As the ship gets closer and closer to them, the proximity sensors start beeping very rapidly and the collision alert begins to sound..
"It intends to collide with us, O'Neill" shouts Teal'c with urgency.
Jack swirls around, grabs Teal'c flight suit by the arm and drags them both away from the window, "Everybody down!" he screams.
"Brace for impact!" shouts Cpt Swanson, through the ships coms.
The enemy ships speed increases as it comes hurtling towards them, seconds later, just as the ship gets within meters of the Alliance and is about to collide with them, a blinding bright flash fills the bridge as the ship outside suddenly explodes.
The explosion is so powerful and when the blast hits the shields it pushes the front of the Alliance upwards and pushes it backwards and slightly tilted to the side, the whole ship rocks and shakes, members of the crew losing their footing, being thrown from their seats, systems shorting out, panels pop from the surrounding walls, coolant leeks from the bursting pipes above, it's at least 90 seconds before the blast wave dissipates and the Alliance becomes steady once again.
Teal'c and Jack were thrown off their feet and in to the corridor adjacent to the bridge, Teal'c crawls over to Jack whose laying face down on the floor, "O'Neill!" he says, shaking him lightly on the shoulder.
Jack raises his head a few inches and shakes it a couple of times, "What happened.." he asks, turning to face Teal'c and roll himself around and in to a sitting up position, "Did it hit us?" he adds.
"I do not believe so." replies Teal'c.
"Help me up." says Jack, and Teal'c helps him to his feet.
Once on his feet, they both run back on to the bridge, they see the crew picking themselves up and moving back to their stations and nursing their injuries, Jack instinctively runs to Sam.
"Sam..." says Jack as he approaches her, "..you all right?" he asks.
Sam is sitting in her seat rubbing the left side of her neck, "Yeah I'm all right. The straps just dug in to me a little." she replies.
Cpt Swanson is up on her feet next to Higgins at the console checking on the state of the ship, "What's our present condition?" she asks.
Higgins checks the various systems and reports...
- Hull integrity down to 28%
- 14 sections on decks 4-through-7 have decompressed and have been automatically sealed
- Injury reports are continuing to come in but no loss of life reported
- Shields are off-line
- Weapons are off-line
- Long range communications are off-line and we've lost the sensors.
- Hyperdrive engines are functioning but we've lost too much coolant and won't be able to keep them active for long.
"Okay, get repair teams on it and see if you can get a medical team up here to help the injured on the bridge." orders Swanson.
"Yes, Ma'am." replies Higgins.
"Colonel O'Neill.." says Swanson, making her way around the consoles to where Jack is standing, "..why is it every time you're on my ship it ends up in pieces." she asks.
"..Err..." sounds Jack, then just shrugs his shoulders.
Sam unbuckles her straps, "Why didn't it hit us, at the velocity it was travelling at we should all be dead." she asks.
"Maybe the shields held up better than we thought." says Swanson.
"It was not the shields that prevented our destruction." says Teal'c, slowly backing away from the window.
"Oh?" says Jack.
Just then they see a white light come in to view outside, it's an Ancient, they don't recognise who it is and can't see their face clearly.
Behind the Ancient, the dust and debris from the enemy ship seems to flow and gather in to a cloud , as the Ancient turns to see what they're looking at, a shape forms within the cloud, it appears to be a set of eyes glaring back at her, the Ancient glares back with curiosity, then the cloud breaks up and the dust disappears in to the void of space.
The Ancient turns back to face the Alliance and nods at them, Jack gives a gentle wave, then in a flash the Ancient is gone.
"Okay...that was creepy." says Jack.
"They destroyed the ship...they saved us." says Sam.
"It would appear so." says Teal'c.
"You're damn right they did." says Jack, cheerily, "Looks like we've got ourselves a defence against these things." he adds with a smile.
"Indeed." says Teal'c.
"Are you sure about that?" asks Sam.
Jack points out of the window, "Well, yeah ….you saw what they just did." he says.
"Yes but they haven't exactly been a big help in the past, why now..all of a sudden?" asks Sam.
"I don't know. We need to get back to Earth and report this thing and we'll see if Daniel can talk to these guys, then we'll know if they're going to help us or not. Agree?" says Jack.
"Fair enough." replies Sam.
Captain Swanson agrees, they need to get back to Earth anyway in order to fully repair the ship and get the injured crew attended too and replaced, she turns to Higgins, "In their current condition will the the engines be able get us back to Earth?" asks Swanson.
"..Barely.." replies Higgins.
"What about the people of P3X-599, as we have encountered a ship in this region, will they not be in danger if we leave them?" asks Teal'c.
"The ships in no condition to ferry people around right now, Teal'c, we'll come back for them." says Swanson, "Okay, turn us around, take us home." she orders.
Area 51: New high security subterranean facility.
The Ba'al clone, Linda, has been held at Area 51 ever since her capture a fortnight ago, the IOA has ordered that she undergo hourly interrogations until they're satisfied she's told them everything she knows about the Goa'uld, their technology and what her intentions were since fleeing Earth several months ago.
Every couple of hours she's removed from her small windowless cell and taken to another small room for interrogation, the room is a small 8-by-8 foot cube, a small table sits in the middle of the room with a chair at either side, when brought in to the room her feet are chained to the floor and her hands to the table, a single very dull light is fixed to the ceiling, so far she's resisted their attempts at getting information from her.
A member of the IOA, known only as Fred, leads the interrogation, he wears a white sweaty shirt and dark brown pants, he has a rather scruffy appearance, messy hair, unshaven face.
"...you have absolutely nothing to say?" asks Fred.
"Is there any Goa'uld technology that we don't current know about?"
Linda: Mute
"Do you know the location of any Goa'uld technology we don't about?"
Linda: Mute
"Devices, weapons, ships?"
Linda: Mute
"What have you been doing for the past 6 months?"
Linda: Mute
Fred grabs a jug of water and pours out a glass, he drinks from it, "Would you like some?" he asks, "You must be thirsty...No?...okay" he adds, then finishes drinking the water and places the glass back down.
"Come on, Linda. We've been doing this for two solid weeks and you haven't said a word, isn't there anything you're willing to tell me?." says Fred, "This would go easier for you if you started talking." he adds.
A few minutes later he reaches down and picks up a case, slides it on to the table and opens it, inside is the ball shaped device that Linda had in her possession at the time of her capture.
"What can you tell me about this?"
Linda's eyes very briefly sprung up to look at the case, she remains mute and uncooperative.
"We had it tested by our top scientists, they concluded it isn't a weapon...so what is it?"
Linda: Mute
"What is it's purpose?"
Linda: Mute
Fred exhales a frustrated breath then slams the case shut, "Fine. We'll try this again in a hour." he says, he places holds the case in his hand, grabs the jacket from the back of his chair and walks to the door, "Guard!" he shouts.
A guard unlocks and opens the door, "Take her back to her cell." orders Fred and he leaves, two guards enter the room and unchain Linda and take her out of the room.
As the guards are escorting her down the hall back to her cell, they pass by a research room, in the room are a group of people in lab coats talking and looking at images and text on a projection screen on the wall in front of them, Linda just happened to glance inside as they were passing by, she saw something on the screen that she recognised and slightly disturbed her and she takes a step back and towards the door to try get a better look but the guards stop her, a man in the room saw the commotion outside in the hall and closed the door.
"Wait..." says Linda, as the guards drag her down the hall by her arms, "I need to see it...let me see it again." she shouts.
"Shut up, you're going back to your cell." says the guard.
When they get her in to the cell room they unlock the cell door and push her inside, quickly closing and locking the steal barred door behind her, Linda turns and runs back to the door, grabbing the bars, "Let me speak to Fred, I'm ready to talk." she shouts as the guards close the outer room door behind them, "Please!" she shouts.