Spearhead: Falling Back

by Darksider

Part 2 in the Spearhead Trilogy

TITLE: Spearhead: Falling Back
AUTHOR: Andrew Seivewright
EMAIL: a.seivewright@btinternet.com
CATEGORY: action/adventure, future
SPOILERS: Spearhead: Turning The Tide
SEASON / SEQUEL: Six months after Spearhead: Turning The Tide
RATING: PG
CONTENT WARNINGS: R - the occasional harsh word or two.
SUMMARY: The continuing destruction of the Goa'uld, cause the remaining System Lords to unite under the banner of Apophis against General O'Neill and Spearhead....
STATUS: Complete
ARCHIVE: Heliopolis
DISCLAIMER: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. We have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the authors. Not to be archived without permission of the authors.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Falling Back, part 2 of the 'Spearhead Trilogy', builds upon the events that were thrown at you in Turning The Tide. This story will feature a bit more on Apophis and the Goa'uld plans. Thanks to Terry for letting me know that I've been handing out the wrong email address. You go Girl!

Cast

Earth

General Stuart Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, US Army
Lieutenant General Hammond CO of the SGC, US Air Force
Group Captain Eric Dunsfield CO of 5 Squadron, Royal Air Force
Squadron Leader Paul Mallory 5 Squadron, Royal Air Force
Flying Office Tony Wilkins 5 Squadron, Royal Air Force

Spearhead

Brigadier General O'Neill CO of Spearhead
Colonel Carter 2IC
Dr Daniel Jackson
Teal'c
Master Sgt Booth
Sgt Jenkins

Colonel Mike Colwell CO of SG-Delta
Major Julio Ortiz 2IC
Captain Carl Grayson 1st Platoon

Colonel Paul Clarke CO of SG-Gamma
Major Cathy Watson 2IC
Petty Officer Frank Warren 4th Platoon
Captain Tony Smith (British SAS) 4th Platoon
Corporal Jimmy Jones (British SAS) 4th Platoon

Tok'ra

General Carter / Selmak
Toran / Rath
Serena / Emmis

Goa'uld

Apophis Supreme System Lord of the Goa'uld
Bast Major System Lord
Ak'em Minor System Lord
Apis Minor System Lord
Hek'at Apophis' First Prime

Spearhead: Falling Back

Chapter 1
Same Shit, Different Day.

"Incoming traveler!"

SHA-CHUNK!!

FFWOOSH!!

General O'Neill stepped into the Command Center in time to see the Stargate activate on the wall screen monitor. "Is it SG-Delta?"

Sgt Jenkins pressed a few buttons on the keyboard in front of him. "Receiving a signal...it's Delta, sir. They're making an unopposed transit."

O'Neill nodded to himself in satisfaction. "Open the Iris." He ordered.

A lot of new measures had been instigated at Spearhead, one of these being the different GDO codes the troops could send. One code would signal that everything was peaceful on their side of the wormhole, one code would mean that they were taking fire and so on. It gave everyone at the Command Center more information so as to react better to the status of incoming travelers.

The Command Center was situated in the heart of the Spearhead compound, half a mile from the Stargate itself. A separate embarkation room, medical unit and 'Gate defense facility had been constructed around the native Stargate and DHD, allowing for rapid handling of incoming troops regardless of the 'Gate's distance from Spearhead. Major Carter and a team of techs had even fitted an Iris to the Stargate itself, like the one on Earth. The Iris was also one of the new Mk2 versions she had created which bent inwards on command, positioning itself through the event horizon of the 'Gate, allowing them to prevent a wormhole from forming. The Gate Facility was connected electronically to the Command Center and through the use of video cameras and wall display's, it was the next best thing to being there.

O'Neill watched as Colonel Colwell stepped out of the 'Gate and down the ramp, followed by a stream of soldiers who looked batter and exhausted but carried themselves proudly. Jack put a headset on and pressed a switch on the Sgt's console. "Colonel Colwell, status?"

The Colonel looked up at the wall-screen the displayed the General's face and gave a casual salute. "Kicked ass and took names, sir."

"Debrief in thirty." The General replied.

Colwell nodded. "Aye, sir." Colwell turned to his men who were still filtering through the event horizon. "Alright people, fall out. Platoon leaders, I want your initial reports in ten. Major Ortiz..."

A short but heavily built man stepped up next to Colwell. "Yes, sir?"

"Make sure our wounded are tended to and the weapons and equipment we secured gets checked by the engineers...I don't want to have brought back any bombs or booby traps...understand?"

Ortiz saluted. "Yes, sir."

* * * * * * * * * *

Twenty-five minutes later, Colonel Colwell was sat in the briefing room scribbling notes on a pad as General O'Neill strode in, Major Carter and Dr Jackson trailing in his wake.

Colwell made to stand to attention but O'Neill just waved him down. "At ease, Colonel. Nobody would ever get anything done if they had to stand to every time I happened to stroll into a room." O'Neill, Carter and Jackson sat down at the table and as Jack made himself comfortable, he gestured to the Colonel. "Okay, Mike...from the top then...."

"Okay, we stepped out of the 'Gate and fanned out, securing the perimeter unopposed. The UAV showed we were about a mile from the Goa'uld depot and we didn't encounter any patrols until about a quarter of a mile from the depot itself. We came across a twelve Jaffa patrol, seemed they were heading towards the 'Gate. They didn't look as if they were expecting anyone. We had no real problem taking them out but something was strange though, we didn't recognize the Jaffa. At least not from anything you've ever briefed us about."

O'Neill looked at Carter and then raised an eyebrow at Daniel. Daniel took the cue. "Colonel, can you describe what they looked like?"

Colwell nodded. "They looked like cats, Dr Jackson. Big, golden, catheads. We took pictures." He pressed a button on a small control panel set into the table in front of him and the viewscreen opposite winked into life, displaying pictures of dead Jaffa in question.

"Waddya think, Daniel?" O'Neill asked.

Daniel squinted in that way only Daniel can. "My first guess would be that this belong to Bast. An Egyptian Queen who was represented by a cat. I'd have to get Teal'c to back me up on that but it seems like the logical choice to me."

O'Neill nodded. "Okay, we'll get back to that later. Continue, Colonel."

"Once we took out the patrol, we double timed it to the depot. We split into two groups as planned and flanked the place from two sides. We didn't penetrate very far into the base, the Jaffa had dug in well, two levels down, so we kept them pinned down there while we raided the upper levels. After about twenty minutes, we had secured everything not nailed down and began to pull back. Some of my combat engineers set C4 and claymore booby traps on the way out to slow down any pursuit. We pulled back to the 'Gate unopposed. No Gliders or Bombers, no nothing. We caught 'em with their pants down. We killed upwards of sixty or seventy Jaffa. Even so, I lost seven men, and got twelve wounded."

Everyone fell quiet at the mention of casualties. Ever since beginning Spearhead, six months ago, the soldiers of Earth had inflicted serious blows to the Goa'uld forces, as well as killing three major System Lords and numerous minor ones. The price paid for this however has been over one hundred dead men and women and twice that wounded. Fifty of them wounded so badly they have been removed from active duty permanently. This fearful toll has been a hard cross for O'Neill to bear for he was the one who sent them on these missions and was then unable to join them on the frontline. His place was now, behind a desk. How did you do it, Hammond?

Their ranks had, however, swelled from a constant influx of new recruits from Earth. The President, amazingly enough, was seeing this through, regardless of the price being paid. Somehow, he had managed to unite the Senate Oversight Committee on the issue of Spearhead and the necessity of the war. Off-world casualties were being written off as training accidents and casualties in combat situations on and around the Earth. SG-Alpha and -Beta were currently on the Earthside rotation. They were recouping their losses from their recent battles. SG-Delta and -Gamma were currently working from Spearhead.

O'Neill stirred from his musings. "Okay Colonel, Delta's on 48 hour stand-down. Hit the 'Beach', relax, do whatever you want, comprende?

Colwell smiled to himself as he rose from his chair. The 'Beach' consisted of an actual, sandy beach three miles from the base that was quite popular with the troops who wanted to sun bathe or play beach games but for those who wanted to swim and surf, it was a different matter entirely. The sea looked like your average blue/green waters with a wave action just ripe for surfing. The only problem was that the sea was acidic. Nothing severely dangerous, just acid enough, that if you were to take a quick dip, you would end up with the equivalent of heavy sunburn. "Thanks, General. Think I'll go scuba diving."

Jack snorted in amusement. "Wear a wet suit. A really thick wet suit."

After Colonel Colwell left, Jack turned to face his two friends. "Well guys, seems there's a new player in town."

Carter nodded. "We have been working our way through the Goa'uld at quite a rate. It's only natural that previously unseen System Lords would rise up to fill the gaps we've created."

"If this Goa'uld does represent Bast, we could be in trouble." Daniel interjected. "Bast was known for being able to turn her defeats into ultimate victory. The 'Feline Goddess' always managed to land on her feet, so to speak."

"Cute." Jack commented. "Carter, how are the British fitting in with SG-Gamma?"

"Just fine, sir." She replied. "The SAS and SBS guys are right at home. In fact, it came up in discussion that we could use some of their infiltration expertise and use them in leading our guys in small squad actions against the Goa'uld. Assassinations, sabotage, kidnapping...what do you think?"

"Could work. I like the assassination thing by the way." He said, wryly. "Since when did you get so blood thirsty?"

Sam held her hands up. "Hey, it wasn't my idea. Seems these British types don't mind getting their hands a little dirty."

Jack nodded. "They are good at what they do. Anyhow, it's something to build on." He looked at his watch. "SG-8 should be arriving from Earth in an hour and I've a mission briefing to put together."

Daniel looked up from the folder he was reading. "P39-771?"

O'Neill nodded. "The one and only. I tell ya, Carter, no offense to your old man and all but the Tok'ra are really bugging me. When I give someone a message, I like to put a bit of information in so they know what I'm talking about but no, they've gotta go all cryptic on us. 'Go to this address. You might find it of interest.' and then seven symbols. What kind of message is that?"

Daniel shrugged. "Seems straightforward enough to me."

"Yeah, well it smells like a trap to me." He replied heatedly.

"Easy big fella..." Sam said, getting the reaction she'd hoped for as the Colonel's anger evaporated into an amused grin.

"Well, Major Wallis is going to take some heavy firepower with him when he goes to P39-771. Carter, find Teal'c and tell him to get his big gun out. He's joining SG-8 for this one."

Carter looked at Jack and Daniel. "Where is Teal'c, anyway?"

Daniel scratched the back of his head. "He's got a class of new troops in the gym. They're going over Jaffa combat techniques."

Jack grinned. "Did ya hear about Teal'c and Master Sergeant Booth?"

Daniel shook his head.

Jack's grin grew wider. "He beat Teal'c in hand to hand combat yesterday."

"Not surprising." Daniel replied. "He's about as solid as Teal'c. How's the big guy handling it?"

Carter rose from her chair as she answered. "He's been pretty good about it. Jaffa don't cultivate much ego, apparently. Either way, he and the Master Sergeant have become firm friends. They seem to delight on using Jaffa techniques on the new arrivals." She looked at the Colonel. "I'll go and round up Teal'c, sir, and then go look at the stuff -Delta brought back."

Jack nodded. "Dismissed."

Sam walked out leaving Jack and Daniel alone. They sat in a comfortable silence while they sipped their coffee. After a few minutes, Daniel spoke up.

"Jack, what's been happening between you and Sam, lately?"

"Whaddya mean?" Jack asked.

"Well, SG-1 has been off frontline service as a unit for six months now and you two are still hiding behind your uniforms...and don't pretend to not know what I'm talking about."

Jack stared into his coffee. "Daniel...I think whatever we might have between us is dead in the water." He took a sip of coffee and then put his cup down in front of him. He faced Daniel directly. "Danny, me and Carter...we're Air Force to the core....becoming involved would require one of us to resign our commission and that is never going to happen. Carter's a Colonel now. Me, I'm a General. It's taken me a while to get used to the idea but while I'll always be the Jack you know and love, I'm also General O'Neill, commander of Spearhead. That means making the hard decisions...the same sort of decisions that Hammond made back when I was still a Colonel."

He looked distant. "I never realized what George had to deal with until now."

Daniel looked down. "You're a great General, Jack. Everybody here respects you and trusts the decisions you make, even if they don't know the full reasons behind them."

Jack gave a sad smile. "That's what soldiers are meant to do..."

Daniel shook his head forcefully. "No Jack. It might be what's required of them but I also know, for certain, that they will charge into the fires of Hell itself if you ask them to, regardless of rank or duty."

O'Neill seemed to become more like his old self again when Daniel finished. "We've to Hell before, Danny, remember? It wasn't so bad as they make out."

Daniel snorted. "Yeah. Sure. Whatever."

He rose from his chair, tucking his folders under one arm and hold his oversized mug of coffee with the other. "I going to go and look up what I can on Bast and see if I can get Teal'c's input as well."

O'Neill stood up as well. "Go one further will you. Prepare a briefing for section heads and Assault team leaders. See if you can get some Intel from the Tok'ra, as well. Maybe they've run into Bast before."

Daniel nodded. "Sure...General."

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

40,000 light years away, on the Goa'uld planet of Sohag, Apophis stood at the window of his fortress, looking down on the sprawling city beneath him. Transports, Bombers and Gliders littered the skies like flocks of birds. Sohag was Apophis' current base of operations. Normally, it would be quite sedate; handling the probing attacks of other System Lords did not require much effort. However, the addition of O'Neill and his Spearhead troops, attacking every Goa'uld base they come across was severely disrupting his defenses. The only good thing about the Tau'ri attacks is that they are causing the other System Lord's as much trouble as they are causing me.

That thought was worth about five seconds worth of amusement before the anger over the attacks began to consume him again. He swung away from the window and turned towards the figure stood before his throne. "How much damage was done, Bast?"

A tall, elegant woman, wearing a simple white robe and adorned with a simple gold headdress and ribbon device, shrugged eloquently. "My Jaffa were reduced by at least half. The Tau'ri did not get close to your research labs. My Jaffa repelled them."

He did not miss her veiled reference to her troops defending his facility. "Fear not, I will replace your lost Jaffa." He moved to his throne and sat down. "I'm more interested to learn how the managed to attack while our Motherships were in transit elsewhere. Our ships had not moved for months and then, literally hours after they had left, the Tau'ri attack. The timing is too much for a coincidence."

Bast moved forward so smoothly she seemed to glide on a cushion of air. "It was no coincidence, my Lord. They were informed by a Tok'ra spy in my midst."

Apophis' eyes flashed in anger. "You have the gall to stand calmly before and tell me that it is your fault I have suffered this embarrassment!"

Bast continued to look unrepentant. "Would you rather I try to cover up my mistakes? Besides, I have a plan with which to use this spy for our advantage."

"HE STILL LIVES?" He thundered.

Bast nodded. "Yes. And he will continue to do so for a while longer. Would you like to hear my plan?"

Apophis was sorely tempted to blast her across the room with his ribbon device but since rallying many of the System Lords behind him, he had found an almost equal in Bast. Out of all of them, she alone had the brains, beauty and will, that allowed her to stand next to Apophis, becoming the power beside the throne. He reminded himself again that while she could be frustratingly unmoved by threats, she was also worth listening to. "Proceed." He said, solemnly.

She gave small, impish, smile that belied her brutal nature. "I will 'let' the Tok'ra spy find out about a storage facility, one that is well known to them so as not to arouse suspicions. I have a place in mind, one belonging to Apis that will be ideal. Anyway, the spy will learn that it's Jaffa complement has been reduced somewhat to bolster defenses on our frontlines elsewhere. Again, this is a somewhat common occurrence lately, for we are spread rather thinly at the moment." She commented offhand.

This was a jab at him, regarding another of their disagreements, Apophis thought. She proposed to fall back, 'strengthening' our lines of defense while giving up territory freely. Absurd. They would continue to defend what they had to the death, rather than retreat. "So you are placing a tempting target before them. Continue..." He ordered.

"When the Tau'ri send in their forces, they will find that the Jaffa complement has not been reduced but has, in fact, been tripled." She concluded, allowing Apophis to reach the obvious conclusion while still feeding his superiority. She was not disappointed by his response.

Apophis' eyes flashed again. "Crushing the Tau'ri completely." He said in satisfaction.

"Yes, my Lord." Bast bowed her head. "There is one additional, almost minor, element to the plan, Lord Apophis..."

He had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. It's always wheels within wheels with this one. "What is this 'minor element' then, Bast?"

She told him and Apophis couldn't help himself. He laughed with evil delight. "Bast, my dear...if this plan works, you shall have but to ask your desire and I will ensure that you receive it."

He laughed once more. "Oh O'Neill...soon, we shall meet and I will enjoy watching you writhe in pain as your insides are removed and placed into jars which I will keep by my throne, as a warning to those who would attack me." He looked towards the door of this throne room. "Hek'at!"

Almost instantly, the doors swung open and a literal giant of a man in gold armor and wearing the gold mark of First Prime, strode into the throne room and stood beside Bast. "My Lord." He intoned.

Apophis gestured to Bast. "Prepare your men, Hek'at. You will go with your men, when and where, Bast tells you to. You will follow her orders as if they were my own. Understood?"

"Yes, Lord Apophis."

Apophis looked to Bast. "Go then. Lure the Tau'ri in and crush them."

"Yes, Lord Apophis."

The elegant Queen and the massive First Prime both bowed and then walked out of the throne room, leaving Apophis with visions of victory.

Chapter 2
Pass Go, Collect 200

In the cavernous Assault Team briefing hall, Teal'c and SG-8 sat in the front row of seats. O'Neill stood in front of them, his hands in his BDU pockets. "Well folks, what we have here is a plum assignment, courtesy of the Tok'ra."

Major Wallis and his men stirred slightly. O'Neill thought he saw Teal'c's eyebrow twitch.

He ploughed on. "Two days ago, SG-15 went on a supply run to the latest Tok'ra base of operations. While there, they were given a message. 'Go to this address. You might find it of interest.', followed by seven symbols. The computer's designated the planet, P39-771."

Captain Headly, the Major's 2IC, couldn't keep quiet. "That's it?"

O'Neill nodded. "Since they didn't provide us with additional information, I'm going to assume there is nothing overtly dangerous at that 'Gate address. You will, however, be loaded for bear. Full combat rigs for everyone. Teal'c, you're to pull your cannon from the armory and go with them. Go to P39-771 and look around. Stay out of contact with anybody you find, be it Goa'uld or natives and then report back here. Zero residual presence. If it isn't a trap and something important is there, I don't want whatever it is tipped off that we've been snooping around. Understood?"

They all nodded. O'Neill scanned each of their faces. "Then what are you sitting there for? You've got a mission to complete. Dismissed."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Major Wallis moved quickly from the Stargate after he stepped out of the event horizon. He knelt next to the DHD, brought his weapon up and began to scan the surrounding area. A thick tree line began less than fifty meters from the 'Gate. The rest of his team followed quickly and automatically spread out in a circular formation, seeking any available cover.

Teal'c moved in behind Major Wallis, his oversized cannon hung heavily from his shoulder, yet he appeared not to notice it's weight at all, the cannon pointing at the forest as if Jaffa were about to appear at any second. The 'Gate shut off behind him, leaving them in silence.

Major Wallis could see no sign of life. "Clear."

"Clear." Teal'c agreed. A chorus of 'clears' followed from the rest of SG-8. Wallis stood up and turned to his men. "Headly, take point, standard 'Gate sweep pattern out to five miles. There's something on this planet and I want it found, understood?" Captain Headly and everyone else nodded. They formed up in single file and followed Headly into the tree line.

After walking for over an hour, they began to hear a familiar sound far off but closing rapidly. "Death Glider!" Major Wallis hissed and they all dived behind whatever cover they could find.

They looked up to see if they could spot the Glider but the forest was thick and formed an effective canopy against the sky. Teal'c moved next to the Major. "The forest prevents us from seeing the Glider. The reverse is also true, the Glider cannot see us." He inclined his head, listening to the sound of the Glider fade. "It appeared to come a good deal west of the Stargate and is heading north. It didn't approach our position or deviate from its course at all so I do not believe it was looking for us."

Wallis nodded. "Okay, let's bear west some and see if we can find wherever that Glider was heading."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Daniel stood around the 'Gate room after watching SG-8 depart Spearhead on their recon mission to P39-771. He shuffled round with his hands in his pockets, admiring the Embarkation facility constructed around the native Stargate on this world. The room looked remarkable like the 'Gate room back on Earth at the SGC except for the Stargate was still embedded within its stone base and a DHD sat in front of it. Daniel stepped over a thick trunk of cables that ran from the DHD and into the opposite wall. He smiled as he recalled the two days that Samantha had spent hooking up the DHD to the base computers. One could still use the DHD as normal but, ironically enough, everyone preferred the base computer to run things.

Daniel's musings were interrupted by a voice over the intercom. "Dr Jackson. Incoming wormhole."

He nodded, more to himself than to those watching way back in the command center. Right on time.

The 'Gate exploded into life and then retreated into its pool-like state. Seconds later, three figures stepped out of the wormhole and walked down towards Daniel.

"Hello General Carter...Selmak." He greeted.

Carter smiled and his eyes flashed as Selmak came to the fore. "Greetings Dr Jackson. I don't believe you've met my companions, Rath and Emmis."

Daniel turned to the other man and woman and smiled. "Welcome to Spearhead. If you'd care to join me, I have a buggy that will get us to the base much faster than walking."

Carter came to the fore, once again. "Lead on, Daniel. We've probably been spoilt by ring travel anyway."

15 minutes later, they were all sat in the briefing room inside the Spearhead complex. "I'm sorry the General and Sam couldn't be here but they're off-world at the minute playing diplomats with one of our allies." Daniel grinned wryly. "They insist on dealing with Jack since he made such a big impression on them last time." As Carter shook his head in amusement, Daniel opened his folder and activated the wall screen. It showed a picture of the cat-headed Jaffa that SG-Delta encountered on their last mission.

"On P5X-143, we found a Goa'uld depot. We sent in SG-Delta to destroy the place and for the most part, they were successful." He looked up at the wall screen. "They encountered Jaffa wearing that cat-like body armor. We've never run into them before. My guess was that they belong to the Goa'uld representation of Bast. I was hoping you could provide us with any intelligence the Tok'ra might have."

Carter nodded. "Well you're right, Daniel. It is Bast your dealing with now, she is one pain in the nik'ta and that's only half of your problems. We've noticed that since Spearhead's been operating, internecine warfare between the System Lords has dropped off at a steady rate. We've discovered that, apart from a fair number of die-hards, most of the System Lords have allied themselves under the banner of Apophis."

Daniel squinted in consternation. "That can't be good."

The male Tok'ra, Rath, spoke up. "Ahh, that would be the famous human capacity for understatement."

Daniel looked at Carter and raised an eyebrow at such un-Tok'ra sarcasm. Carter shrugged in response. Rath carried on, oblivious to the byplay. "What you and the rest of Spearhead have managed to accomplish is negate the only good thing you ever did which was to kill Ra."

He leaned forward with a quiet intensity. "When you killed Ra, you created a power vacuum in which every System Lord fought over the scraps of Ra's empire. This worked to our advantage greatly. Our spies had even greater access to information in all the chaos. Since then, you have stirred that chaos so much that now, even we have trouble attaining our goals." Rath paused and took a breath realizing he was coming close to insulting his hosts.

Emmis, the Tok'ra female beside him smiled and leaned forward. "What my colleague is trying to say, in his roundabout way, is that the System Lords are united and this is the greatest threat we have faced since Ra himself."

Carter spoke. "The Tok'ra Council feels that we need to work together a lot more than we have been doing, it is because of this that they have agreed to a proposal the General Hammond put forward several months ago. Rath and Emmis are to be stationed here at Spearhead as Tok'ra liaisons."

Emmis gave a disarming smile. "Hopefully, relations and understanding will improve to a better level than they are currently at."

Daniel almost snorted at that. Fat chance with General Jack around. "Hopefully." He replied.

Carter was having trouble stifling his laughter after reading Daniel's expression which clearly gave away his true thoughts on the matter. "Anyway, Daniel, we can't tell you much on Bast, we only know what the other Goa'uld think and it's high on angry rhetoric and low on hard facts. We do have information on a possible target for your Assault teams. A slave world belonging to Apis. Apparently its defenses have been reduced and it's begging to be hit. Your window of opportunity is small but these things always are. Rath and Emmis will provide you with the details. I have to get back."

Rising from the table, Daniel shook Carter's hand. "There should be a buggy and a Private waiting outside to take you back to the 'Gate."

Carter smiled briefly. "Watch yourselves out there, Daniel. Things just became a lot more dangerous."

Daniel nodded. "We will, General."

Carter inclined his head at Rath and Emmis in farewell and then left them alone in the briefing room.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

SG-8 was gradually making their way through the forest on P39-771. Their trek had been going slowly, for fear of running headfirst into a trap, but after almost two hours, Captain Headly brought them to a halt. Major Wallis and Teal'c moved up the line to find out what they had found.

Captain Headly was stood behind a tree, right on the edge of a cliff. As Wallis and Teal'c crawled toward the edge and looked over, Wallis whistled in wonder. On the plains below stood a medium sized pyramid. Not a landing pad for the big class of Goa'uld motherships but of the smaller kind. The pyramid, however, stood bare. In front of the pyramid, however, were a bunch of Gliders, Cargo Transports and Bombers, not counting a large number of Jaffa milling around.

Major Wallis tore his eyes away from the spectacular view to pull a pair of binoculars from his pack. As he was doing so, he looked up at Teal'c. "What is this place? A parking lot?"

Teal'c frowned slightly at the human's unlikely comparison although the resemblance did strike him now that the comparison had been made. "It is in fact a staging post for a Hat'ak Class mothership." He responded. "The craft you see before you are the planet based defenses."

Captain Headly had already pulled his binoculars and was now taking a close look at the array of ships. He also took a good look at the Jaffa. "I can only count around fifty or so Jaffa. They're not Apophis's boys either." He observed.

Both Major Wallis and Teal'c had their binoculars out at this point and were looking down below them. "They look familiar..." Wallis murmured, trying to remember his monthly intelligence briefings.

Teal'c wore a bemused expression. "They belong to Ak'em, a Minor System Lord who I have encountered several times as First Prime and as a member of SG-1."

Wallis turned at the amusement he heard in Teal'c's voice. "What's so funny?"

Teal'c spoke without lowering his binoculars. "Ak'em is a minor System Lord who has enough resources to keep him in power but little else. His Jaffa are of low quality as well, fit only for guarding slaves. He has always been one to hide behind a more powerful System Lord."

Major Wallis looked thoughtful. "If he's as weak as you say, this base is a prime target for an attack. Even better than that Goa'uld fortress -Delta took out last month."

"Major, we got a patrol heading in this direction." One of his men announced.

Wallis saw the patrol and came to a decision. "Alright, we found what we came he for...let's double time it back to the Stargate. The General is going to want to know about this place. Move out."

They withdrew from the edge of the cliff and headed back towards the Stargate at a fast pace. They dialed home and disappeared through the event horizon leaving the Goa'uld none the wiser of their visit. When they returned, they reasoned, the Goa'uld would definitely know they'd been here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

On the Goa'uld slave world belonging to Apis, Apophis' First Prime, Hek'at strode the corridors of the slave complex. Towering over the bull-headed Jaffa guarding the complex, Hek'at made his way to the throne room. As Hek'at turned the final corner, he came face to face with two Jaffa guarding the closed door to the throne room. Walking up to the door, the Jaffa made no move to open the door.

Hek'at's expression remained the same but inside he seethed. Apis is expecting me. He knows who I am and is playing power games.

Although Hek'at is only a First Prime, essentially a high-ranking Jaffa, he is First Prime to Apophis, Supreme System Lord. This still puts him below all Major System Lords but on an almost-equal level with the Minor ones. Of which, Apis is most definitely a Minor System Lord.

Hek'at strode up to the door, fully intending to open it himself when one of the Jaffa guarding the door, stepped in front of him, blocking the way.

Hek'at smiled internally. Brave but stupid.

The guard spoke. "The Lord Apis is not to be disturbed."

Looking down on the guard, he remained silent.

The guard seemed to falter when no response was forthcoming. "The Lord Apis left strict instructions."

Hek'at was on the verge of removing the Jaffa from his path with violence when the doors swung open suddenly. A voice rang out from inside. "Please enter, First Prime."

The guard stepped back, beside the door and Hek'at strode into the throne room. "Apis, Lord Apophis sends his greetings."

Apis sat back in his throne, his hands steeped together in contemplation. "As well as two hundred of his best Jaffa."

Hek'at inclined his head slightly. "Without which you would not survive the Tau'ri attack."

"An attack, I might add, which Apophis has precipitated by feeding them information on my defenses." Apis replied hotly.

"Defenses, Apis, which have now been reinforced. Defenses which will crush the Tau'ri attack." The First Prime responded without emotion.

Apis rose from his throne smoothly, his eyes flashing. "Yes, the first attack. And when Apophis recalls his Jaffa and the Tau'ri attack again...what then?"

Hek'at smiled slightly. "Then you will die for your Lord Apophis, not doubt extracting a blood price from the Tau'ri as you do so." Hek'at 1, Apis 0. Privately, he thought of Apis's Jaffa doing anything more than dying an optimistic assessment.

Apis opened his mouth to respond to that but held back. Insulting Apophis is a step beyond fencing with his First Prime. A lethal step. He instead turned and sat back down in his throne. When he was settled once more, he smiled at Hek'at frostily. "Your Jaffa are in position?"

Hek'at nodded. "It was taken care of before I came to meet with you." He said dismissively. Hek'at 2, Apis 0.

Apis seethed internally but refrained from any action that would undoubtedly lead to his death. "Very well, Hek'at. We shall await the Tau'ri and your glorious victory over the barbarian hordes. I hope you survive the attack."

"I live and die in Apophis' name." Hek'at replied calmly, and then he turned and strode calmly from the throne room, leaving Apis alone and deep in thought.

Chapter 3
Knight Takes Bishop

The Assault Team Briefing room was filled with the troopers of SG-Delta. They were all talking about the upcoming mission. After two days of relaxation, they were ready for another mission, the rumors of which, ranged from a simple slave liberation op to assaulting Apophis's 'Mountain Fortress'. The door to the briefing room opened and General O'Neill walked in, followed by Dr Jackson. All conversation ceased as O'Neill stepped behind the podium stand.

"Good morning, folks. Yesterday afternoon, Tok'ra Intelligence passed on the location of a primary Goa'uld slave world, we've designated PD8-102. Apparently, we've been causing so much damage, the System Lords have pulled Jaffa away from -102 so they can reinforce more valuable facilities."

Everyone chuckled at that remark. It was nice to know that they were having such an effect on the System Lords.

O'Neill scanned the sea of faces as he continued, "This means that opposition will be light although that's no excuse for being relaxed about this op. Be ready for anything."

Colonel Colwell, CO of SG-Delta raised his hand. "General, how many slaves are on the planet and are we evacuating them?"

O'Neill looked to Daniel. Daniel stepped forward. "The Tok'ra couldn't give us any numbers but they did say that the slaves were natives to that world. We will give them the option of evacuation but it's likely there'll be lot of them, so if they want to stay..." He finished the sentence with a shrug. "As per usual I'll come along to communicate with the slaves so hopefully, there shouldn't be too much trouble on that front."

O'Neill took over. "The Tok'ra believe that the Goa'uld are going to bring in new Jaffa soon so we have a limited window of opportunity. We haven't made a recon of the area around the Stargate so all you'll have is some terrain data and old schematics of the compound the Tok'ra have been sitting on for a few years. If you want, I can send a UAV in first?"

Shaking his head, Colwell though things over. Initially, they had always sent in SG-8 or UAV's as pathfinders, for the assault teams, but that began to happen less as the troopers became more experienced. The teams preferred to have the element of surprise so nothing goes before the team except for the MALP to check the exit point is safe.

"No, sir. Little point in warning them as to our arrival." He replied.

"Alright. You all have your mission data, you ship out in six hours. Go do your stuff." O'Neill nodded to Colwell and left the briefing room, patting Daniel on the shoulder as he went.

Colwell stepped up to the front and smiled. "Okay people, it's a liberation op so settle your bets after we finish planning this assault. And Lt Forbes...?" Colwell's eyes sought out the young officer. "...Don't think I'll forget you owe me twenty bucks by the end."

Everyone laughed as they got down to the business at hand.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The suns were high in the sky on PD8-102, as the 122 men and women of SG-Delta worked their way through the forest, towards the slave-camps. Colonel Colwell smiled grimly to himself as he listened to the sounds of the forests. You wouldn't believe how quiet over a hundred soldiers can be when their intent on mayhem. He thought to himself.

He scanned the surrounding area and could only see about ten or twelve soldiers from his position. His entire group was spread out over an area of over five hundred meters as they headed towards contact.

As he silently brushed aside a low hanging branch, his earpiece crackled with a transmission. "Delta-Six this is Recon-Three, have sighted enemy position, over."

He activated his whisper-mike. "Recon-Three, Delta-Six. Size and position, over?"

"We have eight man, Jaffa patrol. Two hundred meters west of the camp, moving south. Uh, sir...?" Recon-Three asked hesitantly.

"Go ahead, Recon-Three..." Colwell replied as Major Ortiz fell into position next to him as they continued onward.

"Sir....the camp....the slave-camp in the briefings.....there aren't any slaves there, sir." Recon-Three finished.

Colwell looked at Ortiz in slight confusion. Major Ortiz seemed to shrug without moving anything. "Could be somewhere else. Recon-Three is on the far right of the camp. Recon-One is approaching the left flank. That might be where the slaves all are at the minute."

Colwell nodded and activated his mike again. "Roger that, Recon-Three. Wait one. Break. Recon-One, this is Delta-Six, report."

After several seconds with no reply, Colwell ignored the sudden tightness in his gut and tried again. "Recon-One this is Delta-Six, respond!"

Again, there was no response. Colwell was going to try one last time when Ortiz looked up and to his left sharply. Colwell brought his weapon to bear but saw nothing. He then began to hear the faint sounds of staff weapon fire. He turned to his 2IC and opened his mouth when their earpieces suddenly crackled to life. "Delta-Six, Delta-Six, this is Granite-Six....zzzzz-are under attack from thzzzz.....zzzumerous Jaffa.....Recon-Three's gone.....they're coming inzzzzz...." The panicky but concise report end abruptly. Neither man needed to be told why.

Colwell swore violently and activated his radio and began to jog towards the sound of combat. The surrounding soldiers grouped inwards toward the Colonel as they ran, forming a protective line around him. "All units, this is Delta-Six. We have enemy contact on the left flank and are fully engaged. 1st, 2nd and 3rd platoons reform to left and engage. 4th and 5th platoons, you protect our rear."

He looked to Ortiz. "Major, get the remaining recon teams deployed and find out what we're dealing with. There aren't any slaves around and the Jaffa are attacking us in force before we've even begun the assault on the camp. This stinks of a major trap."

Ortiz nodded in agreement. "Are we going to withdraw?"

Colwell frowned. "Yeah, but if I were the Goa'uld and had sprung a trap like this, I'd damn well make sure I cut off our access to the 'Gate, wouldn't you?"

Again, Ortiz agreed. "We'll just have to punch through, then."

The Colonel almost smiled. "You make it sound so simple."

Their radios crackled again and even more panicked shouts came across the radio this time. "Delta-Six this is Coal-Six......we're under attack from the rear.....I count at least a hundred Jaffa coming at us.....Recon-Three just regrouped with us and reports four Gliders coming in from the east......we're in it deep, sir!"

Ortiz let loose a curse and then spat on the forest floor. "We're being rolled up, sir!"

Colwell nodded and activated his radio. "All units fall back to waypoint Bravo...we'll re-group and make a fighting withdrawal to the Stargate, Delta-Six, out!"

* * * * * * * * * *

Ten minutes later, Colwell was leaning out from behind a tree-stump and firing like crazy at the oncoming wave of Jaffa. Less than half his troops had made it back waypoint Bravo. The dead, both human and Jaffa, strewn across the forest floor, like so much garbage.

Major Ortiz, nursing a staff blast wound to his left shoulder, slid in behind the Colonel. "Sir, we've almost reached the Stargate, sir, and I think we damaged the remaining Glider. It's stopped strafing us."

The Colonel let loose a bark that might have been a laugh had there be any humor in it. "I hadn't noticed that, Major." The four death Gliders had been continually firing into the fleeing troopers. They couldn't see through the forest canopy too well but the didn't really need to. The volume of fire they had poured into the forest meant the odds of hitting something were on their side. The -Delta troops hadn't taking this lightly though. They had managed to destroy the first three Gliders with shoulder launched Stinger missiles.

Unfortunately, these were about the only good things to have happened so far. The Jaffa seemed to be pressing forward in limitless numbers while he was losing troopers faster than he could keep up.

He let loose a final burst of fire from his P-90, emptying the clip in the process. "Alright, Major...let's get the fuck out of here!" The rose quickly from behind the tree and ran away from the hordes of Jaffa, stray staff blasts hitting the trees around them. They ran quickly, Ortiz gingerly holding his left arm as his wound sizzled from the blast that had clipped him earlier. A dozen or so troopers had formed a skirmish line around the clearing that held the Stargate. As soon as Colwell and Ortiz passed them, they opened fire on the pursuing Jaffa, dropping the line of soldiers like so many skittles.

Captain Grayson of 1st platoon was at the DHD, dialing the seven symbols for Spearhead rapidly. Almost twenty troopers had wounds of some sort and were barely clinging to consciousness as they waited for the 'Gate to open. A staff blast hit near the DHD, dirt blossoming into the air, causing Grayson to duck as he pressed the red crystal to engage the Stargate.

The wormhole exploded into life as Colonel Colwell and Major Ortiz ran into the clearing, Colwell rapidly typing into his GDO.

* * * * * * * * * *

"Incoming traveler!"

SHA-CHUNK!!

FFWOOSH!!

Sgt Jenkins pressed a button on his console and the Iris shut rapidly as General O'Neill entered the Command Center.

"GDO signal, Sergeant?" He asked.

Jenkins nodded as he studied his display. "Its SG-Delta......code indicates an opposed transit, sir!"

O'Neill clenched his fists. "Open the iris. Ready the troops."

"Aye, sir." Jenkins replied.

The General watched as the Iris opened and the troops station at the guard facility poured into the gate room and aimed their weapons at the incoming wormhole.

The surface of the wormhole rippled and two -Delta troopers staggered through, falling to the floor as their leg collapsed. Several of the guard troops moved forward to clear them out of the way as more wounded troopers exited the Stargate. O'Neill studied the viewscreen as it showed in detail the distressing state of the bedraggled troops. Something's gone wrong.

* * * * * * * * * *

Back on PD8-102, Colwell watched as the last of the wounded entered the wormhole. All except one. He turned to his 2IC. "You next, Major."

Ortiz looked as if the Colonel had just insulted his parentage. "No way, Colonel, I...."

He didn't get to finish that sentence as the Colonel had grabbed the Major by his uninjured arm and his waist and practically threw him through the wormhole. "Sorry, Julio. I've lost enough friends here today..."

He turned to the tree line where the rest of his men were spraying the forest with a hail of fire, covering their retreat. He picked up a fallen P-90, reloaded it and ran down next to the DHD. "DELTA, IT'S TIME TO PULL OUT!" He shouted at his troops. One by one, they started to rise up and run towards the Stargate. Colwell knelt down and start firing precise bursts at any Jaffa he could see. The remaining troopers threw themselves into the wormhole. The last two troopers had almost reached the Colonel when one of them took a staff blast in the back. His partner stopped and pulled him back up right, practically dragging him towards the 'Gate.

Colwell swore and then ran forward to help. Under fire, together they dragged the soldier up the steps and dived through the event horizon.

As the Colonel had been running at the Stargate, muscles tense and waiting for the shot that would hit in the back, he didn't see that a lone Jaffa had burst out of the tree line, running at a rate that would do an a Olympian proud. As the Colonel and the two troopers fell through the Stargate, this speeding Jaffa ran up the steps and dived into the wormhole just before it cut off.

The rest of the Jaffa force ran into the clearing, their staff weapons smoking from their heavy use. At first everything was quiet as they took stock of what had happened and then a single Jaffa let lose and whooping cheer. Suddenly, the entire forest was alive with the sounds of celebrating Jaffa.

At Spearhead, soldiers and medics were doing what they could for the troopers of SG-Delta. Major Ortiz had rebuffed the attempts of medics to tend his wound as he stood at the bottom of the ramp, staring at the wormhole, waiting for his friend to come back. His heart soared as he watched Colonel Colwell fall though the wormhole with two other soldiers. He took a step forward to help them when the event horizon rippled once more and a single Jaffa warrior stepped through the wormhole just before it collapsed. For several seconds, silence reigned as everyone stared in shock at the unarmed Jaffa, standing proud over everyone. Suddenly he shouted, "JAFFFFAAAA, APOPHIS!"

He died in a hail of bullets as several of the Delta-troopers who still had their weapons fired simultaneously. The guns fell silent and the Iris closed.

* * * * * * * * * *

To one side of the clearing, Hek'at, First Prime to Apophis stood tall, arms crossed and a small, satisfied grin on his face. He lifted his right hand and opened it to reveal a small, silver globe. The globe seemed to glow with internal light suddenly and a small face of a woman appeared. "It went as planned." He reported.

The small face revealed a slight grin. "Finish up and return as quickly as possible." Bast ordered. "I'll meet you on Sohag as soon as I get the necessary information."

Hek'at nodded once and the small face disappeared. He looked down at the corpse of a Tau'ri soldier who had fallen nearby. "Fear not...the rest of your friends will join you soon."

He then turned and walked back to the compound. Letting his men revel in their victory while he reveled in his.

Chapter 4
The Price Of Freedom

"Goddamn it. How many times is this going to happen? Thanks to shitty information provided by the Tok'ra, we've practically lost an entire Assault team!!"

O'Neill paced the briefing room, his anger barely contained. Daniel, Teal'c and Colonel Clarke of SG-Gamma sat on one side of the table, Rath and Emmis, the Tok'ra liaisons sat at the other.

Rath cleared his throat and gestured helplessly. "General...what's happened is very tragic but as a military man, you must know that military operations have failed due to bad intelligence before and it will unfortunately, no doubt, happen again."

Emmis placed a hand on Rath's arm and jumped in. "General, this spy had never given us bad information before, it is obvious he has been, as you say, 'flipped', by the System Lords."

O'Neill glared at the Tok'ra but it had no real malice behind it. Their comments penetrated his anger. "I know....goddammit....but have you seen the report?!"

He threw a dirty look at the folder that lay open in front of his chair. "I sent out one hundred and twenty two soldiers and only thirty one came back. Twenty two of them seriously wounded at that."

His fists gripped white with anger, Daniel looked intently at Emmis. "This was the work of Bast, wasn't it?"

O'Neill looked intently at Daniel.

Daniel leaned forward. "Look, we've been fighting the Goa'uld for years and although their smart in many ways, their tactics have always been blunt and unfocussed."

He gestured to the report. "This ambush was elegantly effective. I'd say this was the work of the newcomer, Bast. All of a sudden she pops up and we take a big hit."

Rath and Emmis nodded. "It is like her." Emmis replied.

"She's even smarter than that, Daniel."

Everyone turned to see Colonel Samantha Carter stood in the doorway of the briefing room. She walked in, holding a file in her hands and sat down next to Daniel.

"Sorry, I'm late General but the med bay was looking at that Jaffa when that called me down to look at something unusual they had found. I just finished at the labs, analyzing what it was, before I came here."

O'Neill sat down in his chair at the head of the table. "What did they find, Colonel?"

Carter frowned. "His chest armor contained a bunch of technology that as far as I can gather, act like our MALP's. Sir, I think that bitch just found out where Spearhead is..."

The room fell silent. The fact that the Goa'uld didn't know the location of Spearhead was one of their greatest assets.

Daniel looked at Sam intently. "Are you sure? The wormhole didn't stay open very long after he came through, he couldn't have manage to send much of picture back..."

Sam shook her head. "It's not the pictures that bother me. The technology uses a burst transmission almost exactly the same as our MALP's do. It only needed microseconds to send a signal back, locking in on our location. As soon as the Jaffa entered the wormhole, she began to get a track on its trajectory. Trust me. She knows were we live."

O'Neill looked grim. "Okay. We took a big loss today and the Goa'uld just got some solid Intel as to our location. I need to confer with Hammond and the President and see what we do next. Daniel, Rath, Emmis...work up a target list of known Goa'uld facilities, their relative values and troop strengths. I want to be able to provide a retaliatory strike immediately if that's the course chosen."

Teal'c raised his eyebrow. "What about the staging post, that SG-8 and I found on P39-771, General?"

O'Neill glanced at the Tok'ra. Rath was nodding. "Destroying the large array of craft there would certainly put a dent in any offensive Apophis would mount."

Frowning, Daniel leaned forward. "Jack, can we afford to attack a place like that? From what SG-8 reported the place appears to have hundreds of Jaffa. It'd take a massive strike to destroy the equipment there."

"How about we don't destroy the ships."

Everyone turned to look at Carter who had abruptly spoke as she stared off into space. She suddenly looked up. Seeing their faces, she gave a feral grin.

"We steal them instead."

* * * * * * * * * *

In the middle of the Nevada Desert, the light winds blew tumbleweeds over the vacant airstrip of Area 51. There were few buildings aboveground at Area 51, most of the facility being located underground. Apart from a few wandering technicians and guards, Lt General Hammond and General Stuart of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stood alone next to the runway.

Hammond looked at Stuart and smiled in slight confusion. "Orin, you didn't bring me out here just to look at the ongoing research we've been doing out here, did you?"

General Orin Stuart shook his head slightly. "I know you've got a lot on your plate after the loss of SG-Delta but I brought you here to meet some friends of mine." He bowed his head slightly. "When I looked over the plan, that you forwarded from O'Neill, about stealing the spacecraft from P39-771, I thought I could provide some improvements."

Hammond looked intrigued. "Like what? It seemed like a solid plan to me, we go in quietly and steal as many as ships as possible before they realize that we're there."

Stuart nodded. "Yeah but it assumes that we have Teal'c and the Tok'ra liaisons try and train our guys in piloting Goa'uld craft. A near impossible task that everyone seems to be playing down."

Hammond agreed but looked regretful. "It can't be helped. We can't get anymore help from the Tok'ra and we don't have anybody else qualified to fly the damn things."

Stuart grinned like a kid at Christmas. "I do."

Hammond looked dumbstruck. "Please don't tell me you have guys at Area 51 that have flown alien vessels and it has something to do with Roswell..."

Stuart laughed and shook his head. "Not quite." He looked at his watch, briefly and continued, "They're British pilots. It seems that in 1985, the British found a Goa'uld Transport and a Death Glider buried deep near Stonehenge." He shook his head wryly. "Their engineer corp found it during some construction project they were helping out with. Managed to keep the damn find a secret for over fifteen years."

Hammond was amazed. "How come I'm only hearing about this now?"

"The Brits only told us about it a year ago, about the same time they found out about the Stargate project." Stuart replied. He was about to explain more when a radio attached to his belt crackled. "General Stuart, this is Flight Ops, over."

Stuart pressed a button on the radio. "Stuart here, over."

"Flight 001 has made contact with us, they say they are fifty miles out and closing fast. They should be landing in one minute. Over."

"Roger that, out." Stuart looked up at Hammond again. "They managed to get the damn thing working again and have been training a bunch of their boys on the thing. As it stands, they're lending us three squadrons worth of pilots, qualified in Goa'uld craft."

Hammond shook his head in disbelief. "Amazing."

Stuart grinned. "Thought you'd like it. Improves the odds of the success considerably, doesn't it? The British are also sending over a contingent of engineers who have been working on the craft, learning its secrets. Their going to work with our people and we're going to see if we can't start designing our own space superiority fighters."

Hammond would've replied but the ground started to rumble and the wind picked up. He looked up for the Transporter but could see nothing in the bright blue sky. He was about to ask Stuart what was going on when the air in front of them seemed to ripple and distort revealing a Goa'uld transport, floating five feet above the runway.

The Transport settled down and the side door opened up. A tall, thin man in a deep blue RAF uniform stepped out, followed by two men wearing green, camouflage, BDU's. The trio walked toward the two generals and saluted them in the British fashion.

The man in the uniform announced, "Group Captain Dunsfield, at your service." He shook hands with Stuart and Hammond and gestured to the other two pilots.

"This is Squadron Leader Mallory and Flying Officer Wilkins, two of my best pilots."

General Stuart nodded to them both. "Gentlemen, welcome to Area 51." He looked over Dunsfield's shoulder at the Transport. "I have to say, it's amusing to see that our British cousins have a few secrets worthy of Area 51 as well."

Dunsfield smiled at that. "Yes, I rather like having the odd skeleton in the cupboard. Tends to make life more interesting." He turned sober and looked at General Hammond. "General Stuart informed me about what happened to SG-Delta. Terrible tragedy and not surprising to learn it was caused by bad intel."

Hammond nodded. "Yeah, I believe it's called the fortunes of war." He shook his head. "Doesn't make it easier."

Sqdr Ldr Mallory spoke up. "Nor should it. The day it gets easy is the day we become like the enemy."

General Stuart rubbed his hands together with anticipation. "Yeah, but it makes payback extremely sweet." He looked at Mallory. "Is 5 Squadron ready to go?"

Mallory nodded. "Yes, sir. The first elements should be arriving in Denver this afternoon. Everybody and all the equipment should be in place by 15:00 hours, tomorrow."

Hammond smiled. "You'll 'Gate out to Spearhead, first thing Friday morning. There, you'll be briefed and you can get ready for the infiltration."

General Stuart watched a tow cart pull the Goa'uld transport towards a nearby hanger that held an elevator to the underground facilities. "Why don't we go inside and finish up there, gentlemen."

The General's and the Group Captain moved off in discussion and Mallory took several steps following them but stopped as he realized his friend was still rooted to the spot. He moved back and smiled. "Something wrong, Tony?"

Flying Officer Tony Wilkins nodded. "Infiltration, the man says. What the bloody hell do I know about infiltration? Leave the ground-pounder shit to the SAS. Me, I'm a bleeding pilot. My good looks were not intended to be shot at, especially by infantry."

Placing an arm around Wilkins shoulder, Mallory led him off in the direction of their superiors. "I'll look after you, old chap, your dear old mother will have my guts for garters if I let her only son get his arse shot off by aliens."

"Yeah, right. You scored even less on the escape and evasion course than I did..." Wilkins countered, darkly.

Mallory just nodded cheerfully. "Yes but we don't have to escape or evade, we just have to live long enough to get inside a cockpit."

Wilkins moaned, mournfully. "We're doomed."

Chapter 5
Parry and Thrust

The briefing auditorium was packed and the atmosphere thick with anticipation. The entire complement of SG-Gamma and the survivors of SG-Delta were turned out along with the thirty-six British pilots of 5 Squadron. General O'Neill stood center-stage behind a lectern. Colonel Carter, Daniel and Teal'c lined up behind him. The murmurs and conversations ceased as everyone waited for the General to speak.

Jack scanned the sea of faces, seeing the determination in their eyes that convinced him, more than ever, that they would ultimately defeat the Goa'uld. His gaze settled on Colonel Colwell and beside him, Major Ortiz. Colwell and Ortiz had lost over two-thirds of their troops and the grief of that loss was evident, but they were still standing tall and proud, as were all of the remaining -Delta soldiers. They knew it was okay to hurt and to mourn but that to give in to the pain and loss was unacceptable. Jack was almost moved to tears by the bravery of these men and women. It's time. He cleared his throat and began.

"Okay people, up until now, we've simply been a big thorn in the Goa'uld butts. That's going to change. Since we started Spearhead, we've raided supply depots, blown up weapon production facilities and liberated slave camps. We've taken out at least nine System Lords, up and down the Galaxy, but for every System Lord we kill, another one takes over. I want more. I want to hit them so hard that they can't recover."

An almost-growl of agreement rippled through the auditorium. O'Neill pushed on to the meat of the briefing. "This is our target."

The wall screen behind him flicked into life and displayed the staging post on P39-771. Rows of Death Gliders, Transports and Bombers surrounded a small white pyramid.

"A major Goa'uld, base of operations, for the surrounding sector of space. It belongs to System Lord Ak'em, a Minor System Lord who does good work for his mightiness Apophis." O'Neill turned and gestured to the various craft around the pyramid. "You can all see the kind of hardware they've got stashed there and I'm sure you'd agree destroying it would cause Apophis some severe problems in controlling his territory."

Agreeing nods came from everyone.

Jack glanced at Carter briefly before laying it on them. "That's why we're not going to destroy it."

The resulting confusion was everything Jack was expecting. He leaned forward; making sure everyone was focused on him.

"We're not going to destroy those ships...we're going to go in there quietly and steal them." Jack watched all their faces as they studied this new angle. "This is the next step in our operations, people. The United States and Great Britain have embarked on the most ambitious project to date. We're going to take what we know of Goa'uld technology and start designing our own fighters and ships. For that, we're going to have to start stealing ships, large numbers of ships with which to defend Earth while we reverse engineer them and see if we can't go one step further. Eventually, the objective is going to be going toe to toe with the Goa'uld fleet but for now..." He thumbed towards the wall screen. "...I'll settle for taking those."

O'Neill then gestured to Group Captain Dunsfield and the British contingent.

"These gentlemen are 5 Squadron from the Royal Air Force and they are experts in flying Goa'uld craft. We have enough pilots to steal six Bombers and twelve Death Gliders. I want two platoons from SG-Gamma to escort 5 Squadron and infiltrate that base, getting the pilots to their ships without attracting attention. Once inside your ships, take off, destroy as much of base as possible, including the rest of the fleet there and get the hell out, hyper-spacing to Earth where you'll land at Area 51. Questions?" He asked.

Major Cathy Watson, 2IC of SG-Gamma raised her hand. "Sir, Intelligence stated that the Death Glider was strictly short range. No hyperspace capability. How are the Gliders supposed to get to Earth?"

O'Neill looked at Dunsfield. "You want to get technical and answer the Major, Group Captain?"

Dunsfield nodded and stood up, looking at Major Watson but addressing the group as a whole. "You are correct, the Glider has no hyperdrive but it's thanks to a technique pioneered by Major Carter, that we can get the Gliders to Earth." He made stretching motions with his hands. "We can expand the hyperspace field wide enough to include several Gliders. The Gliders close in tight and when we engage the hyperdrive, the Gliders are brought along as well. Our formation flying is excellent so, on that part of the plan at least, I can assure you of no problem."

Major Watson nodded, satisfied.

As the Group Captain sat down, Flying Officer Wilkins, who was sat several rows behind, leaned over to Squadron Leader Mallory and murmured, "I tell you, that's the only bloody part of the plan that's likely to go off without a hitch."

Mallory found it hard to disagree.

O'Neill recaptured everybody's attention. "Since this is an infiltration mission, I'm sure I don't have to point out that we're can't exactly send the entire complement of SG-Gamma. I've gone over this with Colonel Clarke and it's been decided that the Navy Seals, Marine Force Recon troops and SAS members from -Gamma will form the infiltration squads." He could see slight movement from those servicemen who realized that they wouldn't be going on the mission.

"Everyone else will form a ready posture at the Stargate and be prepared to go through and provide support should things go Murphy on us."

"Before I let Colonel Clarke take over and give you the deployment details, I'd just like to say this..." Jack looked out over the assembled troops. Making eye contact with as many of the soldiers as possible. "...When we started this endeavor, I knew we had it in us to beat the Goa'uld. I've seen humanity at it's best and it's worst and I can tell you right now that the people here, and those working in the SGC...are the best damn people I've ever had the privilege to know. We've an enemy to fight and it's not guns or ships or technology that's going to win this war...it's the willingness to stand up and say we will not give in to evil...that if we're knocked down, we'll simply rise back up and hit back twice as hard." O'Neill's voice had risen in intensity when, all of a sudden he became quiet and spoke gently. "We're going to win this war because there's simply no other choice."

General O'Neill took a step back from the lectern. "Go win this war." He said, and then gave the assembly a sharp salute.

The 186 soldiers in the room stood up simultaneously and returned the salute.

* * * * * * * * *

O'Neill left the briefing room moments later, with the rest of SG-1 in tow. He walked a short distance from the doorway, leaned back, against the wall and closed his eyes. After several moments of silence, he opened one eye to see all three of them standing in front of him, Daniel looking at him with awe and disbelief. Carter had a wide grin on her face. Again. And Teal'c, surprisingly enough, had his eyebrow under firm control in the horizontal position. Jack looked back at Daniel. "What?" He asked.

Daniel closed his mouth and shrugged slightly. "I just wondered who you were and what you did with Jack..."

O'Neill just closed his eyes again.

"It was a great speech, sir." Carter added.

Teal'c agreed. "I do not believe I have ever heard him say as much in one go before."

Jack pinched the ridge of his nose, looking like a man with a headache coming on fast. "Awww, for crying out loud, gimme a break, will ya?. It just came out."

Daniel brushed imaginary lint off the shoulder of Jack's dress uniform. The single star on his shoulder board gleamed under the corridor lights. "It's what General's do, though, Jack. Make speeches, I mean." He added.

"I believe he should do it more often, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c intoned.

Carter opened her mouth to add to the verbal assault when Jack suddenly stood upright, raising his hand. "Ah, ah, Colonel...the next words out of your mouth will decide on whether I court-martial you or not."

Carter closed her mouth with a small, impish grin.

Jack nodded in satisfaction. "Being a General has its advantages." He looked at Daniel and Teal'c. "Now if I was able to court-martial certain archeologists and Jaffa, I could be a happy man." And with that, he turned away from the to and strolled off to his office.

* * * * * * * * *

Night had fallen on P39-771 and the dark jungle was alive with the sounds of its inhabitants. Ironically, the only creatures being silent were the members of SG-Gamma and the British pilots of 5 Squadron. After coming through the Stargate, they had followed SG-8's previous route through the jungle to the cliff that overlooked the staging area. Wearing black uniforms, black body armor and camouflaged faces, the troops found it hard to see the person standing five feet away, let alone at any respectable distance.

Spread out along the edge, the soldiers studied the area with their night-vision binoculars. Colonel Clarke, the ever-youthful looking veteran studied the various routes they could use to approach the various ships. After several minutes of study, he lowered his binoculars and looked at his 2IC who lay beside him.

"It looks pretty quiet, Major." He ventured, quietly.

Major Cathy Watson gave a soft snort. "That's what they usually say before the anvil drops on your head."

"Oh ye of little faith..." He replied. Pointing to the far right of the staging area he continued, "...look, if we head down that side of the cliff, we can approach the perimeter on the opposite side of the barracks. The standing guard is pretty light, it's mostly roving patrols. I'm pretty sure Captain Smith has timed their routes by now and has found a hole we can slip through...right, Captain?"

Clarke and Watson both turned to their left to look at the senior SAS trooper assigned to SG-Gamma. Captain Tony Smith had been listening to the impromptu planning session and simply turned to face his commanding officers and nodded firmly. "Three minute window." He replied, sagely.

The Colonel smiled. "Right, plenty of time. There you have it, Major. You stay here with the 'overwatch' team while I help get the pilots down and steal those ships. When we take off and head for Earth, you hotfoot it back to the Stargate, and to Spearhead."

Major Watson nodded in understanding. "You'd better get moving then, you've got a bit of a ways to go..." She hesitated slightly. "...watch yourself, Paul."

Clarke simply grinned, his white teeth, shining in comparison to his camouflaged face. "I'm counting on you and you troops up here to do that, remember?" And with that, he turned and headed of to the right, the rest of the contingent following in his wake, leaving Major Watson and six men behind up on the ridge.

Watson watched the last soldier vanishing into the undergrowth. When they disappeared, silence returned.

30 minutes later, the small band of soldiers and pilots were at the perimeter, taking advantage of every bit of cover the jungle afforded. The Bombers, Transports and Gliders were spread over a five hundred meter distance, in a surprisingly haphazard fashion. There were no neat lines of craft, like you find on any airbase on Earth. The haphazard layout worked in Clarke's favor though. Once through the external perimeter guard, the inner area was barely patrolled and certainly not in any orderly fashion.

They watched as a three Jaffa patrolled past. None carried staff weapons, just zats. Clarke took this for a good sign that they weren't expecting any intruders. As the guards moved off into the distance, Captain Smith looked back at Clarke. "Now, sir." And then he moved off, his longtime friend Corporal Jimmy Jones, also SAS, mirrored his moves as the heading in between two parked Gliders.

Numerous black shapes pulled away from the jungle and followed the two SAS troops taking point. In less than a minute, over forty soldiers had made it into the staging area unnoticed.

As they moved through the various ships, they split up into pairs and groups of five or more. Each pilot would be escorted by at least one combat trooper, just in case they ran into any trouble. Clarke winced each time a door to a bomber or a glider opened with a whine that was in reality, fairly quite but in the enforced silence, seemed to echo like a cannon shot. Twice now, the troopers had encountered lone Jaffa technicians, working on the ships. They were dispatched by bursts of fire from silenced weapons.

Five minutes had passed and still no response to their intrusion. Clarke checked his watch, in less than four minutes he would send the signal for everyone to start up their engines and start blasting everything in sight. Just let our luck hold out a little longer.

As if the Universe had heard his little prayer, Clarke, the pilots Mallory and Wilkins and the two SAS troopers, Smith and Jones, moved silently round the front of the Bomber they had selected to steal and came face to face with four Jaffa just as their radio's crackled to life.

* * * * * * * * * *

On the ridge, Major Watson had checked her watch every few minutes after the rest of the team had left them. She had stopped checking to take a sip of water from her canteen when Petty Officer Frank Warren's voice startled her slightly. "Movement." He announced, laconically.

Watson grabbed he night vision binoculars and scanned the perimeter. "Where?"

Warren was looking through the scope of his .30 silenced Magnum sniper rifle. "About 300 meters down the line. A bunch of Jaffa just walked past and their making a break for it."

Watson looked along the perimeter until she saw a swarm of white figures, their body heat no longer masked by the jungle, moving out throughout the compound. They watched as the pilots captured the Gliders and Transports. Goddamn it's working. Just keep it up a while longer.

Adjusting his position slightly, Warren smiled grimly. "These Jaffa are in for surprise. The Colonel's team is heading toward the final Bomber now."

Before Watson could reply, one of the snipers further along the ridge spoke urgently. "Shit! Four Jaffa just stepped out of a Transport and are heading towards the Colonel's position."

"Take 'em out!" Warren snarled.

"I got no shot!" The sniper replied. "They've gone behind the Bomber. I've got no shot!"

Major Watson swore and activated her radio. "Gamma-Six, four Jaffa are closing on you from behind the Bomber!"

Warren shook his head as his night vision scope caught flashes of gun and zat fire lighting up around the ship. "Too late..."

* * * * * * * * * *

Captain Smith's surprise at coming face to face with the four Jaffa lasted all of a microsecond. His silenced MP-10, held out ready, swung a few degrees and fired off a short three round burst, penetrating the chest armor of the Jaffa, exploding his heart. Corporal Jones's reaction was just as immediate and his three round burst blew the second Jaffa's head apart like an over-ripe melon.

The third Jaffa brought his zat up and fired twice, the first blast hitting Jones, the second blast going high, saving the Corporal's life.

Clarke, Mallory and Wilkins fired their P-90's simultaneously, killing the third and fourth Jaffa in a hail of bullets.

It had all taken less than two seconds.

"Shit!" Clarke swore. "Mallory, get the Bomber door open...Wilkins, help me get Jones inside. Captain..."

Smith nodded without looking at Clarke. "I've got you covered." His was already sweeping his gun in all directions, looking for additional Jaffa.

Corporal Jones was lying on the floor, conscious but still in pain from the zat blast. "B-B-Bloody hell...anyone get the n-n-n-number of the bus that just hit me???"

Wilkins smiled as he and Clarke pulled Jones upright and half dragged him towards the door. "Look on the bright side, mate."

Jones turned his head, wincing as he did so and glared at the pilot. "What bloody bright side?"

Shrugging nonchalantly, Wilkins replied with a wink, "Well, that blast could have hit me."

Jones face clouded up and the pilot was saved from a response as the doors to the Goa'uld Bomber slid open. Mallory stood by the control pad. "Hurry up, we haven't the time to stand around and chat."

Clarke grinned. "You and Wilkins get up to the cockpit and get this bird powered up, we're getting out of here now!"

As Wilkins and Mallory ran of inside the ship, Clarke's radio crackled. "Gamma-Six, this is Major Watson, respond! Are you alright, sir?"

Clarke and Captain Smith moved inside the Bomber and lay Jones down against a wall. Clarke turned, started walking towards the cockpit and activated his radio. "We're fine, Major. What's the situation outside?"

Major Watson looked through her binoculars as Jaffa poured out of the barracks and the pyramid, looking for the intruders. She smiled slightly as Petty Officer Warren, who was lying next to her, fired his silenced sniper rifle again. On either side of her, she could just hear the soft sound of the six snipers up on the ridge firing indiscriminately at the Jaffa warriors below. The Jaffa were being slaughtered mercilessly, having no idea where the fire was coming from.

"You guys have stirred up a hornet's nest." She reported. "My guys are taking out as many of the Jaffa as possible but there's a whole piss-pot full of them out there. I think it's time you left, sir."

"We're on our way out now. Feel free to leave at your discretion, Major." Replied the Colonel.

The 'overwatch' team continued firing for a few more seconds and then stopped as one after the other, the Gliders and Bombers below them started to rise up, higher and higher. The small, nimble Gliders scattered like startled birds and then reverse course, firing wave after wave of energy blasts into the Jaffa. The Bombers maneuvered slower than the Gliders but made up for it when the oversized ventral cannons opened fire, send huge balls of searing plasma into the parked vessels. The exploding ships causing sympathetic explosions among the rest of the flight line. Within less than two minutes, the entire staging area was full of blazing wreckage and innumerable dead Jaffa.

"Holy shit, Major!" Warren spoke reverently.

Major Watson had no words to reply with but nodded in agreement. Staring for several minutes, she was shook out of her awe when a bolt of energy flew down from the heavens, narrowly missing the Colonel's Bomber and blew a fifty-meter crater in the ground.

"Aww hell. There's a ship in orbit!" She realized. Her worst fears were confirmed when her radio crackled. "Major, this is Clarke! Get the hell out of here. There's a mothership in orbit gunning for us and they're not particular about what they hit! Get your ass back through the Stargate!"

Major Watson agreed. "We're out of here, sir!" She turned round to see the six snipers picking themselves up and getting ready for the run back to the 'Gate.

Warren slung his rifle over his shoulder and grinned. "Well, isn't this just great. I can't fail to remember that no one mentioned during the briefing, the possibility of a mothership turning up mid-operation."

Watson, shaking her head, walked up to Warren and slapped him on the back. "Its not a job..."

"...It's a fucking adventure!" The snipers chorused.

Laughing, they all started the long run towards the Stargate and to home, massive explosions illuminating the jungle all around them.

* * * * * * * * *

"Bollocks!!"

Mallory swore as the Bomber slid sharply to the left, an energy bolt from the mothership flying past them and slamming into the already demolished staging area below. Wilkins, however, laughed as if he was having the time of his life. Twisting the controls, he spun the Bomber through a vertical barrel role around the path of a another bolt."

Clarke, who was standing behind the center control panel, in between the pilot seats, flinched violently. "Christ, Wilkins, you crazy Brit!"

Captain Smith and Corporal Jones had made they way to the cockpit and were strapping themselves into one of the numerous auxiliary control stations on the horseshoe shaped bridge of the Bomber. Jones winced as the sharp maneuver cause his headache to hurt even more. "He's not crazy, he's absolutely friggin' insane!" He snarled.

Wilkins just laughed even harder but he immediately sobered up as they began to clear the atmosphere and the mothership became visible. "Damn."

"Hat'ak class." Mallory murmured.

Clarke's eyes narrowed. "Can we take it?"

Mallory turned round in his seat. "You mean to attack it?"

He shrugged. "If it's feasible, I'd like to try..."

"Err, guys....??" Wilkins interrupted. "Your little conversation happens to be moot. That mothership is heading our way. It'll intercept us before we clear the gravity well and can make the jump to hyperspace."

Mallory glanced at the instruments and then look at Clarke. "Buckle up, this could get hairy."

As Clarke sat down in one of the auxiliary stations, Mallory opened a com-channel to the other ships. "5 Squadron, this is Mallory. As you can see, that Hat'ak means to engage us so we have to kill it if we're to make it back to Earth. Attack plan Charlie. Bombers split into two flights of three and prepare for a full speed assault run. Gliders, break by pairs and engage at will."

* * * * * * * * *

On board the Control Room of the mothership, the Goa'uld System Lord Apis sat in his throne in consternation. His First Prime had informed of the destruction of his base on the planet's surface. Destroyed by my own ships. "Who's in those ships?" He demanded.

The First Prime glanced at several of his sub-ordinates for support but found none forthcoming. "If I had to venture a guess, my Lord, I would say that it was the Tau'ri."

Apis's eyes blazed. "You guess?" He roared. Since he didn't have a clue himself, he figured it was a good excuse as any to give to Apophis. "Fine. Launch our Death Gliders. I want those Tau'ri vermin dead. Do I make myself clear?"

The First Prime nodded sharply. "Perfectly, my Lord." He swiftly turned to the Jaffa manning the controls. "Jaffa, kree!" He ordered.

* * * * * * * * *

The hanger doors on the mothership slid open and eight Death Gliders flew out, like a flock of birds, they form up and fly towards the formation of stolen ships.

The two groups of ships closed rapidly, cannons firing blast of energy. The British pilots flew their ships as if born to them. The Jaffa pilots might have the advantage of using their own technology but the pilots of Earth had been perfecting combat maneuvers since Ernest and Wilbur had built their first plane. Breaking into pairs, a pilot and his wingman, 5 Squadron split the Jaffa formation apart, taking them on individually, weakening their defensive ability.

The 5 Squadron Gliders opened a hole through the Jaffa ships that the Bomber's swarmed through.

Wilkins jerked the controls of his Bomber and it swung to left, dodging yet another energy blast from the mothership. Mallory hit the com-link. "Bombers 3 and 5, form up on me, Bombers 2, 4 and 6...break right and engage the mothership from the other side!"

As the flurry of acknowledges came back, Mallory looked at Clarke again. "Colonel, make yourself useful...that panel in front of your controls the main guns, use it to blast anything that looks like a gun turret."

Clarke grinned slyly. "Yes, sir!"

5 Squadron flew round the mothership, blowing up gun turrets, targeting sensors and shield emitters. The mothership's heavy guns fired too slowly to be able to hit the Bombers. The 5 Squadron Bombers danced round the ineffective blasts.

In addition to the heavy cannons, the mothership fired its faster, defensive guns but they were designed to shoot Gliders and for the most part, ineffective; the energy blasts had trouble penetrating the shields of the powerful Bombers. Unfortunately for Flight Lieutenant Scott and the crew of his Bomber, they were hit in rapid succession by multiple shots. With each impact, the shields weakened until they had broken, allowing several blasts to destroy the engines of the Bomber.

Onboard the lead Bomber, Wilkins and Mallory watched futilely as the mothership finally managed to hit the damaged craft with the heavy cannons. The first shot destroyed the rest of the shields and a second shot tore a massive chunk out of the left side of the ship. The watched as the Bomber slowly turned and flew directly in the direction of the control room on the mothership.

Mallory instantly realized what Scott was trying to do.

The mortally wounded Bomber managed to avoid the next few shots as it rapidly closed the distance. Energetic plasma streamed from the damaged engines, making the Bomber look like a streaking meteor. The com-link crackled to life. Scott's voice called out weakly. "Mallory...sorry we couldn't make it...to the end..."

Wilkins slammed his fist against the console. "Get the hell into a escape pod, Scott!"

A faint chuckle, broken up by static, whispered over the com-link. "Sorry Wilkins...everyone else...dead. Sir...tell my folks...it was worth it..."

The words had barely ended when the Bomber slammed into the top of the pyramid mothership. The Bomber penetrated more than halfway into the superstructure, the impact blowing the opposite side of the hull outwards in a billowing cloud of flame and debris. Internal explosions wracked the rest of the mothership, flames erupting from opening seam around the hull. Several seconds later, a yellow white flash blinded everyone and the mothership was replaced by an expanding cloud of ionized gas and melted hull.

Clarke was the first to break the silence on the bridge of the Bomber. "Mallory...we should go..."

Squadron Leader Mallory nodded sadly. "Quite right, Colonel." He replied softly. "McBride, what's your status?"

Flight Lieutenant Angus McBride, the leader of the pilots flying the Gliders sounded weary. "We lost 2 ships. Suthers and Cooper and Hayes and Connolly. Everyone else is good to go."

"Acknowledged." Mallory replied. "Form up on the Bombers and prepare for the jump to hyperspace."

The remaining ten Gliders flew in tight against the five Bombers. The Bombers expanded their hyperspace field to enclose the fighters and then, in a flash of Cerenkov radiation, shot into hyperspace.

* * * * * * * * *

General O'Neill sat behind his desk, his uniform jacket hung casually on the back of his chair and his feet resting upon the desk. He was idly flipping through readiness reports from SG-Alpha and SG-Beta on Earth. They weren't due for the next rotation period on Spearhead for another month but since the demise of most of SG-Delta, he and General Hammond had decided to advance the transfer so they could still operate with two full teams while -Delta was being rebuilt.

There came a knock on his door. "Come in..." He replied, taking his feet off the desk.

Carter came in, holding a folder. "We just got word from Area 51, sir, over the long range communication device."

"You know, I think we should rename to something shorter, you know, like 'the crystal ball' or something." Jack replied.

Carter expended serious effort on her cheek muscles, not to laugh, but she managed it. "Colonel Clarke and his men just came out of hyperspace, and are landing at Area 51 as planned."

O'Neill nodded in satisfaction. "Casualties?" He asked, not wanting to know but needing to.

"We lost one Bomber and two Gliders." She replied, soberly.

"How many on board those things, six?"

Carter inclined her head. "Four on the Bomber, two in the Glider." She leaned forward. "Sir, these weren't ground casualties. They were leaving orbit when a mothership turned up and engaged them. Having nowhere to turn, Colonel Clarke took his ships and destroyed the mothership and at least eight Gliders."

O'Neill shook his head in wonder. Amazing. "Give those Brits credit, Major, they can fly their spaceships alright..."

The phone on his desk rang, interrupting them. O'Neill glared at it but picked up the receiver. "O'Neill."

"Sir, this is Sgt Jenkins in the Command Center. Our observation satellite just picked up an incoming signal. Something just entered the solar system, pretty near to us."

O'Neill frowned. "Roger that, I'm on my way." He put the receiver down and stood up. "Come on, Colonel, I'll explain on the way..."

* * * * * * * * *

Apophis glared at Bast and Hek'at as they stood before him. "Apis is dead?"

Bast nodded. "Yes, my Lord. The Tau'ri appeared to have infiltrated his facility and stole a large number of his ships. They then proceeded to destroy what remained of his fleet as well as attacking and destroying the mothership, subsequently killing Apis in the process."

Apophis hissed in anger, his eyes flashing. "I am served by incompetent fools!"

Giving a wry smile, Bast shook her head. "It's not all bad news, my Lord. We have co-ordinates of the Tau'ri base called Spearhead. We can attack them directly at anytime you wish."

Apophis roared with anger, rising up from his throne and pacing the floor like some caged animal. Bast glanced at Hek'at with confusion. Hek'at gave the barest of shrugs to indicate his confusion as well. Bast looked at Apophis intently. "My Lord?" She asked.

Apophis paused in his pacing to glare at her. "As soon as you gave me the co-ordinates, I dispatched a mothership. It arrived to find a solar system flooded with lethal radiation, the crew died within minutes, the commander living long enough to tell me as much."

Bast cocked her head, amused at this novel defense of the Tau'ri. "We simply send a bomb through the Stargate then."

Apophis shook his head. "No. I want O'Neill and the shol'var Teal'c alive, so that I may kill them again and again."

Hek'at frowned faintly. "My Lord, that will be a costly offensive."

Apophis knew that and it drove his anger to new heights. "Then we will pay that cost." He stared intently at his First Prime. "I want SG-1 brought before me, unharmed. There is no other alternative. Is that understood, my First Prime?"

Hek'at bowed deeply. "Jaffa, Apophis." He intoned.

The End

The Spearhead Trilogy concludes with Spearhead: Tides Of War.

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