#4 in the Life's Little Problems Series
Color Outside the Lines
A Little!Danny fic by: Maj. Cliffhanger
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Part 22
Landry was a bit
surprised to see Teal'c waiting for him beside CMSgt. Harriman's
position at the gate controls. He offered the stoic Jaffa a nod even
as he joined the men. "Walter," he said simply by way of
announcing his presence to the gate technician.
The other man glanced
back over his shoulder in answer and came right to the point of why
the general had been summoned. "We managed to clean up the
message, sir." He turned back to his equipment. "We noticed
a slight variance in the outputs..."
Hank wasn't interested
in the particulars but managed to bite his tongue, hoping the man
would get to the point faster if he did.
"...so we ran it
through a sequence of digital filters and we came up with this."
He hit a button on his control panel.
The playback was still
pretty distorted but at least it was intelligible. "Stargate
Command," a male voice addressed them. "This is the Sodan.
Please respond!"
Hank blinked in
surprise and glanced at Teal'c, suddenly realizing what he was doing
there. "Did he say 'Sodan'?"
The transmission
continued. "We are under attack ... many have fallen ... we
request immediate assistance!" The message was suddenly
interrupted by the distinct sound of staff weapons' fire and cries of
pain before it suddenly cut off.
Walter glanced up from
his controls. "That's when we heard the impact against the iris,
sir."
Landry winced, not
wanting to ask but knowing he had to. "Analysis?"
"Biologic
confirmed," the chief gate technician answered and frowned back
down at his instruments.
Landry sighed and shook
his head. The Sodan were well aware of their iris. Someone had been
desperate.
"Sterilization
procedures?" He didn't know why he asked that. His standing
orders following the plague incident were pretty clear cut. If
biological residue was detected, samples were to be taken and then
the gate immediately dialed, with the iris shut. Nothing survived the
formation of a wormhole.
"Already done,
sir," Walter confirmed.
"General Landry,"
Teal'c inserted himself in the conversation. "We should
investigate."
He'd just been about to
get to that. "Agreed," he nodded decisively. "Find
Col. Mitchell and assemble a team."
The Jaffa inclined his
head in acknowledgment, but observed, "I fear he may not wish to
accompany us given that the location of Lt. Col. Carter, young Daniel
Jackson and Jason Dixon is still unknown."
Hank offered that a
grunt. It was an unfortunate truth, but he had other priorities to
consider. "Lt. Col. Mitchell is our resident expert on the
Sodan," he stated bluntly. "His expertise could well be
needed on this mission; whereas I can't foresee his presence - or
lack thereof - having any kind of significant impact on the search
for our missing trio. The order is not open for discussion."
With a final decisive nod and sigh, he made his decision clear. "Tell
him welcome to the joys of being a military 'father.'"
Teal'c, who knew well
the sacrifice of self for the sake of duty, began to offer another
sagacious nod of his head before suddenly awarding Hank a pensive
frown instead. "And what of Col. Mitchell's injury?" he
reminded the other man.
Hank frowned in sudden
thought as well. How had he managed to forget about that? It had been
less than twenty-four hours ago that he'd refused to let Mitchell go
through the gate with SG-1 to rescue Danny and Jason.... "I've
been watching him since the kids got back," he admitted, "and
it doesn't seem to be bothering him very much."
"He felt
sufficiently healed earlier this morning to engage in a moderately
strenuous workout in the gym," Teal'c observed. "Although
he is still favoring the appendage to some degree, it appears to only
have a limited impact on his physical capabilities at this time."
Landry acknowledged
that with a grunt and nod, still knowing that his daughter would kill
him if he sent the other man through the gate before she'd cleared
him for a return to full duty status. As Chief Medical Officer, she
had the final say on who did and did not get to go off-world. "Can
he handle a P-90?" he asked pointedly.
Again, the other man
inclined his head. "The injury was not to his dominate side and
should not impair his proficiency with said weapon."
In other words, he'd be
fine as long as he didn't have to handle anything bigger or engage in
hand-to-hand. Unfortunately, there was no way to know he wouldn't.
Landry debated sending Jack instead, but immediately dismissed the
thought; Jack might well enjoy it, but the entire point of even
considering Mitchell was because of his past experience with the
Sodan. The potential benefits of that experience had to be weighed
against the risks to his health and the potential risk to the team
his injury posed ... and was still coming up on the go side in
Landry's mind.
"I'll clear it
with Lam," he nodded decisively. He'd just have to make her see
that Mitchell's inclusion could well decide how the Sodan received
their people. Haikon might not understand why they hadn't answered
his call sooner. "You plus a full SG team should be able to keep
the boy safe – choose them carefully. And requisition yourself a
SAW," he added as an after-thought, referring to the rather
cumbersome M249 Squad Automatic Weapon. Given it's weight and size,
they tended to avoid using it off-world unless they were expecting
trouble, but it had a faster cyclic rate, greater capacity, larger
caliber and longer reach then the lighter more versatile P-90. Teal'c
shouldn't have any problems with it. "We don't know what you'll
be going up against; a little extra fire-power might come in handy."
Teal'c silently
acknowledged the order with another nod of his head, then spun on his
heel to find his teammate and leader.
* * *
Jack frowned pensively
as he headed down the corridor, his less than welcoming countenance
keeping the curious at bay. He'd just come from reaming out a
security major who'd been under the mistaken impression that hunting
down a missing Lt. Col. Carter and two children was a low priority.
Instead of instigating a full search, the man had simply instructed
all SF personnel to be on the look out for them and to call in if
they were spotted. And the security tape search Mitchell had
'requested'? It was being handled by the tech in the monitoring room
on 16 – as he had time.
Not anymore.
Col. Spears, the head
of base security, was going to get an earful too once he arrived
after being called in on his day off. Obviously his second in command
wasn't up to the job of prioritizing security situations if he
thought the sudden disappearance of two children and a lieutenant
colonel didn't warrant his full attention.
The elevator in front
of Jack hissed open and he glanced up to see Dr. Lee.
"General!"
The scientist smiled a warm greeting, totally missing the black cloud
of anger and irritation that shrouded the other man. Jack nodded and
waited for him to get off. They do-sa-doed around each other and then
Lee turned to put his hand on the elevator's pressure sensor,
preventing the doors from closing. "Oh!" he offered in
obvious distracted thought, "have you seen Col. Carter by
chance?"
Jack blinked in
disbelief and donned his most innocent expression. "I was just
coming to ask you the same thing," he claimed. Where was this
man buried that he hadn't heard the base wide announcements looking
for her and the kids?
"Really?" he
asked, missing Jack's sarcasm entirely. "Because she left her
laptop in my lab and--"
"―She did?"
That wasn't like Carter....
"Yeah, it's hooked
up to that device SG-1 picked up from Glastonbury."
"The communication
thingamajig?" Jack frowned. Hadn't that thing been destroyed?
"No," Dr. Lee
answered, stepping back onto the elevator with Jack and reaching down
to hit a button. 19. Probably going to check her lab. Hadn't the man
just gotten off the elevator? "Different thingamajig. I asked
her to take a look at some readings this morning, but she apparently
got interrupted."
It was Jack's turn to
reach out and stop the elevator doors from closing. He had a feeling
he was about to head back to talk to that security major here in a
second.... "Interrupted?" he echoed.
"Yeah." Lee
frowned as he reached into his lab coat pocket and withdrew a folded
piece of paper. "She started to leave me a note and...."
Jack snatched it from
his hand, flipping it open to reveal the half-finished missive.
"...Like I said,"
Lee shrugged, "interrupted."
Jack was no longer
paying attention. He was already moving, heading back the way he'd
just come, note in hand. This couldn't be good....
"Sir?" Behind
him, a confused Dr. Lee debated his options for a long moment and
then had to scramble to avoid the closing elevator doors as he
decided to follow in the general's wake, finally picking up on the
other man's concern for Sam.
* * *
Cam, as required by
Landry and Teal'c both – probably Lam too! - was last through the
gate. Emerging from the event horizon, he stepped to his right and
dropped to one knee, bringing his weapon to bear as he quickly
scanned the immediate area for threats from his elevated advantage
point atop the gate platform. SG-12 and Teal'c had already fanned out
to form a defensive perimeter. Using the gate itself for cover as the
wormhole collapsed, Cam turned to sweep the forest and barren, rocky
field behind them as well.
No attack or even
movement was forthcoming. The area around the gate was still and
quiet except for the gentle whirring of the MALP to the left of the
gate and the tentative song of an occasional bird. He carefully swung
his aim left to right, noticing as he did that the brace on his left
wrist actually made a pretty good pivot point for his weapon –
which he should probably be gratefully they allowed him to carry at
all.
Then again, it wasn't
as if he really wanted to be here!
With a frown, he
quickly shoved all question of where Danny, Jason and Sam had
disappeared to out of his mind: this was no time to be distracted. He
was still painfully torn over the idea of having to come here despite
the fact that he understood and even agreed with Landry's decision;
but he needed to concentrate on keeping himself as well as everyone
else here alive.
They all held their
breath for a count of ten before he finally called, "Clear!"
and dared lower his weapon to a ready position. Standing, he surveyed
the scene before him with a jaundiced eye. The fact that a battle had
taken place here was more than evident. The losers still lay where
they'd fallen. He turned to find Maj. Hadden and his men awaiting
orders. "Check for survivors," he told them with a grim
nod.
He already knew they
wouldn't find any. That count of ten had been far too quiet. Still,
they had to check. He jumped down from the back of the ring platform,
ignoring the stairs in front along with the pain that shot up his arm
from the sudden jarring, and moved to kneel beside the nearest body.
A glance at the man's slack-jawed face, eyes staring sightlessly up
at the passing clouds, was all the answer he needed there.
Cam quickly brought his
gaze back up to the forest, scanning the perimeter again even as he
quickly assessed the carnage around them.
He counted four bodies
– plus the one that had hit the iris made five. There were scorch
marks from staff blasts all over the area, including the steps and
gate itself. He heard Maj. Hadden order one of his men to check the
DHD.
Teal'c gently toed the
blasted remains of the radio transceiver the SGC had left for the
Sodan to use before he turned to meet Mitchell's eyes. Whoever had
done this hadn't been fooling around.
"'Symbiote hunt
gone wrong?" Hadden suggested as he too stood once more and
tried to figure out what the scene was telling them.
Teal'c frowned in
thought as he surveyed the killing field. "I do not believe so,"
he answered stoically. "If that were the case, their attackers
would have pursued them back here through the gate. Evidence suggests
these Sodan were fleeing from something in that direction." He
pointed to the path Cam knew led to the Sodan transporter known as
the 'Eye of the Gods.' It was a good three mile hike from here.
Thanks to their
previous contacts with the Sodan, they now had the code needed to use
it.
He turned to where Lt.
Stevens stood over the DHD and nodded. Orders were to report their
findings before moving on – not that there was much the MALP hadn't
already discovered to report. Landry was being over-protective.
Cam moved over to the
mechanical probe and positioned himself in front of its camera as he
waited for the wormhole to reopen. Once it did, he waited another
long second for the radio signal to be re-established before keying
his handset. "Sierra Golf One-niner to Sierra Golf Charlie, come
in; over." He fought not to sigh.
"We're still here,
Mitchell," Landry's voice answered over their ear pieces,
dropping normal radio protocols in favor of the more relaxed mode the
SGC had adopted long ago for casual radio chatter – or as casual as
it ever got. "Go ahead," he ordered simply. "Over."
Cam offered the camera
a one shoulder shrug and turned to scan the area around him again as
he answered. "We've got ourselves a bit of a mystery here,
General," he sighed. "Four dead Sodan, a whole heck of a
lot of staff blast marks, and no sign of who or what caused it.
Doesn't look Ori, for what that's worth." He turned back to the
camera. "Teal'c thinks the attack came from the direction of the
village. Request permission to check it out. Over."
It was a long moment
before Gen. Landry's voice answered. "Permission granted,"
he finally allowed. "Radio check every four hours. Acknowledge.
Over."
"Four hours,
acknowledged. SG 1-niner, out." He double-clicked his handset
and turned to find SG-12 awaiting his orders. "Let's head 'em
out, Major. We're not going to find any answers here."
With a nod, the major
turned to take the lead, with Cam and Teal'c bringing up the rear.