Okay before we get into chapter 11 I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that left a review. Also, I want to give special thanks to Just a Crazy-Man for sending ideas to me. If anyone else has any ideas I'd love to hear them. Furthermore, if you know a lot about making realistic radio chatter help me out. I think I made this chapter kinda military realistic, but I don't really know much about military talk.

Review responses:

PanchosPistolas: C'mon, you know how Apophis is.

Anyone that asked about allies: This won't turn into a US-Wank, I promise. But don't get the idea that US and Russia will become buddy buddy.

Olafthereaper86: O'Neill is gonna be that strict guy for longer than cannon cause he hasn't had the original Abydos experience, and charlie just happened. Jackson will have a whole new life. Don't worry they will recover tech. I mean, c'mon now, thats like the main point of this fanfic.

WaMiLoe: Thanks for the discussion about hyperdrive. I'm mostly gonna make up stuff for speeds and weapon yields that fit my personal opinions about the various factions and how powerful they are compared to each other. (this mostly means to make it so the galaxy seems like a bigger place cause hyperdrives are slower. Look at start trek and how big they make the alpha quadrant look.)

Apparuerit Diabolo et Loqui:For super long range radar this is true, but for just the long range you can still get some readings. The problem is it isn't accurate enough for targeting, but that is no problem for Ra. (what's the point of advanced aliens if they haven't overcome the problems that we are facing now?)

Mureena: I'm thinking maybe ship stuck in another reality/ancient super gate reality bridge/reality mirror/ alternate earth that the ancients made in another galaxy. I don't know, I just love crossovers and want to make one once this goes farther. I also really like a crossover where its not just one side showing up and blasting everyone else, I'd like some covert SGC. Like here is a prompt I came up with: sgc vessel interferes (stealthily) in Mass Effect first contact and the alliance has a better negotiating stance. Does the alliance still become part of the council, how does this affect their eventual conflict with the reapers?

I do not own stargate. Unfortunately.


Space travel is expensive, with each space shuttle flight costing an estimate $1.5 billion. For a program sold to congress on being a means of cheap and frequent space flight, with optimists estimating a launch a week, the one hundred and counting missions are lackluster compared to the promises of NASA. In their defense, military intervention created a much larger, complicated, and expensive vehicle than would have otherwise been built. However, the accomplishments of the program and the lessons learned must not be overlook due to overenthusiastic expectations. For we must remember;

"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win."
-John F. Kennedy

The space shuttle shows the difficulty of breaking the barrier between earth to space, and the financial cost of doing so, even with the smartest people in the world working on the project. But with the stargate, we stand on the cusp of the greatest breakthrough in the history of mankind. Before our fingertips is the chance to crash through the aforementioned barrier, with essentially free transport from ground to space. Forget the shiny energy weapons, shields, and computers; antigravity is the prize jewel.


"Space is cold.

Space is unforgiving.

Space is the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced in our short and unremarkable existence; a time covering only .004 percent of this world's history, a planet of 100 billion in the Milky Way, one galaxy of 200 billion.

Space is the barrier separating humans from a slow agonizing death of our own creation, producing not a whimper in the vastness of our reality, and a universe of infinite possibilities."

-Unknown


February 18, 1997

Heliopolis

"Colonel, I'm sure you'll be happy to hear your test came up clear," said the nurse. Dixon had his blood taken at the alpha site as part of his quarantine, standard practice after engaging an enemy force. Some scientist had disocvered that Potentium was relatively easy to identify in blood and it was now being used as the main identifier for Goa'ulds. Since the snakes left behind the strange element every time they jumped into someone, it was much faster than waiting for an MRI to determine who had the lights on.

Dixon, along with SG-13 and 8, had waited on Abydos for a day before the SGC had managed to gather enough hazmat suits for them to safely reach the stargate. As they evacuated under armed guard they saw clear signs that the body of the Goa'uld had been dragged away from the VX dart before, presumably, being carried back through the stargate. Dixon was pretty confident he was being taken to a funeral.

A cleanup crew stayed behind to scrub down the area and get the worst of the VX. But VX is a stubborn chemical, in cold conditions it can stay on a material for months. Luckily, Abydos is scorching and in a few days the remaining chemical would evaporate. With the help of a few fans the pyramid would hopefully be safe in a few weeks.

"Colonel Dixon," called an officer entering the infirmary.

"Colonel Mores," acknowledge the Colonel.

"General Hammond sent me to do a preliminary debriefing before you are released to earth. I've already gotten the reports from your team members that were in the gate room at the time of the attack and you can put all the details in your final writeup, but I'd like your opinions on the events," said the man.

"We'll the first thing that drew my attention was the small size of the attacking force. They couldn't have known we were there and not another snake. Simply, they didn't bring enough people for an attack. I am of the opinion that they weren't expecting trouble and were probably trying to find out where Ra had gone off to," remembered Dixon.

"And the hostiles you engaged?"

"They seemed more... experienced, than those of Ra," reported Dixon.

"Could you expand on that?"

"There armor was much more protective. A change from the stupid stuff Ra's guys wore that didn't cover the abdomen. Of course going to an unknown planet might have been a cause for that. But their stance and reaction... just the feel they gave off seemed more battle hardened. We know Ra was a ruler and no one would ever attack his guards, but another snake would be a different story," continued Dixon.

"Now Colonel. The... VX, was it effective?"

"I ran the other way the moment I fired. I can confirm that it went off, cause I heard a small explosion. But we already knew that from the chemical being everywhere in the pyramid. Now I can't say how well it worked. I'm sure some sick experiment on recovered larva can tell you how quickly a snake will die from VX exposure, but that one was in his host. He'd probably have time to jump ship, but I don't know if those... are they called jaffa?... can take a snake or switch with the one in its stomach or something."

"Thank you, Colonel," the interrogator made to leave the room.

"Colonel Mores, wait. We're gonna get them back? Aren't we?" Mores turned around and paused for a moment, considering his answer.

"We'll see."


February 18, 1997

Briefing Room - SGC

The camera flicked on as the stargate began activating. SG-13 was dialing out, preparing to rotate with another team. Chevrons one, two, three, four- the gate shut down. Suddenly all the lights lit up and the inner ring quickly rotate back to its starting position. The four SG-13 soldiers sprinted to cover behind prepared emplacements. A .50 Caliber machine gun was prepared for whatever might attack the determined men. M203 Grenade launchers were quickly loaded and pointed at the stargate.

The alien device exploded outward with its unstable vortex of exotic energies. The event horizon of retracted just as quickly as it expanded, forming a calm pool of water.

Two fully armored Jaffa stepped through the gate with weapons held ceremonially in their hands. They were quickly cut down by the DARK Force team. Bullets ricocheted off the alien metal armor, but enough of the high velocity 5.7 and large .50 caliber rounds pierced through or found seams to take down the jaffa.

Several more Jaffa quickly followed behind their brethren. They realized their dangerous situation and unleashed heavy plasma fire through the ends of their staves.

Had it not been for the arrival of a gold plated warrior, these Jaffa would have been quickly riddled with holes. The new arrival calmly raised his hand and all the incoming fire harmlessly splashed against a yellow-orange shield. With a wave of his hand a strong force lashed out and threw one of the sand bag emplacements against the far wall. The defending earth soldier dove away with only a second to spare.

Explosion rocked the room as M203 grenades slammed against shield. The golden warrior was thrown back from the force of the explosions, but the shield still stood. Return fire in the form of a plasma bolt from one of the warrior hit the ground not a foot from one of the SG-13 members. The man was thrown back like he had been stuck by a car, his head violently slamming into the ground when he landed.

More plasma bolts hit near the camera, knocking it off the wall. The lens pointed away from the action, with only a corner of the stargate in view. Vibrations rocked the camera, and flashes of light temporarily obscured the view. Then everything went still.

"As you can see from the recording the camera was knocked off the wall," said the SID agent, "but we've still managed to obtain their return address."

"And how was this accomplished?" asked General Hammond.

"Look at this still frame," the spook instructed as he changed the presentation slide. "We still have a view of the fifth chevron, and by counting how much the gate spins we can determine which glyphs the other chevrons lock on. Through this we've managed to determine the address. Furthermore, this address was found to be contained within the cartouche from Abydos when we did a cross check."

"What do you propose we do? Attack a possibly heavily fortified world?" asked Hammond.

"The president has been wanting to explore the cartouche for some time now. Only the potential danger of opening our world to hostiles has resulted in our caution. But this Goa'uld dialed Abydos on the same day that the earth gate received a ping. It is almost certain that the two events are connected, we have to face the possibility that the Earth does not have the anonymity we once thought we had. The Director is of the mind that we stand to gain more than to lose, and the President is in agreement," argued the agent.

"I will not risk the lives of my men without any intelligence. We'll send a MALP and an attack will depend completely on the defenses of the enemy," compromised the General.

"Assuming a mission goes forth, the SID has put together a few objectives that we would be very beneficial if accomplished. In total they amount to the capture of a high ranking jaffa or, if possible, a Goa'uld. We need to determining the purpose behind the attack on Abydos and the dialing of Earth. We need more information on Goa'uld tactics, and their holdings. The most valuable would be any information on their industry so we can stage a raid to aid our scientists in reverse engineering," instructed the SID agent.

"I'm in complete agreement with those mission objectives. However, we mustn't jump the gun into the unknown. Nevertheless, I have confidence that Colonel O'Neill will make the most of any situation," replied Hammond as diplomatically as ever.


February 20, 1997

Goa'uld Planet

"God damn! Freezer burnt every time!" Captain Marvin shuddered and then brushed off the tingling feelings from his body.

"You know I overheard Carter explaining that the other day," mentioned Sergeant Blithe with a smirk spreading across his face,

"Yeah, wha'd she say?" Sergeant Rodgers interjected from the other side of their formation.

"I can't quite remember. For some reason I couldn't focus on what she was saying!" Blithe broke down in laughter for his own joke, despite Captain Marvin giving him a relatively hard shove in the back.

"That's enough Staff Sergeant. We're in enemy territory now, look alive," rebuked O'Neill.

"What is this place?" muttered Major Brennan. The stargate was surrounded by a spiraling path of irregular stones. Regardless of their jagged shapes, the midday sun glittered off their shiny surface as if they had just been polished. The stargate and the DHD sat in a stone pedestal made of hundred of smaller rocks all fitted together in a roughly geometric shape. The ground was thinly covered in a fine grass of pale green color soft to the touch that stayed down when stepped on, unlike any other grass that the men had seen before. Small rolling hills led into increasingly dense forests of short, bushy evergreens and tall, thin birch like trees.

"Just like the MALP showed. The lack of defense makes me hope this is the right place," remarked O'Neill.

"Orders, Sir?" asked Major Howe.

"SG-14 will stay and setup a defensive line. I want a line of claymore setup past this hill and some M249s looking out toward wherever this gravel road leads out to. Dig some emplacements near the stargate for the mortars as well as an MG incase someone dials in," O'Neill orders his men. Reaching down for his radio the Colonel begins to make his report back through the still active stargate, "Sierra-1 Actual this is Green-1, copy."

"Copy Green-1, go ahead," came through after a few seconds of static.

"Immediate vicinity is secured. Ready to receive Sierra Gulf-7 and the Avenger,"

"Affirmative green-1. Sending them through now, out."

Men began arriving with the signature sound of stargaze travel. Captain - began directing them to help with the defensive measures.

"SG-1 we're moving out. SG-4 you're with us," commanded O'Neill.

O'Neill led his special forces down the gravel path into the woods. The evergreen bushes gave way to vast swaths of the giant birch like trees. Their thin trunks sprouted high into the sky. The proximity between each one made a solid wall of wood. The path turned to dirt further in with the trees were carefully removed all along it.

Off to the left of their formation Major Brennan stopped abruptly. Raising his fist to signal a stop to the rest of the team, he proceeded to motion that something was in the woods. SG-4 took up positions to protect the flank as SG-1 moved to investigate.

A series of clicks signified the weapons being removed from their safeties, now ready to unleash a rain of metal onto whoever had crossed their path. Brennan began moving forward slowly with the rest of SG-1 behind him. The faint rustle of dead leaves under their feet caused an explosion of movement in front of them.

Two large animals with the faint shapes of deer burst away from the earth men. Their pelts were golden and spotted, faintly resembling that of a leopard, with their antlers on curling around like a ram and shining with' the ivory on an elephant.

If not for the seriousness of the situation O'Neill might have allowed his sense of humor to show itself. Instead the men lowered their weapons, clicked the safeties back on, and proceeded down the path.

Further on the teams once again encountered a rustle, this time from ahead. Never allowing complacency, the men took up positions alongside the path. They carefully concealed themselves within the thick layer of leaves and trees surrounding the path.

A few covered shapes rounded a corner in the path ahead. The foliage above cast dark shadows on those below, obscuring the newcomers. O'Neill began to make out the new threats as they approached. They had dark brown robes covering them from head to toe. There were no indications of any sort that they carried weapons, and by their hobbled gait O'Neill decided they must have been old and non-combatants. They kept their heads bowed and their hands together as they followed the path back the way towards the stargate.

Carefully signaling to his men not to fire, the Colonel allowed the unknowns to pass on by the path. When he was sure they were out of hearing range he reached for his radio.

"Orange-1 this is Green-1, come in." A few piercing seconds of silence followed.

"Go ahead green-1."

"Be advised; I've got five unarmed individuals heading your way, about two klicks down the road from your position. Deal with them at your discretion, over," informed the Colonel.

"Affirmative Green-1. Orange-1 out,"

Colonel O'Neill continued leading his men down the path until the trees thinned and mountains began appearing in the distance. As the DARK Force soldiers stepped out of the forest they marveled at the sight before them.

A crystal clear river stretched out before them, only a few meters deep but hundreds wide. At some points it pooled into deeper spring, and at other turned into a surprising rapid of water. Past the river a mountain range sprang into existence. Rich green grasses gave way to snow and dark spots where the altitude was too high to grow anything other than a few old, small twigs.

A few small streams fed from the mountains into the river. They created a spectacular show of small waterfalls covering the rocky heights of the mountain. This sight went on for as far as the soldiers could see.

Major Brennan handed O'Neill a pair of binocular and pointed him towards a small glint in the distance. With the enhanced view of the binocular the Colonel made out what appeared to be a Greek or Roman structure on the mountain. Tall white pillars rose around a truly massive mansion that put the Parthenon to shame. Shifting his view towards the river O'Neill made out a stone bridge crossing a particularly nasty section of the magnificent water way.

Adjusting the binoculars just a little more allowed him to make out a guard of Jaffa surrounding the entrance, and another two of the monk like civilians crossing the bridge.

"Alright looks like we have the right place. Howe call it in, we've got a positive ID on the enemy. Brennan, here is what we're gonna do."


"Colonel I feel like I'm back in Afghanistan wearing this shit. And Afghanistan never turned out well for anything," muttered Major Brennan under the robes that he had acquired.

"Shut it and act like a nun," hissed back O'Neill as he started waddling towards the bridge. Beside him he heard something that sounded like 'monks not nuns'.

The robes were no doubt uncomfortable, it would have been more enjoyable to wear a burlap sack. Nevertheless, O'Neill had taken worse. On the bright side, the current terrain was much better than it could have been. It could be like a desert. O'Neill hated deserts, what with their sand getting where the sun doesn't shine and making it uncomfortable to just do a simple crossword puzzle.

The first two guards at the beginning of the bridge didn't look twice at them as they passed. Brennan personally thought that one of them had accomplished the ability to sleep while standing. The interior guards at the other end were much more inquisitive.

The Jaffa shouted a few questions at the fake monks. No doubt wonder why they were returning so quickly. They advanced on the two with weapons loosely in their off hand. The Jaffa were not expecting anything from the monks but nonetheless were going to show them the error of failing to answer to their superiors.

Both O'Neill and Brennan tightened their grip upon knives hidden under the baggy robes that concealed their weapons and load outs.

One Jaffa made to shove on O'Neill. Redirecting the Jaffa's arm to the right left the warrior exposed. O'Neill quickly capitalized by swiping with his knife for the jugular. The Jaffa, still dazed from the unexpected attack, could not make a move to save his life.

Quickly turning, O'Neill found Brennan on the floor in a battle of strength. The Jaffa had his staff weapon pressed up against the soldier's throat, threatening to choke the air out of him. His knife lay on the ground beside him. The warrior slowly began to pressing the staff further into the throat of the Major, suffocating him.

O'Neill brought his knife back to bear and plunged it into the back of the neck of the second Jaffa. Brennan pushed the body of the Jaffa to the side and took a few second to stand back up.

"The robes knock the knife out of your hand?" Asked O'Neill sarcastically.

"He was too far away from me when you lunged. He saw the knife coming," coughed out the Major.

Looking back the two men saw that the other Jaffa had been similarly taken care of. The Jaffa had turned to see the commotion caused by O'Neill and Brennan when they were jumped from behind and quickly disposed of.

Shrugging off the robes the men joined back with their units. Both men took a moment to check that their weapons were in the correct working order.

"Alright, command wants a VIP. If we run into another snake ROE is kill or capture. Repeat, Kill or capture. We're taking no chances with this one," instructed O'Neill as they approached the entrance. The large metal doors were impeccably clean, scratches on the marble floor below them were the only signs of use. O'Neill and Brennan both pushed open a door with one hand, P90 in the other.

No one was there to greet the intruders. The room was massive, rivaling the largest of earth greek ruins. The white walls were imprinted with decorative gold patterns. The aforementioned ceiling rose many meters above the men. It had a slight vaulted shape, easily overlooked for the hieroglyphics and paintings that covered every inch of it.

Brennan took point with O'Neill directly behind. They preformed standard breach and clear for every door, and every corner. However, so far was just a bunch of elaborate wall paintings.

The hallway finally seemed to be arriving somewhere; it became much wider and the floor became worn. As the team rounded a last corner the came upon an intersection leading farther into the palace one way and into a giant gate the other way.

Unfortunately, luck did not seem to be on their side. Just as SG-1 and 4 started moving for the gate the sound of metal on metal reached their ears. There was no mistaking the source of that sound, the distinct plate armor of the Jaffa was easily recognizable.

Three Jaffa appeared from the other side of the intersection. Two were regular Jaffa, but the final wore one of the animal helmets and had golden accents on his plate and golden chain mail.

The Jaffa and the earth soldiers hastily brought up their weapons to bear on each other. O'Neill was hesitant to open fire because he wasn't quite ready to go loud and give away their position yet. The Jaffa must have, on some level, realized that the enemy heavily outnumbered them and would most likely kill them all.

"Looks like we have an old fashioned Wild West standoff," remarked O'Neill. He then motioned for the Jaffa to lower their weapons. "Gates! Tell them to drop their weapons," he instructed to the SG-4 soldier.

The man spoke up shakily to utter a few foreign words to the Jaffa. The Jaffa only made confused facial expressions and eyed each other in return.

"What was that Gates?" quiered O'Neill

"Well I either told them to drop their weapons... or their clothes," admitted the man.

"You gotta be kidding me!"

"I'm a soldier not a linguist. I've only studied the written Egyptian in college. And I doubt they talk much Egyptian anyway, it's the language of their slaves," defended the man.

The Jaffa seemed to have enough of their banter and shouted out their own commands. The aggressive guttural sounds needed no interpretation.

"Just great," mutters O'Neill.

"I think they said to surrender," offered Gates.

"Oh really, you think so?" Rhetorically asked the Colonel.

"Colonel, look through that gate. There's gotta be a hundred people in there, and they don't look so good," said Major Wallace.

"Bates try to translate this for me: Look at all the suffering you have caused these people. All in the name of false gods! Help us save them, throw off the oppression from those that wish to force you down!" Shouted O'Neill. In response Gates shouted two Egyptian words out to the Jaffa.

In response to O'Neill's incredulous expression gates explained, "help us was the only thing from that I knew how to say."

"God dammit, from now on we're having mandatory classes with Jackson on Goa'uld," hissed O'Neill as he brought up his sights.

The Jaffa activated their weapons and cause the ends to split and energy to crackle around the fronts. O'Neill noticed the Jaffa with the elaborate armor begins to very deliberately show himself pointing his staff at the back on one of the other. From the Jaffa's position behind the other two, they don't notice his betrayal until a golden blob of plasma slams one of the Jaffa into the wall.

Accurate fire from the earth soldiers downed the other Jaffa by hitting him in the unprotected head and weaker chain mail.

The Jaffa held an intense stare down with the SG teams before closing up his weapon and moving it to one hand. The snake helmet folded back to reveal a black man with the same brand on his forehead as the rest of the Jaffa, but made completely of gold. His head was shaved bald and his eyes gave the same hard feeling as a men that had seen too much, men like O'Neill.

Major Brennan moved forward to secure his weapon but Colonel O'Neill held him back.

"He's no danger," said O'Neill.

"No danger! Does the dead Jaffa with a hole in his back look like no danger to you!" O'Neill felt that Brennan had a good argument, but trusted his gut feeling.

"He's to remain armed until we arrive at the gate. That's an order, Major," ended O'Neill. He looked over to see Bates conversing with the turn coat. "What's he saying?"

"He's actually really good at simplifying so I can understand. He wants to take these people to the gate, I guess he has somewhere safe to send them," relayed the seargent. The traitor said something else and pointed at the dead Jaffa. "He says we need to hurry."

"Ask him what his name is," instructed O'Neill.

After Gates fumbled over a few attempts at the message before the Jaffa turned to O'Neill directly and said, "Teal'c,"

Teal'c had convinced O'Neill to take an off-road path back to the stargate. Considering the twists and turns the first path took, O'Neill was easily convinced there was a faster route.

The problem so far had been getting the slaves from the holding area this far. Some hadn't eaten or drank in days. Many dove for the river the second they saw it and drank so much they had intense stomach cramps. Two children, a brother and a sister, almost got washed away in the tide had Teal'c not managed to grab them both.

O'Neill was absolutely livid at their treatment. To make it worse Teal'c had managed to express that they were meant to be hosts. Only by comparing the Goa'uld to Nazis could O'Neill imagine how actual slaves would be treated. The Abydonians were lucky that Ra allowed them to self govern and mostly left them alone.

"Colonel, the trees are starting to thin and I'm seeing a few of those evergreens. I think we're coming up on the gate," said Sergeant Blithe.

O'Neill nodded and pulled out his radio again, "Orange-1, this is Green-1. We're coming in from the forest with civvies and a Jaffa HVT in tow. HVT is armed and non-hostile, over."

"Green-1. Repeat your last, over."

"HVT is friendly. I repeat, friendly," stressed O'Neill, "he's got on gold chain mail and plate."

O'Neill turned as Teal'c touched his shoulder. The Jaffa made a cupping motion to his ear and then pointed back the way they came. Straining his ears O'Neill managed to make out the sound of death gliders in the distance. Giving a nod to the Jaffa he turned back to his radio.

"Orange-1, be advised we've got hostile fast movers coming in behind our location. Prepare for a fight while we evacuate these civvies to another planet," ordered O'Neill as he began motioning for everyone to begin running.

"That's a security risk green-1."

"They don't know anything more than the Abydonians do," argued O'Neill, "And we can't just leave them here."

"It''d be better just to take them back with us and let command figure out what to do with them. They might have some intel command would be interested in."

"Copy that, Green-1 out."

O'Neill waved at the freed slaves to move faster, but ducked his head as a plasma bolt slammed into the tree behind him.

"SG-4 you keep escorting them. Take Teal'c, they can't be allowed to know he defected. SG-1 we hold here, standard defend and retreat." Ordered O'Neill.

The Colonel blindly sprayed his P90 through the trees, unloading half the 50 rounds magazine in what seemed to be only seconds. He looked to his right and saw Brennan wiring up some C4 to a tree with another two grenades taped for good measure.

Behind their hail of fire, explosions, and occasional smoke grenades, SG-1 managed to retreat all the way to the edge of the forest.

Sprinting for cover the soldiers occasionally turned to give covering fire for the others. Unfortunately, now that they were in the open the Jaffa became courageous. A true barrage of plasma rained down as SG-1 made a dash for the defensive line in front of the gate.

"Get you ass in the foxhole Colonel!" Yelled out some member of Orange team that O'Neill couldn't place at the moment.

Machine guns erupted behind O'Neill just as he slid into the temporary position. Looking back he saw a few trees being cut down from the flying metal. Looking back to the gate he saw it already active with the last of the civilians going through. Teal'c must have already been taken through. He just hoped they took his weapon first, otherwise he would probably be shot by the guards on the other side.

"Major Graham, let's give them something to remember. Get those mortars in the action!" Yelled out O'Neill.

"Yes sir! You heard the man, turn that tree line into No Man's Land!"

Two short explosions lofted the mortar rounds out of their tubes and high into the air. He could look out and could see a few craters from where the mortars had already taken a few zeroing shots. A whistle sounded through the air that any modern soldier would recognize. O'Neill didn't have to wait long. The tree line exploded into wood fragments. Trees fell every which way and the screams of Jaffa were heard from all over the battlefield.

Suddenly he ducked his head as a death glider strafed in front of the forward foxholes. The Avenger didn't waste the opportunity.

The jeep mounted stinger anti-aircraft system swiveled to track the slow flying aircraft, and put a missile up its tail pipe. Nothing was more beautiful than watching the missile track into the unsuspecting vehicle.

Turning back the way the aircraft came, the Avenger lined up two more incoming death gliders and gave them two missiles each. Four loud cracks were followed by four smoke trailing expanding in front of the area denial system.

One glider lost a wing to the forward most missile and exploded in a fireball as it crashed into forest. The second took shrapnel from an exploding missile directly to the cockpit. The, now pilotless, craft spiraled towards the gate before crashing and forming a huge trench in the clearing next to the defenders.

"It's time to get out of here!" Ordered O'Neill as he took a few more shots from his weapon. He was on his second to last magazine, and saw no sense in fighting a battle that needn't be fought.

Coming out of his position he ran his way towards the gate. Slapping his hand on the side of the Avenger let the vehicle know it was time to pull out. The driver wasted no time coming out of its ditch and going through the gate. The two mortars teams packed up their weapons next and headed towards the exit. With the little show of power the Jaffa seemed to have put their heads down for the moment, allowing a clean retreat.

The few remaining MGs began a leapfrog back as they used the last of their current belts to pelt the tree line one last time.

"Smoke out!" Yelled one of the machine gunners. The grey can had its pin pulled and was chucked almost to the tree line. The remaining men broke for the gate once the smoke sufficiently obscured the view.

O'Neill had his arm halfway in to the Stargate, somehow feeling like he was keeping it open while his men retreated through it. He finally stepped through when he saw the last two men only steps behind him.


"Ask him why the slaves had been assembled in Ra's Palace."

"He says that originally Amaunet, mate of Apophis, was in need of a new host."

"Originally?"

Dr. Jackson conversed again with the Jaffa. His extreme use of hand gestures was starting to really get annoying.

"Apophis' host was damaged beyond repair. His needs took priority."


There you go, chapter 11. Surprisingly I'm actually already a good ways into #12. Please review, it helps motivate me and break the procrastination that so easily sets in.