Special Case commentary, part 6
Mar. 13th, 2004 07:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mandolinOkay, finally, the last part of Special Case commentary. Whew!
Well, the front door was definitely not an option.
Not in THIS escape attempt.
Jason peered out of his bedroom door a crack just so he could see the downstairs foyer, where his mother was arguing with a uniformed officer. He shut the door again hastily, locking it. He could hear the heavy tread of military-issue boots coming up the stairs, accompanied by his mother's indignant shouts. Jason hesitated at the sound of Sarah's cries, but she sounded more angry than afraid.
It's funny, but remembering the episode where Jason's parents actually appeared in MMPR, it seems that his mother was the quiet and sweet type compared to his more boisterous father... but then again, it's always the quiet ones you need to look out for. Besides, from the bit I remember about that episode, Jason's dad seemed kind of laid back.
As an afterthought, he swept the objects off his dresser to the floor and started pushing against it with all his strength. The dresser was almost completely blocking the door by the time someone pounded on it.
Again I throw another obstacle in Maybourne's path - literally this time - to give Jason a few more seconds.
"Lieutenant Scott! We have orders to escort you to Norfolk! Open up!"
There was a tree outside one of the windows of his room, which had often served as a quick exit down to the ground on the shady side of the house. Jason stuck his head out the window, trying to gauge the distance he would have to jump from the lowest branch. If he could hit the ground unnoticed and make a break through the Taylor's back yard, he might be able to lose them. Might.
But this is a pretty obvious escape route, which is why I ruled it out pretty quickly.
"Lieutenant! Open this door! That's an order!"
There were about three more soldiers out front. Jason doubted he'd get out the window unnoticed. His father's truck had pulled up to the curb, and now both John and Sarah were yelling at the soldiers outside his door. John was having a little more success than Sarah, for the pounding stopped momentarily.
The communicator was still lying on his desk. Jason lunged for it.
Should have put it on in the first place, stupid! :)
"--don't care about your damn orders! You've got no right!" John bellowed.
Maybourne's reply was muffled but clear. "Mr. Scott, we have authorization from the Pentagon. That's more than enough."
Perhaps with a fully armed team, Maybourne could have gotten the door down by now. In keeping with the fact that his orders were probably bullshit, I figured he'd just take a couple of soldiers with him and not a full team in order to keep it quiet. So much for that plan.
"I've already called the police!" Sarah cried.
Jason fumbled with the buttons on the communicator before he found the right one. "Hello!" he hissed. "Can anyone hear me?"
There was nothing but static. "Come on," Jason muttered. "Come on."
Something hard and heavy slammed against the door, and the dresser wobbled under the force of the blow. Sarah let out an indignant yelp.
"...this is Andros. Jason, is that you?"
Jason turned away from the door at the sound of the Red Ranger's voice. "Yeah, and I'm in a hell of a lot of trouble. Where are you?"
"On the Megaship. We just got into orbit a second ago. What kind of trouble?"
You've got to love the timing.
Again, something slammed into the door. "I've got three Marines trying to break down the door!" Jason hissed. "Can you teleport me out of here?"
"I don't know. We could, but the system hasn't been properly tested--"
I couldn't remember them using anything but jump tubes in PRiS, but it stood to reason that the Megaship COULD have some kind of teleportation system in case of emergencies. Since I didn't think it had been addressed on the show, I settled for the "untested new system" excuse.
With a tremendous bang, the soldiers outside finally burst through the door, shoving the dresser out of the way as they rushed into the room. Jason was nowhere to be seen.
Another bit I could see visually - a scene switch from Andros to the door banging open without showing us what happened to Jason, and then the empty room.
Maybourne shoved past the soldiers to stare at the empty room, pausing as he noticed the open window. "He went out the window," he cursed. "Dammit, why didn't you have anyone stationed there?"
"We did, sir," one of the soldiers said as Maybourne leaned out the open window. There was no sign of Jason.
"Well, he can't have gotten far," Maybourne snapped, regaining his composure as he strode past them and down the hall. "I want to case the entire neighborhood. He's on foot, so he's got to be within a 2-mile radius at most."
The soldiers followed him, but one of them hung back, staring at the empty room. He could have sworn he saw a flash of white light just as they burst in. Shrugging it off, he followed his commander down the hall.
And the teleportation system just got tested.
* * *
"--yet," Andros finished as Jason appeared on the bridge in a flash of bright light, landing uncomfortably on his stomach.
Hey, it's a first test, you can't really guarantee the landing's going to be perfect.
"Well, we know it works now," Ashley joked, helping Jason to his feet. "You all right?"
He stood unsteadily, holding on to a railing. "Feels like half of me fell asleep, but I'll be okay. Thanks."
"You're lucky that's all. We haven't tested the parameters for a direct teleport like that." Andros looked around the bridge accusingly. "Who brought him in?"
Sitting behind one of the consoles, Cassie cleared her throat. "Sorry. That crash on the other end sounded like trouble."
It was originally T.J. who initiated the teleport. I don't recall why I changed it to Cassie.
"No kidding. Mom is probably going to have a fit about that door." Which is going to be fun for Maybourne. Jason groaned, clenching and unclenching his free hand to relieve the numb tingling in his muscles. "Trust me, it was worth the risk. One more second and I'd have been surrounded."
"One less minute and you wouldn't have made it," Andros sighed. "We entered orbit only ten seconds before you contacted us."
T.J. rolled his eyes, punching his team leader lightly on the shoulder. "Lighten up, Andros. Everything worked out all right."
"Barely," Andros muttered, but he didn't sound quite so irritated.
Jason was still trying to shake the tingling feeling out of his hand, with little success. "One thing's for sure. I can't show my face in town until this blows over - if it blows over," he amended, sighing. "Man, I heard Colonel Maybourne was a major SOB, but I didn't know it until now."
"We've got guest quarters, don't we?" Cassie asked Andros, who nodded. "You can take one of the spare sleeping quarters. I don't think that's a problem."
Carlos chuckled. "Unless you like sleeping in a real bed."
There's a fanon bunny about the Megaship being cooler than room temperature, and that the Rangers' uniforms were made of a material that made it easier to withstand the temperature. I considered that, then discarded it; there wasn't much of a point.
"Hey, it can't be any worse than base camp," Jason said, relieved.
Ashley narrowed her eyes. "First things first. You'd better get to the infirmary."
"I'm fine--"
"Don't argue," Andros interrupted, cutting Jason's protests off. "You just survived an untested transport. Besides," he admitted, "there's no point in arguing with Ashley."
Something that he has learned the hard way.
* * *
"Hold it right there, Maybourne!"
Maybourne's self-satisfied composure, which he had just gathered up again, crumbled at the sight that greeted him on the Scott's front yard. There were three new vehicles as well as several police cars pulled up front, surrounding his men. And coming right towards him were General Hammond and Colonel Jack O'Neill. Jack was smirking, and Hammond was holding official orders. "General," Maybourne acknowledged, managing a half-hearted salute.
"At ease," Hammond said coldly. "As of now, your earlier orders are revoked."
"On whose authority? My orders come from the Pentagon, General."
"Mine come directly from the President himself," Hammond replied. "Lieutenant Scott is to be released and will return to duty at the SGC once his prescribed vacation is over."
"Sir, this is a special case. The lieutenant's condition is such that it requires further testing," Maybourne protested. "The information could be invaluable--"
Look, Ma! I worked in the title! Contrived, much? :)
"Forget it, Maybourne, you've lost," Jack gloated.
"Colonel O'Neill, please." Hammond frowned. "Several of the people who supposedly signed your orders don't seem to know a thing about them. Care to explain?"
I originally had Sam and Jack giving Maybourne the official orders, and then considered that maybe Major Davis, but in the end decided that Hammond giving him the orders would take the wind out of Maybourne's sails better. Not to mention that he would have an easier time getting through the red tape.
Looking back on this, I think this was a bit abrupt; there should have been a detail that Maybourne missed, something crucial that got Hammond the confirmation in time. Maybourne is too smart to make it that easy for them to catch him on something like that. But I don't know enough about official orders and the paperwork to have pulled that off.
Maybourne was utterly speechless, and Jack grinned. "You know, for some reason the words 'court-martial' come to mind," he added in a lower voice. "If the right people noticed, and we did a little more digging, I think you'd be looking for a lawyer. So here's the deal. Let the kid go, and we'll think about letting you go."
"I-I don't have Lieutenant Scott," Maybourne stammered. "He's missing from the premises. My men are casing the neighborhood, but we haven't found him."
"Missing from the premises," Hammond echoed. "I suppose that might have something to do with the bedroom door your men kicked off its hinges earlier?" Maybourne did not reply. "Very well, then. Call your men back. We'll conduct a search ourselves."
Just as Maybourne thought things couldn't get any worse, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Sarah Scott was standing there, glaring at him. "I asked these gentlemen about compensation for my son's bedroom door. They told me to talk to you."
Jack didn't even bother to hide his glee at the pained look on Maybourne's face.
Hey, he likes to watch Maybourne suffer, and since he never got permission to shoot him...
* * *
Jason rubbed the palms of his hands together, grateful for the warm friction of skin against skin. "Told you I was all right."
"Mmm-hmm. You are now that I ran the neural stimulator on you." Ashley smiled triumphantly.
"Details, details."
Another possible complication of using a new teleportation system that hasn't been fully tested yet, and it gives Ashley a chance to fuss over someone other than Andros. :)
"Now that the emergency teleportation system's been properly tested," Andros remarked, "that shouldn't happen again." Ashley started looking around her worriedly. "What's wrong?"
"Just looking for some wood to knock on."
Carlos started laughing, and Cassie sighed. Andros just looked perplexed.
Andros has started to fit in with the team fairly well at this point, but there's always the odd cultural reference that trips him up.
Ashley was saved from explaining as the lift doors opened and T.J. entered. He was wearing civilian clothes, having just come from scouting out the situation in Angel Grove. "What's it look like down there?" Carlos asked.
"Not good," T.J. replied. "They're casing the entire neighborhood. Questioning people. A couple of uniforms were interrogating Tommy when I left."
Jason sighed. "Great."
He didn't say anything more, and Ashley put a hand on his shoulder, concerned. "What is it?"
"I don't know," Jason admitted, staring at the floor. "I'm not sure this was the right thing to do. But now..." He stopped and sighed again, letting his shoulders sag. "What do I do now?"
"Nothing," T.J. advised. "It's getting late, we're tired, and I'm hungry. I say dinner and bed before we do anything else."
"If you can call what the Synthetron spews 'dinner,'" Cassie retorted.
T.J. shrugged. "I can handle it."
"That's not saying much," Ashley told Jason, who smiled in spite of himself.
This was a running joke on PRiS for a little while, wasn't it? It's been so long I can't remember...
"That's enough," Andros interrupted, trying not to smile. "T.J.'s right. We all need to get some rest."
The other four Space Rangers stared at him. "Is this the Twilight Zone?" Carlos muttered. "Did Andros actually encourage break time?"
"I'm leaning towards the Pod People explanation," T.J. replied.
"Very funny. We're going to need all the rest we can get." Andros leaned back against the bulkhead. "Tomorrow we set course for Aquitar."
Since they just got back to Earth, a rest is at least mandatory. Even Andros has to concede that.
* * *
"No sign of him at all?" Sam asked. "It's been over 48 hours. Surely someone must have seen something."
"I'm afraid not, Major," Hammond said. "None of the people questioned had the slightest notion of where Lieutenant Scott could have gone, and our teams turned up nothing."
Jack scowled. "I don't like it. I swear Maybourne had something to do with this. Why didn't you just throw the book at him when you had the chance?"
"I would have if I could, Colonel. Those two signatures weren't conclusively forged, but their authenticity was merely in doubt. I was unable to contact the signers to determine if they truly did sign the order."
Daniel gaped. "You were bluffing."
Which is why Hammond himself showed up to pull rank as best he could, just in case. Maybourne really should have called his bluff, now that I think of it.
Hammond leaned back in his chair. "In a manner of speaking, yes."
"I know I'm impressed," Jack remarked.
"The fact remains that two days have passed and Lieutenant Scott has seemingly vanished," Hammond continued. "While we intend to continue to search for his whereabouts, business must go on as usual here. One man, no matter how extraordinary his situation, cannot take precedence over the other responsibilities that this program has to fulfill."
"General Hammond is right," Teal'c added. "Perhaps Lieutenant Scott will appear again in time."
This was intended as an EXTREMELY ironic statement, but that was when I was working on the sequel. Dammit.
Hammond nodded. "Thank you, Teal'c. For now, though, there are other developments that I'd like SG-1 to tackle..."
* * *
This scene was not originally supposed to be in here, but I wanted to continue the theme of "life goes on" back in Angel Grove, and show the readers that Tommy got out of it unscathed. It also gave me an excuse to use Katherine, even though it was only a small cameo. I figured Tommy would need someone to talk to, who would understand not being able to be there when everything went to hell.
The two young people sat side by side under a tree in Angel Grove Park, looking up at the stars.
Katherine Hilliard sighed, leaning against Tommy's shoulder. "I'm sorry I missed all the excitement. If my plane wasn't delayed--"
"--you'd have probably been interrogated too," Tommy finished. "Don't be sorry. You didn't miss anything worth missing."
She brushed a lock of blonde hair out of her face. "It's not that I envy you an interrogation, Tommy. I suppose I... wish I could have been there. For you. For him."
Tommy wrapped an arm around her. "Me too."
They didn't speak for a few minutes, gazing at the night sky in silence. "Think he made it?" she asked.
He didn't answer immediately, squinting at the stars. Perhaps it was his imagination, but among the uniform pinpricks of ivory white, Tommy thought he could see a small speck of red and blue crossing the dark expanse above them, preparing to leave orbit.
"You know," he finally told her, "I think he did."
The blue-red speck disappeared into the night.
* * *
And then I completely and utterly KILL that theme with this little bit.
Light-years away, someone else was contemplating the stars. Hatmehit stood at a window of her citadel, glaring balefully at the sky. Not even the stars were alone in the black expanse; if one bright speck of light appeared in the dark sky, there was always another to be found nearby. Which, of course, was nonsense to anyone who knew better. The planets and stars were spread apart by vast distances too far for the human mind to comprehend.
Notice the self-contradictions here. Hatmehit was never really "all there" - I wrote her thinking that her host may have had more of an effect on her than any Goa'uld would admit or tolerate. She, however, being queen of denial (not the river, before the bad jokes start) would never admit it, but you can see the host's sentiment squeaking through here.
I remembered Kendra's insistence in "Thor's Hammer" that she had been able to manipulate her Goa'uld thanks to her "training" in whatever temple she used to serve in. I figured that Hatmehit's host had similar training, but did not have the opportunity to lure her Goa'uld into a trap. Hence, the two of them have been stuck with one another, since Hatmehit refuses to accept that the host is too strong to be completely subdued and the host is too stubborn to stop chipping away at the Goa'uld's self-confidence.
Well, she wasn't human. But some of their notions were quaint, almost poetic, if you didn't take them too seriously. Still, no amount of logical reasoning or silly fantasy could change the undeniable truth. She was alone.
Boo-hoo. Cry us a river. :)
Part of that had been her doing, of course. Banebdjetet was an irritation politically, yet... as a husband, as a lover, he was unmatched. It was almost a pity he had to be a traitor. And the System Lords, in whose name she had contrived the deed, thanked her with isolation. She had done it to uphold the stability that they perpetuated, in accordance with their interests as well as saving her own skin. But the patriot had been shunned by her own people.
Partly because they knew she was unstable. And why on earth didn't I address the reason the Gate on her planet was active at the time?
It had taken an immeasurable amount of scheming to acquire a new consort, of a breed comparable to her former love. Hathor had been all too eager to give Tal'mek over to her keeping - he was of the same spawn as her first love, with the genetic knowledge of that clutch. There was a price, of course, but it had been worth it. Then a group of humans had walked right into her little trap, and one had the audacity to disguise himself as one of her warriors to free his comrades. The host had strength, strength that Tal'mek would thrive off of. It was perfect.
The time frame on this is sort of iffy. Looking back, I think that Hathor had come across Hatmehit on her travels between "Hathor" and "Out of Mind" and had traded information. I know Hathor was the reason the Gate was active, but I don't recall why Hatmehit never bothered to use it. And it makes me mad, because I know there was an explanation there. Aside from using the cloaking device to trap unwary travelers.
But fate, or whatever humans called it now, had played a cruel joke upon her. Her quarry had escaped. Many of her slaves had been lost. Her consort - the one she had hoped to rebuild a life with - was dead.
There was a secret cache within the mountain nearby; a reserve for times of crisis. She could see the dormant battleship now, and row after row of Death Gliders in its hangar bay.
Yeah, I think this sprang out of her dealings with Hathor. But where is that explanation? Argh!
Hatmehit was tired of hiding. Lying in wait for someone to stumble into her trap was getting dull. How many centuries had it been? Surely the System Lords had forgotten her by now. Forgotten she who had eliminated a Tok'ra thorn in their side. Forgotten she who had once stood up to Ra himself in a battle of wits. Forgotten she who once ruled the rivers.
A smile wormed its way across her features as she thought of her hidden army.
Perhaps that wasn't such a bad thing.
Cue the ominous music. Dun-dun-dun!
* * *
The End
And now... the sequel rant.
When I started in on this, I envisioned "Special Case" as one big honking story - from that first mission, to Jason escaping with the Space Rangers to Aquitar, to SG-1 showing up there, to Hatmehit's army showing up there... but it was getting so long I decided to split it into two stories. I started in on the sequel immediately after finishing the first story, thinking I could get it done while the inspiration hadn't run dry.
This was back in, oh, April of 2000. Almost four years ago.
Of course, Real Life went and interfered. It was the second semester of my junior year, and I was juggling a lot of things - a double major, English senior seminar, a huge part in the spring play, the literary magazine - and was going bit crazy. (In fact, that's around the time Death by Chocolate happened.) And just when I'd gotten free of final exams and escaped home for the summer, CBS cancelled "Now and Again."
EVERYTHING was put on hold in the wake of that tragedy. (Well, it was a tragedy at the time. I was so wrapped up in that show that it was crushing when they killed it.) That summer was the first and last time I got seriously involved in a fan campaign, and it sowed the seeds for Murphy's Law, my novella-length resolution to the season-ending cliffhanger. In fact, I was so determined to get "Murphy's Law" done, just for the closure that we would never get from CBS (who canceled the show primarily for political reasons), that I shoved everything else aside to get it done. Because of that show, I haven't let myself get anywhere near as wrapped up in a show since then. It's not worth it.
Aside from that... the left-hanging sequel "Full Fathom Five" had more than its share of issues. First and foremost were the logistics of the whole story. I had a loose idea of how the story was to flow, but there were a lot of major details I couldn't figure out: what Hatmehit wanted with Aquitar, how to get certain characters in certain places (I had two teams of Rangers, Jason, Billy, and SG-1), and working out the details of the full-scale battle were becoming a real pain in the tail. (I had a couple good scenes, one being Hatmehit's frustration at not being able to get down transport rings because the planet's surface is 90% water.) But a couple scenes do not a story make.
I had this fabulous scene with Ashley and Daniel running for the Stargate for whatever reason, Ashley getting hit and being dragged through the Gate, and her reaction at waking up and seeing General Hammond: "Uncle George?" It would have provided Hammond with a damned good reason to keep mum about the Rangers, and had the potential to be funny as all hell... I just couldn't GET there.
There was also the scene I was trying to write when everything went to hell: the diplomacy scene. You know, with both parties sharing what information they could, discussing whether being allies would benefit them, skirting the issue of Power Rangers, explaining Dark Specter and company in terms that SG-1 would grasp and that would fit into both universes... gah. I think my brain tried to crawl out of my ear at one point.
Also, Cestria's characterization? Sucked. I couldn't decide what I wanted to do with her, and it shows. I piled on the snark largely to make it clear that she was not romantically involved (nor would she be) with either of the guys; she'd put on an act so the others wouldn't worry about Billy. Unfortunately, she got a little too unsympathetic. If I ever pick it up again and revise it, she'll be rewritten totally. Someone even suggested that she could actually be a turncoat, which meant that she was way too acerbic.
So is there EVER going to be a finished sequel? Eh. As time passes, it's looking more doubtful. I've got those two WIPs pulled back for rewrites, RL is busy, and there's the matter of a lot of fanfiction writers moving on to original fiction that's been bugging me for a bit. Not that I have a plotbunny for an original story (although there is that short story I need to de-Buffy-ize and clean up), but fanfic, for all its charms and as much as an outlet as it's become for me, seems too much like work lately. I don't know. I may need to start with a clean slate.
Whew. Time to get back to updates and tape dubbing. :)
Well, the front door was definitely not an option.
Not in THIS escape attempt.
Jason peered out of his bedroom door a crack just so he could see the downstairs foyer, where his mother was arguing with a uniformed officer. He shut the door again hastily, locking it. He could hear the heavy tread of military-issue boots coming up the stairs, accompanied by his mother's indignant shouts. Jason hesitated at the sound of Sarah's cries, but she sounded more angry than afraid.
It's funny, but remembering the episode where Jason's parents actually appeared in MMPR, it seems that his mother was the quiet and sweet type compared to his more boisterous father... but then again, it's always the quiet ones you need to look out for. Besides, from the bit I remember about that episode, Jason's dad seemed kind of laid back.
As an afterthought, he swept the objects off his dresser to the floor and started pushing against it with all his strength. The dresser was almost completely blocking the door by the time someone pounded on it.
Again I throw another obstacle in Maybourne's path - literally this time - to give Jason a few more seconds.
"Lieutenant Scott! We have orders to escort you to Norfolk! Open up!"
There was a tree outside one of the windows of his room, which had often served as a quick exit down to the ground on the shady side of the house. Jason stuck his head out the window, trying to gauge the distance he would have to jump from the lowest branch. If he could hit the ground unnoticed and make a break through the Taylor's back yard, he might be able to lose them. Might.
But this is a pretty obvious escape route, which is why I ruled it out pretty quickly.
"Lieutenant! Open this door! That's an order!"
There were about three more soldiers out front. Jason doubted he'd get out the window unnoticed. His father's truck had pulled up to the curb, and now both John and Sarah were yelling at the soldiers outside his door. John was having a little more success than Sarah, for the pounding stopped momentarily.
The communicator was still lying on his desk. Jason lunged for it.
Should have put it on in the first place, stupid! :)
"--don't care about your damn orders! You've got no right!" John bellowed.
Maybourne's reply was muffled but clear. "Mr. Scott, we have authorization from the Pentagon. That's more than enough."
Perhaps with a fully armed team, Maybourne could have gotten the door down by now. In keeping with the fact that his orders were probably bullshit, I figured he'd just take a couple of soldiers with him and not a full team in order to keep it quiet. So much for that plan.
"I've already called the police!" Sarah cried.
Jason fumbled with the buttons on the communicator before he found the right one. "Hello!" he hissed. "Can anyone hear me?"
There was nothing but static. "Come on," Jason muttered. "Come on."
Something hard and heavy slammed against the door, and the dresser wobbled under the force of the blow. Sarah let out an indignant yelp.
"...this is Andros. Jason, is that you?"
Jason turned away from the door at the sound of the Red Ranger's voice. "Yeah, and I'm in a hell of a lot of trouble. Where are you?"
"On the Megaship. We just got into orbit a second ago. What kind of trouble?"
You've got to love the timing.
Again, something slammed into the door. "I've got three Marines trying to break down the door!" Jason hissed. "Can you teleport me out of here?"
"I don't know. We could, but the system hasn't been properly tested--"
I couldn't remember them using anything but jump tubes in PRiS, but it stood to reason that the Megaship COULD have some kind of teleportation system in case of emergencies. Since I didn't think it had been addressed on the show, I settled for the "untested new system" excuse.
With a tremendous bang, the soldiers outside finally burst through the door, shoving the dresser out of the way as they rushed into the room. Jason was nowhere to be seen.
Another bit I could see visually - a scene switch from Andros to the door banging open without showing us what happened to Jason, and then the empty room.
Maybourne shoved past the soldiers to stare at the empty room, pausing as he noticed the open window. "He went out the window," he cursed. "Dammit, why didn't you have anyone stationed there?"
"We did, sir," one of the soldiers said as Maybourne leaned out the open window. There was no sign of Jason.
"Well, he can't have gotten far," Maybourne snapped, regaining his composure as he strode past them and down the hall. "I want to case the entire neighborhood. He's on foot, so he's got to be within a 2-mile radius at most."
The soldiers followed him, but one of them hung back, staring at the empty room. He could have sworn he saw a flash of white light just as they burst in. Shrugging it off, he followed his commander down the hall.
And the teleportation system just got tested.
"--yet," Andros finished as Jason appeared on the bridge in a flash of bright light, landing uncomfortably on his stomach.
Hey, it's a first test, you can't really guarantee the landing's going to be perfect.
"Well, we know it works now," Ashley joked, helping Jason to his feet. "You all right?"
He stood unsteadily, holding on to a railing. "Feels like half of me fell asleep, but I'll be okay. Thanks."
"You're lucky that's all. We haven't tested the parameters for a direct teleport like that." Andros looked around the bridge accusingly. "Who brought him in?"
Sitting behind one of the consoles, Cassie cleared her throat. "Sorry. That crash on the other end sounded like trouble."
It was originally T.J. who initiated the teleport. I don't recall why I changed it to Cassie.
"No kidding. Mom is probably going to have a fit about that door." Which is going to be fun for Maybourne. Jason groaned, clenching and unclenching his free hand to relieve the numb tingling in his muscles. "Trust me, it was worth the risk. One more second and I'd have been surrounded."
"One less minute and you wouldn't have made it," Andros sighed. "We entered orbit only ten seconds before you contacted us."
T.J. rolled his eyes, punching his team leader lightly on the shoulder. "Lighten up, Andros. Everything worked out all right."
"Barely," Andros muttered, but he didn't sound quite so irritated.
Jason was still trying to shake the tingling feeling out of his hand, with little success. "One thing's for sure. I can't show my face in town until this blows over - if it blows over," he amended, sighing. "Man, I heard Colonel Maybourne was a major SOB, but I didn't know it until now."
"We've got guest quarters, don't we?" Cassie asked Andros, who nodded. "You can take one of the spare sleeping quarters. I don't think that's a problem."
Carlos chuckled. "Unless you like sleeping in a real bed."
There's a fanon bunny about the Megaship being cooler than room temperature, and that the Rangers' uniforms were made of a material that made it easier to withstand the temperature. I considered that, then discarded it; there wasn't much of a point.
"Hey, it can't be any worse than base camp," Jason said, relieved.
Ashley narrowed her eyes. "First things first. You'd better get to the infirmary."
"I'm fine--"
"Don't argue," Andros interrupted, cutting Jason's protests off. "You just survived an untested transport. Besides," he admitted, "there's no point in arguing with Ashley."
Something that he has learned the hard way.
"Hold it right there, Maybourne!"
Maybourne's self-satisfied composure, which he had just gathered up again, crumbled at the sight that greeted him on the Scott's front yard. There were three new vehicles as well as several police cars pulled up front, surrounding his men. And coming right towards him were General Hammond and Colonel Jack O'Neill. Jack was smirking, and Hammond was holding official orders. "General," Maybourne acknowledged, managing a half-hearted salute.
"At ease," Hammond said coldly. "As of now, your earlier orders are revoked."
"On whose authority? My orders come from the Pentagon, General."
"Mine come directly from the President himself," Hammond replied. "Lieutenant Scott is to be released and will return to duty at the SGC once his prescribed vacation is over."
"Sir, this is a special case. The lieutenant's condition is such that it requires further testing," Maybourne protested. "The information could be invaluable--"
Look, Ma! I worked in the title! Contrived, much? :)
"Forget it, Maybourne, you've lost," Jack gloated.
"Colonel O'Neill, please." Hammond frowned. "Several of the people who supposedly signed your orders don't seem to know a thing about them. Care to explain?"
I originally had Sam and Jack giving Maybourne the official orders, and then considered that maybe Major Davis, but in the end decided that Hammond giving him the orders would take the wind out of Maybourne's sails better. Not to mention that he would have an easier time getting through the red tape.
Looking back on this, I think this was a bit abrupt; there should have been a detail that Maybourne missed, something crucial that got Hammond the confirmation in time. Maybourne is too smart to make it that easy for them to catch him on something like that. But I don't know enough about official orders and the paperwork to have pulled that off.
Maybourne was utterly speechless, and Jack grinned. "You know, for some reason the words 'court-martial' come to mind," he added in a lower voice. "If the right people noticed, and we did a little more digging, I think you'd be looking for a lawyer. So here's the deal. Let the kid go, and we'll think about letting you go."
"I-I don't have Lieutenant Scott," Maybourne stammered. "He's missing from the premises. My men are casing the neighborhood, but we haven't found him."
"Missing from the premises," Hammond echoed. "I suppose that might have something to do with the bedroom door your men kicked off its hinges earlier?" Maybourne did not reply. "Very well, then. Call your men back. We'll conduct a search ourselves."
Just as Maybourne thought things couldn't get any worse, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Sarah Scott was standing there, glaring at him. "I asked these gentlemen about compensation for my son's bedroom door. They told me to talk to you."
Jack didn't even bother to hide his glee at the pained look on Maybourne's face.
Hey, he likes to watch Maybourne suffer, and since he never got permission to shoot him...
Jason rubbed the palms of his hands together, grateful for the warm friction of skin against skin. "Told you I was all right."
"Mmm-hmm. You are now that I ran the neural stimulator on you." Ashley smiled triumphantly.
"Details, details."
Another possible complication of using a new teleportation system that hasn't been fully tested yet, and it gives Ashley a chance to fuss over someone other than Andros. :)
"Now that the emergency teleportation system's been properly tested," Andros remarked, "that shouldn't happen again." Ashley started looking around her worriedly. "What's wrong?"
"Just looking for some wood to knock on."
Carlos started laughing, and Cassie sighed. Andros just looked perplexed.
Andros has started to fit in with the team fairly well at this point, but there's always the odd cultural reference that trips him up.
Ashley was saved from explaining as the lift doors opened and T.J. entered. He was wearing civilian clothes, having just come from scouting out the situation in Angel Grove. "What's it look like down there?" Carlos asked.
"Not good," T.J. replied. "They're casing the entire neighborhood. Questioning people. A couple of uniforms were interrogating Tommy when I left."
Jason sighed. "Great."
He didn't say anything more, and Ashley put a hand on his shoulder, concerned. "What is it?"
"I don't know," Jason admitted, staring at the floor. "I'm not sure this was the right thing to do. But now..." He stopped and sighed again, letting his shoulders sag. "What do I do now?"
"Nothing," T.J. advised. "It's getting late, we're tired, and I'm hungry. I say dinner and bed before we do anything else."
"If you can call what the Synthetron spews 'dinner,'" Cassie retorted.
T.J. shrugged. "I can handle it."
"That's not saying much," Ashley told Jason, who smiled in spite of himself.
This was a running joke on PRiS for a little while, wasn't it? It's been so long I can't remember...
"That's enough," Andros interrupted, trying not to smile. "T.J.'s right. We all need to get some rest."
The other four Space Rangers stared at him. "Is this the Twilight Zone?" Carlos muttered. "Did Andros actually encourage break time?"
"I'm leaning towards the Pod People explanation," T.J. replied.
"Very funny. We're going to need all the rest we can get." Andros leaned back against the bulkhead. "Tomorrow we set course for Aquitar."
Since they just got back to Earth, a rest is at least mandatory. Even Andros has to concede that.
"No sign of him at all?" Sam asked. "It's been over 48 hours. Surely someone must have seen something."
"I'm afraid not, Major," Hammond said. "None of the people questioned had the slightest notion of where Lieutenant Scott could have gone, and our teams turned up nothing."
Jack scowled. "I don't like it. I swear Maybourne had something to do with this. Why didn't you just throw the book at him when you had the chance?"
"I would have if I could, Colonel. Those two signatures weren't conclusively forged, but their authenticity was merely in doubt. I was unable to contact the signers to determine if they truly did sign the order."
Daniel gaped. "You were bluffing."
Which is why Hammond himself showed up to pull rank as best he could, just in case. Maybourne really should have called his bluff, now that I think of it.
Hammond leaned back in his chair. "In a manner of speaking, yes."
"I know I'm impressed," Jack remarked.
"The fact remains that two days have passed and Lieutenant Scott has seemingly vanished," Hammond continued. "While we intend to continue to search for his whereabouts, business must go on as usual here. One man, no matter how extraordinary his situation, cannot take precedence over the other responsibilities that this program has to fulfill."
"General Hammond is right," Teal'c added. "Perhaps Lieutenant Scott will appear again in time."
This was intended as an EXTREMELY ironic statement, but that was when I was working on the sequel. Dammit.
Hammond nodded. "Thank you, Teal'c. For now, though, there are other developments that I'd like SG-1 to tackle..."
This scene was not originally supposed to be in here, but I wanted to continue the theme of "life goes on" back in Angel Grove, and show the readers that Tommy got out of it unscathed. It also gave me an excuse to use Katherine, even though it was only a small cameo. I figured Tommy would need someone to talk to, who would understand not being able to be there when everything went to hell.
The two young people sat side by side under a tree in Angel Grove Park, looking up at the stars.
Katherine Hilliard sighed, leaning against Tommy's shoulder. "I'm sorry I missed all the excitement. If my plane wasn't delayed--"
"--you'd have probably been interrogated too," Tommy finished. "Don't be sorry. You didn't miss anything worth missing."
She brushed a lock of blonde hair out of her face. "It's not that I envy you an interrogation, Tommy. I suppose I... wish I could have been there. For you. For him."
Tommy wrapped an arm around her. "Me too."
They didn't speak for a few minutes, gazing at the night sky in silence. "Think he made it?" she asked.
He didn't answer immediately, squinting at the stars. Perhaps it was his imagination, but among the uniform pinpricks of ivory white, Tommy thought he could see a small speck of red and blue crossing the dark expanse above them, preparing to leave orbit.
"You know," he finally told her, "I think he did."
The blue-red speck disappeared into the night.
And then I completely and utterly KILL that theme with this little bit.
Light-years away, someone else was contemplating the stars. Hatmehit stood at a window of her citadel, glaring balefully at the sky. Not even the stars were alone in the black expanse; if one bright speck of light appeared in the dark sky, there was always another to be found nearby. Which, of course, was nonsense to anyone who knew better. The planets and stars were spread apart by vast distances too far for the human mind to comprehend.
Notice the self-contradictions here. Hatmehit was never really "all there" - I wrote her thinking that her host may have had more of an effect on her than any Goa'uld would admit or tolerate. She, however, being queen of denial (not the river, before the bad jokes start) would never admit it, but you can see the host's sentiment squeaking through here.
I remembered Kendra's insistence in "Thor's Hammer" that she had been able to manipulate her Goa'uld thanks to her "training" in whatever temple she used to serve in. I figured that Hatmehit's host had similar training, but did not have the opportunity to lure her Goa'uld into a trap. Hence, the two of them have been stuck with one another, since Hatmehit refuses to accept that the host is too strong to be completely subdued and the host is too stubborn to stop chipping away at the Goa'uld's self-confidence.
Well, she wasn't human. But some of their notions were quaint, almost poetic, if you didn't take them too seriously. Still, no amount of logical reasoning or silly fantasy could change the undeniable truth. She was alone.
Boo-hoo. Cry us a river. :)
Part of that had been her doing, of course. Banebdjetet was an irritation politically, yet... as a husband, as a lover, he was unmatched. It was almost a pity he had to be a traitor. And the System Lords, in whose name she had contrived the deed, thanked her with isolation. She had done it to uphold the stability that they perpetuated, in accordance with their interests as well as saving her own skin. But the patriot had been shunned by her own people.
Partly because they knew she was unstable. And why on earth didn't I address the reason the Gate on her planet was active at the time?
It had taken an immeasurable amount of scheming to acquire a new consort, of a breed comparable to her former love. Hathor had been all too eager to give Tal'mek over to her keeping - he was of the same spawn as her first love, with the genetic knowledge of that clutch. There was a price, of course, but it had been worth it. Then a group of humans had walked right into her little trap, and one had the audacity to disguise himself as one of her warriors to free his comrades. The host had strength, strength that Tal'mek would thrive off of. It was perfect.
The time frame on this is sort of iffy. Looking back, I think that Hathor had come across Hatmehit on her travels between "Hathor" and "Out of Mind" and had traded information. I know Hathor was the reason the Gate was active, but I don't recall why Hatmehit never bothered to use it. And it makes me mad, because I know there was an explanation there. Aside from using the cloaking device to trap unwary travelers.
But fate, or whatever humans called it now, had played a cruel joke upon her. Her quarry had escaped. Many of her slaves had been lost. Her consort - the one she had hoped to rebuild a life with - was dead.
There was a secret cache within the mountain nearby; a reserve for times of crisis. She could see the dormant battleship now, and row after row of Death Gliders in its hangar bay.
Yeah, I think this sprang out of her dealings with Hathor. But where is that explanation? Argh!
Hatmehit was tired of hiding. Lying in wait for someone to stumble into her trap was getting dull. How many centuries had it been? Surely the System Lords had forgotten her by now. Forgotten she who had eliminated a Tok'ra thorn in their side. Forgotten she who had once stood up to Ra himself in a battle of wits. Forgotten she who once ruled the rivers.
A smile wormed its way across her features as she thought of her hidden army.
Perhaps that wasn't such a bad thing.
Cue the ominous music. Dun-dun-dun!
And now... the sequel rant.
When I started in on this, I envisioned "Special Case" as one big honking story - from that first mission, to Jason escaping with the Space Rangers to Aquitar, to SG-1 showing up there, to Hatmehit's army showing up there... but it was getting so long I decided to split it into two stories. I started in on the sequel immediately after finishing the first story, thinking I could get it done while the inspiration hadn't run dry.
This was back in, oh, April of 2000. Almost four years ago.
Of course, Real Life went and interfered. It was the second semester of my junior year, and I was juggling a lot of things - a double major, English senior seminar, a huge part in the spring play, the literary magazine - and was going bit crazy. (In fact, that's around the time Death by Chocolate happened.) And just when I'd gotten free of final exams and escaped home for the summer, CBS cancelled "Now and Again."
EVERYTHING was put on hold in the wake of that tragedy. (Well, it was a tragedy at the time. I was so wrapped up in that show that it was crushing when they killed it.) That summer was the first and last time I got seriously involved in a fan campaign, and it sowed the seeds for Murphy's Law, my novella-length resolution to the season-ending cliffhanger. In fact, I was so determined to get "Murphy's Law" done, just for the closure that we would never get from CBS (who canceled the show primarily for political reasons), that I shoved everything else aside to get it done. Because of that show, I haven't let myself get anywhere near as wrapped up in a show since then. It's not worth it.
Aside from that... the left-hanging sequel "Full Fathom Five" had more than its share of issues. First and foremost were the logistics of the whole story. I had a loose idea of how the story was to flow, but there were a lot of major details I couldn't figure out: what Hatmehit wanted with Aquitar, how to get certain characters in certain places (I had two teams of Rangers, Jason, Billy, and SG-1), and working out the details of the full-scale battle were becoming a real pain in the tail. (I had a couple good scenes, one being Hatmehit's frustration at not being able to get down transport rings because the planet's surface is 90% water.) But a couple scenes do not a story make.
I had this fabulous scene with Ashley and Daniel running for the Stargate for whatever reason, Ashley getting hit and being dragged through the Gate, and her reaction at waking up and seeing General Hammond: "Uncle George?" It would have provided Hammond with a damned good reason to keep mum about the Rangers, and had the potential to be funny as all hell... I just couldn't GET there.
There was also the scene I was trying to write when everything went to hell: the diplomacy scene. You know, with both parties sharing what information they could, discussing whether being allies would benefit them, skirting the issue of Power Rangers, explaining Dark Specter and company in terms that SG-1 would grasp and that would fit into both universes... gah. I think my brain tried to crawl out of my ear at one point.
Also, Cestria's characterization? Sucked. I couldn't decide what I wanted to do with her, and it shows. I piled on the snark largely to make it clear that she was not romantically involved (nor would she be) with either of the guys; she'd put on an act so the others wouldn't worry about Billy. Unfortunately, she got a little too unsympathetic. If I ever pick it up again and revise it, she'll be rewritten totally. Someone even suggested that she could actually be a turncoat, which meant that she was way too acerbic.
So is there EVER going to be a finished sequel? Eh. As time passes, it's looking more doubtful. I've got those two WIPs pulled back for rewrites, RL is busy, and there's the matter of a lot of fanfiction writers moving on to original fiction that's been bugging me for a bit. Not that I have a plotbunny for an original story (although there is that short story I need to de-Buffy-ize and clean up), but fanfic, for all its charms and as much as an outlet as it's become for me, seems too much like work lately. I don't know. I may need to start with a clean slate.
Whew. Time to get back to updates and tape dubbing. :)
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Date: 2004-03-13 04:30 pm (UTC)Cool
Date: 2004-03-13 09:50 pm (UTC)So feel free to IM or email me if you want.
Mel
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