A/N:
I’m sorry, but I haven’t had time to have a decent look at the reviews yet, but I promise I’ll answer
all of them next time.
I did, however, notice that someone asked about Max turning into Josh when he ran out of power,
and after revisiting one of my videoed episodes, I have to say that he doesn’t. But this particularly
incident is important to the situation at hand developing, so I’m exorcising my authors privilege of
creative freedom by keeping it this way. Hope you don’t mind.
So before another wonderful problem turns up in my moving to another city, lets get this show on
the road, I have to have it online tomorrow!
-
Exposure
Chapter 3
By
Katja Boysen
Denmark
-
The SAC-NORAD personnel stared as they saw the pair of young teens accompany Col. O’Neill
and his crew to the lower levels of Cheyenne Mountain.
Nobody really knew what was going on down below the 18th floor except the fact that weird types
kept coming and going and that whatever machinery they had down there swallowed enough energy
to keep Washington DC running for a year.
But it was the first time they saw other teens except that kid Cassie go down there.
Josh leaned closer to the colonel.
“Do they always stare like that?” He was used to staring when at extreme sports competitions or
when fighting as Max Steel, but this was eerie.
Jack smiled wryly.
“Yes. They haven’t got a clue about what we are doing, but they would love to find out.
Unfortunately for them they have standing orders not to talk to the inhabitants of the lower levels
unless addressed by us and that leaves them hanging in limbo. And they don’t like that at all.
Especially since they all are supposed to have the highest security level in the country to work
here.”
“Not high enough though.” Sam grinned a bit, remembering a couple of occasions where various
members of the SAC-NORAD personnel had tried to pump her for information.
“Just be careful if anyone of them invites you out on a drink. They don’t stop for anything.”
A low “Spoilsport” sounded from a radar operator at a nearby workstation, having Berto and Josh
sending each other a knowing grin.
Apparently this was a standing joke between the two groups of personnel.
“Don’t worry. That’s NOT going to be a problem.”
10 minutes later and 20 floors deeper, Josh and Berto was standing in front of their new
commanding officer, General George Hammond in the mission briefing room.
“Mr. McGrath, Dr. Martinez, welcome to the SGC.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Dr. Martinez, you will be interested to know, that the energy transfer machine have been
assembled in one of the old missile testing silos and is working perfectly. We have also had the
other items put there and are currently setting up the communications array in a corner of the gate
control room. It’s going to be a bit more cramped than you are used to due to a lack of physical
space, but we need you to be close to the gate. I have also taken the liberty to inform our chief
medical officer, dr. Janet Fraser, of the unique situation we have with you, Mr. McGrath. She’s
been given your medical files from N-Tek, but would like you to come down for a couple of
additional test. Both of you will need to go down to a physical test anyway.
I know, that you have not been out of contact with each other during missions before, but
communications is only possible while the wormhole is open, so I need to know if this is going to
pose a problem?”
Berto and Josh looked at each other for a second.
“No sir.” Josh beat Berto.
“Not if you give one of the other members a portable status display with connection to Max’s Bio
link. He has a tendency to overdo things a bit and someone need to tell him when to stop.”
Josh sent Berto a killer look, leaving the other teen completely unfazed.
Hammond carefully held back a smile.
Jefferson had told him of this small flaw of personality.
Taking a quick look at Jack’s face, he noticed the same fleeting emotion flash over the Colonel’s
face.
Jack felt like he was looking at his own younger self.
He too had been that way when he was a greenhorn: Too dedicated to stop to think about the
consequences on himself.
Only time and experience could tamper that.
And it was his job to make sure the kid survived it.
“I think we should give Carter the honour of that task, sir. She’s the scientist after all.”
“Good idea. Dr. Martinez and Mr. McGrath are to go through a series of tests before we can let
them loose on the universe, some here at the SGC, some at Alpha Site with the Tok’Ra and the
Jaffa Rebellion.”
“Sir, is that wise? The chances of there still being traitors at the Alpha Site is pretty big considering
the amount of new arrivals to the Jaffa Rebellion, even if we did manage to stop the last infiltrator.”
Hammond nodded.
“I know major, but ever since the incident with us having to shoot Anise at the treaty signing, things
have been tense with the Tok’Ra, even with the help of your father to mediate. We need to show
them a sign of good faith. And after reading the reports, I have come to the conclusion that we can
only get a realistic scope of Mr. Steel’s resources by testing up against a Tok’Ra since his powers
far exceed that of a non-blended human being. It will also give us a good idea of how he can hold
up against a system lord or pharaoh in close combat. Which is also why Te’alc will be in charge of
his training here on base.”
“Yes Sir.” Te’alc’s voice betrayed no emotion what so ever as he agreed to the assignment, but Josh
suddenly felt very small.
He had a feeling this was going to hurt before it was over.
“SG-1 will be on stand-by until the testing is over and our new arrivals can go active.”
A series of “Yes Sir” went through the room even if Colonel O’Neill’s sounded a bit hesitant.
“I believe Dr. Fraser is expecting the two of you. Dismissed.”
As the General left the room, the last thing he heard was the voice of Colonel O’Neill.
“I’ll take you down to Dr. Needles.”
A very nervous Berto asked:
“Dr. Needles?”
“Don’t worry, you’ll know what I mean before long…”
And then the door slammed shut behind the General.
-
Somewhere in an alley.
Midnight.
-
Keith looked at his watch once more.
Snowball was more than 1 hour late.
And that was not a good sign.
A small scraping sound had him turning for the other end of the Alley.
Apparently a false alarm.
Again.
Deciding that enough was enough, he turned to walk back to his car as a voice suddenly whispered
out of the dark.
“Easy, Fitzgerald. I had to make sure you were alone.”
Keith had been in many dire situations in Sierra Leone, Iraq and the other hotspots of the worlds.
But he had never been closer to a heart attack than now.
“Gee, Snowball, do you have to do that?” Turning towards the voice, he bit back a sudden urge to
grab the kid by the throat and throttle her, genius or not.
“I’m sorry, but it was just to tempting.” The little imp smiled back. Black hair and a heavy Goth-
make-up made her look older than her 16 years.
“Anyways, I got the intell you wanted. It wasn’t easy though. Those guys have more ICE than the
Pentagon.” She pulled out a folder from somewhere under her trench coat and handed it to Keith.
He had helped her out when the Mob had gotten a little bit too interested in her work and she owned
him big time.
But she wasn’t going to show how much he had grown on her during the shot time she had known
him.
“Your boy is locked up at Cheyenne Mountain, but I haven’t been able to figure out exactly why
there. The rest of his crew is placed at ordinary safe houses under the guard of the Feds. I’m still
digging at the Cheyenne Mountain computers, but that thing have been programmed by someone
almost as smart as me and that makes it a bit harder than usual.”
“Thanks. At least this will give me a start. Let me know when you got the rest. And Snowball, I
want you to be careful. I don’t want to visit you at Hansen Island.”
Snowball felt a shiver as Keith mentioned the government nuthouse where everyone, who knew too
much were placed.
“And I don’t want to end up there. Don’t worry, I’ll be careful. Mother.” A crocked grin flashed at
Keith as she turned around to leave. One of these days she would have to find a way of getting to
know that hunk a bit better.
Keith’s voice reached her as she turned the corner.
“And one thing more.”
She paused.
“Goth doesn’t do anything for you.”
Grinning widely, she disappeared into the night.
Yup, one of these days.
After all, she already had his address.
Keith walked back to his car.
Next stop Cheyenne.
TBC.
Tags: Fan Fiction
