THE UNKNOWN VISITOR
~Chapter One~
SG-1 sat in the briefing room, listening to General Hammond as he explained their next assignment. As far as they were concerned it was a routine meet and greet that could have just as easily have been handled by one of the many other SG teams. However, at the present moment there weren't many missions of high priority for the head team to carry out. As they went over the preliminary results obtained by the MALP telemetry unit their concentration was broken by a slight yawning sound. They all looked up at the person that they would have least thought to show such boredom, Teal'c. Acting as if he'd done nothing, the Jaffa sat quietly and looked down at the report on the table in front of him. However, he knew that they w ere looking at him.
"I know this is pretty simple stuff, but it never hurt anyone to go back over their basics," Hammond said, trying to supply them with a good reason as to why they weren't being put to better use.
"You're right, this couldn't hurt anyone," Jack said in reply, exaggerating how easy the task was.
"Say hello...have a look around...come home, "Daniel began, "Sound's fine to me."
"Well, at least we won't be facing some dire threat to Earth at any rate," Sam added in agreement. She figured she could easily go without one of those right about now.
"A good 'no brainer'," Jack concluded as he sat back in his seat comfortably. Just as he said this, the Stargate, below in the gate room, suddenly activated. The alarm sounded and red flashi ng lights filled the complex.
"Incoming traveler," said a voice over the speaker. The chevrons on the huge circular frame turned in succession to the next symbol, steam rising up from the friction between the steel grips holding it up and the naquadah material of the gate. Jack groaned, annoyed at the interruption to his relaxation. SG-1 had just warmed up to the idea of doing an easy task for once. However, it only took them a nano-second to hit work mode once more.
"Who could that be?" Daniel said curiously to himself as he and his company got up and exited the room. They moved down stairs into the control room over looking the gate as it continued to lock in the co-ordinates.
"There are no SG teams currently off world," General Hammond said to the others concerned as he watched military personnel file into the gate room and into defensive positions.
"Chevron six is encoded Sir," Sergeant Davis said from behind the main computer terminal. On the screen, there in bright red, the symbol status flashed 'LOCKED' as the gate turned to the final chevron. The armed officers in front of the gate were ready and waiting. No one had any idea of whom it was that was dialing in. As the final symbol locked and the vortex shot out from the center of the event horizon, Hammond ordered for the Iris to be closed immediately. As requested, a spiral shaped metal shield slid out from the inner rim of the Stargate and quickly covered the shimery, blue surface.
They all stood there, waiting for someone, or something to at tempt to enter their world. Nothing came. No tell tale sounds thudding against the inside of the Iris, no audio or visual signals...not a thing. SG-1 and General Hammond exchanged glances; none of them had any ideas of whom it may be trying to contact them. Now, a good three minutes had passed without a single thing happening.
"Should we ask who's there?" Jack said half jokingly; He looked over at Sam who just glanced back a similar expression of uncertainty.
"We can't track what world the gate being used is on, can we?" Daniel questioned as he thought of police and how they traced phone calls from an incoming line.
"Unfortunately no, we can't" Davis told him from his seat in front of the main terminal.
"No. I didn't think so," Daniel replied, scrapping that idea.
"Question is ... how long do we keep the gate open?" Hammond told them, "It's been several minutes now and nothing has happened. We can only speculate on what might have occurred on the other side of the wormhole."
"Sir, who knows, we might be receiving a hailing signal, or something, and not even know it," Sam replied, eager to pull out all her new equipment and try it out to see if there were any undetected frequencies. "It's that 'something' that we don't know about that concerns me Major," General Hammond added as he looked back at the stillness of the gate.
Suddenly a high pitched screeching sound emitted from the Stargate, so high and loud that everyone, including the armed officers in the gate room covered their ears involunta rily. The noise pierced their ears with such power that they felt as if their eardrums were going to burst. Doubled over and faces contorted with pain, the SGC personnel began dropping like flies to the floor. First the men in the gate room, then the officers in the adjacent entrances. The control room was next. SG-1 and everyone else fell to their knees and collapsed to the floor, or off their chairs and into writhing balls of agony. In a matter of seconds the entire SGC staff was contorting on the cement floors and carpeted rooms of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex.
When the piercing noise stopped the gate de-activated. The entire place was silent...and motionless, for everyone was now unconscious.
The auburn haired girl stood unseen and undetected on the cold metal platform. She could see many men lying on the ground before her, some form of weapon clutched in each of their hands. None of them stirred. This concerned her. This was the third time she had arrived at another planet and the inhabitants h a d ended up face down. The last time, they were dead. On further inspection she realized these were not. She sighed in relief. They wore a dark greenish uniform and similar colored helmet. She instantly recognized this as a military outfit of some fashion. Her eyes scanned to the room she was in, large and gray, along with many electrical components tucked into various corners.
The young woman looked back down at the unaware bodies and walked over to them. They did not look comfortable; in fact, they look ed rather unsettled for the unconscious. She worried that they might have been harmed by her arrival. There were no obvious signs that they were injured, still she hoped that they awoke soon so that she could be certain.
She walked past the men in the m ilitary helmets and towards a curious exit that led out of the room on her left. Here she came across a flight of stairs and soon found herself cautiously walking up them. Her pale violet skirt fell around her ankles and only lightly brushed the surface of the steps like a whisper. She entered a room that overlooked the silent Stargate and all the men that were in there. Here her eyes discovered some rather interesting technological machines, unusual and beguiling at the same time. She had not seen such equipment in many, many months.
Her attention was then diverted to someone lying on the floor. A man, who wore glass-framed ovals on his face, rolled onto his back and groaned slowly. He didn't open his eyes; instead he groggily put his right hand to his head and frowned in such a way as to indicate that it hurt. Now the woman frowned also. So she did harm them upon her arrival. With a feeling of guilt and empathy she moved over to the man and knelt down beside him. He didn't seem to notice her presence, even when she placed her hand over his forehead to ease the pain. He opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling above. They were blue, a marble blue. She hadn't seen such intensely colored eyes for a long time. He stirred some more and as he focused he t urned to see his comrades unconscious on the floor close by. Sitting upright and adjusting his glasses, the man looked about himself, frowning as he realized he was the only one awake.
The young woman then smiled to herself, he was not seriously hurt.
Daniel didn't see her, or hear her; however, he had a strange feeling...one he couldn't put his finger on. He saw Jack laying nearby in a rather uncomfortable looking position, and Sam on the other side of him. Turning to his left he found Teal'c and General Hammond. Even Sergeant Davies was piled on the floor.
Daniel reached out and shook Jack. Slowly at first and then with a little more force when the Colonel didn't respond. Jack moved his right arm slightly, and then opened his eyes.
Suddenly he sat upright and looked about himself. "What the hell...?" he said, his burst of adrenaline disappearing as he trailed off, "Carter," he began as he nudged the Major beside him. Sam opened her eyes and rolled over onto her back.
"Jack? You okay?" Daniel asked him.
Jack looked back at him, a little agitated, "Ah, yeah, all roses and peaches." He looked over to his second in commend who hadn't replied to him yet, "Carter?"
Sam grunted to herself and rubbed her eyes. "I'm alright," she said as she sat up putting her hand to her head. She looked around herself as she noticed others stirring now at their noise.
"What the hell happened?" Jack asked confused as he saw Teal'c and General Hammond moving on the other side of Daniel, amongst others.
"I don't know, all I remember is this, this, shrieking noise," Daniel replied as he took off his glasses and rubbed the ridge between his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.
"Ah, yes. That God awful sound," Jack said as he began to make a move to get to his feet. His head suddenly started to spin and he quickly decided that staying put for a few more seconds might be a better idea.
"My ears are still ringing from it," Sam said in addition.
"Hey, Teal'c," Daniel began as he heard movement on his other side and turned to see him getting up, "You alright?"
"I will be fine Doctor Jackson," he said after a moment.
"General," Jack said as he finally stood, he went over to give the man a hand and soon they were both upright.
"What on Earth just happened here?" Hammond eventually asked as he righted himself.
"That's what we'd like to know Sir," Sam replied as the rest of SG-1 rose to their feet.
The young woman went unnoticed amongst the medlem that followed. She was never seen, or heard, even if she was standing right in front of a person. She had spent two nights there , watching them and learning. She saw their leader, a man named George Hammond ordering people about and making all the important decisions. She saw an outside medical Doctor give every single person a thorough check up, including the resident Doctor Janet Frasier. Then she saw Major Samantha Carter, running diagnostics on everything, and coming up with nothing, much to the Majors frustration.
She sat undetected with their Jaffa, Teal'c, as he meditated in kal'no'reem. The Colonel, Jack O'Neill, he spent a whole afternoon with her as he ate, went to a briefing and then back to do nothing in his office. Something she realized he did often. And Doctor Daniel Jackson, he was at a loss. He wanted to help; however a man in his field couldn't come up with much in this situation. There was nothing in his historical and cultural expertise that covered this. He stood by and helped Sam when she needed it, offering suggestions on the odd scientific things that he had learned during the time he had known her.
She stood nearby as they all gathered around a large black and red wooden table in what they referred to as the briefing room. She was not surprised when Samantha Carter informed them all that she was unable to determine what had happened the day that they all had collapsed.
"Nothing came up on any of the security cameras and there was no interference with the base computer. I did a full diagnostic," the military astro-physicist added with perplexity.
"There's nothing wrong with any of the personnel either, " Doctor Frasier began, "except for a few odd injuries caused by people falling down stairs and off ladders when they became unconscious," she added with various hand gestures to this statement, "otherwise, everyone has a clean bill of health."
"So this is going to become an, 'Unsolved Mystery'?" Jack asked curiously, half-smiling to himself at his witty one line. Well, at least he thought it was witty.
"Looks that way Sir," Sam replied at a loss.
The woman stood next to Doctor Frasier and listened for a few moments longer before deciding to leave. It was time for her to leave for her 'home' now anyway. As she moved towards the exit, she accidentally brushed past Teal'c with her arm. Suddenly she stopped and turned watching him in concern, wondering if he had felt it. The Jaffa sat silently, however he cocked his head slightly in her direction. His eyes diverted back behind him as far as they could without being too obvious and then he looked back at the others. They hadn't noticed.
She stood there, unsure of whether he had actually felt her presence or just the movement of the air around her. He sat back into his chair and then once again he looked her way. He had felt her presence, of this she was certain. While she was positive that he hadn't seen her, this was a revelation. With a curious expression on her face she quickly headed back down to the gate room to leave.
"So you're certain that there haven't been any effects on any of our personnel?" Hammond questioned Doctor Frasier once more for good measure.
"Yes, neither physically nor psychologically, everything seems to be normal." As soon as she ended her sentence, they were greeted by the sound of the base security alarm and those familiar red flashing lights. They were all expecting to hear the usual 'unauthorized off-world activation'; however, it never came. They rushed down into the control room and saw the current officer sitting before the main terminal looking at the screen with a concerning look of bewilderment.
"What's going on?" Hammond ordered as they all filed in to see.
"I don't understand it Sir," the man said. The chevrons on the Stargate had begun to turn, locking in the co-ordinates.... This is where they realized what was going on.
"Someone's dialing out," Sam said in surprise, "from here!"
"Who?" Jack said concerned as he quickly switched into military mode.
"Lieutenant?" Hammond asked directing the Colonels question to the man at the main computer. He just shrugged and shook his head.
"No idea. The Iris isn't working. I can't even get it to shut off," the man informed them with a worried tone.
"The main power..." Sam said quickly. She need say no more. Jack was off running and in a matter of seconds he had reached the huge switch by the left entrance. The gate was on its fifth chevron when he pulled the large lever down and the whole room was plunged into a cold darkness, like jumping into deep water. The Stargate no longer moved. The only sound that could be heard was the huge electronic device powering down to a quiet hum, then, nothing. The others up in the control room still had power, and the light from the deck filtered into the gate room, illuminating the awesome machine with a kind of eerie underwater glow.
Jack stood there, waiting for the secondary power unit to kick in. Soon the gate room was lit up again with a warm glow, however the connection that the mystery traveler had begun dialing with the gate was now lost. The young woman remained on the platform still unseen.
Slightly annoyed she looked up at the others in the window and watched them trying to figure out what was going on, thinking of a possible way to leave without them stopping her. She had a way, yet she didn't really want to resort to that length. She decided to look for some other means first.
"Someone's here...." Daniel said slowly, his eyes cautiously looking about. This only confirmed what everyone else thought.
"I want that gate disconnected. We are now under complete lockdown. No one goes in or out of this complex until we find out exactly what in the hell we have here," Hammond ordered. Daniel and Sam exchanged glances and Teal'c thought to himself about that strange feeling he had back in the briefing room.
Soon Jack had rejoined them and it was only a matter of seconds before he asked the question. "So, do you think we have Reetou?"
"I don't know Sir," Sam said unsure. She turned to Teal'c for any conformation.
"I do not sense the presence of a Reetou in this facility," he simply told them.
"Nurti?" Daniel suggested referring to the Goa'uld System Lord that frequently used phase shifting in order to slip around unseen.
"I'll get out with the Trans-phase Eradication Rifles and do a sweep of the base if you want," Sam said as General Hammond gave her the go ahead. Sam nodded and went to the equipment room followed closely by Jack. They had done this a few times now and they knew all the best places to look.
"How could Nurti get in here anyway?" Doctor Frasier asked after a moment, "There haven't been any SG teams on a Goa'uld planet for at least a month or two."
"I'd say that incident a couple of days ago had something to do with this," Daniel told them as he frowned in thought.
"Earlier in the briefing room I could have sworn that I felt the presence of someone walk past me," Teal'c said out right. The others all turned and looked at him, taken aback.
"Really?" Daniel asked inquisitively, "what...just before?"
"Yes. I would not have said anything if not for this most recent turn of events," he added.
"So Nurti, she would be in this immediate area then?" Doctor Frasier asked.
"I would believe so," Teal'c informed her.
"Seal off e gate room and all the adjacent areas," Hammond ordered, "Major Carter, Colonel O'Neill and their company are the only personnel to be allowed back into this section." Within a few moments, the two officers had returned. They entered the gate room first; the T.E.R.'s in hand and backed up by some heavily armed Stargate personnel. Sam looked up at the small gat hering in the control room and then back down at the weapon she held. It wasn't very large, but it packed quite a powerful punch. They originally had gained it for detecting Reetou, however, they had used it successfully on Nurti before and Sam was confid ent that if it were her they were dealing with then it would certainly reveal her position.
Their visitor still stood on the platform and she was watching the Major very closely. Samantha turned on the device and waited a moment as it powered up. She girl shifted nervously on the spot, suddenly feeling very vulnerable. She knew that no matter what that thing was that the Major and Colonel were holding that she was in danger of being discovered. The others looked on from above as the Jack and Sam began to w ave their T.E.R.'s left to right, scanning the immediate area. They were all unawares of a young woman carefully sneaking past them and their backup and making her way up the stairs into the control room. She had two choices one, to be caught with the T.E.R.'s, or two, to hide somewhere that the device would not be able to detect her. Unfortunately, the only problem with these choices was that either way; she would be revealing herself. However, she found that she now had no alternative.
She stood in the doorway of the control room and looked in at the rest of SG-1 and their company. She was hesitant, this was not something that she liked to have to do if she could avoid it, but now Jack was making his way in her direction and she had to act soon. The wo man glanced behind herself at the humming sound of the approaching device that would undoubtedly expose her.
Taking a deep breath, she pulled up the sleeve on the right arm of her long dress and looked down at the advanced device that was implanted onto the back of her wrist. It looked like a small silver tattoo of an electrical motherboard, and there was a tiny red light shining from its center. With her left hand, she quickly motioned her palm over the device and the light turned to a bright yellow. She glanced back briefly at the sound of Jacks boots on metal as he made his way up the stairs. The others in the control room turned to greet him. Without any further hesitation, the young woman shifted right into the person standing closest to her and out of phase with the TER as Jack entered the room.
The Colonel stopped and stared at Daniel for a moment as he pulled an odd expression, "what?" he asked staring at him confused.
"Nothing," Daniel replied as he moved back and let Jack into the center of the room. Teal'c looked at him strangely and then his attention turned back to Jack and what he was doing.
Then Sam entered the room from behind him.
"Nothing yet?" Hammond asked, not expecting a 'yes'.
"No, but we'll keep looking," Sam replied as she waved the Rifle over her company. She noticed Daniel and Teal\rquote c frowning slightly as the TER passed over them but she thought nothing of it.
"Well, this place is clean," she concluded as she looked over at Jack who gave an agreeing look.
"Perhaps Nurti has slipped by and is somewhere else in the facility," Teal'c suggested. Sam nodded. About ten minutes later Sam and Jack returned to the control room where the others had waited it out and told them the bad news.
"We couldn't find anything, maybe it's not Nurti we're dealing with here?" Sam told them rather disappointed.
"Well, until we figure out what it is, this complex will be in quarantine and under complete lock down," Hammond said once again, "Do you have any other ideas what this may be about Major?"
Sam glanced up at Jack and then back to the others and saw a slight look of wishfulness in their faces, but they all knew that she was as at much of a loss as the rest of them. She shrugged and shook her head slightly, "Afraid not Sir. Best I can do is run another full systems diagnostic and see how the gate was activated from our side.
"Very well. I want you to report to me immediately if you find anything. Until then you're all dismissed," Hammond told them, not really having anything else he could do.
"Yes Sir," Sam said as she went right to work.
"If you don't mind General, I'd like to do one more medical check of the base personnel. Just to be safe," Janet added. Despite the protesting groan of Colonel O'Neill, Hammond gave her the go ahead and they all departed to be examined.
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