New SGU Fic: Cold Hunt (T): StarGateLand
Title: Cold Hunt
Author: Kimmy4eytj
Rating: T (PG-13)
Content Flags: AU fic and picspam // slight gore and violence
Spoilers: none
Characters: Tamara Johansen, Everett Young
Word Count: 1796
Summary: Tracking this Goa'uld proved costly to my team.
Author's Notes: Written for stargateland Phase 7, challenge 14, "That's Not Canon, Part 2." A Stargate character is paired with a non-Stargate character in a picspam; then write a story that explains the combination of characters. I chose Tamara Johansen from SGU with Knowles from Relic Hunter.
Disclaimer: see bottom of post.
Please leave any comments at my LJ. It helps to keep them all in one place. Thanks.
<<>><<>><<>>
The Goa'uld we were tracking had a particularly nasty skill set: intricate ambushes that when tripped, gave him the confusion he needed to slip away. Too many teams had returned decimated, or not at all. For this reason, my team had been expanded by several people and now included a medic.
My objections to Stargate Command that she'd only slow us down were overruled. They knew it was a lame excuse. TJ had the same combat training we all had. I trusted her with my life.
Stargate Command also knew we were involved. They chose to use psychology as an extra incentive for me to be that much more careful.
Rumors of a Goa'uld safe base in the mountains had spurred our Intelligence people to recommend this mission. Sure enough, the Goa'uld was leading us up a mountain. As we climbed higher, we had to worry about thinning air and colder temperatures. The Goa'uld compensated for those effects to its host automatically.
Tracking this Goa'uld has proved costly to my team. On our last encounter, I lost two men who had fallen into a pit and had been impaled on pikes. As the team stared down at their bodies, I could feel their morale plummeting. We all knew the score. To a one, I watched them gather their courage, adjust their rucksacks, set their jaws and head out on the trail once again.
After checking my field maps, I decided to attack this mountain from two directions. I sent five men along a glacier ridge while the remaining three and TJ stayed with me. We were three quarters up a steep incline, when I heard the distinctive sound of an explosion. A sharp, sickening crack like a bone breaking, then deep, ground-shaking rumble as part of the glacier broke away. I could only watch as my men disappeared beneath tons of ice and rock. My anger warmed me for a time, then transformed into ice-hardened hatred.
I turned back to my team. Their faces spoke of their fear. All except TJ. She just stared back at me steadily, confident, giving me the strength to continue.
“Let's go,” I said, shifting my pack and bending forward against the incline, I started climbing again.
We moved swiftly despite our aching lungs and legs. The sun slid behind a range of mountains and the air grew colder. Stars shone bright in the clear darkening sky as night approached. I couldn't risk prolonged exposure of the team and started hunting for a place to hole up.
We stumbled upon the Goa'uld base by accident. One moment we edged along a cliff face, then it appeared out of the gathering mist. I ducked down along a small ice ridge. The team knelled down behind me, using the time to catch their breaths and swig water. I pulled out my small binoculars and scanned the area.
There wasn't any movement. Except for the steadily increasing wind, it was eerily silent.
I didn't like it. He had to know we were still hunting him. Unless he thought the glacier got all of us. He might think were all dead. This Goa'uld had proven his craftiness. I would be foolish to believe that he would dismiss us out of hand. I refuse to have lost all those men and let him get away.
I had no choice. I had to get into the structure to find the Goa'uld.
There appeared to be two entrances. One was set along a wide, low overhang with the appearance of a hangar bay. The other entrance had the look of a man-made opening in the rock face.
“Corporal Stamos.” I gestured for him to join me and handed him my binoculars. “The low overhang. It could be a hangar bay. Take Peck and Collins, get over there and check it out. Sabotage any craft you find. When you get inside the complex, give me two clicks. TJ and I will go for the other opening. If you see that son of a bitch, you kill him.”
“My pleasure, Sir,” he said, then turned away to gather the other men. I dropped down beside TJ and told her the plan. She handed me a water bottle and I swallowed several large swigs to ease my dry throat. We stripped out of our clumsy, cold weather gear and prepared for combat. When we were all ready, I led us around the ridge, then ran to our closest cover. I waited until I saw Stamos' team at the overhang, and he signaled they were ready. Then we all entered our assigned areas at the same time.
The entrance turned into a tunnel hewed through the rock and ice, angling down until our heads were below the entrance level, then turned sharply right. It opened up into a dimly lit corridor. The place was a mess. The floor was littered with papers and electronic equipment lying busted open. Parts crunched under our feet.
We came to a split in the corridor, and I sent TJ to the left while I continued straight ahead. Empty rooms, and labs filled with computers were all I found. Searching for an enemy in an unfamiliar environment is nerve-racking at best, then combined with the deadly nature of this Goa'uld really ratcheted up my awareness of every sound. I admit to jumping when Stamos keyed his mike twice to let me know they had entered the structure.
A short time later gunfire and explosions erupted behind me. It appeared to be moving in my direction as I ran toward the popping sounds. Then it stopped. Neither Stamos nor TJ called on the radio. That cold icy hatred resurfaced when I came upon Stamos and his team sprawled where they fell. I stared down at them for a time before I made my decision.
“TJ, do you read,” I whispered into the radio.
I heard her breathless anxiety in her whispered reply. “Yes, Sir. What happened?”
“We're getting out of here. Make your way back to where we split up.”
“On my way. Five minutes.”
I left my men where they lay. There was nothing I could do for them except take their tags and wish their souls rest. I intended to call in an air strike to this location and blow this damn Goa'uld off the face of the planet. I was certain Stamos had sabotaged any escape the Goa'uld had planned using aircraft, so that left a risky descent on foot. I aimed to blow the rocky entrance TJ and I had come through after we exited. One option less for the Goa'uld bastard.
Speaking of TJ, where was she? She should have been here by now.
“TJ,” I whispered.
There was just the hiss of white noise. My chest tightened and I struggled to hold myself still when every fiber of my being screamed to run and find her. Then one click came over the radio.
That wasn't the signal to indicate trouble. When no further clicks followed, I knew. The Goa'uld had her.
These last days seemed to catch up with me and my legs felt leaden and weak. I slumped down along the wall. A headache blossomed behind my left eye. I pressed the heel of my hand to my eyebrow hoping to lessen the sharp pulsing.
“Think, Everett,” I hissed.
I wouldn't leave TJ in the Goa'uld's hands. This bastard had proven to be quite the masochist by taking his pleasure with inordinate glee. Should I try to find her, and save her, or should I go with my plan to blow this place up with her and the Goa'uld inside? Logic said TJ was not vitally important in the context of this mission, that none of us were if we could kill this Goa'uld outright.
If I hated him before, it was compounded tenfold now. I stood up, looking down the dim corridor she should have emerged from and felt a tear run down my cheek. My hand tightened upon my weapon's grip and I turned my around and started towards the outside tunnel.
I heard TJ scream.
I was running down the corridor without realizing I had turned back toward her. I slowed as I regained my composure and proceeded much more quietly, remembering to check around me for motion. My mistakes started compounding further when I spotted TJ's pack then her outer jacket. I thought I was being cautious when really all I did was walk right into the Goa'uld's sights. The barrel of a weapon being jammed against my neck stopped me hard.
I straightened and he laughed, coldly superior.
His distorted deep voice did nothing but irritate me. It really pissed me off that his condescending laugh would be the last sound I heard.
“I expected a better hunt from you, Colonel Young,” he said. “I've always heard so much about you. To fail because of a female, ... tsk, tsk.”
“Where is she,” I asked, not minding that my irritation showed in my voice.
“She is rather strikingly beautiful. I can see why you fell for her scream.” He poked the barrel several times against my neck. “My consort will be well pleased with her body. Take that thought to your grave, Colonel.”
He laughed again and I knew my time was done.
I waited for the brief moment of pain.
I heard movement behind us and the barrel shifted slightly against my neck. I took the chance and shifted in the opposite direction, swinging my body around prepared to charge him. Instead I stopped still at the sight of a metal pole going through the Goa'uld's chest.
He looked down at it in surprise, losing his grip on the weapon and dropped to his knees.
TJ held the end of the pole and twisted it up and around in the Goa'uld's chest eliciting a moan from him. His eyes glowed bright white, then faded to his host's normal color. He fell to the side, dead.
I looked from him to her.
Her right cheek and temple were bleeding. She lost that tightly focused expression as she looked up from the dead Goa'uld to me. A small fleeting smile cracked her face before she rushed into my arms. I held her as she trembled, burying her face into my chest.
“I guess I distracted him for you, huh.” I laughed against her ear.
She started laughing and pulled back to look at me. Then she was kissing me.
I should never want to be any place else than in her arms.
After a time, I stepped back. “Let's check in with Stargate Command, then find a bed. I have some thanking to do.”
“You most certainly do, Colonel. And I intend to make you thank me often.”
© kimmy4eytj, February 2012
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and places are the property of MGM, ACME Shark, and Spyglass Productions and their subsidiaries. This piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment not monetary purposes and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Author: Kimmy4eytj
Rating: T (PG-13)
Content Flags: AU fic and picspam // slight gore and violence
Spoilers: none
Characters: Tamara Johansen, Everett Young
Word Count: 1796
Summary: Tracking this Goa'uld proved costly to my team.
Author's Notes: Written for stargateland Phase 7, challenge 14, "That's Not Canon, Part 2." A Stargate character is paired with a non-Stargate character in a picspam; then write a story that explains the combination of characters. I chose Tamara Johansen from SGU with Knowles from Relic Hunter.
Disclaimer: see bottom of post.
Please leave any comments at my LJ. It helps to keep them all in one place. Thanks.
<<>><<>><<>>
The Goa'uld we were tracking had a particularly nasty skill set: intricate ambushes that when tripped, gave him the confusion he needed to slip away. Too many teams had returned decimated, or not at all. For this reason, my team had been expanded by several people and now included a medic.
My objections to Stargate Command that she'd only slow us down were overruled. They knew it was a lame excuse. TJ had the same combat training we all had. I trusted her with my life.
Stargate Command also knew we were involved. They chose to use psychology as an extra incentive for me to be that much more careful.
Rumors of a Goa'uld safe base in the mountains had spurred our Intelligence people to recommend this mission. Sure enough, the Goa'uld was leading us up a mountain. As we climbed higher, we had to worry about thinning air and colder temperatures. The Goa'uld compensated for those effects to its host automatically.
Tracking this Goa'uld has proved costly to my team. On our last encounter, I lost two men who had fallen into a pit and had been impaled on pikes. As the team stared down at their bodies, I could feel their morale plummeting. We all knew the score. To a one, I watched them gather their courage, adjust their rucksacks, set their jaws and head out on the trail once again.
After checking my field maps, I decided to attack this mountain from two directions. I sent five men along a glacier ridge while the remaining three and TJ stayed with me. We were three quarters up a steep incline, when I heard the distinctive sound of an explosion. A sharp, sickening crack like a bone breaking, then deep, ground-shaking rumble as part of the glacier broke away. I could only watch as my men disappeared beneath tons of ice and rock. My anger warmed me for a time, then transformed into ice-hardened hatred.
I turned back to my team. Their faces spoke of their fear. All except TJ. She just stared back at me steadily, confident, giving me the strength to continue.
“Let's go,” I said, shifting my pack and bending forward against the incline, I started climbing again.
We moved swiftly despite our aching lungs and legs. The sun slid behind a range of mountains and the air grew colder. Stars shone bright in the clear darkening sky as night approached. I couldn't risk prolonged exposure of the team and started hunting for a place to hole up.
We stumbled upon the Goa'uld base by accident. One moment we edged along a cliff face, then it appeared out of the gathering mist. I ducked down along a small ice ridge. The team knelled down behind me, using the time to catch their breaths and swig water. I pulled out my small binoculars and scanned the area.
There wasn't any movement. Except for the steadily increasing wind, it was eerily silent.
I didn't like it. He had to know we were still hunting him. Unless he thought the glacier got all of us. He might think were all dead. This Goa'uld had proven his craftiness. I would be foolish to believe that he would dismiss us out of hand. I refuse to have lost all those men and let him get away.
I had no choice. I had to get into the structure to find the Goa'uld.
There appeared to be two entrances. One was set along a wide, low overhang with the appearance of a hangar bay. The other entrance had the look of a man-made opening in the rock face.
“Corporal Stamos.” I gestured for him to join me and handed him my binoculars. “The low overhang. It could be a hangar bay. Take Peck and Collins, get over there and check it out. Sabotage any craft you find. When you get inside the complex, give me two clicks. TJ and I will go for the other opening. If you see that son of a bitch, you kill him.”
“My pleasure, Sir,” he said, then turned away to gather the other men. I dropped down beside TJ and told her the plan. She handed me a water bottle and I swallowed several large swigs to ease my dry throat. We stripped out of our clumsy, cold weather gear and prepared for combat. When we were all ready, I led us around the ridge, then ran to our closest cover. I waited until I saw Stamos' team at the overhang, and he signaled they were ready. Then we all entered our assigned areas at the same time.
The entrance turned into a tunnel hewed through the rock and ice, angling down until our heads were below the entrance level, then turned sharply right. It opened up into a dimly lit corridor. The place was a mess. The floor was littered with papers and electronic equipment lying busted open. Parts crunched under our feet.
We came to a split in the corridor, and I sent TJ to the left while I continued straight ahead. Empty rooms, and labs filled with computers were all I found. Searching for an enemy in an unfamiliar environment is nerve-racking at best, then combined with the deadly nature of this Goa'uld really ratcheted up my awareness of every sound. I admit to jumping when Stamos keyed his mike twice to let me know they had entered the structure.
A short time later gunfire and explosions erupted behind me. It appeared to be moving in my direction as I ran toward the popping sounds. Then it stopped. Neither Stamos nor TJ called on the radio. That cold icy hatred resurfaced when I came upon Stamos and his team sprawled where they fell. I stared down at them for a time before I made my decision.
“TJ, do you read,” I whispered into the radio.
I heard her breathless anxiety in her whispered reply. “Yes, Sir. What happened?”
“We're getting out of here. Make your way back to where we split up.”
“On my way. Five minutes.”
I left my men where they lay. There was nothing I could do for them except take their tags and wish their souls rest. I intended to call in an air strike to this location and blow this damn Goa'uld off the face of the planet. I was certain Stamos had sabotaged any escape the Goa'uld had planned using aircraft, so that left a risky descent on foot. I aimed to blow the rocky entrance TJ and I had come through after we exited. One option less for the Goa'uld bastard.
Speaking of TJ, where was she? She should have been here by now.
“TJ,” I whispered.
There was just the hiss of white noise. My chest tightened and I struggled to hold myself still when every fiber of my being screamed to run and find her. Then one click came over the radio.
That wasn't the signal to indicate trouble. When no further clicks followed, I knew. The Goa'uld had her.
These last days seemed to catch up with me and my legs felt leaden and weak. I slumped down along the wall. A headache blossomed behind my left eye. I pressed the heel of my hand to my eyebrow hoping to lessen the sharp pulsing.
“Think, Everett,” I hissed.
I wouldn't leave TJ in the Goa'uld's hands. This bastard had proven to be quite the masochist by taking his pleasure with inordinate glee. Should I try to find her, and save her, or should I go with my plan to blow this place up with her and the Goa'uld inside? Logic said TJ was not vitally important in the context of this mission, that none of us were if we could kill this Goa'uld outright.
If I hated him before, it was compounded tenfold now. I stood up, looking down the dim corridor she should have emerged from and felt a tear run down my cheek. My hand tightened upon my weapon's grip and I turned my around and started towards the outside tunnel.
I heard TJ scream.
I was running down the corridor without realizing I had turned back toward her. I slowed as I regained my composure and proceeded much more quietly, remembering to check around me for motion. My mistakes started compounding further when I spotted TJ's pack then her outer jacket. I thought I was being cautious when really all I did was walk right into the Goa'uld's sights. The barrel of a weapon being jammed against my neck stopped me hard.
I straightened and he laughed, coldly superior.
His distorted deep voice did nothing but irritate me. It really pissed me off that his condescending laugh would be the last sound I heard.
“I expected a better hunt from you, Colonel Young,” he said. “I've always heard so much about you. To fail because of a female, ... tsk, tsk.”
“Where is she,” I asked, not minding that my irritation showed in my voice.
“She is rather strikingly beautiful. I can see why you fell for her scream.” He poked the barrel several times against my neck. “My consort will be well pleased with her body. Take that thought to your grave, Colonel.”
He laughed again and I knew my time was done.
I waited for the brief moment of pain.
I heard movement behind us and the barrel shifted slightly against my neck. I took the chance and shifted in the opposite direction, swinging my body around prepared to charge him. Instead I stopped still at the sight of a metal pole going through the Goa'uld's chest.
He looked down at it in surprise, losing his grip on the weapon and dropped to his knees.
TJ held the end of the pole and twisted it up and around in the Goa'uld's chest eliciting a moan from him. His eyes glowed bright white, then faded to his host's normal color. He fell to the side, dead.
I looked from him to her.
Her right cheek and temple were bleeding. She lost that tightly focused expression as she looked up from the dead Goa'uld to me. A small fleeting smile cracked her face before she rushed into my arms. I held her as she trembled, burying her face into my chest.
“I guess I distracted him for you, huh.” I laughed against her ear.
She started laughing and pulled back to look at me. Then she was kissing me.
I should never want to be any place else than in her arms.
After a time, I stepped back. “Let's check in with Stargate Command, then find a bed. I have some thanking to do.”
“You most certainly do, Colonel. And I intend to make you thank me often.”
© kimmy4eytj, February 2012
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and places are the property of MGM, ACME Shark, and Spyglass Productions and their subsidiaries. This piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment not monetary purposes and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.