Chapter 264: Retribution Part 3
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Chapter 264: Retribution Part 3
Thule Air Force Base, Greenland, Earth, July 21st, 2002
"We should move the Stargate to Greenland if we keep coming back to this place. Save us a ton of shuttle rides."
Catra's joke wasn't great by any means - not even decent - but Adora forced herself to laugh anyway. After their far-too-close brush with death, they could use a laugh. Any laugh. Adora had exhausted herself keeping her friends alive - and had failed to save so many others, a small voice in the back of her head added - but she'd had it easy; she hadn't suffered through all that pain every few seconds for so long. Catra, Jack and Teal'c, on the other hand… Adora suppressed a shudder thinking about what they had gone through.
She had held Catra after her love had woken up from a nightmare last night. A nightmare Catra had brushed off, refusing to talk about it. Adora hadn't pushed - she'd had a nightmare herself. She had failed to save Catra. Who had died in her arms, cursing her - as had her friends, and everyone else who had died on that planet. And…
Saluting the guards at the lift entrance distracted Adora. She couldn't dwell on that; they were here for an important task: They had to interrogate Nirrti about the attack on Cerador.
She glanced at Jack as they stepped into the cabin. He had snorted at Catra's joke, but it had sounded forced as well. She wondered if she should ask Sam whether Jack had had a nightmare as well… It would be pushy, though.
A few minutes later, they were waiting in the interrogation room for Nirrti to be brought in in a mobile habitat. Catra was pacing, her tail flicking back and forth. Jack was tapping his fingers on the small table in the room. Sam was ignoring it, staring at her laptop. And Teal'c was standing still like a statue.
Adora took a deep breath and forced herself to focus on the task at hand. Nirrti. Who was just being wheeled in in the other half of the room, separated by a thick panel of armoured glass - no one was taking any chances with the Goa'uld.
Nirrti was staring at them next to the keyboard of her communicator. Waiting.
Adora cleared her throat. "Greetings, Nirrti. How are you doing?" Start friendly so they don't feel antagonised.
Nirrti didn't answer for a moment. Then she used the keyboard. "I remain a prisoner," the rather bot-like voice - hadn't Entrapta planned to change that? - replied.
Next to Adora, Jack chuckled, and a glance told Adora that he was grinning at the answer. And Catra was snorting as well.
Adora drew another breath. "We have a few questions for you."
"I do not know what answers I will be able to give, lobotomised as I am." Goa'uld symbiont body language was hard to read, and the tone of the communicator didn't help, so Adora couldn't tell what Nirrti was feeling about this. Except that she hated it, of course.
"We won't get you a host to abuse," Jack said.
"But if you help us, we can grant you a few more privileges in your cell," Adora added quickly.
"Your fish tank," Catra said, fortunately not loud enough for the microphone to pick up.
"Already trying to bribe me?" This time, even the communicator sounded a bit smugly. "My, my, you must have encountered something in my field, then."
Definitely smug. And eager. Maybe a bit too eager?
"You could say that," Jack said, drawling a little.
"We encountered a genetically-engineered virus that was created by two inert components using a catalyst." Sam sounded clinical. "In the field," she added.
"In the field? Oh!" The communicator added a chuckling noise - Nirrti must have deliberately used that, what did Entrapta call it, emote button?
"Was that your work?" Catra asked.
"It's so hard remembering things without a host." Once again, Nirrti's delivery was lost in the communicator's translation.
"You're not that dumb without a host," Jack said.
"How would you know, General?"
"We've caught more than enough of your kind to be able to tell," Jack replied. "As you know."
"An easy deduction even in my state." Nirrti paused for a moment, the symbiont turning to seemingly focus on Adora. "What can you offer for my cooperation?"
"Access to more information," Adora said.
"Scientific material?" Nirrti asked a bit too quickly, Adora realised - she was too eager.
"General information and entertainment," Adora said. Carefully curated so it wouldn't create a security risk.
"That is worthless. Worse than worthless - it's an insult!"
"Oh, someone's feeling prickly!" Jack chuckled again, and Adora glared at him. They needed Nirrti's cooperation.
"Do you fear I might be able to use more information to somehow escape from here?" Nirrti asked. "Construct a laboratory in my cell and create a virus that will eat through the walls and panels, allowing me to flee?"
That would have sounded absurd before Adora had almost seen her friends die to an attack specifically tailored to evade She-Ra's power. "We can't afford to underestimate you," she told Nirrti.
"But can you afford failing to get my cooperation?"
They probably could - Alpha and Loki were researching the matter, as were Entrapta and Sam - but Nirrti's help would be, well, helpful.
"You might not be able to escape this place, but that could change," Catra said.
"Please! You think I am a fool? You will never release me. I've read your books of law."
Right. Access to those was a prisoner's right. Adora suppressed the urge to wince.
"If I am to spend the rest of my life in this cell, bereft of my higher brain functions, I at least want intellectual stimulation so that my descent into an animal-like mental state will not be too quick."
That was hyperbole; Adora had looked into the matter, and the scientists examining the Goa'uld prisoners agreed that there was no continuing mental degradation. They remained stuck as they were without hosts. And yet… Adora looked at Sam and nodded.
"We can grant you access to chosen scientific documents from Earth," Sam said.
"No doubt on the level of children's lessons!"
"If you don't want that, there's always children's entertainment."
"If I have to watch another clumsy propaganda vehicle again… Very well, ask your question."
Adora sighed softly with relief and nodded at Sam to start telling Nirrti what they knew about the attack.
*****
"...and the catalyst degraded - it was designed like that," Samantha Carter finished her briefing. Curated, of course - it would not do to share information that wasn't directly related to the agent used against them, such as Alliance NBC procedures, general tactics, the strategic situation of the Alliance and the Goa'uld Empire and similar information. She didn't doubt that Nirrti would deduce some of that intel anyway; the Goa'uld's mental facilities might be reduced for the lack of a host, but not as significantly as some of her peers might want them to think, and Nirrti was a genius scientist to begin with.
"I see."
Not for the first time, Sam wished she had spent the time to perfect the Goa'uld symbiont communicator with Entrapta; the lack of inflexion and emotion in the voice modulator made it hard to guess what Nirrti was thinking.
The symbiont looked up from the communicator's miniaturised keyboard to stare at Adora, then at the rest of the group in the interrogation room. Waiting for someone to break the silence, probably - this kind of mind game would appeal to Nirrti, according to Analysis. Well, it appealed to any captured high-ranking Goa'uld - they craved even small victories during their imprisonment.
But the group knew this, and everyone simply waited.
"This agent seems to be very similar to a project I was working on," Nirrti went on.
Sam raised her eyebrows. She had considered this, but there hadn't been any supporting evidence. "Both agents?" she asked.
Nirrti twitched a little, the symbiont's head turning towards Sam. "The second; I had no need to work on yet another agent that would attack and dissolve the kind of primitive seals lesser civilisations used to protect their warriors. I finished the last such project a hundred years ago."
"And the tactical applications of a biological or chemical weapon that attacks protective suits are limited. You don't want your attack to be detected too quickly, or it won't have the full effect," Catra said.
"A suitably advanced agent takes this into account, but your point stands."
Sam almost raised her eyebrows in surprise before she could school her features. Nirrti acknowledging a point made by them? Was that an attempt to flatter Catra? "Suitably designed suits report even minimal damage to the seals," Sam said.
"Humans were still using bows and arrows when I was designing these agents," Nirrti shot back.
"Some of us are still using bows and arrows," Adora reminded her.
Nirrti's head flicked around to stare at her. "Arrows with advanced payloads, and not standard issue for your forces. Just a… an eccentricity of some individuals."
That wasn't exactly correct, but it wasn't entirely wrong, either - the Etherians liked using traditional weapons with modern upgrades for cultural reasons, not because they were generally more effective than more conventional weapons. But individuals could be more effective with such weapons, depending on their talent and training - and on magic.
"Yeah, yeah, it's not as if Jaffa use a fancy spear, right?" Jack asked.
"It is a staff weapon, not a spear, O'Neill." Teal'c was almost hard to read as Nirrti.
"It's not a gun."
"That does not make a primitive weapon," Nirrti cut in.
"By that logic, bows and arrows aren't primitive either." Jack grinned at her.
"So, could someone have taken your research and completed it?" Adora spoke up again.
"They would have had to find and then gain access to the lab where I had done the research," Nirrti replied. "As you must surely know, none of my supposed peers have achieved that."
Sam half-expected Jack to quote Airplane!, but he stayed focused. "What's more likely, that they penetrated your security - or that they duplicated and then surpassed your work?"
Somehow, Nirrti managed to portray her annoyance without any electronic help. "Neither stealing and then completing my research nor duplicating it is likely at all."
"But it would be easier to steal your work rather than duplicating it from scratch," Jack said.
Nirrti didn't answer, which was answer enough.
"How far were you in your research before you stopped?" Sam asked.
"I had finished the first version of the agent, but it was a crude version - it lacked an elegant means of disposing of all components after it had achieved the desired results."
"So, if someone didn't care about the crudeness or the lack of easy ways to clean it up, it would have been serviceable?" Jack asked.
"Yes."
For once, Sam was grateful for Nirrti's perfectionism. If the Goa'uld had used such an agent… well, Nirrti was correct in that the Alliance would have quickly adapted, so the long-term effect would have been negligible, but the casualties it would have caused on a densely populated world…
"Who used this agent?"
"It was used to kill Kali," Adora told her.
"Kali? A fitting fate for the traitor."
Sam heard Jack mumble something about pot and kettle.
"So, where was this lab?" Catra asked.
Nirrti hesitated.
"Do you want someone else to keep using your research? And profit from it?" Jack asked with a grin.
This time, the synthetic voice somehow sounded petulant. "No, I do not."
*****
PT-109A, PT-109A-System, July 24th, 2002 (Earth Time)
Hidden in a dense underbrush on a ridge, Catra eyed the hill ahead of her through her binoculars - the latest version, powerful enough not to be rendered obsolete by the improved zoom feature of her helmet. She had to hand it to the Goa'uld mad scientist; the laboratory was hidden very well. Not well enough to escape a deep scan by the sensors of the spy bots in orbit, but a casual long-range scan had already missed it once - it had been placed next to a vein of Naquadah to mask the presence of advanced technology, and the power generators that supplied the lab used 'primitive technology on par with Earth's', to quote Nirrti - turbines fed by the river falling down.
That it was hidden underground went almost without saying, but hiding the entrance behind a waterfall was a bit twisted. Visitors wouldn't leave traces on the ground, though they would be limited to floating vehicles - and those wouldn't leave traces on the ground, either. And passing through the waterfall would be annoying in an open vehicle. All that water… She shivered inside her suit.
"So, who had 'evil lair hidden inside cave behind a waterfall' on your mad scientist bingo card?" Jack asked. "I've got 'evil lair inside a dormant volcano', and I don't think Nirrti would be doing that."
"She's been using water turbines for power generation here; using geothermal energy for another lab wouldn't be much of a stretch. And she could use an eruption to mask the destruction of the laboratory, avoiding the traces an advanced bomb would leave," Sam objected, in a tone that told Catra she was smiling - amused by the opportunity to take Jack's joke and run with it.
He cleared his throat. "Well, anyway - according to the scans we got, the lab is still in use and not destroyed."
"Though there's a self-destruct device installed," Catra cut in. A large-yield enhanced bomb that would turn the cliffside and lab into a molten crater and ensure no agents could escape the lab's destruction. Which was a good thing for this world, of course, even though Catra was sure that Nirrti had only been concerned about protecting her research and striking at her enemies. Not that it had worked in this case since someone - likely Bastet - had taken control of the lab anyway.
"Yes. Which is one of our priorities to secure once we go in," Jack said. "That and the vaults, of course."
"First, we need to find a way inside," Catra said. She didn't want to use the backdoor Nirrti had installed and told them about. The odds that the new owner of the lab had it trapped were too high - especially if they had used it themselves. And, of course, she wouldn't put it past Nirrti to send them into a trap and claim someone else had added it; at one point in her life, Catra would have done the same in her situation.
Not something she liked to think about, of course, and in the middle of a mission wasn't the time for it anyway. "So… front or back?" she asked.
She would prefer to scout out the place before breaking in, preferably with an expendable bot, but Nirrti had set up the lab so it wouldn't need daily or even weekly supply runs, and the place relied on secrecy for its security, so the guards didn't run outside patrols to avoid drawing attention. That meant there wouldn't be an opportunity to sneak a micro spy bot into the lab.
If the planet's magic were released, Glimmer could teleport inside to drop a bot, but as the last attack had shown, Adora might need to release the magic in order to save them all in an emergency, so that wasn't an option. And, of course, releasing a world's magic tended to result in quite noticeable effects and alert the staff of the lab.
"Front. They won't expect that," Jack said.
"Are you sure, Jack?" Daniel asked. "It's the obvious entrance, after all."
"Which means a double-crossing snake will expect us to use the backdoor since that's not obvious."
"A Goa'uld will trap both anyway," Sha're said. "And if this is Bastet, she would want to be able to trap and ambush visitors anyway."
Catra agreed; that was how snakes thought, and Bastet had already betrayed and murdered two of her fellow Goa'uld.
"We'll turn the trap against them," Jack said. "And the main entrance has more room for manoeuvre."
"I think you just want to enter through the waterfall," Daniel said.
Catra snorted; that would fit Jack. Still, it wasn't as if one choice was looking better than the other. Unless… "We could use both."
"Never split the party!" Jack retorted at once.
"If we are separated, I might not be able to heal you in time if something happens," Adora added.
Right. "Good point," Catra conceded. "But we might want a bot there, if only to use as a distraction if we need one."
"Alright. Now, Sam, can you crack those defences?"
Sam didn't reply right away, and Catra turned her head to look at her.
Her friend seemed concerned, staring at her scanner. "I've finished the close scan. The holding area is occupied."
Catra drew a hissing breath. Nirrti had moved the 'research subjects' when she had stopped working in the lab, but it seems that the new owners hadn't just taken her research but were trying to continue it - by experimenting on people.
"Let's go," Adora said in a tight voice.
*****
Outside Hidden Lab, PT-109A, PT-109A-System, July 24th, 2002 (Earth Time)
"Security system spoofed."
"Go!" Jack O'Neill snapped as soon as he heard Sam's report and quickly moved to the edge of the cliff, where the proximity sensors that Sam had just disabled were hidden in the rock, next to the bank of the small river that went over it. He pulled out his rope, used the catalyst to glue it to the stone surface. A brief tug showed the adhesive had worked, and a moment later, he had clipped his suit's harness to it.
On the other side of the river, Catra was doing the same, just a little bit more slowly - she wasn't quite as familiar with the new setup as Jack was from training with his troops. Still more than competent enough to make the cut, of course.
"Going down!" he reported, then jumped backwards over the cliff, next to the waterfall, rappelling down. The ground approach was mined against unauthorised access over the ground, and using advanced technology to fly would have been detected by the sensors inside the lab, where Sam couldn't hack them, but using a rope and climbing harness? That went right past them.
He smirked a little as he stopped his descent, twisted to the left, then used his legs to push himself through the water into the cave behind it. His glove found purchase on the rock there, and he pulled out another catalyst stick to stick his rope to the wall.
"Rope secured." Catra had beaten him by a second, but he had expected that - he had the edge in experience, but she was born for climbing.
As he moved deeper into the cave, his HUD showed him the rest of the group going down the ropes with varying speed and grace. He made a mental note to drag Daniel to the training grounds one of those days. His friend wasn't the worst climber, but he didn't have magic hair to do the heavy lifting for him.
But a few minutes later, everyone was inside the cave, the sensors were still spoofed, and Sam, Entrapta and Bow were working on the massive door.
"Oh, look at that!"
"Like the scan showed."
"Yes, but it's still neat. The array of magnets…"
"They don't make such locks any more."
"What?"
"That's what they always say in your movies, right?"
"We'll need to drill a hole here to access that part."
"On it!"
Jack checked out the cave while they worked. Nirrti's builders - whom she had had killed after completing the lab, he reminded himself - had widened the cave a bit at this point to let heavier transports pass through; the walls didn't look as natural as they did at the entrance. A bit too even and regular, even where they had tried to make it look irregular. Too irregular to be irregular? Daniel would probably love to discuss it, but this wasn't the time.
The sudden noise of metal sliding over metal made him turn back in time to see the door opening, revealing the airlock - large enough to hold a sedan-sized transport. Maybe a pickup, if you were careful.
Large enough for the entire group to fit inside easily, in any case. A perfect trap, Jack couldn't help thinking when the outer door closed behind them - he could see the panels in the roof and walls hiding blaster cannons and even nastier defences; his HUD had them already marked.
Fortunately, the second door didn't take nearly as long to crack; as soon as Bow knelt down at one side with a gadget of his, Sam at the other, and as soon as Entrapta had used her scanner to check for guards - Jack double-checked on his HUD - the door slid open as well.
Catra went through first, followed by Adora, but Jack went right after them.
The lab itself looked very similar to others of its kind Jack had seen: sterile white walls and ceilings - no decor, not even the gilding snakes were so fond of - and a dark metal floor. Even with the advanced combat suit he was wearing, Jack had to be careful not to make a sound; you'd probably hear a marching squad of Jaffa through both doors of the entrance.
His HUD updated the map of the place as Sam and the others deep-scanned the facility. Security room, rew quarters, mess hall, storage rooms, reactor and sensor rooms, main research area - and holding cells. Pretty full holding cells - by his HUD's count, there were as many prisoners as there were guards and research staff.
And, of course, the vaults Nirrti had told them about, where she had stored her finished work.
"Looks like a war crime tribunal waiting to happen," he muttered.
"Security room first," Adora ordered. They had to secure the controls for the self-destruction device buried beneath the lowest level.
They didn't encounter anyone on the way to the security room. No guards were at the door, either. Was that the result of trusting the lab's security to secrecy? Or had whoever had taken over the lab not enough trusted troops to spare for a full guard rotation? Whatever the reason, Jack wouldn't complain if it made the mission easier.
There were four guards inside the security room, all clearly shown on his HUD, as he crouched down next to the door.
"On three," Adora said. "One. Two. Three. Go!"
She kicked the door open and rushed inside. Jack saw her knock out the commander of the guards in the centre of the room while he slid inside as well, leading with his gun. A Jaffa surged from his seat, hand drawing a zak, but Jack cut him down with a suppressed burst to the chest before the man could draw a bead on anyone. The Jaffa fell back into his seat, then slid down, leaving a trail of blood.
Jack whirled, but Catra had dealt with the third guard in the room - the Jaffa was slumped over on his seat, bleeding from a slashed throat - and Adora had grabbed and disarmed the last guard.
Sam was already making a beeline to the central console.
Jack checked his HUD. The markers for the rest of the staff didn't show any reaction; they were either staying stationary or moving slowly. Good. Everything was going according to plan, then.
He looked at Sam. If she could take over the security system, then…
"They disconnected the laboratory's security system," Sam said. "This console only controls the perimeter sensors and defences."
That wasn't like Nirrti had described it.
"And the self-destruct device?" Adora asked.
Sam shook her head. "The controls for that are not here either."
Shit. They had to find and secure those controls. Before they got discovered and some zealot decided to rather kill everyone than be defeated.
*****
Hidden Lab, PT-109A, PT-109A-System, July 24th, 2002 (Earth Time)
The security centre didn't have control over the laboratory's internal security and self-destruction trigger. That meant someone else had to have the triggers for both. "Can you find out who the Goa'uld in charge of the laboratory is?" Adora asked.
"Would Bastet or whoever is behind this plot really trust another Goa'uld?" Catra spoke up before anyone else could answer.
"No," Sha're said. "Whether it's Bastet or someone else, we can be certain that they betrayed Kali. They wouldn't trust another Goa'uld with control over this laboratory. They would choose a Jaffa to watch the Goa'uld. One willing to die for them if it meant killing their enemies."
Adora had to agree - Goa'uld didn't trust each other at all. Even Yu, who seemed the most rational of the System Lords, trusted Jaffa and humans with power before his own children.
"The Jaffa in charge could keep the controls for those on him at all times," Bow suggested.
That sounded paranoid, which would fit. It also meant those controls could be stolen, but if a spy or saboteur had infiltrated the hidden laboratory, they probably already had access to the security centre as well, so that wasn't a real drawback or weakness.
"I'm running a deep scan for such controls," Sam announced.
"It's a bit tricky since such a control pad could be as compact as a communicator, so we have to calibrate the scanner just right to filter those out. Unless it is a communicator, of course," Entrapta added. "And…" She cocked her head to the side, her visor glowing slightly. "There are two such communicators or communicator-like devices inside the laboratory space. I mean, the entire building, not the laboratory space of the laboratory. Although one is inside the actual laboratory!"
"One is carried by a Jaffa in the guards' quarters, and one is left inside a storage room in the laboratory proper," Sam announced as Adora's HUD displayed a marker for both devices.
"The Jaffa with the thingie will be the commander in charge of the lab. And the other… Hidden by a spy?" Jack asked.
"If it is a communicator," Bow said. "The culprit we're looking for could be one of the Goa'uld here, betraying Kali."
Catra shook her head. "I doubt they would still be in the laboratory in that case - they would have to completely trust their plan to work without them being present. And a way to get a warning so they can flee if it fails. And that would imply having a co-conspirator they'd trust not to sell them out - or betray them after the attack." She hesitated a moment. "The real traitor could be controlling either system from afar instead."
That meant they could trigger the bomb at any time. A very dangerous situation, if it was true. "I agree." Adora nodded. "But we need to secure both devices before anyone can use them. Without causing an alert that might cause whoever has the control to trigger the bomb."
"And hope those are the devices we need," Jack added.
"No pressure," Glimmer joked with a grim expression.
"We'll need to secure the self-destruct device and disable the internal security system anyway," Adora replied. "We can take out the remaining guards, but if that's a bust, we'll have to split up. Secure the second device while we disable the security and the bomb."
No one liked this, she could easily tell from their expressions, but no one opposed the idea either.
Adora used her HUD to check the cameras the scanners had detected. "Can you deal with the internal cameras from here?" she asked.
"We'll need to send in a micro spy bot with a transmitter to access one camera," Bow replied. "But that should allow us to hack any camera connected to the network."
"Do it."
Adora clenched her teeth, watching the door - and her HUD - while her friends worked. She hated waiting like this, unable to do anything, while her friends were in danger. She kept an eye on the markers showing the guards as well - there were no roaming patrols so far, but those would likely be random and not permanent.
Fortunately, it didn't take very long until the micro spy bot had reached the closest camera, and even less time for her friends to take control of it - Nirrti really must have trusted the security of the lab to obscurity. Or whoever had taken it over had not upgraded the security system at all.
"We've got the cameras spoofed," Bow reported.
"Let's go!" Adora snapped as she opened the door. The guards' quarters were just down the corridor, and none of them was outside. She couldn't rush down, though - running on this floor would make so much noise, it would alert the guards, including the one with the potential trigger. So she had to walk slowly, carefully, to the crew quarters.
Halfway down the corridor, she noticed four markers moving to the door from the other side, and drew a sharp breath. A patrol going out!
Next to her, Catra hissed - and then rushed forward, using her claws to sprint along the wall and the ceiling!
No! Adora had to struggle not to run after her reckless love.
Catra reached the doors a moment before they opened, hanging from the ceiling, and as soon as the metal doors slid open, she swung down, claws out, onto the squad coming through. Blood splattered as she raked her claws over the two Jaffa forming the first rank.
Adora dashed forward as the remaining two managed to scream before Catra cut them down as well, her boots pounding the metal floor loud enough to drown out the yelling from inside the crew quarters.
She jumped over the four bodies in the doorway, into the entrance area of the Jaffa quarters. Half a dozen guards were up, weapons aiming at Catra, who was wall-running again, going on all fours straight for the Jaffa carrying the communicator-device in the next room.
"No!" Adora snarled, charging the closest two Jaffa and smashing them into the wall with a swing of her shield before they could fire at Catra. A kick in the stomach sent a third guard into the ceiling as she changed her shield into a sword.
Two guards turned to face her; the third kept firing at Catra, who had just reached the door leading further into the quarters. Adora swept her sword in a horizontal arc before her, grunting through her clenched teeth as she cut both in half, and the remaining guard was shot by Jack and Teal'c a moment later.
Adora didn't stop, rushing forward, pushing the body out of the way before it hit the ground, and followed Catra into the next room - just in time to see a severed hand still holding a round device hit the ground.
A moment later, a shredded body followed, and Catra, her combat suit covered in blood, sent her a fierce smile.
Adora heard several shots behind her, then Jack's announcement over the communicator: "Quarters secure."
Good, that only left…
"The self-destruct device has gone active!" Sam's alert interrupted Adora's thoughts. "It's powering up!"
*****
"He must have pushed the trigger before I cut his hand off!"
That meant they had the device secured! Samantha Carter rushed past the dead Jaffa into the room where Adora and Catra were. She almost crashed into Adora, but the other woman stepped out of the way at the last moment, causing Sam to stumble as she was caught in the middle of her attempt to dodge.
"Here!"
Sam grabbed the object flying towards her out of reflex. The control device! She ignored the voice in the back of her head that berated her for grabbing an unknown object that could have been a grenade and quickly examined it. "Modified Goa'uld FTL communicator," she mumbled. That meant they couldn't jam it with the gear they had - they would need to order a frigate in orbit to use its ECM.
"The bomb is still powering up. Energy levels… If it goes critical, the whole lab is gone," Bow reported.
She studied the controls. This was the button that would bring up a holographic display, for communication or as a user interface, on standard communicators of this type. What if whoever was behind this had altered the device so it would trigger the self-destruct? No, she didn't think the Goa'uld behind this would risk losing the entire lab by accident if, say, a Jaffa mistook the device for a standard communicator - like if the commander were indisposed.
She still held her breath as she pushed the button, then softly sighed - and ignored Catra narrowing her eyes at her - as the holo-display appeared.
Yes, definitely not a standard device - the encryption options were much wider. And those controls… "Unlabelled, of course," she muttered.
"How much time do we have?" Catra asked.
"If the device keeps powering up at a constant rate - and it has been doing so - we have two minutes and fifteen seconds until the unit cannot contain the power stored inside it any more. At least, according to my calculations," Entrapta replied as she joined Sam in the room. "Oh, neat!" She smiled at the device. "You got it going already."
"That sounds inefficient. Not that I am complaining, mind you," Jack commented.
"Oh, the bomb had enough power to destroy the laboratory before this," Entrapta told him. "This is just adding more power. Probably to ensure the entire area is gone."
Sam flipped through a few menus on the screen. Communication channels, a few presets - she made a mental note to copy the settings afterwards - alert settings… Had they hidden the bomb controls under normal communications? No, they would want a quick and easy way to start the countdown. One button - or two pushed simultaneously. But why the countdown?
"They must have a two-stage detonation sequence, one to arm it, one to trigger it, and you stopped him before he could trigger it. But it is still going to detonate if the stop command fails to be sent," Sam told Catra.
Catra tapped her helmet. "Let me check the records… Oh. He pushed the two side buttons when I cut him down."
A moment later, a message arrived in Sam's HUD. Yes, the Jaffa had been pushing two buttons, Sam confirmed, then stopped when Catra's claws appeared in the recording.
"One minute twenty seconds left," Bow said - he had joined them as well. "If we want to evacuate, we need to do it now."
"But the prisoners…" Adora trailed off. "I could unleash the world's magic and… take out the bomb."
"File that as plan B," Jack said. "Carter?"
Two buttons to arm it. Two buttons to disarm it? It would be logical. And functional. Not the same buttons, though; pushing them twice would likely trigger the bomb immediately - easy to do that when stressed.
"I'm checking if we can hack the bomb!" Entrapta announced.
That meant… Four possible button combinations. Could they be trapped? Again, unlikely if the laboratory was valued. Sam drew a deep breath. If tapping those two armed the bomb, tapping the two others would be a logical way to disarm the bomb. Fewer chances to make a mistake.
"Forty-five seconds."
"I'd have to crack the codes to hack the bomb. That will take a while."
Just because it was logical didn't mean the Goa'uld would do it, Sam reminded herself. They were paranoid. But they were also pragmatic. And they didn't really trust anyone and thought they were better than everyone else. Would they trust their Jaffa to handle a complicated scheme? Would they trust a Jaffa who could handle such a scheme?
"Thirty-five seconds. Adora…"
Sam pressed the other two buttons simultaneously.
"Change in status! The bomb's… powering down."
Sam sighed with relief as Adora lowered her sword and the others cheered. That had been close. Of course, Adora could have stopped the bomb, but if that had set free a bioweapon that she couldn't counter normally…
Well, they had stopped the bomb. Now they could secure the lab, capture the scientists and free the prisoners.
And find out who was the owner of the other device that they had discovered.
*****
Catra watched as the HUD updated, more details being added while the micro spy bot continued its course towards the communicator inside the laboratory proper. Part of her just wanted to charge into the laboratory and take out everyone before they could react - cut them down where necessary; they were conducting experiments with prisoners, after all. But if they, if she were too slow again… The risk of the bomb below the laboratory going off was too great.
So, they needed to secure the - potential - second trigger first. Even though Catra didn't think Bastet, or any other Goa'uld, would have trusted two people with the power to destroy the entire lab.
So, Catra waited. And tried not to unsheath and sheath her claws while she did so.
"M-Bot is almost at the storage room!" Entrapta commented.
Good.
"Checking the door controls! Oh, look at that!" Entrapta sounded surprised. And interested.
"That's a new subroutine." Bow sounded concerned. "A secondary security system?"
"No, I don't think so - we would have detected that at the lab entrance." Sam disagreed.
"Oh! Maybe whoever hid the device installed this to know who visited the storage room?" Entrapta asked.
"Or someone wants to know who hid the device," Sam speculated.
Either was possible. Catra leaned towards the second possibility. A spy would have placed the device in a room that could be accessed without raising suspicion - and by so many people that it wouldn't expose them if the device was found inside. On the other hand, a spy would want to know if someone spotted the device and left it in place to trap them.
"That would mean they need to have a sensor to check when the device is used," Bow said.
"We didn't find any such sensor with our scan, though."
"M-Bot, look for a sensor!"
On her HUD, Catra saw the bot entering the storage room - her friends must have dealt with the subroutine.
She flexed her claws in anticipation. Soon.
"If there's no advanced sensor watching for the communicator being used, then it has to be simple," Bow said. "And easy to check after a visit."
"I don't see any mechanism. And neither does M-Bot."
Catra rolled her eyes. "Check for dust patterns, a hair or something like that on the box containing the device."
"Oh! Good idea!"
Experience. Taught by growing up and then leading the Horde. Catra didn't mention that. And didn't react to the glance sent her way by Adora.
"I don't think it's dust - servants will be expected to clean in the lab, even in the storage room," Sam pointed out. "But… You were right - there's a hair placed so it would be dislodged when the box is opened."
Catra nodded.
"Opening the box!"
Catra switched the feed on her HUD to the bot's main sensors just in time to see the device inside a box filled with a variety of other items.
"It looks like a standard communicator," Entrapta commented.
"The other one did as well," Bow said.
"Scans show modifications. But different from the ones the first device has," Sam reported.
"Can you secure it without triggering a failsafe or something?" Jack asked.
"The close scan doesn't show any trap. Nor any activity that would indicate a dead man's trigger," Sam replied.
"So, plan glue it is!" Entrapta was smiling.
"Do it!" Adora ordered.
On her HUD, Catra saw the micro spy bot spraying glue on each of the device's buttons. By the time it had covered the last button, the first was already sealed under a hardened shell.
"Device secured."
"M-Bot going into sleep mode."
The bot's battery was almost empty, anyway - running the stealth system was a huge power drain. Which limited the micro spy bots' use for exploration. But they were good enough for such work.
"Alright. Check your targets!" Adora spoke up.
"Ready," Catra replied. Her assigned targets were amongst the furthest from the entrance. This time, she wouldn't be too slow.
The others' confirmations followed.
Adora nodded again. "Open the door."
The door opened into an airlock - Nirrti had taken a lot of precautions in this lab - large enough for half a dozen people. More if you didn't mind feeling claustrophobic and helpless while the airlock cycled.
Catra did, but the mission came first, so everyone went in, and the airlock closed.
Catra felt the change in pressure as the air was sucked out and then replaced. Having to use a vacuum suit to enter and leave was cumbersome, but it would keep people from playing fast and loose with safety protocols - Catra knew from her Horde days how lazy soldiers liked to skip elementary safety procedures.
And, she thought, clenching her teeth, the airlock would also hinder any escape attempt by the prisoners used for the experiments.
Then the inner door opened, and Catra burst out of the airlock, racing down the hallway towards the back of the laboratory. Where the snakes she had been assigned were working.
Her claws tore into the metal floor, the sound drowned out by the noise made by everyone else rushing behind her, and on her HUD, she saw the staff of the laboratory react. She grinned when she saw one marker move towards a door ahead of her.
A shot from her zat took the snake down as soon as the door slid open and they appeared in her field of view. She was past it before the stunned Goa'uld hit the ground.
A few seconds later, she entered the corridor leading to her targets' room. The two Goa'uld had split up. One was still in their room, the other was… running all-out down the corridor.
Towards the storage room with the communicator, she realised as the first of her friends reported their targets down over the communicator channel.
Flashing her fangs, she took care of the one who had stayed in place first. The Goa'uld had a zat of their own, but Catra was too fast for them. She stunned them, grabbed the zat, and tore off after the other.
She almost hoped the Goa'uld would reach the storage room, to see their expression when they realised their device had been sabotaged. But she caught up to them one junction before that.
Although the way his eyes widened behind his suit's faceplate when he looked over his shoulder, right before she shot him, was nice as well.
"Both targets down," she reported.
The lab was secure.
*****
Thule Air Force Base, Greenland, Earth, July 21st, 2002
"We should move the Stargate to Greenland if we keep coming back to this place. Save us a ton of shuttle rides."
Catra's joke wasn't great by any means - not even decent - but Adora forced herself to laugh anyway. After their far-too-close brush with death, they could use a laugh. Any laugh. Adora had exhausted herself keeping her friends alive - and had failed to save so many others, a small voice in the back of her head added - but she'd had it easy; she hadn't suffered through all that pain every few seconds for so long. Catra, Jack and Teal'c, on the other hand… Adora suppressed a shudder thinking about what they had gone through.
She had held Catra after her love had woken up from a nightmare last night. A nightmare Catra had brushed off, refusing to talk about it. Adora hadn't pushed - she'd had a nightmare herself. She had failed to save Catra. Who had died in her arms, cursing her - as had her friends, and everyone else who had died on that planet. And…
Saluting the guards at the lift entrance distracted Adora. She couldn't dwell on that; they were here for an important task: They had to interrogate Nirrti about the attack on Cerador.
She glanced at Jack as they stepped into the cabin. He had snorted at Catra's joke, but it had sounded forced as well. She wondered if she should ask Sam whether Jack had had a nightmare as well… It would be pushy, though.
A few minutes later, they were waiting in the interrogation room for Nirrti to be brought in in a mobile habitat. Catra was pacing, her tail flicking back and forth. Jack was tapping his fingers on the small table in the room. Sam was ignoring it, staring at her laptop. And Teal'c was standing still like a statue.
Adora took a deep breath and forced herself to focus on the task at hand. Nirrti. Who was just being wheeled in in the other half of the room, separated by a thick panel of armoured glass - no one was taking any chances with the Goa'uld.
Nirrti was staring at them next to the keyboard of her communicator. Waiting.
Adora cleared her throat. "Greetings, Nirrti. How are you doing?" Start friendly so they don't feel antagonised.
Nirrti didn't answer for a moment. Then she used the keyboard. "I remain a prisoner," the rather bot-like voice - hadn't Entrapta planned to change that? - replied.
Next to Adora, Jack chuckled, and a glance told Adora that he was grinning at the answer. And Catra was snorting as well.
Adora drew another breath. "We have a few questions for you."
"I do not know what answers I will be able to give, lobotomised as I am." Goa'uld symbiont body language was hard to read, and the tone of the communicator didn't help, so Adora couldn't tell what Nirrti was feeling about this. Except that she hated it, of course.
"We won't get you a host to abuse," Jack said.
"But if you help us, we can grant you a few more privileges in your cell," Adora added quickly.
"Your fish tank," Catra said, fortunately not loud enough for the microphone to pick up.
"Already trying to bribe me?" This time, even the communicator sounded a bit smugly. "My, my, you must have encountered something in my field, then."
Definitely smug. And eager. Maybe a bit too eager?
"You could say that," Jack said, drawling a little.
"We encountered a genetically-engineered virus that was created by two inert components using a catalyst." Sam sounded clinical. "In the field," she added.
"In the field? Oh!" The communicator added a chuckling noise - Nirrti must have deliberately used that, what did Entrapta call it, emote button?
"Was that your work?" Catra asked.
"It's so hard remembering things without a host." Once again, Nirrti's delivery was lost in the communicator's translation.
"You're not that dumb without a host," Jack said.
"How would you know, General?"
"We've caught more than enough of your kind to be able to tell," Jack replied. "As you know."
"An easy deduction even in my state." Nirrti paused for a moment, the symbiont turning to seemingly focus on Adora. "What can you offer for my cooperation?"
"Access to more information," Adora said.
"Scientific material?" Nirrti asked a bit too quickly, Adora realised - she was too eager.
"General information and entertainment," Adora said. Carefully curated so it wouldn't create a security risk.
"That is worthless. Worse than worthless - it's an insult!"
"Oh, someone's feeling prickly!" Jack chuckled again, and Adora glared at him. They needed Nirrti's cooperation.
"Do you fear I might be able to use more information to somehow escape from here?" Nirrti asked. "Construct a laboratory in my cell and create a virus that will eat through the walls and panels, allowing me to flee?"
That would have sounded absurd before Adora had almost seen her friends die to an attack specifically tailored to evade She-Ra's power. "We can't afford to underestimate you," she told Nirrti.
"But can you afford failing to get my cooperation?"
They probably could - Alpha and Loki were researching the matter, as were Entrapta and Sam - but Nirrti's help would be, well, helpful.
"You might not be able to escape this place, but that could change," Catra said.
"Please! You think I am a fool? You will never release me. I've read your books of law."
Right. Access to those was a prisoner's right. Adora suppressed the urge to wince.
"If I am to spend the rest of my life in this cell, bereft of my higher brain functions, I at least want intellectual stimulation so that my descent into an animal-like mental state will not be too quick."
That was hyperbole; Adora had looked into the matter, and the scientists examining the Goa'uld prisoners agreed that there was no continuing mental degradation. They remained stuck as they were without hosts. And yet… Adora looked at Sam and nodded.
"We can grant you access to chosen scientific documents from Earth," Sam said.
"No doubt on the level of children's lessons!"
"If you don't want that, there's always children's entertainment."
"If I have to watch another clumsy propaganda vehicle again… Very well, ask your question."
Adora sighed softly with relief and nodded at Sam to start telling Nirrti what they knew about the attack.
*****
"...and the catalyst degraded - it was designed like that," Samantha Carter finished her briefing. Curated, of course - it would not do to share information that wasn't directly related to the agent used against them, such as Alliance NBC procedures, general tactics, the strategic situation of the Alliance and the Goa'uld Empire and similar information. She didn't doubt that Nirrti would deduce some of that intel anyway; the Goa'uld's mental facilities might be reduced for the lack of a host, but not as significantly as some of her peers might want them to think, and Nirrti was a genius scientist to begin with.
"I see."
Not for the first time, Sam wished she had spent the time to perfect the Goa'uld symbiont communicator with Entrapta; the lack of inflexion and emotion in the voice modulator made it hard to guess what Nirrti was thinking.
The symbiont looked up from the communicator's miniaturised keyboard to stare at Adora, then at the rest of the group in the interrogation room. Waiting for someone to break the silence, probably - this kind of mind game would appeal to Nirrti, according to Analysis. Well, it appealed to any captured high-ranking Goa'uld - they craved even small victories during their imprisonment.
But the group knew this, and everyone simply waited.
"This agent seems to be very similar to a project I was working on," Nirrti went on.
Sam raised her eyebrows. She had considered this, but there hadn't been any supporting evidence. "Both agents?" she asked.
Nirrti twitched a little, the symbiont's head turning towards Sam. "The second; I had no need to work on yet another agent that would attack and dissolve the kind of primitive seals lesser civilisations used to protect their warriors. I finished the last such project a hundred years ago."
"And the tactical applications of a biological or chemical weapon that attacks protective suits are limited. You don't want your attack to be detected too quickly, or it won't have the full effect," Catra said.
"A suitably advanced agent takes this into account, but your point stands."
Sam almost raised her eyebrows in surprise before she could school her features. Nirrti acknowledging a point made by them? Was that an attempt to flatter Catra? "Suitably designed suits report even minimal damage to the seals," Sam said.
"Humans were still using bows and arrows when I was designing these agents," Nirrti shot back.
"Some of us are still using bows and arrows," Adora reminded her.
Nirrti's head flicked around to stare at her. "Arrows with advanced payloads, and not standard issue for your forces. Just a… an eccentricity of some individuals."
That wasn't exactly correct, but it wasn't entirely wrong, either - the Etherians liked using traditional weapons with modern upgrades for cultural reasons, not because they were generally more effective than more conventional weapons. But individuals could be more effective with such weapons, depending on their talent and training - and on magic.
"Yeah, yeah, it's not as if Jaffa use a fancy spear, right?" Jack asked.
"It is a staff weapon, not a spear, O'Neill." Teal'c was almost hard to read as Nirrti.
"It's not a gun."
"That does not make a primitive weapon," Nirrti cut in.
"By that logic, bows and arrows aren't primitive either." Jack grinned at her.
"So, could someone have taken your research and completed it?" Adora spoke up again.
"They would have had to find and then gain access to the lab where I had done the research," Nirrti replied. "As you must surely know, none of my supposed peers have achieved that."
Sam half-expected Jack to quote Airplane!, but he stayed focused. "What's more likely, that they penetrated your security - or that they duplicated and then surpassed your work?"
Somehow, Nirrti managed to portray her annoyance without any electronic help. "Neither stealing and then completing my research nor duplicating it is likely at all."
"But it would be easier to steal your work rather than duplicating it from scratch," Jack said.
Nirrti didn't answer, which was answer enough.
"How far were you in your research before you stopped?" Sam asked.
"I had finished the first version of the agent, but it was a crude version - it lacked an elegant means of disposing of all components after it had achieved the desired results."
"So, if someone didn't care about the crudeness or the lack of easy ways to clean it up, it would have been serviceable?" Jack asked.
"Yes."
For once, Sam was grateful for Nirrti's perfectionism. If the Goa'uld had used such an agent… well, Nirrti was correct in that the Alliance would have quickly adapted, so the long-term effect would have been negligible, but the casualties it would have caused on a densely populated world…
"Who used this agent?"
"It was used to kill Kali," Adora told her.
"Kali? A fitting fate for the traitor."
Sam heard Jack mumble something about pot and kettle.
"So, where was this lab?" Catra asked.
Nirrti hesitated.
"Do you want someone else to keep using your research? And profit from it?" Jack asked with a grin.
This time, the synthetic voice somehow sounded petulant. "No, I do not."
*****
PT-109A, PT-109A-System, July 24th, 2002 (Earth Time)
Hidden in a dense underbrush on a ridge, Catra eyed the hill ahead of her through her binoculars - the latest version, powerful enough not to be rendered obsolete by the improved zoom feature of her helmet. She had to hand it to the Goa'uld mad scientist; the laboratory was hidden very well. Not well enough to escape a deep scan by the sensors of the spy bots in orbit, but a casual long-range scan had already missed it once - it had been placed next to a vein of Naquadah to mask the presence of advanced technology, and the power generators that supplied the lab used 'primitive technology on par with Earth's', to quote Nirrti - turbines fed by the river falling down.
That it was hidden underground went almost without saying, but hiding the entrance behind a waterfall was a bit twisted. Visitors wouldn't leave traces on the ground, though they would be limited to floating vehicles - and those wouldn't leave traces on the ground, either. And passing through the waterfall would be annoying in an open vehicle. All that water… She shivered inside her suit.
"So, who had 'evil lair hidden inside cave behind a waterfall' on your mad scientist bingo card?" Jack asked. "I've got 'evil lair inside a dormant volcano', and I don't think Nirrti would be doing that."
"She's been using water turbines for power generation here; using geothermal energy for another lab wouldn't be much of a stretch. And she could use an eruption to mask the destruction of the laboratory, avoiding the traces an advanced bomb would leave," Sam objected, in a tone that told Catra she was smiling - amused by the opportunity to take Jack's joke and run with it.
He cleared his throat. "Well, anyway - according to the scans we got, the lab is still in use and not destroyed."
"Though there's a self-destruct device installed," Catra cut in. A large-yield enhanced bomb that would turn the cliffside and lab into a molten crater and ensure no agents could escape the lab's destruction. Which was a good thing for this world, of course, even though Catra was sure that Nirrti had only been concerned about protecting her research and striking at her enemies. Not that it had worked in this case since someone - likely Bastet - had taken control of the lab anyway.
"Yes. Which is one of our priorities to secure once we go in," Jack said. "That and the vaults, of course."
"First, we need to find a way inside," Catra said. She didn't want to use the backdoor Nirrti had installed and told them about. The odds that the new owner of the lab had it trapped were too high - especially if they had used it themselves. And, of course, she wouldn't put it past Nirrti to send them into a trap and claim someone else had added it; at one point in her life, Catra would have done the same in her situation.
Not something she liked to think about, of course, and in the middle of a mission wasn't the time for it anyway. "So… front or back?" she asked.
She would prefer to scout out the place before breaking in, preferably with an expendable bot, but Nirrti had set up the lab so it wouldn't need daily or even weekly supply runs, and the place relied on secrecy for its security, so the guards didn't run outside patrols to avoid drawing attention. That meant there wouldn't be an opportunity to sneak a micro spy bot into the lab.
If the planet's magic were released, Glimmer could teleport inside to drop a bot, but as the last attack had shown, Adora might need to release the magic in order to save them all in an emergency, so that wasn't an option. And, of course, releasing a world's magic tended to result in quite noticeable effects and alert the staff of the lab.
"Front. They won't expect that," Jack said.
"Are you sure, Jack?" Daniel asked. "It's the obvious entrance, after all."
"Which means a double-crossing snake will expect us to use the backdoor since that's not obvious."
"A Goa'uld will trap both anyway," Sha're said. "And if this is Bastet, she would want to be able to trap and ambush visitors anyway."
Catra agreed; that was how snakes thought, and Bastet had already betrayed and murdered two of her fellow Goa'uld.
"We'll turn the trap against them," Jack said. "And the main entrance has more room for manoeuvre."
"I think you just want to enter through the waterfall," Daniel said.
Catra snorted; that would fit Jack. Still, it wasn't as if one choice was looking better than the other. Unless… "We could use both."
"Never split the party!" Jack retorted at once.
"If we are separated, I might not be able to heal you in time if something happens," Adora added.
Right. "Good point," Catra conceded. "But we might want a bot there, if only to use as a distraction if we need one."
"Alright. Now, Sam, can you crack those defences?"
Sam didn't reply right away, and Catra turned her head to look at her.
Her friend seemed concerned, staring at her scanner. "I've finished the close scan. The holding area is occupied."
Catra drew a hissing breath. Nirrti had moved the 'research subjects' when she had stopped working in the lab, but it seems that the new owners hadn't just taken her research but were trying to continue it - by experimenting on people.
"Let's go," Adora said in a tight voice.
*****
Outside Hidden Lab, PT-109A, PT-109A-System, July 24th, 2002 (Earth Time)
"Security system spoofed."
"Go!" Jack O'Neill snapped as soon as he heard Sam's report and quickly moved to the edge of the cliff, where the proximity sensors that Sam had just disabled were hidden in the rock, next to the bank of the small river that went over it. He pulled out his rope, used the catalyst to glue it to the stone surface. A brief tug showed the adhesive had worked, and a moment later, he had clipped his suit's harness to it.
On the other side of the river, Catra was doing the same, just a little bit more slowly - she wasn't quite as familiar with the new setup as Jack was from training with his troops. Still more than competent enough to make the cut, of course.
"Going down!" he reported, then jumped backwards over the cliff, next to the waterfall, rappelling down. The ground approach was mined against unauthorised access over the ground, and using advanced technology to fly would have been detected by the sensors inside the lab, where Sam couldn't hack them, but using a rope and climbing harness? That went right past them.
He smirked a little as he stopped his descent, twisted to the left, then used his legs to push himself through the water into the cave behind it. His glove found purchase on the rock there, and he pulled out another catalyst stick to stick his rope to the wall.
"Rope secured." Catra had beaten him by a second, but he had expected that - he had the edge in experience, but she was born for climbing.
As he moved deeper into the cave, his HUD showed him the rest of the group going down the ropes with varying speed and grace. He made a mental note to drag Daniel to the training grounds one of those days. His friend wasn't the worst climber, but he didn't have magic hair to do the heavy lifting for him.
But a few minutes later, everyone was inside the cave, the sensors were still spoofed, and Sam, Entrapta and Bow were working on the massive door.
"Oh, look at that!"
"Like the scan showed."
"Yes, but it's still neat. The array of magnets…"
"They don't make such locks any more."
"What?"
"That's what they always say in your movies, right?"
"We'll need to drill a hole here to access that part."
"On it!"
Jack checked out the cave while they worked. Nirrti's builders - whom she had had killed after completing the lab, he reminded himself - had widened the cave a bit at this point to let heavier transports pass through; the walls didn't look as natural as they did at the entrance. A bit too even and regular, even where they had tried to make it look irregular. Too irregular to be irregular? Daniel would probably love to discuss it, but this wasn't the time.
The sudden noise of metal sliding over metal made him turn back in time to see the door opening, revealing the airlock - large enough to hold a sedan-sized transport. Maybe a pickup, if you were careful.
Large enough for the entire group to fit inside easily, in any case. A perfect trap, Jack couldn't help thinking when the outer door closed behind them - he could see the panels in the roof and walls hiding blaster cannons and even nastier defences; his HUD had them already marked.
Fortunately, the second door didn't take nearly as long to crack; as soon as Bow knelt down at one side with a gadget of his, Sam at the other, and as soon as Entrapta had used her scanner to check for guards - Jack double-checked on his HUD - the door slid open as well.
Catra went through first, followed by Adora, but Jack went right after them.
The lab itself looked very similar to others of its kind Jack had seen: sterile white walls and ceilings - no decor, not even the gilding snakes were so fond of - and a dark metal floor. Even with the advanced combat suit he was wearing, Jack had to be careful not to make a sound; you'd probably hear a marching squad of Jaffa through both doors of the entrance.
His HUD updated the map of the place as Sam and the others deep-scanned the facility. Security room, rew quarters, mess hall, storage rooms, reactor and sensor rooms, main research area - and holding cells. Pretty full holding cells - by his HUD's count, there were as many prisoners as there were guards and research staff.
And, of course, the vaults Nirrti had told them about, where she had stored her finished work.
"Looks like a war crime tribunal waiting to happen," he muttered.
"Security room first," Adora ordered. They had to secure the controls for the self-destruction device buried beneath the lowest level.
They didn't encounter anyone on the way to the security room. No guards were at the door, either. Was that the result of trusting the lab's security to secrecy? Or had whoever had taken over the lab not enough trusted troops to spare for a full guard rotation? Whatever the reason, Jack wouldn't complain if it made the mission easier.
There were four guards inside the security room, all clearly shown on his HUD, as he crouched down next to the door.
"On three," Adora said. "One. Two. Three. Go!"
She kicked the door open and rushed inside. Jack saw her knock out the commander of the guards in the centre of the room while he slid inside as well, leading with his gun. A Jaffa surged from his seat, hand drawing a zak, but Jack cut him down with a suppressed burst to the chest before the man could draw a bead on anyone. The Jaffa fell back into his seat, then slid down, leaving a trail of blood.
Jack whirled, but Catra had dealt with the third guard in the room - the Jaffa was slumped over on his seat, bleeding from a slashed throat - and Adora had grabbed and disarmed the last guard.
Sam was already making a beeline to the central console.
Jack checked his HUD. The markers for the rest of the staff didn't show any reaction; they were either staying stationary or moving slowly. Good. Everything was going according to plan, then.
He looked at Sam. If she could take over the security system, then…
"They disconnected the laboratory's security system," Sam said. "This console only controls the perimeter sensors and defences."
That wasn't like Nirrti had described it.
"And the self-destruct device?" Adora asked.
Sam shook her head. "The controls for that are not here either."
Shit. They had to find and secure those controls. Before they got discovered and some zealot decided to rather kill everyone than be defeated.
*****
Hidden Lab, PT-109A, PT-109A-System, July 24th, 2002 (Earth Time)
The security centre didn't have control over the laboratory's internal security and self-destruction trigger. That meant someone else had to have the triggers for both. "Can you find out who the Goa'uld in charge of the laboratory is?" Adora asked.
"Would Bastet or whoever is behind this plot really trust another Goa'uld?" Catra spoke up before anyone else could answer.
"No," Sha're said. "Whether it's Bastet or someone else, we can be certain that they betrayed Kali. They wouldn't trust another Goa'uld with control over this laboratory. They would choose a Jaffa to watch the Goa'uld. One willing to die for them if it meant killing their enemies."
Adora had to agree - Goa'uld didn't trust each other at all. Even Yu, who seemed the most rational of the System Lords, trusted Jaffa and humans with power before his own children.
"The Jaffa in charge could keep the controls for those on him at all times," Bow suggested.
That sounded paranoid, which would fit. It also meant those controls could be stolen, but if a spy or saboteur had infiltrated the hidden laboratory, they probably already had access to the security centre as well, so that wasn't a real drawback or weakness.
"I'm running a deep scan for such controls," Sam announced.
"It's a bit tricky since such a control pad could be as compact as a communicator, so we have to calibrate the scanner just right to filter those out. Unless it is a communicator, of course," Entrapta added. "And…" She cocked her head to the side, her visor glowing slightly. "There are two such communicators or communicator-like devices inside the laboratory space. I mean, the entire building, not the laboratory space of the laboratory. Although one is inside the actual laboratory!"
"One is carried by a Jaffa in the guards' quarters, and one is left inside a storage room in the laboratory proper," Sam announced as Adora's HUD displayed a marker for both devices.
"The Jaffa with the thingie will be the commander in charge of the lab. And the other… Hidden by a spy?" Jack asked.
"If it is a communicator," Bow said. "The culprit we're looking for could be one of the Goa'uld here, betraying Kali."
Catra shook her head. "I doubt they would still be in the laboratory in that case - they would have to completely trust their plan to work without them being present. And a way to get a warning so they can flee if it fails. And that would imply having a co-conspirator they'd trust not to sell them out - or betray them after the attack." She hesitated a moment. "The real traitor could be controlling either system from afar instead."
That meant they could trigger the bomb at any time. A very dangerous situation, if it was true. "I agree." Adora nodded. "But we need to secure both devices before anyone can use them. Without causing an alert that might cause whoever has the control to trigger the bomb."
"And hope those are the devices we need," Jack added.
"No pressure," Glimmer joked with a grim expression.
"We'll need to secure the self-destruct device and disable the internal security system anyway," Adora replied. "We can take out the remaining guards, but if that's a bust, we'll have to split up. Secure the second device while we disable the security and the bomb."
No one liked this, she could easily tell from their expressions, but no one opposed the idea either.
Adora used her HUD to check the cameras the scanners had detected. "Can you deal with the internal cameras from here?" she asked.
"We'll need to send in a micro spy bot with a transmitter to access one camera," Bow replied. "But that should allow us to hack any camera connected to the network."
"Do it."
Adora clenched her teeth, watching the door - and her HUD - while her friends worked. She hated waiting like this, unable to do anything, while her friends were in danger. She kept an eye on the markers showing the guards as well - there were no roaming patrols so far, but those would likely be random and not permanent.
Fortunately, it didn't take very long until the micro spy bot had reached the closest camera, and even less time for her friends to take control of it - Nirrti really must have trusted the security of the lab to obscurity. Or whoever had taken it over had not upgraded the security system at all.
"We've got the cameras spoofed," Bow reported.
"Let's go!" Adora snapped as she opened the door. The guards' quarters were just down the corridor, and none of them was outside. She couldn't rush down, though - running on this floor would make so much noise, it would alert the guards, including the one with the potential trigger. So she had to walk slowly, carefully, to the crew quarters.
Halfway down the corridor, she noticed four markers moving to the door from the other side, and drew a sharp breath. A patrol going out!
Next to her, Catra hissed - and then rushed forward, using her claws to sprint along the wall and the ceiling!
No! Adora had to struggle not to run after her reckless love.
Catra reached the doors a moment before they opened, hanging from the ceiling, and as soon as the metal doors slid open, she swung down, claws out, onto the squad coming through. Blood splattered as she raked her claws over the two Jaffa forming the first rank.
Adora dashed forward as the remaining two managed to scream before Catra cut them down as well, her boots pounding the metal floor loud enough to drown out the yelling from inside the crew quarters.
She jumped over the four bodies in the doorway, into the entrance area of the Jaffa quarters. Half a dozen guards were up, weapons aiming at Catra, who was wall-running again, going on all fours straight for the Jaffa carrying the communicator-device in the next room.
"No!" Adora snarled, charging the closest two Jaffa and smashing them into the wall with a swing of her shield before they could fire at Catra. A kick in the stomach sent a third guard into the ceiling as she changed her shield into a sword.
Two guards turned to face her; the third kept firing at Catra, who had just reached the door leading further into the quarters. Adora swept her sword in a horizontal arc before her, grunting through her clenched teeth as she cut both in half, and the remaining guard was shot by Jack and Teal'c a moment later.
Adora didn't stop, rushing forward, pushing the body out of the way before it hit the ground, and followed Catra into the next room - just in time to see a severed hand still holding a round device hit the ground.
A moment later, a shredded body followed, and Catra, her combat suit covered in blood, sent her a fierce smile.
Adora heard several shots behind her, then Jack's announcement over the communicator: "Quarters secure."
Good, that only left…
"The self-destruct device has gone active!" Sam's alert interrupted Adora's thoughts. "It's powering up!"
*****
"He must have pushed the trigger before I cut his hand off!"
That meant they had the device secured! Samantha Carter rushed past the dead Jaffa into the room where Adora and Catra were. She almost crashed into Adora, but the other woman stepped out of the way at the last moment, causing Sam to stumble as she was caught in the middle of her attempt to dodge.
"Here!"
Sam grabbed the object flying towards her out of reflex. The control device! She ignored the voice in the back of her head that berated her for grabbing an unknown object that could have been a grenade and quickly examined it. "Modified Goa'uld FTL communicator," she mumbled. That meant they couldn't jam it with the gear they had - they would need to order a frigate in orbit to use its ECM.
"The bomb is still powering up. Energy levels… If it goes critical, the whole lab is gone," Bow reported.
She studied the controls. This was the button that would bring up a holographic display, for communication or as a user interface, on standard communicators of this type. What if whoever was behind this had altered the device so it would trigger the self-destruct? No, she didn't think the Goa'uld behind this would risk losing the entire lab by accident if, say, a Jaffa mistook the device for a standard communicator - like if the commander were indisposed.
She still held her breath as she pushed the button, then softly sighed - and ignored Catra narrowing her eyes at her - as the holo-display appeared.
Yes, definitely not a standard device - the encryption options were much wider. And those controls… "Unlabelled, of course," she muttered.
"How much time do we have?" Catra asked.
"If the device keeps powering up at a constant rate - and it has been doing so - we have two minutes and fifteen seconds until the unit cannot contain the power stored inside it any more. At least, according to my calculations," Entrapta replied as she joined Sam in the room. "Oh, neat!" She smiled at the device. "You got it going already."
"That sounds inefficient. Not that I am complaining, mind you," Jack commented.
"Oh, the bomb had enough power to destroy the laboratory before this," Entrapta told him. "This is just adding more power. Probably to ensure the entire area is gone."
Sam flipped through a few menus on the screen. Communication channels, a few presets - she made a mental note to copy the settings afterwards - alert settings… Had they hidden the bomb controls under normal communications? No, they would want a quick and easy way to start the countdown. One button - or two pushed simultaneously. But why the countdown?
"They must have a two-stage detonation sequence, one to arm it, one to trigger it, and you stopped him before he could trigger it. But it is still going to detonate if the stop command fails to be sent," Sam told Catra.
Catra tapped her helmet. "Let me check the records… Oh. He pushed the two side buttons when I cut him down."
A moment later, a message arrived in Sam's HUD. Yes, the Jaffa had been pushing two buttons, Sam confirmed, then stopped when Catra's claws appeared in the recording.
"One minute twenty seconds left," Bow said - he had joined them as well. "If we want to evacuate, we need to do it now."
"But the prisoners…" Adora trailed off. "I could unleash the world's magic and… take out the bomb."
"File that as plan B," Jack said. "Carter?"
Two buttons to arm it. Two buttons to disarm it? It would be logical. And functional. Not the same buttons, though; pushing them twice would likely trigger the bomb immediately - easy to do that when stressed.
"I'm checking if we can hack the bomb!" Entrapta announced.
That meant… Four possible button combinations. Could they be trapped? Again, unlikely if the laboratory was valued. Sam drew a deep breath. If tapping those two armed the bomb, tapping the two others would be a logical way to disarm the bomb. Fewer chances to make a mistake.
"Forty-five seconds."
"I'd have to crack the codes to hack the bomb. That will take a while."
Just because it was logical didn't mean the Goa'uld would do it, Sam reminded herself. They were paranoid. But they were also pragmatic. And they didn't really trust anyone and thought they were better than everyone else. Would they trust their Jaffa to handle a complicated scheme? Would they trust a Jaffa who could handle such a scheme?
"Thirty-five seconds. Adora…"
Sam pressed the other two buttons simultaneously.
"Change in status! The bomb's… powering down."
Sam sighed with relief as Adora lowered her sword and the others cheered. That had been close. Of course, Adora could have stopped the bomb, but if that had set free a bioweapon that she couldn't counter normally…
Well, they had stopped the bomb. Now they could secure the lab, capture the scientists and free the prisoners.
And find out who was the owner of the other device that they had discovered.
*****
Catra watched as the HUD updated, more details being added while the micro spy bot continued its course towards the communicator inside the laboratory proper. Part of her just wanted to charge into the laboratory and take out everyone before they could react - cut them down where necessary; they were conducting experiments with prisoners, after all. But if they, if she were too slow again… The risk of the bomb below the laboratory going off was too great.
So, they needed to secure the - potential - second trigger first. Even though Catra didn't think Bastet, or any other Goa'uld, would have trusted two people with the power to destroy the entire lab.
So, Catra waited. And tried not to unsheath and sheath her claws while she did so.
"M-Bot is almost at the storage room!" Entrapta commented.
Good.
"Checking the door controls! Oh, look at that!" Entrapta sounded surprised. And interested.
"That's a new subroutine." Bow sounded concerned. "A secondary security system?"
"No, I don't think so - we would have detected that at the lab entrance." Sam disagreed.
"Oh! Maybe whoever hid the device installed this to know who visited the storage room?" Entrapta asked.
"Or someone wants to know who hid the device," Sam speculated.
Either was possible. Catra leaned towards the second possibility. A spy would have placed the device in a room that could be accessed without raising suspicion - and by so many people that it wouldn't expose them if the device was found inside. On the other hand, a spy would want to know if someone spotted the device and left it in place to trap them.
"That would mean they need to have a sensor to check when the device is used," Bow said.
"We didn't find any such sensor with our scan, though."
"M-Bot, look for a sensor!"
On her HUD, Catra saw the bot entering the storage room - her friends must have dealt with the subroutine.
She flexed her claws in anticipation. Soon.
"If there's no advanced sensor watching for the communicator being used, then it has to be simple," Bow said. "And easy to check after a visit."
"I don't see any mechanism. And neither does M-Bot."
Catra rolled her eyes. "Check for dust patterns, a hair or something like that on the box containing the device."
"Oh! Good idea!"
Experience. Taught by growing up and then leading the Horde. Catra didn't mention that. And didn't react to the glance sent her way by Adora.
"I don't think it's dust - servants will be expected to clean in the lab, even in the storage room," Sam pointed out. "But… You were right - there's a hair placed so it would be dislodged when the box is opened."
Catra nodded.
"Opening the box!"
Catra switched the feed on her HUD to the bot's main sensors just in time to see the device inside a box filled with a variety of other items.
"It looks like a standard communicator," Entrapta commented.
"The other one did as well," Bow said.
"Scans show modifications. But different from the ones the first device has," Sam reported.
"Can you secure it without triggering a failsafe or something?" Jack asked.
"The close scan doesn't show any trap. Nor any activity that would indicate a dead man's trigger," Sam replied.
"So, plan glue it is!" Entrapta was smiling.
"Do it!" Adora ordered.
On her HUD, Catra saw the micro spy bot spraying glue on each of the device's buttons. By the time it had covered the last button, the first was already sealed under a hardened shell.
"Device secured."
"M-Bot going into sleep mode."
The bot's battery was almost empty, anyway - running the stealth system was a huge power drain. Which limited the micro spy bots' use for exploration. But they were good enough for such work.
"Alright. Check your targets!" Adora spoke up.
"Ready," Catra replied. Her assigned targets were amongst the furthest from the entrance. This time, she wouldn't be too slow.
The others' confirmations followed.
Adora nodded again. "Open the door."
The door opened into an airlock - Nirrti had taken a lot of precautions in this lab - large enough for half a dozen people. More if you didn't mind feeling claustrophobic and helpless while the airlock cycled.
Catra did, but the mission came first, so everyone went in, and the airlock closed.
Catra felt the change in pressure as the air was sucked out and then replaced. Having to use a vacuum suit to enter and leave was cumbersome, but it would keep people from playing fast and loose with safety protocols - Catra knew from her Horde days how lazy soldiers liked to skip elementary safety procedures.
And, she thought, clenching her teeth, the airlock would also hinder any escape attempt by the prisoners used for the experiments.
Then the inner door opened, and Catra burst out of the airlock, racing down the hallway towards the back of the laboratory. Where the snakes she had been assigned were working.
Her claws tore into the metal floor, the sound drowned out by the noise made by everyone else rushing behind her, and on her HUD, she saw the staff of the laboratory react. She grinned when she saw one marker move towards a door ahead of her.
A shot from her zat took the snake down as soon as the door slid open and they appeared in her field of view. She was past it before the stunned Goa'uld hit the ground.
A few seconds later, she entered the corridor leading to her targets' room. The two Goa'uld had split up. One was still in their room, the other was… running all-out down the corridor.
Towards the storage room with the communicator, she realised as the first of her friends reported their targets down over the communicator channel.
Flashing her fangs, she took care of the one who had stayed in place first. The Goa'uld had a zat of their own, but Catra was too fast for them. She stunned them, grabbed the zat, and tore off after the other.
She almost hoped the Goa'uld would reach the storage room, to see their expression when they realised their device had been sabotaged. But she caught up to them one junction before that.
Although the way his eyes widened behind his suit's faceplate when he looked over his shoulder, right before she shot him, was nice as well.
"Both targets down," she reported.
The lab was secure.
*****