Stargate SG-1 ....The Captives Part Two. From Major- General Jack O'Neill's file #671778d-99b
New, old kids on the Block
Sarah Connolly paced up and down outside O'Neill's office in the Pentagon. Jack had returned that morning and requested her to be there. Captain Jennifer Hailey brought Connolly her forth cup of coffee. 'God military coffee is awful.' She almost said aloud. "Will there be anything else ma'am." The young captain asked. "No captain, thank-you." Sarah remembered Hailey from early trials and work-ups on the Victory. The Air Force captain was a good officer and a fine pilot, what the hell was she doing working as Jack's personal aide. 'Christ there were too many like her, wasting their time on non combat duties, when the fleet was so short handed. She would have to talk to Jack about that.'
O'Neill calls out from within his office. "Captain Connolly, would you come in please." She enters the room and Jack bids her to close the door. "Have a seat Sarah, please."
"Thank-you sir." She pulls out the chair and lowers herself into it.
"Enjoy your leave, eh?" He asks.
Sarah grimaced. "Two hours sir, not exactly two weeks. But at least it was good to see New Zealand again, albeit briefly." She smiled a little.
"Yeah, sorry about that. Something very important came up. Hank Landry wasn't all too happy about being pulled away either. At least that old fart Bra'tac got to stay. By the way how's he doing on his own down there anyway.?"
"He says he doesn't want to leave. His words were, and I quote...If there really are gods somewhere out there, this is the place they made for man to abide..frankly sir I would have to agree with him. He fishes almost every day, caught a lovely trout whilst I was there and then released it. But you sir..." She paused and blushed a little.
"What's that?"
Sarah sat up straight and recomposed herself. "I think it has more to do with the Maori housekeeper the NZ government provided for us. She is a jolly woman, laughs a lot and I don't think Master Bra'tac has ever felt so happy or content."
"A woman you say? Well I'll be, that old b..." Jack looked definitely pleased. "By the way, how does the surgery look?" He pointed to his forehead.
"Fine sir, they did an excellent job, there's hardly any scarring at all. Bra'tac was more than happy about it sir, he said it was the last vestige on him of something he despised so much. But sir, I don't think you brought me back here to discuss your old friend."
"No Captain you're right. I'll get straight to the point. We've left an Ori warship out there, unguarded and unmanned, apart from a small contingent of soldiers and three hundred prisoners. The IOA wants that ship brought home if at all possible. If not we're to destroy it. You have a new mission Sarah, if you're willing to take it, I'm not making it an order ok."
Sarah stood, a little rattled. "Sir?" She looked at him squarely, she knew what he was going to say. It was difficult to hide her expression.
"You'll fly out in one hour as Commander of that Ori ship. Apparently Admiral MacGregor is still there assessing the situation on the other ship as well. Render him any aid if he needs it. That'll be all Captain." He seemed a bit distracted for a moment.
Sarah saluted him and paused. "Ah sir, the Dreadnaught is still a way from serviceable, how am I getting back out there?"
Jack blinked as if awoken from something. "Didn't I tell you that part, I'm sure I did. Never mind, Captain Hailey..." He hollered. "Get your fat butt in here."
Sarah looked in surprise at her friend and then suppressed a giggle.
Jennifer was leaning against the doorpost, eyeing a army NCO in full dress not far away, when she heard the General call her. "Yes sir!" She answered smartly, smiled briefly at the corporal, straightened her jacket and entered. She went and stood next to Connolly.
"At ease Hailey. Captain Connolly I want you to meet your new XO. This is Air Force captain Jennifer Hailey. Hailey, this is your new commander US Navy Captain Sarah Lee Connolly."
. "Pleased to meet you again ma'am." They shook hands. Jennifer, seemed pleased with herself, that cheeky grin always seemed to surface.
"You two know each other then?" Jack said with an almost Teal'c eyebrow raising.
"Oh yes, the captain here was on-board Victory for her trials." Sarah replied cheerfully, she liked Hailey, even only knowing the young woman briefly, they'll get on well she thought.
"Yeah, she was wasn't she. That's good then. Alright next order of business before you leave." Jack reached into his drawer and removed a small blue box. He walked around and stood in front of Hailey and opened the box to reveal a pair of Major's acorns. The young woman drew in her breath sharply.
"You've earned it Hailey, a couple of years early, but I'm the boss so...." He didn't finish and just handed one of the pins to Sarah, and they each went through the formality of removing Hailey's captain's pins and replacing them with the acorns. Jack recited the oath and Jennifer gave hers.
"Now you guys can go. Oh and by the way Captain, the Dreadnaught will be in good hands. Colonel Davis is taking her command. You can brief him at Area 51 where you'll be picking up your new ride...wanna tell her now Major, or keep it a surprise." Jack beamed like a Father Christmas in a department store.
. "I couldn't wait that long sir." She turned to face Sarah. "It's the first 'E' model 307 ma'am." Now Hailey was truly grinning wide.
"Apart from those being loaded on the Dreadnaught of course. But this will be the first one actually being mission proven Captain." Jack smiled with satisfaction. He loved doing this...retirement to hell.
Sarah smiled radiantly, her day just kept on getting better and better. Screw the vacation, this was life to her.
Tense moments passed on the Ori ship, before anyone could say anything. Finally Vala as usual broke the silence.
"So that's it then. You're going to murder over six billion people, just like that. Why? I can't understand your logic, don't you creeps need humans to worship you, to make you all the more powerful...six billion, that's probably more than in the whole Ori galaxy, and you..."
Daniel grabbed her arm. "Vala!" He had never seen her like this, she was livid. "He's not listening."
The air crackled as the mysterious man spoke. "Oh indeed I am Daniel Jackson." He said sarcastically. "Still no need for you all to sacrifice yourselves for your world. You can leave if you wish, I'll not try to stop you. You can watch the destruction of all you hold dear from the safety of your ships. I'd make sure you make that a goodly distance though, it's going to be a wonderful galactic light show I promise you that." He laughed with a sickening throaty sound.
Sam was having none of it. "Listen, whoever you are. We've defeated your kind before, we'll do it again...we promise 'you' that."
"You best hurry then Colonel, you have approximately two of your hours, before I reach my goal beneath the crust of this ice moon. When I do that, the power left behind by the Ancients you so foolishly revere, will be all I need to finish this task. By the way Colonel, I do have a name, it is Thalas."
SG1 as a whole looked at one another, shocked, puzzled and confused, but no fear. Well perhaps a little. Cam, Teal'c and Vala were all for just blowing the ship up, but Sam and Daniel convinced them, it would serve no purpose. And besides they didn't think it would be as easy as that. This Thalas would definitely be able to prevent them from doing so, or it would help to serve his purpose. Wisely they fell back to link up with the Marines and formulate some plan. Sam radioed the 401 to appraise Mac of the situation.
"Frankly sir I really don't know what we can do."
Cam chips in. "For once sir, Sam's right. This guy's got us over a barrel."
. "Not necessarily. Have the Marines fall back to the power generator, I'll beam you lot up. Don't worry Sam, we'll figure something out." The Admiral replied.
Daniel looked at his friend. "Hey Sam, we've been in tighter situations than this...haven't we?"
"Perhaps Daniel Jackson, but I believe this present situation maybe rather unique." Teal'c, implied with his typical calm manner.
"Yeah well, at least with Adria..."Sam started to say.
Mac beamed them up, she then finished the last bit as they appeared in the rear section of the 401. "...we had some idea of what we were dealing with." They were so used to getting beamed about now, they took it in their stride. Removing their Hazmat suits, they continued discussing the events on the Ori ship until the last of them, Daniel, stood there in his standard flight suit.
The members of SG1 were reasonably accustomed to surprises of various degrees. During their collective experiences, especially for Sam and Mitchell, it had been senior officers that had provided a fair bulk of said surprises (especially Jack O'Neill). Though none of them, even Vala, who was often referred to as being a bit unpredictable, could have envisioned the scene in the cockpit. Empty Dorito's packets were on the deck, cans of Coke sitting on the instrument panel (a small CO2 extinguisher lay nearby, which had obviously been used to quick cool the drink). The Admiral and Jar'el jamming away on dual gaming joysticks, controlling a computer game. SG1 just stood there starring at the picture before them, until Sam moved forward and Mac cried out to his young companion. "Oh Jar'el, that's gonna leave a mark!" And the two of them burst into laughter.
"Sir! What's going on." Sam almost bellowed in his ear.
"Ah Sam, hey guys!" He cheerfully acknowledged the team. "Jar'el and I were just passing the time."
"Playing a computer game sir?" Daniel enquired.
"Training software, here have a look." He picked up the empty DVD box and tossed it over. Cam caught it and turned it over, reading the title on the cover.
"VBS2, hey sir, this is way cool. Have you got the new SEALS upgrades?" Cam asked, a boyish grin splitting his face.
"Cam! This is serious. With respect sir, I'm sorry but..." Sam looked at her uncle's face and couldn't help but smile. Men will never grow up, but in a way she was glad, it kept perspective in balance, because it allowed women like herself to keep things straight. She sighed. "Well sir at least you weren't watching por..."
"Oookay Sam, that's enough." He was the Admiral once more. "Fill me in please."
Sam obliged and told him everything, but when she told him the name of the being on the Ori ship, Mac turned completely in his seat and looked hard at her. He had no expression on his face, though Vala thought she saw some sought of recognition there. How could that be, the Admiral has not had any encounters with the Ori, the man hadn't exactly been on any real missions had he. Something was definitely wonko here.
"Right then, first order of business. We gotta get that bloke's bloody shield deactivated, at the same time negate the power he draws from subspace." Mac replied, cautiously, he had an angry look on his face.
Sam and Jonas both made a curious face at each other. Jonas had to ask. "Sir how do you know that?"
Mac sometimes felt he was talking to children, he just knew, but he couldn't say how. "I read the file inside and out on the priors and Adria. From that it was easy to figure out." He scratched at his scar again. "Once we do that, he has to die. No hesitation. If we give him any reaction time, he'll ascend and that's the last thing we need in this galaxy."
"How are we supposed to disconnect him from his source of power? Surely Adria would have warned them of our anti prior device. I don't think it'll work on him." Daniel asked.
"Of course it won't. So now we have to think outside of the box. Sam..." He turned to his niece. "Do we have any decoys on board?"
"Yes I believe the 401 carries about ten, why?"
"Mmm, not quite enough. Jar'el, does your Commander's ship carry any?"
"Why yes sir, there's a whole lot of them on our fighters, and we have two 401's on board as well."
"Good. Cam get on the blower, I want another dozen or so over here five minutes ago." Cam did as he was ordered. "Sam, we've got work to do. Show me the anti-prior device I know you've got with you."
"What's the plan sir."
Mac, looked quite hard around the eyes now. "Quite simple. We set off one giant sequenced EM charge around the ship, tuned on the same wavelength as the device. The only difference is, we tune the wavelength to be continuous, not oscillating. Once the decoys are set in place, the 401 will have to be out of range, so it won't be affected in any way. Lastly, I'll be on that ship to take care of this Thalas creep. I want all of you to stay with Jar'el, keep him company. Any questions?"
Vala had to speak, she was anxious, this brought back bad memories for her. "Why you sir? It's an awful risk. Even if we manage to disconnect this Ori, he's still a very powerful being. You may need more than just yourself."
"And is there not the question of the Ori ship falling to the moon's surface, once the EM charge is activated Admiral MacGregor?" Teal'c asked.
Jonas leaned over closer. "No that won't be a problem Teal'c. The power generator room is shielded independently from the rest of the ship. That's why EM hits have not been successful in previous battles with the Ori. But Admiral, there is something else you should know. When we were down there, I noticed that the energy field this Ori was using, looked very similar to delta sleep waves. I didn't think it would be useful but now..."
Sam wouldn't let him finish. "A sustained burst won't do it, we've got to time the decoys to go off in a rhythmic sequence that copies the delta waves. Sir we'll need more decoys. I'd say about..."
Jonas this time finished Sam's sentence. "Forty decoys all up sir."
"Right get it done. Better still, Jar'el you've got the ship. Take us over to your boss now, we'll reset the decoys there Sam, we'll need all hands to make this work." Sam had to reappraise her uncle, he was a professional when he had to be.
"What about the Marines sir?" Cam said casually.
"Apprise them of the situation Cam, but I want them on board to monitor that bastard. Now get us out'a here son." Mac said to the young Jaffa.
Jar'el complied. The holding bolts were severed and he powered away to rejoin Ishta's ship. One hour forty two minutes to go. As the Tornado's flight took it further away from the Ori warship, Mac caught a glimpse of the ring transporter activate once more. "Didn't you guys shut that thing down?" He asked them as he pointed to the white shaft.
"Yes we did Admiral. Mmm it appears to have a life of it's own then."Vala said.
Jonas replied. "Or more likely a life of that Ori's own."
Mac calls Captain Hampton on the radio. "Captain, this is Tornado charlie victor, can you detail a couple of your boys to check the ring transporter."
"You got it sir." Hampton, answered.
After about five minutes Corporal Singer radioed back. "Singer here sir. Though the transmitter circuits are cut, the damn thing still seems to be drawing power from somewhere. Could be through the deck itself. I don't know how we can shut that down sir."
Mac looks at the SG1 members, they all shake their heads. "Leave it son, fall back to Captain Hampton, tell him to move back to the main power generator deck and barricade the door beyond you."
. "Yes sir. On our way sir."
Daniel turned his head toward Sam and Mac, who were now standing side by side. "What do you think?"
"We go ahead with the plan. Sir?" Sam asked.
. "At the moment we'll call it plan 'A'. I don't think we've got a plan 'B' just yet."
With only twenty nine minutes remaining, the decoys were deployed around the Ori ship, a concentration of them nearer to the bridge area. Mac used several 307's to do that task, whilst he and SG1 flew in close proximity to the ship itself. Jar'el was still piloting the Tornado, this time though from the left side seat, Cam was in the co-pilots position keeping an eye on the young Jaffa. Mac stood talking to the others, well it was more of them talking to him. Trying their hardest to persuade him into taking someone else with him. In the end, he relented and agreed to have Sam accompany him down. When all was set, Cam beamed the both of them into to the passageway just to the rear of the Ori ship's bridge.
