Stargate SG-6: Ch.1; The plan is working?
 

Dexter Leary had just...the trippiest dreams he's ever had. They all blurred together, and spun some horrible tapestry of the next 48 hours of his life. Unfortunately, he'd forget them all by the time he woke up, but that couldn't be helped. Cycling like some horrible iPod set on shuffle, they kept replaying...

***

Dexter stepped up to the stargate, and looked into that blue liquid. At long last, the controller yelled, "SG-6, go!" With a quick little hand motion, he waved them forward. Bravely, save for Benny, they strolled through that wormhole and onto Armanas.

***

"Thank you! Thank you! We must hurry back to the Stargate," the frail little man yelled. He was scrambling all over Kat, as if trying to find a handhold. Quite roughly, she pushed him off, sending him sprawling on the ground. There was a clacking, and she racked her shotgun. The sprawling servant's eyes glanced around frantically. Fear was etched onto his face, almost as if it was chiselled on.

"Please...I fear I may have been followed..."

***

Chester and Benny were on their backs, hiding behind a very conveniently placed pile of rocks. Chester decided to risk it and peek over the rocks. A patrol of Jaffa stalked by, still in formation. They were heading into the woods where the rest of the team had fled. Chester brought his P90 up and made sure to keep them covered.

Benny grabbed his radio, "Dexter? Dex? You've got a whole bunch of those jaffar guys going into the woods after you. Chester says we're going to circle around and head to the Stargate. You can pick us up on route?"

"Roger that. We're almost through the woods. Still about two damn kilometers to the cargo ship."

Right then, Benny heard the biggest explosion he ever had. The force threw him flat on his back, and the trees in the woods tumbled over. With a torrential whoosh, the sky turned back and directions seemed to stop existing. Pure chaos ruled for a few horrible seconds. And then it was over. Chester was the first up, and looked to where the Stargate was. A mushroom cloud hung over the sky.

***

Benny was lost. When they'd scattered to avoid the jaffa patrol, he'd lost the rest of his group. Then a bolt of blue lightning hit him in the back, and he fell over. He was passed out from the pain before he hit the ground.

***

James opened his zat, and looked over at Kat.

"You ever used one of these things?"

"No, I'm new at this too."

"Fun stuff."

James took a moment, psyching himself up. This was insane. Absolutely positively insane. That was the genius of it. Behind them, Benny was working frantically, and only god knew where Dex and Chester were.

"Go."

Him and Kat stood and sprinted out to meet their fate.

***

General Hammond was groggy. It was too damn early in the morning, and he needed his coffee. Unfortunately, he couldn't go to get any, because off-world teams could try to contact him at any moment. Truth be known, they only tried to contact him when he wasn't there. Then the stargate activated, and someone called out "We have an incoming transmission sir! Same IDC as Khonsu."

Hammond frowned, then said "Let's hear it."

A scared voice came through on the other side. It whispered quietly, "I am Ma'Kal, Khonsu's former servant. I have the information you sought. Please, please hurry. Please meet me on Armanas. Please hurry, I don't know how long I have..."

Hammond looked at one of his techies. "Place the call. Activate SG-6, yesterday."

***

Dexter woke up to his phone ringing. Oh wait, that last one wasn't a dream. That was reality.

As his cell phone began to ring, Dex's eyes instinctively grew tighter. He'd left the lights on before going to sleep again, he didn't want to even bother opening his eyes to prove it. In fact it was the only thing he positively remembered from last night. Throwing a hand over to his nightstand he found what he wanted, thrusting it to his lips he tried to drink the remnants of the bottle. He quickly discovered there was none. He set the seagrams aside before grudgingly picking up the phone, "What is it?" It was his angry/hungover voice, he hated speaking in that voice.

"Uh.... Dexy?" It was his wife, or rather his soon to be ex-wife Sharon. "Is that you?" She could never recognize his angry/hungover voice it was so deep and cracked.

Dex quickly coughed as he straightened up in the bed, there was always something in the pitch of her voice that made Dex think he was about to be in trouble. Though as he slid himself up in the bed he realized he was about into be trouble, he bumped into something, there was a lump in his bed. Not like a growth, more like an unfortunate existence. She was a Lt. or a Major or... a doctor or something, Dex couldn't remember. All he could do was cough in shock before replying with the most polite, "Hey baby."

Though these words quickly proved to be an unfortunate choice, he could feel the woman stir next to him, his hand clasped over the microphone as the woman next to him muttered a simple "mornin'." in a delightful southern drawl. That was probably what drew him towards her, he always loved southern girls, especially when he was drunk. She got out of the bed and moved to the bathroom as if she owned the place, Dex was about to say something to her when he realized he should be listening to the phone.

"-iss you so much and I just want to see you again. What do you think?"

"Well baby, I really miss you too." Right as he paused Dex could quite clearly hear his female companion hauk a loogie down into what he hoped was the sink. "More then I even thought. Y'know I have some R&R coming my way if you want to-"

"MY GAWD DARLIN' ISSAT THE TIME?!!" It appeared his southern bell had found the clock radio Dex kept in the shower, he clasped his hand over the phone once more. But this time was different.

"Who was that?" He was too late. "Was that a womans voice Dex?" Sharon had dropped the cute "y" off of his name, he was in trouble now and he knew it.

"That was the tv-" He could hear a piercing southern voice once more as she tore open the bathroom door.

"Sorry to cut this short Dexter darlin' but I am late." Dex winced at the sound of the womans voice, it was quickly accompanied by the sound of a disconnect signal over the phone.

"AWWwww..." The phone dropped to the floor as he began to rub the dust from his eyes.

"Don't worry darlin' I'll be back later." As Dexter turned to say something all he could see was the door shutting behind her. He hadn't even seen her face.

"Why doesn't somebody just kill me." It was at this moment the phone rang. It was the black phone, a hard line, no way for it to be tapped. It was the bad phone. Dex brought the phone up to his ear as if it was a bomb he knew was about to go.

"Lt. Colonel Leary?" An ambiguous voice questioned. "This is a call about SG-6."

The cursed team, the team which plagued all those who wore the badge to death. "You guys are quick."

"Excuse me sir?"

"Sorry just thinking out loud, briefing in a half hour?"

"Yessir."

"Good." Slamming the phone down Dexter sighed, "Unmei wa dou demo ii." (Fuck destiny.) After a quick shower Dexter was walking down the halls of the Cheyenne mountain base, giving each and every female a little extra salute. He wasn't sure where he'd gotten that bottle of seagrams, but he swore if he found the jerk who'd given it to him he was going to slug him.

The phone rang.

And rang.

And rang.

Chester's eyes slowly opened. Darkness filled his room, suggesting it was still night. Then again, I'm in the middle of a mountain, so I can't really go by that, can I? he thought to himself.

He rolled over and looked at his clock. 4:42 am? 4:42 am?! There isn't a reason in the world to wake a man up at 4:42 am! I don't care if there's an army of Jaffa pouring through the Stargate right now, I fully intend not to worry about until at least 6 o'clock.

However, the phone kept ringing.

And ringing.

And ringing.

Chester cursed himself for putting the ring setting on the one he found most annoying. I knew I'd be tempted not to answer, so I chose the one I couldn't stand.

Finally, Chester reached over and picked up the phone. "DaLaney."

"Sorry to wake you up, Captain," the voice on the other end of the phone said, "but a brieifing has been called for SG-6 in a half hour."

SG-6? I'm not SG-6. Chester almost told the poor man on the other end of the phone just that, but in not so polite terms, when the events of the last few days came back to him.

Wait, I am on SG-6.

Oh....crap.

"Captain DaLaney?" the voice on the other end of the phone said.

"Sorry, still waking up. 30 minutes for the briefing, gotcha."

Chester hung up the phone and turned on the light, wincing at the pain in his eyes. "You really shouldn't wake the Dark Lords of the Sixth this early."

James for the most part, ignored the phone. He was busy ridding his backyard of gophers. He had worked it out that by using just the right amount of Explosive 300.94 in a pump, he could fill each and every tunnel underneath his backyard with fiery rodent death.

Naturally, he had to do it early in the morning for the best visibility, and at a time when no one else would be around to see him do it. He still had neighbors routinely checking his house out through their windows after he "dug" his pool. But it was a nice pool, anyway. And at least if he set his neighbors bushes on fire again, at least there was now a water source nearby, and he made sure to have a fire extinquisher.

He made a few quick checks of the explosive, the pump, and made sure no gopher was making a run for freedom. Gophers were smart animals, and one never knew if they had caught on to his genocidal schemes. Especialy since when he made the pool, not a single gopher bit the dust. There had to be a reason for that. Maybe they were evil alien gophers or something. In that case, as a member of the "stardoor" thingy, it was his duty to utterly annihalate them all with impunity.

James readied the hot stick, in this case some incense, and put the explosive in the pump, and the pump's hose into the hole in the ground. "Alright. 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2.....1!"

James slammed the pump as he shoved the incense down the hole, and felt and whoosh beneath his feet. The fire raced down the tunnels, and from James's perspective, he noticed alot of the grass died and shriveled as their roots were burnt up. He was cooking the very ground his stood on.

Cool.

But as usual, when he was having fun, there was bound to be a repercussion. Namely, he hadn't bothered to check and see where all the gopher tunnels led. It probably would have benefitted him to know that they also led under the nearby bushes, his neighbor's gazebo, an empty tool shed, and most importantly, underneath his house's floorboards.

James immediately became aware of the bushes, as red flame burst up from below them, and the smoke began to rise. "Ooops..."

Then he saw the heat of the flames melting the paint on the gazebo.

"Damn..."

The toolshed looking like Timothy Mcveigh had lived in there.

"Shit!"

Underneath his house, the gopher hole was partially closed. Running on a treadmill and DDR had long since caused it to collapse partially, but as the pressure built up in that area due to James's continual pumping, explosion got through.

Coincidentally, it was right beneath the coffee table James kept the phone on. And right in the trajectory of the blast, was a window through which you could see James.

James turned at the sound of glass breaking. "FU-"

The cordless phone smacked him in the head and he went down like a ton of bricks.

"Hello? Hello? Major Evans? the phone crackled, it's phone base still functioning. James rolled his eyes, and made the world stop spinning. Mostly. The Gazebo's roof was still spinning, but he assumed that was because the hot air underneath it and it's enclosed nature was making a bit of a vaccuum.

He reached over and grabbed the phone, and held it to the ear as he lay upon the warm deadened grass. "...Yes? Major Evans speaking."

"Sir. Your presence is required at the SGC."

"Oh. Kay. How soon should I be there?"

"You have a briefing in 30 minutes."

"Sure...yeah...sure. I'll be there." James picked himself up and stood, surveying the damage in progress. It didn't look good. He reached over for the fire extinquisher, but as he did so, something else caught his eye.

Emerging from the pool were four very wet gophers, crawling out of the kiddy side and ambling down the path. One on the very back seemed to have a few blackened hairs on it's rear end, and a whisp of steam rising from both his tail and from the pool.

"Damn...."

******************************

James drove down the mountain road, humming along with the radio. Sure, he was bound to have some angry, angry neighbors, but then again, he was also assured the possibility of death, which upon he'd never have to worry about lawsuits. When he got to the base, he waved at the man at the gate, an drove in.

Naturally, car parking wasn't an issue, but nonetheless James took a spot that wasn't his, purely out of defiance. Sure, he could have a top secret clearance and given extra money for hard to do work, bu the was still doing what he hated in order to do what he loved. He'd rather cut the middle man, but alas that day hadn't come yet.

Still humming James boarded the elevator, and wished it played music. Of course the only one who agreed with him was some O'neil person, so it would be awhile. Perhaps if he blew up a mothership or something...nah.

When the doors opened, James nodded to the security detail that patroled the area, and walked down one of the many halls of the SGC. It was like an unmappable maze, the SGC. There were about a hundred winding paths from A to B, and no direct way to anywhere. It was most likely a security reason, as from what he understood there had been intruders and whatnot. The other problem was that the place was in constant renovation to make room for new science rooms, and just to mix the place up. He could have sworn the hallway he just walked through was once where they kept the vending machines, but hey, at least they had finally gave him an office. And a new computer. Oh....there would be games played. Especially if he got his hands on Alien computer stuff. That would kick-ass.

James pondered the SGC and the possibility of playing Half-Life 2 on a computer used to govern an alien spacecraft as he kept going, inevitably reaching the briefing room.

He opened the doors, and hoped he wasn't late.

Benny woke up in a very precarious situation. Somehow during the night, he'd managed to loop and entwine his blankets to the point they formed a cocoon, which pinned his arms with a vice-like grip. Making the situation more fun, he'd rolled off the bed, and was now hanging a foot above the floor, suspended by his freakish cocoon. Furiously, he struggled against his entrapment and thrashed about so hard that his bed started swaying. Then he stopped. He heard something he wasn't supposed to hear. It was another human, giving a slight groan of exhaustion and discontent at being woken up. It was a female voice.

Now, there was one thing that was and is incredibly essential to understanding Benny. After advanced high school biology, pre-med, a bachelors of physics, a master and PhD in nuclear physics, and an IQ that was considered about the top 30 on the planet, Benny had one massive shortcoming. He did not understand humans. Women especially. He was incredibly socially inept. Thus, when he heard that melodic voice behind him, he fought down every instinct he had, and didn't scream in terror. He could hear and feel the bed moving, which meant the unknown girl was now moving around.

Then the blankets gave way, dropping Benny onto the floor roughly. He let out a yelp of surprise and a bit of pain, and he heard whoever it was get up at the noise. Benny rose and spun. The girl did the same. Then Benny wanted to shoot himself. Not because she was ugly, she was quite attractive, but because...

The night before, Lieutenant Colonel Leary had rounded up as many people as he could for one last hurrah at a local bar. A few of his friends and compatriots were moving away other cities, getting other jobs. Major Evan's sister had been among them, though he hadn't been present. That was who looked back at him now. There was a dead silence.

The phone rang.

Benny grabbed it and answered. His voice went up an octave higher than it normally did.

"Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"SG-6 got the call. Half an hour to briefing."

Benny slammed the receiver down and stared at the girl whose name he didn't even know. "I'vegottogotoworknowbye." He sprinted into his bathroom, and had the quickest shower he could remember ever taking, dove into his clothes and sprinted out of the house. Not slowing down any, he drove well over the speed limit all the way to cheyenne mountain, and walked into the base looking like he'd been run over.

Numbly, he walked into the briefing room and desperately avoid eye contact with James. He didn't want to die.

At long last, one of the advisors popped his head in. "General Hammond will be with you briefly, he's just gathering intel. I will tell you for certain though, you'll be going off-world. You might want to talk about the group discipline and stuff. Could be good for future reference." The advisor then dropped his voice. "Not that 6 teams have a future."

Benny involuntarily made a squeaking noise, born purely out of mind-numbing terror.

Chester watched as Benny came in, and watched as Benny did a horrible job of trying to be nonchalant in his effort to avoid looking at James. Oh, good heavens. What did he do? he thought to himself. He only hoped James wasn’t aware enough to notice Benny trying to get James to not notice him.

Chester shook his head as that last thought ran through his mind again. Man…I must still be tired, because I’m starting to confuse myself!

Then the idiot aid made his snide little comment.

“Says the man who is nice and safe on this side of the Gate.” Chester growled.

Right as Chesters growl faded the doors handle clicked open, loudly enough to let everyone know it was opening and yet quietly enough to let everyone know whoever was opening it was trying to be stealthy. The door slowly swung open before Dex lowered his head in. Seeing that all eyes were set upon him he did the only thing he could think to do, "Uh... Hey."

Shifting into the room awkwardly he gave a few nods to the group before tip-toeing over to a free chair, sitting down to the sound of a very loud and very audible squeek. Looking up for some semblance of an answer about his chair he saw the look on Benny's face. It was a mish-mash of absolute fear and terror as he desperately attempted to avoid eye contact with James.

Turning to James Dexter raised a hand to say something but stopped as he eyed what appeared to be a small patch of burned dirt in James' hair. Dexter looked down to the table before idly cracking his knuckles, and breaking the very silence he had created. "So.... what did I miss?"

"Eh, nothing much." James totally noticed Benny's attempt to be unnoticed, but didn't care. As far as he was concerned, Benny was probably doing the right thing, which James himself would do in Benny's shoes.

Not that he'd ever wear Benny's shoes. They were too small. But he did know he'd be working with Benny. The scientist and the Engineer always had to work together with the Techy stuff. He just hoped that Benny wouldn't piss his pants every time he touched something electric, alien, or non-combustible for that matter.

Oh well. Perhaps he could calm the jittery nerd down. "Sooo Benny. How's life been treating you, eh?"

Benny's voice involuntarily rose an octave as he was forced to make eye contact with James.

"It's been treating me quite well thank you for asking how are you James?" came out all in a rush, and ran only on one breath. Desperately trying to change the subject, Benny asked the first thing he could think to ask. "So, can anyone tell me what it's like off-world?"

Mercifully, General Hammond strolled through the door right then. He looked tired. He looked like he desperately needed a break, but giving the current state of affairs he wasn't going to get one. Quite delicately, he closed the door, then rubbed his temples. After a few false starts, he finally gathered the air into his lungs and spoke. His words were chosen very delicately.

"SG-1 through 11 are off-world. You are my fall-back men, and I never intended to have you deployed so early. Unfortunately, I find myself with no choice. Five days ago, SG-1 undertook an assignment where they feigned capture in order to make contact with the Tok'Ra Khonsu. Unfortunately, Khonsu's allegiances were discovered and he, as well as a few other supporters, were killed. The purpose of the mission was to gain information that Khonsu claims, I mean claimed, is of utmost importance to the safety of Earth. Unfortunately, we still have no idea what that information is. Approximately 35 minutes ago, we received a message through the Stargate. Khonsu's servant escaped the killings, and he has our desired information. He has requested asylum, and has requested that we send a team to retrieve him. That's where you come in. You'll be going to Armanas."

There was a murmur through the group, but it subsided quickly. Armanas was where the first SG-6 had warranted the infamous curse. It was supposed to be the planet that SG-6 was to never be deployed to, yet, here they were.

"I understand the signifigance. However, we don't have a choice. Jack and his boys are tied up at the Alpha Site, and it will be a while before we can get anybody else back here. Thus, you've been selected to go and retrieve this servant. We don't even know his name. You'll be going in armed, and we do believe there is a decent chance he was followed, so be on your toes. Your fifth member, Kat beat you all here by twenty-five minutes, so we sent her ahead to scout. You'll meet up with her and then find this servant. Bring him back to earth. That's all. Any questions?"

Benny raised his hand.

"Sir, what's Armanas like?"

"Scattered forests, mostly plains. Don't worry, you'll be sent to the second stargate on the world, on the other side of the planet from your hexers."

Benny raised his hand again.

"Sir, I see nothing that pertains to nuclear physics. Why am I going?"

"Well, you're part of SG-6. That's the main reason. Otherwise, in the unlikely event that we learn of something incredibly dangerous, you can give us an assessment of how dangerous."

Benny pouted.

Dex flinched a little at the mention of Kat beating them by 25 minutes, the message had only come up 35 minutes before, within 10 minutes she had arrived. Watashi no kami...(My god) Dex thought, "Looks like Kat's just after my job." Pausing for but a moment Dex found he didn't even recieve a couretsy laugh, once again he changed the subject. "So what proof did this servant provide to prove they didn't sell khonsu down the river before turning on us as well... or is that classified?" Dex said the last part as a joke but he really just hated when they pulled that crap.