at the same time he kept his mind on his surroundings, listening to the birds and the rustling of the leaves as the wind blew through the trees.

He heard a twig snap, just one. Someone was trying to be stealthy and his eyes immediately darted open. He waited until Kay glanced over in his direction and he subtly nodded before closing his eyes again as to not make it obvious he had noticed though his grip on his staff weapon had tightened. He only hoped she would find a way of checking out the disturbance without making it too obvious.

Kay was nervous, it showed in her body language and she was very aware of it. However she wasn’t completely sure the reason as under normal situations, she could remain completely calm and composed. She could only guess at the source was due to the fact she and everyone on the Langford were millions of lightyears or more from Earth. And any sort of backup should things go terribly wrong. That fact added on top of the desire to do well seemed to only encourage her nervous to bug her. To sooth her rattled feeling, Kay turned to the one thing that comforted her: her knife. Her hand held it by the blade and been toying with it, her head turned up to pan the surroundings, when a snap caught her attention. Immediately only her eyes pulled to the side briefly to spot Rea’c already alerted to what she knew.

She managed not to jerk her head towards the sound as not to give away the fact she heard it, instead pulled up to her feet then started to pace slightly. Her eyes had fixed upon her blade while her brain tried to formulate a plan. It had been far too long and now someone seemed to be attempting to ambush them. An idea occurred to her. A risky one but it might allow them the advantage of surprise, if done right. Her hand pull up to her radio and appeared to talk into it.

“Lt. Zaken here. It doesn’t appear anyone is showing up, we’re heading back to our original location for pick up.” Kay’s words clearly weren’t protocol in this situation as she didn’t wait for an answer. Then again, she never had her thumb pressed over the button either so no message would’ve gotten through. She turned to Rea’c to speak to him. “Let’s head back.”

She was hoping he wouldn’t think she was being foolish or ignored the true danger, instead she hoped he would’ve figured out her true intentions.

Rea’c opened his eyes and looked at her. He didn’t understand what she was doing and as such he arched an eyebrow to illustrate his confusion. However he did not question her and stood up grabbing his weapon and nodding his head. “As you wish.” At the same time he avoided the need to twist his head as he heard several other twigs snap. He now had a mental count up to three separate assailants in three different locations. Whoever they were they weren’t exact professionals however he didn’t want to get too overconfident. It could, afterall, be a trick to push them into overconfidence to make a mistake.

He stood up to follow her to wherever they were heading.

Kay smiled, though she wasn’t surprised at his confusion, and pulled closer to lead the way. She needed to know how many were around and being stationary wasn’t going to give her an accurate account. Naturally after a few steps she heard the sounds around her that indicated at least three different assailants, one was behind and two to either side, that seemed bent on flanking them unknowingly. Her steps had slowed bring her to Rea’c’s side.

“I’m assuming you already know there’s three of them, at least that many following us?” Kay asked in a lower voice, trying to keep hard to hear for their unwanted ‘guests’. Her pace hadn’t been affected but her hands still held her knife, the blade fiddled in her fingers and slowly edged into a ready throw.

Rea’c merely nodded, he had long ago learned that having a deeper voice meant that it was more likely that he would be heard. They were walking back to the river when he heard them begin to pick up the pace followed by the tell tale noise of someone opening a Zat’nik’atel. He pulled out, gently and carefully two of the Tauri “flashbangs” hoping that she would do the same. The distraction would give them enough time to get to a clear defensible area, or if needed be beamed out.

Kay’s eyes twinkled in acknowledgement when Rea’c had nodded in agreement, her lips turned up in a slight smirk. Then she mouth the words my signal to ensure he knew to be ready and saving her the trouble to make sure they were on the same page now. Causally she stealthed her knife and brushed past her flash grenades, quietly one from her belt when the sounds of a Zat was opened. Her other hand had reached for her own Zat, already unclasped after the incident with the self claimed Goa’uld and Rea’c quicker draw, then readied to jerk it free after the flash happened.

She brought the grenade close to the holster and hooked the little pin with her finger before she shouted. Her eyes closed when she tossed them while her hand ripped out her Zat in a fluid moment. Afterwards, she took off in Rea’c’s wake.

===Langford’s Medical Wing===

Joseph and Ariadne/Idalia, before time skip

This mission was turning out to be quite hectic. Ariadne had been barely half way through donning one of Tau’ri flight suits when the call had come through saying she would not be boarding via F-302 anymore. With that being the case, she opted for a different approach, quickly stripping off the flight suit and putting her Tok’ra uniform back on, but grabbing one of the Tau’ri combat vests to wear over it. While the soft fabrics and leathers of the normal Tok’ra working garb were comfortable and suited to almost any environment, they provided no protection whatsoever once staff blasts were flying. The Tau’ri had developed armour that would stop a staff blast from dealing damage beyond the physical force of impact, and their armour was also designed to stop their own projectile weapons. While she was far more likely to survive being hit than a mere human or even a Jaffa, that did not mean she wanted to take the chance. Once she was sure the vest was secure, she belted the pouch in which she kept her healing device over the top for easy access. Her Zat’nik’tel was holstered on her forearm rather than at her waist, a habit from when she still wore ostentatious and flashy outfits into battle - all in the name of appearing to be a god.

Of course things had not stopped with that change in plans. Ariadne had been listening in to the command channel while she was dressing and moving about the ship, and only minutes after the first team had beamed down word had come in of a most unexpected discovery. Apparently the team had discovered a Goa’uld down on the planet, disabled him and decided to beam him up. It all seemed a little too convenient to Ariadne, but if it truly was a Goa’uld, she could gain favour with the Tok’ra high council by sending him to them for extraction. She immediately began making her way to the infirmary, reaching up to activate her communicator - what the Tau’ri called a ‘radio’ while she did so. “The council did not inform me of any Tok’ra agents on this world. Even if it were though, a Tok’ra would not be so foolish and brash in their means of contact.”

It did not take her long to reach the Infirmary, and as soon as she caught sight of the man, she immediately focused on trying to sense the presence of other symbiotes. The Naquadah was there. He was not bluffing. At Idalia’s insistence, Ariadne relinquished control.

Idalia stormed towards the Goa’uld, hand on her holstered Zat, ready to deliver the justice he deserved. Though she was right next to him and could not possibly be stopped, her hand would not pull the weapon from its holster. She railed at Ariadne’s evident control, but there was nothing she could do. She had to settle for cursing him in his native language. “Kel’mak’tak, Goa’uld!” She spat at the injured man on the bed, stepping back and crossing her arms in frustration.

It was a foolish and thoughtless thing to do of course, but in the heat of the moment she could only think of the countless years spent in servitude to the Goa’uld, the years of fear and hatred. Things were different now though.

Joseph had naturally arrived a few moments later. His shoes squeaked across the floor while his hand held the clipboard to his eyes, his other one upon his reading glasses to go over the papers. Currently he was scanning the information about the Goa’uld’s anatomy or least what had been gathered at such short notice when his head raised. He finally noted the young woman standing near the man, much to his surprise because he hadn’t been expecting anyone. The frustration was impossible to miss for him, his eyes ran up her figure at the key signs. It trailed from crossed arms up to her glare, even the distance between them. Joseph sighed at situation, his mind already made up about how much fun this little moment was going to be.

He stepped towards the woman and spoke, his voice firm and business like. “Can I help you Ms….”

Idalia glanced at the person suddenly speaking to her, frustration evident as she did so. “Idalia.” She returned to glaring at Aeryn. “What you can do for me, is get the Symbiote out of him so I can kill it.” Attacking the host may be a poor thing to do, but killing the symbiote was definitely something almost everyone here would agree with.

“Well, Ms. Idalia, if I could snap my fingers to accomplish that, I would.” Joseph’s sarcasm peered through from the earlier scene within the lab. His hand reached from his glasses to the paper and flipped it over, his vision scanned over the information a few more times. “The bad part is with the number of wounds, ranging from a variety burn degrees to a broken arm and wrist, surgery at this point will kill both the host and the symbiote. Something I rather not risk.”

His hand reached for the fluid bag at the man’s bedside, his eyes upon the liquid which seamlessly flowed into the least damaged one. His eyes took in the damaged from the blast, namely centered upon the wrist and hand. Most of the flesh was blackened and peeled away several layers to reveal slightly pink, cooked muscle underneath which meant nerve endings were likely beyond repair. His fingers were nothing but charred tendon, little remained, and broken pieces. He jerked his head from viewing anymore.

“The odd part was that according to this information, Goa’uld have healing abilities which means his wounds should be mending themselves. However, there appears to be little change that I can detect. We barely managed to get him stable to this point and currently its a waiting game.”

“Fine” Idalia said. “If he is too hurt for you to remove the Symbiote, I will heal him. Then you can remove it without worry.” Idalia stepped forward again, pulling the hand device from its pouch and slipping it on. She raised her crossed hands over the Goa’ulds body, shut her eyes and focused on the use of the device. First she had to scan him, determine what exactly his injuries were, and how much she could help. The healing device was powerful, but it was no sarcophagus and some things were simply beyond its capacity to repair. Starting at his hand, she quickly determined that she could not totally fix it. It did not particularly bother her, and she moved on to examine the rest of his body. Sometimes damage was not so evident on the surface, and it always payed to check.

The hand was definitely the worst damage the man had suffered, but when Idalia passed the hand device over his neck and head, she found herself surprised. She passed the device over him again, just to be sure of what she saw.

There was no symbiote.

She opened her eyes, a look of disappointment evident on her face. “This man is not a Goa’uld. He has no symbiote.” She slipped the healing device off her hand and replaced it in its pouch, having only scanned him and not repaired any of the damage at all. She had been robbed of her prize, and though it was for different reasons, Ariadne felt the same way. She stepped back from him again, this time looking at the Tau’ri doctor. “Treat him as you will. I do not care about his fate.”

When Idalia spoke about healing the man, Joseph’s eyebrow raised in doubt. In his opinion they already were going to try their best to mend the damage but some wounds were beyond conventional means for healing. However, the way she spoke made it seem like she thought it was a simple matter. His eyes brushed over his patient once more, unable to see anything she could do in the situation or how she was going to miraculously heal the man. She clearly wasn’t with the medical department and certainly not a miracle worker so he failed to see her words as anything more than wishful thinking. Joseph sighed to himself and once more looked at the man’s chart. There was so much to do for them to get started that he had difficulty where to begin.

That’s when he noticed the device. A small, circular device was fixed firmly within the woman’s hand which emitted a glowing, pale yellow light. She slowly ran it the length of the patient’s injuries and seemed to be performing some sort of scan in his guess. Merely because there was little to no visible change in the man’s condition, though the sight did little not to surprise the doctor. His eyes widened from the sight she made and stood rigidly in place to stare until she finished. Once she completed it, the light stopped when her demeanor changed into something of disappointment. She pulled away to face him, eyes still curious about what had happened, and then gave him an alright to take care of his patient.

Those words seemed to snap him out of his surprise causing his face to frown. “And how, Ms. Idalia, would you know that? All I’ve seen is a fancy light show which while amazingly beautiful, I don’t think it would be effective enough to show what proper tests or blood work would.”

Idalia looked at the man like he was questioning the colour of the sky. She couldn’t decide if his total skepticism for the technology was more or less annoying than the idea of people worshipping her for it. She of course had never experienced that for herself, but it was there in Ariadne’s memories. Even a simple thing like scanning with the healing device would look like divine power to many in the galaxy. At Ariadne’s insistence, she took a deep breath to calm herself and keep from snapping at the old man. “This is a Goa’uld healing device.” She began, speaking as though to a child needing instruction. “It scans and heals people. It is far more effective than needles, or any other tool you have. It can see far more than the machines you have. Only someone with Naquadah canin their blood can activate it, so no, you cannot use it.” Idalia did not really see much more reason to be here, or to continue speaking to the man, but she stayed for the moment in case he needed more explanation.

Joseph’s frown just deepened, her tone had clearly mistaken his ignorance as stupidity. A fact he found rather annoying and insulting as he waited for her to finish without interruption. All the time he bit his tongue to keep his comments at bay, only the slight tightening knuckles upon the clipboard were the giveaway to his emotions. It was clear she didn’t want to be here or continue this conversation, something he found he desired as well because her very presence prevented him from doing his job. Unlike her, who cared nothing about the man’s fate, Joseph did. It was both out of professional pride and devotion to his patients, even if he lacked proper bedside manner.

“Ms. Idalia, please don’t mistake my ignorance on certain topics as the need to treat me as a child when explaining them. To assume I’ve seen one or would know it on sight when none exist on earth doesn’t make you superior in the end, only more knowledgeable on the subject. After all, I don’t expect you to know everything about Earth medicine, nor do I treat you as a child because of it.” Joseph said bluntly, trying to keep the coldness out of his tone and instead only managed a mono one. His hand brought the clipboard to his side while he continued. “Now that’s over, I’m sure you rather leave now as you’ve got things to attend to. And I have a patient to treat because I do care about his fate, even if you’re disappointed he’s not a Goa’uld.”

It would be clear he was hinting back to Idalia’s comment about not caring about the man’s fate, his feet moved around Idalia and to the bedridden man’s side. He proceeded to prep the man for surgery and trusted the woman’s device had done the needed scans, though his professionalism nagged at him for it.

Idalia wordlessly stalked out of the infirmary, heading back to the Pel’tak to find out the status of the missions. Since she was now going to be beamed to her target when the time came, there was no need to wait anywhere in particular. As she went, Ariadne scolded her for how she acted. The old man may have been annoying, but she had acted like a petulant girl, not a Tok’ra. She made a mental note to find the doctor later and apologise to him. After the mission perhaps.

*Show no mercy for the Goa’uld

GM posting on players behalf.

Gravity and Ciphra

Damn. Cody was worried about this happening. His natural instincts in the field getting in the way. The question was how to deal with Blaze now. He could always kill him and blame it on the natives, but that was the last resort. He was on this mission to protect people, not kill them off if they asked too many questions. He still kept his Zat raised but spoke calmly and without any change. “Why are you here Colonel Blaze?” The question might be found annoying to the Colonel but it was a needed answer that would affect this entire conversation so he needed the answer.

The Colonel was now incredibly irked and angry. The Lieutenant was putting his entire work at risk by doing what he was doing. But he answer the Lieutenants question, and play his game for now. He attempted to remain outwardly calm, succeeding to an extent, and said ¨Lieutenant, you are currently committing insubordination of Class 4, by DOD DCU standards, and that being American as well, but I will take my liberty to answer your bloody fucking question. I, Lieutenant, am here to serve humanity.¨

¨To protect Earth, and my country, and my relatives, and most of all, my fellow fucking humans. And what your presence and ‘secrecy’ is doing, is putting my line of work in danger. I have a team here, which is based on trust], and I do not trust you, so answer. And by now, I’ve figured out whatever you’re doing is authorized by some fellow higher up than me, probably someone in the IOA, damn those civilians, so you can’t pull that card.. So, Lieutenant, it is your turn. What, I demand to know, are you doing?” Never in the Colonels life had he had to deal with insubordination of Class 4. Either the Lieutenant answered him, or he did whatever it took to drag his American spook ass to the brig.
But he didn’t wait for Cody to answer. He had a job to do. He walked away from the scene, and immediately contacted the ship. ¨Cap’n, we’ve dealt with the guards. Send down the marines. Oh, and when I get back, tell the IOA Rep I want to have an official talk with him. For the safety of the Strike Team, of course.¨

Cody actually let a smile creep onto his face for once and lowered the Zat. The first time he’d showed any sign of morality, at least to the Colonel. He closed the door to the makeshift guard house and locked it while the Blaze radioed up to the Captain. He then walked over to Blaze still smiling. “You know, what you consider insubordination is just me trying to be casual. I figure if we’re stuck together for God knows how long, it might make things easier if we’re not barking sir yes sir all over the place. As for what I’m doing here. Well that’s simple. While I don’t have a whole lot of personal connections left on earth, and you probably find my methods distasteful. My reasons for being here aren’t as corrupt as you might seem to think. I was told before I took the mission that it would be like nothing I’d done before. By that I mean I knew that it wasn’t just going somewhere to kill someone. The down time would be extensive compared to what I’m used to, but the reason I accepted it was for one of the most basic reasons. Maybe even the reason I allowed myself to kill so many.” He paused for a moment.

He looked at the sky in thought, once more taking in the planets beauty. “I’m here to protect the lives of everyone on board Colonel. I chose to change up my usual assignments so I could protect everyone I could, and now that I’m here and I know I’m protecting everyone on Earth. Not just my countrymen, but the entire planet! There’s no way I could regret this decision. One might look at this as a chance for me to even make up for the mistakes, or regrets of my past. Maybe my being here will help save everyone on board.” He chuckled realizing this was the first time he’d truly talked this much about himself in a long time. “Colonel, I know I go about things differently, it’s what I was trained to do. I know you’re going to have issues with it, and probably be sickened by my methods even. Give me a chance though, and I’ll try and act a bit more like a usual soldier. I can’t promise the change will happen immediately, or quickly, but I will change. I have your back sir, and everyone else that’s on board that ship, that is why I am here.” He left it at that, a nice long speech, which now that he’d concluded the rest of the team should be following shortly, not allowing for much time for the colonel to respond, but enough he guessed.

The Colonel did not take this well. All of this was a symbolic way of saying that the only reason he was here was to maintain security, and by that, probably nab spies or something, he didn’t know. All he did know was that the higher-ups didn’t trust him, or the Cap, or the rest of the ship’s crew. Of course, he couldn’t make any assumptions whatsoever, but that didn’t quite matter anymore to him.

But there was no point in this ridiculous charade, of him against a subordinate. He’d deal with this by talking to Williams, otherwise he’d just be wasting his time. “Lieutenant” he said, once more in monotone, “we will discuss this once this mission is over, by which I mean we get back to sweet mother fucking Earth.” At least things had calmed down now, and he wasn’t liable to getting shot now. The marines were going to beam down any second now.

“I suppose so, Colonel.” Cody hadn’t fully intended to rant so much. Maybe part of him just wanted to get a little weight off his shoulders, who knows. Sadly this wasn’t the time or place for it though, the Zat retracted into its small form as Cody put it back in his pocket. “Maybe we should start a wager.” He said optimistically. “On what’s going to be inside of here. I mean there will be enough people once the marines and science guys get down here!”

Oh, at least the Lieutenant was finally being a bit normal. Perhaps things would cool down now. “Three rations on weird ass alien shit being down there, Lieutenant.” Of course, this wager was heavily in his own favour, because whatever they going to find down there was definitely going to be of non-human design, and all of it being “weird”? Well that was truly up to whoever was looking at it, and judging.
Cody shook his head. “Colonel! That would be absolutely boring! How about…” Cody thought for a minute. “Thirty dollar buy in.” Of course this was nothing but still it was something.

Well, the Colonel was definitely outmatched in terms of money. Sure, he was paid quite well by the Stargate command, better than what the Canadians would pay, but he didn’t have five bucks to his name on the ship. Well, he’d win this wager then. “Fine, agreed upon it is. Usually, we’d kill a few bears and give each other the furs, in Canada” he said, trying to joke about the popular views of people about Canada.

Cody chuckled. “Well I’ll be voting for...hm…” He’d only read a little bit into the ascension part on the ancients, and heard that they had actually studied it before the completed the process, and he was hoping to find out more about this along the way. The idea of purifying oneself and eventually shedding the physical body sounded nice to him. “Lets go with genetic research into ascension for me! Oh and Colonel, I think you might be disqualified for a smart ass remark, but since you’d probably pull rank on me for officially saying that, I’ll just say it was to generalized of an answer.” Did the Colonel really think he’d get off that easily? Though Cody was half mocking him with the joke of rank, since clearly that hadn’t mattered before.

The last hour was surprisingly dull compared to what happened before. It didn't make captain feel any better though. There was no report neither from Zaken and Rea'c nor Blaze and Brown. They were still reading their lifesigns on the sensors, though, so Black assumed they were just keeping quiet. It was understandable from the latter two, as they technically weren't supposed to be there. The fact that nobody was waiting for what was supposed to be an envoy to make contact was raising alarms in Catherine's mind though.

Finally a call came from Blaze. Once again she wondered just what was the man's attention span, seeing he requested marines when it was in fact scientists who were supposed to go down to the ancient lab. The request to talk to Williams surprised her a little. "Marines ad scientists on their way." she said, nodding towards the operator to send them down, "Is everything going all right down there? Williams should be present on the debriefing, you can talk to him there. Unless you're late." she added the last sentence with a tone equal to a verbal poke below the ribs.

By the time that conversation ended, Ariadne and Idalia made it back to the C&C. Giving them a nod of acknowledgement, Kat turned her attention back to the feed she has been getting nothing on. Even her patience had limits, and the Tolians were dangerously close to making her snap. She almost wished for one of them to blow a fuse and fire on them so she could have a free hand at doing away with them and ending this mission. "The science team is in the facility. No word from the envoy though." she said plainly to update the Tok'Ra on what has been going on, "Any news on our 'guest'?" she asked, reminding herself of yet another problem.

Rea'c and Kayle

The grenades had been dropped, and went off. Looking in the opposite direction he was only slightly blinded to the right and left however his ears were still ringing. He slid as he came to a rock for cover, clamping his right hand onto the top of it and pulling himself round and down. Once he was down he moved his staff weapon to a secure firing position and began firing a round circle into the trees, some caught fire and he when his hearing began to return he heard some cries of pain as the blasts hit their mark. He looked over at Kay who had established her own firing position nearby, waiting for some signal on what they were going to do next.

Kay had the worst time with balance. Her ears were ringing and eyes fought to quickly adjust, but right now was more an annoyance than concern to her. Shortly her body had hastily positioned behind the nearest object, a thick tree trunk. With her back pressed tightly against the bark and her hands cupped the already ready Zat, Kay edged to the side to let off a blast when movement caught her attention. The blue shot raced to it target then spread on contact, bring them down instantly. Despite the distance, she had managed to hit her mark followed by her smirk. More bodies scrambled through for better cover when Rea’c let off several blasts from his staff weapon and turned to her.

She let off one, two more shoots into the nearest target back before they vanished into the trees. “I think it’s time we get out, don’t you agree?”

Rea’c continued to fire into the tree line as they retreated back. He barely heard what Kay said however he heard enough to simply nod his head in response to her question. He waited for the beam still letting off the occasional shot, however being careful to time them out so that if he was beamed he would not instantly start shooting up the inside of the Langford as he felt that such an action would be frowned upon. He hated the notion of retreating however they were merely two and they had no idea of their enemies numbers.

No doubt the Captain would have something for them to do…

When Rea’c shot’s timing shifted, their timing spanned out farther, Kay kept her Zat trained upon her attackers and let off a shot whenever she could. Usually a dead hit as she didn’t bother to shoot unless she was sure to hit. Her freed hand traced up to her radio and her head leaned in, speaking to those on the bridge. “This is Lt. Zaken and we have a situation. We need immediate evacuation now!”

Kay held her breath as she ducked behind the tree, an assailant’s shoot nearly clipped her in the process. She cursed under her breath in Arabic when she realized how close she had come to being stunned. So much for being a peaceful reconnaiss assignment… Kay thought bitterly before the familiar white light filled her eyesight and suddenly they were back on the ship.

Deyika

After Tonak left the ship, her eyes glimpsed the locator to later pick him up at, Deyika had started to release the ship from its autopilot. Her fingers clicked across the console causing the Al’kesh to shift into Tonak’s relayed coordinates and just hovered there. The cloak still risen,she left the engines on low so not be detected by any ship within the area. In the position she was in, the engine energy would likely read as atmospheric interference or at least nothing out of the ordinary. Last thing she wanted was the freaking Tauri breathing down her neck before she had completed her brother’s request. She hated failed him and he knew it, possibly the reason he made sure she had the simplest tasks possible.
In a small way, Dey found she was irritated by it even if she understood why. After she settled back there was little more to do then wait until her brother gave the signal. Her teeth grinded a bit at the idea as she sat back, her head slouched against her chair for time to past.

-after the timeskip-

Dey was bored. Her legs were crossed over the console and her body leaned back in the chair, her one hand laid across her middle while she waited. Her eyes looked half closed in her lazy expression after what felt like months, merely an hour in real time, had passed in her mind. Gods, why was this so boring?!? Her head shifted to the discarded food items she had tossed into a basket where she would dispose of it later, at least before Tonak saw it, and started to hum one of her brother favorite songs. Ironic she never thought to ask it’s origins as she continued still waiting for Tonak’s signal.

Tonak

Tonak was sitting watching those at the Ancient facility, not doing a whole lot more. He sat as he watched them take out the guards and being close enough to hear them he really enjoyed their little argument. It was interesting, something that he or the man inside the Langfords ranks could exploit at a later date, though not right now. Why waste a valuable resource, let the wounds fester a little bit first and then they could strike at a later date. For now, he just sat and waited being cloaked and safe from sight.

-Post-Time-Skip-Awesomeness-

HE had seen everyone else come down from the ship, saw them split up and enter the facility. He himself tagged along with the group. Walking quietly even though the cloak concealed the sounds he made while walking through the halls. Of course the problem would be the guards outside on coming out but that could easily be solved out later. He was in no hurry. As he neared the main lab he darted into a side one that the others had not entered yet. He decloaked and tapped his radio. “Dey, get the fireworks started.”

Paige, Lawson, Blaze, Cody.

Paige had been studying the schematics of the Langford for some time though she had also looked up other unrestricted files on the F-302 and the R-302 as well. The utilitarian mindset was clearly apparent in the design of the BC-304 but the fighters were a work of art, at least she thought so. Every now and then she would glance over to see Lawson minding his own business. She wondered why he seemed so uptight but really she understood that they weren’t here on a pleasure cruise. The work done here was very important and just as critical as anything else the Stargate Program would be doing. She hadn’t gathered more than a vague understanding of the political climate of the galaxy but she understood that they were at war with a government known as the Lucian Alliance. Still, it was hard not to be excited. Everything was new and beyond what she could have imagined before. She even had an alien stun gun!

Lawson listened to his radio and nodded before standing up and putting on his backpack. Paige hadn’t left the blooming table since they had gotten in so she still had hers firmly attached. “I have a feeling you’re a fan of sci-fi. You look like a fan of Sci-Fi to me.” He walked over to her and grabbed her wrist, turning it up to see the mark showing that there had been a transmitter placed under her skin. “I’m sure you have been wondering what this is.” He took a step back. “You know in Star Trek, where they got to a room and say ready to beam? We don’t need the room.” He tapped his earpiece “This is Lawson, we’re ready.” They were gone in a flash of light and appeared on the planet beside Colonel Blaze and Lieutenant Cody with six marines placed in a circle around them. “Welcome Miss.Harper, to your first alien planet.”

His remark about Star Trek piqued her interest, maybe that would give them something to talk about later when they had some down time? She had almost forgotten about the transmitter when he grabbed her wrist, which made her jump a little since she hadn’t really been paying attention to anything but the files till then. When he said they were ready she started to laugh “Beam me u-”, A flash of light and she appeared on the surface, “-p Scotty…”. The words barely rolled of her tongue as the experience caught her a bit off guard. “...whoah. That… was awesome.”

“Awesome? You wouldn’t have felt anything. You were there, then you were here. There isn’t really anything in between. Not to mention your statement is technically wrong, we didn’t beam up we beamed down.” He gruffly added to her comment, this whole sci-fi geek thing was probably going to get old really fast.

“Okay, fair enough but it’s still awesome. How can you just shrug it off like nothing happened?” She still didn’t get how this wasn’t the coolest thing ever. “And just look at that thing! It’s the Ancient database right? How cool is that!?”

“It isn’t the Ancient database, it is an Ancient facility. The Database is on Atlantis and it tells us all about the Ancients. That is what it does and such.” He turned to look at the entrance to the ancient facility and gave a sigh. There weren’t many of these facilities still standing in the Milkyway let alone that they could find. Now here he was about to go into it, before anyone like McKay or Carter. It was exciting stuff. “So, when can we go in Dear Colonel?”

This wasn’t the first time he’d had to babysit combat-vulnerable eggheads, and the last time he had to, it ended with his SG team getting massacred and an entire planet being lost in the Stargate network. Also the love of his life getting killed, but she was a bitch anyways, so who cared. But at least this time, he had a team of brilliant marines, whoop de do.

“Well, sir, we’ve cleared out the outer guardians, so we can probably do so immediately. However, due to experience with these sort of facilities, I would suggest extreme precaution. It is not that I doubt your caution, but I would rather not have you dying in my hands, or me dying in yours, if you understand, sir.” he said, in a light tone, listing off the number of trap-like things he’d encountered in Ancient facilities. Perhaps that paper he’d written on the subject could be mandatory reading, but then again, it had been based on facility ruins, not an actually close to untouched one like this.

This place was possibly a hell of a lot more dangerous than what he’d had to deal with before.

“Don’t worry Colonel, I do not what I’m doing. I’ve worked in facilities like this in Pegasus and was part of the Icarus Project - though I assure you I was not responsible for the planets destruction-” He winced at saying that. Now he would likely have to explain that to Paige later let alone anyone else who didn’t know anything about the Icarus project. Maybe he could say that it was classified even though they all had clearance to what was going on, technically speaking. “We won’t flick any switches on until I’ve got a good read on it and till we’ve got a handle on the operating system, which will be a bit different than in newer facilities.”

He took a step back and looked at it. “It is impressive to see a facility in such good condition, it must have been important to both the Ancients and the Goa’uld to remain in such a good condition.” He took a step towards the door opening panel and opened the panel itself up, before activating it and the door itself opened. “Well, if its time to be cautious-” He indicated the door to the Colonel.

“Of course not, sir. Although the Icarus Project… If you ever have time back on the ship, I’d have a single question about the un-classified material that I was given access to. But let us proceed.” he said, as he moved towards the door. But as he did, he looked back, and ordered “Lieutenant, as much as you’d want in, I’m putting you on overwatch, with Corporal Jenkins and Corporal Andersmith.”
That was all he’d had to say for the current moment, as he examined the door to the best of his abilities. Once he was as certain as he could that the door wasn’t going to disintegrate them on opening, he decided to open it. Of course, if the bloody Ancients or Goa’uld wanted to play games, they’d probably put something like plasma beam turrets or some weird alien sci-fi shit behind the door, but then what could he do?

Lawson just stood behind the Colonel. “You realize, that the people here who are no higher than the dark ages have been using this facility for years? If they can go in without dieing all the time surely we can.”

Ah, the usual remarks from egghead scientists. He’d missed that on missions, but not too much. “Yes sir, but the Goa’uld and the rest of our xenos/enemies are notorious for bugger moves like trapping doors for Tau’ri. I’d send a Jaffa in first, or something, but we do not have one at our disposal for mine-checking, if thats the word. But it doesn’t quite matter, now that the Goa’uld no longer depend on the Jaffa very exclusively, and this would probably not work anymore. BUt once more, when facing the Goa’uld, I’ve learned to trust nothing inanimate, or even alive.” he said, quite simply, and then opened the Facility door. ‘Please don’t have xenos Tau’ri rape missiles, please’ was the thought that repeated like a broken record.

-There was a long corridor, similar to style of those in the Ancient Outpost in Antarctica however not quite as decorative as those in Lantaen designs. Down each side there were side doors, most of them appeared to be burned out. Down the hall lights could be seen on and the walls had burns from staff weapon discharges.-

The Colonel was quite surprised. He hadn’t been expecting what he was seeing in front of him, but of course, he was in space, far away from Earth, what else would he feel? But this door was where his experience ended. “Well, sir, this is your realm. I’m sure a military grunt isn’t quite needed any more, as any kind of advice at all.” he said, in whatever mono-tone he could. Yeah, a grunt with several decorations and honors graduation from Canada’s premier military academy.

Sometimes, he regretted not studying or caring much for school when he was young.

Lawson looked around at the burn marks and the locked doors. No point unsealing them. If they were needed then there was a chance they would have been pried open years ago rather than left locked and sealed closed. He turned to the colonel as he looked down the hall. “Usually I would let my prodigee have some say on what we were doing however we are on a tight schedule.” He pointed down the hall. “It makes sense that the main lab will be down there. The sooner we can download what this place is. The better.”

The Colonel didn’t quite have much to say any more, really, and the only thoughts he could have right now were ‘if this is a trap, what excuse will I give to the Captain and Williams for having committed xenocide?’. He nodded, understanding what he was expected to do, and simply moved across, Zat in his hands at the ready. The hallway was rather long, and after a few minutes of careful movement, he came to the end. A door, huh? He once more carefully opened it, and looked in.

As soon as nothing in the room shot him Lawson moved past indicating Paige to come join him at the main console. On front of all the main consoles there was a room with an object inside that could only be viewed through a window. There was a door to the side and he had the idea he didn’t want to go through that. “We’ll be fine now Colonel, you do whatever it is you guys do.” He moved over to the console and plugged his tablets Ancient adaptor into a necessary slot and indicated for Paige to do the same. “Right Miss Harper, plug and play. Your tablet will immediately start trying to load the interface to get the systems running however, while it appears the most basic features-” He opened a list and shown it to her, the ancient was in the background and the translated in the foreground. “-Door control, life support and some form of confinement shield so whatever they did here it had something to do with radiation.” he tried pressing a key and almost swore, obviously when the Ancients were here they were already working with gene protecting their technology.

“You don’t happen to have the ATA gene or the inoculation do you?”

Meanwhile outside, Cody sighed. He had the Cpl, and Sgt reconing the surrounding area while he sat here just waiting, leaning on the doorway to the facility. Why did he have to baby sit the watch team? Totally not his job description, well unless he was hidded...and had a rifle...though in this situation he’d most likely be an attacker waiting for the team that entered to come out so he could kill the science people, thus hindering the teams capabilities further in the long run. Killing off grunts didn’t hold nearly as much value. In any case he’d definitely want to talk to the Colonel about how to use his talents. He was already starting to get itchy with all the down time, he needed something, that adrenaline rush he always got in the field. Yes, that feeling was something he definitely missed right now.

In any case he supposed it was part of the mission and this was his role. He would just have to complete it. Besides! This was easy! Most people wouldn’t complain about that. Compared to his experience with deploying bio weapons in the field, assassinations he had no support with, or stealing from terrorists, one might think that he’d enjoy this easy job. Yet he didn’t. He made a mental note to bring cards next time though. He sighed once more and spoke into his radio. “Find anything yet guys?” And of course he got the same thing he got last time. “Nothing her sir.” From both of them.

The Colonel, meanwhile inside, raised his hand tentatively, “I do have the ATA gene, naturally. Not through inoculation, but naturally, sir.”

===Langford’s Medical Wing===

Joseph and Aeryn

All have gone well in the operation room, or at least as well as possible for the patient’s current condition. Currently the non Goa’uld was placed within a upright, comfortable bed with the sheets covering his mid drift down, his other arm hooked up to an IV tube that ran to a fluid bag filled with a saline solution and water. The patient had second to third degree burns which had required thorough cleaning followed by gauze being wrapped about from the hand to the shoulder. On top of that, the man had a broken arm and melted metal upon his wrist which Joseph had to carefully remove in surgery. In addition, he casted the arm to prevent any further damage and slung up where won’t have gotten bumped. It was unlikely the man would be able to use that arm and hand to its original extent in the future or at least that was the doctor’s opinion.

After at least an hour in surgery, the patient was in steady condition and melded to heal on his own for rest of his time on the ship. For however long that would be, Joseph wasn’t sure and uncared. Until he was sure the patient was stable enough to move he was under his care. Joseph’s hand repositioned his glasses to once more return to reading while a heart monitor beeped steadily for background noise. His leg readjusted back into a comfortable situation, one over the other, and his figure settled within a waiting chair opposite of the man’s bed end. It was a simple, worn cushion one that anybody would see in most Earth sitting rooms until their appointment and had been his seat each time he visited.

His back leaned back into the seat cover and turned to read Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The man appeared relaxed and comfortable, his eyes scanned the current words in interest and delight until stirring from the bed jerked him from his hobby.

“It was not worth the risk Altenya, get yourself to safety.” Aeryn said. He was very weak; the representative from the Lucien Alliance that contacted Halion had done serious damage with one of the Goa’uld painsticks. Aeryn had several cuts to his body that would leave nasty scars and the metallic taste of blood ran through his mouth. “Aeryn I’ve come this far, besides if you die who's to fix my ship.”

It was sort of a running joke between them. Her ship had been damaged far behind flight capabilities and buried in rock of the mountain. They’d had to use the rings to burrow a hole to the surface. The ship would never fly again but Altenya often still said that his engineering skills were the only reason that she kept him around. “Come on boy let’s get you out of here.” She unhooked the shackles that had dug bloody marks into his wrists.

Aeryn opened his eyes. He woke very quickly as a habit to avoid being caught unawares. He was, he had to conclude on the Tau’ri vessel. He was lying on a scratchy material slightly propped up. When he glanced at the ceiling Aeryn noticed that his arm was coated in some sort of fluff much like the *cotton that he was forced to harvest all those years ago.

With a sudden panic Aeryn realized that he could not move or feel his arm. It was completely numb. In his shock Aeryn tried to reach out to make sure that it was not dead. His other hand clattered against something as it was wrenched to a halt midair. Aeryn looked there was a silver shackle that tied him to the metal post of this bed. He was trapped. As it dawned on him Aeryn’s hand fell limply to his side. Aeryn did not like to be trapped. Ever since he had been freed from Amenthes prison the thought of not being able to move as he pleased had terrified him. Focus, concentrate, breath deeply, this is temporary. He heard the words in Altenya’s voice from the many occasion when she had to sooth him from his fear.

His damaged arm, concentrate on that. Had it been destroyed by the Jaffa staff blast? No, those weapons while powerful did not contain enough energy in a single shot to do that much damage. Perhaps it was part of the Tau’ri medical procedures. Yes that made sense, a numbing agent. Shut down while repairs were completed. That was the practice with disrupted and damaged technology so why should it be different for the human body.

Joseph sighed, softly, when he heard the handcuffs rattle. Slowly his head looked up to spot the patient who stirred. His hand casually pulled over the ribbon to mark his page then closed his book, set aside for another time. Next his legs uncrossed while he rose to his feet and made his way to a buzzer near the door. He pressed it then spoke in an unfazed manner, his eyes still peered at his patient’s direction from the eye corner. “Please notify the Cap’n and the IOA that the patient is awake.”

When his sentence finished, two men had entered. Joseph had to stop his eyes from rolling as he looked upon the pair, their bodies stiffened and alerted to the task at hand. At first glance they were armed and military sort with hands fixed at their weapons, completely ready to shoot the man should he attempt anything yet the doctor was certain it won’t come to that. After they were positioned near the bedside, Joseph made his way to do the usual checks and routine stuff.

“Now that you’re awake, how do you feel?” Joseph wasted little time with pleasantries because his main concern was the man’s well being. Not his own bedside manner.

Soon as the physician realized that Aeryn was awake he slowly lifted himself and pressed a button on the far wall. No doubt some sort of Tau’ri communication device. Seconds after he had done so two men as large as Jaffa entered the room, guards. Aeryn began to feel that this had been a huge mistake. Tonak had spoken of this assignment as a simple task, he had underestimated the Tau’ri and Aeryn had duplicated his mistake. If they were smart Aeryn would never see the light of day again. This might very well be it for him. “Master Physician, if I am to be executed do not waste your resources on my health.”

Joseph’s eyes narrowed upon the man, his expression calm and emotionless at the question. The two guards held their position nearby with their zats at the ready, namely if this man tried anything, as he answered the man’s question. His eyes brushed over the heart monitor then checked the flow of the saline bag to ensure there wasn’t anything clogging the tube before his voice began.


“They aren’t here to kill you. Rather make sure you don’t do anything stupid and attempt to hurt me in the process. I don’t know the current situation of what happened but it seems your own actions were the cause of your recent wounds from what I gather.” Joseph said firmly and continued; his hand took the clipboard at the end of the patient’s bed then raised it upright. His hand started to scribble his observations and double checked the man’s condition from surgery one more time. “You ended up with something metal melted upon your wrist, a broken arm, and several various degree burns along your body. Managed to stabilize you and remove the metal with some surgery. Another thing we discovered is you’re not a Goa’uld which explained you're lacking healing ability and other traits.”

A moment of silence before he then added. “Currently you’re healthy considering your experience and likely you’ll be interrogated then taken out of my care.”

How could he have been so foolish, Aeryn had known from the start how the Jaffa would react to seeing a Goa’uld. Aeryn supposed that the thought with all the rumour of the Tau’ri’s exploits that there warriors would be faster on the trigger and had the woman been the Jaffa would have had too much honour to shoot him while he was down, Goa’uld or no. Aeryn had miscalculated and it had cost him greatly. His hand he knew would never work quite the same way again that was unless he found a sarcophagus but Amenthes had never liked the restorative devices and with the state of the former Goa’uld empire it was unlikely that he would ever seen one. He had also lost the Kara’kesh, his main defence but he knew its sacrifice had save his hand from incineration.

Right now he needed a way out of here. The Tau’ri couldn’t have much information on him. Most likely all they knew was that he attacked there ground team. They hadn’t even known that he was without symbiote until performing a scan so he could spin any story to them and they would have nothing with which to contradict. He could not tell them about Tonak that much was certain. His best plan would be to feign ignorance. If he had been unaware of the Tau’ri’s presence then Aeryn would have assumed that the Jaffa and woman were a new scientist and escort for the Ancestral facility. That being said Aeryn had the perfect story but it required that they believe that he thought this was Halion’s ship and Halion’s men. If they knew he knew who they were it was all over.

“Come now, Halion has chased me over the mountains and back for many cycles of the sun. Now that he has me in his reach he

does not wish me dead?” Aeryn made a show of looking around the lab for the first time. Not so much that he looked like he was showing off but enough that anyone watching would believe that he was just now taking in his surroundings. “Where has the Thilas gotten a ship of this caliber? A gift from his precious Alliance?”

Joseph arched an eyebrow like a white, wiry caterpillar over his eye. He watched the man’s reaction and tried to determine the cause, either physically or mentally, for the apparent confusion. Either the man had suffered some unknown damage that wasn’t reported or he truly didn’t know where he was. Joseph ignored, due to his medical profession and caution, that third option. One which should’ve been the mostly likely if he had known what happened upon the planet surface. He returned to the clipboard to its proper place before he turned to the man with a blunt answer. “My only concern is your current condition and ensure you didn’t suffer any prolong damage that could result in death. What you’re talking about has little to no meaning to me, it doesn’t aid me in my task. I have no idea who this Halion character, let alone care. It will be the Langford’s Captain and the IOA that determines your fate after you leave here.”

Aeryn had difficulty forming an impression of this man. He seemed in all honesty to neither know nor care about the war that Halion had waged on Aeryn and Altenya. Perhaps information did not travel well on a ship such as this or the Tau’ri had done very little preparation for this mission. The latter seemed more likely. Aeryn respected what the Tau’ri had done for the galaxy but they had a reputation for entering a situation unprepared without the knowledge of what they faced. Aeryn had to conclude that the IOA whoever they were had some sort of authority over this operation. If he was to maintain this deception however he shouldn’t know that.

“I… O… A? What is that?” Aeryn asked his working hand clinking against the bed as he disturbed the shackle. “While we are asking questions would it trouble you to release this shackle.” This was not part of the deception, the restraint had been clawing at him every since he had woken up and done his best to ignore the nagging feeling that he was falling down a very dark well. “Halion’s mightily impressive should be enough to keep me here, besides I would not go anywhere till my arm is repaired. For his faults Halion does wield impressive medical technology.”

“Currently, you’re on…” Joseph had to pause and remember the correct term to use, a matter that took only a few moments. “Tau’ri ship called the Langford. I can do something about the cuffs but that’s it.”

Joseph’s hand waved for one of the pair and pointed at his patient’s cuffs. Naturally the guard stiffened, the man seemed to feel the doctor was about to provide a natural security risk and for a moment, he thought the man would prove difficult. He inhaled then reply in a gruff voice. “If he tries anything shoot him with a Zat, it won’t kill him or me.”

At least he hoped it won’t, Joseph’s mind still had its doubt about the alien technology's effect on the human body. It was a topic he still needed to finish brushing up on as he hadn’t much time with the continual flow of patients. Reluctantly the man stepped forward to unlock the cuffs while his companion held his hand onto his Zat, ready to fire. Naturally, the doctor paid them little mind when he replied to his patient. “Better?”

Aeryn heaved a sigh of relief when the cuff was unlocked. It was a huge weight off his chest. “You have no idea…” He let the sentence draw itself out for a moment before a thought seemed to dawn on him. This was the final moment, either they’d believe it or he’d would be in a cell for the rest of his life. “Did you say Tau’ri? The Tau’ri? Destroyers of Apophis and enemies of Anubis?” He waited to see if the man would buy it. He need not say more lest he look like some form of deranged fan.

“I think you’ve answered my questions with your reaction. I would suggest you rest and heal, I’ll come back to check on you later. Anything changes, unexplained aches or numbness beyond your arm then press the buzzer beside you.” Joseph said in his indifferent manner, however he fought not to sigh at the man’s reaction. If he didn’t know better, at least presumed so, then he almost thought there was a hint of awe in the man’s voice. For Joseph it didn’t faze him as he had dealt with a wide range of patients, from deranged to stubborn and even the rare cooperative type, to allow his face express his inner thoughts. “I’m not sure when the last time you’ve eaten but I’ll have a nurse come in with a tray prepared. If there’s anything you prefer, then you might want to mention it now.”

“Two days,” Aeryn muttered under his breath. He could go for longer he supposed but at worst cases Aeryn needed to keep up his strength the sound of food was welcoming. “I am unfamiliar with Tau’ri cuisine.” Not that is made much difference to him. On a world where he had to kill or steal for food he did not grow up having the luxury to choose his meals. He ate what was on the table or he did not eat at all.

“I’ll have a variety selected then you can decide which is to your liking. Then you can fill out a form with what you liked and we’ll ensure it’s on the menu. The only way to know if you like something you’re unfamiliar with is to try it after all.” Joseph stated then left to both get back to work and make sure the meal was delivered.

Deyika
“Dey, get the fireworks started.”
That was all she needed, Dey’s feet instantly pulled off the console and slid to the side. Her boots thumped softly as she pulled herself upright, her hand replaced itself upon the red orb then started up the Al’kesh while she navigated it towards the Ha’tak her brother’s instructions told her to. There was no way she could miss this up, her ship pulled quietly closer until she was within ring range. Quickly she pulled up to her feet and darted for the ring room, where Tonak’s little ‘gift’ sat in waiting. Dey gently placed it in the platform's center then stepped back as the rings hovered down, their three circular shape had surrounded it before it vanished in a beam of light. Without wasting any precious time, she made it back to the ship’s bridge then shifted out of the way to watch the show unfold.

There was confusion on the Ha’tak, on the planet. All around even likely from the Langford as a ring transit was detected. Then, before anything could be investigated a massive explosion radiated out from the Ha’tak and took out three of the Al’kesh. The other five still had functional shields and sublight engines and managed to ride out the blast. These five al’kesh paused for a minute, and there was communication from the surface and to the ships. Jammers went up over the planet, alarms blared as people grabbed weapons and the Al’kesh all turned and started heading towards the Langford before they cloaked. As the ships got closer they darted in and out of cloak firing and stopping as railguns all across the langford began to strike out against the craft.

Captain was past "hoping for the best". It was always just the "expect the worst". Always since someone mistook her 'Vette for a ramming target. That's why she now drove a Hummer. And once again, being prepared for the worst was about to pay off, as an alarm went off in the C&C. Before she could as much as look in the direction of the person in charge of sensors, he was already reporting: "...Explosion on the Ha'Tak, naquadah enhanced. Jamming is up on the planet. Enemy ships approaching, our guns responding."

"Launch tube four to intercept the cloaked Al'Kesh, calculate with their maximum speed. With some luck the blast will take some out. Don't deploy the fighters until our shields drop below fifty. Try to get through to the facility team. If that doesn't work we'll have to wait for them to trigger the beacon."

Turning to Ariadne, she gave a sharp nod: "Time to get the loot. Someone blew up the main prize but and Al'Kesh will do. Get Brandt and be ready to beam. As soon as you gain control of the ship jump straight back to Sol. We'll report your arrival to SGC so they won't shoot you down." she said, pointing to the gate tech as she said so, who nodded in affirmative.

A few seconds after the missile detonated. “Reading debris from one Al’Kesh, we momentarily got a glimpse of four others as the radiation interfered with their cloaks but they’re gone again.” The results were not as good as Kat hoped for, but they would have to reveal themselves eventually when they fired at them. That would be the opportunity for the hijack team to get on board.

The gliders started swarming around the ship. The railguns were picking them off, but the shields started dropping none the less. Catherine considered firing a warning shot down towards the planet and threaten to target it if they didn't stand down, but decided against it. A) she wouldn't have followed through with it and b), she really wanted their ships, and if they stood down, that wouldn't be possible. "Ma'am, Al'Kesh should be within range any second now." Kat acknowledged and messaged the away team: "Get ready. Earth has been notified of the plan, don't hang around too long." Frankly, she wanted to be done here as well.

"Contact with the lab team?" she asked, with the communication's tech giving a thumbs up. "Blaze, how are things looking down there? I can't say I want to hang around any longer. Be advised that fighting has started and you may have incoming. Also, you'll need that beacon now to get out." she gave the colonel update on the status and hoped they could finish their work before they had to withdraw. "Reset tube one: Timed detonation, one minute after launch." she ordered. If they had to go, she'd leave a present behind to eliminate Tolia's space craft. These people were dangerous as is. Now that she thought about it, where did that naquadah bomb come from?

Paige, Lawson, Blaze, Cody.
Part two as the amazing adventure continues.

Paige followed the old man inside along with one of the military personnel. The facility itself was practically pristine although she could only guess what the others must have looked like since she had nothing else to compare it to. The old scotsman asked about the ATA gene, she hadn’t really thought about it but she knew she had apparently been born with it. She was told that it would allow her to access certain types of technology, namely this kind.

So naturally, she smiled and waved her hands around the consoles as they sprang to life before anyone had a chance. It was amazing that even in it’s dormant state the machinery could recognize her genome. Of course Paige had to say something significant for this moment but all she could think about was Frankenstein. As her hands floated across the face of the console she spoke in her most dramatic tone. “It’s alive! Hahaha. Quite a good scene isn’t it? One woman crazy two very sane spectators! Here’s to a son of the house of the Ancient.”

Lawson was really getting tired of this working relationship that was going on. Surely eventually she would grow up though he wasn’t exactly holding his hopes for something like that happening. He brought up the interface engrossing himself in his work. He worked through several menu systems as he worked down through them. “It appears, this was some kind of power research.. something to do with hyperspace and subspace.” He turned to look at Paige.

“Start an uplink with the ship, secure line to our lab and begin transferring this data. It could be important.”

“Already on it boss.” She had already pulled out her tablet and started to upload the data. The transfer rate was impressive and she was about to comment on it when a thought crossed her mind. “The Ancients were miles ahead of us with their technology so wouldn’t any information from them be important?” She continued to monitor the data flow as she thought aloud. “The carrier signal is slightly obstructed, presumably from whatever this structure is made of, but we’re still getting through at about eighty six percent. Transfer rate is at fifty four gigabytes per second. Everything looks normal. I can’t wait to get into this at the lab!”

Outside the bunker teams of men wearing rag tag Jaffa armour and wielding staff weapons and zat weapons began moving to the facility, finding the guards inside the guard house and then several of them were sent out to find those responsible for the attack. At the same time several stood guard as even more moved into the facility, they instantly began firing on the strike team in the lab as they entered, one of the marines falling under a staff weapon and being dragged back by his comrade. At the same time the uplink slowed dramatically and the captains comms crackled through.

"Blaze, how are things looking down there? I can't say I want to hang around any longer. Be advised that fighting has started and you may have incoming. Also, you'll need that beacon now to get out."

Lawson immediately moved and dragged Paige down and beside one of the better covered consoles. He then looked up at the Colonel. “Obviously they are actively trying to jam our transmissions. Whatever they are using isn’t strong enough to cut it all out however so it obviously isn’t Ancient Tech more likely some modified Goa’uld. Possibly even some form of shields.” He moved back to his tablet and pulled it out grabbing Paiges at the same time stopping the uplink.

He handed her her tablet back and took his own Zat and held it at the ready. “We shouldn’t leave any of this behind for them, or anyone else. With the peak of the war this lab could be very important and I doubt I could shut it down before it is over run and we don’t have the resources to subjugate and maintain control over an entire planet.”

The explosion of gunfire and what she assumed were energy weapons was terrifying. She had never been in such a stressful situation before and she wasn’t sure what to do. She certainly didn’t want to get caught in a crossfire but she really didn’t want to leave the data behind let alone destroy it. “We can’t just abandon all this data! We’re like the first ones here in ages, who knows what kind of information is here! Isn’t there a way to save it? Can’t we at least try? At least give me a chance to shut it down without blowing the damn thing sky high!”

“Don’t misjudge me-” this arguing in the field really wasn’t the best time. “-I do not want it destroyed, nor do I want to leave it. Also while I acknowledge your computer skills I have been around ancient systems far longer, these are set up differently to other systems due to their age and nature as an experimental facility. They aren’t meant to be shut down while the shield is still active, I’m amazed the Goa’uld even got that far, all we need to do is buy enough time to remove control crystals and that will essentially freeze all the consoles until we come back, if we get blocked off we destroy them we should be able to make some kind of bypass with our knowledge, even if we lose the facility we still have some of the data on the ship anyway.” Shots continued to rain down the hall. One of the stun grenades appeared in the room and luckily one of the marines picked it up and tossed it back as there was a flash of light in the hall and everyone looking in the direction covered their eyes.

“The point is, we can’t wait here too long whatever we do.”

Paige was relieved at his response although she was still having a hard time not panicking. “Okay, just show me what to do.”

The colonel was getting slightly worried about the sit-sat, as the American’s would call a situation like this. “Cap’n, this is definitely going to be a fire-hot zone. We’ll pull out as fast as we can, but the data control crystals need draking, ma’am.” He looked back at the scientists, and hoped the message had gotten through whatever shielding had been put up. He sure wished that they wouldn’t be needing to defend the position. He had no clue as to the procedure the chaps were going to do, but he had trust that they’d do it as fast as possible, or at least Lawson would. The new young woman he had lesser trust in, but she was smarter than him, so he couldn’t judge, could he?

“Sirs, we’re not going to have much time here. I’ll see what I can do though.” the colonel said as he walked back forward. He clicked his short range comms, and asked the lieutenant “Lieutenant, stat report!”

Cody had been taking a drink when he first heard the shots. He cursed under his breath as he stood up quickly and drew his left pistol raising the radio to speak when a staff blast flew at him. He dropped down accidently smashing the radio, an amatuer mistake that he’d kick himself for later. He raised his pistol and double tapped his attacker and pushed himself up and ran up to the trees off to his right as the marines fell back into the facility. More defendable? Yeah, for a time. Survival wise? Well if the ship got them out in time, probably. Cody on the other hand stuck to his instincts again. Just another thing the Colonel would love to chew him out for later.

As he ran threw the trees he ran into a group of four of the enemies soldier and ducked back behind a tree as they started to fire at him. Once more Cody found himself cursing his individualism and ran to the next tree firing another two shots this time damaging the knee cap of one of his attackers, who proceeded to scream out in pain. “Is this really what we have to be doing!?” He yelled out. Not that he cared much for their response he was just thoroughly pissed. He reached into his cargo pocket with his right hand producing the Zat once more. He leaned out and shot one more man with this weapon disabling him as he immediately took cover once more as the staff weapons continued to barrage his position.

Cody could hear them getting closer as they continued to fire on his position, but Cody couldn’t help but wonder if everyone else was doing okay. If four guys were focused on him, how bad was it for the others? Of course now he understood just how bad these situations got he would definitely bring another weapon next time. This definitely wasn’t like back home, of course he could handle this with what he had, but it wasn’t fun like it could’ve been. He blind fired from the left side acting like he was going to stick out on that side as the enemies began focusing on that side of the tree, as he then spun out from cover on the other side firing four shots from his pistol and three from the Zat. He would have to end this and get back to the facility quickly.

((Ciprha/Gravity add on here or in Collab IDGAF))
Lawson nodded as he heard the Colonel inform the Captain to the situation. With that he tapped Paiges shoulder and then moved, still crouching, over to the main console that sadly was directly opposite the door. He moved over and removed a panel from below the control panel revealing all off the crystals. “Logically we could take any off these-” A staff weapon moved over there heads in a rush of air and Lawson recoiled as it hit the glass. “-However that shield is likely holding back something very deadly so I don’t quite want to take anything yet.” He could see the fear in Paige’s eyes now, though felt the best thing to do would be to keep her busy.

He pulled out his tablet and shown her two wires extending from the tablet. Lifting up one with a circular/magnetic end. “Attach this one to the crystal-” He then raised the other one which was like a light pen “-Touch this one on the pathways in the crystals. When you get a low power signature in the crystal that means it isn’t in active use, so not related to the force field. If you get this take it out and put it in your backpack. I’m going to work on seeing if this facility has any defences we can use to keep ourselves safe. Do you think you can do this for me Paige?” Use of the first name, to show he cared and also to sound friendlier than using her title. This was her first time in such a stressful situation. He had been on Icarus before the explosion - luckily outside the facility or he would have been sent to the Destiny and Atlantis so he wasn’t new to being one of the science guys in a combat situation.

Every time a shot rang close her heart skipped a beat. She was glad to have a job to do, since she was only barely holding herself together. Dr. Lawson even called her Paige, which five minutes ago, would have seemed odd but it was helping her focus now. Her task was easy enough, although it didn’t help that she was relatively exposed to the incoming gunfire.

With her heart racing and her hands shaking she put her mind to taking care of the control crystals. A number of ideas to help her stay focused popped up in her mind. She thought maybe she would sing but the only song that came to mind was ‘Highway To Hell’ by AC/DC. Just as she moved on from the first crystal, which turned out to be inactive and ended up in her bag, a staff blast hit the floor beside her. A string of curses flew out of her mouth as she powered through extracting the control crystals. With only two more left to check she knew she wouldn’t slow down.

Suddenly she started to seize up, it was as if her entire body was on fire. It was an intense sensation she had never experienced before. In her mind she had just enough time to think before her entire body started to collapse. Is this really it? Did I just get shot? I’m going to die on an alien planet. At least I got into space… Her sight faded as she barely registered looking up and falling.

Lawson moved to catch her and then dragged her out of the way as he turned to the Colonel “Colonel! Paige has been hit by a zat.” He could feel some of the left over static nipping at his fingers as he moved over to the crystals. they had enough. They had more than enough for this to be effective. “Use the Backpack! It is probably time for us to get out of here.”

~~~Rea'c, Kayle and Joseph: Sep and Fallen~~~

Kay was nervous. Her stomach still turned and twisted though the beaming up was long since over, her body never stopped moving. Currently both Rea'c and her now stood in the medical wing, ordered there since their evacuation off planet. They barely had time to disarm when they were ordered here for examination which had been little over half an hour. The Lieutenant's foot lead the way as she paced in a circle, her arms crossed over her front while the her boots echoed throughout her ears. The office they were in had that eerily sterile look and it was just strange to be in such a room. Her eyes scanned the too clean walls once more then jerked when she heard the door click open.

In came two doctors, an elderly man followed by a younger man. The first held a clip board in his hands, thick rimmed glasses were placed upon his nose and stared down at the words written upon the pages. In a moment he placed the clipboard to the side then turned his glaze upon the two patients.

"Dr. Shane, you have Ms. Zaken. I'll take Rea'c, I believe." Joseph said in his business like manner.

Shane nodded as he moved over to the bed that the Lt was in. "Can you roll up your sleeves please, also did you come into direct contact with any foreign contaminants? Eat any food, drink any of the water? Any small cuts you think you should tell me about?"

Rea'c moved over and sat onto the bed and removed his vest and ensured that his arms were exposed. "Is this standard procedure for you Tauri? I assure you I am as healthy as I was when heading down to the planet. I do not feel that this is the best use of time when a strike team is being sent to take one of the ships. I would be far more valuable there where my expertise could be put to good use." This frustrated him, all these procedures the Tauri had. It got in the way of doing work, and he didn't like that one bit.

Kay had already stopped pacing, her hands rolled up her uniform sleeves as she moved towards the nearest bed. Her back turned about then hopped onto the bed with a slight creak while Dr. Shane approached her. In natural doctor fashion, he shot off questions easily for her to answer. She tried to play the cooperative patient part as Rea'c's comment draw a frown from Dr. Sterling, a man she met already before being cleared for duty, that he almost seemed to have swallowed a lemon.

She turned to forces upon her own doctor, partly fought to keep the slight amusement out of her voice. "I used a tree for cover but I don't feel strange or different since. Other then the usual queasiness I feel after beaming that is and it's starting to fade. I ate and drank before I left so no. As far as I know, no scratches, cuts or even bruises. A close call with a Zat though."

Joseph, on the other hand, didn't find Rea'c's replies funny. His white, wiry brow arched at the Jaffa's comments letting a few seconds pass by. Once Rea'c had seated himself with sleeves rolled up and ready, Joseph approached.

"Despite your views, protocols are for safety of not just you but the whole ship. Tau'ri differ from your own and while you might willing to risk your fellow allies, I'm not." Joseph answered bluntly. "Currently we'll be taking some blood samples for analysis then check your reflexes and the basics. Once that's done, you'll wait until the results are before the Captain will reassign you."

Rea'c simply shrugged. "My immune system is far better than that off the average human. If I contract any kind of illness down on the planet it will be purged form my system before I return back to the ship. However I will allow you to take your samples. However have you not seen me walking around? My reflexes are fine. They are working the same as they always were."

Shane shrugged off the Zat comment as he finished taking a blood sample before wiping the small puncture wound, he handed the blood sample to a nurse that was walking past. "Well, that is that done." He took out a small flashlight and raised a finger on his other hand and then raised it and waved it back and forward. "Follow my finger please." After he waved it back and forward and she looked back and forth he merely nodded before raising the flashlight. "This might be a little bright." He flicked it on and moved it, flicking it off and checking her reactions. "Well, that seems pretty good. You still feeling pretty good?"

"Physical wellness in the moment isn't a sure sign of health, Mr. Rea'c. I'm one of best in my field because I take no chances, now you either allow me to do my job or end up in quarantine for a day. Either way, you'll be little use to the current mission which matters little to me." Joseph stated bluntly, unfazed by the Jaffa's protest.

He had already dabbed the spot, tourniquet the arm, and then guided the needle into the man's skin. Once secured, he undid the tie as the tube filled up with blood before he wiped away the red and followed Dr. Shane's suit by handing it off to a nurse. Gently he took the stethoscope to press to Rea'c's chest, where his heart was, then told him to breath in and out slowly. Joseph's hand took out his glasses which he placed on then read his watch to time each inhale. After a moment, he took it off the chest and out of his ears letting it hang off his neck. Another object was in his hand next to measure blood pressure. He strapped the cloth about the Jaffa's upper arm and squeezed the little ball, air tightened about the muscle while he read the gauge. The readout was normal as he made a mental note to write down later, then stripped away the tool.

"If something doesn't feel right then don't hesitate to say so during these tests." He then mentioned while he passed to Dr. Shane.

Kay watched her doctor shrug off her mention of the Zat. Her eyes squinted when a sharp beam of light hit her vision, her jawline tightened in reaction. The flashlight flickered from side to the side as he raised his finger, reappearing the movement with his request. It wasn't hard, her eyes followed the movement easily back and forth at least twice. At his next question Kay nodded her answer before her hands folded into her lap. "You know, Rea'c, giving the doctor a hard time only makes this take longer. Besides... You're likely the first Jaffa he's encountered so far."

Shane finishing with the light took his own stethoscope and waited until she had finished speaking until he pressed it to her chest, counting as Rea'c began talking again. "That may be true, however I do not mean to make this to seem as if I am trying to make the Doctors time hard." He nodded a tthe man and closed his eyes as he did so, trying to put off across the fact that he indeed wasn't trying to make this harder than it had to be. "I am merely stating some facts as I see them and Doctor-" He turned looking even more serious, something that seemed oddly impossible. "This is the first time this has ever been done to me, it all feels odd." He gave a small smile, only for a couple of moments before returning to his blank look.

Shane just brushed off the entire conversation happening behind him, he wasn't much of a conversationalist. He did his job and that was about it. "All right then." Making sure he had finished writing down the details of her heart rate, blood pressure and labelled the blood sample he clapped his hands. "Well, just to check your reflexes now-" His pager went off and he looked at the other Doctor. "Sorry Doc, looks like she's all yours as well. Apparently one of the techs has burned himself." He nodded to them both as he left the room.

"And examining someone that's not a Tau'ri is new to me as well." Joseph said, his tone seemed less harsh and even borderline pleasant if that was possible. That was the only indication he had seemed to notice Rea'c's brief expression change. "It also worries me. With Tau'ri, I'll know quickly enough there's something wrong. With a Jaffa's or Tok'ra, it's harder and I rather not risk missing something critical. So merely tolerate my curious a bit longer and things will be for the better in the end."

He then reached for the percussor, triangular rubber ended hammer, and gently tapped the Jaffa's knee. Joseph ensured he was out of the way when the leg jerked. Though he suspected the bit about extreme strength was slight exaggerated, he didn't want to risk a broken bone or worse.

Just when he was finishing up, Dr. Shane's pager went off and interrupted the man mid sentence. Joseph seemed to glare when the other doctor apologized and quickly retreated towards the door, his exit made.

"I'll be with you in a moment, Ms. Zaken. Mr. Rea'c, when I hold my finger would you please follow it?" Clearly displeased with the unprofessional display from the younger Doctor, Joseph started to finish up with Rea'c. He shined his flash light into each of the Jaffa's eyes then held out one finger. It was moved across in similar fashion to Kay's experience then he quickly jotted down results on his clipboard. "I think that will be all, now if you will kindly wait there while I finish up Ms. Zaken, you both are free to go as we wait on the blood results."

That smile upon Rea'c face had surprised Kay. Her research had depicted most Jaffa as military and morbidly serious types, a fact disproven by Rea'c's recent display. It was enough to have her shake her head, unsure what to make of it, while she focused upon her breathing for Dr. Shane. Her chest inhaled deeply then exhaled, each breath normal and relaxed accordingly. It seemed her doctor was more like those on earth, jaded by their experience and merely did the job. She knew the type well and any chit chat was pointless. Instead she focused on Dr. Sterling and Rea'c.

"I guess you learn something every day. I wasn't sure Jaffa could smile until now." Kayle teased, her lips smiling as well as for much longer.

Her turn came next when Joseph moved over to her, his hand snatched up the clip board left behind then tapped the rubber hammer on her knee. Instinctively her leg jerked and again, when he tapped it once more. Finally finished, Joseph dismissed them both when he concluded Kay's final examination bit. While he labeled Rea'c's sample, he talked to the pair. "You both seem to check out so now you're free to wait for the blood results in the medical wing. I believe you'll find your planet acquaintance there, out of surgery and still recovering."

Joseph, the nurse in tow, made his way out and headed to his office. After the door closed, Kay hopped off the bed then looked at Rea'c with a slight glint in her eye. "Now I'm curious. I thought Goa'uld had fast healing abilities, so why is he still recovering? Think you can behave yourself enough to accompany me for a little 'chat'?"

Cody new that this would hurt, but to this degree was a bit more than he would've liked. While his attack had easily taken out his attackers, Cody's left shoulder hadn't been the luckiest. A staff weapon blast had knocked him down luckily only wounding his shoulder.After about a minute of just rolling in pain Cody stood up dropping the Zat and just began to walk even further away from the facility. He'd have to get out of the jammed area and into an area that he could be beamed up at. The team had the back pack with the device that could get them up to the ship easily, but Cody wasn't in range of said device any more. He was on his own. Luckily for him though the enemy was focused on attacking the facility with the rest of his companions in it, not just searching for him, so that made things a lot easier than his past missions.

Cody ran through the brush swiftly making his way towards a clearing he knew was beaming capable when he spotted two more hostiles just talking. Of course he'd have the luck of running into the slackers of the enemy forces. The ones that thought they could get away with staying in the back under the pretenses of making sure everything was secure. Sadly for them they actually needed to do that, but luckily for Cody they weren't actually doing that.He was able to easily sneak up a matter of feet behind the two of them, listening to one of them talking about his issues with his wife, the other mocking him since he was still single. A rather normal conversation really, but now it was time to end it. Cody raised the pistol and shot the first man in the back of the head as the second man dropped and turned raising his hands in surrender. He begged and pleaded for his life and Cody just looked into the mans eyes. The windows into the soul is what some people though about eyes. If so, what did this mans say? That he really didn't want to be here, or a part of this? Or perhaps, let me live so I can shoot you in the back? More importantly what did Cody's say? Cody wasn't manipulating his eyes at all for the emotion they displayed so he was pretty sure by the scared look on the mans face he knew Cody wasn't going to spare him. As the man slowly stopped begging Cody simply pulled the trigger and finished runnig to the clearing. He would have to talk to Williams about his assignment. This approach he'd been ordered to take may never work, he would have to take more serious action if he hoped to achieve his mission. The question was, would Williams have the stomach to authorize such action?

Ariadne nodded quickly at the command to begin her plan. Much as she wished to stay on the Pel’tak of the Tau’ri ship and witness how they waged war first hand, she had a task of her own. It was unfortunate that the Ha’tak had been destroyed, but even an Al’kesh was a powerful tool in the right hands, and indeed, a far more versatile ship. Her running was slightly encumbered by the unfamiliar Tau’ri armoured vest she was wearing, but not enough to meaningfully slow her on her journey to the Ring Room.

Once she arrived, she immediately located the control panel for the rings and pulled the front facing for it off, smiling slightly at the amusing fact the Tau’ri had incorporated the original golden paneling rather than making their own interface. She wouldn’t be surprised if there was a Goa’uld world somewhere with a ring shaped hole in one of its pyramids. A nearby technician made a noise as if to both question what she was doing and express outrage at not consulting him before poking around in the systems innards, but Ariadne simply held an outstretched finger up to him with a stern glance and he was silenced. She began pulling some of the control crystals out - ring systems didn’t have many, at least not in this panel, and re-arranging them.

It was a simple enough reconfiguration, one she had used numerous times before. It would override the rings security features, including any code on the keypanel, and order the rings to seek out the nearest receiving platform. While there was a similar function as part of the rings base systems, it did not always account for cloaked ring platforms. Her modification would. It would also make it very easy for someone else to send to this ring platform the same way, since security codes would be down, but the Tau’ri could handle it.

Once she had the crystals arranged as she needed them, she replaced the front panel and looked at the technician. “Once I leave, deactivate this ring platform. Pulling any control crystal out should be sufficient. Then make sure these control crystals are returned to the standard configuration. If you cannot do it, find someone who can.” The man looked slightly intimidated by her unnatural voice, but he swiftly nodded all the same. With that taken care of, Ariadne stepped into the ring platform and drew her Zat. The man she had just given orders to then activated the rings, and the familiar sound and sensation surrounded Ariadne as she was transported across space to another vessel.

She arrived on the other ship, to the sight of an empty Ring Room. Clearly the locals did not consider this to be a likely form of attack. First she opened up the ring control panel and removed the crystal responsible for incoming travellers, pocketing it. Then she opened the door to the corridor and peered out quickly, withdrawing as a staff blast flew past her head. They may not have had guards waiting, but they at least had some ready. The moment there was a pause in the shots, she looked out again, this time with her Zat aimed already. She quickly spotted the shooter, hiding poorly behind one of the angular golden struts. She fired a pair of blasts at him, the first taking him in the shoulder, causing him to tense up in pain, and the second catching him dead center, ending his pain permanently. From what she knew, the Tau’ri often just stunned targets, but she saw no reason for leaving any of these men alive. They would just have to be disposed of later anyway.

She kept moving, picking up the fallen mans staff weapon as she went, making her way to the pel’tak. The ship suddenly shuddered then and Ariadne staggered. Of course this was one of the ships currently engaging the Langford, as the rings had taken her to the nearest one. That shuddering had probably been a near miss from the langfords weapons. She had to act quickly to get it clear of the battle at least, being destroyed by friendly fire was not on her agenda. There was no more opposition before the pel’tak, but the moment the door slid open a Zat blast flew right past her head. She immediately stepped to the side of the door, back into cover. There was one man at the controls for the ship and another taking cover behind a seat and firing at her. She couldn’t fire back to supress them without risking damaging something important. Instead, she lifted the liberated Staff weapon to a shoulder braced position and prepared for an aimed shot. Normally staff weapons were terribly inaccurate, but a millennia of experience wielding one had given her a fairly good aim.

Peering around the door just enough to poke the staff out and sight down it, she fired a shot at the pilots head before retreating back into cover. The resultant thud of a mans body hitting the ground and the feeling as the ship simply flew straight ahead instead of manoeuvring told her her shot had struck true, no doubt both frying and liquefying the poor mans brain. At least such a death was instant. She tried to poke the weapon around the corner again, to deal with the second man, but had to withdraw as Zat blasts struck the bulkhead. This man seemed to be a decent shot. From her safe position, she threw the staff weapon out into the corridor, where the man would be clearly able to see it. It would probably confuse the man long enough. When no more zat fire came, she rolled out of cover, keeping low, and came up on her knee, firing her own Zat into the man, delivering a second shot as quickly as the first.

Just as the elation of victory was filling her, she felt the tip of a staff weapon roughly shoved into her back before the wielder opened it. “Its over lady. Drop the Zat.” The man said confidently. Ariadne did as asked, dropping the weapon to the ground. “Now get up slowly.” Again, she did as the man said, rising from her kneeling position, still feeling the staff pressed against her back as she rose. “Uh-” The man hadn’t thought this through obviously, and the moment of indecision was all she needed. Trusting the Tau’ri armour would deflect any staff blast he might manage to get off, she spun about and pushed the weapon aside with one hand, grabbing hold of the shaft as she did so. A blast discharged, but far too late, merely impacting the wall to the side of her before she caught the man's throat in her other hand. Her eyes flashed and terror spread over the man's face before she threw him down the corridor, making full use of her augmented strength. He lost grip of the staff weapon as he went, and Ariadne quickly spun the staff around in her own hands, aiming it at him. She was tempted for a moment to force him to move as she had, but rather than waste time gloating she just shot him twice instead.

With the bridge taken, she retrieved her own Zat and shut the pel’tak door, once again locking it down with a deft crystal removal, just in case there were more people on board. Pushing the corpse of the former pilot to the side, she climbed into the pilot's chair and began to steer the ship well away from the battle. For just a moment, a thought touched the minds of both Host and Symbiote - to take the ship and flee, to leave behind the Tau’ri and the Tok’ra and all their big causes and simply explore the galaxy alone, with no-one to complicate matters.

The thought passed quickly though, she had tried that before, and even with Idalia’s help she would probably still do a poor job of it. She just was not cut out for an entirely solitary existence like that. Once she had taken the ship far enough away, she opened a hyperspace window and jumped a short distance, away from the system into deep space. Standing again, she yanked open the crystal rack for the control systems and removed the one that would allow for hyperspace, adding it to her growing collection of vital control crystals. Knowing the ship would not be going anywhere, she now had to make sure no-one was left onboard. That was simple to do from the engine room. A quick run with weapons ready saw her in the room, where stacks of large control crystals regulated the ships many systems.

After locking the doors, she found the life support rack and pulled it open. it did not take long to find the right combination that would vent all air from the ship excepting that in the engine room. It was a harsh thing to do, but neither Ariadne nor Idalia wished to show mercy for those that had no qualms with killing them. Quickly arranging the crystals, she left them that way and began to check over the numerous other racks. These ships were old and hadn’t been maintained in some time, and before embarking on a long journey she had to ensure she would actually get to where she was going.

An hour later, when she had discovered that everything was in remarkably good working order for an unmaintained ship, she put the life support crystals back where they were meant to be and returned to the pel’tak. Turning the ship towards Earth, she activated the Hyperspace drive and sat back to relax for an undoubtedly long journey.

"Picking up the emergency beacon, ma'am." the sensors officer announced. Kat merely nodded, giving the signal to extract them. "One more beacon appearing outside of the shielded area!" Kat raised an eyebrow about that - nobody was supposed to be there. She'd have to find out in debriefing. "Pick them all up, we don't want any stragglers. Time the redeployment of Tolia's gate to the same time so we only have to drop the shield once. On my mark." the captain ordered, counting the Al'Kesh shots as they impacted. One, two, three - close enough. "Mark!"

Shields of the Langford dropped and the transporters engaged, pulling up the facility team and the stray into the ship while depositing Tolia's gate back on the surface. Of the two Al'Kesh that didn't fire in this cycle yet, one disappeared into hyperspace. Kat nodded to herself - Ariadne apparently succeeded in acquiring the ship. The other Goa'Uld ship managed to land a hit in the meantime. The ship was momentarily shaken, causing a few crewmen to lose their footing. "Shields are back up!" another officer reported. "Damage?" Kat asked nervously. The 304’s hull held without it’s shield for quite a while, but the subsystems were different story. "Impact on the top section, damage minimal. Minor system failures across the ship due to power fluctuations, nothing critical."

Nodding at the report, nothing was holding them here now. "Launch tube one and get us out of here. Put us on the edge of the system until we receive further orders." With an affirmative, the buzz of the hyperdrive filled the ship. At the same time the time delayed nuke launched from one of Langford's bays. As soon as the window closed behind the departing ship the bomb went off, obliterating majority of Tolia's spacecraft. Suffice to say, these people will be threat to no one who passed through from now on. "Give me shipwide," Kat told the comm tech, "Command and ground team debriefing in three hours." she announced, handing the ship over to the helm to go prepare for it.

Returning to her cabin, she sat down at the desk, pulling her computer from the drawer. Several messages popped up in the unread folder. Sighing, she started going through them. There was no escaping paperwork. She was surprised though to find several complaints. First one was from a private who was apparently rendered unfit for duty in a spar with Rea’c. Well of course - that’s what you get for fighting a Jaffa. Still, she couldn’t have her crew mowed down as training. The injury was a dislocated hip though - something quite painful and the private was out of commission for weeks, bad enough for the doctors to request transporting him back to Earth in fact. She’d have to address this, although she was certain somebody already made sure it wouldn’t happen again, hopefully without getting injured as well.

The other complaint was from a lab assistant and concerned something he called lack of morality and professionalism. Apparently the senior staff played some kind of a prank. She didn’t have time for this! OR rather she didn’t want to put any time into it. Those petty scientists - back to the kindergarten with the rest of the children!

Powering through the rest of the mail that mostly concerned with battle and damage reports, she noticed a disturbing trend: Majority of the tech support was being directed to one person only - one Dr. Kate. The thought that if something was to happen to the good doctor her ship would be rendered irrepairable did not sit well. She had to do something about this. Just as she was about to leave for the briefing room, her comms beeped. Apparently Ariadne was back on the ship, arriving through the gate. She wasn’t an expert, but the Al’Kesh wasn’t that fast. Oh well, she’d find out soon enough.

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Looking over the room, everyone was already there. “Please, be seated.” she waved the crowd off, taking her place at the table. “Let’s start with where we stand. The ship fared well enough in the battle. We took a hit when our shield were dropped for beaming which overloaded some noncritical system. Damage control teams are already on those and we shall be fully operational within an hour. Medbay reports three injured personnel - Lt. Brown has taken a staff blast to the shoulder and is in recovery, Dr. Harper took a Zat blast, and prior to the battle in what I presume was a sparring accident, Pvt. Truman dislocated a hip. I’d like to stress out training is meant to prepare the crew for battle, not send them to the hospital for several weeks.” she said, moving to the next point.

“Under the circumstances I believe you all did well. Unfortunately we were unable to prevent the escalation of the hostilities, but the primary objective was satisfied to a large degree. We recovered sizable volume of data from the ancient facility before extraction. We were also able to commandeer an enemy ship. I’d like to continue this trend, because we might just have a credible fleet one day if we do. This brings me to a rather disturbing observation though,” Kat said, rubbing her eyes.

“The hostilities escalated after the Tolian Ha’Tak suffered an explosion. Analysis of the sensor readings revealed that it was caused by a naquadah enhanced bomb. The Tolians are way too primitive to devise such a weapon, and I doubt they would blow up their biggest ship. It wasn’t one of ours either, we only fired two missiles in the whole engagement - one to intercept the attacking Al’Kesh, the other as a mine after we left to strip that planet of it’s spacecraft. That leads me to believe a third party was involved. We have no clue to who it was or what are their motives, but if they are after the same thing we are, I want you to be extra careful on the next mission. Overall, I consider this mission a success.” the captain finished the mission summary.

“Now that that’s out of the way, If you have anything to report concerning what happened down there that might shed some light on the situation, what stood out and what we could have done better, I want to hear it.”

Lawson had been busying himself with datasheets on front of him, recovered information from down on the planet. Exciting stuff so far, it appeared to be some kind of subspace related research though the strange thing was that by this time the Ancients had already perfected Hyperdrive technology. This was something to look into, and likely some very exciting research however for now he looked up at the Captain. "The facility, from what I've read so far and is in the report-" He raised the report slightly to indicate to it. "-is some form of Subspace research station built by the Ancients. That alone is exciting as our drives are based largely off Asgard and Goa'uld systems but the Ancient drives are so much better. We could almost double the speed of the Langford if this research goes into detail. However nothing is certain to what it holds yet as we're still in the process of deciphering what we have. We had to cut off the up link when we came under fire however we managed to get most of the data. We'll never know what we are missing until we go back to the planet and add the crystals back into the main control systems."

He put that report down and then let his attitude become a lot more somber. "Now, the worrying thing is the explosion." He pressed a button on his tablet and an image of the Ha'tak exploding came up, playing in slow motion. "From what we can ascertain the rings were used in order to beam this device on board. The real worrying thing is the device itself." A list of radio-logical readings popped up on the side of the screen. "As you know the war with the Lucian Alliance has back footed a bit, we haven't been on the offensive and they haven't either at least not openly. However I would presume that only the Lucian Alliance could be behind this bombing." He brought up a chart of readings next to the ones already on the screen. "The radio-logical data matches exactly to one of our nuclear warheads." He brought up another chart. "This is a chart of a Lucian Alliance Warhead. They are similar but not exact. While our warhead was. Either this was a planned strike by someone from Earth or the Lucian Alliance have spies on Earth capable off stealing a Naquadah Enhanced Warhead, and I don't need to tell you how worrying this is."

Rea'c stood and nodded at Kayle. He didn't really want to do it however his presence might assist Kayle in getting answers out of the Goa'uld. If not then he could always resort to persauding him wiht the use of physical violence. That was if he would be allowed to do such a thing, with how the Tau'ri had treated such things so far he doubted he would be allowed to. However the Goa'uld did not need to know that.

Once Kayle asked where they were heading he lead the way and opened the door to the isolated medical room. He looked at the man laying on the bed still injured, or at least feining it for some reason, however Goa'uld were not always exactly predictable. As soon as he entered the room he looked a tthe Goa'uld. He didn't say a word, just gave him a look of complete and utter disgust, he would let Kay do the talking. He closed the door after she had walked in.

While Kay followed in utter silence, her mind pondered about her next course of actions. Rea'c agreed far too easily though she suspected he wasn't pleased with her suggestion, unsure how accurate her guess was. Namely the fact something wasn't right. Goa'uld were cruel, arrogant and not renowned for stupidity.

This man didn't seem to fit the profile depicted by her research.

Again her mind wandered to the memory. From the moment he came into view, his voice deep and arrogant, to after Rea'c fired a well placed staff shot sent him down. Even she was impressed when it hit its mark easily enough and if not for the fact his target was living, Kay might've congratulated the Jaffa on his accomplishment. Her mind kept seeing man laying on the ground. His hands fused with metal and burns as he spoke his final words in a softer, normal voice. Finally, a single trembling hand reached for his neck and revealed an odd device then admitted he only wanted their supplies. That whole scene didn't sit well with her and part of her reason to question the man were mostly selfish based. Above everything, duty or otherwise, Kay wanted answers.

When she walked in, Rea'c wasted little time in closing the door after with a soft click. Her didn't drift towards the patient. Not immediately anyway as she looked at the two men guarding the once believed Goa'uld, their forms tensed and alert. They stood at attention when they spotted the Lieutenant had arrived and gave the proper greeting.

"At ease." Kay casually spoke causing the men to relax.

One of the things she noted was Rea'c's glare, the Jaffa's expression strong enough to determine a mix of disgust and hatred towards the man. The second was the fact the prisoner was still injured. Where he was burned was wrapped in clean bandages and an IV drip was placed within the not singed bit of his arm, the rest slung up and within a cast for protection. Enhance healing didn't just ebb or flow at one's will, no matter how strong one control their body and was of the key aspects that bothered her.

Wasting little time, Kay moved closer and looked over the wounds the man had earned with his recklessness. "You're better than you were before. You're lucky you weren't just shot dead."

Aeryn was alarmed when the two ground soldiers that had shot his arm walked into the room. No, he rationalized. If they intended to kill him then they wouldn't have wasted resources on repairing his arm. They were perhaps here to interrogate him. Or... to make casual conversation... This must be just to relax him before the important questions started. Well it wouldn't do not to respond. "You're lucky we weren't all incinerated because of the Jaffa's reckless and tactless action."

He was right more or less. A pristine and operational Kara'kesh had several provisions and safety protocols in place that prevented an overload if it was struck with an energy weapon. Aeryn's however had spent nine years in harsh conditions without proper management. He'd had to nearly rebuild it from spare parts a half dozen times. The only reason that it hadn't detonated was that the Naquadah power cells that ran the shields system among other things were on the verge of failure even with the spares that he had integrated. "Despite their faults I always thought the Jaffa an honorable people. There is no honor in firing on an opponent without assessing the situation beforehand. You are without discipline, blinded by hate. You are lucky your blunder did not cost the three of us our lives."

Rea'c was the next to speak, despite the fact he had not planned to. "I ascertained the situation. As a pitiful pretender god who tried to attack us. Foolishly I might add, I then proceeded to incapacitate his ability to harm us without immediately killing us. I am aware off the safety protocols built into the devices. You were the only one in harms way. As it should be, you are lucky that these people wanted you alive or we would not be having this conversation."

Aeryn rolled his eyes not really interested in the topic of conversation itself but rather enjoying the fact that the Jaffa felt the need to justify himself to Aeryn, a lowly pathetic pretender. "If you had bothered to 'ascertain' the situation for more than a few moments you would have noticed that my device was covered in scratches, scars, tears, cracks and some areas had melted along with the central crystal being damaged. If you had noticed then you would have restrained from firing on an unstable power source. If it how not been very near critical failure then 'we would not be having this conversation'." Aeryn sighed and looked back up at the ceiling. It was bland and grey. From what he'd seen of the Tau'ri ship so far (which wasn't exactly extensive) they lacked a certain style and decorum which the Goa'uld and Ancients had incorporated into their designs. These ships were bare bones functional. Aeryn did not feel the need to respond to anything else the Jaffa might say.

Aeryn had soldiers like this one during his time as Amenthes. They were rigid and closed minded stuck in one view on how things were. For example all Goa'uld are evil. Aeryn wondered if he'd ever met the Tok'ra. No if Aeryn was going to talk to anyone it would be the Tau'ri soldier. He knew that the humans of Earth possessed many faults but as he understood they also kept an open mind, most of them anyways. Aeryn would wait and see what this one was like. After all she might be fair even if she was slow with drawing her weapon.

"All done?" Kayle felt she let the two spit at each other long enough to get it out of their system. Right now, it was like standing in the middle of a cock fight. The two roosters ruffling their feathers at one another to look bigger then the other and just as pointless when it came to getting something done.

Each point had it's merits and flaws, though she basely took Rea'c's over the man who had threatened them earlier. She wasn't going to condone the man's actions or pretend it didn't affect her views towards him. Any normal person would've felt the same.

Her arms had crossed over her chest, outright ignoring what she viewed as the pretender Goa'uld's high and mighty attitude. More wars and pointless fighting was cause over such pitiful manners that she felt it was pointless to state this man himself should've followed his own advice. He clearly had to note they were armed and if his equipment was so shoddy, why risk a losing and possibly deadly confrontation for just supplies? Desperation didn't add up to stupidity instantly and it would've been plainly clear there was something off when he first spotted them. Namely by the way they walked and dressed at least making him more cautious then his display showed.

"I see it pointless to argue, what's done is done. Personally, you lucked out. If we had been expecting hostiles, then his staff weapon would've been the least of your worries." Kay stated firmly, not bothering to explain about her knives at the moment. "You clearly don't seem ignorant about weapons and considering you followed us a bit, if your equipment was in such shoddy shape why risk an open and I might add, aggressive confrontation? You had to see we were carrying weapons easily. A bluff was most likely to get you killed then the needed supplies, even in desperation."

"It wasn't in 'shoddy' conditions before it was shot off my arm." He continued to stare up at the ceiling. She was at lease curious about the right things Aeryn had to give her that but it also seemed that since he'd been the aggressor she was determined to see her in a negative light. "I've had to repair the Kara'kesh a number of times, it was mostly functional except for the shield and wasn't going to detonate when active but anyone who looked at it could tell that it wouldn't survive a Ma'Tok weapons’ discharge." He said mildly defensively, she was poking into his skills with technology one of the only things in his life that he could say that he was proud of.

"As for why I confronted you, the only aliens that have ever visited Tolia are a group of scavengers that call themselves the Lucien Alliance. I assumed from your garb you came from offworld which meant you were one of them." He successfully kept a tone that would have been categorized on earth as 'well duh' out of his voice. These people would have no idea that he was lying through his teeth and if the information he was spinning were true then they shouldn't know about it either. No reason to cause a ruckus when it is not necessary or helpful.

"I get or rather got my supplies mostly from ambushing travelers. Not the most noble thing to do I'll admit but as you say I was desperate. When you two came along I assumed that you were a scientist and her bodyguard sent by the Alliance to take a look at my... or rather Halion's Ancient Lab. I've targeted Alliance groups before; there supplies are usually top notch so when I saw you I thought I had been sent a treat. The Alliance patrols that I've taken in the past have been more afraid of a loose 'Goa'uld' than I was of their weapons. If my assumption had been right it should have been simple enough. As I have said your Jaffa lacked discipline and honor... and I misinterpreted the situation" Aeryn said looking at the Jaffa. If Aeryn had actually been Goa'uld he would have completely ignored the pain of his injuries, drawn his staff and Zat'niki'tel shot them both dead. The likely outcome if Aeryn had been Goa'uld was that his host would have died he'd have injured both of them and taken the girl as his new host before killing the Jaffa with his bare hands. Really firing first was the worst mistake the Jaffa could have made under his assumptions.

Kay merely shook her head and shrugged off the noted shift into defense when he defended his equipment. It seemed she hit a nerve with the word shoddy when it came to the description, placing it away for the future. It was something she could exploit later when she wasn't satisfied with his answers. Instead she merely moved on and listened to his explanation.

Some of it made sense but not all of it. Namely the fact he knew his equipment limitation and admitted to ambush tactics, only to pull something different with them. Something nagged at her about it yet she couldn't understand why.

"Yet you still knew what it's limitations were and I doubt you could over look the fact one of us had a Ma'Tok." She said bluntly, "As for my friend lacking honor and taking a risk, you didn't any better yourself with yours. I think condemning others flaws to be worse then your own is the greatest show of arrogance and pretending your own mistake is minor doesn't benefit you in the end."'

She sighed a bit, her mind absorbed what she had been told for a moment then added. "Next time I'll have to be quicker with my Zat but I won't say I disagree with my friend's aggressive actions to be honest. How often did you encounter Lucian Alliance during your attempts to resupply?"

"A policy of shooting before a proper risk assessment is made is not a strong basis for offworld exploration. I tire of discussing who made the worse tactical error, niether of us handled the situation as well as should have been done. A good warrior is one that can hit there targets with accuracy, a great warrior is one that knows when to stay the trigger. Tell me if I had truly been a Goa'uld what do you think would have happened?" Aeryn asked ignoring the question of the Alliance's supply schedule knowing that it was what she really wanted to know. He knew now that this girl was or perhaps was trying to appear as closed minded as her companion. She must know that firing when startled is not a decent quality in an officer. He was tired of discussing why the Jaffa should not have been in the field or why he himself should have thought better of his approach.

"For someone growing tired of the topic, you avoided my question relatively easily. So I'll ask it again. How often did you encounter Lucian Alliance during your attempts to resupply?" Kay repeated with a voice steadier then it should've been.

In fact, it seemed abruptly cold towards his question. A distinct change for her normally warm tone and something those who interacted with her to date would notice, a trait brought on by the fact the man overlooked her question. She didn't like that at all as it sprung alarm bells in her head. Was he hiding something?

Her eyes slid over to the guards, taking note of them and remind herself of something important. She then waited until the man answered her question or once more saw if he avoided it.

Aeryn grinned and let a low whistle escape his lips. The woman clearly liked to get straight to the point and had no time for those that didn't. "I see winter's just blown in." He wondered if she's been putting on a warm front in order to make him feel comfortable enough to answer her questions. If so she quickly tired of that persona. "Pray tell me Miss, why does the Lucien Alliance interest you so?" He wasn't stupid enough to answer her questions outright. He'd been on the dealing end of interrogations enough to know that it usually ended in death. Aeryn had heard rumors about the honor and wisdom of the Tau'ri, he now saw that these rumors were mistaken or perhaps that reputation only applied to a handful of warriors. Whatever the reason the two that now stood in front of him looked far more likely to eject him from an airlock than actually let him go. No if they really wanted to know anything he had to offer then he needed something in return.

"Merely updating my research notes." Kay stated simply then turned about and checked the time. "After all, we weren't expecting 'Goa'uld' presence to be on the planet so updating the recorders even with an estimated guess from a first hand encounter is better then nothing at all. Might give some idea how often the Lucian Alliance came to this way and what I might need to expect. It would've helped in your own case if I had more information."

She then considered leaving, reflected with pity on what little she had had learned and fact the man's attitude told her he wasn't likely to be cooperative. At least she had one less thing to consider talking with the Captain about and hopefully the man would soon be out of their hair. "Since you're not going to answer my question, it seems this was a wasted trip then."

"Perhaps my questions was misunderstood. Let us pretend that I have been trapped on a planet with no outside communication and outdated technology. Now, what do the Tau'ri have against the Lucien Alliance?"

"I thought most everyone would've hear-" Kay had started before her words were cut short when Rea'c moved. Her eyes widened in a slight surprise, not expecting her companion's reaction after being so silent and taking a back seat to the scene until now.

Rea'c brushed his way forward past Kay and towards the man lying on the bed. "What the Tau'ri have against the Lucian Alliance is not your concern. What is their concern, and mine is what they have to do with this planet?" He grabbed one of the mans wrists and leaned down over him. "While the Tau'ri have rules against torture I assure you, the Jaffa do not. Especially when it comes to Goa'uld. Or shall we bring the Tok'ra in on this? We could have them use a memory recall device. I hear they are quite painful when you try to resist them." He knew he wouldn't be allowed to perform torture upon a Tau'ri vessel however this man, this false Goa'uld had no way of knowing that.

As long as Kay played ball he'd have the information they needed. He turned briefly to give her an apologetic and somewhat sympathetic look - or at least tried to. She was new to all of this, had never dealt with a Goa'uld and was over her head. Though she'd have to learn fast. "Also, do not think to change the topic back upon us. Or I shall change to your injured arm."

She couldn't allow this to happen. Not because Kay believed herself a saint and incapable of such brutality, she was human and to pretend the violent nature didn't exist within all Tau'ri was a mistake. Everyone had regrets in life, no matter how large or small they were. Thankfully hers were small and minor compared to what Rea'c suggested.

Despite her cold demeanor, Kay wasn't willing to go this far if she could avoid it and no lives were at risk. It was cruel instead of a required measure to save life. She spotted the look and she was pretty sure he could see her cold mask melt away, revealing her disagreement with his course of action. One of the men stepped forward only be stopped, absentminded, by Kay's hand.

Her eyes warned Rea'c that if he went too far then she wouldn't stay by and let him.

Aeryn was not particularly impressed by the Jaffa's threat. The Jaffa had no rules about torture but Aeryn knew as the Jaffa had just stated the Tau'ri did. This Jaffa was under there jurisdiction and there rules at least for the moment. He was neither disturbed by the man's proximity or his breath but something the man did say caught Aeryn's attention. "The Tok'ra are here?" A cold sweat broke out on Aeryn's forehead. Not for the reasons that the Jaffa would assume. He'd thought for many years long and hard about how he would deliver the message of Altenya's death to them. He'd never thought it would go like this. He might not have had a care for what the Jaffa thought of him or even the Tau'ri but the Tok'ra were different. Perhaps if he cooperated then they might grant him an audience.

"They are. They're not too fond of you snakes either. Almost hate you more than the Jaffa do." He released his hold for now, there was no need for one of the guards to get ocncerned and then going to go get the captain. "I'm sure I could wrangle one up when they're back on the ship to bring a memory recall device down and have a little chat with you. I've had one of those things strapped to my skull by one of your kind before right-" He jabbed his finger against the mans skull. "-here. I simply hope that the Tok'ra dial up the sensitivity." He took a step back, he was Kays now.

Aeryn barely registered the Jaffa threats. Though he did shift his head away as the Jaffa jabbed the side of his skull. Aeryn's mind was moving into overdrive. A thoughsand thoughts passing a second and fanishing just as quickly. If ever was a time to come clean about Amenthes now was it though he was mildly surprised that there medical imaging equipment hadn't detected the lack of a symbiote.

"You want information fine. My name is Aeryn Thorde, and I am not a Goa'uld. At least not anymore."

Kay was tense throughout the scene. Her hand fisted and released, her anxiety showed in the simple gesture yet she trusted Rea'c's judgement. He was much more experienced with the Goa'uld then herself, even with the research. A fact that irritated her and needed to change. She made a note to gleam as much information from both Ariadne and Rea'c as soon as possible after the debriefing about the Goa'uld. It will be needed for the future and mere reports weren't enough compared to real experiences or retold tales. She noted the Goa'uld's demeanor had changed at the mention of the Tok'ra, something she had found odd.

Her eyebrow arched when she heard him make his statement, then spoke. "How did you become free?"

Her knowledge upon the subject was fuzzy when it came to freed host, namely the removal and existence of prior host. It part of it was because she hadn't gotten to the part of her research yet and the other was the lacking connection to her area of expertise.

This wasn't a subject that Aeryn particularly enjoyed talking about. It had been the best day of his life and the most horrid. The memory was a little fuzzy but he knew what happened well enough. The pain was always sharp in his mind. "My symbiote, Amenthes had an ad..." No he'd leave Altenya out of this unless she came up specifically. There were some memories better left buried. "He had a Ancient Lab on the surface of the planet. I'm sure your sensors picked it up."

Kay noticed the quick shift from ad to Ancient, a big difference between the pronunciation, which told her he was holding something back. Through she could've pressed the issue, instead Kayle just allowed the man to continue with his answer. Something told her that he might likely be more open to Ariadne then herself which meant she might have to appeal to the Tok'ra about having a conversation. She only hoped the symbiote would be willing.

Aeryn sighed again. "It was a research outpost for a long term project the Ancients were working on. The research was abandoned after a very serious radiation leak that nearly killed the science team." Aeryn left out specifics of the Lab's operations*, that would be a bargaining chip he could use later. "When the radiation was tuned very specifically it affected the Goa'uld genetic code at a cellular level."

"Amenthes died simply put from tumours brought on by radiation poisoning. The way the radiation was tuned it only affected me mildly. I suffered from radiation sickness four perhaps seven cycles of the sun. It was not particularly pleasant but it didn't matter to me. I was free."

She inwardly shuddered at the idea, her mind recalled her own experiences in a faint attempt to understand and relate. It wasn't a surprise she came up short. Casting the thoughts away, Kay then stepped forward as her body broke the spell of stillness and she continued. "Moving on to a different subject. Why were you wandering planet side? The things you mentioned made it seem like you were doing this tactic for a while now."

She tried to keep her voice free of any emotional basis, instead project a calm demeanor. Her curiosity, on the other hand, was pounding upon her in thick waves. Due to his reaction to her question about freedom, Kay held off asking him about his experience as a Goa'uld because she didn't want to dig up any harsh memories and opted to take it slow instead.

Aeryn gave a smile that held no mirth or joy. "You talked to the Tolians didn't you? Did they seem like the kind of people that could tell the difference between a host and a symbiote." He paused for a moment before continuing. "I was free nine years ago. The Goa'uld and loyal jaffa they ran with most of the functioning ships. Halion Drennon took the rest and he burried the Chapa'ai. There weren't many ways off of Tolia and I lost access to all of them."

"I wasn't in charge of negotiations and not on the bridge during that time. So the answer's no." Kay said simply. "Even my ground mission was cut short, mostly due to hostile natives. Though I think your...introduction style didn't help much."

Kay tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice when she recalled the fact she has a short mission, unable to learn much of anything about the inhabitants or explore much more then the woodland areas. In her head it felt like she had failed somehow in her performance during it, but she couldn't determine in what way. She had been about to speak again when the intercom interrupted her, cutting her off from speaking farther.

"Lt. Zaken and Rea'c, will you please report to the debriefing room."

Kay's eyes glanced upward to the speakers with a slight irritation in her expression before she turned back to the one called Aeryn. "It seems our conversation has been cut short. I'll suggest to Ariadne and Idalia, our ally Tok'ra and her host, to visit. Another thing is talk to the Captain about what you've told me and determine your fate. Likely you'll either shipped back to Earth or remain on ship."

She didn't make any threats or promises about what influence she might have over it. Namely cause she had little idea how much her opinion might matter to Captain Black or how she might react to it, Kay's experience with the authority figure had only been minimal to date. Barely enough in her own opinion to draw an accurate guess about what her suggestion to the woman and felt slightly nervous over the coming meeting.

She turned on heel and started out the door, her last words echoed behind her. "I would suggest you rest and relax until then Mr. Thorde."

Kay... After the visit.

Along the way, her feet stepped in automatic and body seemed slightly ridged, Kay's mind scrambled over her own thought. Each one seemed crafted to trip her up then aid in an easy decision. She barely registered when she had arrived, her inner distraction broken by the feminine voice of Captain Black. Nodding once before she took her seat, her lithe form glided downwards and settled into the grey fabric on the rolling chair. One by one each present body followed her lead and fell into a chair.

Her gaze glanced to the side to see Rea'c had taken the seat next to her and a brief spark of gratitude came into her eyes as she turned her attention to the Captain. She noted the injuries, including Cody, and made a moment note to visit him within the medical bay shortly afterwards. It was curious to hear he had gotten a staff blast when all Rea'c and herself encountered were hostiles with Zats, mentally hoped the wound wasn't as badly as their unwanted host. If that was the case then he would be out of missions for a time.

When Pvt. Truman was mentioned, Kay bite her lip. She wanted to state to the Captain the matter had already been discussed and she would likely be one of the few to spare with him, at least for the impeding future until otherwise noticed. However the only indication for her desire to talk was her fisted hand, hidden under the table and upon the arm rest. The discussion's flow shifted quickly to the next order of business, the mission result.

This was bound to be the most depression aspect for her during the entire meeting. Mainly since her mission was cut short and little had been done to farther any aid towards the object...in short, regardless of the Captain's claims, Kay felt more like dead weight then anything. Her fingers edged toward the arm's tip and coiled about the end where they dug in. Besides that, Kay sat in silence listening to the subject jump from the data collected to the unexpected news about an explosion happening on one of the ships. It was...disturbing to learn. Namely due to the timing of it and the fact this third party managed to escalate a delicate situation so rapidly was unsettling.

Lawson, head in physics-and a few other areas- pipped up to the Captain's question, hushing Kay to hold off on her meager report.

The excitement practically dripped off the elderly scientist when he spoke of the data retrieved at high cost. Her mind was slightly amused as he seemed about as taken with the information as she was with the research requirements when she first entered the Stargate program. Her colleagues described as every inch of a bubbling and giddy school girl rather then the trained soldier that day. A mention her father had arched an eyebrow at and questioned her fellow comrades' sanity over. She pushed the thought aside when Lawson's tone changed. His finger made a soft tap upon his tablet and up popped the explosion of a ship onto a viewing screen, the ship ruptured into pieces from the inside out. The timing was too well placed in Kay's opinion as she watched the image flip from the ship recording to a nuclear, sided by another and more familiar one. They had similarities but over all, it wasn't hard to tell the difference between them. It was little wonder Lawson was concerned when he mentioned the warheads being exact, his own thoughts echoed Kay's own worries.

She kept her suspicions to herself for the moment but she was sure everyone had it on their mind, in one form or another. Second Lt. then leaned back into her chair to ponder a moment and then relaid Rea'c and her own progress. "Rea'c and myself went topside to explore the given location coordinates. There were no signs of anyone being dropped off or present, nothing to indicate trouble either. The man, whose name I recently learned was Aeryn Throde, crossed our path when we spread our search outwards. About an hour later, we were ambushed and beamed on board during the fight. I'll deliver the planet mission details in my report though I'm sad to say it is brief."

Kay found it difficult to keep the disappointment from flooding her voice when she spoke about the mission.