Stargate: Ragnarok
Short #2
"Occupational Hazards"
"Unscheduled offworld activation in progress," Gibson reported coolly as the Stargate burst unexpectedly into life. "Incoming transmission – we are receiving an IDC and a voice transmission, sir."
"Speakers," Webber said, crossing quickly from the map table to the Sergeant's terminal. Gibson dutifully activated the speakers, filling the control room with a loud and urgent-sounding voice with a hint of a Southern States accent.
"-gvi Garrison, this is Sierra Golf One Niner! We are coming in hot, ETA twenty seconds!"
Webber immediately turned to Gibson and said "Alert level red, NOW." Gibson nodded and quickly began pressing buttons before speaking into her headset.
The bored activities of the eight soldiers were interrupted by bright orange warning lights illuminating and spinning to life in a fraction of a second, accompanied by an urgent klaxon.
"Jeez, another drill? That's ten this week alone!" Private Moran muttered drowsily, forcefully roused by somebody as they ran past and already heaving himself as quickly as possible into action. In the controlled chaos chairs were tipped over and cups of tea and magazines were abandoned as eight bodies in camouflage and body armour sprinted the length of the ready room.
"Attention all personnel. Defence teams to the Gatehouse. We are now at alert level red. This is not a drill," Gibson said over the speakers. Her voice was being heard throughout the base, but especially in Ready Room A located mere metres from the Gatehouse.
"Not a drill this time mate," Private Anders said as he charged past. The reality of that hit Moran like a sledgehammer and his eyes widened, pelting the length of the room to the racks lining the walls. Like the other soldiers around him Moran quickly pulled the headset for his personal role radio from around his neck and positioned it on his head then yanked his helmet out of its storage hole and jammed it on, fumbling with the chin strap before grabbing his rifle. He slung it over his head and shoulder while sprinting down the short passageway connecting the ready room to the Gatehouse.
"Sierra Golf One Niner, this is Brigadier Webber of Lyngvi Garrison. You understand we are technically still under quarantine, Colonel?"
"I know sir but trust me, we got no choice! We've got a big problem here!" Mitchell yelled in reply, sounding out of breath. In the background, Gibson and Webber could make out short, intermittent bursts of automatic fire, panicked yelling and an occasional deep roaring noise.
"Understood Colonel, we'll be ready and waiting for your arrival," Webber replied over the radio. Turning to Gibson, he said sombrely, "Sergeant, retract the Iris. Seal all blast doors, evacuate non-essential areas and place the infirmary on trauma alert."
Webber looked out of the control room window. Two dozen soldiers were spilling out of the ready rooms and the NCOs in charge were yelling orders even though the men were already running to their allotted positions. Webber saw that there was no uncertainty in their movement thanks to the dozens of drills he'd had them run over the last few months, and yet despite their extreme familiarity with the procedure there was no lack of urgency either. The soldiers were checking their radios, slotting magazines into their SA80 rifles and reaching over to chamber the first round even as they moved swiftly and fluidly towards designated areas along both the floor of the Gatehouse and the mezzanine level running around half of it. Several of them peeled off in pairs to man the two fifty calibre heavy machine guns mounted on the mezzanine, dividing the heavily practiced duties of checking the ammunition feed and racking the weapon with almost no speech. A few took up positions on the ground floor in doorways or behind sandbagged emplacements.
With every soldier in position, their weapons trained on the active Stargate with the safeties off, they now just waited.
"What teams do we have available?" Webber said quickly without checking the duty roster on the whiteboard behind him, knowing that it would be far faster and more efficient to ask Gibson.
"1, 3, 4 and 6LR are still on exercise near Site 02. 2 and 5LR are currently on base," Gibson replied automatically.
"Radio the external teams and apprise them of the situation, and get 2 and 5 bloody well here," Webber snapped.
For several achingly long seconds, nothing happened, and Webber immediately worried that something terrible had happened on the other side of the open Stargate.
There was a violent ripple in the event horizon as Colonel Mitchell burst through, holding his P90 one-handed and aiming it behind him. Almost at the same time the gangly, dark haired form of Vala Mal Doran staggered through, immediately heading to her left with her P90 clutched in both hands and trained on the gate. Both of them were panting heavily as they fumbled with fresh magazines, slapping them violently into the compact weapons, but it was hard to know if it was exertion, fear or environmental differences that caused them both to suck massive quantities of air into their lungs.
Barely two seconds behind Mitchell and Vala, the other half of SG-1 crashed through the wormhole in a knot of madly flailing limbs, neither of them bothering or able to raise their weapons as they turned and dashed desperately for some semblance of cover out of the line of sight of the wormhole, Dr Daniel Jackson dragging the diminutive form of Captain Jennifer Hailey out of the way.
"Close the Iris!" Mitchell yelled into his radio as the faces and torsos of the team's two scientists appeared through the rippling blue surface, barely allowing time for the pair to fully exit the event horizon.
"Do it!" Webber barked, Gibson's hand already hovering over the control.
Moran stared down the barrel of the L1A1 Heavy Machine Gun he kept trained on the burbling event horizon, his fingers wrapped tightly around the twin spade handles with his thumbs poised on the butterfly trigger, watching as SG-1 spilled frantically into the Gatehouse and half-wondering why no incoming fire had punched through the wormhole alongside them. Jackson and the new blonde scientist were barely through before he heard the familiar and welcome metal-on-metal sound of the Iris emerging from its recess and breathed a sigh of relief.
Before the petals of the Iris could extend more than a few centimetres, the event horizon rippled violently. A blocky, armoured head the size of a large refrigerator burst through the top of the puddle, jaw wide open and roaring, quickly followed by an equally armoured pillar-like limb emerging from the bottom of the event horizon that planted itself firmly on the concrete floor. What they could see of the reptilian creature, head and limb alike, was covered in large interlocking bronze scales, many of which had clearly fused into thick armoured plates from which long spikes and horns erupted – several of the spikes jutting from the armour on the back of the skull appeared to have jammed on the extending Iris blades, halting the creature's progress.
As they encountered the thick and unyielding obstacle, sparks flew from the blades of the whining Iris as they strained and scraped at the bronze-coloured plates and spikes of bony armour lining the beast's skull, filling the Gatehouse with a shrill metallic screech almost loud enough to drown out the beast's own furious roar.
"Sarge!" Moran yelled into his headset, "Do we engage?"
The beast's enraged screams could be heard even through the multi-layered ballistic glass of the control room as it struggled and fought with the Iris.
"Iris actuators are at one hundred and ten per cent rated force, sir," Gibson reported as the armoured reptilian beast and the Iris struggled against each other, and it occurred to Webber that what he was witnessing was very much the immovable object meeting the irresistible force.
"My God," Webber breathed. The pistons that could fold the solid trinium-titanium blades of the Iris into position in a few seconds could generate so much force the Iris could cut through a man's arm like a hot knife through butter, and yet this bizarre armoured beast was tough enough and strong enough to completely resist the encroaching metal. "Can we shut the gate down?"
"Negative sir – the Stargate's safety systems won't allow us to disengage while a traveller is exiting the event horizon and we can't cut the power because the wormhole is being sustained by the sending DHD," Gibson replied automatically. The trapped creature struggled furiously, enraged and roaring with its body reintegrated but still held in the extra-dimensional buffer beyond the event horizon, pushing against the now whining and sparking Iris actuators.
"Damn it! All units, open fire now!" Webber said into the radio.
"Open fire! Open fire!"
SG-1 and the two dozen soldiers of the defence teams opened up with massed P90 and SA80 fire, the small calibre rounds raining down on the exposed, trapped head of the beast and pattering off its armour like hail off a tiled roof. Apart from the occasional spark or tiny black mark the copper jacketed bullets had no visible effect other than to enrage the trapped beast even more.
Moran had kept the fifty calibre machine gun trained on the writhing, snarling head of the armoured beast, and at Colonel Mitchell's yelled order he pressed the trigger down firmly, firing in short bursts. The machine gun's mounting absorbed most of the recoil as the deafening ch-ch-chunk of the weapon and its twin rang out through the chamber, smoke pouring from their barrels.
The armour piercing fifty calibre rounds slammed into the beast's armoured head with a plume of sparks and the occasional chip or divot of bronze armour flying off, each round creating a dent that would have accommodated a tennis ball – but they still couldn't penetrate the armour.
"Keep firing!" Mitchell yelled.
Moran kept the creature's head in view and despite the vibrations surging through his hands, wrists and arms kept the weapon firing, casting an anxious glance at the waiting ammunition box and wondering just how much it would take to bring down the beast.
"I heard the alarm and got Gibson's page sir, what do you need… what the hell is that?" Hamilton exclaimed as he entered the control room.
"I don't know, but even fifty cals can't take it down – what the hell is that thing made of?" Webber swore as he watched.
As the din of the massed weapons fire continued, a new sound filled the control room. The urgent warbling tone caused Webber to look at the Stargate's diagnostic display, noticing the urgently flashing red circle just within the inner track.
"Sir, Iris stress sensors are in the red – telemetry reports total actuator system failure in eight seconds," Gibson said urgently as the one sided firefight continued to no visible effect.
Webber swore under his breath and thought quickly. None of the weapons they had in the gatehouse could penetrate the animal's armoured head, they couldn't hope to hold it in the gate until the wormhole closed naturally and they clearly couldn't use the Iris to decapitate it – worse, there was a strong chance they would shortly lose the Iris due to the strain being placed on it, leaving their gate vulnerable even if they could somehow deal with this threat.
"All ground units, get to cover quickly – we need to open the Iris or we're going lose it!" Webber yelled into the microphone. He released the button, and without waiting to see the men below follow his orders, whirled to face Gibson.
"Retract the Iris!" he said quickly.
As the creature howled and roared, he saw that its worryingly large, tusked jaw was lined with countless flat teeth. The Iris jerked back into the Stargate, a thin blanket of smoke gushing from the recess behind the inner track and rolling upwards over the face of the gate as sparks poured from its hidden mechanism. With the obstruction of the Iris removed, the head and single leg of the creature were quickly followed by an elephantine body and long, thick tail, all equally covered in even thicker armoured plates and spikes, the entire creature's considerable weight supported by six pillar-like legs. The creature lurched and growled as it freed itself from the Stargate, small arms fire pattering off the seemingly impenetrable scaled hide, and Webber realised with a start that it had actually been crouching to get through the gate.
Heeding Webber's urgent order, SG-1 and the defence teams had partly fallen back, finding tenuous cover in doorways, behind jutting parts of the cave wall and wherever it was available while remaining in the Gatehouse, still firing in the desperate hopes of hitting something vital and vulnerable by sheer volume of fire. Mitchell had long since exhausted all the ammunition for his P90 and was instead casting about for a fresh weapon while his teammates fired sporadically.
Sparks continued to erupt from the furious creature's impossibly tough armour as it rampaged around the Gatehouse, causing soldiers to duck out of the way as the six legs, huge snapping jaw and swinging tail careened wildly and unpredictably about the place.
Moran aimed the heavy machine gun again at the beast and pressed the trigger. The gun spat a volley of fifty calibre rounds that slammed into the creature's side armour with the net result of a cloud of chips and sparks and a few shallow dents. The weapon was doing more damage than any other in the room, but it just wasn't nearly enough, lacking the power to punch through the creature's incredible armour. He stole a quick glance at the ammo box, noting that fewer than a dozen rounds remained – Anders had the next box ready to load.
Cursing, he aimed again as the beast headed towards the Stargate, trying to hit the thinner scales on the belly and flanks instead of the thick fused plates covering most of the thing's body. He could see the scaly hide doing nothing but rippling under the repeated impacts of 5.56mm and 5.7mm bullets from the massed small arms, hoping that the larger and heavier 12.7mm rounds of his weapon might have the force to penetrate and injure that part of the beast.
Aiming carefully and waiting for the beast to move into the right position, he pressed the trigger again, sending the last three rounds of armour piercing ammunition in the current box screaming towards their target. The first found thick plate armour again on the constantly moving animal, the second slammed into the thick flesh but failed to penetrate and the third somehow managed to pierce the skin and spray a pale blue fluid that he assumed was blood from the wound.
"Reload reload reload!" he yelled, releasing his grasp on the spade grips, but Anders was ahead of him, yanking the empty box out and slamming a second one in with practiced fluidity and speed while Moran covered with his previously slung SA80.
The creature had screamed when the fifty calibre bullet punctured its flesh, and Moran realised too late it was more out of sheer anger than pain and fear. Already it was swinging about and charging towards them, its tail rapidly describing an arc that would intersect with the gun's position.
Moran grabbed Anders and hauled him out of the way, throwing them both backwards as the spiked edge of the animal's tail smashed upwards through the steel grille floor and railings as if they were damp cardboard. The tail had also passed through the heavy machine gun, instantly reducing it to useless scrap and scattering the now broken belt of ammunition across the mezzanine and floor below.
"Evacuate the Gatehouse!" Webber yelled into the microphone. With one of the two weapons even remotely capable of damaging it obliterated, he realised the existing firepower was inadequate. He could see the defence teams backing up to escape the unstoppable beast's rampage around the Gatehouse, still firing to draw it away from others as they retreated into the relative safety of the nearest ready rooms. The creature charged and slammed into the granite rock wall below the control room with an almighty crash, the force enough to make objects fall off desks and Webber grab hold of the nearest console to steady himself.
"We've got to get it out of there! Seal all the doors – no, wait! Seal all the doors, but standby to open that one," Webber said to Gibson, pointing. She nodded and began flicking switches as Webber turned to Hamilton. "Major, we need transport – get over there, now!"
"Sir," Hamilton said tersely before sprinting out of the control room. Webber clicked the transmit button on the microphone in front of him.
"Colonel Mitchell?"
"Yeah, I'm here sir," the American officer replied breathlessly. "We're all okay apart from some minor injuries, but that damn thing's tearing up your gateroom and nothing we've got here can bring it down."
"That's why we're going to move it somewhere else. I'm sending Major Hamilton over to assist you – grab the biggest gun you can move with and head out of the hangar doors as fast as you can," Webber said. There was a pause on the other end.
"I might have a problem with that sir – there's sort of something in the way," Mitchell replied.
Webber watched as the creature turned around, searching for something upon which to vent its rage and frustration and repeatedly ramming the wall into which the soldiers had retreated, the reinforced concrete cracking under the strain.
"Colonel, get ready to run as soon as you hear the doors open," Webber intoned. "We need to distract it, get it down this end of the cave… Sergeant, close the Iris."
At the sound of the metal blades emerging and gliding together, the beast turned, the spikes on its flanks scraping fragments of granite and concrete out of the Gatehouse's walls. Roaring, it charged across the room with phenomenal speed, ramming one of the Stargate's supports with enough force to buckle the steel and dislodge one of the heavy duty high voltage cables. The wormhole flickered, the sudden loss of power from the missing cable destabilising it momentarily.
"Open the door now!" Webber said.
As the hangar door started to roll to one side, the cable dislodged from the Stargate swung free, its severed tip sparking violently as it dragged across the beast's armour. Electricity arced through the brazen plates and between the spikes, but the creature seemed unfazed and unhurt, merely snarling in irritation and moving out of the way until the cable was no longer in contact with its armour.
"Well, looks like we're not electrocuting it," Webber muttered.
Peering out of the window he saw the hangar door retracting, revealing the chamber beyond – and getting the attention of the beast. Webber prayed he had timed it correctly and distracted the creature long enough.
Mitchell burst out of the ready room with the GPMG dangling by its carry handle from his right hand, sprinting across the corner of the Gatehouse and through the opening hangar doors even as the creature bellowed a challenge and started to gallop across the concrete floor towards him. A stationary canvas topped Land Rover with its engine revving waited just inside with Major Hamilton at the wheel.
"Colonel, get on the tailgate!" he yelled at Mitchell, furiously indicating the back of the Land Rover.
"I am not liking this plan Major!"
Mitchell jumped onto the tailgate of the Land Rover, turned to face back into the Gatehouse and sitting with his legs dangling over the edge. He pulled the GPMG into his shoulder and fired a short burst at the approaching animal just to make sure it was suitably aggravated and focused on him. Sparks flew off its skull and it roared thunderously in response, surging forward – despite its size and apparent weight, the creature's six legs gave it worrying speed.
"GO!" Mitchell bellowed, steadying himself on the vehicle's rear. Glancing quickly in the mirrors Hamilton pressed down on the accelerator, pulling off sharply just as the beast was about to lunge at Mitchell, leaving it instead biting down on thin air as the Colonel fired another short burst of 7.62mm rounds into it.
The Garrison's gently sloping main tunnel was long and large – it had needed to be tall and wide enough to allow heavy construction equipment into all sections of the Garrison as well as accommodate the Stargate on the back of a tank transporter from the surface to its current site. Nevertheless, the creature's spines were just tall enough to scrape the ceiling as it charged after the Land Rover, destroying a number of strip lights and raining small fragments of rock as it passed. The creature was still closing.
"Give it some gas!" Mitchell yelled to Hamilton. He fired wildly from the hip to catch its attention again as it crashed into the walls, tearing heavy duty electric cables in half and scraping granite chunks onto the road.
"AD units report that they are re-tasking now. Setting elevation negative, disengaging Skyguard and switching to electro-optical, SAPHEI-T loaded. They recommend getting the target at least one hundred metres clear. Also, Major Hamilton reports they're on their way sir," Gibson reported coolly. "He says the creature's doing what you wanted and focusing on Colonel Mitchell."
"Good – open all intervening blast doors, give them a clear route," Webber replied.
"Uh, we would appreciate it if we could get him back in one piece," Daniel said as he entered the control room, followed by Vala and Hailey. All of them seemed to be covered in dust, dirt and minor wounds, projecting an air of exhaustion.
"That is my intention, Doctor Jackson," Webber growled as he studied Gibson's terminal.
"And of course this plan hinges on that thing not actually getting bored and wandering back down here… sir," Captain Hailey added.
"I know! Exciting, isn't it?" Vala chirped.
"Thank you for your vote of confidence Miss Mal Doran," Webber said. Vala beamed.
"Sir, Major Hamilton reports they're nearly at the surface," Gibson said.
"Tell the AD units to stand by," Webber said.
"What are AD units?" Vala said to Hailey in confusion. Hailey shrugged.
"In this case, some things we got from the Argies in the Falklands," Webber said cryptically.
"Okay, I have no idea what he's talking about – Argies? The Fork Lands?" Vala whispered to Daniel. He shushed her irritably.
"Whatever these… things are, do you think they'll work?" Daniel asked.
"If not we'll have to settle for driving it off and letting that thing have the run of the planet – assuming we can even do that."
"Major, it's gaining on us!"
The Land Rover burst out of the tunnel, the armoured beast only metres behind, jaws snapping. Mitchell was no longer firing to attract its attention but to try and distract it enough to slow it down as Hamilton steered the vehicle through the hangar and out of the vast surface cave, carefully adjusting his speed to maintain the beast's interest while keeping it high enough to keep Mitchell out of harm's way and the creature at a safe distance.
"Get it into the box then get the hell out of there," Webber said via the radio.
"Final sprint, hold on!"
Mitchell quickly stopped firing and grabbed hold of the frame as Hamilton floored the vehicle, the Land Rover surging out of the cave and into what passed for bright daylight on Lyngvi. Free of the tunnel's confines and seeing its tormentor accelerating away from it, the animal charged after them in a bizarre, rhythmic six-legged gallop, roaring in abject fury.
"Spiky's taking the bait, sir," Mitchell said into his radio. "This is going to be close…"
"AD reports Major Hamilton and Colonel Mitchell are clear, creature in pursuit and heading into the box. All units ready for your command," Gibson reported. Webber was staring at a live black and white CCTV camera's output showing the ground beyond the surface cave's entrance. He watched intently as the beast galloped after the speeding Land Rover then started to lose interest and slow.
"Come on, just a few more metres…" he breathed, watching without breathing or blinking as the creature roared in frustration and started to turn back towards the cave.
"Fire."
To the sound of furious pounding thunder the ground around the animal suddenly erupted with fountains of dark brown dirt. At the same time the creature found itself simultaneously pounded and buffeted by furious explosions that tore into its armour. The creature threw back its head and screamed in agony, unable to move as it staggered under the onslaught. Webber watched silently and solemnly via the camera as chunks of the animal's brazen armour flew off with every impact of Semi-Armour Piercing High Explosive Incendiary shells. The base's two Oerlikon 35mm twin autocannon, normally positioned on the cave roof and reserved for air defence, had been redirected to engage ground targets in a small area in front of the surface cave.
As the smoke, debris and flame cleared and the burst of seven shells from each of the four guns ended, Webber could see that the creature was still standing even though pale blue fluid was pouring down each flank where it had been struck and injured. It howled mournfully in anguish and pain as it staggered and lurched, attempting to stay upright.
"Keep firing!" Webber yelled angrily. "Put every ounce of firepower we have into that kill box, now!"
"Brigadier –" Daniel began, concerned at the fury Webber was directing at the creature.
"IT'S SUFFERED ENOUGH!" Webber snapped, glaring at the archaeologist. Daniel took a step back and nodded.
They watched in silence as another salvo of shells raked the creature's flanks. The animal fell heavily onto its side, no longer able to support itself, and cried out weakly as the shells burst all around it. Half a dozen shoulder-launched anti-tank missiles streaked out of the hidden observation posts dotted around the cave mouth to add to the fury of explosions, tearing into the fallen beast's armour and flesh.
After several seconds the firing stopped again. Waiting for the smoke to clear and the debris to stop raining down, Webber, Gibson and SG-1 watched from the control room for any sign of movement. There was none, just a ragged carcass drenched in pale blue blood.
"Target… destroyed, sir," Gibson said quietly.
"Sir, the Heracles just dropped out of hyperspace and will be in orbit shortly," Gibson said, poking her head around the door of the briefing room. "Colonel Bachman radioed to say they've readied isolated quarters to keep SG-1 under medical observation for twenty-four hours and they're preparing part of the hangar bay to transport the animal's remains back to Earth. Miss Armstrong-Forbes reports that she has recommended the IOA broker an agreement to study it in a joint project between Area 51 and Porton Down."
"Very good," Webber replied, sat in his chair at the end of the briefing room's table. Gibson nodded and closed the door. "I would have preferred not to have had to kill it, especially since it wasn't even a carnivore, but the danger it posed was just too great. Still, what's done is done, and we can at least say we did our best to end its life as swiftly as possible. The particularly sad thing is it probably wasn't even trying to eat you."
"Sorry, what?" Daniel asked.
"It was a herbivore – flat teeth in its mouth, for grinding vegetation – and if that was a herbivore, it makes you wonder what a predator from that planet looks like," Webber said.
"Okay, I'm getting Landry to lock that address out when we get back, agreed?" Mitchell said suddenly. Daniel and Hailey nodded emphatic agreement.
"So what do we even call it?" Daniel asked.
"'Brazen Hornbeast'?" Hailey asked with a smirk.
"No, that reminds me too much of somebody I know on Mekra," Vala said absently and wistfully. Daniel stared at her, Mitchell coughed uncomfortably and Hailey bit down on her lower lip. Webber simply sighed.
"I'm still curious Colonel, what did you mean when you said you had no choice but to come here?" Webber said, trying to change the subject.
"I knew there was a chance the creature would come through after us – it had been chasing Jackson and Hailey for over a half mile already. Vala and I got to the gate a couple of minutes ahead of them," Mitchell began.
"I dialled the SGC but the gate wouldn't open," Vala added. "In hindsight that could have been even worse – it's not the most spacious base I've seen."
"We considered the Alpha Site but they just don't have the room or the defences," Mitchell said. "The Beta and Gamma Sites are even worse since they're mainly research focused, so I made the decision to come here."
Webber considered this, nodding.
"Even though you were well aware that we're still under quarantine," he said.
"Well I figured that you know how to treat the memory bug now, nobody's shown any symptoms for a couple of weeks and it was preferable to being trampled, chewed or mauled by Spikezilla."
"Agreed," Jackson said.
"Still, we've been looking for an excuse to come here for a while!" Vala said lightly, grinning. Daniel suddenly coughed loudly.
"Sorry it tore up your gateroom like that though… and the tunnel… and outside the cave," Captain Hailey added quickly.
Webber sighed.
"Yes, well, at least repairing the damage to the Gatehouse will give us something to do other than drills for the foreseeable future. Besides, nobody was seriously hurt and you may have actually done us a favour," Webber said. At the quizzical looks from SG-1, he continued, "I've been pushing for improving our defences for a while, and since we have to rebuild anyway and have conclusively proved the existing ones were inadequate, I have several reasons to justify it – and I know where to send the bill… don't I, Colonel?"
Mitchell had the decency to look a bit sheepish. "Yes sir… I'll let General Landry know to expect it."