Disclaimer: See Prologue...

A/N: A whole new semester has begun…I've moved in to my apartment…and I suddenly have less time to write…Don't worry, I will finish this, but you may have to have a little patience as I settle in to the new semester. Thanks so much for the reviews…they're inspiring!

Last time:

A blinding white light interrupted Alexa's comment.

"Thor!" Four voices exclaimed simultaneously.

"Greetings." Thor responded.

Chapter 9: Plan A, Take 2 –

"I...i…is th…that…?" Rodney stammered.

"The council has agreed to your proposal Alexa Stephens." Thor continued, ignoring the cowering man in the back of the jumper.

"Good." Alexa answered.

"This crystal contains all the necessary information." Thor said as he held out an Asgard crystal. "It is all that the council can give."

"Thank you Thor." Alexa said as she took the crystal. She bit her lip in thought. "Would it be possible for you to assist us in something else?"

"What assistance do you require?"

"Our lasers aren't working fast enough. We need to get into the Ancient outpost beneath us."

Thor studied the picture before him out the front of the jumper before disappearing.

"Guess that means no." Jack cracked.

"I am afraid that my weapons are not capable of the calibration necessary to break through the ice without damaging the outpost, Alexa Stephens." Thor's voice radioed in.

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"What about the beaming technology?" Cam exclaimed. "Thor, could you beam us into the outpost?"

"There is no way of knowing the current conditions within the outpost. It is likely that you would rematerialize inside a block of ice." Thor replied.

"Damn." Mitchell muttered.

"It's too bad he doesn't have a set of rings." Daniel said off-hand.

"That's it!" Sam exclaimed.

Everyone looked at Sam in surprise.

"What's it?" Alexa asked.

"The rings."

"Sam, Thor doesn't have rings on his ship." Daniel admonished.

"No, but the ha'taks will."

Λ

"Are you insane?" Daniel exclaimed after Alexa turned off the audio transmission with Thor. "You seriously want to risk all our lives on a ha'tak just to ring down to the Ancient outpost where we are then going to destroy said ha'tak?"

"Not all our lives no." Sam defended herself. "Only a couple of us would need to go." Sam sighed. "Think about it Daniel, the jumper is cloaked. Whoever remains here could continue to work through the ice. Of course, either Jack or Alexa would need to be among those who go up to the ha'tak because they're the only ones who can work the chair."

"What about the fact that using the ring platform will alert Ba'al to the fact that there is a ring platform on earth? Don't you realize that he will promptly send jaffa down to attack us?" Daniel argued.

"That's why Sam and Mitchell would both go with Colonel O'Neill." Alexa interrupted.

"Excuse me?" Jack interjected.

"Sam needs to go with you because she has the best understanding of both Goa'uld and Ancient technology. But you'll need Mitchell because you'll be making your way through highly fortified halls of an enemy ship. On top of that, having both Sam and Mitchell there to fight off the jaffa will be helpful until you can destroy the ships above." Alexa explained.

"I get that." Jack said slowly. "What I don't understand is why you think that I, who has very little experience with Ancient technology, should be going instead of you, who has a much greater understanding of it."



"Because I need to be here setting in motion the plan that the Asgard helped with." Alexa answered.

"Plan B?" Mitchell asked.

Alexa shook her head. "The second part of Plan A."

"But…"

The jumper's alarms interrupted Jack's comment.

"The ha'taks are closing in." Alexa sighed. "We're running out of time, you need to get to that chair now!"

"Fine." Jack grumbled. "Carter, Mitchell suit up. We're out of here in five."

Alexa smiled as she turned to let Thor know what was going on.

Λ

"Good luck in your endeavors Alexa Stephens." Thor said after beaming the three Air Force officers onto one of the approaching ha'tak vessels.

Alexa watched as the Asgard ship disappeared into hyperspace. "Well, I guess we're on our own." She turned to the two men still with her on the jumper. "McKay, make sure that the lasers have as much power as we can possibly give them. Once you're done with that, Daniel is going to need your help."

"Need his help with what?" Daniel asked hesitantly.

"With unpacking that crate."

"That's why you didn't send me with the others." Daniel replied.

Alexa nodded. "You already know the plan and I'm going to need help unpacking that crate and setting everything up, especially seeing as I can't exactly leave the controls." Alexa explained.

"And this way you don't have to explain to anyone else what is in the crate." Daniel sighed.

"Exactly."

"There's one thing I don't understand." Daniel continued, "Why not just use it? Why bother crating it up and storing it away? You knew even before we came back through the gate that the timeline had been screwed up. Why bother with Jack, McKay, the Asgard, or defeating Ba'al?"



Alexa looked up at Daniel. "This wasn't something that I could do on my own. That and I had no idea when I would be able to do this or how things would turn out. I had to make sure that all my bases were covered."

Λ

Although they did know that they wouldn't be landing in a block of ice, the three officers really had no idea what they might be beamed into the middle of. It turned out that they were beamed down right behind a jaffa patrol.

The blinding white light of the Asgard beaming technology surprised the jaffa as they patrolled the halls of their god's ship. A firefight ensued. Fortunately for Sam, Jack, and Cam the jaffa weren't exactly expecting to be fighting the enemy just yet, while the three officers were expecting the worst. The fight didn't last long, in fact, less than a minute after materializing, the three were sneaking down the halls unhindered.

"So this is a Goa'uld ship?" Jack whispered to Mitchell as Sam checked the hall ahead.

Cam simply nodded his head before following Sam as she motioned to them to do so.

Thor'd had a pretty good idea of the layout of the ha'tak, so he had managed to beam the three in near one of the ring rooms, so they hadn't had far to go. Fortunately, they didn't run into another patrol before making it to the room. Unfortunately, it was mere seconds before entering the ring room that a large number of jaffa started attacking from every side.

Sam and Mitchell immediately began shooting the jaffa coming from the opposite direction, while Jack hunkered down and shot at the jaffa coming from behind. In a matter of minutes, Cam turned and started firing along with Jack.

"Sir! You need to get inside. This plan is pointless unless we get you down to that outpost."

"Not gonna happen, Mitchell." Jack yelled as he continued firing. "I have no clue how to activate the rings, and there's no way in hell that you can hold back all these jaffa by yourself." He continued to yell over his shoulder, "Carter!" Before another word could leave his mouth, three streaks of blue electricity flew through the air, and the three Air Force officers were down for the count.