As usual, thanks to everyone who stopped by to read the last chapter and especially to those of you who took the time to drop a comment!

Act VI, pt ii

FLAMES

The Odyssey dove to avoid being caught between the two Ori ships. Colonel Ian Davidson cursed.

With the Sun Tze gone and the Apollo severely crippled it was just them and the Iliya Muromet against the remaining Ori ships. He could see their tentative control of the situation slipping through their fingers; all the upgraded tech in the world didn't help them against the sheer numbers. Especially when the Ori commanders seemed to have learnt some military tactics since their last encounter.

It was clumsy, their attempt to corner the Odyssey and if the Odyssey hadn't been determined to stay within weapon's range, it probably wouldn't have worked at all. But it was more than they'd ever done before, when none of Earth's weapons could touch them.

"Lieutenant, get us out of range and then turn us about," he said. Time for a little game of chicken. "Let's see who blinks first."

"Yes, sir."

"Sir, one of the Ori ships has just sent a sub-space communication."

Damn, that was probably the call for reinforcements. They were still missing two of the twelve ships from the original reports, after all.

He watched as the viewscreen shifted as the ship swung about to once again face the Ori ships. One was facing him directly, the other was sailing past it, off to the side. He narrowed his eyes at it. Oh, they were so not doing this.

"Captain, target the first one," he began barking orders. "Lieutenant, turn the charge into a fly-by at the last second possible and head to the second ship. Captain, switch targets as soon as it's in range. One's not good enough. We need to stop them both!"

Amazingly enough, it worked like a charm. They didn't quite get enough hits with the plasma beams to disable the first ship's shields, but there were two good hits that at least shook it up for the moment. Their shields held against the shots that banged at their belly as they flew upwards and swung towards the second ship, which was definitely trying to make a run for it. Three good hits to its aft starboard side took its shields down and the Odyssey turned about to finish the job.

Only to get mid-turn by a forward lance beam from a third ship that had been hanging back from the fray until now.

The ship rattled and shook and Davidson felt the vibrations in his bones. He saw sparks fly out of the corner of his eyes. But the ship held.

"Status report!" he barked when it was over.

"Sir, shields are down to forty-eight percent, but they are holding!"

"Good! We can all toast to the Asgard when this is all over." He grinned.

The Odyssey's upgrades had been done by the Asgard themselves and the little grey aliens had definitely known what they were doing. Everything else in the small Earth fleet were copies. He had the best ship available and he knew it – as did everyone else aboard.

"Don't get distracted, Lieutenant, we need to keep those ships from reaching Earth," he said firmly. "Turn her about and target that second ship. Sub-light engines at full!"

"Yes, sir!"

In one smooth turn, the Odyssey put its back to the third ship and was heading back to deal with the one whose shields they'd just taken out. Davidson hoped Carter and her geeks had been right and the Ori ships needed a bit of time to recharge their massive forward beam The Odyssey could probably take one more hit from that thing, but then they'd be in trouble. And they absolutely couldn't afford to let that ship repair its shields.

It had started to move to the side, probably to make itself the less-accessible target, but the Odyssey flew directly to it, a little high so that their weapon's could target the massive power core. The ship shook as the Ori ship behind them shot at them with their regular weapons and the Lieutenant at the helm began to weave slightly as they flew.

The ship they were heading towards began firing from the front just as soon as they were once again in weapon's range, but they must've hit her targeting systems when they took down her shields because the shots went wild. The one that managed to hit them seemed more like an accident.

Two Asgard plasma beams later and the Ori ship's power core exploded.

"Good job, people," Davidson said with a tight grin. "Now let's get rid of this one chasing us."

"Yes, sir!"

"Sir, the first Ori ship is continuing on its approach to Earth."

He nodded. That was also a problem, but they couldn't very well let the ship following them go.

"Acknowledged, we'll get to that one once we've taken care of–"

He didn't manage to finish as the Odyssey shook like it'd just passed through a storm. One of the consoles on the right exploded into a rain of sparks and the officer in front of it cried out in surprise.

"What was that?"

"Sir, we've been hit on the port and starboard sides. Shields are down to forty percent."

"Oh? Teaming up on us are they now? Well, now that's just not fair." He grinned and it was all teeth. "Continue to our original target and fire at will!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Sir, Lieutenant Colonel Pratt says they'll try and keep the second ship busy until we can get to it."

Davidson raised an eyebrow. Pratt and half the Odyssey's F-302 pilots were transfers from Britain's RAF. He was a good man and an excellent pilot – and smart. As much as it chaffed at Davidson that half his fighters weren't American, he couldn't in any way complain about their skills. Pratt had a way of seeing the skies and reading his enemies that made even Davidson a bit jealous. The man didn't boast or talk big either: if he said he was going to do something, he went and did it.

"Tell him we'll be grateful for whatever he can do," he told the communication's officer.

The Odyssey evaded another shot and sent a volley of their own. Beams of light shot forward like fancy fireworks, shaking as the Ori's returned shots hit their marks.

"Sir, our shields are down to thirty percent!"

"Ori ship's shields are wavering, sir!"

"Short-range sensors are down!"

Davidson tapped his comm. "Engineering, we need the shields back up!"

"Understood, sir, we're working on boosting power by re-routing it from–"

"–Do it! Whatever it takes, Major; we need those shields!"

"Yes, sir!"

"What's going on with the other ship?"

"The F-302s are slowing it down, but it's continuing on a course for Earth."

"Damn."

Well, it wasn't like the Ori ships were a Death Star (he knew for a fact the scientists and engineers had spent days going over the scans they had just in case there was an easily-exploitable weakness that a one-manned fighter could use), a swarm of F-302s wasn't ever going to be able to do much more than slow it down.

"Sir, there's a disruption at the edge of the Dimensional Phase-shift field..." His eyes snapped to the captain manning the short-range sensors. "I think something's coming out of the field, sir!"

"Can you put it up on-screen?"

"Yes sir."

It was a strange sensation, looking at the ominously empty space where the Earth was supposed to be. Even though he knew it was perfectly safe inside the field, the sight still sent chills down his spine. Then he noticed the movement, like the ripple in a pond.

"Magnify the image," he said and then gripped the edge of his seat as the Odyssey shook.

The image zoomed in and once it had sharpened again, he watched as a distinct shape emerged from seemingly nowhere. He blinked in surprise and then a grin spread across his face.

"Son of a bitch," he said quietly. "They actually managed it."

"Sir we're being hailed."

"Open a channel."

"This is Colonel Sam Carter of the USS Phoenix. Sorry for being late."

"Better late than never, Colonel," he replied. "I'm amazed they managed to finish your ship on time to join in at all."

There was a chuckle on the other end. "Well, I'm not sure 'finished' is the right word, Colonel. I've got no hyperdrive and some of the internal systems are a bit mcgyvered together. I've got life support, shields, weapons and sub-light engines, though."

"Sounds like you've got everything you need, then. And we could certainly use the hand. Think you could take care of that bastard trying to give us the slip?"

"I think we can manage that. Carter out."

"Sir, the Ori ship's shields are down!"

"Then blast her out of the sky, Captain."

"Yes, sir."

They took the service elevator in deference to Rhodey's suit. He tried not to listen in as General O'Neill called someone named Cassie – the Cassie from the news reports they'd watched on the BC-305 he imagined. It became a bit difficult to pretend not to, though, when he started joking about their friend Daniel dying all the time. Because really?! Was this some sort of alien thing?

Yeah, he was giving the General weird looks. He was a bit worried that there might actually be people who wouldn't give him weird looks.

The service elevator stopped and they got out. Two guards stationed on either side of the elevator came to attention, but the General just swept past them. Around them, the corridor looked like it had been carved out of the ice and Rhodey could feel the cold emanating from all around him, making him shiver despite the suit. Thick ropes of wire were strung up along either side of the corridor, with mining lamps stuck into the ice wall every few feet.

It looked like the set of a sci-fi horror flick.

General O'Neill had obviously been here before, because he easily navigated the blindingly white corridors, which turned into more familiar – though equally indistinguishable – grey corridors. Except... these didn't look like the usual military design. There was embellishment in places that looked oddly out-of-place. Nothing fancy, just simple geometric designs carved into the walls that didn't seem to have any sort of practical use.

An officer met them at the end of one of the corridors and handed the General a military-issue parka and an earpiece.

"Thank you, Major," said O'Neill. "Anything new to report?"

"The Phoenix has successfully taken off and joined the fight, sir," the Major answered immediately. "And the Odyssey has managed to destroy another target."

"Good, those are all things I like to hear. And how are things here?"

"The Chair is prepped and ready to go, sir."

"Excellent! Now I don't suppose you could get someone to scrounge up some food from the cafeteria for the Colonel and me?"

"Right away, sir."

"Thank you, Major."

The Major hurried off while he and the General got into another elevator. Rhodey had expected yet another corridor when the doors opened, so he was surprised to find himself just outside a large room.

"Don't touch anything," O'Neill told him before waltzing further into the room.

There seemed to be more people huddled inside the fairly large room than there had been in the corridors. Some of them looked up when the General entered, before quickly turning back to their work. A few greeted him with a smile and a simple 'hello'. Rhodey blinked at the lack of response, then shook his head as he realized most – if not all – of the people in the room were civilians. Scientists, by the look of things.

The General hadn't been entirely clear on what this place was, except that one of the most powerful weapons at their disposal was housed here. He supposed if he was looking for the US air force's super weapon, Antarctica would be the last place he'd look... Except possibly for the moon.

No, yesterday the last place he would've looked was the moon.

An odd-looking chair stood on a small pedestal just off-centre to the room. He took a few steps closer, curious. It seemed to have similar geometrical embellishments to the walls outside, and certainly looked like it was made of the same material. There wasn't anything particularly strange about it, except for the large glass/crystal armrests. It was fairly large, almost throne-like, with a high back and very little padding. It felt alien.

"Pretty cool, huh?" said O'Neill as he came to stand next to him.

"What is it, sir?" he asked. "Is it... is it alien?"

"Yup," the General answered, popping the 'p' at the end of the word. "They tell me this base was abandoned thousands of years ago, when Antarctica froze over and they couldn't use it anymore."

Rhodey blinked. They? "Why didn't they just move it?"

O'Neill shrugged as he watched several scientists scurrying around the Chair. "The Ancients have a real problem with compulsive littering. Leaving their stuff all over the galaxy for people to trip over: it's sort of annoying. But, you know, not complaining since we now have a cool toy to play with."

He paused. "Unfortunately, the tech only works for people with a specific gene and I'm sorry to say you don't have it, Colonel, although I think you're one of the ones the gene therapy should work for."

Rhodey looked at him. "With all due respect, sir, just how exactly do you know what sort of genes I have?"

The General chuckled. "Remember about, oh, two years ago, when medical took an extra vial of blood from you during your annual check-up? I think they said it was to double-check for some sort of virus that was making the rounds or something."

Rhodey vaguely thought he remembered something like that. "I think so."

"Yeah, that was a lie. We were actually checking everyone's blood for the presence of the ATA gene. It's important for one of our projects, so the more natural gene-carriers we can send them, the better."

"General, it's all hooked-up and ready to go," called one of the scientists.

"Stay and watch the light show, Colonel. After that, I'll need you to head off to Colorado Springs and meet up with the F-302 squadron out there. If the Ori manage to penetrate the dimensional bubble, then that'll be their first target. It's where the gate is."

"Understood, sir."

O'Neill nodded and hiked up the sleeves of his parka as he sat into the Chair, carefully placing his hands over the crystals on the armrests and closing his eyes. Almost immediately, the Chair lit up and the pulled back with a sharp hiss. A holographic display appeared in the air above the Chair and Rhodey couldn't help but think that Tony would kill to get his hands on this tech. As advanced as all of Tony's crazy holograms were, they all still looked like projections of light. This looked like a display that happened to be hovering in mid-air.

It shifted a few times, until it settled as a picture of the Solar System, the Earth looking like a water-marked stamp. There were tiny space ships fighting between them and even though logically Rhodey knew there was still several hundred light years minimum between them and the Earth, they still looked unnervingly close.

"Hey, cool, I can see past the dimensional bubble!" O'Neill declared happily. "Can I fire the drones that far?"

"Sorry, General, but from what we can tell you'd lose control of them just as soon as they left the bubble – I mean, the Dimensional Phase-shift Field," one of the hovering scientists answered. "Which means they'd probably deactivate and become inert."

"Damn."

Suddenly, the water-marked Earth flickered briefly before becoming fully visible again.

"Okay, what just happened?" the General asked.

The scientist beside him hummed. "Hmm, the palladium core on the arc reactor must've burned out. Don't worry, they should have the vibranium replacement one ready to go, so the Dimensional Phase-shift Device should be back up and running in a few minutes."

Rhodey's eyebrows rose at the scientists words. "Arc reactor? How the hell does the air force have access to an arc reactor?" he demanded, glaring at the scientist.

"That's a very good question, Colonel. Doctor Smith?"

"Uh, w-well, because Tony Stark built us one. He and Sam have been working on it at Area 51 for the past few days..."

Tony Stark at Area 51. Rhodey didn't think his nightmares ever covered that scenario.

"What the hell?" the General exclaimed. The display above his head wavered for a moment. "Who gave authorization for that?"

"Er, you did, General. Colonel Carter said you told her she had blanket approval to use any resources she needed... right?"

Rhodey couldn't help but respect that sort of underhanded cleverness. O'Neill gaped at the scientist for a few moments.

"I never should've let her and Daniel become friends," he grumbled under his breath after a while. "No respect for command, none at all. Traitors, all of them."

Rhodey bit down on his smile. Now he really wanted to meet these people. His eyes slid towards the fully-visible, and all-too-vulnerable Earth.

Assuming they lived that long.

Jeannie watched General Landry stride out of the room. She felt sorry for the man. He had a lot on his plate right now between organizing the potential evacuation of the base and telling several dozen scared people that if the worse should happen, they were going to be mankind's last hope. Not to mention being in charge of coordinating the Earth's defences. He'd managed to not blow up at Pepper, however, and keep the entire room from panicking, so he wasn't doing too badly.

Jeannie barely knew the man, having dealt with him directly only once while at the SGC recovering from being injected with nanites. He'd come to see how she was doing, but she'd been too groggy at the time to remember much past the impression of a friendly smile. Meredith thought he was an idiot, of course – but Meredith's list of 'people who aren't idiots' was almost short as his 'people who are almost as smart as me' list. But Sam spoke highly of the man, so she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Jeannie certainly didn't envy him his position just now. With the Stargate Project leaked to the world, he and General O'Neill would be bearing the brunt of the worst publicity. If they managed to save the world, they likely wouldn't even get the chance to celebrate properly. Or sleep it off for that matter.

Colonel Ferretti had been left behind to answer questions and keep people calm. Which comprised mostly of being quizzed by the teenagers, all five of whom had gravitated towards him after Landry left. The two youngest were the boys who'd turned the TV on in the first place. The other three looked like they were somewhere around sixteen to eighteen years old. One of the girls spoke very broken English and her facial features looked Eastern European. Having been to Atlantis, this didn't surprise Jeannie the way she knew it surprised Pepper.

Colonel Ferretti, it turned out, was great with kids. Also, he'd been on the very first Stargate trip with Daniel Jackson and then-Colonel O'Neill. The entire room was half listening to him and half watching the broadcast.

Suddenly, the satellite stream on screen flared. Ferretti frowned.

"Attention all personnel, this is General Landry. The Dimensional Phase-shift Device is temporarily offline. I want all SG teams suited up and on stand-by. I repeat, all SG teams suit up and remain on stand-by. Landry out."

Around them, Jeannie could feel the mood shift as people realized what this meant. Ferretti suddenly found himself bombarded with questions. Reassuring civilians, he was less good at. Jeannie turned to Caleb.

"Here, take Madison," she said, handing her daughter over to him. Caleb raised an eyebrow, but easily took on the little girl's weight.

"Mommy?" Madison asked.

"Don't worry, sweetie, I'm not going anywhere," Jeannie said with a smile. "You'll be able to see me the whole time, I promise."

Then she turned around and climbed up on top of one of the chairs so that the whole room could see her. "Excuse me everyone!" Only a few people turned her way and she frowned, suddenly wishing she had inherited her father's vocal chords the way Meredith had.

Actually, that wasn't a bad idea. There weren't many social things Mer was good at, but he certainly knew how to get people's attention. She took a deep breath.

"Hey!" she called out at the top of her lungs. "Everyone shut up!"

That got the room's attention. Heads turned to her and she glowered them further into silence.

"There is nothing wrong with the Dimensional Phase-shift Device," she announced. "They knew this was going to happen: there's a Stark arc reactor powering the device and the core is made of palladium, which burns out very quickly. I'm not sure why they used the palladium, but I know that Tony Stark and Doctor Colonel Samantha Carter were creating a better core for it that would last a lot longer. Maybe it wasn't finished. Either way, the problem's under control."

She hoped. Sam had made it sound like they were close to being done with the vibranium core. Something must've gone wrong for them not to have used it in the first place.

"Uh, Jeannie?" she heard Caleb ask. He was looking at the TV screen. "What's that?"

She looked to the screen and blinked at six blue-ish spots that were fluttering at the edge of the picture. Her eyes widened.

"That is a problem," she said as six more Ori ships dropped out of hyperspace.

The Phoenix came out firing and Sam grinned as the ship that had been making a break for Earth was torn apart in short order by her ship's beams. For the Phoenix, she'd modified the Asgard plasma beams from their original design and changed the firing mechanism to allow for smaller blasts at a more rapid succession. It had taken the Ori ship by surprise.

Granted surprises like this only tended to work once, but that was one less Ori ship heading towards Earth.

"Colonel, I can see the Earth!" exclaimed a panicked voice from the right. "The Dimension Phase-shift has failed, sir!"

Sam cursed that so much of her time had been taken up by the Dimensional Phase-shift Device, not allowing her to get to know her crew. She snuck a peak at the insignia on the young woman's uniform. "Relax, Lieutenant, we were expecting this. Siler and his team just have to change the reactor's core; they'll have it up and running in a few minutes. In the meantime, we need to make sure none of the ships get within firing range of the planet."

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."

"And scan the area for any survivors of the Sun Tze. Colonel Li would've at least attempted an evacuation. If you find any, beam them aboard if you can."

"Yes, sir."

She looked down at the small read-out in front of her that showed a layout of the Solar System. "Captain, head for the Ori ship– "

"–Sir, I'm picking up six ships dropping out of hyperspace just out of Neptune's orbit!"

That was between them and Earth. Sam surged out of her command chair. "Turn us about, sub-light engines at full speed! Ready weapons and prepare to fire as soon as we're within range!"

"I thought the Tok'ra said they counted twelve Ori ships heading towards Earth," said Lieutenant Colonel Marks.

"Apparently they miscounted," said Sam through clenched teeth as she willed the Phoenix to go faster.

Six ships. The Phoenix was so new she didn't even have an F-302 compliment yet. She'd taken a peek at the scans of the Apollo and it wasn't going to be much help anytime soon unless the shields had somehow taken less damage than the rest of the ship had. The Odyssey had taken a beating, but was still fighting fit for the moment and the Iliya Muromet was limping on one side thanks to damage to its starboard thrusters.

A miracle was what they needed.

"Sir, weapon's range in five... four... three... two..."

"Full spread weapon's fire! Target major systems and bring those shields down!"

"Yes, sir!"

The screen lit up as the closest Ori battleship's shields were peppered with a hail of plasma beams. It immediately retaliated and Sam watched the beam of light head towards the Phoenix. The ship shook, but the shields held firm and its course never changed.

Suddenly, the left side of the screen lit up as a pillar of light enveloped the farthest Ori ship. Sam's eyes widened and she grinned at the miasma of swirling light. Well, she'd asked for a miracle, hadn't she?

"Wow, those are beautiful," she distantly heard Marks say.

"They sure are," she agreed. She shook the awe away and set her jaw. "How are the Ori's shields?"

"They're barely holding, sir."

"Then bring them down!"

There was an explosion from within the column of light and the mass of swirling drones broke apart. Like an intergalactic swarm of glowing bees, they swerved around and descended upon their next target. The Ori warship tried manoeuvring out of their way, its weapons frantically firing at targets too small for its massive guns.

"Sir, we're being targeted from behind!"

"Evasive manoeuvres!" Sam commanded, hoping that didn't mean the Odyssey had been taken out. She had a soft spot for the Odyssey, even if she didn't remember the fifty years she'd spent stuck on it. "How's the Odyssey doing?"

"The Odyssey's still being tag-teamed, sir... Their shields are holding, but their weapons systems seem to be down."

"Damn."

"Sir, the Ori ship is following us!"

"Double damn," she grumbled as she considered her options. She looked down at her read-out and winced. There was no choice, really. "Sub-light engines at full speed: run an intercept course with the warship closest to Earth."

"Yes, sir!"

Sam had just turned to sit down again, when she was thrown off her feet as the world around her shook. Metal screeched as it rubbed together, and Sam heard someone in the background scream. As soon as the floor stopped moving, Sam scrambled to her feet even though her insides felt like they were still shaking.

"Report!" she barked. "What the hell was that?"

"The ship following us fired its forward lance weapon, sir!"

Sam let out several choice Goa'uld expletives. Then her eyes narrowed at the screen. "Alright then, fine. Captain, turn the ship around. Weapons at full. We don't have time to play, so give them a full volley as soon as you've got a lock."

The Earth disappeared from the screen as the ship turned around. She gripped the edges of her armrests as she watched the screen intently for the first glimpse of the other Ori ship. They couldn't afford to take their time. Every second they took destroying this ship, took the other five closer to Earth. The Ancient Chair was an amazing weapon, but even it had its limits.

The first plasma shots were already being fired by the time the Ori ship began to appear on the screen. The Ori ship's shields held against the impacts. A beam from the ship fired back at the Phoenix and the ship shook again.

"Sir, we've received a direct hit to the port-side forward thrusters."

"Shields?"

"Holding at sixty-four percent, sir."

She nodded and watched as the Ori's shields were peppered with more plasma shots.

"The Ori ship?"

"Its shields are barely holding, sir."

"Good, continue shooting on the fly-by and then turn her around to finish the job."

"Yes, sir!"

"Understood, sir."

"Sir, one of the Ori ships is breaking away and heading towards us!"

"What?" Sam glanced down at her little read-out screen. Her eyes widened at blip on the screen that represented one of the Ori ships that had been heading to Earth – only it wasn't heading to Earth anymore, but right for the Phoenix.

Suddenly one of the other Earth blips began blinking violently. She held her breath, unable to turn her eyes away as she waited for it to go dark. That was the Odyssey.

The Phoenix shook with another impact and she glanced up to the screen.

"Glancing blow across the starboard side, sir, shields holding steady."

"Sir, engineering is reporting that environmental controls on the lower decks are down."

Sam winced. Those were one of the systems they'd had to cobble together to get the ship off the ground. "Life support?" she asked.

"Life support is working, sir."

"Good. Marks, have them evacuate the lower levels. There are parkas in storage; anyone who has to go down there can use those for now."

"Understood, sir," said her second-in-command and then immediately stepped away, tapping his comm to relay the order.

"Sir, the second ship is in weapon's range!"

"Single shot fire at each of them!" she commanded, mentally crossing her fingers that the switch worked the way it was supposed to.

They hadn't exactly had the chance to test the weapons systems' ability to switch from the short-burst rapid fire to a single, more powerful plasma shot. The single shot wasn't quite as powerful as the regular Asgard plasma beam, but it had a lot more power than any of the individual rapid-fire plasma bursts and still had a faster deployment.

The shots went off and she breathed a sigh of relief. Then she glanced down at the display screen. The Odyssey was still blinking and there was another Earth blip circling between it and the Ori ships that had managed to tag-team the Odyssey: the Iliya Muromet. Thank God.

She looked back to the screen as the Phoenix veered to the left to avoid a shot from the newly-arrived Ori ship. Far in the background, she caught a glimpse of the swirling mass of bright light, looking no less brilliant from a distance.

Suddenly, the lights went out.

An impact rocked the ship and Sam gripped her chair to keep from falling out of it. In front of her, she saw the Lieutenant at the long-range sensor console get flung from her chair. A console to her right exploded in sparks and she heard a man cry out in surprise and pain.

"Return fire!" she called out before the ship had stopped shaking. Behind her, she heard Marks call for a medical team.

"Damage report!" she barked to the major manning internal systems.

"Shields took a hit, sir, but they're holding at forty-six percent," he began. She listened with half an ear as he listed the damage: is wasn't nothing, but they could handle it and continue to fight.

By the time he'd finished, the Lieutenant manning long-range sensors had managed to get back to her station, wincing as she sat down.

"Sir, the Earth is no longer visible on any scanners," she finally announced.

"The Dimensional Phase-shift Device was re-activated," Sam concluded. She'd known that between Tony and Siler, they'd manage easily enough. "The Ori ships?"

The silence for a moment too long.

"Lieutenant?" Sam prompted her firmly.

"Sir," the young woman said uneasily. "I-I've lost track of two of the ships... sensor data indicates they were in Earth's orbit when the device came back online."

Sam's eye widened, but she didn't get the chance to despair as another impact rocked the bridge.

'Stay and watch the light show' General O'Neill had said. And up until the far wall exploded in brilliant white light, Rhodey had expected giant laser beams.

He hadn't even realized the far wall had been made up of a row of large windows that looked into another chamber until he was running towards them. Awed, he watched as hundreds of mechanical fireflies swarmed upwards into the clouds. Yeah, that was a light show alright.

"What the hell was that?" he asked no one in particular.

"Ancient drones," a tall thin woman to his left answered. When he raised an eyebrow at her, she gestured back towards the General. "General O'Neill is controlling them using the Chair. It's a weapon's platform, you see. Well, among other things. Theoretically it does a lot more than that, but we'd need to have the rest of the outpost operational to test it."

Rhodey blinked at her and turned back to look at the General. The Chair was glowing, illuminating the older man in soft, white light. His eyes were still closed, his face tense with concentration, looking like he was, well, trying to save the world with his mind.

The holographic display still hovered above his head, although the picture had changed slightly with the addition of a swirl of bright light. Rhodey walked over to look at it.

On the display they looked like tiny little pin-pricks, creating a moving wave of light drawn in pointillism. They surrounded one of the newly-arrived Ori ships and congealed into a moving mass of light that grew brighter for a moment. Then the Ori ship exploded.

"Yes!" he heard Doctor Smith exclaim happily. When he looked over, the man was beaming. "We'd hoped the drones could take out an Ori ship, but this is the first time we've actually been able to test them against one."

"Well, then I'm sure glad you were right, Doctor," said Rhodey.

He watched with bated breath as the Ori ships crept closer and closer to Earth. One Ori ship down, the drones then moved onto the next one. This one attempted to resist as they swarmed it, but resistance, it quickly learned, was futile. One of the Earth ships had managed to take out another of the Ori warships, but then had to turn away to deal with an especially irritating tail. Rhodey held his breath as he watched one of the remaining three Ori ships break away and head towards the Earth ship to catch it from behind.

It was two-on-one, but the much-smaller Earth ship wasn't giving any ground. It took all his effort to stop himself from breaking out into loud, enthusiastic cheering that the people on board those ships would have no hope in hearing. It wasn't the only Earth ship being tag-teamed, though, but the other one seemed to be in much worse shape: it was barely moving and not returning enemy fire.

"Goddammit, Carter!" General O'Neill suddenly exclaimed. "No, wait, Carter's on the Phoenix... Goddammit, Stark! Took you long enough and you couldn't wait five more minutes!"

Rhodey looked to the General and noted that whatever had happened, the man looked highly annoyed, but not out-right angry. He looked back to the screen and immediately saw that the Earth was back to being its previous water-marked outline. On one side of it a mass of small, black dots floated aimlessly.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Half my drones were outside the field when the bubble went up again," O'Neill groused. He opened his eyes, jaw tense. "Which means I'm down half my fire power and we've got two Ori warships inside the bubble with us. Colonel, go back up top and get the 305 to take you to Colorado Springs immediately. And tell the pilot to step on it. If you get the chance to, report to General Hank Landry, otherwise consider your standing orders to help wherever you're needed and protect civilians."

Rhodey stood at attention. "Yes, sir."

"Good luck, Colonel."

"You too, sir."

Rhodey ran back to the elevator and resisted the urge to press the button for the top floor continually to try and make it go faster. The Major who'd gone to get them food earlier was waiting at the top of the elevator holding an overflowing tray. He blinked once at Rhodey, but didn't ask any questions after getting a glance of his face.

"Follow me, Colonel," he said and hurried off down the corridor.

Rhodey couldn't help but wonder if the people around here could read minds, but he certainly didn't protest the guide through the creepy frozen corridors. When they finally arrived at the elevator that went up to the surface, the Major handed him a bottle of water and an apple and wished him luck.

"What in the world is that?" Bruce asked as he stared at the screen, mesmerized by the bright lights converging on the first Ori warship.

"I have no idea," said Cassie, wide-eyed and equally mesmerized by the sight.

"I'm going hazard a guess at some sort of weapon," Maria Hill commented after the Ori ship exploded.

There was a pause and then Thor's voice came on over the speakers, sounding slightly awed: "My friends, never have I ever seen nor heard of such a weapon: not on Asgard, nor any of the other realms I have visited."

"It's definitely the prettiest weapon I've ever seen," said Darcy. "No offence to Mjolnir."

"I assure you, none is taken, Lady Darcy."

"It's impressive is what it is," Happy spoke for the first time. He was frowning. "But if they have something like this, why didn't they use it earlier?"

"The dimensional phase-shift most likely," said Bruce thoughtfully. "If whatever that is, is being controlled from Earth, then the signal connected to it most likely wouldn't cross over to another dimension."

"Makes sense," said Maria Hill.

The lights – and at this point it had become clear it wasn't a single wave of light, but a wave made up of hundreds of small lights – destroyed another ship and then headed relentlessly towards their third victim. However, just as they reached the ship, the tail of the wave went dark.

The remaining lights continued to attack the ship as it passed by the satellite.

Cassie's eyes widened. "Hang on, if that ship just passed by the satellite..."

"Then that means its reached a geosynchronous orbit with Earth," Hill finished, her eyes widening. "Shit!"

They exchanged looks. "What the hell do we do now?" Cassie asked, her voice trembling.

"Excuse me, I apologize for interrupting, but I am receiving a call from the Baxter Building."

Bruce blinked. "The Baxter Building?" he said. "What's in the Baxter Building?"

"The Fantastic Four," Hill answered.

"Oh. Well then put them through, I suppose."

General Hank Landry stared at the screen in horror. The worst had happened: two Ori warships had made it past their defences. And to make matters worse, it looked like about half their Ancient drones were stuck on the other side.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He let it out slowly.

No, the worst hadn't happened yet. They still had the chance to prevent that.

He opened his eyes. "Sergeant Harriman, alert the airbase. I want all F-302s up in the air immediately. And contact Colorado Springs PD and emergency services. Tell them to fall into a state of emergency. Lock down all schools, hospitals and public spaces. Get people to shelter: basements, sewer systems, as far down as they can go."

"Yes sir!"

He grabbed the microphone and turned on the intercom.

"Attention all personnel! This is General Landry speaking: the Dimensional Phase-shift field has been compromised. We have two Ori warships within the field. All SG teams prepare to defend the base. I repeat, all SG teams prepare to defend the base!"

He flicked the button off and looked back to the screen. As he watched, tiny dots that signalled one-manned fighters spilled out of the two ships. Half the fighters headed directly inland. Landry traced their path with his eyes.

"Major!" he barked at his aide. "Contact Area 51; tell them they have incoming."

"Yes sir."

Then he looked back to the ship the fighters had come from. Sure enough, its current course was taking them directly to the SGC. He only hoped that a half-force of drones managed to take it out before it got here.

"Now would be a really great time for SG1 to live up to their reputation," he said quietly.

"Sir?" Landry turned to look at Sergeant Harriman who was just returning. "Don't worry, sir, they will. SG1 always comes through."

He gave the Sergeant a half-smile and a nod. The smile fell off his face once the other man was seated at his station. That was the problem with heroes and repeated miraculous saves. People began to expect it, but everyone's luck ran out eventually.

One day SG1 would leave and come back too late. Or not at all.

The Phoenix rocked with another impact. The last one had taken out their sub-light engines, but Kavanaugh and the engineering team were already working on repairs. The flickering life support on decks four to ten was a bigger problem. But the shields were, somehow, still holding and they had weapons. Sam coughed and waved her hand in front of her face to dispel the smoke lingering on the bridge like a bad dream. The fire that had exploded from one the science stations in the back had been put out, but the bridge still smelt of electrical fire and burning hair.

She watched as the Phoenix shot out another round of plasma bursts at the Ori ship on the left. The last one impacted with the gleaming white hull.

"Sir, the Ori ship's shields are down!"

"Finish her off!" Sam spat viciously, her voice sounding hoarse and muffled by the smoke.

"Sir, I'm picking up more ships coming out of hyperspace!"

Sam's eyes widened. "What? How many?"

Even through the smoke, she could see the Lieutenant swallow heavily as she operated the controls on her console with shaking hands. When she looked up to meet Sam's eyes, they were wide and terrified.

"Six, sir."

"Holy Hannah."

The Phoenix rocked again from another impact as the second Ori ship flew in to intercept and prevent them from taking out the first one. Sam barely felt it as she thought about having to fight six more ships. She would do it. They didn't have a choice. Jack would protect the Earth with his dying breath, so would Teal'c and Daniel – wherever they were. She could do no less.

Years ago, her grandmother had taught her and her brother the words to the Lord's Prayer. Her eyes had been kind and her words sure, full of faith in the words she was speaking, and inspiring her two grandchildren to learn each and every word dutifully. Now, staring out at the enemy she was almost certain would be her last, needing the reassurance of those words, of her grandmother's quiet faith, she found she couldn't remember a single word.

Have I mentioned yet how much I love cliffhangers?