A Dream Given Form

Chapter Seven

While Garibaldi finished organising the search and delegating the handling of the crime scene, Jack activated his walkie-talkie: "Teal'c, come in."

Teal'c voice crackled from the radio: "I am here, O'Neill."

"Listen, Garibaldi's hunting down some space pirate and I think we can help him out. Meet us at the entrance to Green Sector."

"Understood. Teal'c out."

Garibaldi rejoined Jack. "Feel like joining a manhunt?" he asked.

"I've already called in reinforcements," replied Jack. "Teal'c gonna meet us back where we came in."

"Good call."

"You know," said Jack, "if you let us have our weapons back, maybe we could help you with this."

Garibaldi gave a short laugh. "I'll take you up on the offer of help, but we can't allow projectile weapons on a space station. We don't all enjoy a spacewalk as much as you guys do. Don't worry though, I've arranged for something – ah, thank you."

One of his officers handed him a small handgun which he passed to Jack. "This is a PPG," explained Garibaldi. "Stands for Phased Plasma Gun. Fires bolts of super-heated helium in an electromagnetic field, propelled by – "

Jack held up a hand. "Point this end at the bad guy and pull this bit to fire?"

"Pretty much," said Garibaldi. "Not one for the science, huh?"

"What can I say? I like to keep things simple."

"Yeah, well, be very sure where you're pointing that end before you pull that bit. It might not damage hull plating, but it makes a real mess of anything organic that gets in the way."

Jack raised his eyebrows, looking down at the tiny gun in his hand. "So, is there a safety on this...?"

Garibaldi laughed. "Come on, I'll explain on the way – and I promise to keep it simple."

They hurried on their way back through the station until they met up with Teal'c.

"Hey, buddy," said Jack. "I see you've made a friend."

Teal'c looked to the security escort by his side and nodded.

Jack turned to Garibaldi. "So, tell us about this Regan Vikander. What should we be looking out for?"

"Well, she's human," said Garibaldi, "caucasian, about five foot five, bright red hair shaved down one side. By all accounts, she's utterly ruthless. Joined a small group of Raiders a few months ago, took out their leader and anyone loyal to him, assumed his position and then started bringing other groups on-side using the same tactics. We've been able to keep them down for the most part, but she now has the single largest band of Raiders in this area of space, and all of them are devoted to her."

"Murderous space pirate," said Jack. "Gotcha."

"The thing I don't understand," said Garibaldi, "is what's her beef with you?"

"Me? I've never met the woman."

"I saw how she looked at you. That was pure malice in her eyes."

Before Jack could do anything more than shrug, the officer who had arrived with Teal'c interrupted: "We've had reports of a sighting. Someone matching Vikander's description was seen in the lower levels of Brown Sector."

Garibaldi shook his head. "Brown Sector, of course. It figures she'd be hiding out down there." He sighed. "I was hoping I wasn't going to have to show you Downbelow."

Jack glanced at Teal'c then back to Garibaldi. "I was... hoping the same thing."

"Look," said Garibaldi, seeming a little embarrassed, "this station was put together in a bit of a hurry. The fact it's out here and habitable at all is something of a minor miracle, but to get to where we are now, under the constraints they had, they needed to... cut some corners, you know?"