[IC] Stargate - Alliances

[Sep]

Miller was trying to spot the sniper, without much luck as he removed a smoke grenade from his vest. "You know the snipers going to be sitting looking at the door Lieutenant. If the Langford is free we should call a F-302 down to blow a hole in the wall." He looked back towards the rest of the city. "Also we didn't see anyone on our way here so we can have the ship scan for life signs. Anyone by themselves out in the city is likely going to be our sniper and then the Langford can have fun with that." He waited for Kay to respond as in the end it was really her call. He pulled the pin out of the smoke grenade however held onto it waiting to see if they would keep with the current plan or change things around.

He looked up as he heard the notable sound of an Al'kesh come down low above them, it droned out both the death Gliders that were shooting up the Langaran forces and all the other explosions going on. He turned to Kay. "We better report that, someones probably trying to get away."

---

Tonak waited as he heard the Al'kesh come down over his head, shaking the entire building as dust came down from the roof. The Tauri would likely hear the vessel coming down and then wait for it to return to try and detect it. Luckily they would likely be able to get away before the Langford would be able to get a fix on them. He walked through the building as two Langaran troops came through a breach in the wall, he raised his rifle and fired two shots into their heads before activating his cloak and picked up the pace. It was time to get out of there.

[Fallenreaper]

Kay

During Ay’mara’s and Morneau’s retreat back to Miller and herself, Kay had darted around the corner in brief attempts to spot the sniper’s position. At least gather a better sense of his direction then earlier. Kay managed that much before she jerked back, a stray bullet split the brick wall corner and caused her to sharply breathe. That was closer than she had expected it to be. Her heart was still pounding when Ay’mara spoke then mentioned a fact Kay already knew. She had already checked her ammo reserves, a habit, and reached for her grenade when Miller suggested the Langford send out a F-302 to eliminate the sniper. To her, it was an over kill yet there was little way they were likely to make it to the door otherwise.

She hated using up resources as plentiful as they might’ve been, namely when she rather rely on her team’s strength. Maybe it something she had learned in Israel, where resources weren’t as easily accessed and the only reliable strength was yourself, those you leaned on and most importantly, God. Despite her mind ticking away for another option, her fingers tight around the grenade in thought, something new had already made the decision for her: the sounds of an Al’kesh. It was loud and distracting, the sound close yet she couldn’t spot any signs of it. Like an invisible demon it roared deep in her ears, a distraction until Miller’s words.

“Whatever they are doing, I’m sure it’s nothing good.” Kay said her lips turned into a frown as she reached for her radio.

“Langford, come in. We’ve got something that sounds like Al’kesh activity going on near our location. However, we can’t make a visual confirmation. In addition, Miller believes any individual life around our location is likely to be our sniper and I’m inclined to agree. So, Sir, requesting a F-302 assistance to say hello to our current nuisance.”

While waiting on a reply or the sounds of a F-302 overhead, Kay turned to a on standby Ay’mara. “Ay’mara, tell me immediately if your condition with your leg changes. You might fight until your last breath and against the pain, but you’ll hurt us worse if I must worry you about not being practical with me. In the long run, you’re a useful warrior and one I rather not lose over something so minor.” Kay warned, unsure if Ay’mara was like Rea’c and rather not leave the matter to risk. “Off record, Miller. I hope you’re right about there being one sniper and the others aren’t just sitting in wait.”

Once the F-302 was overhead, Kay gave the command, “Ay’mara, blast the door now. Everyone move, now.”

All the while in the back of her mind, Kay was trying to ignore something buzzing in her head. Something she hadn’t noticed among the first shot, the need to protect her team and the mission’s goal over took its place. A key thing she should’ve seen before now. Was the first sniper’s shot a lucky one? Her eyes instinctively, on thinking about it, darted down towards Ay’mara’s wound and find it bothered her that among all those peppered shoots, each dangerously close, not a single had managed to cause farther damage. She noticed the shot hadn’t done much more then shot right through the meat and just wounded the Jaffa. Was it just an odd and fortunate thing to count her lucky stars on or something else at work?

Kay found a dark, twisting sensation curl her stomach into knots. Something didn’t add up right but not even Kay could understand what it added to, she pushed the thought away. The mission was more important and she needed to focus.

[Ciphra]

Cody smirked as the pair had finally reached cover and quickly reloaded his rifle preparing to do further damage if need be, but then he heard the Al'Kesh. He chuckled to himself. "Well Lieutenant, looks like you got lucky." He softly said. He instantly began quickly putting everything back in the case and pulled out his hand gun and began to leave the building. He'd turned his radio back on as he left the building to check on the status of things, and then he heard the lieutenant requesting air support on the sniper. He'd have to put faith in Williams to delay that until he got away or perhaps he could just radio in to his lovely Israeli friend that Williams had ordered him to watch their back and that he'd taken out the sniper. Nah once she found out he was a sniper himself she'd probably suspect him. He'd finally gotten behind and around the ground team and was pretty sure he'd found where the Al'Kesh had landed, but he already heard it moving again, but where? The snow didn't lie, the ship was definitely here at some point not too long ago, but now what could he do? He listened to the sound and grit his teeth in frustration as he thought out his options.

[Forsythe]

Joseph had finally had a moment to prepare and sterilize the autopsy room in order to examine the victim. His mind already ran through the little data he had of her from her files, namely her work with toxic materials, though none of it affected his judgement when it came to determining her cause of death. She wasn’t found in a lab after all. Else it would’ve sent up an alarm and locked down the whole ship, resulting in every crew member being quarantined and tested.

“Pity, to die so young and so far from home. It’s not a fitting fate for anyone.” Joseph said in a surprisingly compassionate voice.

His brown eyes softened when he skimmed over her exposed and motionless body, looking far more helpless in death than she had in life. An ironic truth that once dead, their appearance to the world often changed as well. Only Dr. Niven was with him and a trusted assistant who had helped him splay open the ribs, keeping the deceased patient modest as possible. It was only partly way in when Joseph’s eyes widened in surprise then locked his expression to mirror Niven’s.

“Get the Captain on the line. This wasn’t just a death, I believe we have a killer on board.”

---

“Copy, they’re on their way.” Catherine replied shortly, contacting the two planes reserved for ground attack carrying appropriate ordnance, “Sandy 1, you’re up. The ground team needs a hole in the wall. Stand by to receive coordinates of a sniper post to eliminate.” she relayed, gesturing at the sensors officer to look into finding his position. “Sandy two, look for the Al’Kesh. The gliders that were attacking the ground forces seem to have withdrawn, look for them ,they might be escorting it. If you see them, fire at will, don’t let them get away.” she addressed the other problem.

With the enemy capital ships retreating, her combat high started wearing off. “Talk to me, what’s the damage?” she asked as the officers reported in one by one. The engines suffered quite the hit, presently running at 80%. The shield was approaching the 50% mark as well - good thing they stopped when they did. “Anyone know what happened to the beam cannons?” she asked, annoyance in her tone. This should have been a five minute engagement that should have ended up with three Ha’Tak in pieces and barely 10% drop on the shields. If this was a sloppy maintenance job, she’d have their heads on a… “Ma’am, engineering reports preliminary assessment. It seems the buffers were tampered with.”

“Sabotage?” she asked, a little unbelieving. Oh, how ironic that the ship that took the most bureaucracy to crew unlike the military owned ones would be the one to have a mole on board. “Wait a minute… What about the labs?” she asked warily, dots slowly connecting in her head. that was when the news from Joseph arrived. Captain’s nails dug into her palms as her fists clenched. “I want this ship on lockdown. No one goes anywhere from now on. Once the ground clears up, pick up everyone and then confine all crew to quarters pending screening. Get Earth to send the equipment.”

[Sundered Echo]

Ingrid woke from her memory-sharing with Vanja abruptly upon hearing the sound of a sort of klaxxon, a siren. Someone, she could not quite tell who, spoke over the intercom. She still had a headache from the sudden intrusion of Vanja into her body. From the memories the Tok’ra had shared with her, she knew that would pass fairly soon, once her body adapted. The words “All crew must report to their quarters immediately! Repeat, All crew must report to their quarters! ” blared out over the intercom. Since she already was in her quarters, she did not worry, though she did wonder a bit on what it was all about. Was it the body of the scientist, Ylva? Or was it something else? She didn’t like knowing, but when the military started issuing orders like that, she knew better than to argue with them. She sensed that Vanja really wanted to know, but she firmly pushed that curiosity down.

With events having taken the unfortunate turn they did, Ariadne rapidly decided that waiting on the bridge for events to unfold without her was unacceptable. Despite technically being a traitor herself, she had no capacity to tolerate betrayal from within the ranks, a trait she shared with Idalia, though for different reasons. Right now, it was slightly less because of a holdover mentality from ruling as a Goa’uld, and more because as far as either of them were concerned, every Tau’ri on this ship had only the best intentions for each other and the wider galaxy. That any one of them could sabotage the ship with the intent to bring death to themselves and their fellow crew was abhorrent. Unlike when she commanded Jaffa or when she knew everyone in the village though, here, she had no idea who could possibly be the traitor. She would have to rely on another to find that out. “Captain.” She said quickly, a harsh tone in her voice. “I will begin an investigation to locate the Shol’va immediately.” With that, she stormed off the bridge, one of the bridge guards falling in behind her as she did.

She had decided precisely who to see about this mess by the time she had reached the elevator, and wasted no time punching in both the right deck and her override code for the lockdown. By the time she reached Ingrids quarters, both host and symbiote were exceedingly unhappy, doing their best to avoid directing their feelings at their current target until proof was obtained. Another override code and the door opened for her and she stepped in. “Tell me who would have the capacity to sabotage the ship like this!” She hardly bothered to conceal her feelings on the subject. The head scientist would hopefully understand.

Ingrid was rather shocked when the door to her quarters burst open and the person started shouting immediately in a Tok’ra voice. Vanja in particular seemed almost terrified. She had taken what Vanja had called a “naquadah inhibitor” not much earlier, but it might not have taken full effect yet. Though the woman was several centimeters shorter than her, it felt more like she was a giant from her bearing and the command in her voice. Ingrid thought for a few moments before answering. “Sabotage? What kind of sabotage? The answer to your question is reliant upon the exact nature of the sabotage, answer me that, and I can help you narrow the list of suspects.” She thought on the typical military officer attitude and presumed that this woman thought the same way, and assumed anyone was a suspect until proven not to be.

“That” Ariadne said as she covered the short distance between the door and the sitting form of Ingrid. “Is what you are going to tell me.” While it was somewhat shameful for her to admit being so in the dark, especially in the technological area, it was thankfully a feeling her host did not share, and so pushed aside with relative ease. She grasped the Tau’ri woman by the shoulder, going to pull her up to her feet. This was no time for laziness or slow reactions. The motion was stopped for just a moment as a familiar surge ran up her arm with the touch. Just for a moment, it felt as if she were touching another Tok’ra. She narrowed her eyes, but the feeling was gone almost as quickly as it had arrived, and Ariadne carried out the motion of pulling the other woman firmly to her feet. “We do not have time to waste. If this is a Lucian Alliance ploy, they may not stop with the existing sabotage.” She had calmed a little now that she was in motion, but still retained a sense of urgency in her voice.

Since Ingrid could not get the answer she had hoped for, she found herself needing to ask outright. “I cannot stop it until I have even a rough idea of what is wrong. Knowing what they have done can give an idea of what they might do next. Were any specific systems affected? Was it a combat system? Life support? Structural? Related to the Stargate? One of the Asgard systems? Some other system?” Inside her, Vanja shivered when the woman, the Tok’ra touched her. The feeling was quite unfamiliar to her, but she could feel Vanja’s understanding. And there was something odd, some odd sense while being close to the Tok’ra. She did not understand it.

“I know that our weapons ceased to function at a crucial moment in combat. I doubt this is the limit of the sabotage, and I need you to both ascertain if any more sabotage has been carried out and repair it. After you give me the list.” Ariadne spelled it out clearly for the Tau’ri. She was used to not having to give such specific orders - she had always commanded her Jaffa on a grand scale and expected her First Prime and other commanders to handle minutia. Excepting when she took to the field of course. And Idalia’s skill set was more about motivating people to act of their own accord than actual command. All of this meant her patience was already running thin, and she made that fact clear with her tone.

“Weapons sabotage. Hmm… I presume you mean the Asgard beam weapons, and not the missiles or railguns?” When the Tok’ra nodded to the question, Ingrid finally had something to build a theory from. “That level of sabotage is of a much higher level than most, which is both fortunate and unfortunate. Fortunate in that you can cut away most of your list, but unfortunate in that they can sabotage even more. That particular system cannot be accessed by just anyone, let alone be modified by just anyone.” Ingrid then pulled out a datapad from the drawer beside her bed. Quickly entering her access codes and biometrics she accessed the system logs, filtering it for just anyone or anything accessing the core of the asgard systems, the actual software behind the technology. Even if the guilty party covered his or her tracks, there would be some trace. All changes to the system code, even just a single entry, was recorded. “You’ll find your candidate here. If one of my assistants can be brought in, I can have him start a trace on the access entries that aren’t linked to a specific person. Unless our saboteur is a fool, or is considered expendable by his (or her) masters, he, or she, will have covered those tracks.” Ingrid smiled a little now. “One fortunate part about this. So long as no part of the Asgard system is physically damaged, it should be easy to repair. Even then, it might be quickly repaired. The Asgard core is fully capable of producing any spare parts we could need. All we have to do is identify the time the sabotage happened and revert that change.”

“Then let us not waste time.” She said, stepping aside and motioning to the door. “I will escort you to the Asgard core.” When Ingrid had left the room she followed closely behind. She momentarily gave control over to Idalia while they walked and focused on clearing her mind and sensing the presence of Naquadah. The fact that some ship components used it sometimes confused matters, but she would be able to distinguish the sense of a symbiote in such close proximity. if she was able to sense that feeling again, the extremely high security room with the Asgard core would prove an excellent location to confront Ingrid… Or whoever was controlling her. Otherwise, she would proceed with the plan to identify the traitor and repair the ship.

As they moved through the ship, Ingrid could feel how different the air felt. It was not due to Vanja, though that too changed the feel, but rather due to the tension all around. The fact that someone had not only sabotaged the ship, but also sabotaged such a complex system was not something anyone should take lightly. Not having been introduced, she did not know who this Tok’ra was. Vanja in turn did not know either, something that bothered her quite a lot. Nor did she know whether she had been detected. The ability to sense Naquadah wasn’t all that well-researched or understood. Even the concept of Naquadah dampeners was a bit hard to understand. From what she understood, it hid the signature, yet it did not truly mess with the biochemistry. Naquadah-keyed technology still worked.

The ship’s corridors were virtually empty. In a few places, like near elevators and key intersections, there were groups of unusually well-armed soldiers. In the weeks she’d been on the ship, it had been rare to see armed men standing around at all. She wasn’t sure she liked the change, but on another hand, it did make her feel somewhat safer. After all, someone had killed Vanja’s former host, Ylva, far too easily. When they finally got to the Asgard Core room, she saw that there were several soldiers standing watch outside it. The Tok’ra used her access card to override the room lockdown and the two of them stepped inside, leaving their escort outside as the door closed and sealed shut again.

Once inside the Asgard core room, Ariadne took back control of her body and waited a moment while the other woman began to manipulate the controls of the core. She had not been able to clearly sense the signature of another symbiote yet, but being in this woman's presence was undeniably different to the usual sense of the ships Naquadah. She slowly and silently unclipped the strap holding her Zat secure in its arm holster and reached forward with that arm. Biologically speaking, the Naquadah in a host was most concentrated next to its source - the symbiote. That meant a touch of the neck would always give the strongest feeling of sensing the metal in another human. She stepped close to look over Ingrids shoulder so that it might be construed as an accident if it turned out to be nothing, and brushed her fingers against the back of ingrids neck.

The surging sense of Naquadah was easily strong enough at that moment for her to tell with surety. She leapt back and drew her Zat in one motion, aiming the weapon squarely at the person who she had thought was Ingrid. If the scientist hadn’t noticed any of the previous, she would certainly recognise the distinctive sound of Zat extending into its active state. “One wrong move and you will next wake up in the extraction center.[/]” She spoke with a cold edge in her voice. This had to be a Goa’uld. No Tok’ra operatives were being used against the Tau’ri at this time, and with her onboard the Langford they would not need a covert operative even if they wanted one. “[i]Tell me who you are.”

To say that both Ingrid and Vanja were shocked would be putting it mildly. She slowly turned around, revealing that she held no weapon of her own, that she was no threat. Vanja took control, and as shocked as Ingrid was, she was actually pleased with it. “Hol mel! I have no weapon. I offer you no threat. You name yourself first, then I will identify myself.” Vanja assumed a posture of self-suredness, almost as if she had some secret card. Which technically, she did. Her Tok’ra ID, to be exact.

Ariadne narrowed her eyes for a moment, keeping a close eye on the imposters hands. Finding herself unprepared and facing a hara’kesh would be unfortunate - and likely final. Keeping her weapon aimed, she eventually deigned to identify herself. “I am Ariadne of Shayet. My host is Idalia of Shayet. I am the Tok’ra attache and first officer aboard this ship. My loyalty is not in question. Now identify yourself or face extraction.” Some beings made dire threats in the hope of persuading the opponent, but Ariadne was not only very much willing to carry it out, she relished the opportunity to rid her race of another dissenter.

‘A goa’uld traitor…’ Vanja thought with a touch of disgust. Not a true Tok’ra. She quickly thought out what little she knew of this ex-goa’uld from its name, which wasn’t much. A former minion of Ra, with several having held the same name over the eons. Not very powerful, but effective at staying alive. She would have liked to know more, but she did not. The one thing she did know was that this “Ariadne” had not joined the Tok’ra when she left on her mission. Ra’s lesser minions had been of little concern to her before the mission, and even less so during it. “Very well. You had the guts to identify yourself, so it is only fair I do the same.” She breathed deeply before continuing. What she was about to reveal, she had not spoken of to anyone in over a decade and a half. Revealing a secret held that long was no light gesture. “My name, is Vanja of the Tok’ra, Ex-high council member. My host is Ingrid Berg, a Tau’ri of noble heart. My mission was to learn of the Tau’ri. My last two hosts, may they rest in peace, were Ylva Falk, who was slain by a covert attack, and Mochán, slain by a Tau’ri criminal. If you want proof, see my identification.” Vanja then made a slow movement with her right hand, pulling on the chain around Ingrid’s neck, revealing her Tok’ra identification hanging from it.

Ariadne listened to the story told by ‘Vanja’ with no small degree of incredulity. Of course it wasn’t entirely unheard of for the High Council to do something like this, but that it would happen right here and right now? When she pulled the identification though, it seemed a little more plausible. Such a thing was not exactly easy to acquire. Still, there were some things that did not sit well with Ariadne. “To learn of the Tau’ri? You should have reported back to the high council long ago if that were the case.” She paused for a moment, but before Vanja had a chance to reply she continued. “Whether you tell the truth or not, it is still in your interest to keep this ship intact. Your host has the knowledge we need to do that.” She lowered her weapon slowly, reaching cautiously with her free hand to take the Tok’ra ID. “I will be checking this with the high council. If you are who you say you are, then you will not do anything rash, nor will you draw any attention to this fact. If not, rest assured, I will make sure you do not escape. Since it is unlikely for one of our kind to purposefully endanger their own life in any circumstance, I am inclined to believe there is another traitor aboard this ship. Your help in locating this person will help to prove your… story.”

“You will find everything is in order. My ID is old, nothing else. If I had been able to contact the Council, I would have. My mission was deep-cover. No contacting the council. Unfortunately, my host died and I was unable to report in a couple of times. As far as I have determined, the Council representatives presumed me dead. That was eight years ago. I have not been in touch with anyone other than Tau’ri since.” Vanja had no reason to lie to the other Tok’ra. Sure, she might not reveal everything, but she did not lie. “You will find the spy, and I will, with Ingrid’s help, solve any and all sabotage. The safety of this vessel is paramount.”

At that, Ariadne’s expression changed to an amused smile. “I am sure that, as Tok’ra, you can understand my disinclination to simply take your word as truth. We can at least agree on the safety of the ship.” With that, she holstered her Zat, though keeping an eye on Vanja for any sign of betrayal. She would be keeping a close eye on the other symbiote until she was certain of her identity, though in case she really was a Tok’ra deep cover agent she would not be reporting anything of this to the Tau’ri. No need to tell Vanja that yet though. “Let us return to work then.” She did not add any more threats, she did not need to. Whoever Vanja was, she seemed intelligent and skilled at infiltration, and would likely not be affected by such a thing.

Their discussion finished for now, Vanja let Ingrid have control again so that she could get started on the repairs. She in turn chose to start thinking on what the other Tok’ra had said, as well as possibilities for how sabotage could have been achieved. She kept a bit of attention directed at Ariadne, but mostly let Ingrid focus on her work.

[Sep]

Tonak

As Tonak boarded the Al'kesh and it took off he noticed the lifesign had moved. It must have been the spotter he had sent out earlier, he stood up from the co-pilot seat and began moving towards the other side of the ship. "Hover above that life sign, I'll ring them up and then you'll have to re-cloak and move quite rapidly. Tell me when we are in position." With that he walked out of the cockpit and headed toward the ring room. When there he waited for his Sisters voice over the ships speakers.

Miller

Miller heard the F-302 come screaming down towards the planet, heading towards the building that obviously the fire had originated from, lighting it up with railgun fire and decimating the upper levels. Then as the Deathgliders turned their attention tot he new aircraft rivalry and tailed it the other one came dropping out of the sky as the dogfight ensued. He tossed his smoke over and watched as Morenu and the Jaffa made their way across the plaza, he looked back and indicated for Kay to go as he covered their flank, as soon as they breached the door he could already see Morenu and Ay'mara taking fire from Lucian Alliance forces down the hall, barricaded in the weapon fire was having little effect especially the inaccurate staff weapon fire.

He raised his hand to his vest and pulled out a grenade, pulling the pin out he held did a full five count. "GRENADE OUT!" and tossed it over the barricade. Not everyone was killed obviously but it gave the opening they needed for them to push up. He pulled out a tablet, indicating power readings as the whole building started to shake. He turned to Kay "They're dialing the ninth chevron!"

Williams

Williams heard the call to lock down, and moved to open the door to his quarters which of course remained closed. He moved back to his desk and turned on his radio. "I need to speak to the Captain.""She's busy right now sir.""I need to speak to her, now. This is not a request. This is an order."

[Fallenreaper]

Joseph

~A bit before the call to the Captain~

Joseph’s old eyes idly wandered about the hard colors of steel and bright light, giving the morgue the absence of anything remotely close to human warmth. Or even comfort. For half hour already, his nosed was now filled by the harsh chemicals used to sterilize it, combined with the icy chill seeping from the cold units. They were lined up, stacked on top one another in a five by seven formation with their metal handles waiting to be tugged and pulled outwards. Very few had labels which meant they were empty. Only one had been registered and now stood like a gaping, blacken tooth against the rows of shiny silver. The current resident, a Ms. Falk, was settled onto one of two autopsy tables in the room’s center.

At the thought of the young victim, Joseph’s head turned instinctively to pull her image into view. It hadn’t taken much time or effort to remove her from storage, then to cut away her clothes, careful to keep them as intact as much as possible while they finished preparations. Her hair was let loose and skin paled from the blood which settled towards the back during the time since death, leaving the light above to cast her image into an almost alien glow. To maintain a certain respect to the woman’s person Joseph had placed on a green, thin sheet square cloth which covered her torso front starting at the chest and continued inches below her pelvis. At least Joseph knew he could provide modesty to the dead though her spirit might’ve long passed into the afterlife. Unable to linger anymore on the body without feeling the urgency to end this sad affair, his eyes jerked to the wall beside the double door entrance-made of wood and small glass rectangle windows- that broke the décor’s current theme. His eyes rested at the mounted light projector, a flat, rectangle sent in a horizontal position where usually x-rays were sitting of the body. Until any unusual results had given reason for foul play to be a possiblity, those scans were unneeded and wasted time to gain.

Slowly, Joseph’s patience had started to thin. He was already suited up into a lab coat, his hands gloved and itched to examine the corpse. Already the pale skin seemed to drain herself of more color during the time she had been forced to settle before his arrival. His foot tapped gently and echoed within the small room, trying to hurry Niven along. It wasn’t until the sounds of water in the sink had died did Joseph face his fellow doctor. At meeting his eyes, Scott Niven uttered an apology and snapped on his gloves. Wordless he pulled beside Joseph with the cart in tow.

It was nothing special. A simple, metal cart on wheels which held numerous instruments from bolt cutters to a scalpel and rib splitters. Currently however the only needed object was a small tape recorder. It would allow him to take notes which he would later write into a full report. After Scott had taken his place beside him, Joseph pressed the record button. The moment the little red light lite up, Joseph started his examination. This woman had waited far too long, it was time to put her rest and into God’s hands.

“Let’s see, your name is Ylva Falk. A cascusian female and according to your files, you’re approximately twenty-seven years of age yet you look to be younger. Now, if you will excuse me my dear, but I’m going to start from your skull and work my way down.” Joseph said and shifted toward her head.

His gloved hands reached out to cradle the skull, his fingers wrapped around it like a fragile egg. Ever cautiously he tilted her head to its side where his eyes scanned the hairline. Then his thumbs tenderly pushed away the hair line to reveal the more dominate bruising and pooling blood about a third the way down near the spine. He narrowed his eyes in confusion, absorbing and ticking away at the many different causes for such an abnormal symptom. He came up with very, very few which didn't paraylze or kill her. His head motioned for Niven. Curious at Joseph’s scrunched up expression, his companion drew closer. His eyes shortly followed Joseph’s and soon he too, widened in surprise.

Unable to move his hand, a bit fearful he’d disturb something, Joseph made a request of his companion. “Scott, can you so gently feel that region? Where the bruising’s clearer and were the blood is gathering?”

Niven nodded then pressed his fingertips gingerly along the spine area. The section squashed down slightly too easily and underneath, the gathered blood shifted and moved at the light touch. Joseph felt rather sick to his inner gut. Something was off, that much he was certain, but the details eluded him. Not eager to hold her head much longer, Joseph set it softly down on its side. “Seems something odd has happened here, a few secrets you’ve kept hidden Ms. Falk? I hope for you sake this isn’t connected to the reason your medical file was red taped or Mr. Williams and I will have a slight discussion for the future.”

Without missing a beat, Joseph had taken up the small, thin flashlight then lowered himself to peer into the woman’s eyes. He held the eyelids open while he scanned the unfocused and deaden pupils, fogged over in death. He ran the light over the outsider iris rings and looked for anything odd about the eye itself until he was interrupted by Niven; the older man had started to farther examine the skull and spine area, skin samples taken for lab testing. “Joseph, need me to hold her mouth open?”

Pausing in his examination, the eyes now finished up, Joseph answered yes then stepped aside. Niven moved to pressed his hands between the teeth and carefully open the woman’s mouth, prying the head upright. Joseph shortly returned to Niven’s side, a long swab in hand, and directed it to brush into the interior mouth's lining. It came back bloody. He couldn’t help but comment on the fact. “You just keep getting more interesting by the moment, my dear.”

He had done enough autopsy cases in his life to know what he found wasn’t normal. He turned to Niven with nervous eyes. “I’m getting a bad feeling about this. Very bad.”

“Me too. Something’s not quite right with this but I can’t guess why.”

“I have a few .”

“Any I might be incline to agree with or even like?”

Joseph went quiet. He already deposited the bloodied swab into a sealed container and placed to be examined by the lab, his hand reached for the cart until he was ready to answer. “First I need to check something… Help me get her throat open.”

“Right.” Niven said, hesitantly, and handed off the cutting tool.

Removing it from Niven’s grasp, Joseph started to cut the esophagus’s front then peeled it away for a better look. At the rear lining, there was rawness where he assumed came from the open cut and few abrasions within, as if fraction had been created just inches below the throat back. Even with an oral examine, it was invisible until he cut open the throat. His mind recalled her softened spine and pushed downwards where he came just where Niven had touched. It didn’t take long for Joseph to note the oddity. The tissue appeared to not have grown together and if he pulled the muscle apart, it seemed like an odd, collapsed area which he could only guessed was where fluid of some type could’ve collected. The only problem was… there was only blood and no pus or discolored liquid inside, often a link to infection with unnatural cavities within the human body. It was impossible for her to be still walking around. Joseph seemed more and more confused by his findings.

“Joseph? Did you find what you were looking for?”

Joseph’s head snapped upright. His eyes stared deeply into the man’s face, his own filled with worry and concern. “We’re doing an autopsy. Now.”

Niven protested with a shake of his head. “Not until we get the clear from her doctor and the fam-”

“Don’t argue with me, Scott. Something isn’t right. That area you felt, its completely hollowed out.”

“What? No… you have to be mistaken.”

Joseph didn’t bother to entertain the man’s absurd conclusion with farther comment as he shifted toward the cart again. His hands reached for the scalpel and started the autopsy preparation. Niven knew he wasn’t going to gain an answer. Unable to reason with Joseph, he resumed his assistant duties in order to make this procedure quick and clean as possible. Niven would deal with the consequences later, but it was unlikely Joseph would appreciate the results. Together they peeled back the chest skin, revealing the bloodied and darkened white of the ribcage under the layers of fattie tissue and muscle. Joseph had reached for the bolt cutters while Niven held the splitter in position, ready to push it in then pry open the ribs bit by bit. The snap bone cracks shattered the grim silence between them in their effort to reveal the organs below.

“Pity, to die so young and so far from home. It’s not a fitting fate for anyone.” Joseph said in a surprisingly compassionate voice during his work, unable to stand the grim atmosphere for long. Despite Ylva’s bizarre anatomy, he still felt the same as before.

His head tilted upright, skimming over the woman’s still figure and thinking to himself for a moment. Most his movements were automatic until the last bone was cut, allowing Niven to pull the chunk free and reveal the colligated insides. The hard bone made a clink when it was placed into the nearby pan nearly making both doctors jump.
Joseph’s brown eyes drifted in guilt over his reaction, edging back to Ylva’s bust portion. His eyes softened when he let his nervous settled, a moment from the grim task to pray his assumption wasn’t just guess work.

Slowly he edged back into the current job. His hands reached in and gently moved down the cut's path where the kidneys laid. It was only partly way into the interior examine when Joseph’s eyes widened in surprise then locked his expression to mirror Niven’s. His hands slowly lifted the smaller organs into his hand where the quilted surface took on a discolored appearance that was a clear sign of poisoning.

“Get the Captain on the line. This wasn’t just a death, I believe we have a killer on board.”

Niven wasted little time. His hand flew to the phone line, leaving Joseph to place the delicate and ill looking kidneys into the pan alongside the sternum. Already he was diving in again to seek any explanation of any sort of struggle or disabling blow, cutting away more soft tissue when the Captain’s voice came online. Niven spotted Joseph lost in his work, his voice still conversing with the decease. Part of his words were apologies for not seeing it sooner while the rest was questions he knew she could never answer, followed up observations. Major fractures to the Thoracic Vertebrae #3 and #4, better known as T3 and T4, and in addition the spinal cord there was also completely severed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Joseph had finished his autopsy finally, including the photos from a complete x-ray of the corpse for more study. It was during this, he had discovered an implant within the corpse’s body that stuck out like a sore thumb. When it had shown up in the images as a white negative, both Niven and Joseph had cut it out. Currently, its purpose is unknown though he thought it would be something to effectively help hide her condition but in what way he was still trying to determine. He ended up sending it to the labs where their jack scientist of multiple sciences and likely his assistant would end up looking it over. For now, Joseph could only wait for their findings.

Within the cold scenery of the morgue, his mind reviewed his own discoveries. Each one had become worse and worse, his suspicion of murder had been confirmed and he sensed the blood tests would only provide unarguable evidence of it. Who would ever be idiotic enough to murder a young woman onboard a ship light years away from earth? Who would hold a grudge that badly to risk being caught? There were so many questions he couldn’t answer, not excluding the oddness found within Ms. Falk herself. Afterwards he had stitched up Ylva then placed her back into her assigned unit where she laid until Mr. Williams would decide what would happened next. Now working on paperwork he was still unease about his first findings because they were completely alien in his experience. He hd a theory, his thoughts slowly trailed toward the one being who could possibly confirm it and answer his many questions. She might be able to least rule out a possibility. However… he first had confirm an alright with the Captain to send Ariadne down.

[Lady Seraphina]

Soon as the order was given Ay'mara fired her staff weapon. It hit the door not long after the Tau'ri Death Gliders, F-302s they were called, fired into a neighboring building, the location of the sniper no doubt. The building's windows blew out and there was a sound of crashing metal as several supports toppled causing a huge section of the warehouse to collapse. "Collateral damage. Unimportant" Ay'mara thought as the staff blast tore through the metal of the door like it was paper against a flame. Once the break was complete herself with Morenu following close behind entered the building.

They were temporarily blinded with smoke as they entered the building before shots range out. Unsurprisingly there breach had attracted the attention of the Lucian Alliance. A bullet grazed Ay'mara as she dove for cover. It smarted but the contact had been brief on the very edge of her skin and was more akin to the pain of a burn that anything serious. She took cover quickly behind a large metal support beam that extended into the ceiling. The staff was not equipped for this. Shooting around corners. A Ma'tok Staff was designed more for open combat on the surface of planets, not in tight quarters such as these. She attempted firing several shots but knew very well that all she'd done was scorched the walls of the compound black in several placed.

In one quick motion she drew her Zat'nik'tel and fired three shots at the opposing forces. Only one found its mark but the break in fire gave her time to fasten the staff in its straps on her back. She cursed herself interallaly for not bringing a Tok'Kal flash weapon. Apparently one of the Tau'ri had the same idea and shouted from behind. "GRENADE OUT!"

Ay'mara knew a grenade to be a crude Tau'ri weapon capable of deadly explosive power. It was useful if primitive. Ay'mara ducked behind her pillar as the explosive landed with the enemy. The ensuing detonation shot emblazoned the corridor with temporary light and Ay'mara could feel the heat of it from where she crouched. It subsided in a matter of seconds. Quite suddenly the entire building started to shake. Ay'mara quickly ruled out the grenade as the cause. It was too minor to have damaged the entire structure to such an extent. That left one thing, the Chappa'ai was having its mysterious ninth symbol dialed. Ay'mara had heard stories about what had become of the other planets that attempted this as well as the warnings in the briefing. It must be stopped before a connection could be made.

Ay'mara's split second diagnosis was confirmed as Miller looking at his Tau'ri power measuring device said with shock in his voice. "They're dialing the ninth chevron!" Ay'mara moved quickly. The rush of battle all but numbing the pain in her leg. She had looked over the schematics of this building and was confident of the way to the Gate Chamber. She hoped her teammates followed behind her.

Several soldiers remained for the grenade had not killed them, merely incapacitating them. As they got up groggily she slashed at them with her Claws, her Zat'nik'tel having been stored. Her arms moved at a speed as to appeared blured to anyone watching. It was not long till they became mated with the blood of Lucian soldiers. She did not think it would be fatal to any but they would not rise again without treatment. "Come," she said gesturing to her teammates. "We must hurry ere this world shall be lost."

[Ellri]

After Ariadne’s departure:
Delving into the systems for the Asgard beam weapons wasn’t easy. Even with over a year of studying non-human technology, Ingrid did not know nearly enough to fully understand it. It was so far beyond Earth technology that it was virtually a laughing matter to compare. Still, ever since being given access to one of the Asgard Cores, she had made significant progress. She had learned that she did not really need to know all the hows. The Core could fill in the blanks. Now, she shared all she had learned from the Core with Vanja, so that she too could help interpret and solve the problem.

Though it wasn’t as effective as a typed access, Ingrid had always been fond of using verbal interface with the core. “Core. Identify all changes to Asgard beam weapon software.” The core was silent for but a moment before answering. “That system has not been altered.” Inwardly she cursed. “If only it had been that easy...”

She decided that either, the guilty party had cleaned up after themselves, which she doubted, or they had not messed with the software. “Core. Identify faulty components in Asgard Beam Weapon arrays.” Suddenly, the display lit up, revealing the schematics of the asgard beams. Most components were a pale blue, but several were lit up with a bright yellow. “Beam charge capacitors have malfunctioned. Mean functionality is at 2.11%.”

While Ingrid liked learning what was broken, she did not like the fact that someone had managed to sabotage something like that without anyone noticing. Those components were deep in the system and very hard to get to. “Core. Remove faulty capacitors.” The core bleeped “That function is not possible while weapons are online.” Ingrid grumbled a bit, having forgotten how obnoxious the Asgard interface could be. Some things, it did intuitively. Others it had to be spoonfed instructions for. “Core. Disable Beam weapons. Move faulty capacitors to the mechanics lab. Initialize manufacture of new capacitors.” The core started glowing in all sorts of places, clearly beginning the job it had been given. Ingrid did not quite know how large the capacitors were, so she figured it would be better to move them to one of the larger labs. Since the internal sensors were fully functional, she figured that the core would be able to beam just the right components. She doubted the Asgard would have started dismantling their weapons manually for repair. After a few minutes, the core grew silent and incomprehensible code stopped flashing across the screen. “Task one and two complete. Task three complete in four minutes and seventeen seconds.”

Vanja suddenly decided to seize control, just to see if something would work. Ingrid was a bit bothered by it, but Vanja did not listen to her complaint. “Core. Identify the saboteur on the ship.” The Core answered immediately. “That function is not possible.” Inside their head, Ingrid thought ‘you didn’t really think that would work, did you?’ Vanja sent a feeling akin to a shrug. ‘It was worth a try.’

Once the manufacture was complete, Ingrid ordered the core to install them into the weapons. Then she wrote a program into the core to notify her and the captain in the case that someone attempted to physically access any asgard system without authorization and to lock down surrounding bulkheads. After a minute or so, she decided to add a section detailing that the core beam the subject to the center of the brig. “That should take care of future attempts at sabotage…” she muttered, hearing Vanja’s chuckling in her mind.

[Fallenreaper]

Kay
After Ay’mara blasted the door with her staff weapon, the F-302 shortly came screaming down like hellish banshee. Its loud noise nearly drowned out everything while it came into view, its attention turned towards the sniper’s location and rain down fire. Most the windows shattered by the sniper, any remaining soon became hollowed gaps and broken in the destruction. Concrete was peppered with holes, sending much of its force into the building itself. Any living being would be nothing more than Swiss cheese. The scene didn’t last long. Shortly a Deathglider arrived and gained the F-302’s attention, the pair engaged into a dogfight which lite up the skies in activity.

Kay felt her being filled with anxiety, tension and even a bit of adrenaline filled high coursing through her veins. For most, the latter would often cause sloppy mistakes and ill choices, but for her it only made her restless. Her body itched to move already yet she managed to hold her position by forcing her legs to stop bouncing. The soothing breaths were only a temporary fix until she could move, their effect weakened with each passing moment she made herself wait.

When it felt like forever, Miller popped out his smoke. First went Morenu, followed by the Jaffa woman, make their way around the plaza.

Fortunately they made it towards the door, not a single sniper shot was taken and Miller motioned her to head out. She didn’t wait or waste time. Ducked low and gun held to her side, Kay moved out rapidly. Her boots bobbed her body up and down, raced across the similar path as Morenu and Ay’mara, leaving her breath only slightly winded when she reached them. No rest for the wick it seemed, any chance to catch her breath was brief when the bullet started to fly again. Her head whipped back around the door frame, barely missed one whiz by and bury itself deeply into wooden material. Kay noted how close she had come to having it planted within her skull moments ago. Better split wood then busted skull pieces; she couldn’t help but thank God for his luck.

Miller seemed to be tired of the offensive defense the Alliance had created because he raised his hand to his vest, pulled off a grenade, and pulled pin for a full five count. A single shout was all he did for a warning, and then he sent it flying over the gunfire. Instinctively, Kay pulled herself as small as possible. Her eyes braced in closed lids and ears were filled with the explosive sound, echoed by men’s screams in pain. A sign Miller’s attack had a few causalities caught in the cross fire. The small victory sensation of victory was gone when Miller mentioned about the Alliance dialing the ninth chevron which made Kay curse, her mind felt a headache coming on. Then she noted Ay’mara move quickly as she whipped out and followed behind best she could, her gun ready. She watched the Jaffa effectively kill those downed soldiers while Kay took careful shots, her gun jarred in her arms. Each one was left unable to continue the fight, their guns slide back and out of their reach in case someone got the great idea to shot her ally in the back. Ay’mara motioned for them to come as Kay agreed.

“Alright, we’re coming; we’ve got a few minutes at least. First we need to sabotage the generator then the gate won’t have enough power to activate. However I can’t expect this will be easy but it’s our best and likely only option.” Kay said, she checked her gun again and readied herself against the wall.

[Sep]

The room shook, however then the dialing sequence halted and the gate powered down. Miller gave quizzical looks at the rest of the team. Then Chevrons began locking in without anyone near the DHD. "That's incoming." He pressed the button on the side of his radio. "Langford. We have an incoming wormhole.""Affirmative, friendly dial in. Shield your eyes." Ducked behind cover as Kay signaled for them too, he heard the clink,clink,clinkp off something leaving the gate. He made sure to look away as he heard the traditional bang that belonged to a flashbang. He moved around the corner, his rifle was hanging loose held by its strap to his vest while he held his Zat in both hands, as did Kay and Morenu as they moved up firing a the Lucian Alliance one by one, using the single shots to make sure to take them out in one. Of course the Jaffa staff weapon took them out more easily, sadly eventually shots began pinging back at them. He saw one pierce Kays leg and her go down, Morenu moved in to cover her and pull her into cover applying bandages and giving him the thumbs up. She was obviously ins hock but she'd live. Two hits in one mission, this wasn't the luckiest mission he had ever taken part in. He looked up to the balcony where the Lucian Alliance were firing from, before ducking back into cover. He checked his vest, one smoke grenade and one frag left. Though when he peaked his head out he saw the fatal flaw of several of the Alliance members.

He fired at the railing, the current taken along and entering their body. He hated to use two shots however he fired a second one to be sure that they were down and going to stay down.He pointed towards the gate podium as Ay'mara looked at him, him now being the senior officer as he indicated for Morenu to stay. They both moved up, taking turns to cover. Ay'mara more effective with her staff weapon than he was with his zat however it was still quicker to use than his rifle that one hit might not necessarily take someone down.As they approached the podium he heard the sound of people leaving the gate, and the obvious call for retreat as the Lucian Alliance forces pulled back from the gate room that was now being over run. What he didn't expect however was the shout "Bomb! We got a bomb here." He ran up the ramp to see Jonas Quinn, who he had seen in reports, lying flat on his stomach, under which was a bomb. Morenu would have no experience with such things, he sure as hell didn't.

He looked around for a piece of computer equipment, before smashing it hoping that had been whatever was preventing the Asgard Sensors from getting a lock on the building. "Langford this is Miller. Building is secure. Lieutenant Kay is wounded and need of medical attention and we have a Naquadria bomb attached to Jonas Quinn-" At this moment Jonas seemed to regain the ability to speak. "Just beam me into space." Miller ignored him, this man had saved the Earth and wasn't even an inhabitant for gods sake. Not to mention the role he played in the downfall of Anubis. "-Request someone with the necessary expertise to defuse a Naquadria bomb be sent down while myself and the Marines sent from the Alpha site clear the facility."

---

The F-302 screeched on a low pass over the gate building, Rea'c could only assume that it had shook. Ignoring the warning alarms he pulled up however as he did he cut the engines, the Glider flew underneath, pulling up but overshooting as he kicked in the afterburner pulling up onto its tail. The HUD beeped as the guns had a fixed lock, he moved his thumb on the joystick, pressing down to fire, three seconds, release. Three seconds, release. The second strafe caught the wing and tore it off as the Glider, he watched as plasma shots came past the cockpit. He swore under his breath, the other glider had pulled onto his tail when he had maneuvered. He should have expected that, however he was not entirely sure why he was in the craft anyway. However he didn't need to worry about it long as a missile launched from his partner F-302 and broke the other Glider into a million small pieces in a fiery explosion.

He was about ready to report in when he saw an Al'kesh appear....

---

Dey spoke over the ships communication systems. "Ready." He activated the rings, knowing that the cloak would deactivate as he did so. Several seconds later they brought someone up into the main hold, wearing a Tauri uniform. Diving to the side he drew his Zat and fired once and watched as the man fell. He simply went on the radio. "Get us out of here Dey." He heard the Al'kesh kick into motion as the engines droned.

---

Rea'c made to follow, he had used his missiles however if he got within range he could use his railguns, before he did so the ship cloaked itself. However he knew to look for one thing. "Langford. An Al'kesh is attempting to flee, I recommend you begin scanning for atmospheric anomalies and target it before it can enter Hyperspace.

[Forsythe]

"Send Williams a memo of why the lockdown is in place, I have no time for him right now." Catherine growled, her fingers flying over the controls. Now there was a mess on the planet as well, to add to the one on the ship. She felt like requesting a clone of herself to be made, because even the famous female multitasking was starting to fail her here. At least Ariadne was handling the shipboard side, but apparently even she had her plate full as the CMO just pinged, asking directly for her with high urgency. Kat relayed the message, just in time for the ground team to report again.

A bomb. Seriously? Now of all times? "I'm sorry, Miller, we have a situation on the ship and we are under lockdown, noone's getting off. Ask the Alpha Site to send someone. Get the LT into a beam capable area and we'll pick her up." captain replied. Then she thought for a second: "If we can get a lock, we can beam them both into the buffer and transport them out into separate locations." she thought out loud.

Yet another alert interrupted her, this time from the fighters. Quickly ordering the sensors officer to look into it, she was greeted only with the beep signaling a hyperspace window in the vicinity. Growling in frustration, she returned her attention to the ship. “I want some good news people!” “Engines are back at 85%, we can’t do more without a drydock.” “Thank you!”

[Sundered Echo]

A feeling of confusion filled Ariadne when the call came in for her to report to the morgue. The only reason she might be called there at this time was if, perhaps, the humans had overestimated the capabilities of her healing device. There was nothing it could do for someone already dead. Only a sarcophagus had that power, and even that was limited. Nonetheless, she made her way there as quickly as possible. At this moment, the captains orders were paramount, more so than usual.

She was not entirely prepared for the sight that greeted her when she entered the morgue however. A human cut open, innards on display in a grotesque but strangely clinical way, entirely unlike even the most horrific of Goa’uld torture sessions she had witnessed. Perhaps worse was her hosts reaction to the sight. Idalia had never witnessed such things, having avoided any particularly horrifying scenes in Ariadne’s memory. The feeling of shock and revulsion that washed over her was horrible, and the intensity of it stopped her from entirely restricting the reactions of Idalia’s body. She managed to at least stop them from losing the contents of their stomach, but she could feel the blood drain from her face.

Somehow the Tau’ri doctors were unaffected by the grisly display, having caused it themselves by the looks of it. In an effort to not appear meek, Ariadne spoke with the symbiote voice in as strong a tone as she could manage. “You wanted to see me.” She said more as a statement than a question.

“Actually Joseph wanted your second opinion on the body.” Niven broke in, his eyes jerked up the corpse while Joseph had dissected organ pieces into smear slide then arranged them on a rack.

Likely the smell didn’t help the situation but Joseph had become jaded to such trivial matters he overlooked the details that others might not be as adapted. It took several tries and on the fourth mention of his name, the doctor’s head whipped back to Niven. “Joseph, Ms. Idalia is here. The second opinion?” “Yes, of course. Ms, Idalia, I need you to see this area and verify what I suspect it is. Namely since I’ve never this before outside research and I rather be thorough.” Came Joseph’s words, in the same even and solid tone, his hand reached out to point out splayed area where there seemed to be a sac near the spine.

“Ariadne. Idalia is not accustomed to such sights.” Whether the distinction registered with the man was not really a concern of hers right now, as things were starting to come together. She stepped closer to the body, and despite how Idalia protested, she leaned close to get a good look at the spot Joseph was indicating. As she got close, she detected the faint hint of Naquadah from the body, and all her suspicions were confirmed. The body had, until very recently, been the host to a symbiote. Quite probably Vanja, as the possibility that there was yet another symbiote onboard was approaching preposterous.

Her immediate instinct was to lie, conceal the facts behind the body, but that was pointless as the Tau’ri would discover soon enough. Instead, she stood, put her hand on Josephs shoulder to make him look up at her and looked pointedly at him for a long moment before speaking. “I need to speak to the captain. Immediately.” She spoke to convey the importance of the matter, and with just a hint of threat, as if to say the information should not leave the room. This situation was rapidly spiralling out of control and she would now have to take a leap of faith, lest she find herself at odds with all sides involved.

“If you’re going to inform of what I already know, its a little late.” Joseph admitted when he looked into Ariadne’s direction. Her skin had paled, though he partly suspected it was because of her host’s discomfort over the dead body, and it seemed very edgy even for her usual calm demeanor. “I’ve already notified the Captain what was odd with the body and while I’ve kept my suspicions confidential, your reaction confirms my original guess. Ms. Ylva Falk was originally a host to a symbiote. Now the question is this: was it Goa’uld or a Tok’ra?”

Joseph made it clear he had done his homework and did it well, namely when it came to the biology reports on both subjects. “Evidence would suggest it was a Tok’ra since Goa’uld hosts aren’t often willing.”

“I cannot give you a final answer for that question Joseph. What I can tell you, is that the symbiote, whoever or whatever they are, was not the traitor. Be they Goa’uld or Tok’ra, no symbiote would willing sacrifice itself for the destruction of an enemy. We are, by nature, a self centered race, and survival is our most basic and important concern.” Ariadne was quite pleased he had not yet moved onto the real question: Where is the symbiote now? It clearly did not die with the host after all. She knew it would not be long before that question was asked however, which is why she had to get to the captain and answer it for her as quickly as possible.

“For your own safety, I suggest you do not investigate this matter without orders to do so. If a symbiote has infiltrated this far, they will know when they are found out, and they may do anything to ensure they are not compromised.”

“Well they aren’t alone in that behavior. Humans can be just as bad sometimes.” Joseph chipped in then continued, his body twisted about to fully face. Mostly a defensive habit when he felt shit about to hit the fan and he had brace against it. “Currently, I wouldn’t be surprised if it found another host already. It’s self preservation instincts would’ve kicked in and entered the nearest body. If I wanted panic and chaos, I would’ve mentioned all my concerns. It’s not hard to put two and two together when I see something that concerns me. Though most is simply theories and no evidence to support them.”

He eyed her with a firm stare, his sight steadied for any indications he was right. Then he pulled away and set the rack on the counter. He leaned over it, his voice calmer and steady compared to his earlier displeasure. “It’s not my safety which matters. I’ve lived a longer life, both good and bad, but if this secret hurts my patients then I hold you responsible. Don’t make me regret trusting you against my gut, Ariadne.”

“You have my thanks.” was all Ariadne said in reply. She would not make promises she could not keep, and promising the safety of the crew was definitely not something she could do. With that, she turned and left the unpleasant room, reaching for her radio. “Captain, I must speak with you at once about a matter of great urgency.”

[Forsythe]

OOC: w/ Echo, Ellri

The call from the XO came rather suddenly. What in the name of devil could be more important than an assassin on the ship right now? The marked urgency was high though, and the request for secrecy also raised captain’s interest. “Helm, you have the bridge. Update me on status if the ground team reports anything new.” she ordered and left, walking the few meters to her quarters/office. Touching her earpiece, she patched to Ariadne: “My office.” she conveyed the place, as it was the one that she had swept for bugs, friendly or enemy.

Ariadne took the fastest route possible to the captains office, ordering the guard to remain outside as she entered. She was incredibly nervous as she stepped over the threshold, both her and her host were. There was a good chance that this would go poorly. Still, as soon as the door was closed she began to speak, keeping her voice as level as possible “Captain. I have discovered the presence of another symbiote on the ship.” She began, keeping her gaze fixed on the captain to gauge her response.

Having a minute before the XO arrived, Catherine took the time to make a mug of coffee and get comfortable behind her table. When Ariadne delivered the news though, the mug stopped midway en route from the table to her lips.

“I beg your pardon?” she asked, hoping she didn’t hear right despite knowing she did. How? And more importantly: “Yours or other?” she said, her business mode voice deathly calm, not revealing much.

“She says she is Tok’ra” Ariadne said, relaxing somewhat as she detected no accusation in the captain's voice. “Though if she is, I have not been informed about her presence. Her credentials are old, but look legitimate. I have not yet had time to check with the High Council.” She took a seat herself before continuing. “Worse still, she seems to have taken a new host only very recently. The body in the morgue, Ylva Falk I believe, shows all the signs of having been recently vacated by a symbiote.”

The news felt like a cold shower. Falk? Of course it was her. “So that’s the reason for the classified health records. I must applaud her on staying undetected this far, although she had to have help Earth side. That is a matter for another time though.” she said, going over what Ariadne told her once again. “You said she claims to be a Tok’Ra, so you already know where the symbiote is now. Summon her here. I want to have a word.” she said, rubbing her temples as she got up and paced the room from side to side.

“You realize this is a goddamn mess, right?” she said, her tone getting slightly furious with a mix of desperation. “I hope the council has a good explanation as to why she is here, because frankly not only am I personally quite offended, but I am fairly certain Earth wouldn’t like this either. And as for the new host, I am very curious why she thought volunteering for this is a good idea.” she ranted, not sure how far to trust Ariadne in her claim that she knew nothing about it, but willing to give the turned Goa’Uld the benefit of the doubt. It wasn’t exactly secret her kind weren’t as trusted as the pure born ones.

Ariadne was not sure what to think of the strong edges that came into the captains tone. Too many conflicting emotions from both her and her host for one to take precedence. “You are right, but I must also highlight what a risk it is for me to come to you with this. If this infiltrator, who calls herself Vanja, is Goa’uld, then anyone who knows of her is in danger, myself moreso having told her I would keep this quiet. If she is a sanctioned Tok’ra agent, then the Council will not look favourably on my bringing her to the attention of the Tau’ri, and my presence on the ship will be jeopardised as the Tau’ri officials push the Tok’ra away for once again lying to them.” As she stopped she took a deep breath, this had so much potential to go terribly. It was almost like being a servant for one of the more eclectic System Lords again. “The new host is Ingrid Berg. The ships lead scientist. One other thing. Vanja cannot be the traitor that disabled the Asgard weaponry. Whether Goa’uld or Tok’ra, our race is not prone to martyrdom.”

“Berg? Wow, she certainly doesn’t take nobodys for hosts.” Captain verbally spat, but forced herself to calm down. “If the council can not verify her, her life ends on this ship, so I wouldn’t worry about that. But let’s say I trust her, even though I don’t really. You are quite correct that this could jeopardize the alliance and we know that is a bad thing, assuming this is just a misplaced operative as hard as it might be to believe. I would be content of burying this if we can come up with good enough story that everyone who already knows agrees to, but even if we don’t, the truth is my higher ups probably will anyway.” she said, sighing and getting back to her chair.

“As for yourself… You work for… With me now. And I can only thank you for taking the risk and bringing this to my attention.” Black smiled weakly, tapping earpiece: “Bridge, DND unless the planet is blowing up.” she ordered, then rerouting her channel to another place: “Takanashi? Take two more men, arm yourselves with Zats and escort Dr. Berg to my office. If she resists, stun her and put her to a brig. Be advised, she is presently a host to a symbiote of unknown allegiance. Security level UPSILON.” she said, laying her hands on the table with her fingers intertwined. All she could do now is wait.

Too many things were floating through Ingrid’s mind after she and Vanja solved the greatest problem with the Asgard weapons. Her head felt like it was going to explode from all the new knowledge. Not to forget that there was also the kink in her neck where Vanja lay buried. She imagined she could almost feel Vanja settling better into place, but of course she knew that couldn’t be true. She did not really know how Vanja had fitted herself in there, but also knew she’d rather not think too much on the issue. It wasn’t a particularly comfortable subject.

Both of them realized they had time to spare while the ship systems completed the repairs upon the Asgard weapons. That would take a while, so other projects could be pursued meanwhile. It was not unnatural to consider the queen project, but Ingrid wasn’t sure if that was quite at the stage it could be input into the core. There were still too many unknowns. That was when she hit on the idea of an energy weapon modification for the P90. She had been thinking on it for over a year. It was undeniable that bullets were generally effective, but sometimes she knew the soldiers would come up against opponents unharmed by bullets. The Goa’uld Ma’tok Staff, while effective enough, was imprecise. Not to mention being bulky.

It was too bad the Atlantis database had not revealed any handheld deadly weapon designs yet. She had realized the only truly viable design would be the Ori staff weapon. Not as right as alteran designs, but still better than any from the Milky way. Back on Earth, someone had apparently scanned one such weapon in its entirety and uploaded the specs to the database, so Ingrid could just begin stripping it down to fit into the adaptation slot on the P90.

She was almost finished with the design when suddenly the door to the core opened and a pair of airmen stepped inside, both armed. one of them raised a zat and pointed it at her. Within their mind, Ingrid could feel Vanja’s shock. She could also feel the prejudice the Tok’ra felt for this ‘Ariadne’. The half-hearted satisfaction the Tok’ra felt about being betrayed by a so-called former goa’uld. That no true tok’ra would have betrayed like that. Not a nice set of thoughts.

Neither Ingrid nor Vanja put up any resistance. They pressed a single command for the core to begin the final assembly, them moved slowly back, letting the soldiers escort her out to wherever they would take her. She had no reason to fight them. They were only following orders.

It didn’t take long and the doctor was escorted into her office. “I believe you know why you’re here?” Captain said, her fingers drumming on the table. She has had a silent moment before the doctor arrived to think of some way out of this bloody situation, and she thought she got one. “So let’s cut to the chase. Assuming you are who you claim, we’ll verify you with your council. As to how you ended up on my ship and on Earth for that matter is a thing we’ll discuss later, but for now I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt in an attempt to keep this alliance intact. along with the verification we’ll send a request to play along so to speak. Your former host would have been fatally wounded and beyond help and you need a new one. the good doctor here will volunteer and leave for your homeworld for about the length that would be normal. Once you come back, I’ll decide what to do with you, but I am not losing another head of one of my departments over to you.”

Her tone was barely louder than normally, but inside Catherine was quite furious. “As for you, dr. Berg, what in the hell were you thinking when you decided volunteering for this without notifying anyone was a good idea?” she continued, indeed very curious to hear the response to this particular question.

Neither Ingrid nor Vanja had a good answer there. They could make one up, tell the truth, or something in between. The best lie was said to contain a few parts truth. “Thank you for trusting me here, Oberst Kateřina Černá.” Vanja answered, her hollow voice awkwardly revealing the presence of a Symbiote. “You will find it is not misplaced. Your plan, which I assume the former Goa’uld Ariadne is in part responsible for, is daring but workable.” She lowered their head, then released control back over to Ingrid. She knew the truth would be risky, but so would a complete lie, thus the only real option was a mix of the two. Ingrid knew from their shared memories that Vanja was an expert at such. “It was a bit of a rushed decision. She lay there, dying. Though not a doctor of medicine, I cannot let someone die when I can prevent it. I didn’t know what was wrong with Ms. Falk, but I do have some first aid training, so I did my best.” She paused a few seconds to suck in a breath.

“When the offer came, I can’t deny I was a bit stunned. She was writhing in agony, yet she spoke her mind through the pain. One cannot help but respect such strength. My reasons for accepting were twofold. One, I respect strength when I see it, and two, as a scientist, I am ever curious. After Vanja entered me, Ylva died quickly. Unlike you, I have never served in the military. When confronted with death, I cannot deny that I panicked. I didn’t know how to react. So I ran.” Ingrid paused once more to breathe “The fact that Vanja was already in here,” she said, pointing to her head, “Did not make things easier. The sheer extent of just how much she knows is unimaginable.” Ingrid finally stopped speaking, quite out of breath and having finished saying what she felt needed saying. It wasn’t exactly the truth, but neither was it exactly a lie. More like a padded truth.

Ignoring the nudging feeling she wasn’t entirely honest, Kat decided she didn’t want to know more especially if it got even worse politically. She still wasn’t entirely certain to keep silent. There were far too many variables - She had no way of swearing the medical staff to secrecy, and she was really too small a person to even make this decision. But she could file it away for alter this way. Perhaps the Tok’Ra council might even disagree to the plan and come clean. Right, for the first time in history. she thought bitterly.

“As far as other matters are concerned - do you have any idea who attacked Ylva in the first place and why? Could they have been after you?” she asked, her mind recalling the first contact with the Tok’ra being made through having one of their operatives in a fairly similar situation, and an assassin on her heels.

Vanja once more seized control, much to Ingrid’s relief, for she had no good answer there. ”I do not think they were after me, but I cannot say for sure. I do not know how much Ariadne has said, but I have been hidden among the Tau’ri for the past fifteen years. Other than Ylva’s doctor, nobody had any idea she was anything other than a Tau’ri military scientist.” She paused a few moments to think. ”If I am to make a guess, it might be related to the recent battle. I know many Tau’ri are hesitant about utilizing biological and chemical weapons. No doubt such individuals exist among the Lucian Alliance as well.”

Captain scratched her chin. She didn’t think to look at it from this point of view. “Maybe, maybe. We suspect a Lucian alliance spy was behind the sabotage, hence the lockdown. Could be the same person. Although with both the spy AND yourself slipping by the screening, honestly I wouldn’t be surprised anymore if there were more alliance moles on this ship.” Catherine groaned and rubbed her temples.

“This is what happens when you put a warship under the jurisdiction of the civilians. Well, first things first.” she said and got up, “Since you have been on earth for over a decade, I assume you have no way of contacting the council. If we hope to keep this a secret we need different means than the ship’s communication array as that is all logged, so is gate activity. Before you are confirmed as friendly, I’m afraid I’ll have to keep you under guard. Gentlemen! please escort the doc to her quarters.” she ordered, being quite confident a brig wasn’t necessary. “And one more thing. As someone coming from a place with not so shiny history myself, I’d appreciate if you stopped addressing my XO as a ‘former Goa’Uld’, as much as she might be.”

Heading back to the bridge, she approached Ariadne: “Can you contact the council without the ship’s system or the gate, or possibly just without dialing your homeworld?” she whispered, thinking that maybe an off world operative of theirs could relay for them.

[Sep]

Ground side

OOC

My last push as GM :P

The bomb tech came through from the gate, and Miller stood there watching as he leaned over Jonas. Miller just sat there watching it, Kay and everyone else had beamed back aboard the ship however he just sat looking at the bomb. "What's the trigger?" The tech just looked at him. "What?""What's the trigger?""Pressure release and a five second delay by the looks of it, the problem is I can't reach it." Miller looked at the gate, moved over to the DHD and began dialing. "What are you doing?""Saving Langara. What doe sit look like?" He entered the 7 symbols, the chevrons lighting up one by one however he didn't activate the gate. The bomb tech had a look of recognition on his face and Miller just nodded. "Now you know what's going on, it's going to be close though.""Yeah." Jonas looked at them both. "This might just work, though you'll need to be in position for the second I roll off.""Yeah, we know." He moved to one side of Jonas as the bomb tech went to the other as another SG team member moved to the DHD.

Jonas braced himself, "On 3. One.... two... three..." He pushed himself up, Miller and the tech grabbing the bomb and swinging it up into the air and... into the unstable vortex of the gate disintegrating it. He did the usual woop, and the cheer. Patting eachother on the back before he pressed his earpiece. "Langford this is Miller." He shook Jonas' hand. "We're done here."

[Forsythe]

Ariadne smiled at the Captains defense of her, even though she did not particularly mind being called ‘former Goa’uld’ as that was essentially what she was. In a few decades she might’ve adapted enough to the idea of being Tok’ra to find that insulting, but in the mean time it was neither here nor there. Still, it was the thought that counted.

“While it is possible,” She began the slightest hint of teasing in her voice as she continued “We do not really need such deception. I shall simply include the plan in my next report to the council. Your deviousness is worthy of a Tok’ra though” She spoke lightly, almost in jest. The days events were beginning to catch up on her, the emotional turmoil affecting her with more strength because of how it affected her host.

“That simple, huh? All right, I’ll leave it to you.” Catherine said, wondering why didn’t she think of that. She guessed she was tired. It wasn’t like she got enough sleep prior to the fight either. When Ariadne made a comment about her ploy - she decided to take it as a compliment - a dry chuckle escaped her throat: “Hiding in tunnels and waiting an eternity to make a move? Please. I shoot for the supreme system lord.” she said with equally devious smile.

That comment brought forth rare genuine laughter from Ariadne, and once again she found herself enjoying being in Catherine’s presence. “The boldness of the Tau’ri with the deviousness of the Tok’ra. Truly you are a remarkable person.” She grinned despite herself, a plethora of feelings coming from her host as she did so.

Returning the smile, Catherine looked back to the map console. She wouldn’t let it show but the thought that someone hundreds of years old that probably saw more people than she ever will still found her remarkable was… exhilarating. “Well then, send the report as soon as possible. If she really is who she claims she is, I don’t want to keep her under guard for unnecessarily long time.” she sighed, remembering more to the plan, “I still have to talk about it to the medical staff…. and to general Falk.” her face frowned and eyebrows dropped sadly. she was at times told she wasn’t good for the job because she cared too much.

As she thought that, he was approaching. His mission was to cripple the earth ship and allow for the success of the ground mission. With the crippling blow their fleet took, there was hardly any reward waiting for him back home. He was desperate. They were known for their revenge to reach far. His days were numbered, but maybe, just maybe, he could still protect his family. He could still cripple the ship. Remove the head and the rest will follow. HE will likely die, but in doing so he will redeem himself in their eyes.

As the captain turned back to her console, one of the guards entered the bridge. “Captain Black?” he asked, and she turned to face the… wait, no one was supposed to leave their post during the lockdown. “Sergeant, what are you-”

Gunshot.
Another one.
Hurting.

Catherine flattened against the floor, painfully aware of the hole in her left thigh. Her brain numb from the shock, she noticed the shooting guard was down on the ground in a pool of his own blood. The first shot fired by another guard got him, and he didn’t have time to fully aim, but managed to pull the trigger. God damn it her poor leg!

It all happened in a blur from Ariadne’s perspective some Shol’va guard bursting in and shooting Catherine. She had burst to her feet, but before she could wrap her superhumanly strong hands around his throat he had himself found a bullet. For a moment she stood dazed by the events, but Idalia’s mental prodding quickly stirred her into action. “Catherine!” she exclaimed as she rushed around the desk to get to the captain, hoping that the Shol’va’s aim had not been true.

She was shocked to see blood beneath the captain, but relieved to see light still in the woman's eyes. It seemed the shot had only caught her in the leg. Ariadne pulled the healing device from its pouch at her waist and knelt down, stilling her shaking hands as best she could, shutting her eyes to help focus on operating the device. She could almost see the scene that filled Idalia’s mind as well, a memory of her host just before their joining. She did her best to reassure Idalia that such a thing was not going to happen again as the golden light extended from the device, reaching down towards Catherine's prone form.

She passed the device over the length of the other woman's body, relief filling her as the scan confirmed what her eyes had told her before. Just a leg wound. Painful, but not lethal. The healing device directly over the wound, she focused on the repairing of the flesh, forcing the bullet fragments out and mending the muscle behind them, finally sealing the the skin when the task was complete. Catherine would be left without even a blemish to show for the attack.

“Are you alright?” Idalia said as soon as Ariadne released control. Her symbiote was exhausted by the emotion involved in the use of the device, even though the wound had not been complex to mend.

As the stabbing feeling in her leg and the shocked haze around her mind started clearing, Catherine noticed Idalia looking at her. “Uuuhhh….” she groaned, the wound closed but her nerve endings just refused to update, still feeling the last of the searing needles impaled in her leg. “I think so.” The sensation of the healing device was something she never felt before. It was as if a warmness was pouring into her body and just making everything bad go away. She curiously rubbed the spot where the shot impacted only to find undamaged, smooth skin. she laughed silently. “I knew I picked a good one.” she said for herself, reaching for something solid to help herself up. “Thank you, you make wonders.”

The leg still didn’t feel like supporting her full weight, something she found strangely uncomfortable. Her expression darkened as her gaze fell upon the dead guard. Taking an uneasy step and finding that indeed she could walk normally, she crossed the distance and pulled his vest down, tearing his BDU’s open…

No dog tags. Instead, there was a shimmering device on his chest. Reaching for it and plucking it off, the form that was on the ground shifted and in a second or two, an entirely different corpse was lying there. “Found the spy, or at least one of them.” she growled, “I can’t believe it! They lost something again!” she shouted, tossing the mimic device on her console. Tapping her earpiece, she connected to the special detail: “Takanashi, we found a guy wearing a mimic device. Be advised there may still be more on board… Takanashi, do you copy?” she said, but no answer came back, “Kurzweil, Vacek, Dr. Berg? Anyone?” nothing. “Security, extra detail to Dr. Berg’s quarters! Yesterday!” she shouted over her shoulder.

Vacek and Kurzweil were currently lying on the floor stunned. As soon as they turned the corner and went away from everyone’s eyes and ears, the two shots falling the other two guards. “Cold blooded snake! Those were my people on that ship you gassed! I don’t care how many times I have to end you, you’ll pay for that!” he shouted, aiming the zat at the doctor.

~| A few minutes earlier |~

Vanja did feel a bit miffed at being kept under guard even after telling the truth, but Ingrid could easily understand why. At least their access to the ship systems had not been restricted. There was only so little she could do from her quarters, but at least she could check the status on her personal projects, in this case, the plasma adaption to the P90. She was sitting on her bed when she heard a couple of faint thuds outside her door. Almost before she could think to react, she heard the door unlock and begin to slide open.

Ingrid felt herself pushed back immediately as Vanja seized control, something she found good and not at all uncomfortable. This was not something she had trained for. She suddenly heard the voice of someone she didn’t know, someone clearly speaking to Vanja. “They would have died no matter what I did. My way they died quickly. Being blown up is not a death to be enjoyed.” Vanja regretted now not having a weapon available, but of course she had been unable to acquire one. It was one thing for Ylva, who was military, to have a weapon in her quarters. It was quite another for Ingrid, who had no weapons training, to have one. Hopefully she could change that later. If they survived. Just as Ylva’s murderer fired his weapon, Vanja dodged to the right, barely avoiding the Zat blast.

She hid along the wall the door was part of, out of the direct line of fire. The Spy, whom she now after thinking over what he said presumed was of the Lucian Alliance, had no choice but to move inside. Though he appeared to have overcome the guards stationed outside Ingrid’s quarters, Vanja realized it had probably been more luck than anything else, for he actually moved into the small room with his Zat’nik’tel held straight out from his body, leading the way into the room. The moment his elbow was inside, Vanja lashed out with her hands, doing a series of moves that Ingrid, even with full input from her limbs, hardly could keep up with, let alone predict. The Zat dropped to the floor, and Vanja delivered a vicious uppercut to the Lucian Agent’s head, using the full strength of their combined bodies. Even as the agent’s body fell back, she could see blood starting to froth at his mouth. ‘how did that happen? How could I do that?’ she though to her symbiote. ’Alone, without me, you could not. But with me, it is easy. I have long ago begun releasing new enzymes into your system. Increased physical strength is but one of the effects.’

Just then, they heard shouts down the hallway as a security patrol approached. Vanja idly wondered who had sent them, and what they would think of what they saw.

The incident at Ingrid’s quarters was fortunately solved without more casualties. When the two other guards woke up, they confirmed to have been attacked by their commander, effectively putting Vanja out of Captain’s crosshair. With the guy from the bridge dead and Takanashi secured, all that remained was the supposed Tok’Ra who was cooperating. Catherine released the lockdown form the better part of the ship that was already screened, allowing for much of the normal activities to resume.

“Captain, there’s more. Lt. Brown is unaccounted for and we have found an unauthorized activation of the transporter.” her security officer said. Catherine could just helplessly sigh. Four infiltrators on one ship. Four! When they get to Earth, she will have the head of whoever was in charge of background checks. Was that person an alliance spy too?

========== End of Ep. 2 ==========

[Sep]

Fallen+Sep

Kay

Zats flashed as Miller, Morenu, Ay’mar and herself returned fire on the Alliance fighters. It was a hellish scene in the best description light. Moments within the fire fight, Kay felt a searing pain rush up her leg and her knee gave out from under her. Each movements caused more fire and torment to race along her nerves, singing them into twitching impulsions and rendered her leg utterly useless. The bullet hole seeped with blood that stained the tile floor. That wasn’t the worse of it. A chill, icy cold erupted along her skin making it feverish and sweaty. All color drained from her skin while her heart seemed to beat hundreds of times faster than normal, leaving her with the impulse to throw up anything left within her stomach. Her hand couldn’t grip the zat and it slipped from her numb fingers when Morenu took a fistful of her uniform and hauled her into cover. Kay couldn’t stop her mind numbing or her body trembling instinctively.

Stop… Enough.

Kay’s eyes snapped open to the infirmary. No gun fire or shouts, just the harsh and cold reality of her condition to face. She wasn’t sure which was worse in the matter, the fact she had been stuck within this room for several weeks or the notion her pride wouldn’t let her live down her failure. Impulsively she shouldered her head in her hand. It sat there while her fingers massage her temple softly, despite to purge the memories and pain from her focus. Meanwhile from the sounds of the monitor, her heart had once again resumed its normal beat but Kay had little confidence a nurse wouldn’t arrive shortly. She needed to be gone before then. Her eyes shifted down to glimpse her earlier activity and noticed the Goa’uld language darted across the tablet screen, followed by the pronunciations Ariadne had given her.

Considering her present condition Kay was surprised to find she had fallen asleep while reading. Then again, maybe it wasn’t. She had been restless since the mission and it affected her sleeping patterned, though she it wasn’t hard to know deep inside the source of the problem. She had failed. Not just herself, but her team when they needed her most. It didn’t matter her knee was shattered or she went into shock shortly after. It was a weak hearted excuse, something to explain her helplessness and lack of excellence. It did nothing to ease the bitterness. And the sense of depression didn’t fade. Frustrated, she flipped off her tablet then tossed onto the bedside table. She soon shifted her legs over the bed edge, the blankets shoved aside, while she reached for her crutches nearby. It was a blessing the heart monitor was portable or else she would’ve been forced to use a bedpan, an unappealing thought, while she pulled herself from bed and onto her feet.
That regret, that anger seeped in her movements as she braced herself upright back on her crutches. In moments, she ignored the throbbing protest within her knee and was well on her way to the bathroom. Kay only paused enough to snatch her rolled up military garb before she slammed door shut. The vibration caused her to flinch with a new wave of pain, her teeth scraped against her bottom lip to mask her desire to scream out. It was the consequences of her choice to skip the morphine doses. On ship, it was no secret she refused to dull the pain or cover it up with drugs; instead she bore through it on a daily basis.

In return, it made simple movements like shutting doors hurt like hell.

However it wasn’t painful enough for her to reconsider her decision. Surprisingly out of all the doctors, Dr. Sterling was the only one who didn’t try to persuade a change of heart. Instead, he merely frowned then left without further word. Something that Kay found rather odd considering her prior experience with him. Hopping on one foot, Kay seated herself upon the close lid toilet as she dressed herself without aid from her crutches. It had taken some time to figure out the best system and while she easily pulled her shirt over her bra, shirt and fixed her hair upright, the bottom was another story. Namely getting her pants over a cast fixed from foot to knee and about several inches thick.

Each movement made her flinch and curse, her eyes filled with the familiar sting of torment but she kept on until her pants were on. It was then, an odd thought shifted deep within her mind. She still felt naked without her blades. It was odd like she missing a part of herself, yet she knew all her limbs and organs were firmly set in place. Sadly the doctors had ensured she wasn’t allowed to have them strictly due to security purpose, which didn’t help settle her nerves, causing her to force her calm. It wasn’t easy. Even now, Kay wished she had a toothbrush that she could’ve grounded into a fine point and stuck in her hair. Odd as that was, having a blade around was comforting due to being able to defend herself anytime. The main thing she hated about life was its unpredictability but come to live with over her years. Feeling fully dressed, Kay gripped her crutches and leaned against the sink where cold water ran. The water felt marvelous as it seemed to rinse away more than just the tiredness within her bones. In the tranquil moment haunting words filled her head when she reached for towel.

“Keep in mind you’re a soldier and your loyalty lies here first, Second Lt. Zaken.” The memory of her brief trip back to earth jolted into her mind. The suddenness caused her to jump, her hand jerked out to balance herself and prevent a face down collision with the floor. The crutch clattered into the tile floor helping to ground her back into reality.

Her knuckles had whitened against the sink’s grip while she inhaled slowly, and then exhaled. Sweat poured over her body leaving her to shiver in its chill and her eyes lifted to stare at her image looking back. Then she abruptly twisted away in shame.

Pushing it out of her mind, Kay exited the bathroom. Luckily the nurse hadn’t arrived but she did have a visitor, her eyes caught the familiar sight of Rea’c causing her to smile. She continued to swing to the bed while she talked, her head never left Rea’c figure in the doorway. “I couldn’t stand that bed any longer, Rea’c. Though I wasn’t expecting to have a surprise visit, what brings you here?”

Rea’c merely nodded in her direction. “I have grown tired of sparring on the return trip to earth. There is no-one who is a worthy challenge for me, though this does not include present company.” He moved over to the side of the bed, and didn’t bother asking her how she felt. He knew how she felt. “I understand. Myself and many other Jaffa suffered the same problem when we switched to tretonin. When injured we found ourselves vulnerable. Unlike centuries before it took us time to heal and for many of us we considered returning to symbiotes because of it.”

He looked around the infirmary. “I am here to offer you an alternative to sitting in an infirmary during the ships time at Earth. I am returning to Chulak to report to the Jaffa governing council and train. You would be most welcome to join us, I have even requested use of one of the few sarcophagi we have if you would be willing.”

“Oh really? I won’t say being knocked on my ass would’ve made me much of a challenge. Though I refuse to stay down if I can help it.” Kay’s words paused, her mind unwilling rewind the moment she had been down and out for the count.

A slight spark of irritation with herself found itself in her heart which she quickly pushed aside. Her attention turned to Rea’c mention of returning to Chulak, her lips pressed into a interested smirk and lowered herself onto the bed. Her arms slightly sore from the rubbing of her crutches and it eased when she placed them aside. She thought for a moment. Part of her want to remain injured and bedridden, the best excuse to avoid her personal conflict yet her pride hated it. Kay sighed, her curiosity and hunger for something new getting the better of her, she faced Rea’c. “I do want to get out of this bed and I’m very curious about Chulak. Just reading about it doesn’t give it enough credit, and well, I rather see it for myself. So when do we leave?”

“They’re going to drop us off before the ship arrives back at Earth. Several hours most likely. Though before we arrive I will likely need to get your answer in terms of using the Sarcophagus as it won’t be easy to get access to it without prior asking for permission.” He looked around the room. “I have also requested permission to retake my position on the ground team after the defection of Lt.Brown. I feel that while the ship has many skilled pilots I could put my skills to better use in your team. If you accept this.” He bowed his head to her.

“Ummm. Sounds perfect.” Kay said, realizing her voice had more relief in it then she meant to. The only negative thing was the fact she would’ve missed time spent with her parents and siblings, a rather deep and emotional blow she defected with bitterness. if they knew, they would understand. She started to lean farther in to listen to the details. Almost lose in her absorption of them that she was almost folded in half on her bed.

Slowly she sat backwards and upright again, her arm positioned to lean against on the bed. “Well, give me time to think about the Sarcophagus. Though doesn’t it have some side-effects? I would have to re-read the first SG-1 reports. As for you joining the ground team. Trust is the thing we need the most and I would be honored that you are willing to retake your position on my ground team again. You’ve proven yourself a valuable warrior and friend, Rea’c. I won’t want it any other way.”

He bowed his head to her again. “I have already informed the Captain so with your approval it shall be so.” He moved closer to the bed so she would not be so strained as to speak to him. “In terms of the Sarcophagus one or two uses can be employed without lasting side effects. It takes years to do the kind of damage that was done to the Goa’uld and the System Lords. However if you are unwilling I will understand.” He checked a black watch he had acquired with his new khaki trousers and black vest before beginning to move away again. “I doubt the Captain will linger for a long period of time. I must prepare my belongings. You are welcome on Chulak for a long as you wish though the Chapp’ai will be available to you.” He bowed again before walking out of the room.