Chapter 7
Title:Faustian Hopscotch
Author:Calamityjim
Fandoms:Supernatura/SGA
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Supernatural-Spoilers to season 5, SG-1, to season 9, and SGA, all seasons. Also Violence, swearing, pairings, sexual content, and aliens
Disclaimer:Stargate belongs to MGM, Supernatural to the CW
Distribution: Crossposted on fanfic.net
Disclaimer: Not mine
Previous
Faustian Hopscotch
Chapter 7
Tides
John took in the scene with the grim eye of a seasoned soldier. It was the only eye he could use that wouldn’t lead him to freaking the fuck out.
The jumper was empty, save for the corpse. His dog tags identified him as SSgt George Boggs in a way his face was now incapable of. Blood and brain mattered coated the jumper floor where Boggs had been left to rot.
The rest of the jumper had been empty of people but the gear everyone had brought was scattered across the floor, having been thoroughly tossed. John didn’t know what had been taken. Who knew what Rodney had smuggled off Atlantis so he could keep up with his lab work. John would have to ask after he rescued him.
“Sir,” Lance Corporal Young’s voice crackled over the radio. “I have a problem.”
“A jumper has been shot down, Corporal. We all have problems.”
“Winchester went off on his own. Dr. Greenburg and I are less than halfway to camp. What are your orders, sir?”
Besides to shoot Dean on site? “Radio for a jumper pick up and have it land where it can. It’ll be faster than walking. Once Dr. Greenburg is secure I want you doing cloaked flybys. Find Winchester. Shoot him if you have to but get him out of here.”
x-x-x-x-x-x
Somewhere in the forest, Dean rolled his eyes. Colonel Fancy Hair may be willing to shoot him but the man forgot that Dean also had a radio. And Dean wasn’t going anywhere without his brother.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Leroy unceremoniously dumped Dr. Greenburg’s useless ass on the ground as soon as they made it back to Boot Camp. Something in Leroy had snapped when, on the way back, the scientist had asked for yet another break, even though they were down a civilian and even though the Colonel had decided to go off on what basically amounted to his own and even though they had a jumper down. He’d scooped the scientist up into a fireman’s hold and had jogged the rest of the way to Boot Camp. It had took too damn long but at least they had made it, something that would have never happened had Greenburg continued to set the pace.
As it stood, Boot Camp had basically been gutted. Leroy was actually kinda feeling all impressed-like by the amount of progress made. It had taken days to get this all shipped over and in a few hours most of it was gone, including the civilians.
Dr. Greenburg stuck out like a sore thumb.
“Hey, you! Lance Corporal. Why haven’t you gotten this man through the gate. All civilians were supposed to have hauled ass an hour ago.”
See?
“Just got back from PT with Sheppard, Sergeant.”
“He carried me! And he ran. Then he dropped me in a puddle.”
The Sergeant looked amused. “Ah. Corporal Young. We’ll take care of your civilian from here. Your jumper’s been prepped and is ready to go.”
“Prepped, sir? I thought these things were self prepping?”
The Sergeant looked grave. “Lorne and his team aren’t coming through the Stargate until we stop going through. The whole one-way bullshit that the scientists are always going on about.
“That means you are the first wave of the Colonel Sheppard Rescue Effort, which means you’ll need medical supplies, some big guns, and a couple of MREs for Dr. McKay.”
“Colonel Sheppard Rescue Effort? He checked in a few minutes ago! He hasn’t been captured.”
The sergeant eyed him up with a pitying look, one that said ‘you’re new here’. He shook his head. “Not yet.”
x-x-x-x-x
Teyla took point, here sharp eyes scanning the forest floor for the trail left behind by the missing Atlanteans.
She was also learning more about their captors. Whoever had taken John’s men was not used to the forest. They often stumbled, breaking branches as they caught themselves on the forest shrubs. They also didn’t notice that both Ronon and another were doing everything they could to leave a more obvious trail. There were falls and steps into mud puddles that were actually difficult to reach given the current route.
Teyla could have followed it blind.
It made her wonder just whom the enemy was. If they were so unfamiliar with the forest it was unlikely that they were originally from this planet. If they were new here though, why were they so hostile. The odds of them having been aware that the Atlanteans trained here were slim indeed. Perhaps they had reacted out of fear, mistaking the flying ship for Wraith.
But then why take prisoners? Maybe they had thought the ship’s occupants were Wraith Worshippers.
There would be little enough information until they found the missing men.
With the trail being obvious it didn’t take long for Teyla and John to find it’s end.
An Ancient Outpost sat nestled in a clearing, having been partially consumed by nature.
“Well, that gives us an edge.” John flashed a smile. “We’re going to be more familiar with the terrain.”
Teyla doubted his logic.
“The real trick is going to be getting in. They likely have guards posted at the entrance, but if we’re careful we should be able to creep in unseen.”
“Don’t move! Hands above your head.” A dozen people emerged from the underbrush behind John and Teyla, and Teyla cursed herself a fool for not being more aware.
John raised his hands. “Well, isn’t this a cheery welcome. How’d you know we were coming?”
“You tripped a proximity sensor-”
“Shut up, Orro.” The woman turned an impressive sneer on John. “We’ll tell you nothing, Atlantean scum.”
“Okay, so we aren’t going to be friends.” John drawled in a tone that’s still friendly. Teyla does not understand why John does that, nor how. “Now that we’ve established that, care to tell me why we aren’t friends?”
The woman growled. “Does the name Olesia mean nothing to you? You arrive and in one day, a single day, our world is gone, culled to the point of nothingness. We were fine until you came, until you killed our planet. You Atlantean scum and your thrice cursed meddling ruined everything and now you and your people are going to die-”
“Silence, Kesli. We need to take them to the others.”
“We didn’t cause that.”
“Shut up, Atlanean. You will stay silent or you were learn how good my aim is.”
Taking the man’s threat seriously John stayed silent even as he was stripped of his weapons. Teyla could see that it cost him. It took her effort to not launch an attack as they came for hers, but it would be futile.
They took a step towards the building and Teyla gasped, knowing their circumstances had taken a dire turn.
John turned to look at her, mouthing What?
Wraith she mouthed backed.
The entrance opened and the evidence of Wraith activity covered the walls. A muscle in John’s jaw twitched.
They were led a set of small, barred cells and unceremoniously shoved into one on the end.
Teyla could tell by the set of his shoulders that John was going to open his mouth.
“John?”
“Rodney?!” John sagged like a tree under snow. “Ronon. What do you got for me?”
Ronon shrugged. “Boggs and Cadman are dead.” Teyla bowed her head. Laura had been a good friend. “Our enemy is using projectile weapons that are better than the Genii but not as good as ours. Probably Wraith Worshippers if the decorations are anything to go by.
“And they took Sam.”
John nodded, his face unusually serious. Rodney took a step closer to lay a hand on John’s arm when John gasped. “What did you do to your face?”
“What did I do?” Rodney huffed. “I survived a crash, that is what I did? The real question is what did you do?”
“I do?”
“You got captured! Now who’s going to rescue us?”
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-xx-x-x
Dean was awesome. He had found the creepy alien base, snuck into said creepy alien base, which was harder than it sounded given all the computer equipment woven around, and was now skillfully navigating the stinky corridors.
It was by no means the smelliest environment Dean had ever found himself in. That prize could belong to a shifter nest, the heady reek of sewer mixing with the putrid stench of the goop shifters left behind after doing their thing. Or it could go to the Wendigo cave, the air always heavy with Wendigo piss and the rot of half eaten campers.
The people here seemed to be intact, more or less, anyhow. Dean was dodging down the corridors with the skills that had likely led to Heinrickson having an ulcer. And while most of them had not seen Dean in the jagged shadows of the Ancient’s crazy architecture, as though they were relatively normal, cause hey, you can only be so sane if the place you live in smells like the inside of a coffin, a few had dragged themselves across the wall, almost stumbling into Dean and none gave a shit as they rubbed at their skulls.
Dean recognized the signs of withdrawal even when he had missed them with his brother. Instead of feeling relieved that he would be facing a bunch of cringing junkie it set Dean’s teeth on edge. There would have to be a Ruby around here running this circus and Dean bet Sam had already found her.
The entire place was seriously wrong. Just check out the walls. It made Dean’s skin itch and his hands long for accelerant and a lighter.
Luckily Dean was going to be out of here soon. According to his Big Brother spidey-senses, Sam was going to be through the door at the end of the hall.
He hefted his pack then raised his gun. After a quick mental count Dean charged through the door, bumping into a shelf. With a stifled yelp Dean rubbed at his shoulder and surveyed the room.
If the people milling about didn’t kill Dean, irony would. He was standing in a janitor’s closet.
x-x-x-x-xx---x-xx-xx-x-x-x-xx-x-
The moment the last man walked through the Circle of the Ancestors, as the more primitive peoples had taken to calling it, they jumped out of their hiding spots. They weren’t sure how much time they had so they moved quickly.
Dinna was in charge of tech and swiftly began rummaging through the dialing device, pulling out crystals only to put them back in a new order. When she was satisfied with the sequence she took two long cables that were attached to her laptop and connected them.
She began to type furiously, her eyes scanning the coding with grim satisfaction as the program tweaked and morphed into exactly what she needed.
“Dinna!” someone called in warning. She ignored them. She could hear the Circle spinning as well as her companions could, but it was already too late for the Atlanteans. The program was ready.
She uploaded.
The dialing device began to light up, dialing impossibly fast. The wormhole engaged. Going out to Olesia. Or what was left of it, which wasn’t much thanks to the Atlanteans.
The destination was really quite arbitrary. Keeping the gate busy was the key, which was why the program would autodial the gate until she shut it down.
All according to plan.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-xx-
Lorne hit the gate coordinates again. Again the gate spun and made it’s ‘address not found’ noise.
“Steve, when is the Daedalus due back?”
“Not for a week, sir.”
“Well hell.”
X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X
Confusion Clear Ups
Teyla can psychically sense Wraith. That’s even cannon.
Heinrickson was an FBI agent assigned to the Winchester’s case.
Olesians- Yeah, they were pretty advanced. From the episode Condemned.
AN-
Thanks for all the reviews from last chapter. I haven’t had a chance to respond to most of you because I was busy writing this. But I read and appreciate them all. Next chapter probably won’t be this quick. Life is getting weird. But it shouldn’t take forever, but no promises.