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Impossible

by Jen ferch Owain
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Story Bemerkung:
SG-22 are based off of a bunch of people in real life and I'm thinking abut writing more about their adventures, but let me know what you think. The 13+ rating is just for a little bit of language.
Impossible

Impossible

by Jen ferch Owain

Summary: The Cheyenne Mountain Complex undergoes a security drill that doesn't turn out like anyone hoped it would.
Category: Action/Adventure
Season: any Season
Pairing: Team
Rating: 13+
Warnings: none
Author's Notes: SG-22 are based off of a bunch of people in real life and I'm thinking abut writing more about their adventures, but let me know what you think. The 13+ rating is just for a little bit of language.
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story was created for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).
Archived on: 01/09/06

Colonel Jack O'Neill hurried down the corridors of the SGC Friday afternoon as though he couldn't get to his destination fast enough but couldn't stand to be caught actually running. `I'm gonna kill him if we're late because of one of his damn rocks!' he thought vehemently as he rounded the last corner into Daniel Jackson's office.
Just as Jack had suspected the absentminded archeologist had yet again lost track of time. His ardent gaze flicked between his computer screen and the text in his lap. Jack refused to take the time to observe the niceties and reaching out grabbed Daniel's arm and dragged him to his feet. Completely ignoring the truly upset expression on his friend's face he led the way back out into the corridors, ranting as he went.
"Dammit, Danny. Why couldn't you watch the clock just once? That's all I'm asking. Just once. I actually have a reason to get out of here on time today and that requires us getting to this base meeting on time. Let's go!"
"I'm going as fast as I can." Daniel replied, still attempting to read the book that had been in his hands when Jack `escorted' him from his office. He continued, "Besides, I hardly think that catching a hockey game in the comfort of your living room instead of here constitutes a good reason for leaving on time. And you can't actually believe that the General's threat of keeping anyone who arrives late an extra three hours is real."
"It's not that I believe he'd actually do it, it's that I'm not willing to take the chance."
They turned the last corner into the commissary and the Colonel let out a sigh of relief that they'd made it on time, though barely. The room was already packed. Every member of the SGC's personnel was there waiting for the General to arrive and explain the reason behind this meeting. Spotting Teal'c and Major Samantha Carter at a nearby table, Jack took Daniel's arm again and led him, this time gently and with no rush, over to them. `Of course I wouldn't have to lead him around like a three-year-old if he would take his nose out of that book for a few seconds.' O'Neill thought good naturedly. Now that it was almost guaranteed that they would leave on time he was in a better mood to deal with the doctor's behavior.
"Hey guys." He commented, sitting down, straddling the bench next to Carter. "Either of you have any clue why we're here."
"I do not, O'Neill. It is most interesting."
"No idea, sir. I thought at first that it might have something to do with a mission, but I've talked to everyone who's been out recently and there wasn't anything unique enough or threatening enough for something like this." Carter said with a shrug. She frowned slightly before continuing, "And as though our lives couldn't get any stranger, no one is scheduled to go out any time in the next three weeks. I don't suppose you'd know anything about that."
As much as O'Neill hated to admit it, even his position as 2IC of the base hadn't garnered him that information. "Nope."
"Maybe it's the politicians again." Daniel suggested from the other side of the table, causing Jack to flinch internally. He hadn't thought the younger man had been paying attention to anything other than his book.
"Yeah, maybe, but I hope not. Those guys are such a pain in my..." But where they were a pain was never reached as at that moment General George Hammond strode into the room. He glanced around quickly as though checking to make sure everyone was present before gesturing for everyone who could sit to sit and everyone else to relax from attention.
"Alright, people, I'm glad to see that everyone is here. Now I'm going to keep this as short as possible. I'm giving you all every bit of information that I'm allowed to so there shouldn't be any interruptions," a quick glance was shot at O'Neill who merely shrugged at the implied accusation, "Or questions. I know only a little more then I'm telling you, and I'm telling you all I can."
"As some of you may have noticed, there are no teams scheduled to go offworld for the next three weeks and all teams are currently onworld. What none of you could have known before now is that this state of SGC personnel is a direct order from the Joint Chiefs and the President." Daniel immediately shot Jack an `I told you so' look which the Colonel chose to ignore. Hammond continued, "For the next two weeks, the SGC is on lock down beginning at 0800 Monday morning. All personnel except those already granted leave are expected to be on base by 0730 that day."
Despite Hammond's early call for no interruptions many groans and cries of disapproval could be heard at this last statement. Ferretti's "But we're not going to be working so why the hell..." could be heard from the back of the room before one of his teammates clapped a hand over his mouth and pulled him back to his chair. His sentiments however were in no way unique.
Having allowed the chatter to go on for several moments, the General shoved two fingers in his mouth and whistled shrilly over the noise. "As I was saying, all personnel will be on base by 0730 Monday morning and lock down will commence exactly 30 minutes later. This lock down is being put into effect for the sole and necessary reason of testing base security."
"Sometime during the two weeks, between Monday the 10th and Monday the 24th, an unspecified number of individuals will attempt to enter this base and gate offworld. I repeat that their goal is to gate offworld, not to take control of this base. The only knowledge that this person or persons will have in their possession prior to Monday morning is that their target is on the lowest level of this facility and that the base is on alert. All other information they deem necessary to succeed must be acquired without the aid of the organizers of this drill."
As this information was taken in, two distinct expressions appeared on the faces of the General's listeners. The first and most prevalent expression was one of smug superiority. Not a soldier in the commissary believed that it would be even remotely possible for anyone from the outside to gate out with the entire base forewarned. The second expression was harder to read, but most likely signaled satisfaction at the idea of spending two weeks essentially in a large, more real, game of cops and robbers.
"To ensure the safety of all personnel during this exercise, all zats on base have been modified to allow only the first shot capabilities. This means that while the weapons will fire multiple times, repeated firings into the same target will do no additional harm. From Monday morning on zats will be the only weapons used. Also to ensure no accidents a secondary protocol has been established for turning on the auto destruct. This protocol, to be used only during this drill, allows someone to `activate' the auto destruct without actually blowing us all up. If at any time once breech has occurred the destruct is initiated and followed through countdown it will be assumed that the drill is over and the invasion will be counted as unsuccessful."
"Other than that everyone is to treat this as a real situation, protect the gate with your lives. This includes hand-to-hand combat, though self-control is to be shown at all times and no one is to be seriously injured, though the infirmary will be on standby the entire time. A command center will be set up in my office and myself, as well as two others, will act as moderator. We will have video feed of everything occurring during the drill and the cameras marked in orange are not to be touched by anybody. They feed only into the command center and will be used only as a means of later reviewing our performance. The command center will be accessible only to the moderators who will be allowed anywhere on base. These moderators will wear orange armbands and are there only as observers, they cannot take any action."
As the General paused to allow all of this to sink in not a word or noise was made. Everyone appeared either too nervous or too excited to do anything except wait for him to finish. Jack scowled at the images that ran unbidden through his head, all of which seemed to come from a spy video game he had been obsessed with a few months earlier. Sam also scowled, though her expression was sent directly at the idea that this little `game' would interrupt any number of projects she had going. Despite the fact that everyone would be on base, no work was going to get done with them all in a state of frenzy over when and where this would all begin. Daniel merely shrugged and returned to his book, not believing that anyone could get anywhere near the mountain let alone into it. Teal'c's heart soared at the idea of such an impressive training scenario, but his face remained immobile.
"And that's it." The General continued at last. "All that's left is to tell you who the other two moderators are and dismiss you for the weekend. Since this drill affects not only SGC personnel but our allies as well it was decided that officials should be chosen from amongst them. Myself, General Jacob Carter of the Tok'ra, and Master Bra'tac of the Jaffa will act as officiators."
As this list was run off, Jack audibly sighed in relief at the fact that Anise was not among those individuals who would `be allowed anywhere on base.' He found it hard to forget what had happened the last time she'd been given even a little bit of freedom to run around the base. `Argg.' he thought, `I gotta stop remembering that kiss or I won't be able to eat the rest of the day.' He shuddered ever so slightly and tried desperately to put the disturbing thought out of his head.
"And with that," the General continued, not noticing his 2IC's reprieve, "you are all dismissed. Only the skeleton crew is required till Monday and they will be allowed off during the two weeks of lockdown. I suggest you all use this time to relax and enjoy yourselves." He then turned and made his way back to his office where the other moderators waited.
"Well this should be interesting." Jacob Carter stated, turning from the monitor where they had been watching and listening to the General's announcement. "They're all going to either end up hating your new team if they succeed or despising them for their incompetence if they fail."
---
0615 Monday the 10th
Sam arrived on base earlier than even she normally did. The weekend away had given her the opportunity to rethink a few project details and form a new plan of attack. She still wasn't happy about effectively missing two weeks of work on the team projects, but was satisfied that she would be able to get through one or two private projects that kept getting pushed to the back of her desk.
Just as she was calling up a folder from her computer's database, Jack walked in. Sam had been surprised to see his car on base so early in the day. She had thought that he would take advantage of every minute before being locked up and was amazed not only to see him at just after 6am, but to see that he had dispensed with his normal field jacket and was sweating profusely as if he'd just finished a long workout.
Skipping quickly past the greeting she gave him, he pled his case. "Carter, you gotta help me. I've been up for three hours making this place livable and now I think I may have broken my mini-fridge. I cannot and will not attempt to survive these two weeks trapped on base amongst people and so I'm holing up in my quarters. Please??" The last word was spoken in much the same way that she remembered her niece begging for an ice cream at the fair last summer. She should have known that he had taken this lockdown better than he normally would. Apparently this camp-out-in-my-room-and-let-no-one-in plan had been formed almost immediately.
"Sure, sir. I think I can do something about that, but do you really think that hiding in your room is the best idea. Don't you think you should be on constant guard against our `visitors'?" She said, trying unsuccessfully to keep the smile off her face.
"Oh, please. You're the smartest one here. Surely you can't believe that anyone stands the slightest chance of getting in here. Do you?" She shrugged and lightly shook her head before following him out the door. Privately she couldn't help agreeing that it did seem highly unlikely.
0730 Monday the 10th
"Alright, sir. That's it, all fixed." Sam stood up and stretched her back. She wiped her hands on the rag he handed her and shut the door. "Next time you bring four cases of Guinness on base I suggest not trying to cram them all into so small a fridge."
"Right. I'll just have to hide the extras under the bed." He sighed, sounded very much like an eighteen-year-old trying to hide porn from his parents. He used his foot to push the two remaining cases out of sight and then glanced around.
Sam had to admit that he had really gone all out on his quarters. She couldn't look anywhere without seeing evidence of the things he had brought from home and she didn't think she wanted to know how he had gotten some of that stuff down into the base. However she thought she just might have to interrupt his alone time to watch something on the big screen over in the corner. And next to it...It looked like he'd gotten hold of every DVD and VHS in a hundred mile radius.
Just as she was about to go investigate the books that were poking out of a number of boxes between the bed and wall, the loudspeaker crackled to life. "All SGC personnel," Hammond's voice began "lockdown begins in 30 minutes. Please make all final preparations. Thank you."
0801 Monday the 10th
"And so it begins." Daniel muttered under his breath, before turning back to his book. He too had made preparations against the boredom he expected from this drill, though, unlike Jack, his had very little to do with food and much more to do with getting his hands on every text he owned or could borrow and snagging three SFs to help haul them down to his office. He had no intention of getting hung up on his work merely because he'd forgotten to bring the right book with him.
On the ramp in the Stargate room, Teal'c sat cross-legged on a thin cushion. Despite General Hammond coming close to ordering him back to quarters he refused to move. If the enemy was to gate out then they must utilize the gate room and Teal'c would be waiting when they came. He would perform Kel-no-reem and had already arranged for SFs to bring him food once a day to insure that he need never leave the room during the two week period to follow.
He, like everyone else on base, had serious doubts as to whether anyone would be able to breech security to that level, but he would not take the chance. His confidence in his friends was great, but his confidence in himself was greater. He would not fail, especially not with Bra'tac looking on.
2350 Monday the 10th
"And so day one ends." General Hammond muttered as the lights in Sam's lab turned off and the astrophysicist turned towards her quarters. As always Sam was the last person to head off to bed, though today Daniel had almost beat her, but had gone off ten minutes earlier after deciding that he really didn't need to read the paragraph he was on again and yet again get nothing out of it. Hammond turned from the monitor with the lab corridor on it. He briefly glanced at a screen that appeared to be blank, though closer examination revealed the dimness that was the lights of Colorado Springs as seen from the mountain top. Jacob Carter watched the screens that tracked his daughter's movement to her quarters and then turned, nodded to Hammond and left the office. Bra'tac was the only one to speak.
"Do you doubt your people's abilities to handle this threat, Hammond of Texas? They have proven that they have great strength in the past. Will they not succeed?"
"I really don't know. I have faith in my teams, but I've seen what their facing in action. Jack and the rest of them are going to have to be really good to beat my new team. I'm not worried about the drill, but I am a bit concerned with what will happen when the SGC meets the new SG-22." Hammond sighed and then smiled gently, "It's out of my hands now, so what happens, happens."
"Yes, you will cross that bridge when you come to it."
1324 Wednesday the 12th
"Come on, sir." Sam banged irritably on her CO's door yet again. "You promised that you would come out long enough to have lunch with me and Daniel today."
"Jeez, Carter." Jack said opening the door, "I yelled for you to come in three knocks ago. We can leave as soon as this episode is over, hold your horses, we have..." He glanced at his watch, "six minutes left and Daniel won't be on time anyway." He turned, wandered over to the bed, and flopped down on his stomach. Sam followed him but chose to remain standing. She couldn't believe what she saw on the TV.
"YOU watch the West Wing? Isn't that a bit...political...for your tastes."
"Actually it's pretty good." He said, ignoring the sarcasm in her voice, "I borrowed the first couple of seasons from my neighbor to help pass the weeks. I also borrowed ER from her, but I couldn't get past the first two episodes. Reminds me too much of hours spent in the infirmary." He shuddered slightly at the thought of Janet with needles. Sam smiled at his exaggerated discomfort. Jack stood as the episode ended and, grabbing his jacket off the back of the chair, led the way out of the room.
"Is Teal'c joining us or have you guys not yet managed to talk him out of that room?" Jack asked. She could hear the grin in his voice and tried hard to keep from smiling back.
"Actually, sir, I...I only tried the one time before giving it up as hopeless." She looked at the ground somewhat ashamed of her lack of perseverance with the Jaffa. "Daniel is still trying everyday though. Goes in there, sits next to him, none to politely tells him he's nuts. He's going again after lunch."
"Well, of course Daniel is still making the attempt," Sam dropped her head a little more until, after a pause to glance back at her, he continued, "Danny never did have the sense to listen to reason. I have to admit that even as stubborn as I am, I don't think I'd have made the attempt in the first place. Waste of bloody time if you ask me."
Sam straightened at his comment and was about to reply when something he'd said hit her, "Did you just say `bloody'? In a sentence?"
Now it was his turn to hang his head slightly, "I may also have borrowed the last couple of episodes of Red Dwarf." Sam just shook her head and grinned, mirroring his earlier expression.
1418 Wednesday the 12th
"Come on Teal'c, you can't just sit here for the next week and a half."
"On the contrary Daniel Jackson, it is wholly in my power to sit here that long." Teal'c monotoned, barely opening his eyes to the exasperated archeologist.
"Well, I know technically you could...but..."
0950 Thursday the 13th
As Sam strolled down the hall toward her office, she heard noises coming from the adjacent corridor of living quarters. She glanced around the corner and then wandered a short way. `Ah.' The Colonel had left his door slightly ajar and she assumed that the noise came from one of his many distractions. Whether of the musical, video, or game variety she didn't know. She paused and considered for a second. Shrugging she continued toward the door figuring that all her projects could easily wait a few hours. She didn't want to admit, even to herself, that she was getting bored and the other lab bound individuals were starting to get on her nerves.
"Hey Carter." He said casually as she came abreast of the open door.
"Hello, sir. Whatcha doing?" He glanced up mouth agape and then laughed a little before patting the couch beside him. She gladly sat down, not bothering to ask where he had `requisitioned' the large piece of furniture.
"Watching Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. I decided today would be a good day to watch every version of Robin Hood ever made for the screen." He gestured to the pile of video boxes next to the TV. Sam noticed that nothing had been left out, not even the animated Disney version.
"Well that's certainly an immense undertaking. Mind if I join you for a little while? I'm not sure I can face the others in the lab quite yet."
"You most certainly can. And this actually works out well for both of us." He said as he stood and closed the door. Sam shifted uncomfortably, she didn't like where this might be headed. He sat down and handed her a soda he had picked up on the way back. "You were trying to get away from a lot of people, and I was starting to feel kind of alone without them. That's why I left the door open, so that I wouldn't feel like the only one on base." Sam let out the breath she hoped he hadn't noticed she was holding and relaxed a little. His confession made her feel better and she offered one of her own.
"Yeah, the other geeks were starting to bother me." She grinned widely, and he chuckled before turning his attention back to the screen.
1235 Thursday the 13th
"Room service." The airman carrying the trays loaded with food grinned as he stepped into the room. It looked more like a college dorm than any officer's quarters. Pizza trays from the commissary lay on many surfaces, complete with day old crusts. Empty soda cans and beer bottles were stacked in precarious looking pyramids around the room. The SF eyed the elaborate Coca-Cola temple built in the corner and wondered at who the architect might be. Either Dr. Jackson was spending a whole lot of time in here or the Colonel had hidden artistic skills. The three individuals on the couch glanced at the food he carried.
"Sweet! Please tell me there is pie on there somewhere." Jack stood and grabbed a tray, "Chocolate cream, perfect." He then turned away from the young airman, wandered back to the couch and proceeded to hand some of the food off to Daniel. Sam rolled her eyes as she snagged the second tray.
"Thank you, Mike." She said politely with a smile before turning back to the others. He grinned stupidly and, turning, left, almost running into the door on his way out. Sam sat down, completely ignoring the smirk on Jack's face. "Unpause, sir."
"Just a sec. Danny, are you going to talk to Teal'c after this?" Daniel nodded and muttered something unintelligible through his burger. "Take this with you; he could use the relief from boredom." He handed over a small electronic device. He elaborated for Sam, "It's video poker." She nodded and turned back to the TV and the immobile figure of Errol Flynn.
1342 Thursday the 13th
"Well they've done it, I owe you twenty George."
"You can hold back on the payment part, Jake, I have a feeling you're going to owe me a whole hell of a lot more than that by the time this is done."
`Yeah. Unfortunately I'm getting that feeling as well.' Jacob thought to himself.
1345 Thursday the 13th
The alarms sounded shrilly all over the base. Jack stood quickly and set his almost empty plate on the nearby table. Sam stood as well and after a slight glance at each other they grabbed their zats and headed carefully out the door.
"Where to, sir? Control room?" She asked quietly as they made their way down the corridor. They passed a stationary Bra'tac, whose orange arm band showed plainly over his Jaffa armor. His face held its normal impassive look, though Jack thought he caught an edge of humor from the aged warrior.
"No. We need to get to the gate room. They can't be allowed access to the gate." He glanced behind him as a slight grinding noise made itself known. The blast door that would close off the corridor behind them began to slide down. Bra'tac calmly stepped to their side of it before it could close completely and exited through a door to the left that would lead to the moderator room. The door in front of them began to slide as well. "Time to book it, Carter." And throwing caution to the wind, they hurtled down the halls toward the gate as fast as they could. They barely managed to squeeze through into the gate room itself before the last door slid into place.
Teal'c and Daniel stood on the ramp and gazed up into the control room. Sam and Jack move to their side and glanced up as well. A lone figured covered from head to toe, as far as they could tell, in black stood in front of a computer and quickly typed in commands, seemingly ignoring the four armed individuals who blocked the gate. Only the individual's eyes could be seen through the black hood and face shield. A slight amount of red embroidery was stitched near the collar, but other than that there were no distinguishing marks. A thought flicked unbidden through Jack's mind, `Where do you even get a ninja outfit?' O'Neill couldn't even tell if the person was male or female, but whoever they were, it looked like they had stepped right out of a martial arts movie.
"Just one?" Daniel asked. "That seems a little ... anticlimactic." Jack shot a quick look at him.
`He's spending too much time with me if he's using humor to diffuse danger and confusion.' He thought with a mental grin. Out loud he answered the question, "No. There's no way. Probably just have forces spread throughout the complex. After all, they only have to get one person through to win." His face then took on a confused frown, "How the hell did they get down here so fast, the alarm only just went off."
"Perhaps they managed to evade people until the alarm went off. There is no way of knowing how long they have been on base. We will not allow them to gate through, O'Neill." Teal'c stance showed he was ready to fight and Jack couldn't help but notice that the others, himself included, had adapted much the same attitude.
They continued to gaze at the figure, who suddenly straightened and looked up at the ceiling expectantly. Suddenly a high pitched wail could be heard over the base loudspeakers, apparently the figure had been expecting this because he or she nodded to themself and glanced back down at the computer display.
"What the hell is that, Carter?" Jack had to yell to be heard over the noise. "It's giving me a head-" His comment was interrupted as the noise cut off just as suddenly as it had begun. A second noise, this time from the zat he held, grabbed at his attention. The weapon, which had been in firing position since they had left his quarters, suddenly was no longer in firing position. He hit the trigger. Nothing happened. Same thing during his next three tries. He turned to Carter who had been doing the same thing; she shook her head.
"Great. Not only have they broken in, but they've managed to disable the only weapon we're allowed to use. Who are these guys?"
1349 Thursday the 13th
Inside the general's office Bra'tac grinned at Jack's comment. "Three minutes before the alarm went off, five minutes to block all gate access and seven before complete weapons shut-down. I do not know who these guys are, but they are formidable opponents."
The other two moderators agreed, but said nothing as they continued to watch the screen.
1350 Thursday the 13th
Behind SG-1 the familiar sound of chevrons locking in place told them just how much access to base computers the figure upstairs actually had. As an additional five chevrons locked the team moved, while still watching the figure at the computer. The last chevron locked and the wormhole engaged just as they stepped off the ramp and out of the way of the whooshing event horizon. The figure made a hand gesture to someone that the team couldn't see and the blast door to their left opened and four more figures in black entered. Just like the individual in the control room none of them had distinguishing marks aside from red stitching in seemingly random patterns at their collars.
The four formed a line that mirrored SG-1's position. Jack numbered them in his mind from left to right: Ninja 1, Ninja 2, Ninja 3, and Ninja 4. All four were of roughly equal height. They each appeared to carry something on their backs, but the matte black of their outfits made any identification impossible.
"Hello." Jack said in an offhand and friendly manner.
One of the figures, Ninja 3 Jack reminded himself, stepped forward slightly. Three raised a hand and made a gesture for them to move aside and allow the group to pass.
Jack tilted his head to the side slightly and bit his lip as though thinking it over. Internally he was raging, `They come into MY base against all odds, take control of pretty much the whole thing, and they expect me to just stand aside. Yeah, right!'
"I don't think so. You may have managed to get yourself down here without much of a fight, but if you think you're just going waltz through that gate you should have your head examined." He casually tossed his zat away, well aware that it would no longer do him any good. His teammates followed suit. Adapting a fighting stance, he spoke again, "If you want through that gate," he jabbed a thumb over his shoulder, "you come through us first."
Three listened intently to this outburst and then merely nodded slightly as though bowing. The words `as you wish' sprang instantly to Sam's mind as she watched the gesture. `Well, at least none of us are armed," she thought, `that will at least even the playing field.'
As this idea flashed through her mind, Three raised an arm to his or her back and drew it back slowly and gracefully. Suddenly one side was armed. The object held in Three's hand was a Japanese style sword, much like a katana, but with a more pronounced curvature. Standing behind their companion Ninjas 1, 2, and 4 similarly armed themselves. Two also drew a sword, though this one bore more resemblance to the broad swords of medieval Europe. One's hands darted to sheaths at the waist and a pair of twin Sais came into view. At first it didn't appear that Four had grabbed anything at all, but as all of them stepped into fighting positions two tonfa could be seen grasped in hands obviously used to using them.
"Great." Jack muttered under his breath.
1359 Thursday the 13th
The fighting lasted mere minutes. SG-1 miraculously managed to avoid any serious blows from the weapons their opponents carried, but the same could not be said of the blows thrown by various hands and feet.
The last thing O'Neill saw before drifting into the black brought on by a kick he hadn't seen coming was five figures walking confidently up the gate ramp and disappearing into the blueness of the wormhole.
1416 Thursday the 13th
General Hammond, former General Carter, and Master Bra'tac strode into a highly chaotic infirmary. Nurses and medics raced around administering painkillers and taking vitals. At a few beds the struggle seemed to be keeping the patients in their beds; it seemed that Colonel O'Neill wasn't the only person at the SGC who disliked being confined to bed. At one end of the room they watched Dr. Frasier pass through a screen and followed her through.
"Doctor, what's their status?" Hammond asked quietly as at least three members of his top team seemed to be asleep.
Frasier responded in a normal voice, "So far only Teal'c has recovered consciousness. The other three have strong vitals and should revive in a short time." As if on cue Daniel began to stir. Janet walked over and took his blood pressure while coaxing him back to full awareness. "Other than the blows to the head they received, everything is fine. No concussions, which is impressive. Some bruises and minor cuts. Colonel O'Neill has an eight-inch laceration from a sword blade across his left bicep, but it's a clean cut and the stitches should come out in a week or so. A few other personnel sustained zat blasts and Siler has a broken arm, but apparently he got that all on his own. They barely came into contact with anyone on their way down, but I'm actually quite surprised that there isn't anything more serious."
"Well my headache seems pretty damn serious." Jack's voice came roughly from behind Hammond. Turning, they saw him sit up quickly, only to lay back down with both hands bracing his head. After a second he tried again, this time slower, and managed to maintain a seated position. After swallowing the two pills handed to him by a nurse, he glanced down at the bandage on his arm. Wincing he looked back at the doctor, "Ten days, Doc?" The doctor smiled, `He's obviously done this too frequently.' She thought with a smile.
"Actually it's not too deep so more like seven."
"Be glad you still have your arm, sir." Sam had managed to achieve consciousness more quickly and without as much fuss. "I saw the blow that gave you that. A little more pressure and they'd have had to reattach it."
"Indeed. It did appear to be a much more serious injury."
"Yeah. And it ruined my favorite T-shirt too." Jack added with a pout which was soon replaced with a lopsided grin. He stood with no difficulty and walked over to where everyone was standing at Daniel's bed. "So are we released? Doc said no concussion, which means we can go right?" His voice took on the hopeful tone of a child asking for a puppy.
"Yes, you're cleared to leave the infirmary." Jack punched the air triumphantly and then winced as pain shot through his arm. Janet led the way back through the screen and gestured for them to get out of her way. They left the infirmary, Hammond and Jacob in the lead.
1420 Thursday the 13th
Back in the control room, SG-1 stood out of the way as Hammond made an announcement over the loudspeakers. "This is General Hammond, the security drill is now over. Lockdown will officially end after the base debriefing at 1600 tomorrow in the commissary. Thank you for the hard work you all put in." He turned off the PA and turned to the team.
"SG-1 you are required to get some food and rest. I don't want to see any of you in labs, the gym, near a computer, or reading a text for the next 10 hours. Dismissed." He started to walk away and then turned back, "Might I suggest that you take the opportunity to clean up the Colonel's quarters." He smiled tolerantly and then walked out.
---
Friday morning began and passed at a reasonably quick pace. Everyone on base tried to go back to their normal routine, but couldn't help but pause to gossip every now and then. Most of the gossip centered on SG-1 and what had happened in the gate room, but since no one actually knew what had happened this gossip consisted largely of ridiculous rumors ranging from an invading army of a thousand people to a single person using mind control and Jedi-type powers.
At first Sam thought it was just her imagination, but after conferring with the rest of the team she determined that many personnel were in fact avoiding SG-1. Daniel thought it was likely to do with the way that Jack had taken to stalking around the SGC like an enraged lion. He had ditched the idea of continuing his self-imposed imprisonment and was instead stomping around the corridors snarling at everyone he came across. Teal'c offered that this behavior might be because they had lost the battle, but Sam thought it more likely that it was because they hadn't even had the opportunity to meet their attackers. So far no one had gated back. Tiring of the looks shot at them throughout the day Sam and Daniel found themselves in Jack's quarters an hour before the debrief. They had decided to take the General's `suggestion' and do some tiding. By the time the room appeared even semi-livable they had just minutes to make it to the commissary. On the way down they met Jack and Teal'c and the group continued on together.
A hush fell over the commissary as they entered and a table suddenly and miraculously opened at the front of the room which, once they were seated, provided an excellent view of the large projector screen that had been temporarily assembled. The eerie silence continued for several moments until it was broken by the entrance of the drill's moderators. Hammond moved to stand directly in front of the screen.
"Everyone sit down. Thank you. As you are all well aware, the personnel of this base were recently unsuccessful in stopping an invasion that they were prewarned of." At this statement, many belligerent whispers could be heard from around the room. Other individuals hung their heads and still others shot apologetic looks at SG-1, who sat silently gazing at Hammond, waiting for him to continue. "In the last 24 hours an incredible number of ridiculous, if not plain idiotic, versions of the events of that invasion have reached my ears. We will now take this opportunity to actually see what happened. The only interruptions to this will be clarifications of events by myself, Jacob, and Bra'tac." He gestured toward the back and a projector could be heard turning on and the lights turned off.
`Oh great,' Jack thought sarcastically, `now we have to watch ourselves get humiliated.' The expressions on the faces of SG-1 and others around the commissary suggested similar thoughts.
And so they sat and watched as five black clad figures silently opened an air hatch at the top of the mountain and disabled its alarm. Using hand signals, they easily communicated who would go first and attached something to the bottoms of their shoes and to their gloved hands. At this point Jack leaned over to Sam and whispered "High friction coating." Jack had used very similar things during his time in Black Ops and realized that it meant the team didn't have to set up repelling gear. Sam passed the info on to Danny and Teal'c. The next video images were of the top floor corridor of the SGC. At first no motion was seen and then a figured dropped the ten feet to the floor and landed gracefully in a crouch, stood and flattened themselves against the wall. The other four followed and despite the highly sensitive audio sensors on the vid equipment, barely any noise was perceivable.
The next two minutes were of much the same thing; the ninjas crept in almost complete silence through the corridors of the SGC. Occasionally they would encounter lone airman, all of whom were dispatched quickly and quietly. When they reached halls that were too busy to make their way through they turned once again to the air ducts, which allowed them to make their way anywhere in the mountain complex. In just under two minutes all five had made it into the control room and taken out the SFs and technicians that had been at work. This appeared to have been made slightly more difficult then they planned since they had to stay out of sight of Daniel and Teal'c down in the gate room. It was during this interval in the gate room that they commandeered a zat and a base computer. One of the figures sat down at the computer and began searching it. Notations at the bottom of the screen, which had obviously been added after recording, allowed the SGC personnel to see which files were being accessed.
Jack could hear Sam translating the notations into the actual functions they accessed and whispering them to Daniel. "Gate dialing, of course, addresses, the security centers, my...what?" The last set of directories obviously were not something she had expected to see them care about. Jack leaned over to her.
"What is it? What are they into?"
"My original zat research, sir. That's how they disabled them, I'd totally forgotten about that stuff. I found th-" But what she had found was cut off by a look from the general.
"Save all questions for later people."
They turned back to the screen, but now there were only four figures in the room. Jack was about to comment when the view changed to a corridor that he recognized as being near the infirmary, almost three floors up from the control room. A lone figure moved silently down the corridor and then, for no reason that Jack could understand, the figure hit one of the red alarms on the wall and immediately dashed away. `Well add one more question to my list. Why would they hit the alarm when they were already so close to the gate?' Back in the control room, the fifth figure reappeared and nodded. The individual at the computer began typing in commands and the video shifted to various corridors as blast doors closed, frequently trapping people between them. The view shifted again, this time to the single SF who stood guard in the hall between the control room and the gate room. With blast doors down, no reinforcements could make it there to help and the man was zatted.
The monitor now switched between the gate room, where Jack and Sam had just entered through the other door and the control room where the computer whiz stood alone still entering commands. After entering some commands he or she looked toward the ceiling. Jack remembered what happened next and didn't particularly feel like reliving the confrontation in the gate room. He leaned back against the table behind him and covered his face with his hands. He'd been there and didn't feel that he needed to watch it again. Hammond seemed to be uncaring of his earlier call for silence as the room filled with shouts of encouragement directed at the screen. Every once in a while Jack would open his eyes and glance at the screen in response to the collective cheers from the other watchers in the commissary, but these were frequently followed by equally collective groans as a member of SG-1 got knocked to the ground.
Sam succeeded in disarming her opponent, only to be sent to the ground with a spinning kick to the mid-section. She landed hard on her back and lay unmoving, apparently unconscious. Her opponent then joined Teal'c's to double team the big man. After many a punch landed in both directions the pair finally managed to bring him down, though one of the two appeared to have taken a forceful hit that was causing a bit of stumbling and head shaking. The last time he opened his eyes it was to see Daniel land a superb uppercut that flung the other fighter on to the ground. However, the individual in question did a kick-up that put them back on their feet in seconds and it seemed that the punch had done little or nothing to slow them.
Next to him he could hear low moans of "Ouch," "Oh my God," and "Watching this is painful" from Sam. He turned away from the screen and leaned towards her.
"You know, it's better if you close your eyes and just pretend it didn't happen, Carter."
"Oh really, sir? I thought you had finished with the hiding." She jibed back good naturedly before wincing as the Jack on screen blocked a kick thrown at his side only to be hit by a kick thrown with the same foot at his head. His opponent hadn't even bothered to put the foot down; just recoiled and aimed higher. And he fell to the ground hard. By this time the fifth from the control room had joined them and they departed through the gate.
The image was paused by General Hammond just as med teams made their way in to care for the now collectively unconscious SG-1. Hammond gestured to Sam, "Major Carter would you please explain how the zats were disabled." Sam looked flustered for a second and then stood.
"Well they were actually going off some of my research. When we originally began using the zats I did some experiments on them. One of the days in the lab another experiment...well..." Here she paused and looked slightly abashed. Hammond gestured for her to continue. "It went wrong and began emitting high frequency noises. Something it wasn't supposed to do. I left the zat to fix the problem and when I came back, I couldn't get it to operate. I thought it was something to do with the interface or the density test..." Jack silenced her with a small shake of his head. She paused, shrugged her shoulders and continued. "I never got the chance to do more research on the subject, but I noted it in my report on the project. When they were accessing the base computer they found the notes and did an experiment, basically. There was no way they could have known for sure that it would work." She stopped and looked questioningly at Hammond wondering if she should continue. He motioned her back to the table and again addressed the assembled personnel.
"Now with that out of the way and most of the rumors put to rest there is only one more thing to do before I can end this lockdown." He glanced at his watch, "The time is now 1632. At 1645 all personnel need to be in the gate room. Dress uniforms not required. Dismissed." SG-1 waited for the others to leave.
"Well we might as well just stay here for the next few minutes." Daniel said, wishing he had brought a book with him. "It's not like we can do much in the next ten minutes."
"I hope this little trek to the gate room means we're going to meet these people. I can't believe we couldn't do that here." Jack looked annoyed for a sec and then raised an eyebrow at Carter. "So they figured out something you didn't, huh? Looks like they have a wide range of skills. I couldn't believe how they got in here. I don't feel so bad about getting our butts handed to us."
"Indeed. These warriors are very skilled. I, too, am surprised we lasted as long as we did."
"Sir, if you remember it was on your order that I stopped my research on the zats in favor of other projects." She shot at him, annoyed that he was using this opportunity to rib her. His face told her that he had just been trying to get under her skin and that this was the exact response he had been going for. He glanced at his watch and jerked his head toward the door before starting out. The others followed him down to the gate room, where they found a spot just in front of the ramp and Hammond. This time though they had arrived with a few minutes to spare and stood conversing.
"Hey Sammie." Jacob Carter came through the crowd and gave his daughter a big hug. He could tell from the expression on her face that she was still upset about what she saw as her own personal failure concerning the zats. "You know, even with their long experience with the zats the Tok'ra have never discovered the potential side effects of sound on them." He watched as her faced brightened ever so slightly at this information. He opened his mouth to say more, but just then the alarms went off.
"Offworld activation, we have an offworld activation." Sergeant Davis's voice came from the control room. All the personnel in the room turned from their conversations toward the gate as the wormhole established. Davis continued, "Receiving IDC. It's..." The Sergeant's mouth hung open as he read the information on the computer. Finally he managed to spit it out. "It's SG-22, sir."
A roar of sound filled the room for a few seconds and then fell silent again as everyone turned from the gate to Hammond, who remained unaffected by the news.
"Open the iris." Davis immediately complied with the order and focus was again directed at the gate. As the iris receded back into the gate, Jack held his breath desperately hoping that what he thought this meant wasn't actually what it meant. The tension in the room was tangible and only broken several very long seconds later by the five people who stepped out of the event horizon. Still clad in black, but now with heads uncovered and a GDO attached to the wrist of the young man on the far left side, the ninjas who had invaded the SGC stood confidently on the gate ramp as the wormhole disengaged behind them.
"You have got to be kidding me." Jack muttered to himself. "This is the new SG-22? They're just children."
As much as Sam hated to admit that kind of prejudice, she had to agree. The oldest of the five couldn't be more then 28 or 29 and the youngest probably couldn't even legally buy beer. Spotting the weapons that the five of them still carried on their backs, she gave herself a mental shake. `Age doesn't matter when they have that kind of talent.' She silently willed O'Neill to recognize this as well.
General Hammond strode up the ramp and stood just a short distance in front of the new arrivals, who seemed completely unaware of the stir their presence was making, and addressed the assembled crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the newest addition to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex team, SG-22."
"Taylor Danigen." The young man with the GDO bowed slightly. About Jack's height and build, he had light brown almost blonde hair and striking green eyes. Sam guessed that he was probably about 22. He, like the rest of the group, wasn't smiling, but it seemed as though a smile might be his natural facial position. The hilts of twin swords could be seem over his shoulders and from the earlier video Sam knew this was the computer operator from earlier. The General continued, "Mr. Danigen has degrees in electrical, computer, and materials engineering and a Masters in mechanical engineering." A murmur rippled through the crowd. Only Daniel and Sam boasted that kind of resume. If this was the trend of the team then they were certainly more than just fighters.
"Dr. Stacy Mason." The women to Danigen's right bowed, lower than he had, but still kept her eyes on the crowd ahead of her. About 26, her build was that of a runner, slightly shorter than the rest of SG-22 and thin, but well muscled. And beautiful, Jack thought with a slight smile. All other features were lost in the presence of eyes so dark they might have been black. Jack had marked the Sais when she bowed, and realized that this was Daniel's opponent, which might explain why the man was blushing ever so slightly. "Dr. Mason has degrees in geology and archeology with a Ph.D. in stellar geology."
"More scientists." Jack whispered to Sam, who gave him a good nature scowl which quickly gave way to a chuckle.
"To her credit, sir, she whumped Daniel pretty neatly. I've read some of her stuff and not all of its sciency. Her last book was on warfare in desert terrain. She co-wrote it with a military history specialist. You should read it." He shrugged slightly and turned his attention back to the ramp.
"Ayden Graff." As the man bowed Sam's eyebrows climbed high on her forehead. Jack noticed and gave her a questioning look. Elsewhere in the crowd a few others were having very similar responses. Sam glanced once more at the man and then answered Jack's unspoken question.
"Graff is one of the best hand-to-hand competitors in the country, sir. He has more trophies then you have medals. Started when he was about eighteen, that would make him around 21 now I suppose. And I'm not talking light contact fighting either; we're talking non-padded, full contact. He also has numerous prizes for weapons combat, probably all with that broad sword. No wonder he held off Teal'c for so long."
"Wow, that's impressive." He paused and shot her a confused look, "How do you know this?"
"My brother, Mark. He competed for a little while before he got married."
The general had continued speaking, "...psychology and military strategy/history."
"How do these guys have this many degrees? Their so young." Jack heard Daniel mutter from Sam's other side. Jack couldn't help but wonder the same thing. How could someone like Graff train as much as he must and still get double degrees before turning 25? It was incredible.
The next man, who bowed as well, was quite the contrast to Graff. Where Graff had been fresh faced and boyish, despite his obvious musculature, this man was broad and big with a noticeable pair of scars tracing across one cheek while another traced from his ear down to his throat and disappeared under his collar. And where Graff had attempted a smile at the SGC personnel, he just straightened and stood impassively. Jack's hopes for at least one military man went up, even if he was a young one.
"Zach Cressman. Mr. Cressman just left his position as head instructor at the Westgate Academy." The general appeared like he was planning on continuing, but was forced to stop by the sheer volume of utterances that swept the room at this information. Most of the military personnel craned to get a better look and confused expressions took over the countenances of the scientists. Jack and Sam glanced at each other and Jack grinned broadly, `Not military,' he thought, `but certainly the next best thing. Head instructor at 28. Wow.' Daniel and Teal'c glanced over at them, but before either could ask, the general continued. "On my request Mr. Cressman has agreed to lead a number of training sessions each week for SGC personnel."
"And now SG-22's team leader." Jack's heart sank slightly; he had hoped that Cressman would be the team leader. He glanced at the woman at the left side of the ramp; she inclined her head slightly, but made no other motion. Jack caught sight of the katana on her back. `So she's the one I fought. Maybe this won't be so bad.'
"Dr. Jennifer Williams. Dr. Williams has degrees in political science and molecular biology and a Ph.D. in genetics. She also attended Westgate Academy for four years and received full commendation on her departure." The 24-year-old stepped forward and spoke with a confidence that was unexpected from her lightly built, 5'10" frame.
"My team thanks you for your gracious welcome." She bowed and stepped back into line with her fellows.
"Well that was..." Daniel seemed to be having trouble finding the word he wanted.
"Short." Teal'c finished for him.
"Ya think?" Jack said sarcastically and turned back to the ramp, where Hammond had once again moved to address the group.
"Due to the lockdown all SG teams are being given two weeks off in rotations. SG-2 through SG-7, your down time begins today. SG-8 through SG-14, down time begins one week from Monday, and SG-15 through SG-21, two weeks from Monday. SG-1 and SG-22 will report to the briefing room for mission briefing immediately following SG-22's infirmary visit. That's all people, dismissed." Everyone else began filing out, leaving SG-22 on the ramp and SG-1 blocking their way off. Williams stepped forward and, much as she had the day before, gestured for them to move. This time, though, Jack consented and, after nodding his head slightly, led his team out of the room. Williams turned to her team, shrugged slightly and followed SG-1 out.
---
An hour later SG-1 sat in the briefing room waiting for SG-22. Unlike normal they all sat on the same side of the table, allowing room for the new team on the other side. Frasier had told Sam that they would be a little while still, but Jack was using the opportunity to answer a question Daniel had asked.
"Westgate is the top location in the country if you want to learn almost anything about fighting. They teach everything from self-defense to jousting. The school accepts students, aged 12 and up, from all over the country for renewable year long contracts, renewable at the school's request only. It ensures that they keep the best students, like Williams. Four years and full commendations mean that she left for college. The Academy is like a high school only with a specialty in the martial arts. The rest are returned home. Like an honorable discharge. Westgate refers to the gate where dishonorable discharges happen. Students who disobey rules or are seen to have dispositions that could make them dangerous are dismissed mid-year. They're walked to the gate and escorted through, never allowed to return."
"That alone wouldn't say much, but the school also accepts part-time students for limited course sessions. The military sends tons of soldiers through there each year, Special Ops, Seals, and Green Berets. That's incredible for a civilian establishment. So Cressman as head instructor probably has been at the school since he was 12 or 13. That's 10 plus years of training and Williams has at least 4. Probably the whole team did some training there based on their skill with weapons. No wonder they did so well on this base and no wonder Hammond wants them."
Daniel sat stunned for a moment. He was floored by the martial arts training of a team that was comprised mostly of well respected scientists, but his complete and utter shock came from Jack's belief in the qualifications of that same set of scientists. Almost as if reading his mind, Jack continued.
"They're scientists, though, so they'll probably just want to stare at rocks and doohickeys all day. We could use another REAL field team."
Just as Sam was about to respond to that, SG-22 walked in. All of them had changed out of their black outfits and into street clothes, making them look even younger than they had in the gate room. They took their seats opposite SG-1. Zach pulled out a pad and began doodling, but the rest merely sat in a silence that grew uncomfortable quickly. After a few glances at Jack, Daniel attempted to `make contact.'
"So...any problems in the infirmary? Clean bills of health all around I hope."
After a few more seconds silence and shrugs from most of the team, Stacy answered with a smile.
"Yeah, pretty much. Nothing serious at least. Jen has a six inch cut on her thigh compliments of Colonel O'Neill's temporary possession of her sword during the fight." At this Jack raised the sleeve of his T-shirt to show the stitches there. Williams merely shrugged and turned back to watching Zach draw. "Ayden twisted his knee and Taylor strained his shoulder during some training we did on our day offworld, but that's it. Jen is lucky that the good Doctor didn't do X-rays or she would have found the four week old broken foot she's sporting." Sam winced at the idea of taking some of those jumps with a foot like that. Jack was similarly impressed, but refused to show it. Jen looked up from Zach's art and shrugged.
"It's not like it hurts or anything. Besides Hammond knew about it before we started all of this. And I'm not the only one, you have a broken finger and Zach has a sprained ankle."
Sam had to work hard to suppress the giggle that arose at watching the two. She was distinctly reminded of some of Jack and Daniel's arguments. The verbal sparring match would, no doubt, have continued but General Hammond walked in and the briefing began.
"Okay, people. We'll try to keep this to the point. Like SG-2 both of your teams will be given two weeks down time starting today. This briefing is for a joint mission when you get back." Here the general was interrupted.
"Before we get too far into that, I was wondering if we could get some questions about SG-22's last mission answered." Jack scowled minutely at Williams, before turning to the general who nodded. "I, for one, would love to know why you guys hit the alarms. You were already in the control room, why let everyone know?"
Jack stared at Jen for an answer, but it was Taylor who spoke into the silence. "We had to. Because of them." He gestured to Teal'c and Daniel. "They were in the gate room and so we knew we would need to get past them first, but we couldn't risk backup teams coming while we were fighting. We had to seal it off. When I got into the computer system I discovered that the blast doors around the base could only be controlled by a ranking officer's code under normal circumstances, but by any base personnel once the alarms had gone off. Since I already had access, we just needed the alarms. We took the risk that everyone would move to where the alarm had been triggered rather than to the gate room." He shrugged, "It worked."
Jack was about to respond, but Sam beat him to it. "Sure, but once you had blast door control, why did you disable the zats? There were only us four and a single guard and you all had zats as well."
Again Taylor responded, "Well that was more because we could then anything else. We didn't know if it would work, based as it was on an unproven project side note, but we didn't want to risk losing any of our people if we could avoid it. So we tried it because it would limit unnecessary risks. We could have taken out your people from the door to the gate room, but there was no guarantee that your people wouldn't get off a few shots first."
"So you guys had this planned from the beginning." Daniel interjected.
"No." This time Zach answered. "We would have liked to, but we couldn't get anymore info than the General had already given us, so we had to wing it. Once we found an air shaft in, we planned on the specifics of that entry, but everything else had to wait until we had a better idea of what we were facing."
"Oh." Daniel looked puzzled, but remained silent. No one else spoke.
"Well, if that's all on that subject then we'll get back to the upcoming mission to M9X-234. SG-7 found a tribe of hunter-gatherers on their recon mission. The tribesmen have an herb they use to heal burns that we need to negotiate for, but we don't have anything they want that we're willing to give them. SG-7 informs us that we should be able to compete for them. This apparently involves non-lethal and even non-dangerous tests of physical ability. However, we weren't able to find out what types of tests so both teams will go to ensure that we have the widest possible range of skills available."
"General, please, my team is more than capable of doing this mission on our own. We shouldn't have to baby-sit a team on their first walkabout. I'm quite certain that we will be successful by ourselves." Jack stressed the last few words and sent them directly at Williams. Apparently Jack's respect for their skills didn't extend as far as actually working with them. Williams looked as though she was readying a retort, but the general silenced her with a look.
"I already considered sending only one team, but SG-7 informs me that the smallest clan that the tribe will deal with is eight people so two teams are necessary. I believe that SG-22 has more than proven themselves."
"Fluke." Jack muttered angrily and not so silently.
"Now if there are no further objections," Hammond's glare in Jack's direction told him that there had better not be any, "we will have a more detailed briefing when you all return from down time." He stood. "Dismissed." He turned, entered his office and closed the door behind him.
Jack sat and shuffled with papers as the others filed out of the room, talking amiably. He had intended on using this time filler to be the last to leave the room, but apparently Dr. Williams had the same idea. She glanced at him before turning back to her papers. They sat in uncomfortable silence, until at last O'Neill stood, grabbed his things and left.
He wasn't even down the stairs when he heard her call his name behind him. He continued down and stepped out into the hall before pausing to let her catch up. As soon as she was there, he began walking again. She fell into step beside him and seemed to be trying to come up with the right thing to say. When they reached the elevator, she hit the call button and then turned to face him.
"Colonel, I know that you may not want us with you on this mission. I also know that you don't have any faith in my team." She paused as though expecting him to contradict her, when he didn't she continued on while stepping into the elevator that had just arrived. Holding the door open with one hand her tone took on a competitive edge. "But our unauthorized entry on to this base and our subsequent success against your team was not a fluke. We are extremely good at what we do."
She grinned widely at his expression and then removed her hand and let the doors close.

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