SG1 had already returned by the time Mac reached the bridge, Dmitri saw the Admiral first and beckoned him over with a nod. Sam and the others were gathered around a monitor, she waited until Mac joined them. He eased in between Teal'c and Daniel, who greeted him with a thumbs up. "Hi sir. Uniform looks smart." Teal'c half bowed toward Mac. "It looks most agreeable on you William MacGregor." Mac just eyeballed the two of them. "God I'll never get used to these guys." His thoughts were a hairs breath from being spoken.
Mitchell was speaking and pointing at the monitor. "We got pretty damn close sir." He told Suschenko. "Close enough that if anybody and I mean anybody, was on that thing they should have fired on us."
"Which is the weirdest thing sir. We didn't even detect weapons being powered up. Their shield was up sure, but that was all. But...there was one thing." She walked over to the screen and pointed at a spot near the ships bridge. "There is a tremendous energy reading coming from here, it's something familiar about it I think we've encountered before." Sam said.
"So colonels, why did you not just blast the thing? Get rid of it. We've already got one to study." He said a bit hotly. Dmitri wanted to get moving onto their next objective.
"Well Captain, there was some debate as to whether or not that might have been a good thing." Vala looked at the Russian commander, weighing up wether he was handsome or not.
"How so." Dmitri asked.
At that point Mac moved over to stand next to Sam. "Sam you didn't detect any life signs did you?"
"No. But that doesn't mean anything. That field of energy could be blocking our scans. I think sirs, we should try and board the ship and find out what it's doing and why the other ships were protecting it."
"Finally. Someone gives me straight answer." Dmitri sounded too much like O'Neill with a Russian accent.
"How do you propose to get in Sam? From the files I've read those Ori shields are fairly effective in preventing you beaming onboard, and while that ring transporter is active, you can't use that either." Mac was tapping a beat with his pen on the screen.
Daniel looked at him, thought of something then dismissed it. "I don't suppose there is some way we can circumvent the shields Sam?"
Everyone looked toward Carter as if she had the answer to everything. She was sure if McKay were here he would have had some brilliantly sarcastic comment to make about how everybody looks to him at the eleventh hour. "Short of firing some well placed shots at her and hopefully doing just enough damage to the shield drive, I'm not too sure at the moment."
Cam. "That's it Sam. That's all we've got?"
"Oh give her a break all of you. Samantha doesn't have all the answers to the universe you know!" Vala said in defence of her friend.
"Indeed. But there may be some other weakness we can exploit. We have the other ship, perhaps we might find the answer there." Teal'c said casually.
"Well said Teal'c. But I'm afraid we don't have a lot of time. General O'Neill wants us away from here and on to our other missions within two hours from his last transmission. We now have one hour forty-five minutes or we blow the thing up." Dmitri said.
"Maybe not. Sam I remember reading one of your mission files, where you and Jack created a hyper window below Anubis's shield on his mother ship, so you could take out his weapons generator. Is that not so?" Mac was going over SGC files in his mind, trying to find similarities.
"Yes it was sir. But that was probably four times bigger than an Ori ship, and the calculations were based on precise schematics we had at the time. With all due respect sirs.." Sam looked directly at Mac, there was something in his eyes that told her there might be a way. "...we've got nothing to go on here and we very well can't go out and measure the ship with a verniers in the time General O'Neill has allowed us."
"Sam how big is the shield on the Ori ship. I mean, how far does it extend outwards from the ship's hull?" Cam could see something here.
"I'm not sure, but our scans should be able to tell us. There's a macro in the energy scan that can measure output, compared to mass, that sh..."
"Colonel can you do it, yes or no?" Dmitri asks.
"Yes we can. Just give me a minute." Carter connects a laptop and inserts the data disc from the Tornado's scanner log. In seconds a graphic three-dimensional image of the Mother ship is on the screen, with the outline of the ship's shield in a pale green hue surrounding it. Mathematical equations run down the side of the picture in a separate menu, then a scale forms over the ship, detailing the various depths of the defence shield. "There. It runs at about four point five metres over the ship. Cam, that's not going to do us any good at all. We know where to target certain areas, but a 307 would not fit within that shield."
"What about there." Mac points to the part of the ship directly behind the front curve of the vessel, where it rises up and then recedes as it flows toward the stern.
Sam analyses that particular area and indeed there seems to be a large cavity in the flow of the shield. "Well, from that point there, we've got about nine metres in height and fifteen in width, but I still can't see how that will gain us access?"
"How tall is the C401, wheels up to the top of the tail?"
"Oh I know that answer, I'm good at puzzles." They all look at her strangely, but Vala just gives them her toothiest white smile. "From the bottom of the fuselage to the tip of the tail, is exactly six point two metres Admiral." She grinned in satisfaction at him.
"I'm not going to ask how you know that Vala..."
"Well I did..."
"Vala! I don't want to know. Just tell me that is the correct height ok!"
"That is correct sir." Cam confirmed.
"Good then. Sam here's our shot." Mac replied.
"Admiral, if I may enquire, what is our shot?" Dmitri looks a little puzzled.
"Piece of cake Dmitri. We load up a C401 with SG1 here and a few marines, plot a hyper window that will put us exactly at this point..." Mac indicates a place on the Ori ship, just behind the bulge... "once there SG1 and the said marines will beam in. Presto!" Well at least the Admiral was enthusiastic, everyone else just looked dumbstruck.
"Sir, the calculations required to that...we'd have no room for error, just point one percent out and we could end up inside the ship or worse. Plus when we exit the hyper window our velocity..."
"Would have to be zero. Yes Sam I know. I'll take care of that; I'm flying. You just worry about the math. Get anyone else you need to help you ok?"
"Admiral I must protest sir. We can't have our new fleet commander flying off on some mission that may or may not vork."
"The captain's right sir..." Mac just looked at them all. Feet shuffled, heads dropped. There was no argument with this man.
"It'll work Dmitri. Now Sam..."
"I'll get right on it sir." She turned about to see Ishta standing amongst a group of officers. The Jaffa leader was looking directly at Teal'c. "Ishta do you mind if I borrow Jonas for little while?"
"Of course Colonel Carter, I'll have him come over immediately.