SGD 3x04 Repeating History, Part 4

January 2, 2006
Chulak

Rak'nor watched helplessly as they began descending from the sky. Half an hour earlier, a pair of Ori battleships, escorted by two smaller frigates, arrived in the system. Very quickly, the token defensive fleet had been completely obliterated. Strangely, the Ori fleet had largely refrained from orbital bombardment, only hitting communications and some military installations. For that, they were fortunate.

There were still a few cloaked stealth ships in orbit, although they could do nothing against the Ori leviathan as it descended toward the planet, leaving the frigates in orbit. It seemed a strange move, but it made sense in context. The Ori fought much like the Goa'uld. They fought a war of terror. Most of their communications had been wiped out, but not all. The Jaffa world was able to send off a message, a plea for help.

He checked his staff weapon and armour. "Ready the men. The crusade has begun."

Earth
Washington, D.C.

"Damn it to hell!" President Hayes shouted in the privacy of his office. "This is about the last way I wanted to start a new year!"

He turned to General Hammond, an intense fire in his eyes. "George, I'm convening an emergency meeting of the Stargate Alliance. Any more information you can give me."

The General put down the phone in his hand and nodded. "We don't know a lot at this time, Mister President. We know that the Ori have landed troops on Chulak by landing one of their battleships. Its escorts- two or three frigates- remain in orbit. Current estimates put the capacity of one of those ships somewhere between division and corps size, in addition to several hundred fighters."

"What are they up against?" the President asked, fumbling with a cigarette.

"Whatever defensive fleet the Free Jaffa had is gone, sir. The Free Jaffa can mobilize several brigades of warriors, however, many of those will be militia formations, poorly trained and poorly equipped. They have a sizeable force of Death Gliders, though those will likely be destroyed very quickly. Furthermore, there is a possibility that the Ori will engage in orbital bombardment."

"The odds aren't good, are they?" He took a drag on the cigarette.

Hammond shook his head. "No, Mister President, I put them at about ten to one against."

The President coughed and stood up. "What do we have to reinforce them?"

"The AESF has the First OEF ready to deploy in this galaxy, the Third and Fourth can be deployed if it is absolutely necessary, but I do not recommend it, Mister President. There's also EUROFORCE and RRF/EP as well as the Chinese force, should those units be released by their respective countries. The US Army has the First and Second USEU and the Marines have the Third USEU- all can be deployed within twenty-four hours. If necessary, we can commit our terrestrial forces- the Marine Expeditionary Units will be the fastest to deploy."

"And you don't think the Free Jaffa can take care of themselves?" the President asked again.

"With all due respect to our allies, Mister President, they will have their hands full. The Free Jaffa have limited resources, and I suspect most will be delegated to protecting Dakara. They will reinforce Chulak, but I honestly cannot tell you if they have enough to break the siege."

"Damn it." President Hayes took another drag on the cigarette.

Chulak

The battle began in the sky. Thousands of Death Gliders and Al'Kesh were launched to attack the Ori before they could gain a foothold. In response, the Ori battleship disgorged its own fighters, which ended up engaged with the Jaffa within minutes. The Jaffa pilots were seasoned and hardened veterans, but their experience could not make up for the technological and numerical superiority of the Ori.

For every Jaffa fighter there were two Ori ones, each faster and more manoeuvrable. Though neither side had missiles, the Ori weapons fired faster, and their fighters were equipped with shields. The Jaffa pilots quickly found it would take three or four hits to take down an Ori fighter. Still, they weren't completely unsuccessful. Hundreds of Ori starfighters rained down from the sky to join their former adversaries below.

Once the Ori battleship landed, the ground battle began. Ori warriors streamed from hatches on the underside of the ship and were immediately met with heavy resistance. The Jaffa were fewer in number and inferior in equipment, but had some key advantages. They were expecting an invasion, and had dug in using whatever they could get- buildings, rubble, and a Tau'ri invention called 'sandbag'.

Initially, the Ori warriors rushed into the streets, but were quickly assaulted and forced back by a hail of Kalashnikov, staff weapon, and M2 machine gun fire. It turned into a deadly game of urban warfare, intense fighting in the cramped streets of the largest Jaffa city in the galaxy. The Ori used their air supremacy to great effect, bombing suspected Jaffa hardpoints to clear a path for their troops.

But the Ori had forgotten something, and that was the steely resolve of warriors desperately defending their home. The Jaffa were giving them a hell of a fight.

P3Y-229

Floating among the wreckage, perfectly hidden by its cloaking device, sat a lone cargoship belonging to the Tok'ra. Aboard it, two agents sat, utterly bored by their mission. Their relief would not arrive for two days yet, and they would have to continue to observe the supergate until they arrived. With the galaxy plunged into war, their relief could be delayed significantly.

Sina bolted upright in her seat as the alarm began to blare at her. She quickly awoke the agent next to her as readouts appeared in front of her. Even without them, it was obvious what was happening.

Electrical energy crackled across the surface of the supergate as it activated, sending out a colossal unstable vortex and disintegrated literal tons of debris. Seconds after the wormhole had formed, the first ships began to exit. The Tok'ra counted four battleships and eight frigates before the supergate shut down.

Once they were sure the supergate would not activate again, they decloaked and powered a subspace transmitter. The communique was short and to the point, but no less disturbing.

Tegalus

"It's not the Rand Protectorate, Minister."

Under normal circumstances, those words would be a relief. Their nuclear arsenal was armed and ready to fire, their armies were on the march, and civil defense was at full readiness. That the world was not about to end in nuclear fire should have been a relief.

However, in this case, it chilled the blood in Minister Chaska's veins. She knew who had invaded their territory- the Ori. The Rand Protectorate they could fight, they could reason with- they knew them. But the Ori were unknowable and technologically advanced. They knew the power the Ori could wield, from orbital bombardment to biological warfare.

It seemed, however, this time they intended to wage more conventional warfare. "Get me a line to space command."

"Space command, Minister." An aide handed her a phone, which she brought to her face.

"This is Minister Chaska. I need a status report on those interstellar vessels."

A very stressed voice came through. "Uh, yes, ma'am, the smaller objects, both of them are staying in orbit, the bigger ones, uh, one is heading toward us, and the other is going towards the Rand Protectorate-"

"Calm down, please. Are you saying they're landing?"

"Uh, yes, ma'am. One is landing on Caledonian territory, the other seems to be headed toward the Rand Protectorate."

"Thank you. That will be all."

She picked up another phone, this one a vivid green. "President Pernaux? The Ori are here."

AES Thor

"What's the word, Captain?" a large man with broad shoulders and a well-defined musculature asked, falling into step behind a shorter, slimmer woman. Both wore grey AESF uniform pants with their issued black T-shirts.

"We're headed to Chulak," Captain Leighanne Watkins told him as she jogged down the long halls of the formerly Asgard ship. "Order came in a couple of hours ago. We're going to reinforce our allies."

"What do you think of that, Captain?" Sergeant Adam Kelly asked, slowing down to allow the Captain to keep up with his faster pace. She seemed to be a decent leader, but he'd be very surprised if the slight woman could carry a ruck at all.

"We support our allies. Bring the fight to the Ori."

"Not worried about Earth?"

"We're the OEF. It's our job to go out into the void," she paused for breath, "And strike the enemy. Defending Earth isn't in our MO."

"Too right." They began to slow, approaching the large hangar bay that had become something of a meeting spot for the expeditionary unit. "What's the plan, ma'am?"

"We think the Ori have jammers up, so we're dropping in A-3s. It's us poor infantry first, then the heavy firepower. All they're saying is that they want us to smash the Ori lines, but I think Command's got something bigger in mind."

"Something like an Ori mothership?" Adam asked. She simply shrugged in response.

Langara

"Mister Quinn, we have a situation," a woman said from the threshold of his office.

"Please, it's Jonas, you know that." Despite his gentle objection, Jonas Quinn stood up and followed her out of the office. It was a short trip to the frantic interior of the situation room.

He asked simply, "It's the Ori, isn't it."

"I'm afraid so, sir," one of the technicians told him from behind his console. "Three vessels in orbit- wait, one appears to be descending into the atmosphere."

"So Earth and their alliance failed. The invasion has begun." He wished they had succeeded, for the sake of both worlds, but in the back of his mind suspected they would not be able to stop the Ori and they would invade. He knew what they were capable of. It wasn't pretty. Jonas took a deep breath.

"Get me First Minister Dreylock, please." He turned to another technician and calmly asked, "Can you dial Earth and tell them what's happening?"

"First Minister Dreylock on the line, sir."

He took the phone. "They're invading, First Minister. Whatever Earth did didn't work. I know. I'm sorry."

January 3, 2006
Earth
Washington, D.C.

President Henry Hayes waited impatiently with the rest of the Stargate Council. Each member nation was technically represented by their head of state; for obvious reasons each chose a representative to meet in their stead. The fact that the President of the United States, the President of the Russian Federation, and the Prime Minister of Canada were there in person only served to underline the seriousness of the situation.

After everyone had taken their seat, he began simply. "Yesterday morning, an Ori invasion force landed on Chulak. Two hours after that, we received a message from Tegalus stating that they were under attack by Ori forces. Four hours ago, we received a message from Langara stating that they, too had been invaded."

He took a deep breath. "Additionally, we received a communication from a Tok'ra vessel observing the supergate. Four more Ori capital ships and eight frigates entered the galaxy with no opposition. The situation is grim, gentlemen. The Ori will undoubtedly continue to invade the galaxy. We must prepare for the possibility that Earth will be next."

"And Pegasus?" the Prime Minister of Canada asked.

The American President shook his head. "We haven't heard much from Atlantis, other than that they've had no luck tracking down the mystery ships. Hopefully, the Wraith are giving the Ori a run for their money."

"You know it is bad situation when we pray for our sworn enemies," the Russian President said gravely. "Our allies, how are they doing?"

"The Free Jaffa are fighting hard on Chulak. Our last reports indicate that they retain control of the stargate and the Ori progress has stagnated. It's becoming a war of attrition, brutal urban combat, and from what I've been told the Jaffa can't hold out forever.

President Hayes took a deep breath, then continued. "We don't know anything about Tegalus or Langara, other than that they've been attacked and that they're fighting. We can only hope that they're giving the Ori a hell of a fight. Given the differences in technology, however, that may be too much to hope for. We know that both worlds are equipped with weapons of mass destruction. They may deploy them.

"I'd also like to add that the situation could change at any moment. The Ori are moving into our galaxy, and they're moving fast. The Jaffa might decide to commit their forces to take back Chulak, but they know it would leave Dakara vulnerable. Dakara itself might come under attack. The Ori might decide to land reinforcements on one of the planets. They might invade another world- maybe Hebridan or Orban. On any of these planets, if the defenders lose the gate, Ori reinforcements pour in and it's over."

He took a sip of water and another deep breath. "The United States of America is at full readiness and transitioning to a total war footing. My recommendation is that we commit our forces immediately."

As expected, the room broke into a chorus of argumentative shouting. Mikhailovich roared, "Mister President, you cannot be serious!"

Hayes held up a hand. "We are in this together. We are all in this together. It's the same situation as the Goa'uld two years ago, except the whole galaxy is involved. We need to support our allies, strike back at the Ori, and buy ourselves some time."

"President Hayes, are you suggesting we trade away the lives of our young men to buy time for our allies?" the British representative asked.

"No. I'm saying we need to trade away our forces to buy time for us. At this point, we cannot stop the Ori. If they reach Earth, we might be able to defend ourselves, once. But the rest of the galaxy is going to fall, and eventually we will, too. We can't defeat the Ori conventionally. We need to find a way to hit back, to take the fight to them, but until then, we need to keep them tied up as far away from Earth as possible.

"The AESF is already committed. The United States of America is willing to commit its own expeditionary forces, and we will take the fight to the Ori, with or without international cooperation."

"Well," the French representative said quietly. "There's only one choice, really, isn't there?"

His voice became a little louder. "As much as I hate to admit it, President Hayes is correct. We are at war. Fighting a war means sending our young men far away to fight wars that no-one understands fully. We must, as President Hayes put it, 'buy ourselves some time'."

SFB Cheyenne Mountain

"Is it really that bad?"

"They decimated the fleet, sir. That was most of what this galaxy could muster. I think we're going to have to pull-"

"Got it! Got it!" Daniel announced, running down the corridor with a book in his hand. General O'Neill raised an eyebrow at Carter, who simply shrugged in response.

"I made the connection!" Daniel explaind. "Sir Gawain to Gwalchmei. Culwhch and Olwen. Verus Gen Bree."

"Danny! What the hell did you just say?" Jack asked.

"And you say I'm hard to understand, sir," Carter quipped lightly.

"It's Vegonbrei. One of the planets Meurik mentioned, one of the planets that Arthur and his knights went to in search of the holy grail. I found the gate address."

"Why didn't you just say so?" O'Neill asked him, motioning with his arm and heading toward one of the briefing rooms."

"I'm sorry, how did you figure that out?" Vala asked, reminding everyone of the newcomer in their midst. It was a situation much like when Jonas Quinn joined SG-1, except in addition to rather than instead of. There was no malice intended, but they were still getting used to having a new member of the group.

"While on PX1-767, we got the names of three planets: Castiana, Sahal, and Vagonbrei. Unfortunately, what we didn't get were any corresponding gate addresses, and the process of going through that library page by page looking for clues would take months even with the whole archaeology department on it. So, I knew we were going to have to narrow the search parameters a little. That's when it hit me: Sir Gawain."

"Isn't he one of the knights who say ni?" O'Neill asked, sitting down at the conference table.

"He was a Knight of the Round Table," Daniel clarified, glaring daggers at him. "In one of his earliest incarnations, an old Welsh tale, he went on a quest to help rescue a lost love. The legend says that Sir Gawain, AKA Gwalchmei, visited several lands over the course of his adventure, including a place called Gwlad Gan Brenhinol Gwir, which is Welsh for 'Land of Royal Truth'."

"And that has exactly what to do with what we're looking for?"

"Translate that into Ancient, and you get 'Verus Gen Bree'. Vegonbrei." Daniel paused. "Now, this didn't give me a gate address, but it gave me something to look for."

He passed the book to O'Neill. "Now, the entire volume is dedicated to Gawain's adventures and includes several very interesting illustrations, including a depiction of a sword he once carried. Note the symbols engraved on the blade."

"It's a gate address," O'Neill immediately acknowledged. "You have a go. Find that weapon."