Shadows and Siege 13
Apr. 30th, 2008 10:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lit_gal
Two years ago, a secret covert ops organization (Section One) showed up in Jim's loft to force Jim and Blair to help rescue an agent named Nikita. (~Shadows of the Past~). Now, Section's new head, that same Nikita, tells him that he's supposed to work with traitors from Stargate Command to get rid of a group of invading aliens called goa'uld. Jim really, *really* wishes he could just pretend none of this ever happened.Shadows and Siege part one
Shadows and Siege part two
Shadows and Siege part three
Shadows and Siege part four
Shadows and Siege part six
Shadows and Siege part seven
Shadows and Siege part eight
Shadows and Siege part nine (Sunday morning chapter)
Shadows and Siege ten (Sunday afternoon chapter)
Shadows and Siege 11 (Monday afternoon chapter)
Shadows and Siege 12 (Wednesday afternoon)
Blair fidgeted, his gaze shifting from Jim to Jack and back as he tried to just wait for the rescue that Jim said was coming. Whatever was setting Jim off, he definitely didn't want to talk about it with Jack standing three feet away.
Jim's fingers tightened against his arm, and Blair's gaze darted to the door at the top of the stairs. Right on cue, a muffled boom echoed through the room.
"Dial it down," Blair said out of habit, but Jim didn't even twitch as figures in black darted through the smoke.
"Clear!" Jim called, letting the rescuers know that there weren't any guards. "Makepeace, you'd better have a good reason for breaking protocol," Jim growled as he stepped to the bars.
"Makepeace?!" Jack sounded about ready to swallow his own tongue. "Colonel Makepeace?!" he demanded as if he were hoping for some other Makepeace. He stepped right up next to Jim, and the whole atmosphere in the room shifted. Wisps of smoke from the explosion still drifted past, but they weren't enough to disguise the ex-colonel as the man stepped forward, only glancing at Jack before he focused on Jim.
"Change in orders from base. We were ordered in to assess and secure the area if feasible. It was."
"And the guest in the dining room?" Jim asked tightly, and then Blair figured out exactly why Jim was not happy. The spy Rebecca Clark stood there right behind Makepeace. Jim sidestepped, physically shoving Jack with his shoulder, and Blair just felt a helpless urge to shout 'watch out, mind-wiping alien.' Of course, the problem was that mind-wiping aliens could wipe out everyone's memory of him shouting that. It was a good three seconds before it occurred to him that Clark wasn't doing anything at all to stop the fact that Jim was trying to block her access. In fact, she just sort of retreated behind Makepeace rather than make any aggressive moves.
Now Jack—he was feeling more aggressive as he shoved right back, but despite a quick shoving match with Jim, his focus was clearly on Makepeace. "So, Robert, not good to see you again. Seen any good prison cells lately?" Jack said dryly. Jim's body was iron stiff.
"Makepeace, send Clark up to secure the perimeter and blow this lock," Jim snapped.
Makepeace opened his mouth to say something, but Clark slipped out from behind Makepeace, distracting all three men, and then Jim twitched violently. He stumbled back a step, and Blair cried out, not able to reach him. Jack was there, his hands at Jim's back helping to stabilize him.
"Fuck. What did you do?" Blair demanded. Stealth be damned, he just wanted some answers.
Clark ducked her head. "I'm sorry," she said softly as she again retreated, and Blair wasn't sure how to interpret all this. If she was aggressive, she so should have mind-wiped him, but instead she looked ready to run, as if he was the threat.
"Jim, come on man, come on back," Blair said as he temporarily ignored Clark and focused on Jim who blinked for a second, and then nodded.
"Chief, it's okay."
"Okay? It's not remotely okay," Blair growled. Whatever shiny new fake memories she'd given Jim, they weren't remotely okay.
"Chief," Jim said more firmly. "It's okay."
Blair looked at Jim in concern, but what he saw was a calm acceptance on Jim's face. Okay, calm might be the wrong word. He looked more than a little cranky, but there was acceptance there, too.
Jack looked from one to another. "I'd like to know what exactly is okay, because a traitor who's supposed to be in jail running round is not my definition of okay."
"Maybe there's an explanation," Daniel said hopefully, but no one hurried to provide one, and he was left looking from one person to another until even Daniel gave up.
Makepeace's face went stone cold. "Back off, O'Neill," Jim said. "Makepeace, blow this lock."
"Yes, sir," Makepeace said as he pulled out supplies. He handed half to Clark and she immediately went to the lock on Blair's cell and started attaching the explosives. Makepeace worked on the cell Jim and Jack shared, ignoring the shocked and angry looks he was getting from all of SG1.
Jack crossed his arms, and the same gesture that on Daniel looked shy on Jack looked like the man was ready to rip someone apart with his bare hands. "You know, a conviction for treason just isn't what it used to be. I remember the days when people actually took treason seriously."
"Sir," Sam said, "according to official records, Makepeace died of sudden unexpected cardiac death four months ago."
"He... what? Okay, he's looking good for a dead man, not that we aren't all known for getting up after a little dying, but short of a sarcophagus, shouldn't dead men, I don't know, stay dead?" Jack demanded as he turned to his second in command. "And shouldn't someone have told me?"
"I did," Daniel pointed out.
"No you didn't."
"Yes, I did."
"I would have remembered."
"No, Jack, you—" Daniel was cut off when Makepeace pushed a triggered the explosives. Two loud pops and the cell doors were open. Blair sneezed at the bitter smell.
"Jim?" he called.
"I'm fine, Chief. Makepeace, report, and keep it safe for little ears."
Blair snorted hard enough to make his nose hurt as he tried to avoid laughing at the murderous expression Jack shot in Jim's direction. Oh yeah, Section had changed their orders, and Jim was not having to play subordinate any more.
Makepeace, however, was all business as he held a P-90 out for Jim. "She's coming to deal with the unforeseen contingency and has an ETA inside an hour. We neutralized two NID agents and two more have retreated from the immediate area. Teal'c is outside the perimeter. Perimeter secure. No injuries." Makepeace didn't identify 'she,' but Blair could pretty much guess. Whatever was going on with the aliens behind door number two, it was enough to bring Nikita out. That wasn't actually a pleasant thought.
"We hold until she comes then," Jim said firmly as he checked his weapon and then accepted a smaller handgun from Makepeace. "Have Tobias give me an aerial of the area, I want all points of access identified as well as Teal'c's current location, but there will be no deadly force." Jim strode out of the cell, and Blair could see him slip into that role of 'colonel.' Blair darted around Sam to get to Jim's side.
"Tobias?!" Jack started coming out of his cell with an expression on his face like he had just bitten into a rotten egg. "It's just like old home week around here--Makepeace, Tobias... did Benedict Arnold come along too?"
Makepeace answered by raising his zat and taking aim. Jack stopped, his eyebrows going up. "Do you plan to graduate from treason to murder?" he asked casually.
Jim stepped to Makepeace's side. "Call Bruhn to take over down here. I want SG1 secure and out of the way until after she leaves." As Makepeace called for the backup, Jim turned to Clark, who ducked her head away from his look. She looked more like a frightened child than a mastermind who had infiltrated Section. "We'll talk upstairs," he told her, and she nodded mutely and turned to head for the stairs.
"So, we aren't invited to your little party?" Jack called. He was leaning against the side of the open cell door.
"You aren't to put foot on the staircase. If you do, either Makepeace or Bruhn will zat you," Jim said quietly.
"I'm sure you'd enjoy that, wouldn't you?" Jack demanded as he stared at Makepeace. Blair almost felt sorry for the man. All the time Jack had given them a hard time, he had never looked at them with the hate that shone through his eyes right now.
"No, Jack, I wouldn't," Makepeace said slowly as though afraid of what words might fall out of his mouth if he wasn't careful. "I've saved your ass often enough for you to know that's a cheap shot."
"That was you saving my ass when you sold us all out?" Jack gave the most annoying and unctuous grin Blair had ever seen. He wanted to punch the man.
"Jack," Makepeace said, emphasizing the colonel's name, and Blair was pretty sure that was an alpha-dog peeing technique... if you couldn't literally pee on someone, just deny them their title. But Makepeace's next words sounded almost wistful or maybe regretful was the better word. "I did what I thought was best for the security of our world."
"By pissing off our allies? Good call, there," Jack nodded in mock agreement. Makepeace went stiff.
"SG3, are they still in the field?" Makepeace asked, and for one second, Blair didn't think Jack was going to answer. Daniel had wrapped his arms around his stomach nervously, and Sam stood next to the open door to her cell, and the tension hung like wet cobwebs over everything. Bruhn appeared at the top of the stairs, but rather than come down, he waited, his eyes scanning the room nervously. The Section group was near the stairs, the SG1 members were still in the cells, and Blair held his breath as something dark and dangerous slid through the room. He so hoped no one started shooting.
"The rest of SG3 is great. A little embarrassed that their commanding officer was a backstabbing traitor, but other than that, good," Jack finally said.
"I never meant—"
"To turn traitor?"
"It's not like you didn't make command decisions that could have gone just as wrong, colonel," Makepeace almost growled, and Jack actually had the decency to look embarrassed. Daniel stepped forward, his arm just brushing against Jack's in some form of silent moral support, and for the first time, Blair could see how much this confrontation truly bothered Jack. Makepeace's eyes darted over to Clark for a second before he turned back to Jack.
"Colonel, don't leave SG3 out of all the diplomatic missions. Let them meet some aliens who aren't out to kill and conquer us. If the only aliens you ever meet are shooting at you..." Makepeace swallowed, "it skews your judgment. I would have followed you to hell, but hell was about the only place I ever followed you to, and that affected my decision-making process. Don't think I'm not still paying for that mistake," he offered.
Clark walked over and put her hand on Makepeace's arm, tilting her head to the side as she considered him. Makepeace almost had a human expression for a fleeting second, and then he backed up a couple of steps and took position next to the stairs with his back to the wall and his military persona back in place. Well shit. Something had sure happened between those two. Blair traded looks with Jim who had on a perfect poker face. Jack just looked shocked.
"Colonel," Jim said, "Makepeace and Tobias are working for an organization that the President has clearly been briefed on. I don't think you have the authority to countermand that. And as a member of my team, Makepeace doesn't have to put up with your shit. Makepeace upstairs," Jim ordered as he turned toward the stairs, "Bruhn," he said as the soldier started down the stairs, "you have permission to zat O'Neill if he even annoys you, and after spending one afternoon with the man, I suspect you may have to zat him a few times."
And then Jim was walking past, and Blair was hurrying after him, frowning at the easy way Jim allowed Clark and Makepeace to follow behind. Behind was where you let your allies walk, not alien enemies that might shoot you in the back. Oh yeah, something had definitely changed.
Jim pushed through into the main floor and headed down a hall without looking to either side. Blair was left trailing behind and feeling so very out of the loop. When Jim turned a corner and pushed through into a small dining room, Blair found himself frozen in the door, unable to move forward or go back.
And that was an alien.
That was not some alien inside a human host, that was an alien type alien. His face looked almost skull-like with a mouth that was too small and eyes that were too large and thick tentacle-like structures hanging from his head down his back where a person would have hair. His waist was impossibly thin, and his body looked emaciated, like the bones might come poking out the mottled brown skin.
Blair's brain took a second to process that before the other evidence started filtering in through the shock. Patches of skin had been burned black, and a purplish-red blood slowly leaked from a half dozen wounds.
"Please," Clark said, her voice desperate and high.
"Help him," Jim immediately said as he pulled Blair to the side so the others could get through the doorway. "Makepeace, find blankets, sheets, pillows. Drag a mattress in here if you can find one. "
"The perimeter," Makepeace objected for a second, but then he glanced over as Clark carefully unwound rope that had been tied so tightly that bits of skin clung to the fibers as she tried to untie her alien friend. Without another word, he nodded and disappeared.
"Chief?" Jim asked.
"Oh yeah, no problem," Blair said as he hurried to help Clark.
He knelt down and started working on the ropes around the alien's feet, flinching every time the alien make a clicking noise that was either a cry of pain or a curse. "Chief, take this," Jim said, and he held down a sidearm.
"I don't—" Blair glanced at Clark who was carefully not looking at them, and suddenly he realized he so could not shoot these people. He had a feeling these two really were the alien version of Ira and Edna Wiezman from Hoboken. A manipulative Ira and Edna who had clearly done some scrambling of memories, but then Blair had met a couple of Iras, and they were pretty manipulative, too. Making his decision, he shook his head no.
Jim sighed. "Chief, we still have NID out there. I'm going to hold perimeter with Knudsen, but if something happens, I need you to hold your own."
Blair glanced at Jim and then made a decision Jim was so going to kill him for. He turned to Clark. "Are you any good with guns? I'm not the best shot in the world."
Rebecca Clark hesitated, looking at him and then at Jim in clear shock. Slowly she shook her head. "My people avoid conflict. All we know how to do is hide. I don't think I could use a tool with the intent to end the life of another sentient being."
"Okay, that leaves me. I'm so not okay with ending a life, but if it's them or me, I can. I think. Maybe." Blair reached out and took the gun from Jim fully expecting the glare of death, but instead Jim just had a look of fond exasperation and a little worry on his face. Blair tucked the gun into his pants and went back to working on the ropes as Jim headed out of the room.
Blair worked in silence for a minute before he could even gather his thoughts enough to ask a half-way intelligent question. "So, you look like this?" Blair asked as he freed one foot and moved to the second.
"Yes. Except that I am female. The genitalia are different." Clark finished untying the hand and laid her palm on the alien's cheek, clicking reassuringly, but even Blair could tell the alien was drifting in and out of awareness.
"Wouldn't he feel more comfortable if you looked like you and not one of us?" Blair asked. "Especially since the goa'uld looked like us."
"You would not be bothered?"
"Oh, I'm freaking, but right now, the NID and the goa'uld and the fact that our boss with questionable morals is coming... that's all freaking me out way more than what you look like."
She nodded, and then in a shimmer, a brown alien to match the prisoner stood there. Just then Makepeace came in through the door dragging a twin mattress. "It's the best I could find," he said as he pulled it to a corner. When he turned, Blair saw the twitch of surprise when he found Clark in alien form, but then he quickly recovered. "Do you need water or blankets?"
"Just to lay him down," Clark said, and it was weird hearing her voice coming out of an alien, especially when Blair still had memories of her as a human, of her training with them in Section. Pushing that weirdness to the side, Blair finished untying the alien's foot and stood up, waiting to see what help Clark needed. She easily picked the alien up and carried him carefully to the mattress.
"I am so sorry I have deceived you both," she said as he knelt on the floor next to the mattress and gently stroked the injured man's limbs.
"Do you have medicine?" Blair asked, totally ignoring the comment. Yeah, he understood being scared and hiding, but a part of him felt totally violated. His brain... his memories... the thing that made him Blair had been invaded and violated and rearranged. And he couldn't even get too upset at the creature who had betrayed him because every instinct told him that she didn't have a cruel or malicious bone in her emaciated body. Manipulative... oh yeah. Makepeace had certainly mellowed a whole lot.
"If I can call for assistance, the others will come and help," she said as she looked up at them, clearly waiting for permission. Blair looked at Makepeace and the man actually looked uncomfortable.
"We need to wait for Nikita," he said unhappily. Clark nodded, the dreadlock-like tentacles bobbing. "I'm sorry," he said. "After what your people have suffered, I wish I could offer some sort of promise."
Clark's hands paused in their task for a moment. "Do not apologize. I have broken many of my people's laws. All of us who came here did. But Wayawayei did not deserve this."
"Oh man, no one deserves this," Blair echoed.
Blair sat on one of the dining room chairs and watched the two aliens and waited and wondered how exactly this was all going to turn out. He wished he understood what exactly had gone on with Makepeace. He wished he knew how Nikita was going to react. Hell, at this point he was just wishing someone would hit him really hard in the head so he developed a convenient case of amnesia.
Jim's fingers tightened against his arm, and Blair's gaze darted to the door at the top of the stairs. Right on cue, a muffled boom echoed through the room.
"Dial it down," Blair said out of habit, but Jim didn't even twitch as figures in black darted through the smoke.
"Clear!" Jim called, letting the rescuers know that there weren't any guards. "Makepeace, you'd better have a good reason for breaking protocol," Jim growled as he stepped to the bars.
"Makepeace?!" Jack sounded about ready to swallow his own tongue. "Colonel Makepeace?!" he demanded as if he were hoping for some other Makepeace. He stepped right up next to Jim, and the whole atmosphere in the room shifted. Wisps of smoke from the explosion still drifted past, but they weren't enough to disguise the ex-colonel as the man stepped forward, only glancing at Jack before he focused on Jim.
"Change in orders from base. We were ordered in to assess and secure the area if feasible. It was."
"And the guest in the dining room?" Jim asked tightly, and then Blair figured out exactly why Jim was not happy. The spy Rebecca Clark stood there right behind Makepeace. Jim sidestepped, physically shoving Jack with his shoulder, and Blair just felt a helpless urge to shout 'watch out, mind-wiping alien.' Of course, the problem was that mind-wiping aliens could wipe out everyone's memory of him shouting that. It was a good three seconds before it occurred to him that Clark wasn't doing anything at all to stop the fact that Jim was trying to block her access. In fact, she just sort of retreated behind Makepeace rather than make any aggressive moves.
Now Jack—he was feeling more aggressive as he shoved right back, but despite a quick shoving match with Jim, his focus was clearly on Makepeace. "So, Robert, not good to see you again. Seen any good prison cells lately?" Jack said dryly. Jim's body was iron stiff.
"Makepeace, send Clark up to secure the perimeter and blow this lock," Jim snapped.
Makepeace opened his mouth to say something, but Clark slipped out from behind Makepeace, distracting all three men, and then Jim twitched violently. He stumbled back a step, and Blair cried out, not able to reach him. Jack was there, his hands at Jim's back helping to stabilize him.
"Fuck. What did you do?" Blair demanded. Stealth be damned, he just wanted some answers.
Clark ducked her head. "I'm sorry," she said softly as she again retreated, and Blair wasn't sure how to interpret all this. If she was aggressive, she so should have mind-wiped him, but instead she looked ready to run, as if he was the threat.
"Jim, come on man, come on back," Blair said as he temporarily ignored Clark and focused on Jim who blinked for a second, and then nodded.
"Chief, it's okay."
"Okay? It's not remotely okay," Blair growled. Whatever shiny new fake memories she'd given Jim, they weren't remotely okay.
"Chief," Jim said more firmly. "It's okay."
Blair looked at Jim in concern, but what he saw was a calm acceptance on Jim's face. Okay, calm might be the wrong word. He looked more than a little cranky, but there was acceptance there, too.
Jack looked from one to another. "I'd like to know what exactly is okay, because a traitor who's supposed to be in jail running round is not my definition of okay."
"Maybe there's an explanation," Daniel said hopefully, but no one hurried to provide one, and he was left looking from one person to another until even Daniel gave up.
Makepeace's face went stone cold. "Back off, O'Neill," Jim said. "Makepeace, blow this lock."
"Yes, sir," Makepeace said as he pulled out supplies. He handed half to Clark and she immediately went to the lock on Blair's cell and started attaching the explosives. Makepeace worked on the cell Jim and Jack shared, ignoring the shocked and angry looks he was getting from all of SG1.
Jack crossed his arms, and the same gesture that on Daniel looked shy on Jack looked like the man was ready to rip someone apart with his bare hands. "You know, a conviction for treason just isn't what it used to be. I remember the days when people actually took treason seriously."
"Sir," Sam said, "according to official records, Makepeace died of sudden unexpected cardiac death four months ago."
"He... what? Okay, he's looking good for a dead man, not that we aren't all known for getting up after a little dying, but short of a sarcophagus, shouldn't dead men, I don't know, stay dead?" Jack demanded as he turned to his second in command. "And shouldn't someone have told me?"
"I did," Daniel pointed out.
"No you didn't."
"Yes, I did."
"I would have remembered."
"No, Jack, you—" Daniel was cut off when Makepeace pushed a triggered the explosives. Two loud pops and the cell doors were open. Blair sneezed at the bitter smell.
"Jim?" he called.
"I'm fine, Chief. Makepeace, report, and keep it safe for little ears."
Blair snorted hard enough to make his nose hurt as he tried to avoid laughing at the murderous expression Jack shot in Jim's direction. Oh yeah, Section had changed their orders, and Jim was not having to play subordinate any more.
Makepeace, however, was all business as he held a P-90 out for Jim. "She's coming to deal with the unforeseen contingency and has an ETA inside an hour. We neutralized two NID agents and two more have retreated from the immediate area. Teal'c is outside the perimeter. Perimeter secure. No injuries." Makepeace didn't identify 'she,' but Blair could pretty much guess. Whatever was going on with the aliens behind door number two, it was enough to bring Nikita out. That wasn't actually a pleasant thought.
"We hold until she comes then," Jim said firmly as he checked his weapon and then accepted a smaller handgun from Makepeace. "Have Tobias give me an aerial of the area, I want all points of access identified as well as Teal'c's current location, but there will be no deadly force." Jim strode out of the cell, and Blair could see him slip into that role of 'colonel.' Blair darted around Sam to get to Jim's side.
"Tobias?!" Jack started coming out of his cell with an expression on his face like he had just bitten into a rotten egg. "It's just like old home week around here--Makepeace, Tobias... did Benedict Arnold come along too?"
Makepeace answered by raising his zat and taking aim. Jack stopped, his eyebrows going up. "Do you plan to graduate from treason to murder?" he asked casually.
Jim stepped to Makepeace's side. "Call Bruhn to take over down here. I want SG1 secure and out of the way until after she leaves." As Makepeace called for the backup, Jim turned to Clark, who ducked her head away from his look. She looked more like a frightened child than a mastermind who had infiltrated Section. "We'll talk upstairs," he told her, and she nodded mutely and turned to head for the stairs.
"So, we aren't invited to your little party?" Jack called. He was leaning against the side of the open cell door.
"You aren't to put foot on the staircase. If you do, either Makepeace or Bruhn will zat you," Jim said quietly.
"I'm sure you'd enjoy that, wouldn't you?" Jack demanded as he stared at Makepeace. Blair almost felt sorry for the man. All the time Jack had given them a hard time, he had never looked at them with the hate that shone through his eyes right now.
"No, Jack, I wouldn't," Makepeace said slowly as though afraid of what words might fall out of his mouth if he wasn't careful. "I've saved your ass often enough for you to know that's a cheap shot."
"That was you saving my ass when you sold us all out?" Jack gave the most annoying and unctuous grin Blair had ever seen. He wanted to punch the man.
"Jack," Makepeace said, emphasizing the colonel's name, and Blair was pretty sure that was an alpha-dog peeing technique... if you couldn't literally pee on someone, just deny them their title. But Makepeace's next words sounded almost wistful or maybe regretful was the better word. "I did what I thought was best for the security of our world."
"By pissing off our allies? Good call, there," Jack nodded in mock agreement. Makepeace went stiff.
"SG3, are they still in the field?" Makepeace asked, and for one second, Blair didn't think Jack was going to answer. Daniel had wrapped his arms around his stomach nervously, and Sam stood next to the open door to her cell, and the tension hung like wet cobwebs over everything. Bruhn appeared at the top of the stairs, but rather than come down, he waited, his eyes scanning the room nervously. The Section group was near the stairs, the SG1 members were still in the cells, and Blair held his breath as something dark and dangerous slid through the room. He so hoped no one started shooting.
"The rest of SG3 is great. A little embarrassed that their commanding officer was a backstabbing traitor, but other than that, good," Jack finally said.
"I never meant—"
"To turn traitor?"
"It's not like you didn't make command decisions that could have gone just as wrong, colonel," Makepeace almost growled, and Jack actually had the decency to look embarrassed. Daniel stepped forward, his arm just brushing against Jack's in some form of silent moral support, and for the first time, Blair could see how much this confrontation truly bothered Jack. Makepeace's eyes darted over to Clark for a second before he turned back to Jack.
"Colonel, don't leave SG3 out of all the diplomatic missions. Let them meet some aliens who aren't out to kill and conquer us. If the only aliens you ever meet are shooting at you..." Makepeace swallowed, "it skews your judgment. I would have followed you to hell, but hell was about the only place I ever followed you to, and that affected my decision-making process. Don't think I'm not still paying for that mistake," he offered.
Clark walked over and put her hand on Makepeace's arm, tilting her head to the side as she considered him. Makepeace almost had a human expression for a fleeting second, and then he backed up a couple of steps and took position next to the stairs with his back to the wall and his military persona back in place. Well shit. Something had sure happened between those two. Blair traded looks with Jim who had on a perfect poker face. Jack just looked shocked.
"Colonel," Jim said, "Makepeace and Tobias are working for an organization that the President has clearly been briefed on. I don't think you have the authority to countermand that. And as a member of my team, Makepeace doesn't have to put up with your shit. Makepeace upstairs," Jim ordered as he turned toward the stairs, "Bruhn," he said as the soldier started down the stairs, "you have permission to zat O'Neill if he even annoys you, and after spending one afternoon with the man, I suspect you may have to zat him a few times."
And then Jim was walking past, and Blair was hurrying after him, frowning at the easy way Jim allowed Clark and Makepeace to follow behind. Behind was where you let your allies walk, not alien enemies that might shoot you in the back. Oh yeah, something had definitely changed.
Jim pushed through into the main floor and headed down a hall without looking to either side. Blair was left trailing behind and feeling so very out of the loop. When Jim turned a corner and pushed through into a small dining room, Blair found himself frozen in the door, unable to move forward or go back.
And that was an alien.
That was not some alien inside a human host, that was an alien type alien. His face looked almost skull-like with a mouth that was too small and eyes that were too large and thick tentacle-like structures hanging from his head down his back where a person would have hair. His waist was impossibly thin, and his body looked emaciated, like the bones might come poking out the mottled brown skin.
Blair's brain took a second to process that before the other evidence started filtering in through the shock. Patches of skin had been burned black, and a purplish-red blood slowly leaked from a half dozen wounds.
"Please," Clark said, her voice desperate and high.
"Help him," Jim immediately said as he pulled Blair to the side so the others could get through the doorway. "Makepeace, find blankets, sheets, pillows. Drag a mattress in here if you can find one. "
"The perimeter," Makepeace objected for a second, but then he glanced over as Clark carefully unwound rope that had been tied so tightly that bits of skin clung to the fibers as she tried to untie her alien friend. Without another word, he nodded and disappeared.
"Chief?" Jim asked.
"Oh yeah, no problem," Blair said as he hurried to help Clark.
He knelt down and started working on the ropes around the alien's feet, flinching every time the alien make a clicking noise that was either a cry of pain or a curse. "Chief, take this," Jim said, and he held down a sidearm.
"I don't—" Blair glanced at Clark who was carefully not looking at them, and suddenly he realized he so could not shoot these people. He had a feeling these two really were the alien version of Ira and Edna Wiezman from Hoboken. A manipulative Ira and Edna who had clearly done some scrambling of memories, but then Blair had met a couple of Iras, and they were pretty manipulative, too. Making his decision, he shook his head no.
Jim sighed. "Chief, we still have NID out there. I'm going to hold perimeter with Knudsen, but if something happens, I need you to hold your own."
Blair glanced at Jim and then made a decision Jim was so going to kill him for. He turned to Clark. "Are you any good with guns? I'm not the best shot in the world."
Rebecca Clark hesitated, looking at him and then at Jim in clear shock. Slowly she shook her head. "My people avoid conflict. All we know how to do is hide. I don't think I could use a tool with the intent to end the life of another sentient being."
"Okay, that leaves me. I'm so not okay with ending a life, but if it's them or me, I can. I think. Maybe." Blair reached out and took the gun from Jim fully expecting the glare of death, but instead Jim just had a look of fond exasperation and a little worry on his face. Blair tucked the gun into his pants and went back to working on the ropes as Jim headed out of the room.
Blair worked in silence for a minute before he could even gather his thoughts enough to ask a half-way intelligent question. "So, you look like this?" Blair asked as he freed one foot and moved to the second.
"Yes. Except that I am female. The genitalia are different." Clark finished untying the hand and laid her palm on the alien's cheek, clicking reassuringly, but even Blair could tell the alien was drifting in and out of awareness.
"Wouldn't he feel more comfortable if you looked like you and not one of us?" Blair asked. "Especially since the goa'uld looked like us."
"You would not be bothered?"
"Oh, I'm freaking, but right now, the NID and the goa'uld and the fact that our boss with questionable morals is coming... that's all freaking me out way more than what you look like."
She nodded, and then in a shimmer, a brown alien to match the prisoner stood there. Just then Makepeace came in through the door dragging a twin mattress. "It's the best I could find," he said as he pulled it to a corner. When he turned, Blair saw the twitch of surprise when he found Clark in alien form, but then he quickly recovered. "Do you need water or blankets?"
"Just to lay him down," Clark said, and it was weird hearing her voice coming out of an alien, especially when Blair still had memories of her as a human, of her training with them in Section. Pushing that weirdness to the side, Blair finished untying the alien's foot and stood up, waiting to see what help Clark needed. She easily picked the alien up and carried him carefully to the mattress.
"I am so sorry I have deceived you both," she said as he knelt on the floor next to the mattress and gently stroked the injured man's limbs.
"Do you have medicine?" Blair asked, totally ignoring the comment. Yeah, he understood being scared and hiding, but a part of him felt totally violated. His brain... his memories... the thing that made him Blair had been invaded and violated and rearranged. And he couldn't even get too upset at the creature who had betrayed him because every instinct told him that she didn't have a cruel or malicious bone in her emaciated body. Manipulative... oh yeah. Makepeace had certainly mellowed a whole lot.
"If I can call for assistance, the others will come and help," she said as she looked up at them, clearly waiting for permission. Blair looked at Makepeace and the man actually looked uncomfortable.
"We need to wait for Nikita," he said unhappily. Clark nodded, the dreadlock-like tentacles bobbing. "I'm sorry," he said. "After what your people have suffered, I wish I could offer some sort of promise."
Clark's hands paused in their task for a moment. "Do not apologize. I have broken many of my people's laws. All of us who came here did. But Wayawayei did not deserve this."
"Oh man, no one deserves this," Blair echoed.
Blair sat on one of the dining room chairs and watched the two aliens and waited and wondered how exactly this was all going to turn out. He wished he understood what exactly had gone on with Makepeace. He wished he knew how Nikita was going to react. Hell, at this point he was just wishing someone would hit him really hard in the head so he developed a convenient case of amnesia.
.
