| Friendly Infiltration by Lupus |
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OK, you must be wondering who the hell this is. Let me introduce myself. I'm Alex Smith. Yeah, a 17 year old kid who has managed to live on a top-secret military base for the past 14 months without anyone knowing. Confused? Let me start at the beginning. Let me warn you now. It's a long story. I was on my way to see my grandparents in France, La Garde to be precise. I hadn't seen them for two years and I was so looking forward to it. Mum and Dad had gone a day earlier. I had had to stay to do a Science SATSs exam. There weren't many people on the flight. Not surprising since it was a read eye flight. Departs London Luton 0214, arrive Nice 0444 local. An hour and a half flight and they still manage to fit a meal into it. I think the meal was meant to be a roast dinner. It certainly didn't taste like it. The air stewards were just finishing to clear the plates away when the plane started lurching all over the place. I wasn't particularly worried until I looked out of my window. I was sitting just behind the wing and by the cabin and wing lights I could see the flaps and slats extending and retracting over and over. Being in the air cadets, I knew this was bad. Something must have gone wrong with the hydraulics. Just hope it didn't affect the landing gear. As the seat next to me was empty, I slid over to get a look at the flight deck. The door was closed which was not surprising. The plane was still bucking all over the place and I could hear a few panicked voices behind me. An airhostess pushed past, staggering to get to the flight deck. I watched her make her way to the flight deck, trying to calm passengers down with the usual explanations of heavy turbulence. She was within 2 feet of the door when it suddenly blew out. All eyes went forward. It wasn't like all the movies where people started screaming. It seemed like everything stopped. No one spoke and no one moved. My attention was fixed on the cockpit. Did you know that blood isn't just red? It ranges from bright red to a really dark brown. I wouldn't say that the flight deck was covered in blood, but the splatters were enormous. All up the main windscreen, over the co-pilots instrument panels and the aft circuit breaker panel. There was blood flowing out of a bullet hole in the back of the pilot's chair. And the remains of a person. Couldn't tell if it was male of female. Just could see body parts, mainly splattered over the exploded door and in the small passageway linking the flight deck to the passenger cabin. I slipped out of the seat, and slowly walked down the isle. Well, I tried to walk. It was more like a drunken stagger because the plane was still jumping all over the sky. In a trance I kept walking. Stepping onto the flight deck, the smell hit me. I can only describe it as a sickly sweet metallic smell that makes you want to vomit. Which I did. Fortunately the airhostess hadn't cleared the flight crew's meal dishes away yet, so my meal ended up in the same place it came from. I just wanted to curl up and cry. There were 3 dead people. People who shouldn't be dead. I didn't know them, but I felt their loss. I heard a thump behind me and I turned to see a male passenger and two airhostesses blocking the doorway. One of them quietly was swearing under her breath. They just stood there gawping. I felt anger boiling up inside me. "Why the hell don't you go and help her?" I yelled at them, indicating the airhostess that was still pinned under the door. I felt so mad at them. Just standing there ogling the bodies. It was so disrespectful. I forgot that I had done exactly the same a few seconds ago. The plane lurched violently. And there were a few muffled cries from the passenger cabin. The pilot was slumped in his chair, with one arm over the control panel in front. I somehow pulled the pilot out of his flight chair, and immediately the plane went back into smooth flight, with warning lights switching themselves off. The autopilot must have taken over. Grabbing the headphones off the corpse I plonked myself in the vacated chair. I could hear air control chatting in the background. Didn't they hear what had happened? Didn't they see the unscheduled deviations from out flight plan? Running my eyes over the vast number of controls spread out in front of me, I tried to remember the correct procedure taught me at Air Cadets. Flicking a switch I said "Mayday, Mayday, this is BA flight 1706. Mayday, Mayday, please respond." As soon as I had said the first Mayday, all the background chatter stopped and nobody spoke. "BA flight 1706, we acknowledge your Mayday. Please state your current situation." I took a breath. What was my current situation? "Umm... well, the pilot and co-pilot are dead, there is another unidentified deceased and an injured flight attendant." There was an explosion of curses over the radio. The controller came back. "Then who the hell is flying that plane?" "I am," is all I could come back with. I had hit me just then. I was flying a Boeing 747. I had just passed the test to fly a private single engine, and here I was flying a commercial 4-engine plane, with no co-pilot. I just sat back in the flight chair. I could feel the pilot's blood soaking into my top, but I didn't care. I was trying to fly a plane, which I didn't know how to fly. Another voice came over the radio. "OK, can you give me your name?" "Alex Smith. I'm an air cadet. Can you just give me a sec? The plane should be ok. It's in auto-pilot." With that I flicked another switch on the comms panel. "This is your pilot speaking. Please keep calm. Everything is under control. I must ask that anyone with previous piloting experience report to the flight deck." I switched off the intercom and let out a big sigh. I switched back to radio. "I just asked if anyone on-board had piloting skills," I announced. "That's good. Next time, please don't take yourself off the air. Now then, what do you fly?" "Single engine?" "So a 747 is a little big, huh?" I knew he was being light hearted. Probably had the flight manifest in front of him and knew I was 16. A knock on the doorframe and I turned, peering around the chair. A steward stood nervously there, eyeing the carnage. "None of the passengers are pilots..." "And you?" I asked hopefully. He just shook his head. "OK, do me a favour, push the bodies to one side." He looked at me, eyes impossibly wide. "Well do you want to walk all over them?" I asked. I could hear the man on the radio again. "You are 30 min out of Marseille. It's the best-facilitated airport. To get there we will need to turn the plane into another flight corridor in 5 mins. I'm going to put Lt. Edwards on now. He's going to tell you how to do it." For the next 4 minutes, Lt. Edwards asked me for details on the plane's status and made me re-adjust a few settings and gave me a crash course on how to manoeuvre a 747. It's a lot harder than it looks. Another minute later, we were heading for Marseille. I informed the passengers of our change in destination and managed to alert the cabin crew to prepare for a possible crash landing without telling the passengers. I was so nervous. The flying part was ok. Just stick on autopilot. But landing must be done manually. Lt. Edwards was like the light at the end of a very dark tunnel. We went over and over the landing procedure. 5 minutes out of Marseille, Lt. Edwards said it would be a good idea to inform the passengers of the situation, leaving some parts out of course. "As you already know, we will be landing at Marseille instead of Nice. This is for two reasons. One because the flying time to Marseille is shorter," I paused. I didn't want to create a panic, but I had to tell them. "Two, because Marseille has a better facilities to cope with a crash landing." I quickly continued as I could hear people murmuring, "This doesn't mean we will crash, it's just a precaution. We will be landing in 5 minutes." It was unusually quiet out back. With the door blown away, I could hear everything, and not once did any of the other passengers become hysterical or panic. Later I found out that the cabin crew were passing out free drinks to everyone to keep them manageable. My final approach was perfect. Wings steady, perfect air speed and dead centre on the runway. But it all went wrong on the most important part of a landing. When I flared up, I lost all sense of distance to the ground, and the altimeter that would tell me was smeared with blood that made it impossible to read. I over-estimated and the rear landing gear slammed down onto the concrete runway. They immediately snapped under the pressure. I heard cries from the guys in the control tower. It was too late to take off again, besides we would never have got back down again without the rear landing gear. Gently I lowered the single front landing gear. It lasted barely 6 seconds at the unusual angle before it snapped. But it had done its job. I had managed to apply the brake. But now the 747 was screeching down the runway with no brakes and no wheels. Wait, I did have another brake. The Engines! I slammed the throttle into full reverse. I watched as the speed started dropping off. We screeched to a halt within 30 yards of the end of the runway. Just as we stopped, Number 4 engine decided that it had had enough and blew up. I madly started trying to isolate fuel lines, tanks, electrical leads and the other engines. The whole plane started to short, and circuit breakers started popping out by the dozen, showering with the caps. I hadn't forgotten the 30 mins of extra fuel on board that was supposed to take us to Nice. Despite my efforts, the fire spread running up the entire wing. Unbuckling myself, I rushed to a panel near the door, wrenching it off its screws. Under it housed the famous black boxes. I was after the video feed, as it was the most susceptible to fire. Yanking it out partially uncovered a manila file with TOP SECRET stamped across it. I grabbed it as well, shoving it up my top so that I could carry the back box with both hands. I was the last off the plane. When you look at those emergency escape slides they look fun. I will tell you now, they are anything but fun. The speed at which you approach the ground is frightening. For some reason I didn't hand over the top-secret file with the black box. We were all ushered into the airport to see doctors and accident investigators. The waiting lounge had toilets, which is where I headed first. Closing the lid I sat down and pulled out the file. It had got a bit bent but was intact. Inside was a 50-page report headed The Star Gate Programme. I read the first page, which briefly described what the programme was. There was no way I was going to hand this over. A device that allowed people to travel to other planets. I had always dreamed about something like that. The paper was really thin and flexible and almost transparent. I divided the file into two and pushed each down the legs of my jeans where they wouldn't be noticed. When I came out I was shown into my own room. The doctor didn't stay long. Lt. Edwards came and visited me. He said that he was impressed with the way I had handled things. Apparently they needed to debrief me and that meant waiting six or seven hours until they had taken statements from all the passengers. He gave me a blanket and I curled up on that medical bed to sleep a bit. When he came back, he was with an older man. He was wearing a US Air force uniform. Said he was Colonel O'Neill. They made me write everything down, right from the beginning of the flight. Col. O'Neill didn't say much. They then started to ask questions. It was weird at the time. Lt. Edwards really wanted to know about the beginning of the flight and did I see the hijacker etc., but O'Neill was interested when I talked about the black box. He kept wanting to know if I had seen anything unusual. I knew exactly what he was talking about. I could feel the paper pressing against my legs. Thank goodness that as soon as I yanked the black box out, video imagery wasn't being recorded. The debriefing lasted about two hours. I managed to become headline news that day. The story went that someone had tried to hijack the plane but his gun had exploded on him. It was partially true. I found out later that he was trying to get the folder, and he was going to blow a hole in the plane and jump out when he got it. But due to the altitude, his gun had exploded when he was locking the flight door. My life went back to normal after that. Well as normal as could be, I was treated like a hero half the time. Eight months later, there was an accident. Mum and Dad didn't make it. I don't really want to talk about it. I ended up disappearing with the manila folder. I couldn't stay. I bought a one-way ticket to Canada and backpacked my way down to Colorado Springs. I don't know what the folder was going to be used for, but it contained locations of ventilation shafts and internal maps and security codes. Getting to the shafts was going to be all a matter of timing. I needed to get over an alarmed electrical fence that was buried to a depth of three meters and 10 ft tall and get past guards with dogs. So I waited for a storm. I used the time to collect together some equipment from stores, army surplus and various other places. A week later the storm came, and hit Colorado Springs with its full force. I waited until three in the morning. It was a really bad storm. The rain was lashing down; the surrounding trees were swaying like kelp on the seabed. This was both good and bad for me. Good that there were so many things hitting the fence, no one was bothering to check the alarms out. The patrols were all inside and even if they came past, the dogs wouldn't be able to smell anything, not in this rain. I had already selected my crossing point. There was this oak tree that had a branch jutting out over the fence. It had looked so easy in daylight, but at night, in a raging storm I was having my doubts. By the time I had trekked to the fence with all my stuff, I was soaked and chilled to the bone. The bark was slippery and I had a hard time climbing the tree. In fact, I kept slipping back down on my first few attempts. I was so cold. The rain was falling so fast that it was stinging my face and hands. The lightning was a big help in showing me where to go, but it also destroyed my night vision, making me virtually blind. And I couldn't use the night vision binoculars, as I had to use both hands to climb. Somehow I managed to climb up and straddled the branch, exhausted. I leaned back against the tree trunk, my arms aching. I remember thinking that I couldn't go any further. And that this had all been a waste of time. But, me being me, I forced myself to keep moving. I crawled along the swaying branch until I was past the electric fence. Grabbing my pack, I dropped it over the side, hoping that I had padded any breakables out sufficiently. I pulled the rope up over my head and tied a quick release knot around the branch. I slipped over the side and began my descent, hand over hand. The nylon climbing rope became soaked within seconds, and as I wasn't wearing any gloves, my hands kept slipping. I could control it up to a point, but I lost control halfway down and fell. And it hurt. It hurt a lot. It took all my self-control not to curl up and cry with the pain. I remembered when Dad fell off of his ladder and broke his ankle. He couldn't walk for four months. Well, I didn't have four months. In a few hours the storm would pass, and the patrols would find a half dead kid on the wrong side of the fence with incriminating documents. I found that I could move if I ignored the pain. I think I must have bruised my tailbone and ribs because they hurt for months after. I lay there for a few minutes, just to let the pain die down a bit. It was excruciatingly painful, but I somehow muddled through. After pulling down the rope, I hiked the short distance to ventilation shaft 29. This was where things could go really wrong. If the base had been on alert at that time, the shaft would have been completely sealed off, and internal air scrubbers switched on. If the access codes were wrong, or they had changed them before schedule, then the control panel would blow and CS gas would be released. If they were performing maintenance work, I would be discovered. So many 'Ifs'... The part of the shaft that protruded from the ground resembled a box with vents all the way around it. It was roughly a meter square with a small trap door set into the roof. Number 29 was an in vent so I didn't have to worry about poor air quality. With bad butterflies I approached the shaft entrance. Pulling myself up onto the top, I knelt down by the hatch. With my penknife, I forced open the cover over the security keypad. In the folder they had advised using C4 but that would leave evidence of my presence. Plus I didn't know where I could get hold of any. Taking a deep breath, I keyed in the four-digit code. 6049. Time seemed to slow. I held my breath and turned my head slightly away from the pad. THUNK! The release mechanism worked, and the hatch popped open a little. Man, did I feel relieved. I tied the rope to my backpack and the other end around my waist. I lowered the pack down the shaft, being careful not to touch the toxin sensors that were placed along the sides of the shaft. Sitting on the edge of the shaft, my feet resting on the third rung of the ladder, I looked around. The sky was brightening to the East. A beautiful gradient of red, blues purples and grey. Somewhere a blackbird was singing its morning chorus and everything smelt wet and woody. I looked down into the shaft, my gaze unable to penetrate the thick darkness, and felt excitement rise. Down there was something so amazing that it could change the whole world and everything we believed in. Climbing down a couple of rings, I reached up and pulled the hatch back into its place, manually re-locking it, sealing out the rest of the world. Switching on my little flashlight and clamping it between my teeth, I started my descent. It only took about 20 mins but by the time I had got to Level 26, my arms and back were killing me. The level ventilation shaft ran off from here, and I pulled myself into it head first. Sitting there, massaging my arms, I realized that I didn't have a plan. I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do when I had got into the base. I couldn't go back. There was no way I could climb back up this shaft let alone dodge all the patrols and dogs, make it over an electrical 10 foot fence and trek my way back to the nearest town. Well, at least not that day. I could probably make it out today with the right conditions. So I spent a little while sitting in the duct entrance going over the Manila File. I had never felt so lost before. I honestly didn't know what I was going to do. I had gotten over the main obstacle of getting into a top-secret military base, but I didn't know what to do next. I was really tired, so I decided on proceeding to the first of six possible safe rooms. Planning my route through the major air duct network, which was large enough to allow me to crawl through with my pack on. The going was slow, especially when I had to cross-corridors and rooms that were occupied. The ducts would creak and pop if I moved too fast. My destination was a little used storage room that held new mattresses. It didn't look as if anyone had been in there for years. Dust coated everything. This was a good base because it was along one of the main ventilation ducts but at the end of a dead end corridor. When I arrived, I went about rearranging the mattresses so that I had a little room all to myself that couldn't be seen from the door, even if they took away a couple of mattresses. This was my base camp. Over the next few weeks I spent my time exploring the base using the ventilation system. I improved my technique of getting food, using the toilet and showers without being seen. I even managed to get hold of a rope ladder so that it was easier getting up and down. There were a few close calls. One time I was in the shower and SG-1 came into the locker room; they are my favourite team. It was four in the morning and they had returned early from their mission. They had come under hostile fire... again. I just about had enough time to grab my obviously unmilitary and too small clothes from off the hook outside and get back into the cubicle. I stood under that shower for half an hour while they used the locker room. I was so scared. I just stood there like a deer caught in headlights. But I know there is nothing I can do about it. I have to use these places. Another time I was making my way to the ventilation shaft ten to climb down to level 16. Level 16 is the security level. I love to spend time there. In one of the monitoring rooms I can watch live feed from all the cameras on Level 29. It's really interesting, and I can watch it all from the ventilation grill. It's one of my favourite places. Anyway, I was on my way there, crawling through the ducts. I was nearly to the shaft, only one more bend until I would have come out to the ladder when I herd a shout. It was a maintenance crew. I had nearly blundered my way straight into them. The next few minutes were quite scary, because they were systematically cleaning the shafts and the larger ducts. At one point, I had to squeeze myself down a minor duct and let the crew pass. After that I managed to get hold of the cleaning rotas. Just in case. My other favourite places are Daniel's office because he has so many interesting artifacts, and sometimes I can borrow some of his books. It's quite a way to climb, being on Level 7, but well worth it. I love Carter's lab. So many new gadgets. It's amazing how much one can learn from watching someone else. I'm getting quite good at nuclear physics. I would love to handle the gadgets and artifacts, but the positioning of the security cameras doesn't allow it. My absolute favourite is Level 27, Area B3, known as the Briefing Room. The vent grill allows me to look over the conference table and out into the gate room. I always try and make the briefings because they are so interesting and they also alert me to time when I may be spotted. I can also watch all gate activity. Boy! What wouldn't I give to be allowed to travel through the gate? I have tried to get into the control room, but the duct is really squeaky just there and makes a lot of noise. There are a few places around the SGC like that. I stay well clear of those. Give my presence away otherwise. I've kinda like been caught. I don't know what they're going to do with me. There were complications you see. I kinda saved Earth. I'm not being big headed, but I did. And I kicked butt. It happened when they received GDO codes from the TokRa. Opening the iris, they expected someone from the TokRa to come through the gate. Except no one came. A ball of energy did though. It hovered for a second above the ramp. It's surface fluctuating between blue and green. Before anyoneone could do anything it turned red and exploded. The shock wave seemed to paralyse all it touched. The Marines in the gate room stiffly fell. The wave punched though the concrete wall of the briefing room and that is the last thing I remember before waking up again. I came too still in the vent. I felt fine. A little groggy, but nothing hurt. Looking out of the grill, I could see the problem. Jaffa were everywhere. SGC personnel were being dragged or herded through the stargate. And some Jaffa were setting up some type of equipment. I was just about to leave when this equipment activated. Rings suddenly appeared, jumping up creating a transport tube. A bright light filled the space and as the rings dropped again the travellers were revealed. It looked like the boss, what do they call them? Daniel says he was a minor System Lord (I'm in Daniel's office writing this, it's even better than it looked from the vent grill, but I'm digressing). He looked like he had come from somewhere really cold. All dressed in furs and six foot something; he posed a very imposing figure. He quickly disappeared from view and re-appeared a moment later, this time walking into the briefing room. One of his people walked in from the opposite direction. "My lord, all the Tauri have been taken to the holding planet and the force field erected around the Chapai. But we are having problems accessing the surface of this planet." The system lord took his gaze away from the stargate and raised an eyebrow at the Jaffa. "This is an underground facility my lord. They have sealed the entrances and have locked the computer which controls the doors." The Jaffa hurriedly continued. "But, your engineers have informed me that it should take only a day to break through their defences" The system lord just inclined his head and his eyes flashed. The Jaffa beat a hasty retreat. I decided to get out too. There was no doubt in my mind that I had to do something. I made my way as fast as I could to the armoury. (Jack wants to know which one... L9A3-210) Desperate times called for drastic actions. I selected myself a zat gun and a diver's knife with leg sheath. I paused at a rack of more traditionally looking guns. I didn't really want to kill anyone and these guns looked as if they could help me out. Instead of bullets, there were syringe type pins, all different colours. A chart on the side showed me who was the fastest acting and strongest. I picked up a handgun and stuffed it into my trouser waistband at the back and a MP3 style rifle with a strap that slung over my shoulder. I then stuffed around 20 clips of red darts into my pockets. It took a lot of effort to get back into the air ducts. All that weaponry was a dead weight. I took extra care when moving around the network. I really didn't want to be caught just then. I decided on a longer route around and passed the quartermaster's store. I decided to drop in. I got myself a nice little day sac and some blocks of C4, a couple of pencil timers (the other detonators looked really hard to operate) and a couple of grenades and a rope. I made my way back down to Level 28. There wasn't anyone in the gate room so I made my way into the duct over the top of the gate. I had the idea of dropping down and running through the gate to get the others. As quickly as possible I dropped the rope and began the descent. It all went so well. I didn't slip once, no one came in and I wasn't dead. I was in the process of stuffing the rope back into my bag when a bad thing happened. The rings engaged. And me, being me, was standing right in the middle. I was scared stiff. The gate room disappeared and an Egyptian style room appeared. No one was about. I slowly reached round for my rifle and quietly put on my backpack. There were two entrances, one was open and I could see that it lead out into a corridor. With a heavy stomach, I walked out. It must have been one of those old style mother ships because there were columns all along the corridors. I wandered aimlessly for around half an hour. In that time, I only once encountered someone, and even then it was someone walking into a room and closing the door. I never even saw them. I felt a right prat when I walked past the ring room again. I had walked an entire circle. I decided that I needed to get rid of the ship. If the rings were in operation that would mean that the mother ship was in orbit around Earth. And I had plenty of C4. It was the placing of it that bothered me. It would have to seriously cripple the ship. I went back into the ring room and had a look around. Finding the mechanism that worked wasn't too hard. There was a great big diamond in the middle of a snowflake. OK, so that was my way out. No problem there. Deciding to risk the closed door, I quietly opened it and peered around. It opened out onto a circular gallery. Cautiously peering over the guardrail, I looked down. Now, when I was at the SGC, I had filled the quiet times with reading mission reports. And this reminded me of the time Jack O'Neill had destroyed a mother ship's reactor core. Well that would cripple the ship. I rummaged through my backpack and triumphantly pulled out the two grenades. Pulling out the clips like I saw them do in the movies I dropped them over the edge. Leaning out so I could see if they had done their job, I was a horrified to see the fireball erupting at the bottom. The whereabouts wasn't a problem; it was the fact that the fireball was travelling up, towards me. Thinking it was a good time to get out I rushed back into the ring room and with my heart in my mouth I pressed the diamond and jumped into the centre of the rings. Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire (or the other way round as Daniel just pointed out) The gate room had two Jaffa guards in it. They were just as surprised to see me, as I was them. They moved real fast, but I already had my gun in my hands and those staff weapons are hard to move quickly. My gun made spitting noises as I kept firing a few times just to make sure. Those darts worked really fast (Daniel says they would do considering I pumped enough sedative into them to bring down an elephant). I was not wanting to have any other weapon fired at me, let alone pointed at me so I sprinted up the ramp and jumped through the water-like horizon. Now this next part was absolutely fantastic. You sort of come out of the other side then get pulled apart. Space screams past you at incredible speeds. You seem to go around bends that makes you stomach flip. Stars flash past in seconds. The receiving horizon came up on me so fast that I didn't have time to think about my legs. As a consequence, I fell out. My ribs didn't like that. I found myself in a cave that was only illuminated by the light from the stargate. I walked forward past the DHD. It was really cold. I couldn't see a way out, in fact, I didn't see the small shield generator and walked straight into the shield protecting the stargate (Jack just told me not to complain about it hurting, which it did by the way). Yet again, I felt a real idiot, sprawled on the floor (and Jack just said I looked like one too). Sitting up, I looked about for the generator and found it. Kneeling down by it I looked for an on/off button and was confronted with about 10 all neatly labelled in Gaould. I wasn't going to mess with it. I didn't know if it would self-destruct or something if I touched it. I rummaged around in my backpack and came out with a two-minute pencil timer and a block of C4. Breaking the block in half (I didn't want to blow the DHD, which was only around 8 meters away) I pushed in the timer and broke the top. That was when I realized I didn't have anywhere to hide. Placing my little bomb onto the small shield generator, I made for the gate and got behind that. Lying there for nearly two minutes made me want to be sick. I kept my eye on my watch and tried to make the ground swallow me when I got to 5 seconds. The blast was big. It made a shallow crater and had nearly buried the DHD. I set to work trying to dig it out. It would not be good if I got the others but couldn't get back because I couldn't remember where the DHD was buried. I just wanted to clear the top, so I dumped my backpack and started scrapping at the top. I didn't hear them approach. The next thing I knew, some one jumped on top of me (Jack says sorry, looking quite sheepish I might add) grabbing my hair (yep, you guessed it) Colonel Jack O'Neill pulled me onto my feet and placed my knife against my neck. "Who are you?" his gruff voice demanded. I didn't want to answer. And movement on my part may have lead to a slit throat. It was General Hammond who answered for me. "Smith! Alex Smith?!?" The surprise in his face would have been funny anywhere else, but it was just a relief when the pressure from the knife was released. O'Neill spun me round, making me trip and fall over (again... that was Jack BTW). He looked like he wanted to hug me and kill me all at the same time. "What the... you....the plane... here" he spluttered (Jack says he didn't splutter, but I was there and Daniel is backing me up). I just grimaced. "Sorry sir!" By that time SG-8 had the contents of my backpack out on the floor. "Well, at least we have something to fight with," one of them commented. Carter came running up just then. "The gate closes in 15 seconds" she yelled to no one in particular. Falling down in front of the DHD, she got her hands ready to dial out to Earth. Three others ran up to help her and got themselves ready. The gate disengaged and the cavern was plunged into darkness. As the symbols were pressed they lit up. Everyone held their breath. The blue light of the stargate filled the cavern once again. Sam looked up at the General. "It's ours, sir" He nodded, "OK, Sg-1, 2 and 5 go through first, then everyone else. Civilians last. Let's go people," he ordered in a loud voice. Jack glared back down at me. "You stay here," he ordered. I thought that was a good idea. They're the soldiers. I have had my fair share of action to last me a lifetime. He started to walk away and I actually felt really bad. I mean I had lied to him. That was when I remembered the handgun. Jumping up I ran forward "Colonel, take this," I said, offering him the handgun. He just gave me that crooked little smile and jogged off the join the rest of the team. Things apparently went smoothly when they reached the other side. Most of the Gaoled force were concentrated on the upper levels, preparing to go upside. The two guards were still there where I had dropped them. And the teams were able to halt the engineers from breaking through the main doors. (Although the General is really annoyed, there are neat circles that nearly penetrate the entire depth of the doors. They'll need replacing and they don't come cheap. A lot of zeros.) I don't know where they sent all those who surrendered. Most of them did after Tealc shot the system lord. I thought I could just sneak back and maybe slip into one of the ventilation shafts. That was a no go. The General personally escorted me back. Got sent to the infirmary. Dr. Janet Fraiser is really nice. Except when she's using needles. (Both Daniel and Jack agree with me on that one.) I got given my own room and a guard, but allowed to move around the facility into nearly all areas. I got all my stuff from the storeroom (thus why I'm writing in this) and have had to endure two de-briefings (although the de-briefing for the Plane Incident was a walk in the park compared with those interrogations. De-briefings my backside). That happened nearly a week ago, and they still haven't decided what to do with me. They've called the whole thing a 'Friendly Infiltration' (We don't get that, it's a bit like that 'Friendly Fire' business). I know I'll never be able to tell anyone about this outside the SGC, but that doesn't bother me. I can't stay here forever. I don't want to be sent to some foster home. I am so nervous. The General has been so kind. Even stuck up for me when some Pentagon official came round. He said that there might be another way. I'll just have to wait and see. Why is waiting so hard? Wow, I've just read over what I had written. Things have changed since then. General Hammond managed to get a deal of some kind. I don't know much about it. But the conditions included me being sent to an American Military School and me being allowed to return back to the SGC after I finish my training. That was all fine by me. I'm half way through autumn term, no, its called Fall. It was hard getting used to the routine, but I'm getting there. And unlike my fellow students, I know what's out there and where I'm going. |