In a forgotten store room under NORAD, a large crate was moved to sit in the middle of a massive ring and platform. Dust and tarps covered everything. No one even noticed when the Stargate tried to activate, but the crate 'buried' it, not allowing the wormhole to form.
As far as the system lords ever knew, the Stargate on Earth had remained buried, notwithstanding the death of Ra by the 'Tauri'. Fortunes had changed, but the System Lords had continued to rule without the reverberations of the Tauri in other realities.
At least for a while.
Colonel Sammie O'Neill was taking stock of old United States Army supplies. The Atlantic Federation was reassessing all pre-war bases and stockpiles after their mutual defeat at the end of the Valentine War. So here she was digging around for some place to build a new base with the minimum amount of fuss. She doubted that Cheyenne mountain would be picked. Greenland was close enough to build up, but far enough away to sacrifice if needed.
The colonel's hair was quite dark (and not from the use of hair dye, like some of the women under her command thought.) Her body was hard and lean, and unfortunately showing little of the female's endowments because of her rigorous lifestyle.
She stopped as she shown her flashlight around, taking in a large tarp-covered arch. That jogged a memory. "Let's check this out."
Her crew quickly had the tarp removed. She touched the warm metal, whistling. This had been something from one of her great-uncle's papers that she had thought was just the ramblings of a man that had done too many missions behind the lines. But the description was too exact.
Could this be the Stargate? "Millers! I want all the paperwork on these items on my desk in an hour."
It was very interesting reading.
On a sandy world, the Stargate started to rumble to life in its ancient ruins, locking in its chevron. The sullen human guard frowned. It was months early for the great Apophis to send his Jaffa to verify that his slaves on this desolate world still remembered him.
Idly, he wondered why it was doing different symbols than he remembered. With a kawoosh, the wormhole stabilized. Mere moments later, a wheeled thing came out, moving a head-like thing around as if looking or searching.
And it started speaking English. "Greetings!"
"Tauri! Mica! Mica!" the guard yelled out, running for the old scholar. He was soon back with the pale man descended of the Tauri that stayed on Abydos.
"Greetings!"
"Greetings, Tauri-thing," Mica replied. "I am Mica, son of Jando, son of Daniel."
"Nice to be able to speak to you, sir. So this is Abydos? We are sending people through."
Mica nodded eagerly as men in military garb. It had changed since the last time. The Tauri were so inventive.
A woman stood up to him and saluted. "So everything here has been quiet since Ra was blown up?" she asked with a smile.
"Ra was a lax master, only visiting us every few decades. Apophis is much worse, sending his Jaffa every year to make us work in the mines," Mica said slowly, shaking his head. The mines were horrible.
"I thought Ra was last of the Goa'uld?" she said, causing a small panic to overtake her.
"It appears he lied, to control us. If he was the only god, then we could only worship him." Mica frowned at that. Why were the Tauri now mentioning this?
Colonel O'Neill nodded to him, picking up her headphone bug. "We have a bad contact. Possible incursion. We will dial back in an hour with more information." She nodded at the response, then the Stargate deactivated.
"I have so much to show the Tauri. My grandfather found a cave, proclaiming it was the biggest mistake he ever made."
O'Neill looked over at her comrades, then nodded. "Why don't you show us."
It was a day later back in Cheyenne mountain in a temporary conference room that Colonel Sammie O'Neill make her presentation.
"Danial Jackson found a room with thousands of Gate Addresses and postulated that if he could calculate the drift of stars, he could open gates across the galaxy." Colonel O'Neill was in her dress whites of the Atlantic Federation.
"So we don't have access to one more planet, we have access to hundreds of planets?" General Stafford could not hide his glee.
"And dozens of Goa'ulds with interstellar spaceships. Gravity and hyperspace technology that we haven't cracked." O'Neill looked cautious.
"But we are far more advanced now. I think I would like you to work up an operation plan to exploit the Stargate to scavenge resources and advanced technology. First thing I want to know is why those aliens are so interested in that dustball." Stafford smirked.
"Yes, sir." She snapped a salute and headed to her 'office.' It looked like this would be a far more permanent assignment, rather than a quick in and out for a month.
General Stafford picked up a wall phone. Good, they had started rehooking up connections. "Get me the Vice-minister of Technological Developments. Yes, I'll hold. Tell him its urgent."
The general moved to the side as soldiers from the Engineering Brigade started to set up shop. This whole base would have to be massively upgraded. Though not with huge war machines.
Slightly smaller ones that would fit through a twenty foot ring.
Only three months later, the Stargate again activated, though this time it was well expected. Out strode the Goa'uld Kabechet, a nervous looking human guarded by twenty Jaffa.
"No guards? I see we will have to put down another rebellion. Damn Jackson and his interference," the Goa'uld snarled. He ordered the Jaffa to scour the lands to find the insolent slaves.
What they found was a mine that had been cleared out, obviously by heavy machinery but no slaves. None at all.
And that did not make sense. The slaves had no place they could escape to, did they? They spent over a week, trying to track down the slaves or find out where they went.
Kabechet was not looking forward to telling Apophis that one of his minor mines of Naquadah had been cleared out completely.
He never saw the microdot camera watching him nor recording the particular symbols he used to traverse to Chulak.
A day later, the Stargate activated again and the hidden transmitters happily fed all of the information back to the Stargate Force headquarters on Earth.
Chulak was a beautiful planet, but the first place that the Atlantic Federation knew where its enemies resided and was the first cautious incursion of the Atlantic Federation's Stargate Force. Their commandos were led by the experienced veteran Colonel Sammie O'Neill. They immediately drifted into the woods, setting up temporary camouflaged tents and a surveillance post.
Sammie, personally, was treating the Goa'uld as if they could do anything that they could wanted. So they were almost silent under communication silence.
Captain Diana Hills saluted. "Ma'am? The VTOLs have reported back and there's a very low tech city just down the road. Don't these idiots know anything about operational security?"
"The Stargate being out here in the open? No, I don't think they realize how cumbersome it is. Sent out some spiders to listen in on the city."
Three hours later, they had little that they could decipher due to the culture and language.
Hills looked at her. "Are you going to bring him in?"
"I don't want to, but I don't think we really have a choice. Dial up Earth and ask to have Mr. Jackson sent through." Sammie had not wanted to bring the civilian from Abydos in, but he really was quite knowledgeable on Goa'uld customs and culture.
He was brought into the command tent when guards reported a Jaffa walking up to the perimeter of their hidden camp.
"Ho, the camp. I wish to speak to those that invade our lands," the sturdy man with the symbol of Apophis on his forehead.
"Drop the weapon and stand forward."
"I will not, but promise to only defend myself," he countered.
Sammie stepped out of the tent. "That will be enough. He's only one man. Come up, Jaffa."
He inclined his head slightly. "Whom are you people?"
"Visitors that are worried about the Goa'uld and what they would do if they discovered us. We have had limited contact in the recent past with your gods." Her sarcasm was understated.
"They will take you and your world, crush it beneath their feet and scatter your forces. They are unstoppable," he explained.
"Untrue. We have records that they were driven from our world, thousands of years ago. And our world is also far away by hyperspace."
"If that is true, do you believe that you will be capable of fighting them on their terms?" the Jaffa asked, hope leaking into his words.
"No. We'll fight them on our terms." The colonel's grin was vicious. "We don't do things half-assed."
"My father, who was killed when he was suspected of treachery most foul, once told me that I would know the truth of those that will depose the Goa'uld. You are one of those. I am Rya'c, son of Teal'c. Let me join you in the fight against the Goa'uld."
Mico Jackson frowned from behind the tent. This could either be their luckiest break or their worst disaster.
It had been a tense few months for the great Goa'uld Apophis. One of the major system lords that arose after the mysterious death of Ra, he and the other system lords had been waging a slow war of movement.
Then something had to start happening on Chulak. He personally suspected the accursed Tokra, damn their lost queen. But they had been very weak and circumspect, as they grew older. So this was unusual for their modus operandum.
He came by Stargate after many troops had signaled that the gateway was secured. Looking about the lush forest of one of his major agricultural worlds, he nodded as he saw that it was all good.
"My lord! I believe we are watched," his First Prime called out as the gate closed with a snap, the watery surface of the wormhole disappearing.
Apophis sneered, but activated his forcefield just on the off chance that this was an assassination attempt by one of the other System Lords or the Tokra. So when the thirty Mark 15 Claymores went off and shredded his Jaffa, he was stunned.
"All right, Benson. Take the shot," Sammie called out.
The linear cannons had been retrofitted to a smaller tracked vehicle. While Benson was a veteran of the Valentine War and a crack shot in a Linear Tank, this was not quite the same thing.
The single round thundered with a crack and the only thing that saved Apophis was that the faster you attacked it, the stronger his personal forcefield was. But even it had limits as the unit started smoking and overheating.
Reacting as quickly as he ever had, Apophis leaped at the chappai, hitting the buttons to activate the Stargate again. He would not know it, but that save his life, as Sammie was unwilling to hit their only way of getting home. She swore to herself that she was going to light a fire under R&D's asses to build a temporary replacement that Earth or Pax Atlantica could send.
Before her troops could even get within one hundred feet, Apophis was through the gate and to his stronghold.
"Damn it all to fuck. We should have had him," she shouted.
Apophis was already planning his return at the head of a thousand Jaffa. When he returned later then next day, though, all he found was an abandoned camp and the Stargate that had been dialed to many random addresses.
He would later wonder why anyone powerful enough to attack him with such weapons would bother to steal transport rings, an anti-gravity and hyper-drive generator from his Alkeesh that he kept here on this world.
Strange.
P5X-4Y3 was yet another fairly boring planet, but it had been discovered to have a Naquadah mine, so the Stargate Forces were being deployed. In force, so to speak.
Deep under the massively upgraded and expanded NORAD base, now renamed BULWARK 1, the Stargate rumbled to life as robotic arms of massive size readied large machines to deploy through the gate.
Inside the first machine, Captain Diana Hills was really wondering if this was a good idea. With a shriek of sparks, her modified Strike Dagger was shot through the wormhole head first. It flew over the Dial Address Device and then skidded to left. Dagger 2 skidded to the right. The two Daggers shifted their arms from above their heads as their hips flexed loose from the gate travel. Then the two units sat up like mighty giants slowly. Fifteen special forces came through the gate, wearing low light gear and light armor.
Colonel Sammie O'Neill made a couple hand gestures. It appears they had not been spotted yet. "Move out." Behind them, tubular hover trucks started to emerge from the Stargate.
They made fast time to the village that was being guarded by ten Jaffa. The Jaffa's first sign of trouble was when camouflaged soldiers appeared around their sentries, pointing very effective looking devices at them.
"You can die here or be our prisoners," the grim faced woman explained in a deadly voice.
"You expect us to just stay here for the great god Svarog to release us?" The leader of the Jaffa looked very scared and upset.
Rya'c shook his head. "Perhaps the villagers will free you so that you may attempt to escape through the Stargate.
Their dubious look showed their disbelief that they would be released.
"Guess you should have treated them better at one point." Mica was dressed like the rest of the soldiers, but only had a single weapon.
"Situation is secure. Send the transports through. Move the prisoners into the some barracks so they don't see more than they already have." Sammie's voice was crisp and clear.
The leader of the enemy Jaffa smiled as he was led away. This may not have been the attack that Lord Svarog was expecting, but these insolent humans would learn a hard lesson and then suffer on his prison planets.
That was when the phased array radar picked up three bogeys dropping from orbit.
Diana whistled at that. Nice speeds. "SGF1, inbound bogies five minutes out from orbit," she informed her commander over the radio link even as the remote dialer (nothing more than a robot that sat on the Dial Address Device) dialed back to Earth. "Requesting the Impulse Engine Striker for anti-fighter interdiction. We've got Goa'uld fighters incoming."
"Incoming, retreat to the tree line. Drop flares and smoke." Sammie led them quickly to the trees as she followed her own orders. The rustic village was quickly shrouded in smoke.
The Jaffa pilots were surprised at the response, though the lurid red symbols of enemies on the ground beckoned to them. They were lining up on tubular hover vehicles on the road when they were attacked.
Green beams flashed out from near the Stargate, burning the first Death Glider from the air. Who ever was down there was dangerous and very armed. But ground support of this magnitude had not been expected.
"Ambush! Jaffa to the south!" Lt. Mitchs called out, ducking behind trees.
The rest of SGF1 and SGF5 laid down a withering fire of P155 armor piercing slugs into the hapless Jaffa while ducking behind whatever cover had been available.
"Lord Svarog, there appear to be heavy reinforcements. This does not appear to be any Jaffa. The weapons are unfamiliar, but very effective."
That was when Dagger-1 rocketed upwards, the robotic waldo having made record time traversing the Stargate and attaching the Striker to her back. She couldn't wait for the gate-specific GAT-X Raider II that was already in design.
The two remaining Death Gliders were shocked at the sight of the huge, human-like war machine that started firing its beam rifle. "By Ra! What is that thing?"
That was the last thing he ever said as Diana unlimbered her beam saber cut the Glider in half from nose to stern.
"A metal giant that flies! Why won't it die!" the last pilot screamed, even as his plasma bolts where taken on the Dagger's shield.
Three more beams (from below and in front) took out the last Death Glider.
Svarog fumed in the palatial comfort of his Ha'tak. "Bring us in and destroy the interlopers. Launch all remaining gliders!"
"As you order, my lord!" his First Prime responded.
More Death Gliders were launched even as the huge pyramid broke orbit over the horizon. They started firing at long range as the two mobilesuits starting firing back.
O'Neill huffed and puffed. This was looking like a totally messed up situation. She tapped her earbud. "SGF1 requesting heavy fire support. Shit, that's a mothership. Requesting nuclear weapons."
"This is General Stafford, request granted. Clear the gate entrance," her radio squawked.
Through the still open Stargate, a mass of metal armatures slid, almost twenty feet long. It split along its center and grabbed the Stargate with robotic claws. It suddenly spun the Stargate around like the barrel of a weapon. Out of the stargate roared heavy ballistic missiles in rapid fire.
The crew of the Ha'tak were well trained (for Jaffa) and saw the missiles the moment they appeared. Even so, they only managed to shoot down six of the twenty missiles as they hove over low orbit. Heavy nuclear bombs exploded, rocking the ship and lighting up the air.
"Retreat for now." Svarog frowned. He knew of no one that used the Stargate in such a manner. How very strange.
A second phalanx of missile rocketed out, evading almost all the frantic counter-fire from the mothership. Overloaded shields gave out as the last missiles struck with Naqdiah enhanced power. Even so, the massive ship was not fully disabled even under that onslaught.
"Dagger-1 to BULWARK 1. Shields are down," Diana crowed, even as her beam rifle speared another Death Glider.
"Deploying Heavy Gottfrieds 1 and 2," the radio squawked back.
Deadly green energy beams lashed out through the Stargate to burn into the side of the listing Hatak. Sammie stopped, narrowing her eyes. "That's mothership is actually going down about thirty clicks away."
That was what General Stafford was considering. "Immediately counter-attack. Reinforcements will be deployed ASAP."
"You heard the old man," Sammie shouted. "Form up and then flank these idiots. Diana, take out those fighters and cover the Stargate until the reinforcements are deployed."
"Old lady doesn't ask for much. This really sucks," the captain complained. The Strike Dagger lifted its shield to block a plasma bolt, deflecting the shots as it rocketed sideways. It was when it raised its rifle that something went wrong and the arm failed to lift above the shoulder. "Crap. The linkage has slipped and my weapon arm is not working. I told them we should have done more thorough testing."
Through the Stargate rocketed two more mobilesuits that quickly stood up, laying down their own fire into the air. Robotic loaders came through, attaching striker packs for flight. Then linear mini-tanks came through the gate, followed by about fifty troops.
They all spread out and started moving to the crashed spaceship in the distance.
In the crashed Ha'tak, Svarog's form was dragged from the control room by his First Prime. The crazy angles and smoke made it seem like a hell on Earth. The loyal warrior took the dead form of his God to the secret compartment where a sarcophagus still stood. He slid the broken form in there and waited. His god would soon awaken.
Outside, the Stargate Forces were pressing on very quickly, overruning the Jaffa who were just not used to such fighting. The small squad tactic was quite disorienting as the camouflaged soldiers of the Atlantic Federation moved with skill and deadly precision, cutting the Jaffa warriors from their support.
Up above, another Death Glider exploded, followed shortly by a Strike Dagger that failed to block an attack. Diana grinned as she suddenly rocketed straight up, firing down with her lamed weapon-arm and hitting the last enemy fighter, sending it down trailing smoke before it plowed into the dirt.
The three remaining Strike Dagger immediately started moving towards the down mothership at ground-eating speeds. That totally shattered whatever morale the Jaffa had before. They faced not mortals, but inhuman monsters that could summon the very demons of the hells to aid them.
Rya'c saw that in their movement, yelling out for them to surrender. "Lay down your arms and you will be spared! Resist and we will slay all of you."
Sammie gave him a frown, but let it go. She turned to see the Jaffa throwing down their staves left and right. "SG5, gather the prisoners to be moved to Pax Atlantica. The rest of you, secure that mothership. Move it! Move it!" she yelled, leading the rest of the troops towards the still distant ship.
Svarog awoke feeling the disorientation of the healing and with a burning desire to flay the flesh off his foes. Smoke filled his lungs as he opened the sarcophagus opened. Coughing, he desired nothing more to find one of the invaders.
Out in the hallways, he found dead Jaffa cooling in the pools of their tacky blood. He stalked like a tiger on the hunt. Soon he found the first soldier, wearing a uniform that he found very utilitarian. The weapons were primitive slug throwers instead of proper plasma weapons.
Though they must have some advanced weapons, as they managed to defeat his Ha'tak. Those great giant robots would be terrifying against his enemies. But first, escape.
"This is amazing. I had no idea the Tauri had advanced so much in only two generations," Mica said as he followed Sammie O'Niel around the corner. Two soldiers were following the colonel with weapons at the ready.
"Well, we are getting a big leg up thanks to some of the things we found. Howards, hows the AICM working at decoding things?" she called out.
A soldier nodded at the box he had plugged in. "He's working as fast as he can, but he's limited being man-portable." The Artificial Intelligence Combat Module was developed for battlefield extractions and a true workhorse super-computer. It was only forty pounds of dead weight.
"Good work. Let him know, too. We need to be evacuated in another two days. This day's been too long already," Sammie replied.
"Yes, sir!"
Rya'c nodded. "So these 'compooters' are of your own design? And are smart enough to be considered alive?"
"Sentient, yes. We try to treat them right, because we are treading murky waters ethically," Sammie replied.
Svarog frowned as he went over what he'd heard. Tauri? Here on this planet and with such technologies? Where had they stolen their original technology? None of the other space faring races used such devices.
He disappeared deeper into the shattered mothership. He would hide in areas that no humans would dare, where the radiation was lethal. The Goa'uld would not care if he had to replace the human he was wearing.