Sam was momentarily awash in memories of basic training and her first combat flight. Jennifer must have been going insane inside her ample mind. "If its anything like Atlantis, then you should be able to pull the secondary control grid crystal out to shut down the..."
"I know!" Jennifer screamed back in aggravation. "It didn't work! It just shut off the lights on the lower level!"
Sam crouched down to Jennifer's side, she ignored the smell and instead focused on trying to save their arses. "Jennifer, calm down and think. What would the self-destruct actually detonate?"
Jennifer popped her head out from the console and saw Sam's questioning expression. She quickly went through the library in her head. "Uhh…well Ori ships are powered by an artificial gravity well. Like the Romulans."
Sam rolled her eyes, this was not the time for humour. "Forget that, but what would actually be exploding?"
Thinking about the physics of the problem, Jennifer soon realised just how dire the situation was. "Oh my god, the power conduits! They'll overload and turn into plasma! The entire ship's power grid will turn into a bomb!"
"Exactly." Sam nodded and then explained. "So we need to try and disconnect the main reactor from the power grid. With any luck the secondary generators will only cause an overload and damage, no explosion."
"No offence ma'am..." Jennifer gave Sam a nervous grin. "Why don't we just run for it?"
"No time." Sam shook her head. "It'll take longer than we've got to get to the hanger and get out. We've got to stop this."
Jennifer nodded and got back underneath the console as Sam got up. "Oh for cryin' out loud.. alright! But I'm going to need you to..."
"Already on it." Sam rolled her eyes again. Jennifer was smart, but obviously she still needed practice. "I'll try and divert all power to the aft section. There's no one there any more and we should be able to survive even if that blows up." Sam really hoped this worked. It was a seat of the pants, untested and completely illogical plan, but there wasn't much choice left.
o-o
Sarah stood anxiously on the edge of the ring platform, looking for her friends Sam and Jennifer. She wouldn't leave them behind, Sarah kept thinking about that military credo, 'leave no one behind". Everyone else had safely managed to descend to what evidently was an Ancient base inside Ganymede.. Jonas and the marines had led all the refugees down in groups, leaving Captain Hampton holding the rear with Connolly.
Hampton turned to her as the deafening voice repeated it's countdown. Though he didn't understand it, he got the message. "Captain, ma'am. We've got to go!" He all but shouted at her. She rounded on him, eyes red.
"No!" She yelled at him. "I'm not leaving without them."
The voice rang in Carl's ears. Somehow his mind translated for him. "Thirty seconds. Hallowed are the Ori"
"Shit... shit!" He let out his breath sharply and the with as much tenderness as he could muster, he hit Sarah square on the forehead with a hammer punch. Though tall and strong, the Marine captain's fist did what he intended it to do. Sarah collapsed in his arms, he hauled her onto the ring platform and was gone as soon as he hit the crystal control panel.
o-o
"We're not gonna make it!"
Sam shuddered at the other recollection that came to her. "Yes we will! Keep pulling those crystals!"
"I am! There's too many and in seque..."
"Captain!" Sam screamed as she managed to redirect power from their area to the outside of the ship. It wouldn't save them if it blew, but it'd give them a few extra seconds. "Just do your job!"
Jennifer's legs quivered as she continued to work, her fingers were jittery with the thought of burning up in a plasma explosion. Not the way she wanted to end her career.
"Thirty seconds to self destruct, if you have any final prayers to our ascended masters, now is the time. Hallowed are the Ori."
Sam had a prayer, but it sure as hell didn't involve ascended beings.
o-o
"10 Seconds to normal space sir, Fraiser and Britannia are right with us."
General Caldwell nodded as he flexed his fists and prepared for anything. "Bring us to general quarters, and tell Fraiser and Britannia to flank opposite sides. Ori main cannon can only aim one place at a time."
The Major at the helm nodded and relayed the information. "3, 2, 1."
A rip in the fabric of space time appeared before them, it was only a short trip from Earth to Ganymede. Caldwell's blood chilled at the sight of two Ori Mother-ships, so much so that.
"Sir! We're getting a message! Ori 1 is self destructing!"
"Beam any life signs off!" It was a purely gut manoeuvre, It didn't matter whether the life signs were SGC personnel or Ori followers, they were all useful in one way or another. "Shields up! Brace for im..."
On the screen, the Ori Mother ship began to detonate, the outside of the ring smashing apart from the inside with a blue orange flame, debris flying out like a fragmentation grenade. The white blue gravity well in the centre pulsated and shrunk, growing in light intensity but decreasing in size.
A massive flash overtook the screen as the ship finally detonated completely, rocking Daedalus with the shock wave of the explosion. As the flash died down, another flash appeared from in front of the screen, and both Colonel Carter and Captain Hailey appeared with their hands over their faces.
Caldwell shot up, still seeing smoke wisping from their clothes. "Colonel, are you alright?"
Sam took in a deep breath and looked around, the distinct smell of reprocessed air felt very reassuring. Beside her, Jennifer cringed and groaned softly as she realised a few of the crewmen had seen the unusual spot on her crotch. "We're... we've been better."
On the screen, Fraiser and Britannia circled the remaining Ori Ship, Caldwell could see that there was still a lot to do here so he motioned with his head. "You should go down to the infirmary to make sure you're alright." He looked at Jennifer and felt a tinge of sympathy. "Once you've both been checked, I'm sure there's more you need to do."
Hailey winced and nodded. "Thank you... General..." With no small sense of urgency, Jennifer moved over to Sam and motioned for them to move. Sam didn't question it.
The Major at the helm turned to Caldwell once both were out of the way. "General... was that?"
"Yes." Caldwell interrupted. "Happens to everyone at least once."
Raising an eyebrow, the Major asked. "Even you?"
"No."
The bluntness of Caldwell's voice had a few of the other bridge crew smiling. Granted this was an attack on their home system, but humour always helped to alleviate the tension.
o-o
Rounding the corner in front of them, Cam held his P-90 up and ready to fire. Behind him. Mac and Vala held the middle while Teal'c and Daniel watched their backs. Mac kept his back to the wall as he moved, obviously still worried.
Listening over the radio, they could hear that the other Ori Mother-ship had exploded. Reinforcements had arrived though and the current Ori ship was surrounded. The 401's had been picked up as well, and all that was left was taking over this ship.
Everyone questioned the fate of the people on the first Ori ship, but they were too busy stalking down the corridors to let it invade their minds. Mac spoke quietly as he held his weapon ready to fire. "Cam, we need to hurry. No telling what might happen here now that the other's gone bottom's up."
Cam turned his head quickly and nodded. "Got it, can you keep up?"
"Of course I can." Mac was annoyed at how Cam had laterally referenced his wound." Just don't sprint."
Cam smiled and turned back to his fore. "Noted."
Vala looked up and down the corridor, unlike most Ori ships, this one was devoid of most of the religious doodads that the worshippers would bring with them. "You'd think there'd be something I could take as a souvenir. A plate or trinket or something."
"Remind me never to take you to Disneyland." Daniel muttered as he stayed at the rear, now letting Teal'c move ahead more to assist Cam. "Or the Vatican for that matter."
Ignoring Vala and Daniel's quick quips to each other, Teal'c caught up to Mac, staying near and covering the angles of the dark hallways they moved through. "Are you well, Admiral?"
Mac grunted as he tried to ignore how cold he felt. "Well enough."
"You are still bleeding."
Feeling his wet and pulpy chest sticking to his tac-vest, Mac simply shrugged." Nothing serious, Teal'c. It'll take more than a flesh wound to slow an old warhorse like me down." Wincing, Mac again remembered that Teal'c had quite a few years on him. "Well...for a human."
Teal'c merely raised an eyebrow in reply. "Indeed."
o-o
Sarah felt her vision slowly come back to her, Her head ached terribly, but not so much that she couldn't figure out what had happened. "Hampton!"
Not surprisingly, a pair of Marines were by her side in an instant helping her up. "Calm down ma'am. You're safe."
Beating them off, Sarah blinked a few times to clear the fuzziness out of her vision. "Where... where am I?"
One of the marines huffed and replied. "Good question."
Looking around now, Sarah could see that she wasn't aboard the Ori ship any more, and even more, there was a distinct technological feel about the area. The subtle oranges and reds of the walls, the way the floor was smooth and hard, even the lighting was all indicative of ancient technology. The refu – crash! Sarah looked up as did the rest of the people around them as the large hole that had been drilled through the ice suddenly lit up in orange flame, and quickly snapped closed from the ice.
One of the higher ranking Marines screamed. "Everyone get clear!"
Sarah had no idea where Hampton had gone, but she was quickly on her feet and despite feeling dizzy, hung onto her new Marine Guard's arm as they ran away from the falling ice and towards a large group of people heading to a hallway. Sarah may not have known where Hampton was, but as soon as she found him, it was not going to be a pleasant reunion.
o-o
"The bridge is up ahead, we should..." Mac suddenly stopped, as did Cam and the rest of the team. A cold shiver in the air passed onto them and the lights seemed to fade at the doorway.
Cam shivered and rubbed his arms. "Like walking on my own grave."
Teal'c became incredibly alert, his head turning side to side like a bird of prey stalking a victim. "We may not be alone."
Feeling a presence, Mac felt that same feeling he'd had before. Something was in the back of his head telling him the things he needed to hear, and it wasn't good. "Bollocks, there's another Ori on the ship... How the hell did we miss that?"
"Where, Where?" Vala immediately spun around, her P90 darting from dark spot to dark spot.
Daniel put a hand on Vala's shoulder in a calming and reassuring move. "Settle down, we'll deal with it when the time comes."
Cam simply shook off the feeling and flicked his P90 from semi-auto to full auto. "Ori or not, he gets in the way and he dies."
"That will not be as simple as you imagine heathen."
SG1 had just entered the bridge, the lights were so low that the walls weren't even visible, but the eerie golden glow surrounded by a darkness so black that light didn't seem to escape it moved forward to greet them. A pale white figure almost floated in robes that both shone and engulfed the light of the few lamps left on.
Cam didn't hesitate and he raised his gun. He fired a full burst, raking across the Ori's chest, or so it appeared until it became clear that the Ori had mentally stopped the bullets mid-flight, which now clattered down to the floor still hot from the cartridge firing.
The Ori looked directly at Mac and growled. "Agathon..."
"Sotero" Mac replied involuntarily.
Rapt with amazement, the team couldn't react fast enough as the Ori raised his hand and shoved it towards them; A shock-wave of mental power flowing out. Mac instinctively bowed his head and covered with his arms, projecting a field of mental energy defending against the shock-wave.
The visible shock-wave rippled around Mac, Cam and Teal'c who were all relatively bunched in. But it didn't protect Daniel and Vala, both of whom flew back into the wall hard enough to put them out of the fight.
Teal'c realised that bullets would do nothing, and charged forward with his knife unsheathed. Mac groaned and dropped to one knee as he tried to recover from the involuntary mental barrier he'd erected. Cam just flanked to the side to try and get a better shot.
Teal'c reached Sotero and swung low, smashing his hand against some kind of barrier mere inches from the Ori's gut. Sotero chuckled and with a single swing, backhanded Teal'c with enough force to throw him into the shadows. Even the impressive Jaffa couldn't have remained conscious from the hit.
Cam burned through his clip, and quickly began to reload. Outside of the protective barrier Mac had put up though, the Ori simply reached out and grabbed Cam by the throat with his mental powers. Dropping his P90, Cam struggled to pry the non-existent fingers from his throat.
The Ori chuckled and in a controlled move, flung Cam around like a rag-doll he was playing with.
Mac finally recovered, and drawing in a deep breath muttered. "Satis!" With formerly unknown strength, Mac jumped from his crouching position and charged Sotero. The Ori spun and fired another shock-wave of mental energy, but Mac simple swatted it aside just as the Ori did Teal'c and barrelled into him ignoring the barrier shoving his knife deep into the Ori's leg.
Cam dropped to the floor, nearly passed out from the lack of oxygen to his brain. He instinctively began to breath hard and use his flight training to force the blood into his head to regain consciousness.
The Ori and Mac tumbled to the floor, both groaning in pain from their respective wounds. But while Mac had already worn off his adrenaline rush, the Ori seemed to glow even fiercer and threw Ma off him with a rising kick. Mac landed on the ground on his back, and rolled to his feet despite his body crying for respite. "I should have known it'd be you Sotero. Sneaky bastard."
Sotero pulled the knife out of his leg and immediately threw it in Mac's direction, The Admiral leaned back dodging the blade, but groaned as his chest tore the already broken scabs that had formed. Sotero chuckled as he got into a fighting stance. "You didn't kill me then, you won't kill me now."
o-o
Having changed and been checked and given a clean bill of health, Sam returned to the bridge where Caldwell must have been overseeing the second Ori ship as well as the rescue of any stranded personnel. Jennifer had opted to remain in the infirmary and burn her old outfit, Sam didn't begrudge her the decision
Stepping onto the bridge, Sam saw on the screen that the small fleet had the Ori ship surrounded, and even more, a small picture in picture had a life signs detection on the bridge of the second Ori ship.
Caldwell turned to Sam and gave a soft smile and nod. "Good to see you're no worse for wear, Colonel. We've got a little dilemma you could help with." He motioned to the screen. "We can't get in radio contact with SG1. Something's jamming our radio signals on the bridge. It's taking all three ships scanning to even get life-signs readings."
Sam motioned to the weapons officer next to Caldwell who got up seeing a superior officer coming to take over. Not exactly standard protocol, but she was Colonel Samantha Carter. "It's possible someone was left on that ship and activated the Ori's version of ECM." Sam brought up the screen of the life-signs, and reviewed the last several minutes. "That has to be 're alive but..."
Caldwell again nodded. "We know, but we can't tell what's going on. Look."
Sam brought up the live feed on her screen, and saw a single life-sign bounce back and forth, with the other 4 surrounding him but not interacting or even moving very much. "What the...?" It took Sam a few seconds to realise what was happening. She quickly re-winded her own video to the initial contact and saw that the 4 outside life-signs had gotten there much faster than should have been humanly possible. "They're fighting an Ori! We need to get them out of there!"
"Really?" Caldwell turned to Sam with a curious glance. He then realised that Sam must have been right, and turned to the Major nearby. "Beam them aboard Major. Straight to the infirmary."
o-o
Mac groaned as Sotero kicked out his legs and easily deflected the counter punch. He fell to the ground and coughed, spitting up blood. He'd reached the end of his endurance and without help, he wouldn't survive.
Sotero had been wounded as well, a gash open on his cheek and limping from the initial knife attack. A few broken bones for good measure and Mac had put up a valiant fight. "You've killed more than a fair share of my kind, quid pro quo."
Mac turned his neck up to Sotero and spit in his direction, a spray of blood and saliva misting in between them. Before he could utter his witty last words though, a brilliant flash of light removed him, and the rest of SG1 from the Ori's presence. Sotero furrowed his brow in confusion, and then turned to the large window at the front of the bridge. He could sense from the mental interfaces that his ship was surrounded. Agathon may have been weakened, but he'd enlisted help apparently.
o-o
The Major acknowledged the order and soon, the five life-signs disappeared from the screen. It only took a few seconds, but Sam was delighted to hear Mac's voice over the intercom. "Get off me woman! You can prod me later..." Sam winced realised that Mac must have been even more hurt. "I'm assuming Caldwell's in charge! Blow that ship up! We can't let the Ori on board escape!"
Caldwell hardened his features and barked out orders. "You heard the Admiral! All batteries, open fire! Fraiser and Britannia, fire at will!"
Sam input targeting coordinates for the Daedalus's plasma cannons, Ori ships were notoriously weakly armoured, relying solely on their shields for protection. A pair of well placed shots would cripple the craft.
So it came as a surprise when Daedalus' forward beams raked across the hardened Ori shields. Without the ZPM of Odyssey, it'd take concentrated fire to break through. Sam handled the firing coordinates of the three ships, all working together to break through the dorsal shields of the toilet seat shaped craft.
Asgard Plasma beams, Missile trails and even Rail-gun Slugs flew in towards the Ori ship, quickly becoming a fireworks spectacle worthy of a Michael Bay movie. The Ori ship powered up, and slowly began to spin around to face Fraiser. The cruiser quickly detected that the Ori ship was preparing to fire its main gun, and fired its thrusters to stay out of the way.
Nimbly dodging beside the Ori ship like a fighter dogfight, Fraiser turned up and around in an Immelman manoeuvre putting the Ori ship's top in perfect view. Daedalus and Britannia began evasive manoeuvres as well, keeping the Ori's main cannon out of bore-sight.
A final Asgard Beam shot from Britannian finally pierced the shields, scorching the hull of the craft. Daedalus swung around and from a broadside position, rained rail-gun and missiles down through the hole in the Ori ship's shields, punching out divots and craters in the relatively thin armoured craft.
Fraiser spun around on its axis imitating a hammerhead turn, and firing a full salvo of all its forward guns, punched clear through the centre section of the Ori ship. The eviscerated decks were clearly visible as the hull breaches sucked all breathable atmosphere inside out creating a huge flame.
Coordinating their attack, Daedalus and Britannia locked on and unleashed their own barrage of explosive metal. The Ori ship finally began to twist apart as its inertial dampeners failed, and the ship spun out of control. A few more shots tore the hull plating clean off the ship exposing the main reactors to the fire-storm.
The ship finally exploded violently, sending huge shards of shrapnel and debris about, the few pieces that impacted the human ships bouncing off harmlessly.
o-o
Sarah rubbed her forehead, there was a little swelling that caused a small ache but nothing major. Looking back at where the bored hole should have been, she saw that it had collapsed and was full of ice and snow. There was no simple way out anymore without that shaft and it was another thing to add to her list of why this was a bad day. If anyone was even still out there, they'd never find them now.
Holding back her grief for Sam and Jennifer, she calmly pinched the bridge of her nose as she contemplated the situation. It was cold here, very cold, the first thing on her mind was survival. Her head ached, but Captain Hampton would have to wait for his court martial if she could ever find him. The two young marines with her held her steady and together as they walked the icy path inward toward a din of voices further in. They followed the sounds of voices down what appeared to be a perfectly formed tunnel.
"Captain, ma'am." Corporal Adam Singer called to her. She could just make out his form through the swirling colours in her head. "Ma'am, Jonas said you just have to see this...It's warmer inside as well." He carried an air of excitement in his young voice.
"Coming." She shrugged of her aides and hurried a little quicker. Within twenty paces, she passed out of the gloom of the passageway through some kind of barrier and into warm air. Looking into a brightly lit - it could only be described as an enormous hangar, she took a deep breath on seeing the sight in front of her.
There was a long sloping ramp leading down, along the long length into the distance on both sides were other corridors and perhaps glass walled office spaces. It had the feel of Atlantis, but the thing that held her breath in all this wonder below Ganymede, was the huge ship perched on ten stout legs. An Aurora class Lantean ship, and by the looks of it, very, very new in the sense that it hadn't been used. Carl Hampton and Jonas came to her, the former offered up an apology for his insubordination, she brushed it aside. This... this was their way out, and also this was the Marine Captain's saving grace. The crowd of Ori refugees, she refused to call them followers now, all turned when they saw the tall blonde Tauri woman stride confidently their way.
"Get everyone aboard Captain, we're leaving." She said abruptly to Carl, as a murmur of questioning voices filled the expanse.
"Captain?"
"You heard me, get everyone on this damned ship we're leaving...now."
"Pardon me, Captain Connolly, I understand your intention, truly I do, but how are we going to leave, we're maybe twenty something miles below the ice. Plus, this is an Ancient facility, don't you think we should have a look about first." Jonas said respectfully.
Sarah, rubbed her head again, which reminded her, that though Hampton was reprieved, she would square it with him later. "Alright then Quinn, fifteen minutes, have some teams split up and grab whatever's useful, we can always come back."
"Thank you Captain...by the way, ma'am, just how are we going to get out?"
"The McKay manoeuvre" She said bluntly, then strode toward the ship,
o-o
Will held his side as he felt the hard deck of Daedalus beneath his knees in the med-lab. He hadn't moved for minutes, and the staff were busy with others. Teal'c, the only one conscious from the Ori debacle leaned close to him.
"Do you require assistance Admiral MacGregor?"
"Give me a minute T'" He breathed deeply, and lifted his hand away from his side, blood oozed through his fingers. A gloved hand reached for his elbow, he turned his head slightly, the glare of the lights blurred the face.
"Let's get you up Dad, you're wounded badly." The familiar voice said.
"Cate...Cate." He was puzzled to say the least. His vision cleared as the young woman in the Daedalus flight suit helped him up. She wore a Royal Australian Air Force wings above her left breast which he noticed as she hoisted him to his feet. Teal'c assisted gently on the other side despite his own bruised face. Finally it hit MacGregor like a brick.
"Catherine MacGregor, what the bloody hell are you doing here?" He said and winced as the same time.
"Nice to see you too, Dad." She said with a turn of wit. But anguish was on her fair face as she tugged at the red-brown plait over her shoulder.
They then guided him to a vacant bed and eased him down. Teal'c called one of the doctors over. The Doctor left Vala with a pair of nurses who checked to make sure she was simply unconscious and came immediately. Opening up Will's jacket and shirt, he grimaced upon seeing that all twelve of Mac's sutures had burst.
"I'm going to have to ask you to give me and the Admiral some privacy, this will definitely require some invasive medical treatment." Doctor Ainsley told them. Teal'c and Cate retreated, all the while Will looked hard at his daughter. Mac's eyes told Cate that there would definitely be a talk coming, sooner rather than later.
o-o
Sam looked out through the portal of the Daedalus bridge, Jennifer stood close beside having finally gotten over the shame by shoving the experience into her vault. Their eyes were fixed on the surface of Ganymede, a large black smudge covered the surface where the bore hole should have been. Hailey's face was expressionless, her training burying all sorrow or grief for her commander. Sam knew what that felt like and was proud that Hailey had learned some control over the years.
"Sir?" The ships XO called to Caldwell.
"Yes Demspey?"
"Sir, we have a hyper-space window opening."
Caldwell raised an eyebrow. "Where?"
"On Ganymede's surface sir." The young major couldn't believe his own words as he brought the image up, and the beginning of a tear in the fabric of space time appeared on the subspace scanner.