Chapter Two
Thor's Flagship
Earth Orbit
Supreme Commander Thor studied the plumes of cooling, spreading plasma and partially melted debris that was all that remained of the fleet of Goa'uld motherships brought to Earth by Anubis in silent awe. It had been many thousands of years since any member of the Asgard race had seen Alteran weapons in action; he had not even been alive the last time that the Asgard had been treated to such a display of the Ancients incredible firepower. It was obvious from the speed with which the Goa'uld fleet had been wiped from the heavens by the mighty barrage of drone weaponry unleashed by the Tau'ri that the database records of the power of those weapons were not in error. If anything they were understating it – given how easily the drones had bypassed Anubis' advanced shields to tear him and his fleet apart.
"Sensor scans complete, supreme commander," sensors reported completing a check of the spreading debris field that was all that remained of the Goa'uld armada. "Scanners confirm that all Goa'uld vessels and fighters have been destroyed."
"Understood, communications instruct all of our vessels to begin scanning the planet to determine the extent of damage," Thor ordered, he knew it would be high even from orbit it was possible to see the smoke plumes rising from destroyed cities. Casualties would be in the millions – a fact that angered him greatly, though the Goa'uld would pay a price for what Anubis had done here today. It was long past time that the Asgard Fleet reminded the System Lords of the price they could pay for violating or failing to enforce the Protected Planets Treaty. "Sensors scan the Ancient outpost on the planet to determine there status," he continued.
"Yes commander."
"Communications contact Freyr, inform him of what has happened here and instruct him to proceed with the destruction of Anubis throne world shipyards and munitions factories. He is then to proceed to the Kull Warrior facilities on Tartarus and destroy them."
"Yes commander."
"Primary surface scans completed, supreme commander," sensors reported. "Sensors have detected massive damage to multiple cities across the planet, casualties are significant. We are also picking up heavy atmospheric ionisation consistent with magnetosphere disruption caused by the passage of multiple plasma blasts, soot and ashes from the burning cities are rising into the atmosphere and spreading across the upper atmosphere due to influence of the high altitude winds. In addition we are picking up a number of seismic disturbances along a section of the North American continent – it is likely that underlying tectonic fault lines have been destabilised by the concussion of the Goa'uld weapons."
Thor came as close to frowning as an Asgard could. It was fortunate that they had arrived when they did and prevented the Goa'uld from continuing their bombardment – at a considerable cost to themselves in lives and resources, but it was obvious that they had not been quick enough. The damage to Earth would take years to repair – even with his peoples help it would take years to filter all the contaminants out of the atmosphere and there was nothing they could do about a destabilised tectonic fault line. As advanced as it was even Asgard technology had its limits, they could dampen down some of the effects of any earthquakes but they would not be able to stop them completely.
"And the outpost?" he asked.
"Sensors are detecting five life signs, three are Human and two are Jaffa. One of the Human life signs is showing signs of considerable physiological distress."
Thor nodded in a subtle, Asgard fashion. He had a suspicion of what had really happened, who was down there in the outpost and what they had probably had to do to have any chance of finding the hidden facility.
"Transport them up to my chambers," he instructed.
"Yes supreme commander."
Ancient Antarctic Outpost
That Same Time
Major Samantha Carter looked worriedly at Colonel Jack O'Neill who lay slumped in the control chair, his eyes closed and his breathing faint. She could barely believe that this was happening, they'd won – Anubis' forces had been defeated, his attack fleet destroyed, but they were paying a terrible price. And that price was Jack O'Neill's life, the Ancient knowledge he'd absorbed from the repository on P3R-439 had already completely overwhelmed him and now it was killing him.
And there was nothing she or any of them could do to stop it.
It was a horrible realisation and brought with it a terrible feeling of helplessness. She was about to loose someone she cared deeply about and had for years now – though both being military they had never been able to act on it. Behind her Teal'c, Bra'tac and Daniel Jackson stood in sombre silence at the foot of the control chairs dais. There was no jubilation at the fact that they'd stopped Anubis, to a soul they knew that they were witnessing the last few minutes of Jack O'Neill's life.
It was at that moment that a brilliant silver-white light enveloped them. The ornate architecture of the outpost dissolved around them and reformed into a chamber on what was clearly an Asgard ship. The techno-Norse style of the décor and the pedestal off to the side covered with control stones made that perfectly clear. A viewport was off to the side showing Earth rotating slowly below the ship, plumes of smoke and ash from the destruction unleashed by the Goa'uld fleet plainly visible even from orbit.
Blinking to clear away the afterimage of the transport beam flash Sam looked around and felt a sudden surge of hope as she recognised that they were on an Asgard vessel. The Asgard had been able to save Jack the last time he had had the knowledge of the Ancients put in his head, maybe they would be able to save him now. It was a long shot as Jack's condition was a lot more advanced this time around but it was a shot worth taking.
Another transporter beam flashed and Thor appeared in the room. "Greetings," Thor said.
"Hello, Thor," Daniel answered. "Good timing, Jack needs your help."
"So I see," Thor replied looking at Colonel O'Neill in concern, though he was no expert when it came to judging a Humans health it was obvious even to him that Jack O'Neill was in a very bad way. "What has brought him to this condition?"
"He looked into a repository of the Ancients," Teal'c informed the little grey alien.
"He was fully aware of what he was doing when he did it," Daniel added. "But it was something that needed to be done; we needed to find the Lost City before Anubis could. Jack saw this as the only way. I know your people helped him the last time this happened, are you able to do the same now?"
"I believe so, Doctor Jackson," Thor replied walking over to the control pedestal and manipulating the stones there. "It should be possible to remove the Ancients knowledge from his mind in time to save his life, however a great deal depends on the level of physiological degeneration he has suffered. We will certainly do the best that we can."
As Thor spoke the ships transporter activated again and Jack's prone form vanished in the familiar flash of silver-white light. "I have transported him to the automated medical bay," Thor explained. "Where his condition will be dealt with by whichever means necessary, he should return shortly."
"Thank you, Thor," Sam said.
"You are welcome, Major Carter," Thor answered. "I only wish that we had arrived here sooner, we may well have been able to dissuade Anubis from violating the Protected Planets Treaty. As it is we will now communicate our displeasure at this incident to the Goa'uld System Lords and remind them of the punishment they can expect if they violate the treaty again.
"As we speak now Freyr is commanding a force of warships dispatched to Anubis throne world and his Kull Warrior production facility on Tartarus. The Asgard High Council has decreed that all key facilities on both worlds be destroyed as punishment for Anubis' attack on Earth."
"He won't like that," Sam commented. "Or he wouldn't if he was still alive."
"He's likely to be, Sam," Daniel replied. "Remember Anubis is a partially ascended being, his physical form so to speak is largely energy. It would probably take a lot more than a ship exploding in his face to destroy him."
"Anubis is an ascended being," Thor asked startled and in a quiet Asgard way quite horrified by the news as he knew that ascended beings were very, very powerful creatures. The powers of an ascended being in the hands of a Goa'uld – especially one as ruthless as Anubis – were a horror that did not bear thinking about.
"Partially ascended," Daniel corrected. "He attempted to ascend but the Ancients recognised him for what he was and stopped him. They sent him back, but not totally. He's sort of stuck between a corporal existence and the energy state of an ascended being. It is likely that he still has some of the powers of an ascended being but he cannot use them, not without breaking the rules. And if he did that then he would incur the wrath of the Ancients."
"If he is partially ascended then why didn't the Ancients destroy him," Bra'tac asked.
Daniel shrugged. "I don't know," he admitted. "But one thing I do remember from my time amongst the ascended is that where ascended beings are concerned nothing is ever as easy as you would think."
"Nothing ever is," Sam replied before turning to Thor. "Thor I hate to ask this but we need to know, how bad is the damage to Earth?"
Thor looked as uncomfortable as an Asgard could. "The Goa'uld bombardment has inflicted severe damage across multiple continents," he confirmed sounding upset and angry, upset at the loss of innocent lives, and angry that the Asgard had not been able to get here quickly enough to prevent it.
"Thirty-one cities around the planet have been destroyed or severely damaged," Thor continued. "Our sensors have confirmed massive atmospheric disruption as a result of ionisation caused by the passage of plasma blasts. In addition large amounts of dust and debris have been blown into the stratosphere and are being spread by high altitude winds as we speak."
Sam and Daniel winced and closed their eyes in pain as Thor spoke, both of them knew that the death toll was going to be in the tens of millions, possibly even in hundreds of millions. To top it off the heavy atmospheric ionisation would breed monster storms that would claim yet more lives and the amount of debris blasted into the atmosphere would cause global climatic chaos for years to come, chaos that would spawn yet more pain and misery for millions. Teal'c and Bra'tac put sympathetic hands on their shoulders, both Jaffa had seen many Goa'uld atrocities in their long lives, seen many worlds be eradicated by the Goa'uld, even by those standards this attack was devastating. Earth was perhaps the most densely populated planet in the galaxy – her population measuring in billions, and she and her people had been grievously wounded.
"My people will be able to assist with the clean up of the debris in the atmosphere," Thor continued which prompted the two Tau'ri to open their eyes again. "And we can provide technology to dampen down the worst of the storms."
"Have we been able to establish contact with Earth," Daniel asked.
"I am afraid not," Thor answered. "The subspace transmitter we provided for Stargate Command has been destroyed. Electrical disruptions in the atmosphere are going to make conventional radio communication difficult for some time. The only way we would establish reliable communication would be if we took the ship down into the atmosphere."
"Which would not be a good idea at the moment," Sam replied. "All military assets around the world, from every nation, will be at Defcon One at the moment and most of them have no idea of the existence of the Stargate or that these ships are not the ones that attacked. Any forces that we encountered would be very likely to open fire on us."
"Which is a situation that is best avoided," Thor agreed. While it was highly unlikely that conventional Earth military forces would have weapons capable of damaging let alone penetrating the shields of an Asgard warship but it was still a state of affairs that he would rather avoid.
"Indeed," Teal'c agreed in his normal deadpan voice.
"We need to get in touch with Earth though," Sam said. "Thor those cloaked sensor satellites you left here after your last visit, can they carry a subspace databurst transmission?"
Thor considered for a moment. "Yes," he said. "We would have to configure the data processing systems on one of the satellites but it is possible."
"How long would it take," Sam asked.
"About one Earth hour as we would physically have to reconfigure a number of different systems," Thor answered.
"That's too long there has to be another way," Sam said struggling to think, pushing aside the pain and rage for the slaughter inflicted upon her homeworld for awhile. "Where's the nearest Stargate?"
"There is one in the system you refer to as Alpha Centauri," Thor replied. "Its located on the third planet at an old facility built by the Ancients. The Goa'uld have never set foot on the planet in question as ten thousand years ago it was subjected to a large asteroid impact and plunged into an ice age. It's biosphere has since recovered."
"That sounds like our best bet we should be able to dial the SGC from there," Sam replied inwardly excited about the prospect of seeing another Ancient facility, a facility that would hopefully lead them to Atlantis as it was obvious that what was buried beneath the ice of Antarctica wasn't the fabled lost city. The dome in the ice was far to small for it to be anything more than another outpost, like the one on Proclarush Taonas. Though with the damage to Earth it was unlikely they would be able to go to Atlantis anytime soon even if they did find it.
"Very well I will take you there," Thor said. "The remainder of our ships will deploy into a protective formation around Earth."
"Thank you, Thor."
"It is the least we can do given our failure to prevent this attack," Thor answered moving over to the control pedestal and moving some of the control stones around. Immediately a giant holographic screen activated showing the face of one of the Asgard on the ships bridge, to which Thor gave a series of orders in his native language.
The other Asgard acknowledged the orders in their soft and to Humans unintelligible language before signing off, making the holographic screen evaporate into nothingness. A faint flare of sound could be heard through the ship as the powerful hyperdrive system began powering up.
With silent, effortless grace the Jack O'Neill broke orbit of Earth and headed out into open space. Behind the retreating O'Neill class battleship the surviving ships of the force Thor had brought to confront Anubis began deploying themselves to form a defensive screen around Earth. Though it was unlikely that more Goa'uld forces would show up the Asgard were not going to take any chances.
Ahead of Thor's ship a hyperspace window burst into existence a swirling, crackling vortex of aquamarine light and subspace energy. Quickly the Jack O'Neill accelerated into the maelstrom of the vortex and vanished from normal space, behind her the hyperspace window folded closed leaving behind Earth and its silent, watchful guardians.
Anubis Throne World
That Same Time
High in orbit above the world that Anubis had made the very base of his empire space warped and distorted. Multiple hyperspace windows burst into existence startling the small number of elite Ha'tak's left behind to protect the throne world, to a soul the Jaffa onboard immediately thought that there lord was returning early, victorious over the infamous, blasphemous Tau'ri as they had always known he would be.
Delight and relief turned to shock, horror and fear as instead of the expected Ha'tak's Asgard ships emerged from the great rents ripped in the fabric of space by the power of their hyperdrives. It total there were twenty top-of-the-line Asgard warships, six of them O'Neill-class battleships the rest of them Beliskner-class battlecruisers. It was a force that was larger and more powerful than any the Goa'uld had faced in thousands of years, a force that would have even the vilest most ruthless System Lord trembling in fear.
As the last hyperspace window folded closed behind them the Asgard fleet opened up with their main weapons all focusing their fire on the nine Ha'tak's left behind by Anubis. Multiple streams of blue-white charged particle bolts ripped into the Goa'uld vessels, slicing through the thick metal alloy of the hulls to explode inside the ships tearing them apart before their Jaffa crews could power the ship up enough to offer even the most token resistance. Even as the brilliant death explosions of the Ha'tak's cooled and faded the Asgard fleet moved into orbit, their secondary particle pulse weapons arrays rapidly firing at the network of defence platforms, wiping many of the powerful pyramidal satellites out before they could even begin powering up – let alone respond to the surprise attack.
Despite the surprise the inner ring of defence satellites came online and targeted the Asgard before opening fire. Dense whitish-orange blasts of superheated plasma wrapped in gravitic fields shot forth from their weapons arrays – to evaporate in harmless bluish-white flashes of Cherenkov radiation as they encountered the shields of the leading Asgard ships. Undeterred the automated weapons platforms continued firing upon the Asgard – slamming blast after blast into the powerful shields, even as the Asgard finished disposing of the shattered outer defence lines and turned their particle cannons on the remaining platforms. Within moments the inner line of twenty defence platforms disappeared swatted from the sky by the powerful weapons of the Asgard.
With orbital supremacy now firmly established the Asgard fleet began to spread out, individual warships moving to specific points in orbit. All but three ships began descending down through the atmosphere to the Goa'uld facilities below. In mere moments the Asgard ships were hovering only a handful of kilometres above the surface of the planet, their appearance sending waves of terror through the legions of Jaffa and Goa'uld overseers who saw them. Despite their terror a few Jaffa trained staff cannons on the Asgard and started firing only for there fire to sleet ineffectively off the shields protecting the Asgard ships.
For a few seconds the Asgard let them fire in a futile gesture of defiance. Then the Asgard reacted, diffuse blue fans of energy shot out from points on the underside of the ships and played over the few positions firing at them. Instantly Jaffa and equipment alike vanished as the disintegrating rays instantly disassembled them and let their molecules float free in the air to be blown away by the wind. With the resistance effortlessly crushed the Asgard turned their attention and their disintegrator rays on their primary targets and began wiping them out as if they had never been present at all.
Asgard Vessel Mjolnir
A Few Moments Earlier
Commander Freyr sat comfortably in the command throne on the bridge of the O'Neill-class battleship Mjolnir and watched the annihilation of Anubis' orbital defences with a cool detachment. Though he regretted the loss of life on the destroyed Ha'tak's the Goa'uld had to relearn the price for violating the Protected Planets Treaty. The audacious attack Anubis had just mounted on Earth was – as far as the Asgard High Council was concerned – proof that the Goa'uld System Lords had begun to forget just how powerful the Asgard race was and why they should respect their wishes even though the Asgard civilisation was located in another galaxy.
"Commander sensors confirm all orbital defences have been eliminated," the Asgard at the sensor station reported. "Our ships are proceeding into orbit over their targets."
"Excellent," Freyr replied. "Instruct all our ships to proceed to their targets and eliminate them. We shall remain here in orbit to provide support if required."
"Yes commander," communications responded.
Freyr turned his attention back to the tactical hologram floating in front of him. It would not take their forces long to finish their work here, disintegration rays would make short work of the shipyards and Ha'tak landing pedestals. Once this was done he had but one more task, the elimination of the Kull Warrior production facilities on Tartarus, very soon there would be no more of those abominations to life to terrorise the developing races of this galaxy. I just wish this wasn't necessary, he thought, but we have no choice in this, we must remind the Goa'uld of the foolishness of violating the treaty, the destruction of these facilities should provide the System Lords with a suitable reminder.
Thinking more about it Freyr thought it was the Asgards own fault that things had gotten as bad as they were, with the System Lords starting to think they could violate the treaty at will. The war with the Replicators meant they had not been able to give the developing worlds and races of this galaxy the protection from exploitation by the System Lords that they had been able to in the past. In recent years the Goa'uld had committed a number of small treaty violations, from Heru'ur's attack on Cimmeria, to getting the Tollan to make phase shifting weapons of mass destruction for them, to Anubis throwing an asteroid at Earth and received no real response from the Asgard Fleet – certainly nothing like the punishment attacks that they had received in response in the past.
As a result various System Lords had begun getting bolder – moving in on worlds close to protected areas where they had been forbidden to go in the past. Hopefully this attack will convince the System Lords that we are back and that we will no longer tolerate violations of the treaty, Freyr thought knowing that the Asgard High Council were playing a dangerous game. Though the war with the Replicators was finally over – the last of them having been sucked down into the black hole they'd transformed Halla's star into a few days ago – the Asgard were not really in a position to rigorously enforce the treaty. There fleet was still dangerously weak and they could not spare many resources to rebuild it, the search for a cure to their genetic degradation taking the bulk of their resources and time. The Goa'uld shouldn't realise that we're bluffing that we can't always respond to a violation with an attack of this magnitude, Freyr thought if they do then we will have a problem.
Freyr was brought out of his thoughts by a bleep from the communications station.
"Commander our ships are reporting that the groundside targets have been eliminated with minimal resistance from the Jaffa on the planet," communications reported.
"Very well," Freyr responded not at all surprised by the lack of resistance from the Jaffa, the Asgard were well aware of the Jaffa rebellion gathering pace and the fear and awe with which the Jaffa regard them. "Order all ships to return to orbit and rendezvous with us and set course for Tartarus."
"Yes commander."
Slowly over a period of five minutes the fleet of Asgard warships rose up out of the atmosphere of Anubis throne world and rendezvoused with the Mjolnir. Re-establishing their formation the Asgard ships broke orbit and headed out into open space. As they cruised away their hyperdrives powered up, focused subspace fields apply tremendous pressure to the fabric of space ahead of them, peeling apart the walls of the space-time continuum.
With silent roars hyperspace windows burst into existence and in perfectly synchronised formation the Asgard ships vanished into hyperspace. Their destination was the planet Tartarus and the Kull Warrior production facilities located their, facilities that would soon disappear forever, washed away by the power of the Asgard.
Ruins of Washington DC
A Few Moments Earlier
Major John Sheppard swore softly as he stumbled on some debris from a shattered building and nearly went sprawling. He'd already fallen a number of times on the rubble that seemed to choke the streets of the smouldering city, and had the cuts, bruises and abrasions to prove it. Still the pain from them was nothing compared to the pain in his heart and soul, pain caused by the site of so much death and destruction. Though he had seen such things before in Afghanistan and in other parts of the world it was somehow different seeing Washington shattered and in many places in flames, it was more real, more upsetting than anything he had ever seen.
Everywhere he looked there was nothing but smoke, fire, debris and billowing clouds of dust from pulverised buildings. The devastation inflicted by those weird energy bolts that had come from somewhere beyond the sky was total. It was what he imagined the aftermath of a nuclear attack would look like.
So far he had not encountered anything alive; the city was gripped by a deathly silence broken only by the crackling roar of the fires and the occasional rumble of an explosion either from a fuel station or a ruptured gas line. Despite an attempt to remain positive, telling himself that people survived massive calamities all the time, he was beginning to wonder if he was the only living thing – Human or otherwise – left alive in Washington DC. Don't think that, John, he told himself firmly, there's got to be survivors, there's just got to be. You just haven't found any yet.
It was at that moment that a faint sound reached his ears; a sound that stopped him dead in his tracks and made him listen intently. It sounded like a child crying. Relief flooded through John Sheppard and nearly made him sink to his knees in pure relief, he wasn't alone after all. There was someone else still alive in Washington and they were in trouble.
Listening intensely he tried to locate the source of the cry, which wasn't easy given the constant background roaring of the fires. Eventually he determined that it was coming from the half-shattered remains of a five story block of flats, somehow someone had miraculously survived the bombardment that had half destroyed the building.
Turning in the direction of the building, John hurried inside stumbling on debris as he did so. The main foyer area of the block was in ruins, littered with debris that had fallen from the levels above.
"Hello," he called heading towards the flat immediately to the right where the crying seemed to be coming from.
"Help us," a woman's voice called over the sound of the crying child. "Please help us."
"It's okay I'm coming," John called back as he came to a partially opened door, through which he could just catch a glimpse of a hallway. Reaching out he pushed on the door to get it to open far enough to get through, only to find that it refused to move. Looking up he swore softly to himself when he saw that the frame had shifted, was all twisted and distorted, making it very difficult to get the door to move. Things are never easy are they, John, he thought before taking a step back and kicking the door hard.
The door opened a little further; encouraged he kicked it again and again putting as much force behind the kicks as he could until the door opened completely allowing into what had once been a nice ground floor flat. Now though like the building that housed it the place was a wreck, debris and possessions fallen everywhere which made footing treacherous at best. Following the crying he made his way into the kitchen diner area.
And found a middle aged but still attractive blond haired woman pinned under a heavy oak table that had fallen on its side, pinning her legs to the ground. A young boy of about nine or ten was endeavouring to lift the oak table off her – and not getting anywhere as he wasn't strong enough – while off to the side a girl of about six stood crying her eyes out. The woman – obviously the kid's mother – looked over at the sound of his entrance and a look of relief appeared on her face.
"Please help us," she said.
"I'll do my best," John replied coming in and moving over to the table. "What's your name son?" he asked the little boy.
"Leon," the little boy answered. "This is my mom and the one screaming the place down is my sister, Megan."
John smiled. "My names John," he said moving to the other side of the table. "Now what say we get this table off your mother?" Leon grinned and nodded. "Okay then on the count of three," as he spoke he got himself into position, "one… two… three."
The moment he said through he lifted the table off the trapped woman, though he was in excellent physical shape – you weren't allowed to fly if you weren't – the table was both heavy and an awkward shape. Despite this he managed to hold it up with relative ease, though he let Leon take a very small amount of the weight so the kid could feel like he was helping.
In no time at all he had the table back upright and was carefully checking the woman's legs for any sign of a break. Amazingly she seemed unharmed by the table, well aside from a few bruises. "You're fine, no breaks though you'll ache for a few days," he said with a smile. "Can you stand?"
"I think so," the woman – who by the looks of her was only a few years older than him – said before cautiously getting to her feet, she swayed for a moment then steadied herself. "Thank you."
"Your welcome," John answered. "I was beginning to think I was the only one left alive in this city until I heard Megan over there doing her best to scream what's left of the building down."
"She's done nothing but cry mommy like usual," Leon added with a glare to his sister – who was sniffling but no longer bawling at the top of her lungs, eyes that were shining from tears were glaring over at her brother.
"Now, Leon that's not a nice thing to say about your sister."
"But that's all she ever does, mom," Leon answered. "And Dad says to cry is to show weakness."
John watched as the woman rolled her eyes, clearly this was an old argument. "Now listen here Leon James Sumner," the woman said bending down to her son's eye level. "Your father is wrong there, it is not weakness to cry or show emotion, it only shows that you're Human do you understand?"
Leon frowned. "But dad says…" he started to object.
"I know what your father says and I will be having some very strong words with him about this. He might be a marine but you're not and he's wrong for trying to mould you into one," the woman said standing back up upright and turning to look at John. "Sorry," she said. "Marshall my husband is a colonel in the marines," she explained. "And he seems to be determined to make Leon into one as well – not matter how often I tell him off about it."
John snorted slightly. "Marines," he said with a shake of his head, he had dealt with marines a number of times in his career and never came away with a good impression of them in general. They were always far too cocky and far too arrogant for his tastes, not to mention dismissive to anyone outside their tight little circle of jarheads. Oh one or two marines he'd known had been great guys and gals who really knew how to have a good time when off duty, but they were the exception and not the rule.
"Oh don't get me wrong I love, Marshall to bits but he can be annoying at times."
"I see. Oh forgive me I've been rude and not even told you my name. I'm Major John Sheppard, US Air Force," John replied offering his hand.
"Nice to meet you, Major Sheppard, I'm Melissa Sumner and these are my children," Melissa answered taking his hand and shaking it. "What happened, some kind of terrorist attack?"
"Not unless Al-Qaeda can somehow cause energy bolts to rain from the sky and pound much of the city flat and has somehow got its hands on very unusual and fast aircraft," John answered. "I swear it was like something out of Independence Day or War of the Worlds."
Melissa frowned slightly. She had a good idea what those energy bolts and aircraft were, though she wasn't military and thus not supposed to know anything about it. The reason she knew was though he would hotly deny it Marshall Sumner talked in his sleep – when he wasn't snoring loud enough to wake the dead that was, another thing that he would very hotly deny he did – consequently she knew quite a bit about the supposedly top secret Stargate Programme. Knew what the Air Force, with some cooperation from the Marine Corps, had been up to for the last several years behind the back of not just the American people but the whole planet.
Though she'd never let on about what she knew. Melissa knew full well that it would have put her husband in an untenable position between his duty and his family. Though if we've been attacked this openly, this directly I don't see the government being able to cover it up this time, she thought.
John Sheppard frowned slightly as he saw a multitude of different expressions flash across the face of the woman before him. One of the few things he had learned from his father Patrick – before they fell out over his choice of career – was how to read someone. It was obvious to him that the woman he'd just helped knew something about what had happened, who their attackers were. Attackers that he for one were convinced were aliens however incredible and bizarre that sounded. To his mind it was the only thing that made sense.
He was about to open his mouth to ask her a question when a brilliant flash of light outside caught his attention. A flash that was followed half a second later by a loud rumbling clap of thunder. Huh how could there be a storm now, he thought as there was another flash of lightning and clap of thunder just as a very strong wind began making the entrance door to the building bang against the wall outside the flat. The noise was enough to start Megan crying again – in fear this time – and run to her mother, even Leon looked a little scared though John could tell he was trying to hide it.
More thunder crashed loudly with such force that the very walls seemed to vibrate with the shockwaves. An ominous sounding groan came from the building and some white dust fell from the ceiling, drawing cries of fear from Leon and Megan.
"We need to get out of here," John said. "This building is going to come down any minute."
"Out into the storm," Melissa asked looking at him as though he was crazy.
"Believe me I'm not thrilled by the idea," John replied as more thunder claps and the ever strengthening wind made the building shake and groan ominously. "But it seems we don't have any other choice, we stay here and were liable to get pancaked when this place comes down."
"Point," Melissa conceded. "Okay kids get your coats on quickly."
Leon and Megan reluctantly nodded and hurried to their rooms to get their coats on. Melissa for her part picked up her coat from behind the door then looked over at John wearing nothing but his flight suit. "I've got a spare coat here if you want to borrow it," she said.
John considered for a few moments. A coat would be handy especially if this storm turned into more than just strong winds and electrical disturbance. "Sure if you don't mind me borrowing it," he said.
"Its Marshall's and while he is a little bit broader shouldered than you it should fit over your flight suit," Melissa replied with a smile taking the spare coat from its place behind the door.
"Thanks," John answered accepting the coat, a coat that carried the lingering smell of a brand of aftershave that he didn't particularly care for. As they say beggars can't be choosers, he though as he put it on. The coat was slightly too short in the body for him but otherwise it fit, no doubt thanks to the added bulk of his flight suit as the coat was obviously designed for someone who was shorter than him and with a different body type to boot.
"See near perfect fit," Melissa said grinning as she put on her own coat. A moment later Leon and Megan returned dressed in their own coats.
John smiled. "Right then everybody ready," he asked just as the building emitted another ominous groan and more dust along with pieces of plaster fell from the ceiling.
"Ready or not we have to go," Melissa said looking up at the ceiling worriedly, a number of ominous cracks were snaking their way across the once smooth surface, some of them quite wide. Being the daughter of a successful structural engineer she knew full well that in moments the ceiling would give way and bury them under God knew how much debris from the upper floors. An event that was sure to bring about their deaths.
"Good point," John agreed giving the ceiling a nervous glance himself. "You and the kids go first."
Melissa nodded and took her children's hands before leading them out of their ruined flat, out the building and into the debris strewn streets of the smouldering city. John followed a few steps behind her and noted how they paused at the bottom of the buildings steps to stare at the scene of utter devastation in a mixture of horror and disbelief.
"Its awful isn't it," he said.
"Yeah," Melissa replied the strong wind blowing across the city sending her long, blond hair flying in all directions. "Where do we go from here?"
John shrugged. "I have no idea all I was planning to do was get out of the city and back to the base I'm stationed at," he said. "Assuming it's not been attacked there's shelter there. Its likely to be intact as the bombardment seemed to be focused on the city."
"Sounds like a plan," Melissa answered.
"Mom do we have to walk there," Leon asked dismayed at the prospect of having to walk across the city. While he was a very active boy he didn't relish a long walk, surely they would be able to get in the car and drive to wherever it was they were going.
"Only until we can find a working car, Leon," John told him. "Or a search party – if there are any – finds us."
"We better get started then," Melissa added, though like her children she didn't relish the walk, but there was no way they could stay here. Not with this wind, wind that was almost certain to fan and spread the fires until Washington was reduced to nothing but a smear of black, baked earth. The only way she could see for that to not happen was for it to start raining as that would put out the worst of the blazes.
"But mom…" Leon started to object.
"But nothing, Leon," Melissa said firmly. "We're going."
Leon scowled but knew better than to argue with his mother when she used that tone of voice. Even his father wouldn't argue with mom when she used that tone of voice. Reluctantly he nodded while beside him Megan grinned at her brother buckling under their mother's stern gaze.
Then without any further words Melissa started walking, tugging on her children's hands so they walked with her, John followed a few paces behind her. Silently they began their journey through the city towards the airbase John Sheppard was assigned to, all hoping that it had miraculously survived the holocaust that had been unleashed upon Washington DC, and unknown to them the entire world.
Kull Warrior Production Facility
Tartarus, That Same Time
Eris the chief Goa'uld scientist in charge of the Kull Warrior production facility on Tartarus – replacing Thoth who'd been murdered during the Tok'ra/Tau'ri raid on this facility a few months ago – frowned as she studied the latest report from the cloning facility. Something had gone wrong in the initial growth phase of the latest batch of Kull Warrior drones rendering over four thousand units useless, they would have to scrap the batch and start from scratch. Something that she was not looking to explaining to Lord Anubis as the Kull Warrior drones were one of the cornerstones of his plans for galactic conquest. Given their short lifespan any delay in the production of new warriors would be at best inconvenient and at worse disastrous. Especially if stalled the advance of Anubis forces and gave the System Lords more time to consolidate their collective forces and reinforce defences on key target worlds.
After a moment Eris sighed and put the data pad down. She had to figure out what exactly the error was that had developed with the Kull, which wasn't going to be an easy task considering the complexity of the technology involved. Technology that was Ancient in origin as this entire facility was built on top of and around an old Ancient genetic research station. It was only here that they had the equipment, not to mention the required energy from tapping the fury of this planet's many volcanoes, to grow and animate the Kull Warriors, a process that was very complicated, very energy intensive and as the latest faulty batch proved far from perfected.
The sound of running booted feet caught her attention and Eris looked up just as two of the Jaffa guards came running into the room. There were few Jaffa here – only those most loyal to Lord Anubis were trusted with an assignment to this base, but still Eris was weary of the Jaffa now giving how quickly dissent and disbelief were spreading through their ranks. One never truly knew the heart of a Jaffa these days – there was always the suspicion now that one of them was going to slip a knife in her back or worse.
"What is the meaning of this intrusion," she demanded giving the Jaffa a glare that promised extreme retribution if they were bothering her for something that wasn't vitally important.
"My Lady we've received an urgent communication from the throne world," the more senior of the two Jaffa responded. "They've been attacked."
"What!" Eris breathed, staring at the Jaffa in stunned disbelief for a moment before pulling herself together. "Who would dare carry out such an attack?" she demanded imperiously. "Which of the System Lords is responsible for such an outrage?"
"They were attacked by the Asgard my lady. The enemy fleet achieved total surprise and eradicated the guardian fleet and orbital defences in minutes before firing on all munitions plants, shipyards and Ha'tak landing pedestals. They left orbit a few moments ago, their hyperspace vector is for this planet."
Eris's eyes widened in horror at the Jaffa's worlds, before flashing with golden light, an attack by the diminutive but powerful Asgard was the stuff of Goa'uld nightmares. The question was why had the Asgard mounted the attack on the throne world at this time and were they coming here to destroy this facility as well? Then the truth dawned on her. She had been fully aware that Anubis had been on his way to attack the Tau'ri and eliminate the threat they posed to his plans. His attack must have failed and now the Asgard Fleet was delivering retribution for the violation of the Protected Planets Treaty.
"How many ships," she asked. The number of warships was the crux issue that would determine if they withstood the Asgard attack or if they were destroyed by it.
"Twenty warships my lady," the Jaffa answered.
"I see. Very well order all base personnel to emergency stations raise the shield and bring the defence systems online. If the Asgard want to destroy this facility they won't get do it without a fight. Then send a transmission to our forces on the front lines with the System Lords requesting reinforcements."
Both Jaffa bowed. "Yes my lady," the more senior said before they left the room.
Eris scowled as they left. Twenty Asgard warships was a very formidable force – bigger and more powerful than any single force the Goa'uld had faced when they and the Asgard had last faced each other in open war. Though this facility had a dome shield based on the same hybrid Goa'uld/Ancient principles as the shields on the Ha'tak's and was protected by formidable defensive weapons – weapons that were more advanced than even those on the throne world had been – she was not at all sure they would be able to repel an attack from such a formidable foe.
I must prepare for the worst, she thought, if this base looks like it's about to be destroyed then I have to be prepared to flee. With that thought in mind Eris stood up and headed for her chambers to gather her research notes, she would need them to use as a bartering tool with the System Lords if she was forced to flee the facility. If that happened she doubted she would ever be able to work with Anubis again – assuming he was still alive and hadn't been blown to dust over the Tau'ri homeworld. But if that was the price of her life, then so be it.
Asgard Vessel Mjolnir
A Few Moments Later
Commander Freyr studied the tactical hologram as his squadrons ships slipped gracefully out of hyperspace into normal space and re-established the traditional Asgard battle phalanx formation. Before them was the planet now known as Tartarus, the heavily volcanic world that had long ago been the home of one of the Ancients premier genetic research and experimentation facilities, research that Anubis had discovered and horribly perverted to create the abominations to life that were his Kull Warriors. But not for much longer, Freyr thought, very shortly we will eliminate this facility and Anubis' horrible perversion of the Ancients legacy.
"Commander the sensors have located the Goa'uld facility," sensors reported. "As our intelligence reports indicate it is built around and on top of the Ancients research facility."
"Have they detected us," Freyr asked.
"Yes. The facility has raised a dome shield, however it is not a standard Goa'uld shield dome and it appears to employ some of the shield principles used by the Ancients."
Freyr frowned as much as was possible for an Asgard. Though he had expected it – given the hybrid shields Anubis employed on his motherships – the shield dome that employed both Goa'uld and Ancient technology was going to slow his mission down somewhat. They wouldn't be able to descend over the base and neatly make it 'go away' with disintegrator rays as they had at Anubis throne world. They would have to destroy the base via orbital bombardment and that would take a good few minutes given the twin factors of weapons diffusion over distance and the presence of the shield.
Freyr was about to order the fleet to enter orbit but something made him pause, some warriors instinct that he had never lost even though for the last thousand years he had sat on the High Council more often than he had commanded a warship. Yes the shield dome was strong but it made no sense for Anubis to rely entirely on it to protect such a vital facility, even if he didn't trust his Jaffa enough anymore to have a fleet of Ha'tak's guard the planet. Something wasn't right here.
"Scan the planets orbital space," he ordered. "Search for any sign of cloaked mines or defence satellites."
"Yes commander," sensors acknowledged before turning the Mjolnir's state of the art sensors on Tartarus' orbital space, space the fleet would have to enter in order to bombard the facility. No sooner than he had issued the order than Freyr saw that he had been correct to be cautious as just outside orbit a shell of small pyramidal satellites appeared shimmering slightly as their cloaking fields deactivate to be replaced by shields.
"Commander the satellites are powering up their weapons," sensors reported as the satellites moved their positions slightly. "We are being targeted."
"All ships target the defence platforms, fire at will."
"Yes commander."
For a few more timeless second's peace continued to reign in the high orbital space above Tartarus, as though the universe was holding its breath. Then with breathtaking suddenness space came alive as the Goa'uld platforms opened fire on the Asgard. Intensely powerful plasma bolts emerged from the tip of the pyramidal platforms burned their way through space before impacting on the shields of the Asgard fleet where they dispersed in a harmless silver-blue flash of energy.
Rapid fire blue-white pulsed particle bolts shot out of the secondary weapons arrays of the Asgard ships in retaliation, each blast of disruptive charged particles connecting with a satellite and turning it into a hazy ball of disassociated ions as the satellite shields were nowhere near strong enough to repel the power of the Asgard weapons. Heedless of the losses the platforms continued firing but shifted their focus to target some of the Beliskner-class battlecruisers protecting the fleet's port flank, pummelling their shields even as more satellites disappeared in momentary flashes of ionic flame beneath the Asgard onslaught.
Within moments the highly accurate, well coordinated fire from the Asgard fleet had opened up a sizeable hole in the defensive grid as satellite after satellite died. With the outer defence band now hopelessly compromised a second much larger group of platforms disengaged cloaks and appeared behind the initial line, opening fire immediately upon fully materialising. An avalanche of plasma fire slammed into the Asgard fleet. Two of the port flanking Beliskner's their shields already weakened fell to the opening barrage as nearly a hundred streaks of plasma – each hotter than the core of a star – penetrated the shields on both battlecruisers to tear their hulls open and set off destructive secondary explosions throughout the vessels that quickly and efficiently tore them apart.
Not discouraged in the least by the fierce resistance being offered by the orbital defences, or by the loss of two of their warships the Asgard continued firing back. Each bolt of their weapons claiming another satellite and another and another, opening up holes in the planets defences. Defences that would have rebelled any attack that the System Lords would have been capable of mounting but which had never really been designed to withstand an assault from the assembled might of an Asgard battle phalanx.
Despite this the platforms continued firing, pounding the Asgard fleet with salvo after salvo of plasma making their shields flare and ripple with distortion waves as they refracted the heat and energy back out into space. Under the combined fire of a dozen platforms a third Beliskner lost its shields and began to be chewed apart by the barrage. Knowing the ship was doomed the Asgard crew directed their vessel forward into the densest part of the field. After a few more seconds the ship exploded as plasma tore through its four neutrino-ion generators venting all their energy at once. Debris and energy from the destroyed ship tore through the field, setting off a cascade of secondary explosions as platforms were enveloped in the maelstrom and annihilated, the souls of the Asgard crew riding the firestorm to Valhalla.
When the explosions faded and cooled a huge hole had been blown in Tartarus' orbital defences. Continuous fire from the remaining seventeen Asgard ships rained down on the few remaining platforms that were within range to interfere with the Asgards plans, wiping them from the heavens in a hail of charged particle bolts.
With orbital defences now hopelessly compromised the six O'Neill-class battleships and four of the Beliskner's moved into orbit. The remaining seven Beliskner's pulled back deploying themselves into a formation that would enable them to shoot down anymore platforms that the Goa'uld might be attempting to bring into range from the opposite side of the planet.
Kull Warrior Facility
"Lady Eris the Asgard fleet has broken through our orbital defences," one of the Jaffa manning the consoles in the control room reported. "Ten ships are taking up bombardment positions in orbit above the facility. The remaining seven have deployed into fire support formation outside the orbital grid."
Eris allowed herself a slight smile. Though the orbital defence network had been more or less obliterated it had done better against the Asgard than she would have thought with three of their ships destroyed and if sensors were to be believed shield damage to most of the other ships. They still had a chance of repelling the Asgard long enough for reinforcements to arrive from the front lines with the System Lords.
"Excellent are the ground to orbit weapons armed?" she asked.
"Yes my lady."
"Good. Then target the closest Asgard ship and fire."
"Yes my lady."
The moment Eris gave the order four large turrets mounted at the compass points on top of the surface structure of the base swivelled around and targeted the orbiting Asgard ships. Based on a combination of Ancient technology and the ion-beam weapons technology salvaged from the wreckage of the conquered Tollan homeworld Tollana each cannon represented the very latest in Goa'uld weapons technology. Weapons that were currently too big and cumbersome for all but Anubis command ship to be equipped with.
The cannons cycled up and had anyone been watching they would have seen a golden-yellow glow gathering in the weapons barrel. A second later a proton beam erupted from the muzzle of each cannon, streaking space wards, splitting the air apart with a load booming sound as they did so. In less than a moment the beams reached orbit and slammed into the O'Neill-class battleship Valkestner, setting her shields aglow and making the ship visibly tremble with the impact. The particle beams shut off as the Goa'uld weapons began recycling and for a brief, timeless moment calm reigned in orbit.
Then the Mjolnir opened fire, a larger, brighter pulsed particle bolt shooting forth from its main cannon. The other O'Neill's and the Beliskner's followed suit each sending a brilliant blast of energy downwards towards the Goa'uld base. Secondary pulse arrays joined in sending smaller more rapidly firing pulses down towards the base as the six battleships and four battlecruisers unleashed all of their immense firepower on the single target.
The fierce barrage of energy bolts slashed down through the smoke rich atmosphere to slam into the nearly invisible dome-shaped bubble of energy that surrounded the Kull Warrior facility, with white hot force. The shield flashed, rippled with distortion waves and Alkesh-sized balls of energy appeared where the blasts struck only for their fury to sleet ineffectively off the shield back into the atmosphere as a haze of blue disassociated ions. Below the protective barrier the facility rocked with the shockwaves that passed through the field to slam into the base like a million invisible sledgehammers.
Defiantly the Goa'uld proton cannons fired again, sending another four javelins of energy slamming into the shields protecting the Valkestner. Already badly weakened by the earlier attack on top of the onslaught of plasma from the satellites the O'Neill class's shields weren't enough to protect the ship fully. Two of the particle beams – their power reduced to twenty percent by the force barrier – penetrated the force field to cut deep into the hull eliciting a spray of molten metal and an eruption of superheated atmosphere as explosive decompression opened a large part of the ships hammerhead to space. Wounded but not mortally the Valkestner began to pull back out of orbit to recharge and replenish its shields. The nine remaining ships intensified their attack unleashing another barrage of pulsed particle bolts from both main and secondary weapons.
The barrage sliced down through the atmosphere and once again pounded the shield dome over the Kull Warrior facility. A third volley followed half a second later, then a forth as the Asgard pumped as much energy as they could into their weapons arrays allowing them to fire almost continuously, only pausing between salvos long enough for their weapons capacitors to recharge. For a moment the shield continued to weather the storm of firepower without any apparent effort but then it began to glow dimly at first then brighter and brighter as the strain of the Asgards bombardment mounted forcing the shield to work ever harder to repel the enormous force of the Asgard energy weapons.
Control Room
Kull Warrior Facility
Eris stumbled against the wall of the control room as the facility shook violently with the shockwaves of the bombardment. So far the shield was holding under the Asgards bombardment but the strain on it was enormous. A glance at the status displays showed that shield strength was already starting to drop, the proton cannons had shut down their energy being automatically shunted to the beleaguered shield generators.
Two things were immediately obvious to her. One was the fact that the new proton beam weapons were not quite as effective against Asgard shields as they would have hoped on top of the fact that they took far too much energy to fire. Two was the fact that she had been right to think up a contingency plan for her own survival, as it was obvious that the shield dome was not going to be able to withstand the Asgard assault for long – the Asgard weapons were simply too powerful. I must escape, she thought picking up the satchel that contained the crystals with her research notes on up before quietly slipping out of the control room.
"Let no one else leave the control room," she ordered to the two Kull Warrior drones guarding the door. Both Kull's bowed their heads in acknowledgement of the order and Eris left them to as she disappeared around a bend in the corridor.
As soon as she was out of sight of the control room Eris began to run through the corridors of the facility – doing her best to ignore the now near constant shaking. In moments she reached the entrance and hurried outside to the bridge over a river of white hot lava from the nearby volcano that flowed between the mountain on which the facility was built and the neighbouring cliff top where the chappa'ai and its dialling device stood.
Overhead the shield was now glowing fiercely, hellishly with the intense strain of resisting the immense firepower hammering it. The noise of the bombardment was intense as though a million bass drums were being struck continuously making the air itself seem to vibrate with the shockwaves, but she ignored it as much as she could as she looked up at the shield. With the eye of someone who knew about such things Eris could tell that the powerful dome shield – the strongest ever constructed by the Goa'uld - was getting dangerously close to failure. Still she believed there would be enough time to save herself and get off world.
Quickly Eris made her way across the bridge to the chappa'ai, ignoring the searing heat coming off the river of molten rock flowing below with practiced ease, and used her remote unit to deactivate the security force shield around the gate. With a calmness that she didn't really feel she began entering a Stargate address for one of the worlds in Lord Ba'al's domain – as she knew that Ba'al was forever looking for new under lords as he was one of the stronger surviving System Lords third only in power to Lord Yu Hang Shang-Ti and Lady Amaterasu. Plus there was the well known facts that Ba'al was always on the lookout for a gifted scientist to replace that disgustingly obese fool Nerus.
Nerus.
Even the mere thought of him made Eris wrinkle her host's nose in distaste. Nerus was known to greatly love the pleasures that came with having a Human host, his excessive drinking and eating habits were legendary amongst the Goa'uld fascinating them even as it simultaneously repelled them. Unfortunately Nerus was a good scientist – not as good as her but still good – which had meant his excessive appetites had been tolerated. But not for much longer if Ba'al accepts my services, she thought imagining the look on Nerus' face when she showed up. She and Nerus had clashed before – especially when Nerus had been in her service before defecting to Cronos, taking with him the knowledge that had enable Cronos to overpower her fleet and take her domain from her.
The last chevron on the chappa'ai clicked into place and the unstable vortex burst forth before settling down into the familiar silvery blue water-like surface of the wormhole. Eris was just about to walk up to the wormhole when there was a planet shattering boom and a tremendous concussion wave knocked her off her feet.
Groaning Eris picked herself up and looked up. To see that the shield had vanished, she looked back at the Kull Warrior facility where she had worked tirelessly for the last few years ever since fleeing for her life after Cronos destroyed her fleet and his armies began systematically taking over the few worlds that had been her domain. She was just in time to see a bolt of blue-white energy particles slam into the main structure triggering a massive explosion, the blast wave beginning to spread through the complex making the rock bend and flex while sending a plume of smoke and rubble skywards.
Eris turned and raced through the wormhole, a second before another powerful blast struck the facility completely erasing the surface structure in an eruption of smoke, debris and fire. The remaining parts of the complex collapsed burying the underground corridors and cloning chambers under millions of tonnes of debris. A third and final pulsed particle bolt struck the shattered remains of the complex, burrowing down through the debris before exploding deep within the bowls of the mountain, rupturing the Ancient built geothermal taps that had capped a large subsurface magma chamber to provide the base with all the energy it needed.
A new conduit to the surface now opened the magma having been held under tremendous pressure for millions of years by the power of the Ancients technology exploded upwards as if eager for freedom. A massive mushrooming cloud of smoke, ash and steam shot through with great tongues of liquid fire erupted from the shattered mountain that had once housed the Kull Warrior facility. The eruption cloud rapidly rose up to the stratosphere propelled by the tremendous force of the detonation as a new volcano loudly announced its birth to the universe.
Asgard Vessel Mjolnir
"Target destroyed, commander," sensors reported.
Commander Freyr nodded, he could see it himself. The massive plume of ash was clearly visible spreading out across Tartarus polluted skies from space. The exploding magma, released from the pressured cauldron it had been kept in for millions of years would soon erase what little was left of the Kull Warrior facility from existence. There would now be no more of those abominations produced by Anubis or whichever Goa'uld took over the domain of the defeated System Lord.
"Understood," Freyr said before bowing his head and paying silent homage to those of his fellow Asgard who had died in this battle, Asgard who could never be resurrected in a new clone body. Though he supposed he should be grateful that they had died as their ancestors had died, as warriors who would be afford places of honour in the great warrior halls of Valhalla, rather than suffer the genetic degeneration that was slowly destroying the rest of his people.
He also took a moment to mourn the deaths of any Human slaves that had been in the base. While he did not mourn the passage of the Goa'uld scientists or the Jaffa – they were enemies and thus deserved little if any mercy from the Asgard, the Human slaves however were another story. They were the innocents in all of this and it was a sad fact of the universe that sometimes in war innocents died in the crossfire, becoming collateral damage as the Tau'ri called it.
"Communications order all of our ships to break orbit," he ordered after a moment's silence. "Our task here is done. All ships are to set course for the Tau'ri homeworld and prepare to render any and all assistance they can, given how much damage Anubis has done the Tau'ri are going to need all the help we can give them."
"Yes commander."
With the normal effortless grace that belied the size of their vessels the Asgard fleet broke orbit of Tartarus, formed up and vanished into hyperspace on course for Earth. Behind them they left the wreckage of the Goa'uld facility, a facility that was melting and burning beneath the irresistible elemental force of the newborn volcano.
It was a fitting funeral pyre for the Kull Warriors, for Anubis and for that Goa'uld's dreams of galactic conquest.