Snowfur--Without sound too immodest, it's going to be somewhat large. ;)
ancient lantean--He's going to be involved a little more than in the Stargate version. Gotta like th Asgard.
Thank you both for the reviews and for reading!
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Battlefield Earth
Cheyenne Mountain, CO, Stargate Command, Thursday, January 24, 2002, 4:05 p.m. MST
Lieutenant Colonel Carter stared down into her coffee in silence while the rest of the table absorbed the news. Teal'c and Daniel sat on either side of her, while Ren Al and her father Jacob sat at the end of the table.
Across from Carter sat Kyle Katarn and Thor, while O'Neill sat at the head of the table.
"We're so screwed," Daniel summed up.
"Indeed," Teal'c said.
"Maybe not," Kyle pointed out. "Thor's idea wasn't a bad one, not really. We can't defeat any of these groups by ourselves. But they all want the same thing. They're bound to fight it out."
"The only unknowns are the Antarans," O'Neill said. "Never heard of them before last week, never seen one, don't know what they think like. Any ideas?"
"The Asgard are familiar with the Antaran race," Thor admitted. "We are related, in fact, though many hundreds of thousands of years separate our races. When our race encountered the Ancients, who at that time were still corporeal and known as Alterans, we looked upon ourselves and realized how far we had to go. There was a split between those wishing to advance ourselves through technology, and those who wished to advance themselves through biology. In time, the split became so divergent we became separate species. The Asgard you know today have remained relatively unchanged for many thousands of years and have become essentially immortal and stagnant. The Antarans, however, while not technologically as advanced, have advanced physically far beyond us. They are the closest to Jedi this galaxy has. They are, to put in terms you may understand, pre-ascended beings on the verge of moving beyond our plane of existence, with all of the powers and abilities that implies."
"And yet they are still conquerors?" Daniel asked, thinking of his own brushes with Ascended beings.
"Their passion runs deep," Thor said. "That was another area of divergence between our peoples."
"So what do we do?" O'Neill asked.
"You could attempt to locate an Alteran weapons platform," Thor suggested.
All of them turned to stare. "And how would we do that?" O'Neill asked.
"When you accessed a repository of the Ancients, you had the information in your mind. One of you simply needs to access one of the other repositories."
Daniel suddenly turned red. "You mean there are more of those things?"
"There are three worlds I know of that may contain the information you need. I will gladly give you that information."
"Okay, so what if we find this weapon?" Katarn asked. "Is it, by itself, enough to destroy three fleets?"
"I do not know, Master Katarn," Thor admitted. "However, it is the best chance Earth has to defend itself in the event the three fleets do not fight, or one is a clear winner over the others."
"What's the clock say?" O'Neill asked.
"Twenty-nine hours, General O'Neill," Thor said.
"Okay. We'd like those addresses. Colonel Carter, prep SG-1. Master Katarn, would you like to accompany them?"
Kyle shrugged. "Why not?"
"All SG teams will be assigned to locating a repository of the ancients."
Moscow, Russia, Friday, January 25, 2002, 2:10 a.m. Russian Central Time (Thurs. Jan 24, 4:10 p.m. MST)
Green plasma faded away, and Max, Liz, Michael, Isabel, Siana and Rain Robinson stared out over the cathedral of St. Petersburg. The first thing they noticed was the intense, overwhelming cold.
The next thing they noticed as they stepped out of the copse of trees that served as their cover was the large squad of armed Russian soldiers waiting for them. "You are the American counter-alien team, yes?" the leader of the squad said in Russian.
"You are Colonel Chekov?" Rain asked in English.
"Yes," he said in the same language. He looked at the rest. "These are children. And you are not dressed for a Russian winter."
"We noticed," Max said, shivering.
"They are very good at what they do," Rain said. "But we could use some coats."
"Very well. This way, and hurry!" Coats were handed to them as they rushed across an open square to a very large building with domed spires rising from its center, and very high, red walls surrounding it.
"Is that really the Kremlin?" Michael asked in awe.
"Are you really alien hunters?" Colonel Chekov snapped back. Then he shook his head. "Forgive me; I have been traveling non-stop for days." They entered a multitude of checkpoints until finally they stopped in a large hallway lined with priceless pieces of art and antique armament, with a high-vaulted ceiling overhead.
"This is the situation. Ten suspected agents on your list overcame the presidential guard and took the president and first lady hostage. This happened an hour ago. They have made no demands so far, but we have detected a possible bomb with them. They may be planning an assassination, or perhaps even worse. So far, we have managed to keep the situation contained—no one but my immediate commanding officer is aware of the full situation. It was on his authority that you were invited to come here. But I must stress this—you are guests of Russia. For the sake of all of us, no harm must come to the President."
Rain nodded. "Colonel, you should know that of the six of us, I am the only true human born on Earth. That fact must not leave this building."
Chekov studied each of the kids, lingering a moment on Siana's beautiful blue hair. "Yes, it will remain in strict confidence."
"That means that these soldiers need to leave. Only you should remain to supervise."
Chekov appeared to consider it, and then nodded. "Very well." He turned to his men and dismissed them. The men appeared uncomfortable, but shuffled out of the hall. The colonel himself led them the remainder of the way, until they came to a large double door crafted from a heavy wood plaited in gold. More soldiers waited there, and again Chekov dismissed them.
"They are behind this door," Chekov said. "Do whatever you must to save our president."
Siana held a hand to the door and closed her eyes. "I sense them," she whispered. "The president and first lady are in their bedroom with three of the soldiers guarding them. The other seven are behind these doors working on a weapon." She leaned back. "My danger sense is flaring. That weapon is not just meant to kill the people in that room. I think it may be nuclear."
Chekov closed his eyes and muttered a prayer. "It is as I feared," he said at last. "We must move soon."
"Is there a back way to the bedroom?" Rain asked.
"This is Russia. There is a back way to everything," Chekov said.
Rain looked at the others. "I'm thinking we split up. Siana, you go with the colonel to save the president. The rest will stay with me. I'll blow the doors and we go in blasting."
Chekov turned to Siana. "You will destroy three of these soldiers by yourself?"
Siana smiled. "The Force is with me."
"In Russia, the Force is called vodka, but it does not kill the enemy."
"We don't have much time," Rain pointed out.
"Okay, okay," Chekov said.
He led Siana back the way they came, then into a narrow service passage that twisted and turned until they arrived at what appeared to be a narrow panel in the wall. Beyond it, Siana could sense the hostages.
"The door is locked," Chekov said. "The serving staff was murdered, and so we do not know where the key is."
Siana held a hand over the panel and felt with the Force for the locking mechanism. It was a primitive, mechanical device which, with a twist, came free. The panel swung out into the hall.
"Impressive," Chekov nodded. "What other tricks can you do, little blue girl?"
"Come on and I'll show you," Siana said.
She led the Russian colonel into the narrow passageway and stopped before another panel. On the other side of the panel she could sense their targets.
She turned and very quietly whispered, "When I go, please stay here until it is over."
"Do you need to contact the others?"
"I'm in contact with Isabel and Max right now. They'll know when to attack." She turned back to the panel. "Be at peace, Padawan," she whispered to herself in Basic.
Then, raising her hand, she pushed against the door with all the power of the Force. The door shattered into a rain of wood splinters. At exactly that same moment, the front doors to the presidential suite exploded under the power of Rain Robinson's servo. Max, Liz, Michael and Isabel rushed in with their powers flaring just as Siana flew into the presidential bedroom with her lightsaber lit. The three supersoldiers barely had time to bring their assault rifles to bear as Siana cut the first down, Force-pushed the second, and Force-pulled the third's weapon away from him.
She had the third man down and turned on the second as she heard and felt a cry of pain from Liz. She could not afford to hesitate, though, and quickly cut the second man down before sprinting into the main suite.
She found Max shielding the rest from gunfire while holding Liz in his arms. Michael was using his telegun to great effect and already had five of the hybrids down. Siana force pushed the two remaining agents away from the bomb, where Michael and Isabel finished them off.
Then Siana was there by Liz. "It's not that bad," Max said as he cradled her.
"Easy for you to say," Liz muttered with her eyes closed. "It's not your leg."
Max kissed Liz as he put a hand on her thigh and healed the bullet wound. Only then did they turn their attention to the nuclear bomb, and the digital figures counting down. Chekov rushed inside then, saw the countdown, and blanched. "It is going to explode in less than a minute!"
"Let's send it to the moon, then," Rain Robinson said. She started manipulating her silver pen, and a green plasma appeared around the nuclear device. A moment later, it was gone. "There, now everything's right as rain."
Just then, the Russian President and his wife stumbled into the suite. "Who are you people?" he demanded in Russian.
"Mr. President, these are friends," Colonel Chekov said. "They are with the American Stargate program and agreed to help us since your abductors were those on the list we discussed this morning."
The President nodded and walked past Chekov to where Siana stood. "You saved our lives," he said in heavily accented but understandable English.
"It is my most sacred duty to save lives where I can," she said. "A terrible danger is coming to this planet, and we must all work together if we are to survive."
"Yes, I see that," the President said. He leaned forward and kissed Siana on both cheeks. "For saving my life, and the life of my wife, I give you my deepest gratitude." He leaned back. "And for saving the city, however you did it, you have my undying loyalty. Thank you all."
"It's what we do," Rain said with an infectious grin. Her servo suddenly beeped. She put it to her ear, and nodded. "Looks like they've tried the same thing in China. I don't suppose you have a contact there we could work with?"
"I might indeed," the Russian president said.
