The SPARTAN and The Princess

Kerra entered the infirmary after her debriefing with General Landry.

“How is our guest doing Doc?” She asked Doctor Lam.

“She is still unconscious. As far as I can tell, she is healthy, but that is going by our standards as we have never run across a race like hers before. I have blood samples in the lab right now being run to make sure she won’t be causing any issues with unknown pathogens and that our diseases won’t cause her harm.” Doctor Lam replied. “Currently she is in an isolation room until we can make sure there won’t be any issues.”

Kerra nodded. “Could you keep me apprised? I am going to be in my lab doing maintenance on my armor.” She asked.

Doctor Lam nodded. “I can do that easily. I am sure that General Landry would keep you in the loop as well, as you and Cam were the ones that located her.” She replied.

“He probably would. Your dad is a good man and a good leader.” Kerra replied with a smile.

“He is.” Doctor Lam replied with a smile of her own.

Kerra nodded to the woman and headed to her lab to get her armor cleaned up.

Kerra sighed as she removed her respirator. Cleaning her armor had taken nearly ten hours.

“Now I see the issues NASA had back during the Apollo missions. Regolith gets everywhere.” She said out loud.

“Having regrets about going down?” A male voice inquired.

Kerra turned and smiled. “No I am not Daniel. Just complaining to myself. Might have to make a variant for going to the moon though. Something that has less places for the regolith to hide in.” She said.

“So what do you think of our guest?” Daniel asked.

“A lot of unknowns.” Kerra said as she stretched her back out. “Who is she? How did she get here? How is she still alive after being in hard vacuum with no suit for at least twelve hours?”

“What does she like to do on a date?” Daniel asked with a smirk.

Kerra felt her cheeks heat up as she glared at her teammate. “Low blow Jackson. Low blow.” She said before smiling and laughing. “The thought had crossed my mind. But only if she is one of the good guys and once she has gotten used to her new situation.”

Daniel was about to reply when alarms sounded.

“Security Teams to Isolation Room 3. Security Teams to Isolation Room 3.” Came the announcement over the intercom.

“Sounds like Sleeping Beauty is awake.” Kerra said as she grabbed her sidearms and left the lab.

Kerra quickly made her way to the Infirmary level and entered the observation room. The shield over the room flared as an energy blast hit it.

“Wow. Someone woke up cranky.” She said as another blast hit the shield.

“She woke up a few minutes ago. I was observing her when she woke up, panicked and started throwing off energy blasts from her horn.” Doctor Lam said.

“Is the Anti-Pryor device active?” Kerra asked.

“It is. Just shows how powerful she is.” Lam said.

“What’s the situation?” General Landry inquired as he entered the observation room.

“A scared, powerful alien is throwing around energy blasts like they are water Sir.” Kerra said as she observed the alien woman’s horn glow as another blast hit the shield, this time over the door.

“Recommendations?” Landry asked.

“I’m going to see if I can talk to her.” Kerra said, keying the microphone for the speakers in the room.

“You aren’t going to be able to get through that shield. So why don’t you stop trying to blast your way out and I can come in and we can talk.” She said.

“Who art thou? Where art thee?” The woman asked, her eyes wide as she searched the room, her ears swiveling.

“My name is Lieutenant Colonel Kerra Prower of Stargate Command. I am in the observation room behind the windows. If you can remain calm, I will come in with some food and water and we can talk.” Kerra replied.

The woman calmed as she looked at the two way mirrors that made up the windows of the observation room.

“That would be acceptable. We art famished.” The woman said.

“I’ll be in shortly.” Kerra replied as she turned off the microphone.

“‘We?’” Dr Lam said, a confused look on her face.

“It might be the royal ‘We’. Like the Queen of England when she is doing something official.” Landry said.

“So an alien royalty. Hopefully her race won’t think we kidnapped her when we take her home.” Kerra said as she moved towards the hall.

Kerra stood outside the door to the isolation room with a tray of fruits and a small salad as well as a pitcher of water. Nodding to the guard next to the door, the shield was disabled and the door opened.

Kerra stepped inside and the door closed behind her and the shield came back up.

“Hi. I brought some food.” She said to the other woman, lifting the tray slightly as she walked towards the bed.

The other woman watched her warily from the corner of the room opposite the door.

Kerra sighed as she set the tray down. “Come on and sit. I won’t hurt you.” She said.

“How can We be sure of that? You have imprisoned Us.” The woman said.

“No, we currently have you isolated so we can run some tests and make sure none of our illnesses can get you sick and that you don’t have any that will get us sick.” Kerra said. “Once we are sure everyone won’t be trading bugs, you will be transferred to the guest quarters a couple of levels up.”

“We are underground?” The woman asked.

Kerra nodded. “We are currently on sub-level 26 of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex on Earth. It is the base for Stargate Command.” She explained.

“You mentioned that before. What is it?” The woman said as she slowly made her way to the bed.

“It is the command that is charged with going through the Stargate to explore, make allies, and to recover advanced technology for study to use in the defense of Earth and the betterment of life on this world.” Kerra said. “We are also Earth’s last line of defence against hostile alien threats.”

“So We would still be a prisoner.” The woman said.

Kerra cocked her head. “Why would you be a prisoner? Your actions earlier were those of someone who was scared and not knowing where they were or what was going on. We won’t hold that against you.” She said.

“You should. We, We almost destroyed Our own subjects!” She said, voice thick with emotion.

“What?” Kerra inquired. “Why don’t you start from the beginning. Say, with your name?”

“Our apologies. Our name is Princess Luna. Though We are not sure We are worthy of the title of Princess.” Luna said morosely.

“What makes you say that?” Kerra said.

Luna sighed and began to tell Kerra her tale. A lack of recognition for her efforts, scorned by the nobility and treated as the lesser of two powerful sisters, feared for her skills in combat against threats to her people, her corruption by a malignant force, her downfall and the schism between the two sisters.

Kerra’s heart ached for the woman. “Luna, those things were out of your control. You were treated as second class by your nation’s nobility. You protected them from things that would have reduced lesser men to tears at the prospect of fighting. As for you sister, it sounds like she let the adulation get to her head. She shouldn’t have brushed away your concerns and worries so quickly. She should have listened.” Kerra said as she wrapped the crying woman in a hug.

Luna tensed for a moment before relaxing into the hug as she began to cry harder.

Kerra held the woman as she let out what was probably years of pain and heartache. She knew that Dr Lam and probably the other members of SG-1 were taking pictures of the pair, but she could care less as she stroked the woman’s back between her wing joints soothingly.

Eventually, Luna calmed. “Thank you Colonel Prower. I have not had anyone that I could truly speak with about any of this.” She said.

Kerra smiled as she rested a hand on Luna’s shoulder. “It’s alright. Everyone has their breaking point. Granted, yours lead to a bigger fight than most, but it is understandable. Now, how about some food?” She said.

Luna was about to reply when her stomach growled, causing her to look bashful and Kerra to laugh lightly as she pulled the table towards the alicorn.