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Underground Cont.
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John was feeling protective and hadn't moved much more than twenty feet from Kai. He could feel himself hovering, but couldn't quite stop. Kai had been nervous when they were greeted by a dozen armed guards. John didn't blame her, she spent most of her time in the lab, not facing down men with guns. He had done his best to reassure her as subtly as possible, but Cowen had noticed and immediately taken it as a sign of weakness. Cowen had tormented Kai to get a rise out of John and assert his control over their situation. If John thought there was a way they could have gotten out of here he would have backed out of the deal in a heartbeat. There was no way they were going to be able to trust these people.
Kai stood over the table, her fingers flying over her keyboard. The genii had brought them to the lab with the interface. Most of the guards had left Kai and Tyrus to their work, but Cowen had smirked at Major Sheppard as he ordered Heiron to stand guard at the door. The Major was tense and was staying close. Kai ignored the others. She trusted the Major to watch their backs while she focused on her work.
It was almost a shock for her to realize she really did trust the Major to watch her back. She didn't trust anyone as a rule. Her entire existence depended on her ability to lie and manipulate and yet, standing in a room surrounded by potential enemies, she trusted him.
Kai had looked over Sora and Tyrus's interface. She had listened patiently, let them show her what they had done, and then she promptly got started converting the port so she could plug the data drive into her laptop. She stood over a table, her fingers flying over the keyboard as she adapted the program to Wraith data.
She scowled down at her computer screen.
"Anything?" John asked, sliding closer to her.
Kai jumped. She hadn't expected John to still be willing to speak to her after what happened with Cowen. He had surprised her however, leaning against the table as she worked. Cowen had tried to get a rise out of The Major and while Sheppard hadn't responded in the way Cowen had perhaps hoped he had responded when Heiron has searched her. Now, Sheppard was staying closer than he ever had before.
Kai glanced up at him, meeting his hazel eyes over the top of her screen. "Everything." she said with a small, private smile.
"What?" Sora asked in disbelief as she matched up to Kai's side. "That's impossible."
Kai ignored the petulant Genii and spun the screen around so it was facing the Major. "I have pulled up the complete schematic of the hive ship. This dart has all the information on it's home ship. I don't know if it's still there, but at the time..."
John nodded, scrubbing at his face.
"According to this schematic, the data core is in the very center of the ship," Kai reached around and pressed a few keys to highlight where she was talking about. "I don't have any details on the system itself, my guess is it won't be terribly complicated to connect to but..."
"We must bring this information to Cowen immediately," Tyrus said.
Sheppard scowled as the four of them started for the door following Sora. Heiron fell into step behind them deliberately staying close to Kai.
Teyla, Ford and McKay joined them for the meeting. Cowen listened quietly to the additional information Kai had found.
"Excellent," he said nodding. "We'll leave as quickly as possible," he said with a grim smile.
He glanced towards Sheppard. "Your Mortii can stay here. We'll have someone watch it for you. I trust your Doctor McKay can operate the data drive."
McKay opened his mouth to respond but Sheppard cast him a sharp look. He closed his mouth and frowned as he quickly replayed Cowen's words. The way he talked about Kai was the way someone would talk about a dog. McKay frowned. "Kai is much more familiar with Wraith tech." McKay said quickly.
He watched as one of the Genii stared at Kai like she was a toy he wanted. McKay couldn't understand what exactly was going gone, but he didn't miss Sheppard subtly placing himself between the brutish looking soldier and Kai. Sheppard wasn't prone to overprotective displays. Something had happened to make the Major behave this way.
"Fine," Cowen agreed. "We've got to get in and out as fast as possible." Cowen leaned on the table. "I've been studying these plans and I have the fastest route to the Data Core memorized."
"Good," John said brightly. "Then we'll follow your lead," he said. "We'll get McKay and Zian to the core, keep them covered during the breach and download." Sheppard shifted his weight. The roiling tension that had been clinging to him slipped away as he finally had something to do. The Major didn't stand still well, now that there was an objective he was more settled.
"Exit plan?" Ford asked as he studied the plans.
"Same as we came in. You'll stay with the jumper. Guard our exit."
"Yes sir," Ford replied with a nod.
"I should be going with you," Sora demanded impetuously.
"There's a good chance we could end up in a firefight," Ford said.
Cowen smiled proudly. "Sora is a skilled fighter and expert marksman. Still, she must stay here to carry on in case we don't come back."
Ford arched his brows in surprise, but didn't say anything more.
"Tyrus and Heiron will join my strike team," Cowen said with a nod of approval.
A bad feeling went over Kai and her eyes flickered to Sheppard. He met her gaze for a moment before he turned to Cowen. "Whoever you feel is best suited to the mission," he said. "One big happy family." His smile was strained and his eyes flickered back to Kai.
"Of course," Cowen said with a smile. He turned to his men. "Gear up," he ordered.
They all left the table and their team started towards the jumper. Once they were a few feet down the dark hall John grabbed Kai's arm pulling her aside.
"Look, I know this isn't what you agreed to-" he started to say.
"Major, I would rather be on that Wraith ship with you then spend another moment among these people."
Sheppard nodded, he cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes at her. "They're treating you like this all because you're a..."
"Mortii," she filled in, the name tasting like ash in her mouth.
"Look, we don't judge people, no matter what they believe. Your religion is your business. You've proven yourself as far as I'm concerned and-"
Heiron stepped into the hall and Sora followed him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down into a passionate kiss.
Both John and Kai grimaced at the same moment.
"No accounting for taste," Kai muttered and John snorted and coughed to cover up his laugh.
He looked down at her, his hazel eyes dancing with laughter. The laughter settled into something more serious. "He won't get near you," he promised, and then he shifted uncomfortably and gestured for Kai to lead the way back to the jumper.
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Sheppard flew them through the gate with Kai in the co-pilots seat. Once they cleared the gate and cloaked Cowen stepped up to the controls. "How many of these ships do you have?" he asked looking over the complex controls.
"Just the one," Sheppard lied without hesitation. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Kai but she was entirely focused on flying the ship.
"There," Kai said, as the Hive came up on screen. "Dead ahead."
"Have they awoken?" Cowen asked.
Kai's fingers danced over the controls. "I'm not picking up any signs of activity."
"Same as last time," Sheppard said grimly. "All right here we go Kai, right through the front door."
They set the jumper down in the dart bay and everyone climbed off. Kai drew the nine mil and held it loosely in one hand. She had never been a big one for guns, but she was a good shot when needed. She didn't like that Cowen was holding onto the drive but there was no way to ask for it without appearing as though they were going to double cross them.
Sheppard glanced back at Ford. "Hey, hold the fort. We'll be back as soon as we can."
Ford nodded. "Yes sir, good luck."
They moved through the dark Hive as a group. Sheppard and Teyla were on the lead. Kai and Rodney were in the middle of the group while the three Genii covered their rear. McKay was nervous and swung the light on his P-90 erratically as he jumped at every little noise. The halls were endless and winding, the walls were a woven, living flesh and the stench was over powering. They turned down another hall and it's walls were lined with people in web covered pods.
"Oh god," Rodney whined covering his mouth with the back of his hand.
"These people were cocooned for a later feeding," Kai said cocking her head as she stared down at the bodies. She pitied these people, but she also clinically recognized there was nothing they could do for them without endangering all their lives and risking the success of the mission.
"Some of them may be alive," Teyla said kneeling down beside one.
"We don't have time for this," Cowen growled.
Sheppard glanced over his shoulder at the other leader. "They could be your people for all you know."
Cowen grunted angrily, tightening his grip on his gun.
"Teyla take care of this, we'll meet you back at the ship. Kai, McKay you're with me," Sheppard ordered.
"I'll stay with her," Tyrus offered.
Cowen nodded though he didn't look happy. "Go, we'll meet you back at the ship."
The five of them continued on.
"This is it," Cowen said. He frowned at the sealed door in front of them. "The ships plans I memorized did not include details on how to open this door."
Sheppard stood with his back to it so he could keep his eyes and his gun trained on the two hallways. "If we try and blow it, it's going to make too much noise."
Kai snorted at the soldiers instincts to blow everything up. She stepped up to the door without a word, sliding her gun away. She looked back and forth over both sides of the door. She ran her hand over the walls.
"Do you have your scanner?" she asked Rodney. He ran it up and down the columns she indicated. When it beeped she nodded in thanks. She drew one of her knives so fast that anyone watching would have thought it appeared in her hand. She slit it through the living wall easily. She pried it open to reveal circuits running through what looked like blood cells.
"Kai-" Rodney started to say.
Kai plunged her hand inside without hesitation. It was sticky and a thick substance started running up her arm. She grimaced in disgust. "Almost..." and the doors slid open.
"Bingo!" Rodney said clapping Kai enthusiastically on the back. Kai scrubbed her hands off on her pants.
"I'll cover your six," Sheppard said dropping down into a crouch.
"Heiron," Cowen ordered and the soldier dropped down next to Sheppard.
Kai didn't hesitate. She ran straight through the door into the data core's chamber. Cowen and McKay trailed behind her. She held her hand out to Cowen and he handed her the Data drive. She frowned down at it.
"Where are the cords?" she asked tightly.
"Tyrus said you wouldn't need the cords, that there should be a connection port here," Cowen responded gruffly.
McKay groaned. "Well there's not."
"So fix it Mortii," Cowen snarled at Kai, swinging his gun around so he was pointing it at her chest.
"Hey, hey," McKay snapped. "Just take it easy. We'll figure something out."
Kai stepped up to the terminal and began accessing the ships systems. Her understanding of written Wraith was passable and she began working her way through their systems. "Place it on that console," she instructed McKay. "It should enable a wireless data transfer...provided that drive isn't too old," she added, leveling a look at Cowen.
He narrowed his eyes at her but didn't say anything more.
McKay set it down and stepped back. The screens in front of Kai began to flash as data stream after data stream came and went. "Uploading..." Kai said, tapping her fingers impatiently against the side of the console.
In the distance there was a faint pop of gun fire. Her head snapped around towards the noise. Cowen stared down at her like she had lost her mind. Without thought she reached up and touched the comm in her ear.
"Major, everything all right out there?"
"Y-" the Major's voice started to say but there was another click and he was cut off.
"Major! We've been discovered!" Teyla's voice yelled over their shared comm. In the background Kai could hear gunshots and screaming before it clicked off.
"We gotta get out of here!" Sheppard called. "How much longer?"
"Initializing..." Kai reported. "Done." She called.
Kai reached for the drive but Cowen slid his gun over so it was facing her once more. She stepped back and he snatched it off the port. The three of them ran for the door.
"We've got it," Rodney reported as the three of them met up with Sheppard and Heiron. They ran for the dart bay. They turned a corner and stunner shots erupted all around them.
Sheppard, Cowen and Heiron crouched on either side of the hall and fired back. Rodney yelled as more came from behind them. He fired until his gun jammed and a guard slammed into them.
Kai fired all the shots she had in her small hand gun but it did little to stop the group of Wraith advancing on them. Knowing it would blow her cover completely she drew her Blade and the KA-BAR.
Her secret wasn't worth their lives.
Kai kicked the first wraith back and arced her body as she flashed the knife in her right hand across his throat. The body collapsed lifeless. She didn't hesitate to engaged the next. It tried to reach for her but she ducked easily coming up inside it's guard. She slammed her blade up under it's chin, just beneath the lip of the helmet. The body collapsed away from her just as she was grabbed from behind.
"Kai!" Rodney yelled his voice frantic.
Kai threw all her weight back onto the Wraith and then launched herself forward, flipping the Wraith over her back. It slammed flat on its back at her feet. She slit it's throat. There was motion behind her and she whirled towards it.
She was in a ready crouch with both knives drawn when she came face to face the stormy eyes of John Sheppard. The hall was deathly quiet, Kai's chest was rising and falling as she panted to catch her breath. She could barely hear anything over the pounding of her own racing heartbeat. John was pointing a gun straight at her chest. Kai relaxed the knives in her hands so they weren't pointing at him anymore.
"Ha!" Cowen exclaimed in delight. "No wonder you tolerate a Mortii in your midst. It proved more useful than I could have imagined," he said and he and Heiron led the way down the corridor away from them.
McKay stood frozen where he was looking back and forth between Kai and Sheppard in shock. His mind couldn't process what he had seen Kai do versus Sheppard pointing a gun at someone who was supposed to be one of their people.
Kai hadn't moved a muscle and neither had John. The two were frozen as they stared at one another as though they were seeing each other for the very first time. Sheppard's eyes were hard and cold as he stared down the barrel of his gun at her.
Kai licked her lips nervously. "Major," her voice was low and she held her hands up in front of her, the knives were still naked but they weren't pointed at him.
"What the hell was that?" John growled. He had heard Rodney call out to Kai and had spun around ready to jump in to save her. It turned out Kai didn't need any one to save her.
"I-" she started to say, her eyes flitted over the bodies that lay surrounding her at her feet. There was no saving this. No explanation. No lie she could come up with fast enough to cover what she had done. Sheppard was a fighter and he would have to be blind to not be able to recognize her skill. It was over.
"I-" she began again.
He shook his head angrily. "We don't have time for this," he growled. "Get to the ship," he ordered, motioning for Kai and McKay to go ahead. He wasn't going to let Kai out of his sight until he got answers.
They turned a corner and came on another two Wraith. Before Sheppard could get a shot off Kai did a complicated spin kick that knocked the first Wraith back into the second and threw her knife straight through it's eye socket. Sheppard fired at the remaining Wraith
John looked from the body of the Wraith back to Kai as she ripped her knife out of it's eye socket.
"You are going to owe me some serious answers when we get out of this."
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