Chapter 34

Jack rounded the corner on the Asgard ship and spotted the enemy marching towards him down the hall. He was taken by the sight at first. The Draconians were much taller than humans standing nearly eight foot tall. The creatures were bipedal and had broad shoulders. The beings wore special suits that were reflective of the environment. The suits molded to the reptilian bodies for a constant source of heat. The heads of the creatures was rather thick and large. The jaws seemed to make up the lower half of the head. The eyes were black and nearly bead like. They could only see thermal colors. The enemy held a weapon that looked much like a staff weapon. The Draconian army opened fire as they spotted Jack's heat signature. Jack took cover and returned fire with Daniel, Livy and Loki behind him.

Daniel had taken up a position across from Jack and started firing as well. He noted the ammunition seemed to have limited effect on the advancing army. "These things are tougher than I thought they would be," he yelled to Jack. He then watched on as Draconian soldiers flicked their long forked tongues in the air. It reminded him of a lizard tasting the air while hunting food. He soured at the thought as he realized he was the food.

Jack miffed, "I thought the Goa'uld were ugly."

Loki cried, "We cannot get out this way."

Jack huffed, "You know another way?"

"Yes," he nodded. "We have to go back."

"Go," Jack motioned for Loki to lead the way.

As they started to retreat Jack radioed Sam, "We can't get to the Gate. Can you get us out?"

Her voice replied, "They are still jamming our transporter system. The Dauntless is taking heavy fire. Ba'al is trying to keep them busy while you get off. Our shields are being drained."

He could detect the strain in her voice. He asked, "What's the situation outside?"

"It's an all-out battle," she told him.

"We will try another way to the mini-gate," he replied as they doubled back.

Odyssey

June Mitchell had arrived in engineering to see what she could do to help as the two ships were suddenly thrown into a major battle. She found her mother manning the engineering station. She called out, "Need any help?"

She looked back and admitted, "I could."

June came to her aid and took over the remaining controls. She studied the readings and scanners before her. "This is getting bad," she gulped.

"We're surrounded," she nodded. "The Dauntless is taking heavy damage. Transporters are down. We're being jammed."

Ba'al's voice came over the secured communications channel as they listened in on the orders given by to ship's commanders. "Odyssey we are losing shields."

June spoke up, "Can we put the Odyssey and the Dauntless in a time dilation field at the same time and connect the fields?"

She pondered, "I think we can." She opened the communications, "General Carter!"

"Yes," she replied.

"We need to establish dual time dilation fields and connect them," she instructed. She went to the controls for the device.

"We can do that," she agreed. "Okay…I'm starting the field on the Dauntless."

"I'm starting the field on the Odyssey." she informed.

June asked, "What about the team on the Asgard ship?"

She winced, "They are on their own for the time."

"Darn," she cried worried.

Meanwhile

As the two Earth made ships established a connecting time dilation field, Jack found himself cut off and alone on the Asgard ship. Loki led them to engineering. The team had converged in engineering and sealed a bulkhead door. They were trapped and alone as they soon found they lost communications with both the Odyssey and the Dauntless.

Jack looked at Thor and his son as they read over the engineering scanners. He huffed, "What's the situation?" He was now trapped on a ship with his son and daughter and no way off. He feared they would all meet their demise soon.

"Not good," Thor admitted. "The Dauntless and the Odyssey have both sustained damages. The ships have been placed in dual time dilation fields that are connecting. I must say that is ingenious. However, we are alone and trapped."

Daniel asked, "If we can get the ship's Gate can we dial out?"

"We can but not to either ship," he replied. "They time dilation field prevent contact."

Daniel looked to Livy, "Can you establish a time dilation field for whole ship?"

She shook her head, "It's too big."

Mitchell asked, "What about the flying saucer? Can we use that?"

Thor nodded, "We can access the clone pilots from here however to pilot the ship we would need to transfer a mind into an awaiting clone that is sitting at the helm."

Jack asked, "You mean put one of us inside an Asgard clone?"

Thor nodded, "I would have to remain in engineering to maintain the ship and controls."

Charlie volunteered, "I'll do it!"

Thor disagreed, "I will require your assistance here. I cannot trust my brother." He threw Loki a dirty look.

Loki rolled his eyes, "Whatever."

Jack asked, "Does the saucer have any weapons?"

Loki replied, "It has minimal weapons. I use it for scouting new planets."

Mitchell looked at the team, "Only combat pilots here are me, General O'Neill and Teal'c. Can that flying saucer take on the Draconian battleships?"

Loki smirked, "You will make a marvelous team. You will also die quickly."

Jack cocked an eyebrow as he realized their best chance of survival was for him to be transferred mentally into an awaiting Asgard clone and access the ship. "What?" he gasped unsure.

Charlie insisted, "You won't feel a thing Dad. The Avatars are already at the helm. You just need to take possession of one."

Jack gasped, "You mean the little, gray bodies?" He held his hand at his chest.

He nodded, "I've done it before. You transfer in, pilot the ship and when you are done we can pull ya back out and put you back in your body."

Jack looked at Daniel who stood unusually quiet. He asked, "No suggestions?"

"We're trapped here, Jack." he winced. "You saw those things in the hall! Those things are so intimidating the Jaffa and the Goa'uld are friends here."

Ta'mi volunteered, "I can help."

Teal'c refused, "You will not." He didn't wish to risk her any more than he had. He found fighting the Draconians to be a challenge even with his enhanced strength.

Charlie told her, "We need everyone to help fight off any breaches."

"Okay," she agreed with a sigh for she really wished she could do more to help.

Jack stated, "I will do it! Alone! If those things breech the door you will need all the help you can get." He looked to Thor, "How do you transfer me into one of the bodies?"

From the center of the floor a table rose up.

Thor motioned, "Get on the table."

Jack handed off his rifle to Teal'c and climbed onto the table. He lay down and looked at the ceiling. The table soon light up in a white light. Jack closed his eyes and felt himself being pulled out of his body and into some sort of energy stream. When he opened his eyes again he found himself sitting at the controls of the saucer in the hangar by the small Asgard Gate. He looked down at his body. He could move the long thing arms and fingers. He spoke, "I'm in here." He noticed the controls came to life at his fingertips. He also found the hangar was crawling with enemy foot soldiers and they surrounded the small Gate.

Thor's voice came over the radio, "What are the conditions in the hangar?"

Jack told him, "The lizards are surrounding the ship's Gate. Place is crawling with them."

Thor asked, "Can you lead them away?"

Jack looked down at the small skinny gray legs of the clone, "I'm not out running these things." He then found he had control of the hangar shields. "I got an idea!" He lowered the hangar shields allowing for a vacuum to sweep through the hangar. Many of the giant Draconians suddenly flew through the air as the vacuum of space sucked them out. He could feel the ship move as the vacuum increased. After clearing the hangar he established the shield once more and radioed, "Yo…I took care of the problem."

Charlie cheered, "You sucked them out!"

Jack admitted, "Seeing giant lizards fly out the hangar was a sight." He then heard a large bang over the radio, "What was that?"

Thor replied, "They have breached the bulkhead door to engineering. Use the transporters of the saucer to beam us out."

Jack looked about muttering, "Um…" He had no idea where that would be on the controls.

The Draconians rushed into engineering. A firefight erupted as Thor tried to talk Jack through the controls of the small saucer shaped ship. "Lower left hand side!" the Asgard huffed.

One of the giant lizards grabbed a hold of Jack's body. Daniel, Mitchell and Teal'c all opened fire on the giant creature as Charlie and Livy grabbed Jack's legs and pulled to try to keep him safe. The lizard's head bucked back and the mouth opened as it then tried to sink a bite into Jack's body. It sank its razor sharp teeth right into the shoulder crushing the body armor in the process.

As the creature latched onto Jack, Teal'c went forward for it was too close of range to engage with weapons fire any longer. With all his might he took his combat knife and impaled it into the side of the thick neck. He twisted it hard and sliced through the inner muscles of the beast. He pulled the knife out and blood spurted out the side of the enemy as it collapsed to the floor.

Jack's body lay on the table bleeding from the massive bit. He would quickly become infected and the injury alone could kill him. Just as a second wave of enemy soldiers entered the breach Jack in the Asgard body managed to beam everyone onto the small ship in the hangar. He looked back at his body covered in blood. "What the hell happened to me?" he gasped.

Daniel stood breathless, "One of the Draconians bit you."

"One of those things bit me?" he winced.

Thor stated, "We need to get your body to the infirmary onboard the Odyssey. The bite is fatal."

"Fatal," Jack looked on in shock.

Daniel wondered, "Can we dial the ship?"

Charlie attempted to dial out using the wrist mounted controller, "Nothing." He looked to his half-sister. "You place the hangar in the time dilation field?"

She replied, "I can try." She closed her eyes and simply concentrated.

Charlie tried to dial again and this time it worked. They managed to establish a wormhole to the Odyssey. "We got it!" he stated relived.

Livy warned, "I have no idea how long this field will hold. We need to move Dad now." She then looked at Jack's body and then glanced at the clone. She wondered if he could move. "Can you walk in that?"

Jack stood up from the seat. He found he was much shorter than before. He turned around, "I can get this little gray ass out of here." He started towards the entrance. He looked back at his team, "Come on!" he huffed.

As dire as the situation was the sight of Jack in an Asgard gray body was a sight to behold. They gathered their wits as Daniel and Teal'c helped carry Jack's body out the saucer shaped ship and into the event horizon of the Gate.