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The Cheyenne Mountain Irregulars: A Stargate Story Hour. Updated 7/20
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<blockquote data-quote="Ladybird" data-source="post: 2069165" data-attributes="member: 10689"><p>“Oh my God,” Kathleen muttered, then scooped her laptop up to her chest and shouted, “We’ve got to get out of here! Chen, go! Start dialing!”</p><p></p><p>The airman took off running. The Jaffa in the rear fired his staff weapon at Chen, and the airman threw himself to the side, rolling into the rubble and dust at the edge of the path. The energy bolt went wide, and Chen scrambled to his feet, struggling back up the rocky embankment towards the path to the DHD.</p><p></p><p>“Fall back!” Kathleen ordered. “Fall back to the gate! Smith, leave that! No, wait – take out the encryption keys. We can’t risk them falling into the wrong hands. Take out the encryption keys and leave the rest! We need to get <em>out</em>!”</p><p></p><p>“Yes, ma’am!” cried Smith.</p><p></p><p>The Jaffa in the rear fired again, this time at Private Stanley. The bolt caught him hard in the shoulder and spun him around, and he crumpled to his knees with scarcely enough breath left to cry out in pain. The other Jaffa skidded to a stop, charging his weapon. Smith and Fitzgerald dove for cover behind the equipment cart, and Greenberg grabbed Dr. Powers, pushing her behind him to shield her. </p><p></p><p>And the second Jaffa’s staff weapon fired, hitting the rearmost Jaffa square in the chest. His face didn’t even have enough time to register surprise before it was planted into the dusty ground.</p><p></p><p>“Tau’ri!” shouted the second Jaffa. “He speaks the truth – there are a hundred Jaffa, led by Sobek. You must leave this place!” More gunfire behind them, and more blasts.</p><p></p><p>Kathleen looked up over the edge of the cart, eyes widening as she stared at the surviving Jaffa. “Ked’rec?”</p><p></p><p>“Indeed it is I,” he replied, lowering the angle of his staff weapon ever so slightly. “You are the one who has left messages?”</p><p></p><p>She had about five seconds to decide whether to trust him. </p><p></p><p>“Yes I am,” she said. “Captain Kathleen Fitzgerald. How far can that thing shoot?” She nodded at the staff weapon.</p><p></p><p>“It has a range of approximately twenty n’bi,” Ked’rec answered.</p><p></p><p>“Twenty what?” asked Greenberg in confusion, but the wheels were already turning in Kathleen’s mind as she made quick translations and calculations. “That’ll have to be far enough,” she said. “Ked’rec, get to the DHD and cover Chen while he dials.” The Jaffa’s impassive face registered the faintest confusion at the unfamiliar terminology. “That thing!” Kathleen fairly shouted, pointing at the DHD. “Smith, get Dr. Powers to the gate.” She reached out to give Dr. Powers a brief touch on the shoulder that served both to steady the other woman and to guide her towards the gate. “Greenberg, how’s Stanley?”</p><p></p><p>Greenberg knelt down and felt quickly at the other Marine’s neck. “He’s alive, ma’am,” he answered, in obvious relief. “He’s in bad shape, but he’s alive.”</p><p></p><p>“Good. Get him to the gate too. Where did Farr and the others go? He’s not responding to the radio.”</p><p></p><p>Greenberg hesistated before answering, grunting with the effort of hoisting Stanley onto his shoulders. The wounded man groaned softly. “Major Farr took the rest of SG-22 north, ma’am.”</p><p></p><p>“All right. I guess…” Kathleen paused, looking around to take stock of who was there. “I guess I’ll stay here to wait for them.” The Stargate whooshed to life, and Kathleen let out a sigh of relief. “Good work, Chen!” she called. “All right, folks, go!” The marines began lumbering through the shimmering pool, ushering Dr. Powers through before them. </p><p> </p><p>“Incoming!” shouted Greenberg. </p><p></p><p>From the west, there was the eerie screech of an aircraft, and a death glider burst forth from the trees. “GO!” Kathleen yelled, and Greenberg dashed through the wormhole, taking the wounded Marine to safety. </p><p></p><p>The tiny ship skimmed down towards the soldiers, firing twin bolts of energy, and they dove for the ground. Ked’rec reached out to push Kathleen down behind the DHD, shielding her beneath him. She, in turn, reached out to shield her laptop in her arms as she crashed onto the hard dusty path. Chen ducked, rolled, and came up with his gun poised, firing up at the glider with a burst of bullets. The glider swooped down and up again, close enough so that the people on the ground could see the insignia on it as it sped past. It was Sobek’s mark, stark black against the metallic gray of the glider’s wings.</p><p></p><p>Sergeant Freeman burst forth from the trees, with Private Lee and Major Farr close behind him. Lee, in the back, kept pausing to turn and fire behind him at their pursuers: ten Jaffa, all with Nuada’s tattoo on their foreheads and Sobek’s sigil on their armor. And with staff weapons raised. </p><p></p><p>There was the telltale zipping sound of staff weapons charging, and Lee and Freeman split off, each diving for cover on one side of the path. Major Farr picked up speed, confident in his ability to outrun the blasts – but at least three bolts hit him in the back. He took one more shocked staggering step, his body propelled forwards by the force of the blasts and the momentum of his running, and then his knees buckled and he went down. </p><p></p><p>Sheltered behind Ked’rec and the DHD, Kathleen actually had a moment to register Farr’s death, and to gulp back a horrified cry. Chen, running only on reflex, spun to aim his spray of bullets towards the oncoming Jaffa, and let out a triumphant shout as two went down. Smith darted out from the cover of the DHD, standing in solitary vulnerability in front of the gate, ready to block any Jaffa who tried to go through, and giving Chen cover to slip through the gate behind him.</p><p></p><p>Freeman stayed down in the rubbly rocks at the side of the path, taking what little cover he could as he fired up at the legs of the marching Jaffa. One of the Jaffa stopped, aiming his staff weapon directly at Freeman, who barely rolled away from the bolt in time. The energy blast blew a singed hole in Freeman’s sleeve, but he was otherwise unhurt – and four of the Jaffa were on the ground, clutching at their wounded legs. </p><p></p><p>Another zipping sound, and another bolt flew out of a staff – but this time it was Ked’rec’s, and it sent another of the Jaffa crumpling into the dust. The three remaining Jaffa spun towards the direction of the blast, weapons raised, alert and on edge…and with their backs to Lee. The Marine sprang up from the side of the road, hitting one of the Jaffa in a flying tackle and sprawled on the ground. Bewildered, the two left spun to face where Lee had been – which left their backs open to Freeman, who raised up on his knees to shoot the Jaffa in theirs.</p><p></p><p>“Smith! Go!” yelled Kathleen. The airman hesitated, looking back towards Lee, who was still rolling on the ground, exchanging punches with the furious but confused last Jaffa. “I said go!” Smith turned and ran.</p><p></p><p>From far down the path came the sound of marching feet. “More of them,” Kathleen groaned. “Freeman! Lee! Come on!”</p><p></p><p>“That sounds like the footsteps of twenty, perhaps thirty,” said Ked’rec, with the perpetual Jaffa calm despite the chaos around him. “Your people fight well, Captain Fitzgerald, but we cannot defeat them all.”</p><p></p><p>“I know. And that’s why we’re getting out of here!” She raised her voice to shout once more. “Freeman! Lee!”</p><p></p><p>Both Marines were on the ground now, entangled in a brawl with the Jaffa. One of the others, despite his wounded legs, was trying to crawl towards them to help his companion.</p><p></p><p>Kathleen ducked down behind the DHD again, mind working furiously. “Ked’rec – the ones that are coming – do they know you’re working for us?”</p><p></p><p>“I do not believe that any of them do. Even these did not know, and I do not think they saw that it was I who fired upon them.”</p><p></p><p>“Good. Then if this group gets any closer…take me prisoner.”</p><p></p><p>“But we are no longer adversaries, Captain Fitzgerald.”</p><p></p><p>“I <em>know</em>! Look, it’s to buy us a little time. If they don’t know that you’re on our side now, if you pretend to have captured me, maybe we can get them to back off for a little while – talk our way through things, and then take them by surprise when we run for the gate.”</p><p></p><p>Freeman and Lee looked up from the brawl, hearing the sound of footsteps. They glanced at each other, then Lee stood up, while Freeman gave the fallen Jaffa one final, vicious kick. “Down for the count,” said Freeman, as the Jaffa let out a roar of pain. “Let’s go!” As the Marines took off towards the gate, there was an ominous squeal from overhead – the death glider was returning.</p><p></p><p>“All right, scratch that,” said Kathleen. “Just run.” She sprang to her feet, poised to take off towards the gate. </p><p></p><p>“Do you mean that I should run with you or away from you?” Ked’rec asked.</p><p></p><p>She had fewer than five seconds to decide whether to trust him this time.</p><p></p><p>“With. Come on!” she yelled to the others. “Get out!” She turned back to Ked’rec. “Twenty n’bi, huh? Let’s see what you can do against that thing.” She gave a quick nod towards the glider, then took off.</p><p></p><p>Freeman and Lee thundered towards the gate, each pausing at one edge of the shimmering ring as the Jaffa marched forward. Ked’rec let Kathleen go, then straightened up to fire one precise shot upwards at the approaching glider. The bolt clipped the edge of the glider’s wing, but the craft kept coming. </p><p></p><p>Lee dove forward first, with Freeman close behind him. Then Kathleen, still sprinting at full speed, not even turning around to see if the shot she heard Ked’rec fire at the glider hit.</p><p></p><p>There was the chilly rushing sound of passage through the wormhole, and the dizzying sense of traveling in all directions at once…</p><p></p><p>…and then Kathleen was running down the ramp into the gate room of the SGC, computer still cradled in her arms.</p><p></p><p>“Closing the iris, sir,” came the microphoned voice of the airman on duty in the control room.</p><p></p><p>“No!” cried Kathleen. “There’s one more!”</p><p></p><p>And Ked’rec rushed through the Stargate, heavy boots clattering on the metal ramp.</p><p></p><p>“Now! Close it!” Kathleen yelled.</p><p></p><p>An energy bolt shot out through the open wormhole, and Ked’rec and Kathleen hit the deck together, rolling down the hard metal ramp with a series of hollow clanks.</p><p></p><p>And then the wormhole cut off, and the iris spun shut, and the room was silent.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ladybird, post: 2069165, member: 10689"] “Oh my God,” Kathleen muttered, then scooped her laptop up to her chest and shouted, “We’ve got to get out of here! Chen, go! Start dialing!” The airman took off running. The Jaffa in the rear fired his staff weapon at Chen, and the airman threw himself to the side, rolling into the rubble and dust at the edge of the path. The energy bolt went wide, and Chen scrambled to his feet, struggling back up the rocky embankment towards the path to the DHD. “Fall back!” Kathleen ordered. “Fall back to the gate! Smith, leave that! No, wait – take out the encryption keys. We can’t risk them falling into the wrong hands. Take out the encryption keys and leave the rest! We need to get [I]out[/I]!” “Yes, ma’am!” cried Smith. The Jaffa in the rear fired again, this time at Private Stanley. The bolt caught him hard in the shoulder and spun him around, and he crumpled to his knees with scarcely enough breath left to cry out in pain. The other Jaffa skidded to a stop, charging his weapon. Smith and Fitzgerald dove for cover behind the equipment cart, and Greenberg grabbed Dr. Powers, pushing her behind him to shield her. And the second Jaffa’s staff weapon fired, hitting the rearmost Jaffa square in the chest. His face didn’t even have enough time to register surprise before it was planted into the dusty ground. “Tau’ri!” shouted the second Jaffa. “He speaks the truth – there are a hundred Jaffa, led by Sobek. You must leave this place!” More gunfire behind them, and more blasts. Kathleen looked up over the edge of the cart, eyes widening as she stared at the surviving Jaffa. “Ked’rec?” “Indeed it is I,” he replied, lowering the angle of his staff weapon ever so slightly. “You are the one who has left messages?” She had about five seconds to decide whether to trust him. “Yes I am,” she said. “Captain Kathleen Fitzgerald. How far can that thing shoot?” She nodded at the staff weapon. “It has a range of approximately twenty n’bi,” Ked’rec answered. “Twenty what?” asked Greenberg in confusion, but the wheels were already turning in Kathleen’s mind as she made quick translations and calculations. “That’ll have to be far enough,” she said. “Ked’rec, get to the DHD and cover Chen while he dials.” The Jaffa’s impassive face registered the faintest confusion at the unfamiliar terminology. “That thing!” Kathleen fairly shouted, pointing at the DHD. “Smith, get Dr. Powers to the gate.” She reached out to give Dr. Powers a brief touch on the shoulder that served both to steady the other woman and to guide her towards the gate. “Greenberg, how’s Stanley?” Greenberg knelt down and felt quickly at the other Marine’s neck. “He’s alive, ma’am,” he answered, in obvious relief. “He’s in bad shape, but he’s alive.” “Good. Get him to the gate too. Where did Farr and the others go? He’s not responding to the radio.” Greenberg hesistated before answering, grunting with the effort of hoisting Stanley onto his shoulders. The wounded man groaned softly. “Major Farr took the rest of SG-22 north, ma’am.” “All right. I guess…” Kathleen paused, looking around to take stock of who was there. “I guess I’ll stay here to wait for them.” The Stargate whooshed to life, and Kathleen let out a sigh of relief. “Good work, Chen!” she called. “All right, folks, go!” The marines began lumbering through the shimmering pool, ushering Dr. Powers through before them. “Incoming!” shouted Greenberg. From the west, there was the eerie screech of an aircraft, and a death glider burst forth from the trees. “GO!” Kathleen yelled, and Greenberg dashed through the wormhole, taking the wounded Marine to safety. The tiny ship skimmed down towards the soldiers, firing twin bolts of energy, and they dove for the ground. Ked’rec reached out to push Kathleen down behind the DHD, shielding her beneath him. She, in turn, reached out to shield her laptop in her arms as she crashed onto the hard dusty path. Chen ducked, rolled, and came up with his gun poised, firing up at the glider with a burst of bullets. The glider swooped down and up again, close enough so that the people on the ground could see the insignia on it as it sped past. It was Sobek’s mark, stark black against the metallic gray of the glider’s wings. Sergeant Freeman burst forth from the trees, with Private Lee and Major Farr close behind him. Lee, in the back, kept pausing to turn and fire behind him at their pursuers: ten Jaffa, all with Nuada’s tattoo on their foreheads and Sobek’s sigil on their armor. And with staff weapons raised. There was the telltale zipping sound of staff weapons charging, and Lee and Freeman split off, each diving for cover on one side of the path. Major Farr picked up speed, confident in his ability to outrun the blasts – but at least three bolts hit him in the back. He took one more shocked staggering step, his body propelled forwards by the force of the blasts and the momentum of his running, and then his knees buckled and he went down. Sheltered behind Ked’rec and the DHD, Kathleen actually had a moment to register Farr’s death, and to gulp back a horrified cry. Chen, running only on reflex, spun to aim his spray of bullets towards the oncoming Jaffa, and let out a triumphant shout as two went down. Smith darted out from the cover of the DHD, standing in solitary vulnerability in front of the gate, ready to block any Jaffa who tried to go through, and giving Chen cover to slip through the gate behind him. Freeman stayed down in the rubbly rocks at the side of the path, taking what little cover he could as he fired up at the legs of the marching Jaffa. One of the Jaffa stopped, aiming his staff weapon directly at Freeman, who barely rolled away from the bolt in time. The energy blast blew a singed hole in Freeman’s sleeve, but he was otherwise unhurt – and four of the Jaffa were on the ground, clutching at their wounded legs. Another zipping sound, and another bolt flew out of a staff – but this time it was Ked’rec’s, and it sent another of the Jaffa crumpling into the dust. The three remaining Jaffa spun towards the direction of the blast, weapons raised, alert and on edge…and with their backs to Lee. The Marine sprang up from the side of the road, hitting one of the Jaffa in a flying tackle and sprawled on the ground. Bewildered, the two left spun to face where Lee had been – which left their backs open to Freeman, who raised up on his knees to shoot the Jaffa in theirs. “Smith! Go!” yelled Kathleen. The airman hesitated, looking back towards Lee, who was still rolling on the ground, exchanging punches with the furious but confused last Jaffa. “I said go!” Smith turned and ran. From far down the path came the sound of marching feet. “More of them,” Kathleen groaned. “Freeman! Lee! Come on!” “That sounds like the footsteps of twenty, perhaps thirty,” said Ked’rec, with the perpetual Jaffa calm despite the chaos around him. “Your people fight well, Captain Fitzgerald, but we cannot defeat them all.” “I know. And that’s why we’re getting out of here!” She raised her voice to shout once more. “Freeman! Lee!” Both Marines were on the ground now, entangled in a brawl with the Jaffa. One of the others, despite his wounded legs, was trying to crawl towards them to help his companion. Kathleen ducked down behind the DHD again, mind working furiously. “Ked’rec – the ones that are coming – do they know you’re working for us?” “I do not believe that any of them do. Even these did not know, and I do not think they saw that it was I who fired upon them.” “Good. Then if this group gets any closer…take me prisoner.” “But we are no longer adversaries, Captain Fitzgerald.” “I [I]know[/I]! Look, it’s to buy us a little time. If they don’t know that you’re on our side now, if you pretend to have captured me, maybe we can get them to back off for a little while – talk our way through things, and then take them by surprise when we run for the gate.” Freeman and Lee looked up from the brawl, hearing the sound of footsteps. They glanced at each other, then Lee stood up, while Freeman gave the fallen Jaffa one final, vicious kick. “Down for the count,” said Freeman, as the Jaffa let out a roar of pain. “Let’s go!” As the Marines took off towards the gate, there was an ominous squeal from overhead – the death glider was returning. “All right, scratch that,” said Kathleen. “Just run.” She sprang to her feet, poised to take off towards the gate. “Do you mean that I should run with you or away from you?” Ked’rec asked. She had fewer than five seconds to decide whether to trust him this time. “With. Come on!” she yelled to the others. “Get out!” She turned back to Ked’rec. “Twenty n’bi, huh? Let’s see what you can do against that thing.” She gave a quick nod towards the glider, then took off. Freeman and Lee thundered towards the gate, each pausing at one edge of the shimmering ring as the Jaffa marched forward. Ked’rec let Kathleen go, then straightened up to fire one precise shot upwards at the approaching glider. The bolt clipped the edge of the glider’s wing, but the craft kept coming. Lee dove forward first, with Freeman close behind him. Then Kathleen, still sprinting at full speed, not even turning around to see if the shot she heard Ked’rec fire at the glider hit. There was the chilly rushing sound of passage through the wormhole, and the dizzying sense of traveling in all directions at once… …and then Kathleen was running down the ramp into the gate room of the SGC, computer still cradled in her arms. “Closing the iris, sir,” came the microphoned voice of the airman on duty in the control room. “No!” cried Kathleen. “There’s one more!” And Ked’rec rushed through the Stargate, heavy boots clattering on the metal ramp. “Now! Close it!” Kathleen yelled. An energy bolt shot out through the open wormhole, and Ked’rec and Kathleen hit the deck together, rolling down the hard metal ramp with a series of hollow clanks. And then the wormhole cut off, and the iris spun shut, and the room was silent. [/QUOTE]
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