Episode Fifteen: Exodus (Part One)

[Charlie Vasquez]

< Previously, on Stargate Homeworld.. >

When a Jaffa turns up dead in a gang related shooting in Detroit, the newly formed Special Investigations Team of the Department of Homeworld Security is sent in, under the leadership of Doctor Cara Coyle. Upon touching down the team splits up to follow leads; most heading to the hospital morgue to examine the body while a small contingent made their way to the Peppermint Lounge in the pursuit of leads. Attempts on both teams lives were made high powered explosions soon after arrival.

And now, the conclusion...


1548
Detroit Hospital
Morgue

Laying motionless on the ground, Charlie could hear bells bringing in his ears. Loud bells. Combined with the pitch blackness that was playing out in front of his eyes did not make for a pleasant experience, made even worst when the pain began to kick in, throbbing from one end of his body to the other. Taking a moment to regain his composure, Agent Vasquez opened his eyes and rolled over, examining the scene.

Before his eyes was total chaos where once a clean, sterile and organized morgue had been. By throwing the explosive back into the wall cabinet and closing the door he'd been able to dampen a majority of the bombs lethal force, but it had still destroyed the contents of the room. Around him SUI members moaned and groaned, some climbing back to their feet. "Is everyone alright?" Lieutenant Travers called out. "I'm alright, check the others," Charlie called back over the noisy fire alarms which now resonated throughout the room. "And shut those alarms up!"

Who ever had left that bomb didn't want to be followed; the explosive had been compact but powerful, probably triggered by the sliding open of the cabinet. All this added up to a professional job, not just come backyard terrorist. How they managed to smuggle the body out and leave the bomb was another question Charlie wanted answered ASAP. "Someone check with the other team, see if they're alright," he said, moving to assist the injured.

< Tag SUI >

[Sean "Mantis" Connolly]

1548
Peppermint Lounge

The team seemed to be relatively unharmed for the most part, just a few scratches and temporary hearing issues. Two civilian bystanders and two police officers were dead, and eight others injured. Walking over to Staff Sergeant Harris, Sean said, "There was a tall man with a goatee and another man, couldn't see him well ... the latter set the bomb under our Hummer. They both got out of here so quickly it's like they vanished into thin air." Then again, they were dealing with aliens here, so perhaps the guilty part had access to some kind of transport system or invisibility technology, or who knows what else. Seeing Douglas, Connolly inquired, "You OK Doc? You look a little pale ... "

<Tag Everyone>

[markharris]

1548
Peppermint Lounge
Detroit MI

There was a tall man with a goatee and another man, couldn't see him well ... the latter set the bomb under our Hummer. They both got out of here so quickly it's like they vanished into thin air.

Mark reached into his pocket as Sean told him about the two possible bombers, pulling out the item he had picked up next the the building. Sir, I found this in the empty lot next to the lounge. I thought it might be important, so I stuck it in my pocket, just before the explosion. He handed the item to Sean. There was a gem in the center of it, and spots for all five fingers to fit, so the gem was on the palm of the hand. Sir, do you know what this is? I've never seen anything like it.

<Tag Sean>

[Byron Travers]

1548
Detroit Hospital
Morgue

Byron nodded in reply to Charlie he ignored the nurse when she came over once she saw his arm. Byron looked around the room they where in Byron coughed as he looked for the other members of the group that when into the hospital with him; some first day eh. Byron thought to himself he wished the alarms would just stop ringing. Byron noticed the other members of the group getting up. "You guys okay?" Byron asked. Byron herd Charlie for someone to check if the other team that went to the peppermint lounge was alright so taking out his mobile Byron went through his address book and quickly found Sean's number and dialed the number. "Hey Sean is everyone alright at your end? A bomb just went of at the hospital morgue there was no Jaffa as well someone replaced it with the bomb." Byron explained to Sean over the phone.

<SUI Sean>

[Douglas Stark]

1548
Peppermint Lounge
Detroit MI
"Yeah, I'm OK, it's just that it's my first time getting almost blown up by a bomb." Douglas said, replying to Lieutenant Connolly's question. "Never thought this would be part of the job description, but life has its surprises."

Staff Sergeant Harris took out a gem, catching Douglas' attention.

"Whoa. I'm not a geologist, but I can run some tests on radiation or elemental properties for you if I get some equipment." Douglas said.

<Tag Sean, Mark, Anyone>

[Charlie Vasquez]

OOC: Where is everyone?

1549
Detroit Hospital
Morgue

Having assessed the medical status of all in the room with Lieutenant Travers help, Charlie relayed the information to the staff from the hospital, who were arriving on the scene of the explosion. The advantage of having a bomb attack made against their lives in the lower levels of a city hospital allowed them almost instant access to world leading professionals and equipment, although the risk of collapse and bringing the entire building down from the blast was all too real. Vasquez would need to task some engineers ASAP to inspect the integrity of the morgue and surrounding rooms.

On the other side of the room, Byron was on his mobile to the other team at the Peppermint Lounge. Picking his way through the rubble, Charlie moved to where the blast had originated, and slide-out cabinet built into the rooms wall. Refrigerated to stop stored bodies from breaking down, the cabinet had been able to absorb the brunt of the explosion, leaving the rest of the team relatively safe, given the size of the explosion. Although he had military experience, Vasquez was no expert in the field of explosives, although he could say that this was high-powered ordinance, potentially military grade.

They were up against something - or someone - very high up, powerful, and with good connections. "Who knew the deceased body was being stored here?" Charlie asked, being sure not to mention anything about 'Jaffa' or 'aliens' in front of the civilian hospital staff, who only knew these people were here on federal government business.

< Tag SIU >

[Cara Coyle]

1549
Somewhere in Detroit


All this paperwork was certainly beginning to form a headache. She was driving back to the hotel after securing a place to store the body of the jaffa, once the hospital team retrieved it. The radio was on, but Cara wasn't really listening to it, it was all just jumbled news in Detroit, that didn't really have any meaning to it.

She could hear sirens in the background, a firetruck or ambulance perhaps. Then, some particular news on the radio caught her ear, something about two explosions, one at someplace called The Peppermint Lounge, and the other, a hospital....the hospital where she knew the jaffa was at. Cara quickly looked though her file and found the name of the shooting site, it was indeed called 'The Peppermint Lounge.'

At this point, she was worried, mainly because no one had called her. Wasn't that was people on a team were suppose to do when they were in trouble, call their leader to tell them they were OK. She hated to think that her whole team could be dead. Quickly, Cara pulled out her cellphone and dialed Charlie Vesquez's number, and waited for someone to pick up. It rang a couple times, which seemed like forever, but finally she heard a click and someone answered. She let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank god, I thought the worse when I heard about the explosions. Is everyone ok, has anyone heard from the other team."

<tag Charlie>

She listened carefully, "As soon as you can, I want everyone to meet back at the Marriott, we need to...." but Cara's end of the conversation was cut off by the sound of her yelling LOOK OUT! followed by the terrible sound of glass shattering and metal crashing.

[Charlie Vasquez]

OOC: *nudge* Anyone around?

1549
Detroit Hospital
Morgue

For a moment, no one responded to his question. "Just us, EMT's and cops who brought him in," replied Agent Reed from the other side of the room. Charlie scratched his chin, examining the scene of destruction in front on him, until interrupted by his cell phone. Answering, Doctor Coyle's distressed voice emitted. "Thank god, I thought the worse when I heard about the explosions. Is everyone ok, has anyone heard from the other team."

Contact with the Doctor was a good sign; with attempts made on both the team here at the morgue and the team at the Peppermint Lounge, it was lucky Cara hadn't been targeted. "Not yet ma'am," Charlie replied. "We're still trying to reach them." Looking over the room he spotted Lieutenant Travers, who was still trying unsuccessfully to reach the other team.

"As soon as you can, I want everyone to meet back at the Marriott," Cara replied. "We need to...." The Doctor's voice was cut off by the screeching of car tires and the smashing of glass. "LOOK OUT!" Cara screamed, just as the phone went dead. "Doctor... Doctor!" Charlie yelled into the phone, and seeing the connection had cut out he tried to redial, but couldn't get through.

Things had taken another turn for the worst.

As they were, the team could do little at the morgue except wait until the bomb squad had time to come through the give them more details about what exactly had happened. As per Cara's orders, the two teams needed to group at the Marriott Hotel where they had secured accommodation. Time to roll out.

"Lieutenant," Charlie said, approaching Byron. "Get everyone back to the Marriott ASAP, and when you get in touch with the other team get them to haul ass there as well." With everything sorted Charlie made for the door by himself.

He was going after Cara.

< Tag SIU >

[Astra "As" Owen]

1549
Detroit Hospital
Morgue

Astra followed her team into the Morgue. A place that really creeped her out. She was used to looking at old bones, not actual bodies. She shivered a little and wrapped her arms around herself. When they opened the the tray and expected to find the Jaffa's body lying there waiting for them, she was surprised to see a black brief case waiting for them instead. Though she should have known better and from experience how sneaky the Goa'uld's can be.

"That doesn't look like a Jaffa," she said dryly.

Warnings bells being to sound an alarm inside of her as they were being ushered back out the door by her team mates. She suspected the black case was something more then what it appeared to be. Her suspcions were proven when someone yelled out bomb! Astra's heart raced as she fled the room just as the explosion went off.

She felt the place tremble and the ground beneath her move, falling to the floor. The archaeologist laid sprawlled out on the floor with her hands protecting her head and face from any flying pieces of missiles from the blast. She was terrified and laid there for a while. Astra's ears were ringing and she coughed a little. She swore in every known and unkown language she could think of, cursing the Goa'uld's and their loyal Jaffa's.

<<tag anybody>>

[Charlie Vasquez]

1552
Detroit
Cara's Last Know Location

Using a combination of the emergency services radio scanner and a trace ran through the GPS inside Cara's cell phone, Charlie had triangulated the area from which Doctor Coyle had made the phone call she'd been cut short from. Rounding the corner in one of the SUI's over sized Hummer H2's, which seemed to draw more attention than he liked wherever they went, he spotted a gathering of police and fire vehicles, and pulled up short of them. In the middle of the scene was Cara's once car; although it was harder to recognize than usual. The front left quarter panel was all but destroyed by what looked like a collision with another vehicle. Skid marks on the road confirmed this; it appeared her car had been rammed off the road and boxed in without escape.

Identifying himself with a FBI pass, one of the many manufactured ID's of government agencies he carried with him, Charlie ducked under the crime scene tape for a closer look. What may have looked to the first responders as a hit and run or simple act of road rage could be seen to be a textbook carjacking; target car gets rammed, pushed off the road and boxed in while whoever was inside was pulled out and hurried away. A second set of skid marks at the scene probably belonged to the get away car.

The angle of attack was all wrong though. Had Vasquez wanted to grab someone he would have rammed from the passenger side, reducing the risk of injury to the target. Whoever had done this was either a non-professional, or hadn't been allowed sufficient time to track their quarry and move into an ideal position for the attack. This worked in Charlie's favor - in easier case this job had been done sloppy, and sloppy always left clues.

< Tag SUI >

[Cara Coyle]

(OOC: Cara would have been sitting on the passenger side in the back seat.......and where is everyone??? I'm tempted to put everyone as MIA again!!)

[Byron Travers]

1552
Marriott

Byron had been helping Charlie with the medical status though he still couldn't get hold of the other team he guessed that they where having their own problems to deal with at this present time. "Still can't get hold of the other team." Byron explained to Charlie as he placed his mobile back inside his pocket he looked around at the mess and ruble of the room around him. Byron turned towards Charlie as he herd him yelling in his phone after speaking with Cara; things didn't looked good and Byron wondered what was going happen next. Listening to Charlie's orders Byron nodded and turned away from him. Byron soon spotted Astra swearing in every language she knew. "Doctor Owen we need to everyone back to the car and head to Marriott there's still no word from the other team we don't know what's happened with them." Byron explained to Astra. After speaking with the rest of they team Byron found himself climbing back into the drivers side of the car and turning the engine back on. After everyone in the team climbed in Byron drove out of the hospital car park and towards Marriott. Byron pulled into the car park of Marriott and stopped he climbed out and took out his mobile for the second time to try and call Sean again but without any luck he dialed Charlie's number. "Charlie? It's Byron we've made it to Marriott there's still no contact with the other team but I'm trying again we could send someone over to the Peppermint Lounge to see what's going on with them." Byron explained to Charlie as he closed the door of the car.

<SUI>

(OCC: Sorry I was waiting for Jax to reply back to me.)

[markharris]

OOC - I 'm waiting for anyone on my team to post. I seem to be the only one at the lounge.

1553
The Peppermint Lounge

With all the excitement, of the bomb, and what Mark had found, he hadn't noticed his phone was vibrating in his pocket. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, Harris here. It was Travers at the other end and Mark listen to what had happened to the team at the hospital. We currently don't have a vehicle. A bomb was planted under the Hummer, we saw two people heading away just before the explosion. We'll get to the Marriott as quick as we can. Let Dr Coyle know I found something that I cant identify and I'm bringing it along.

<Tag Somebody, Anybody at the Lounge>

[Jacek Quirin]

1552
Marriott

Jacek was so dazed from the entire situation, explosions, fake Jaffa's, missing teammates and now he can't find his lucky nickel. "Can this day get any worse?" After a bit of jibber jabber they end up at the Marriott which was a super posh hotel in his opinion. "I have never been to a Marriott, I usually got to rinky dink motels." He chuckled to himself, as Byron got out of the car he followed and leaned against it waiting for what would happen next.

<Tag Anyone>

[Douglas Stark]

1553
The Peppermint Lounge
Doctor Stark noticed Staff Sergeant Harris talking on his phone with a concerned look.
"Do we have transport coming along?" Douglas asked openly.
"Technically we could just take a cab out. It won't arouse as much suspicion as to who we are if we didn't have a whole motorcade, but I'm new to all these procedural stuff, so who knows."

<Tag Anyone>