(no subject)
Dark, Still Water
SG1/Sentinel Crossover
When one of Daniel Jackson's friends goes snooping into the wrong computer network, the SG-1 team comes to Cascade to find her before the NID can. But the local detective assigned to assist them--and his very strange anthropologist partner--complicate an already complicated mission.
Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Part Seven | Part Eight | Part Nine | Part Ten | Part Eleven | Part Twelve
Jim and Jack really don't like each other, but that doesn't mean they aren't going to work together to move heaven and earth to get their geeks back.
The car remained silent, the hum of Carter's machine and her brief instructions for O'Neill to turn right or left occasionally interrupting the silence. Jim Ellison continued to stare at the back of Carter's head, his hands fisted on his knees. Teal'c did not doubt that Ellison counted them among his enemies, so his willingness to accompany them spoke well of his bravery, even if the man still was not honorable in his dealings with Blair Sandburg.
"Ellison, when we catch up with them, you will take my command or I'll have Teal'c handcuff you to the car, do you understand?" While O'Neill's voice was firm and the tone did not betray any emotion, the fact that he had used Teal'c's real name certainly suggested that O'Neill was feeling great anxiety over Daniel's disappearance. On Earth, their resources were limited by the need for secrecy. O'Neill often commented that he felt more trepidation allowing Daniel on one of his rare dates than he did having Daniel attend a fertility ritual on some distant planet.
"I know how to take orders," Ellison answered. His voice was tight and angry.
"Then you need to stay behind us. I want you at the rear."
"No. No, I'm not hanging back. Your first priority is Jackson, so I'm going in for Sandburg," Ellison immediately objected. Teal'c knew that Ellison was correct that Colonel O'Neill would seek Daniel Jackson first, but he also knew that O'Neill would never endanger others because of his commitment to his team. Just as Teal'c had endangered the lives of his wife and son by turning against the false gods, O'Neill would endanger Daniel Jackson or the rest of them to complete a mission and follow his conscience, and to suggest that O'Neill did not have the judgment to act ethically was not prudent.
"Teal'c, do you have those cuffs?" O'Neill immediately asked.
"I do," Teal'c agreed, and Ellison's face reddened.
"I've been in more than one rescue operation, Colonel, both during and after the army." Ellison sounded more conciliatory now, but his face was still as obdurate as ever. Teal'c wondered if he was this stubborn because of O'Neill's involvement in Blair's injury or if this was his normal personality. If it was the second, Teal'c might be better off trying to convince Blair Sandburg to choose another tec'ma'te.
"With those senses of yours?" O'Neill demanded. Carter glanced over her shoulder toward Teal'c. She was clearly worried about O'Neill's usual lack of tact when dealing in issues which others wished to keep secret. When O'Neill had been as blithely inconsiderate of Daniel's wish to throw Carter a surprise birthday party, both Daniel Jackson and Dr. Frazier had spent weeks angry at O'Neill. However, Ellison might do something more dangerous than replace all O'Neill's MRE's with lasagna or schedule him for a series of vaccinations.
Ellison didn't immediately answer, but his fingers clutched at his knees until the knuckles turned white. "Yes," Ellison offered, and now his voice carried a wariness that made Teal'c wonder if the man truly might do something foolish. Trapped men sometimes did.
O'Neill made a derisive sound. "You sure as hell didn't go on active duty with a case of Post Combat Hypersensitivity Disorder. I don't know what historical crap Sandburg dug up..."
"Blair told you about this?" Ellison's voice slid from wary to furious.
"No!" O'Neill snapped. "After you acted like a dick, I had to wonder what you were trying to hide. I broke into your apartment and looked through his notes. Or Murray looked through his notes; I mostly went through your underwear." O'Neill smiled into the rearview mirror, a most unpleasant expression.
Ellison's jaw bulged. He turned to face Teal'c, but Teal'c only gazed back impassively.
"What exactly do you want here?" Ellison asked, his fingers still digging into his own knees. "Did someone really take Sandburg or is this your not-so-subtle way of reactivating my commission?"
"Your commission?" O'Neill was stopped at a red light, and that gave him time to turn and actually look at Ellison with shock. "What the fuck makes you think the military wants you back, Captain Ellison? Captains are a dime a dozen, and I have hundreds who've applied at my command. You wouldn't even make the first cut."
"Good," Ellison quickly snapped right back. "I sure as hell wouldn't want to work in any command under you. I've had my share of arrogant, manipulative, tyrannical officers."
"Tyrannical? If you want tyrannical, Ellison, I can introduce you to tyrannical!"
"Sir!" Carter interrupted. Both men fell silent. The light turned green, and O'Neill accelerated until the engine made a whining noise that a car did not normally make.
"Ellison," O'Neill started again, his voice slightly softer, "Sandburg seems to think your senses are useful, which is why I'm letting you tag along. But let's get something clear right now. I've been on a mission with a man suffering from P-Chad. If you go into one of your seizures or have a zone or whatever the hell you want to call it, you're on your own. The civilians have priority over you."
"Agreed," Ellison quickly answered. "But whatever this Post-Combat shit is, don't assume that's what I have."
O'Neill took a turn so fast that Carter scrambled to keep the equipment in her lap and Ellison grabbed at the seat in front of him. O'Neill just accelerated more. "I know that's what you have, Ellison. You and Sandburg can dress it up in pretty colors and maybe it's even useful to you, but you're here to play bloodhound if we lose the trail. That's it. Don't assume that I have any interest in you beyond getting my geeks back and getting the hell out of your backwater town."
"And I'll be happy to see you leave," Ellison responded.
"Sir, it's about two miles north-northeast." Carter pointed, and Teal'c studied the area. The buildings were warehouses and old shops with cracked parking areas--a mixture of peeling wooden structures and rust-streaked metal buildings. There were far too many places from which to observe or stage an ambush. Teal'c rarely saw such poorly kept areas on Earth. Chain link fences were mended with twisted wire and reinforced with cracking boards.
"Moving or stable?" O'Neill asked. He pulled onto a side road that led to the backs of several warehouses. Huge gates interrupted the fencing, most locked with heavy chains.
"Stable for several minutes now." Carter pointed. Just the other side of that building."
"Okay, we're going in." O'Neill stopped the car beside a dumpster and for a long second he sat looking in the mirror. Ellison still had his hands on his knees, and his eyes focused on the back of Carter's seat, not reacting to the awkward silence. Carter looked back at Teal'c, and he simply gazed back. Ellison very well might prove useless as backup. Even Blair Sandburg theorized that Ellison struggled with tactile sense during high-stress situations, leading to a number of incidences where he lost his weapon.
Logically, O'Neill should partner Teal'c with Ellison since Teal'c had the most extensive experience fighting without assistance. When he had first begun to work with the humans, he had struggled to train his instincts away from killing anyone who approached his back. As the Prime of Apophis, he had fought from ships and machines. When the rare mission required a more precise strike, Teal'c had gone alone. The goa'uld prepared defenses for armies, not for individual invaders. Teal'c had helped Apophis defeat many enemies that way. He had the skills required to function alone if Ellison proved unreliable.
"Teal'c, you and Carter head north. Ellison and I will take west. Priority one is getting inside and getting eyes on our people." O'Neill got out of the car and pulled out his weapon, holding it close to his leg as he trotted toward the alley that led to the target building. Ellison was out and following immediately, his own weapon held down to his side as he ran.
Teal'c quickly took point, his hand on his zat'nik'tel where it rested under his jacket. Carter followed, her face grim. "Let's hope they don't kill each other," Sam Carter said softly as she watched the other men vanish behind the building.
"They shall not." Teal'c considered that answer. "Not until we recover Daniel Jackson and Blair Sandburg."
Carter grinned at him. "I really hope that's a joke, Teal'c."
"As do I," Teal'c assured her as they moved into their standard positions for entering hostile territory. Unlike Jaffa, humans would be prepared for a small rescue team, and Teal'c moved silently once they reached the target building. A window provided an access point, but he could not reach it. Looking around, he could see a crate of sufficient size. Without even waiting for a request, Carter went to the crate and waited for him. He lifted his side with one hand, keeping his weapon pointed toward the building as they carried the crate into position below the window.
Carter took position crouching with her back between the building and the crate, and Teal'c leaped up onto it and peered through the dirty glass. The inside was dark. While keeping an interior dim was an excellent deterrent against invaders who would have to allow their eyes to adjust to the dark, Teal'c found that few humans chose the strategy. Daniel Jackson had suggested that fear motivated humans to turn lights on even when darkness provided a strategic advantage.
Teal'c gave the hand signal for Carter to stay in position and then he carefully pushed at the glass in the window. The glass was thick, and Teal'c pressed against a corner in order to force the glass out of the frame. However, the glass broke with a sharp crack. Teal'c ducked below the level of the window and listened for any sort of response. Carter was on one knee, her weapon trained on the edge of the building.
After a few seconds, she silently signaled, asking if he heard anything, and Teal'c shook his head and returned to the window, trusting Carter would warn him if the enemy came. Pressing against one side of the cracked glass, he pushed until he could get his gloved fingers around the smaller piece. It shattered at his pull, and he extracted the three largest fragments, handing them to Carter who put them carefully out of the way.
The larger piece came out all at once, and then Teal'c slipped through the window and into the dark building. Carter followed, and Teal'c led them past dusty offices, opening doors and quietly checking each. Nowhere did they find evidence of enemy or their missing people. At the end of the hall, an open door led to the main storage area. This main room was divided into squares by weak bars of light allowed in by dirty windows, and Teal'c focused on the two figures in the middle of the room. Almost immediately, he recognized O'Neill. From the way he was standing with his back stiff, he was angry. Teal'c moved out of the hallway and into the room.
"Sir? No Daniel?" Carter asked as she hurried around Teal'c.
"No, no Daniel, but if there had been a Daniel, Captain Nitwit here would have gotten Daniel and himself killed."
"I knew no one was in the building," Ellison practically snarled as he knelt next to a pile. Teal'c could see a familiar plaid shirt of Blair Sandburg's as well as the jeans and blue shirt Daniel Jackson had been wearing, and even Elizabeth Canarsee's clothing "Why the hell would they make them strip?" Ellison was fisting Blair's plaid shirt.
"To get rid of this," Carter said, holding up the recorder the tracking equipment had targeted.
"Damn it. Next time, shove that tracking chip somewhere that he can't lose it," O'Neill suggested with great vehemence.
"Yes, sir," Carter acknowledged. Her eyes scanned the building, and Teal'c stepped to the side and watched the exits. Carter would identify any clues far faster than he would. He did not know what to find in a place like this, so he would be unable to spot any anomalies. Ellison also seemed to be searching for clues. He stood and slowly walked a circle around the abandoned pile of clothing and equipment.
With one eye on those two, O'Neill pulled out his phone and called Walter, checking on the availability of more people to help in the search. Ellison continued to circle. He knelt down, and Carter was immediately at his side.
"Do you see something?" she asked. Ellison ignored her and crouched lower to the ground, his nose flaring widely.
"If you have a seizure, I'm not stopping to coddle you, Ellison," O'Neill warned, and from his tone, he was serious. He closed the phone without warning, but Teal'c had no doubt that Walter had long ago grown used to O'Neill's idiosyncrasies.
"An SUV drove through here," Ellison said, ignoring O'Neill.
"Can you tell how long ago?" Carter asked. She crouched next to him, her hand on his back. For a half second, his back rippled, and Teal'c thought that Ellison might shove her away, but then he focused on the floor again. Bending down until his face was nearly on the concrete, he crept across the surface of the floor.
"There's no dust on the tracks." Ellison stood up, and Teal'c watched as O'Neill's frustration slowly turned to curiosity. He watched as Ellison followed some invisible line on the floor, Carter right behind him. Ellison stopped again, and crouched next to a spot. Reaching down, he picked something up in his fingers and brought it up to his nose.
"His crime scene techs must hate him," O'Neill commented softly to Teal'c.
Teal'c turned a questioning look toward O'Neill, but O'Neill was resting his hand on his gun and watching as Ellison stared off into space.
"Detective Ellison?" Carter asked softly. He didn't respond.
"Great. That is why soldiers with P-chad aren't allowed on active duty," O'Neill commented, and the curiosity had vanished under more frustration. "Call an ambulance for coma boy, and let's get moving. The commander at Fairchild Air Force Base is coordinating with McChord to get a team out here, and we're going to meet them at Cascade PD.
"Blair Sandburg's notes suggest that if Jim Ellison is lost in one sense he may need another sense stimulated in order to break his concentration," Teal'c commented. Carter nodded and pulled out a small penlight she often used when looking inside various machines.
"Got it," she said, flashing the light across Ellison's eyes. "Detective, you really need to wake up now. If you've found something, we need to know before these guys get our people out of the state."
O'Neill made a derisive noise. "Out of the state is not exactly the worst-case scenario, here. I swear, I'm going to chain Daniel to a bed in the mountain. Sadly, I still think he'd manage to get himself in trouble."
Teal'c understood this need to recall the former troubles of their team member. Given the number of times Daniel had been targeted, the man had proved unexpectedly resilient. They all needed reminding of that fact. "Linea, Hathor and even the Ashrak assassin all targeted Daniel within Stargate Command," Teal'c pointed out.
O'Neill sighed and looked at him. "You just had to remind me, didn't you?"
Carter continued to flash the light in Ellison's eyes, and now she rested a hand against his cheek and stroked her thumb across his lower lip. The gesture was oddly sensual, but Teal'c understood her approach. The lips had a higher number of nerve endings than other skin, so the tactile connection should break his concentration on his sense of smell.
"Two minutes, Carter," O'Neill warned.
"Yes, sir," Carter agreed, still flashing the light back and forth. "Detective Ellison, Jim, we need you to stop focusing on the smell. We need whatever information you've found."
"Assuming he's found something and hasn't just gone into a seizure," O'Neill said softly. Then he stepped closer to them.
"I think he's responding, sir. His pupils are beginning to react to the light," Carter offered. Teal'c waited to see if O'Neill would still order them to leave Ellison. The man was not in danger, and his own people would likely offer better medical support if this was a seizure.
"Report, Captain," O'Neill barked so loudly that Carter dropped her light and it clattered against the floor. Ellison bolted up, his body going stiff as he went into a pose that the soldiers on base called 'at attention.' Almost immediately, he took a step back and looked around, scowling at O'Neill.
"Colonel," Ellison said, his voice tight with anger.
"So, did you find something, or were you just bored with our company?" O'Neill asked, but Teal'c could tell from the way the man leaned forward that he was hoping Ellison had something for them to work with.
"I smelled fish," Ellison offered. He brought a hand up and scrubbed it across his face in a gesture of great weariness.
"Fish?" O'Neill asked, and his tone was openly mocking. "This is Washington. The whole state stinks of fish."
Ellison lowered his hand and glared at O'Neill. "I smell fish waste."
"Excrement?" Carter asked, but Ellison shook his head.
"No, the remains from processing fish-internal organs, ground parts."
"You got that from dirt?" O'Neill asked.
"Yes, I got that from dirt. The senses are very useful. Blair always says they're better than a crime lab." For a half-second, Ellison got a fond expression on his face, but then he hid all emotions behind a mask of indifference.
"Okay, so we start looking at fish processing plants. That only narrows it down to about a hundred sites," O'Neill sighed as he pulled out his phone again. This time, he told Walter that the enemy was most likely going to use a boat to try and escape with the three captives. Teal'c knew that General Hammond would have the full force of the American military on the ocean, but he did not understand local geography or politics well enough to know if they were likely to be successful.
Meanwhile, Ellison had returned to his search of the floor and again knelt. Carter followed him, her hand resting on his arm this time. She asked him questions about what he saw and heard and felt, most of which he generally ignored as he reached out and picked up another small piece of dirt. This time when he smelled it, Carter kept up a running commentary about the receptor cells of the olfactory epithelium. When Carter had first learned of Ellison's condition, Carter had been fascinated with the possibilities, and listened with unabashed curiosity as Teal'c had described as much of Blair's research as he could remember. She was clearly attempting to keep him from concentrating too much on one sense.
"Peat." Ellison said before he brushed his hands off on his knees and stood up.
"Pete?" O'Neill asked, lowering his phone.
"Peat, like peat moss. But there aren't any marshlands in this area."
O'Neill's face grew thoughtful. "Could they have carried the peat with them, maybe driven in from a marshy area?"
Ellison was already shaking his head. "It smelled fresh... wet. We haven't had any rain lately so any dirt caught in the tread should be dry."
"They could have just gone through a car wash. I would have in order to keep the car from transferring any trace evidence." O'Neill might play the fool in front of goa'uld, but his intelligence equaled Daniel's or Carter's.
"Filtered water would smell different. There's no soap, no chlorine from the city purification system. This is fresh peat."
O'Neill put the phone to his ear again. "Walter, give me a reason why someone would have peat in the middle of the city." He listened for a second. "It might," he said slowly. He turned to Ellison. "Is the fish smell in with the peat or are they separate?"
Ellison tiled his head his eyes falling half closed for a second, and Teal'c could see Carter tighten her grip on his arm. "The smells are together. The peat smells faintly of fish parts," Ellison finally offered.
"They're most likely at the same place," O'Neill told Walter over the phone. O'Neill listened in silence, his face obscured by shadow. "Thanks Walter." He closed the phone and turned to them. "We're looking for a fish composting plant. There are two south of the city, so that's where we're going. The Cascade PD and the Air Force team can follow up on any other leads until we get back." O'Neill started walking toward the door, leaving the rest of them to follow.
Ellison shook his head. "I should have been there."
"While you would have fought well, you would have been unable to prevent these people from taking Blair Sandburg," Teal'c offered Ellison as they did follow.
Ellison glanced down toward Teal'c's leg. The pant leg was torn open just enough to see the deep hole in his dark skin, and blood stained the front of the leg. "I know you did your best..."
"It will heal," Teal'c assured the man. He had suffered far greater wounds, and while it was true that the leg would be vulnerable for a time, it would not bother him the way it would a human without a goa'uld larva to assist in the healing.
"I would have heard something. I would have known they were in the building," Ellison said, clearly blaming himself. Teal'c exchanged a look with Carter. Guilt was not a safe emotion when one had a task at hand.
"You can't have your senses turned up all the time," Carter said slowly.
"When Blair's around, I do," Ellison said, his jaw tight. And with that, he lengthened his stride, hurrying to catch up with O'Neill and making it very clear that he did not intend to discuss the subject any farther.
"Touchy," Carter said softly.
"Indeed," Teal'c agreed. Privately, he thought that the word applied equally to O'Neill and Ellison right now. Hopefully they would find their missing members before either man reached the end of his patience.
SG1/Sentinel Crossover
When one of Daniel Jackson's friends goes snooping into the wrong computer network, the SG-1 team comes to Cascade to find her before the NID can. But the local detective assigned to assist them--and his very strange anthropologist partner--complicate an already complicated mission.
Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Part Seven | Part Eight | Part Nine | Part Ten | Part Eleven | Part Twelve
Jim and Jack really don't like each other, but that doesn't mean they aren't going to work together to move heaven and earth to get their geeks back.
The car remained silent, the hum of Carter's machine and her brief instructions for O'Neill to turn right or left occasionally interrupting the silence. Jim Ellison continued to stare at the back of Carter's head, his hands fisted on his knees. Teal'c did not doubt that Ellison counted them among his enemies, so his willingness to accompany them spoke well of his bravery, even if the man still was not honorable in his dealings with Blair Sandburg.
"Ellison, when we catch up with them, you will take my command or I'll have Teal'c handcuff you to the car, do you understand?" While O'Neill's voice was firm and the tone did not betray any emotion, the fact that he had used Teal'c's real name certainly suggested that O'Neill was feeling great anxiety over Daniel's disappearance. On Earth, their resources were limited by the need for secrecy. O'Neill often commented that he felt more trepidation allowing Daniel on one of his rare dates than he did having Daniel attend a fertility ritual on some distant planet.
"I know how to take orders," Ellison answered. His voice was tight and angry.
"Then you need to stay behind us. I want you at the rear."
"No. No, I'm not hanging back. Your first priority is Jackson, so I'm going in for Sandburg," Ellison immediately objected. Teal'c knew that Ellison was correct that Colonel O'Neill would seek Daniel Jackson first, but he also knew that O'Neill would never endanger others because of his commitment to his team. Just as Teal'c had endangered the lives of his wife and son by turning against the false gods, O'Neill would endanger Daniel Jackson or the rest of them to complete a mission and follow his conscience, and to suggest that O'Neill did not have the judgment to act ethically was not prudent.
"Teal'c, do you have those cuffs?" O'Neill immediately asked.
"I do," Teal'c agreed, and Ellison's face reddened.
"I've been in more than one rescue operation, Colonel, both during and after the army." Ellison sounded more conciliatory now, but his face was still as obdurate as ever. Teal'c wondered if he was this stubborn because of O'Neill's involvement in Blair's injury or if this was his normal personality. If it was the second, Teal'c might be better off trying to convince Blair Sandburg to choose another tec'ma'te.
"With those senses of yours?" O'Neill demanded. Carter glanced over her shoulder toward Teal'c. She was clearly worried about O'Neill's usual lack of tact when dealing in issues which others wished to keep secret. When O'Neill had been as blithely inconsiderate of Daniel's wish to throw Carter a surprise birthday party, both Daniel Jackson and Dr. Frazier had spent weeks angry at O'Neill. However, Ellison might do something more dangerous than replace all O'Neill's MRE's with lasagna or schedule him for a series of vaccinations.
Ellison didn't immediately answer, but his fingers clutched at his knees until the knuckles turned white. "Yes," Ellison offered, and now his voice carried a wariness that made Teal'c wonder if the man truly might do something foolish. Trapped men sometimes did.
O'Neill made a derisive sound. "You sure as hell didn't go on active duty with a case of Post Combat Hypersensitivity Disorder. I don't know what historical crap Sandburg dug up..."
"Blair told you about this?" Ellison's voice slid from wary to furious.
"No!" O'Neill snapped. "After you acted like a dick, I had to wonder what you were trying to hide. I broke into your apartment and looked through his notes. Or Murray looked through his notes; I mostly went through your underwear." O'Neill smiled into the rearview mirror, a most unpleasant expression.
Ellison's jaw bulged. He turned to face Teal'c, but Teal'c only gazed back impassively.
"What exactly do you want here?" Ellison asked, his fingers still digging into his own knees. "Did someone really take Sandburg or is this your not-so-subtle way of reactivating my commission?"
"Your commission?" O'Neill was stopped at a red light, and that gave him time to turn and actually look at Ellison with shock. "What the fuck makes you think the military wants you back, Captain Ellison? Captains are a dime a dozen, and I have hundreds who've applied at my command. You wouldn't even make the first cut."
"Good," Ellison quickly snapped right back. "I sure as hell wouldn't want to work in any command under you. I've had my share of arrogant, manipulative, tyrannical officers."
"Tyrannical? If you want tyrannical, Ellison, I can introduce you to tyrannical!"
"Sir!" Carter interrupted. Both men fell silent. The light turned green, and O'Neill accelerated until the engine made a whining noise that a car did not normally make.
"Ellison," O'Neill started again, his voice slightly softer, "Sandburg seems to think your senses are useful, which is why I'm letting you tag along. But let's get something clear right now. I've been on a mission with a man suffering from P-Chad. If you go into one of your seizures or have a zone or whatever the hell you want to call it, you're on your own. The civilians have priority over you."
"Agreed," Ellison quickly answered. "But whatever this Post-Combat shit is, don't assume that's what I have."
O'Neill took a turn so fast that Carter scrambled to keep the equipment in her lap and Ellison grabbed at the seat in front of him. O'Neill just accelerated more. "I know that's what you have, Ellison. You and Sandburg can dress it up in pretty colors and maybe it's even useful to you, but you're here to play bloodhound if we lose the trail. That's it. Don't assume that I have any interest in you beyond getting my geeks back and getting the hell out of your backwater town."
"And I'll be happy to see you leave," Ellison responded.
"Sir, it's about two miles north-northeast." Carter pointed, and Teal'c studied the area. The buildings were warehouses and old shops with cracked parking areas--a mixture of peeling wooden structures and rust-streaked metal buildings. There were far too many places from which to observe or stage an ambush. Teal'c rarely saw such poorly kept areas on Earth. Chain link fences were mended with twisted wire and reinforced with cracking boards.
"Moving or stable?" O'Neill asked. He pulled onto a side road that led to the backs of several warehouses. Huge gates interrupted the fencing, most locked with heavy chains.
"Stable for several minutes now." Carter pointed. Just the other side of that building."
"Okay, we're going in." O'Neill stopped the car beside a dumpster and for a long second he sat looking in the mirror. Ellison still had his hands on his knees, and his eyes focused on the back of Carter's seat, not reacting to the awkward silence. Carter looked back at Teal'c, and he simply gazed back. Ellison very well might prove useless as backup. Even Blair Sandburg theorized that Ellison struggled with tactile sense during high-stress situations, leading to a number of incidences where he lost his weapon.
Logically, O'Neill should partner Teal'c with Ellison since Teal'c had the most extensive experience fighting without assistance. When he had first begun to work with the humans, he had struggled to train his instincts away from killing anyone who approached his back. As the Prime of Apophis, he had fought from ships and machines. When the rare mission required a more precise strike, Teal'c had gone alone. The goa'uld prepared defenses for armies, not for individual invaders. Teal'c had helped Apophis defeat many enemies that way. He had the skills required to function alone if Ellison proved unreliable.
"Teal'c, you and Carter head north. Ellison and I will take west. Priority one is getting inside and getting eyes on our people." O'Neill got out of the car and pulled out his weapon, holding it close to his leg as he trotted toward the alley that led to the target building. Ellison was out and following immediately, his own weapon held down to his side as he ran.
Teal'c quickly took point, his hand on his zat'nik'tel where it rested under his jacket. Carter followed, her face grim. "Let's hope they don't kill each other," Sam Carter said softly as she watched the other men vanish behind the building.
"They shall not." Teal'c considered that answer. "Not until we recover Daniel Jackson and Blair Sandburg."
Carter grinned at him. "I really hope that's a joke, Teal'c."
"As do I," Teal'c assured her as they moved into their standard positions for entering hostile territory. Unlike Jaffa, humans would be prepared for a small rescue team, and Teal'c moved silently once they reached the target building. A window provided an access point, but he could not reach it. Looking around, he could see a crate of sufficient size. Without even waiting for a request, Carter went to the crate and waited for him. He lifted his side with one hand, keeping his weapon pointed toward the building as they carried the crate into position below the window.
Carter took position crouching with her back between the building and the crate, and Teal'c leaped up onto it and peered through the dirty glass. The inside was dark. While keeping an interior dim was an excellent deterrent against invaders who would have to allow their eyes to adjust to the dark, Teal'c found that few humans chose the strategy. Daniel Jackson had suggested that fear motivated humans to turn lights on even when darkness provided a strategic advantage.
Teal'c gave the hand signal for Carter to stay in position and then he carefully pushed at the glass in the window. The glass was thick, and Teal'c pressed against a corner in order to force the glass out of the frame. However, the glass broke with a sharp crack. Teal'c ducked below the level of the window and listened for any sort of response. Carter was on one knee, her weapon trained on the edge of the building.
After a few seconds, she silently signaled, asking if he heard anything, and Teal'c shook his head and returned to the window, trusting Carter would warn him if the enemy came. Pressing against one side of the cracked glass, he pushed until he could get his gloved fingers around the smaller piece. It shattered at his pull, and he extracted the three largest fragments, handing them to Carter who put them carefully out of the way.
The larger piece came out all at once, and then Teal'c slipped through the window and into the dark building. Carter followed, and Teal'c led them past dusty offices, opening doors and quietly checking each. Nowhere did they find evidence of enemy or their missing people. At the end of the hall, an open door led to the main storage area. This main room was divided into squares by weak bars of light allowed in by dirty windows, and Teal'c focused on the two figures in the middle of the room. Almost immediately, he recognized O'Neill. From the way he was standing with his back stiff, he was angry. Teal'c moved out of the hallway and into the room.
"Sir? No Daniel?" Carter asked as she hurried around Teal'c.
"No, no Daniel, but if there had been a Daniel, Captain Nitwit here would have gotten Daniel and himself killed."
"I knew no one was in the building," Ellison practically snarled as he knelt next to a pile. Teal'c could see a familiar plaid shirt of Blair Sandburg's as well as the jeans and blue shirt Daniel Jackson had been wearing, and even Elizabeth Canarsee's clothing "Why the hell would they make them strip?" Ellison was fisting Blair's plaid shirt.
"To get rid of this," Carter said, holding up the recorder the tracking equipment had targeted.
"Damn it. Next time, shove that tracking chip somewhere that he can't lose it," O'Neill suggested with great vehemence.
"Yes, sir," Carter acknowledged. Her eyes scanned the building, and Teal'c stepped to the side and watched the exits. Carter would identify any clues far faster than he would. He did not know what to find in a place like this, so he would be unable to spot any anomalies. Ellison also seemed to be searching for clues. He stood and slowly walked a circle around the abandoned pile of clothing and equipment.
With one eye on those two, O'Neill pulled out his phone and called Walter, checking on the availability of more people to help in the search. Ellison continued to circle. He knelt down, and Carter was immediately at his side.
"Do you see something?" she asked. Ellison ignored her and crouched lower to the ground, his nose flaring widely.
"If you have a seizure, I'm not stopping to coddle you, Ellison," O'Neill warned, and from his tone, he was serious. He closed the phone without warning, but Teal'c had no doubt that Walter had long ago grown used to O'Neill's idiosyncrasies.
"An SUV drove through here," Ellison said, ignoring O'Neill.
"Can you tell how long ago?" Carter asked. She crouched next to him, her hand on his back. For a half second, his back rippled, and Teal'c thought that Ellison might shove her away, but then he focused on the floor again. Bending down until his face was nearly on the concrete, he crept across the surface of the floor.
"There's no dust on the tracks." Ellison stood up, and Teal'c watched as O'Neill's frustration slowly turned to curiosity. He watched as Ellison followed some invisible line on the floor, Carter right behind him. Ellison stopped again, and crouched next to a spot. Reaching down, he picked something up in his fingers and brought it up to his nose.
"His crime scene techs must hate him," O'Neill commented softly to Teal'c.
Teal'c turned a questioning look toward O'Neill, but O'Neill was resting his hand on his gun and watching as Ellison stared off into space.
"Detective Ellison?" Carter asked softly. He didn't respond.
"Great. That is why soldiers with P-chad aren't allowed on active duty," O'Neill commented, and the curiosity had vanished under more frustration. "Call an ambulance for coma boy, and let's get moving. The commander at Fairchild Air Force Base is coordinating with McChord to get a team out here, and we're going to meet them at Cascade PD.
"Blair Sandburg's notes suggest that if Jim Ellison is lost in one sense he may need another sense stimulated in order to break his concentration," Teal'c commented. Carter nodded and pulled out a small penlight she often used when looking inside various machines.
"Got it," she said, flashing the light across Ellison's eyes. "Detective, you really need to wake up now. If you've found something, we need to know before these guys get our people out of the state."
O'Neill made a derisive noise. "Out of the state is not exactly the worst-case scenario, here. I swear, I'm going to chain Daniel to a bed in the mountain. Sadly, I still think he'd manage to get himself in trouble."
Teal'c understood this need to recall the former troubles of their team member. Given the number of times Daniel had been targeted, the man had proved unexpectedly resilient. They all needed reminding of that fact. "Linea, Hathor and even the Ashrak assassin all targeted Daniel within Stargate Command," Teal'c pointed out.
O'Neill sighed and looked at him. "You just had to remind me, didn't you?"
Carter continued to flash the light in Ellison's eyes, and now she rested a hand against his cheek and stroked her thumb across his lower lip. The gesture was oddly sensual, but Teal'c understood her approach. The lips had a higher number of nerve endings than other skin, so the tactile connection should break his concentration on his sense of smell.
"Two minutes, Carter," O'Neill warned.
"Yes, sir," Carter agreed, still flashing the light back and forth. "Detective Ellison, Jim, we need you to stop focusing on the smell. We need whatever information you've found."
"Assuming he's found something and hasn't just gone into a seizure," O'Neill said softly. Then he stepped closer to them.
"I think he's responding, sir. His pupils are beginning to react to the light," Carter offered. Teal'c waited to see if O'Neill would still order them to leave Ellison. The man was not in danger, and his own people would likely offer better medical support if this was a seizure.
"Report, Captain," O'Neill barked so loudly that Carter dropped her light and it clattered against the floor. Ellison bolted up, his body going stiff as he went into a pose that the soldiers on base called 'at attention.' Almost immediately, he took a step back and looked around, scowling at O'Neill.
"Colonel," Ellison said, his voice tight with anger.
"So, did you find something, or were you just bored with our company?" O'Neill asked, but Teal'c could tell from the way the man leaned forward that he was hoping Ellison had something for them to work with.
"I smelled fish," Ellison offered. He brought a hand up and scrubbed it across his face in a gesture of great weariness.
"Fish?" O'Neill asked, and his tone was openly mocking. "This is Washington. The whole state stinks of fish."
Ellison lowered his hand and glared at O'Neill. "I smell fish waste."
"Excrement?" Carter asked, but Ellison shook his head.
"No, the remains from processing fish-internal organs, ground parts."
"You got that from dirt?" O'Neill asked.
"Yes, I got that from dirt. The senses are very useful. Blair always says they're better than a crime lab." For a half-second, Ellison got a fond expression on his face, but then he hid all emotions behind a mask of indifference.
"Okay, so we start looking at fish processing plants. That only narrows it down to about a hundred sites," O'Neill sighed as he pulled out his phone again. This time, he told Walter that the enemy was most likely going to use a boat to try and escape with the three captives. Teal'c knew that General Hammond would have the full force of the American military on the ocean, but he did not understand local geography or politics well enough to know if they were likely to be successful.
Meanwhile, Ellison had returned to his search of the floor and again knelt. Carter followed him, her hand resting on his arm this time. She asked him questions about what he saw and heard and felt, most of which he generally ignored as he reached out and picked up another small piece of dirt. This time when he smelled it, Carter kept up a running commentary about the receptor cells of the olfactory epithelium. When Carter had first learned of Ellison's condition, Carter had been fascinated with the possibilities, and listened with unabashed curiosity as Teal'c had described as much of Blair's research as he could remember. She was clearly attempting to keep him from concentrating too much on one sense.
"Peat." Ellison said before he brushed his hands off on his knees and stood up.
"Pete?" O'Neill asked, lowering his phone.
"Peat, like peat moss. But there aren't any marshlands in this area."
O'Neill's face grew thoughtful. "Could they have carried the peat with them, maybe driven in from a marshy area?"
Ellison was already shaking his head. "It smelled fresh... wet. We haven't had any rain lately so any dirt caught in the tread should be dry."
"They could have just gone through a car wash. I would have in order to keep the car from transferring any trace evidence." O'Neill might play the fool in front of goa'uld, but his intelligence equaled Daniel's or Carter's.
"Filtered water would smell different. There's no soap, no chlorine from the city purification system. This is fresh peat."
O'Neill put the phone to his ear again. "Walter, give me a reason why someone would have peat in the middle of the city." He listened for a second. "It might," he said slowly. He turned to Ellison. "Is the fish smell in with the peat or are they separate?"
Ellison tiled his head his eyes falling half closed for a second, and Teal'c could see Carter tighten her grip on his arm. "The smells are together. The peat smells faintly of fish parts," Ellison finally offered.
"They're most likely at the same place," O'Neill told Walter over the phone. O'Neill listened in silence, his face obscured by shadow. "Thanks Walter." He closed the phone and turned to them. "We're looking for a fish composting plant. There are two south of the city, so that's where we're going. The Cascade PD and the Air Force team can follow up on any other leads until we get back." O'Neill started walking toward the door, leaving the rest of them to follow.
Ellison shook his head. "I should have been there."
"While you would have fought well, you would have been unable to prevent these people from taking Blair Sandburg," Teal'c offered Ellison as they did follow.
Ellison glanced down toward Teal'c's leg. The pant leg was torn open just enough to see the deep hole in his dark skin, and blood stained the front of the leg. "I know you did your best..."
"It will heal," Teal'c assured the man. He had suffered far greater wounds, and while it was true that the leg would be vulnerable for a time, it would not bother him the way it would a human without a goa'uld larva to assist in the healing.
"I would have heard something. I would have known they were in the building," Ellison said, clearly blaming himself. Teal'c exchanged a look with Carter. Guilt was not a safe emotion when one had a task at hand.
"You can't have your senses turned up all the time," Carter said slowly.
"When Blair's around, I do," Ellison said, his jaw tight. And with that, he lengthened his stride, hurrying to catch up with O'Neill and making it very clear that he did not intend to discuss the subject any farther.
"Touchy," Carter said softly.
"Indeed," Teal'c agreed. Privately, he thought that the word applied equally to O'Neill and Ellison right now. Hopefully they would find their missing members before either man reached the end of his patience.