SGU: Guiding Light

by Sage1988

In the aftermath of the Attack on Icarus Base, one of the survivors on Destiny must find herself and navigate the problems in front of her to save both herself and the others, even those from within. OC character AU story. 31/08/15 Sequel SGU: Message in Time is now up

38. Chapter 38 Siege

I do not own Stargate Universe

I have decided to do a Doctor Who crossover and possibly a few others as well with this story after I finish it as a sequel. I have a plot worked out but if anyone has any thoughts about it I would like to hear them.

Chapter 38 – Siege

Two weeks later…

Destiny hung on the edge of the Pegasus Galaxy after dropping off the last of the puddle jumpers they had found on the Virtus at the new Pegasus Beta Site. The rest of their survey mission hadn't quite lived up to the excitement of the Outpost planet but they had managed to make a few peaceful first contacts with other human worlds. With that job done, they had resumed their journey back to Earth. In the quiet infirmary, Claire Williams and her friends were talking about what they were going to do when they got back to Earth.

"I suggest a vacation to Miami or maybe Oahu?" Vanessa said as she packed some blankets into bundles looking forward to some much needed relaxation after the last year and a half. Hanging out on the beach or by the pool sounded like paradise.

"That would be heaven." Chloe agreed. She was now imagining a relaxing vacation too. She closed her eyes as the images came to her.

"I was thinking maybe a cruise around the Caribbean?" TJ said, she herself was now starting to show as her second pregnancy developed so she was once again wearing the blue civilian shirt.

"No offense TJ but I think I need a break from ships for a while." Claire said as she organised the medicine cabinet thinking about how long they had all been living on Destiny. While the ship now felt like home to most of the crew, even to Claire herself a break from life on-board would be very welcome after all that had happened.

"Amen." Ginn added, while she had not been here as long she too would love a break from Destiny.

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On Earth the IOA had been debating the proposal by Claire Williams; that they salvage the Ancient warship Tria and press it into service as part of the growing space fleet. The usefulness of the ship was not overlooked but who would run the ship had quickly become a hot political potato. No one country was willing to allow another to control the ship. The United States had of course tried to get control first but given that it already controlled seven of the ships in the star fleet including Destiny, more than any other nation that they had been shouted down by the others. Russia especially had made its feelings known quite vocally and to stop a small war breaking out in the conference hall the United States had withdrawn its claim offering instead that it might be best to allow one of the IOA nations that had yet to get a ship and get on the waiting list as most of the nations that were yelling the loudest either had a ship already or had one on the way. The rest of the nations grumbled but conceded it was probably a good idea as it saved them the resources of having to build one from scratch. The British and Canadians had suggested Australia as the country had yet to be assigned a position in the queue, the rest of the nations had agreed due to having no particular issue with Australia and it allowed them to keep their own place in the queue for a ship when one was available.

So as Destiny waited on the edge for Atlantis to dial them so they could take on the Australian crew for the Tria. Colonel Young smiled as the gate dialled and the familiar sight of the unstable vortex erupted from the stargate before it settled back down into the simmering puddle. Moments later a group of people started arriving through the open wormhole. Colonel Young stepped forward to greet the newcomers and approached the leader of the group. An Air Commodore named Michael Tate, a forty three year old veteran of the Royal Australian Air Force or RAAF as it was known. The grey haired man was easy going by nature but an experienced and capable officer with a reputation for excellence. The older man stepped forth to meet the Colonel half way, offering his hand which the Colonel took and both men gave a firm handshake.

"Air Commodore Tate." Colonel Young said with a smile which the Australian returned.

"Colonel Young." The Commodore returned with a smile. "No need to be so formal, just call me Michael."

"Everett." Young replied. Michael looked around Destiny's gate room and gave a whistle in appreciation.

"Nice." Michael said in admiration. "Those Ancients really knew how to build."

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The week it took to get to the Tria's location was a fun one for the crew of Destiny. Largely due to the Australian guests they had on-board. Playing card games, sports like basketball in the cargo bay, the newcomers brought a sense of fun to ship that had previously been absent. They were professional in their duty but in their off time they had a real sense of comradery. The crew got on well with them.

When they had arrived at the Tria, the ship was just as it had been left by the previous crew that had abandoned it. Bringing the ship's systems back on line had been child's play and installing the new hyperdrive unit had taken no time at all. When the Tria was finally ready, it leapt into hyperspace on its way back to Earth while Destiny carried on to the fringe systems of the Milky Way. It took only a couple of days to cross the intergalactic void and arrive back in their home galaxy.

"Any stars nearby that are suitable for us to recharge at?" Young asked from his seat on the bridge. At the consoles in front of him; Claire, James and Lisa sat operating the ship with a well-practiced ease.

"One, normal G2 yellow dwarf, no planets. Maybe a day away at FTL." James told him from her station. Young nodded before turning to Claire who was sitting at navigation. "Take us there at FTL."

"Aye sir." Claire said, engaging the ship's original faster than light drive to carry them towards the star so that they could replenish their energy reserves.

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After the ship had recharged itself, Claire now alone on the bridge checked the long range sensors as they prepared for the last jump home when she detected something that was just barely in range. She reached for her radio and clicked it on.

"Colonel Young come." She said into the small box.

"Go ahead Claire." Young responded. Claire described to him what she was seeing on the long range sensors.

"We've detected what looks like some kind of space station in between systems. No signs of activity but we might be able to get more information if we got closer." She suggested. Their standing orders were to investigate any space going races they found to observe and assess. If they were peaceful, then initiate first contact, if not then assess them as a potential threat. Young pondered for a moment, wondering if he should just log the discovery and move on or if he should investigate. His curiosity proved the stronger motivator and his told Claire.

"Alter course to investigate. Keep some distance till we can get a better picture of what's going on." He ordered and she gave a cheerful.

"Will do, Bridge out." She eagerly set the ship to make a short hyperspace jump to the newly discovered space station.

Arriving moments later, Claire maintained a good distance from the station as she began closer range scans. She looked into the information eagerly, loving the opportunity to study something new that no one had ever seen before. Then she saw a general image of the station and her eyes saw the huge sprawling complex in space with domes and tall spires in the centre, it looked like an enormous city in space. Then when she looked closer at some of the spires her eyes widened in surprise. She magnified the image as close as she could from the distance and carefully looked over the style of towers and the elegant designs that had been carved into them. Feeling shocked but more confident in her initial thoughts she reached for her radio.

"All senior personnel please come to the bridge. Immediately." She then turned back to her scans while she waited for her colleagues to arrive. She rechecked sensor readings she was getting to confirm what she was thinking. When the rest of the command crew arrived, she got up from the command chair and Camille was the first to speak.

"Well Claire what is it?" She asked, the Colonel had told them all about the space station but she was not really that interested given that she and Sharon had just been interrupted in the middle of a private moment and were both feeling quite annoyed at Claire right now.

"The space station is abandoned, no one had been here in a long while." Claire told them with a serious expression.

"So, just log it and we'll get another ship to come out later." Matt said not getting why Claire had called everyone together for something like this.

"Just look at the station." Claire said getting frustrated at the lack of curiosity she was getting. Sensing her annoyance the rest of the command crew walked forward to study the displays that were showing the images she'd collected of the station. They all looked without too much interest but then Rush caught sight of the shape of the towers in the centre.

"It's Ancient." He said now intrigued. There had never been an opportunity to study an Ancient Space Station before and this was a big one. By the readings they were getting it was over four times the size of Atlantis and in near pristine condition.

"One of the later stages of their culture before they ascended judging by the architecture." Claire said relieved that someone was now getting the importance of this discovery.

"Safe to board?" Vanessa asked as she looked with renewed interest at the station.

"No life support, but otherwise safe. We can put you down straight in the command centre." Claire told her and everyone looked over to Colonel Young who nodded without expression.

"Okay, Major Todd, James, Rush get over there with a team and check it out." He told them and the people left to get ready for their mission while the rest of them turned back to the images on the screen.

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The command centre of the space station was silent and dark. The coloured windows that were so like Atlantis let no light from the distant stars into the room, but all of this was changed when the bright blue lights of the transporter deposited a team of eight people wearing Ancient Environment suits into the room. As the blue light faded the only illumination was the light from inside their helmets till they activated their wrist mounted torches which cast long beams over the large room.

"Find a terminal, see if you can get some lights on in here." Major Todd ordered James and Rush before turning to the soldiers that had accompanied them. "The rest of you secure the room." James and Rush went over to the bank of consoles at in the centre of the room while the marines mostly her own squad moved to check all entrances into the room as best as they could in the dark. As if sensing James when she climbed the stairs the consoles flickered quickly to life. Vanessa moved quickly to the console and activated life support. It took only a few seconds for the computer to respond as all over the station lights suddenly came to life banishing the darkness with their illumination. The corridors and halls of the large space outpost started filling with air and on the command level, the away team felt the pull of the artificial gravity on their arms as it engaged. Looking around the team could now see the large room they were in was twice as big as Atlantis's control room with stained glass like windows all along the walls and instead of the control consoles being at the back of the room they were on a raised platform in the centre of the room in a circle. Everyone looked around amazed as they studied the design around them.

"We've got heat and air. You can take your helmets off now." Rush told them without giving anyone chance to remind him of the normal procedure, he took his off and sighing the rest of the team removed theirs. Taking a breath of air without the strange noise of the suit's regulator was nice but then they all got straight down to business.

"Alright James give me a status report on this base, the rest of you keep sharp." Major Kate Todd said holding her rifle tight as she kept a look out while the two scientists on the team kept working at the controls. Rush called up the layout of the station and Vanessa stared with wide eyes when she saw it.

"Wow." Was all she could say before she and Rush gave the okay that they were alone on the station.

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"The station was built after the Ancients returned to the Milky Way from Pegasus. They meant it to be some kind of deep space monitoring station in case the Wraith ever invaded from Pegasus so they could be detected prior to arrival." Vanessa explained to the command crew when they had come over. They were sitting in a small conference room just like the one in Atlantis while the extra teams fanned out through station carefully exploring the large outpost. "If that ever happened this was going to be the Ancients strong point for repelling the invasion."

"As such." Rush said interrupting the young officer. "This station has powerful long range sensors that can monitor the outlaying systems of both this galaxy and Pegasus and even the void in between. It has defences that make those on Atlantis look laughable in comparison. Green beam energy projectors all around the hull with smaller pulse weapon batteries for point defence and that is not including the vast stacks of drones and puddle jumpers all protected by a shield powered by four ZPMs which the station still has at more or less full charge since they haven't been used in ten millennia." The command crew all looked on in amazement at the amazing discovery that had just fallen right in their laps. But Vanessa gave Rush a glare before continuing her description of the station.

"The station was designed as a self-contained outpost. It has big hydroponic gardens, beam replicators, an automated shipyard for both building and repairing ships and even a ZPM factory." Vanessa told them. "It even has big parks and lots of room for a civilian population with a large promenade where there could have been all kinds of amenities."

"So this place is like the Deep Space Nine of the Ancients?" Eli asked most of them not getting the star trek reference. Claire looked over to her best friend and knew her well enough to see there was something she was worried about telling them so Claire asked.

"I'm sensing a problem?" Vanessa grimaced as did Rush before Camille asked.

"What is it?" Vanessa decided to say it first.

"Before the Ancients ascended they seem to have 'cut' or disconnected all the station's systems from each other except for life support."

"What you mean they took the crystals or something?" Matt asked remembering how important the crystals were to Ancient computers.

"No we mean they disconnected the systems and disabled them. For what purpose I don't know." Rush told them with an impatient weariness. The reason the ancients would mess up their own systems like this escaped him but they had done it regardless.

"Well how long would it take to fix?" Kate asked seeing the dismayed look on Claire's face at the announcement.

"Weeks!" Claire said with frustration. "There are only about seven people in the SGC that have the skill to fix that kind of mess including me and Rush." The rest of the people in the room all looked dismayed at the estimate. TJ then asked a question hoping to change the subject.

"Does the station have a stargate? So we can dial Earth?" She asked Vanessa who nodded.

"Yes we found it in this big hall at the base of the control tower."

"Then let's dial Earth and let them figure out what to do." TJ said not wanting their return to Earth to be delayed any more than it already had been.

"Sure. Let's do that." Colonel Young said and got up from his seat, signifying the meeting was over.

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They dialled Earth but their message was met with just a short response.

"Stay there and wait for orders."

So for five days the ship held position near the station while the crew started the work on reconnecting the systems. On the fifth day Claire discovered the name of the station.

"Turrem." Eli said with a face not liking the name.

"Well it means Watchtower in English. Clearly the Ancients didn't have a lot of imagination when naming things." Claire said as she worked to restore the shield of the station while Rush worked on the sensors.

"Watchtower, now that I do like." Eli said remembering a similarly named space station from the comics he read as a kid.

"We're not the Justice League." Claire protested but despite her efforts, the name stuck so the station became known as the Watchtower. They had just finished and were about to contact the rest of the scientists on the command level when their radios clicked to life.

"All senior personnel report to the conference room immediately." Lisa Park's voice said and Claire got to her feet while Eli just smiled, bemused Claire asked.

"What are you so happy about?" Eli gave her a sly smile looking at her swollen stomach.

"Just imagining you as a mom."

"Eli." Claire gave him a stern stare which humbled the young man and he felt back to work. Smiling to herself secretly Claire went for the transporter to get back to the command deck. She slid her hand to her now six month pregnancy. She was scared to death of course but she was also unbelievably happy at the same time. When she arrived on the command deck she saw to her delight that Sam was standing there waiting.

"Sam." Claire cried out and walked over to give her mentor a big hug which the older woman returned but not with as much as enthusiasm that Claire expected. "What's up?" Claire asked Sam now concerned by the tense look on her face.

"Not much time Claire, we need to brief everyone quickly." Sensing the urgency in her voice, Claire nodded and followed Sam into the conference room where the rest of the senior Destiny crewmembers were already waiting. Surprising Claire again however was the fact that SG-1 and Colonel John Sheppard and Rodney McKay of AR-1 were also there. She gave them a smile which they returned uneasily making Claire feel all the more unsettled.

"Right now that we are all here I can explain the situation." Sam said with clear worry in her voice. "While the IOA were debating what to do with the station, a Lucian Alliance spy in the organisation leaked the station's location to the faction run by Massim. He has rallied his entire force and is heading here."

There was silence in the room as the news sank in. Colonel Young broke it by asking.

"How long?"

"Days." Sam told him grimly. Young turned to Claire and asked.

"How long before the defence systems are back online?"

"Not fast enough." She told him knowing it would be too short to get the weapon systems working. "The shield is nearly ready but weapons are at least a week away."

The grim atmosphere in the room hung heavily on those there and Camille asked.

"Can we expect any help from Earth?"

"Yes, a taskforce is being assembled. Thanks to the subspace capacitor and a few improvements in hyperdrive design they will beat Massim here." Sam told them.

"There is something else." Jennifer Hailey said. "Because Massim had his fleet so spread out they will all get here separately."

"So this is a siege rather than a straight up battle." Young said thinking of how long they could hold this station against a prolonged assault. Reaching his own conclusions he asked. "How many ships is Massim bringing?"

"We don't know for sure but it is likely in the hundreds." Vala told them, she had tried every contact she had but had not been able to get a straight answer.

"I don't know if we can hold out against a force that large." Kate said with a worried expression.

"We can't let them have this installation." Sheppard said. "So we have to try."

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All the following days, the stargate was always busy as reinforcements arrived from Earth. Whatever SG teams that could be spared (SG-3, 5, 6 and 11) with soldiers from IOA member countries, bringing their troop numbers up to nearly a thousand with additional troops on the way. In the corridors all around the strong points of the station, barricades were set up with mounted machine guns and makeshift armouries with stacks of ammunition and extra weapons. On Destiny, the crew made whatever preparations they could to get the ship ready for battle. Both infirmaries on the ship and station stockpiled medical supplies for the inevitable casualties. One the third day of preparations a meeting was held on the command deck of the station between the highest ranking military personnel.

"So how are preparations going?" Sam asked having taken personal charge of the defence of the station.

"We have strong points being reinforced all over the station and Destiny standing ready." Young told Sam who nodded before turning to Sheppard.

"How many troops have got ready?"

"Over a thousand pairs of feet on the deck plates and counting." Sheppard told her. "But if we don't get more ships here they won't mean very much." Sheppard paused for a moment thinking back to the siege of Atlantis during the first year of the expedition before telling her. "McKay, Hailey, Rush and Claire have been working around the clock with the other scientists but so far the only thing they have got working is the shield as of ten minutes ago." Sam gave a little sigh of relief and said.

"Well at least we have that. How long before weapons?"

"We have to fix the sensors at the same time." McKay said appearing from the main lift, tablet in his arm. "If we don't fix the sensors then weapons are useless because we won't be able to aim them." He went over to one of the consoles and started working without saying anything else. The three officers were used to Rodney's difficult nature and turned back to each other so that Young could answer her earlier question.

"A week at least as they have to divide themselves between several jobs at once." Then an alarm activated signalling that the stargate was dialling in. The officers rushed over to the consoles to see the defence teams stationed around in standing ready with their weapons drawn and machine guns manned. The tension was only broken when Teal'c, Bra'tac and Anise stepped through and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Sam walked into the transport to get down to the stargate hall, arriving moments later. She exited the high tech lift to greet her long-time friends.

"Well hello. Welcome to Watchtower Station." She said to the three new arrivals giving each a hug in greeting and they took in their impressive surroundings. Teal'c was the first to speak.

"Greetings General Carter." He told her as formal as always. "It is good to see you again."

"Good to see you too." Sam said before turning to Bra'tac and Anise and told them. "How have you been?"

"Well General Carter." Bratac said, the old warrior's eyes still keen. "Teal'c has told me of your plight and I wish to offer the aid of the Free Jaffa Nation. I have five hundred of our best warriors ready to join you in this battle."

"Bra'tac were I not a married woman I would kiss you." Sam said now feeling better at the additional reinforcements. Relations between the Free Jaffa Nation and Earth had been strained for a long while now due to all the events that had taken place in the Ori Crusade and their fear of Earth's influence in their decisions but recently things had improved between the two interstellar powers since Baal was defeated.

"The Tok'ra also offer their assistance." Anise said as Bra'tac smiled not wanting to be outdone by the Jaffa. "I have got some of our best scientists ready to join in the repair of this station."

"That is great news." Sam said aware of the tensions that still lingered before the two groups but ignored it, they needed all the help they could get. Then an alarm drew their attention.

"They're here." Sam said in a whisper.

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Outside the space station five Lucian Alliance Motherships dropped out of hyperspace and started charging at the space station. On the bridge of Destiny, Lieutenant Matthew Scott sat in the control chair. He had been put in charge of the ship while the Colonel and Major were on the station aiding the defence. He had never been in charge of the ship in a battle situation before and he really was nervous. His sister looked at him from the navigation station, Sergeant Riley from Tactical and Volker on engineering.

"Rise the shield." Matt ordered and a beat of sweat fell from his brow before he said. "Move us between the motherships and the station."

"Sure." Kathy said and engaged the ship's engines to move them into position while Riley raised the shields.

"Maybe we should arm weapons?" Volker said, when the others looked over to him he shrugged and said. "Just a suggestion."

"Right arm weapons." Matt said feeling more out of his depth. Riley then spoke.

"The motherships are closing, they've launched death gliders." Riley told them as they could see dozens of small fighters that started coming straight at them at top speed. Before Matt could give another order the death gliders and their motherships started firing. The ship shook from the impacts.

"Shields down to eighty percent." Volker said as the ship was pelted by plasma cannons.

"Return fire." Matt said from the command chair and all over Destiny's hull her energy batteries deployed before opening fire on the death gliders that were trying to swarm the Ancient starship. "Deploy the main weapon and fire on the nearest mothership."

"Aye sir." Riley said and he deployed the large cannon mounted to the underside of the ship and aimed it right at one of the enemy ships before firing. The blue blasts impacted hard on the shields of the mothership before the fourth blast finished the shields off completely so the fifth and sixth shots could blow the ship away completely. All around Destiny itself the smaller batteries picked off the small fighters as they continued their attack wearing down the ship's shields.

"Sixty Percent." Volker warned from his console as the ship was pounded by enemy fire.

"Target the next mothership." Matt said focusing on the next target rather than the dire situation. Then Riley spoke up from his console.

"We've got more ships coming in." He worked at his console furiously trying to get more information. "Two different groups." Looking up from his console he saw five more motherships drop out of hyperspace but behind them there was a group of seven ships that did not belong to the Lucian Alliance.

"Earth ships!" Riley cried out as the reinforcements arrived and started attacking the Lucian Alliance ships from behind, carving them up with Asgard beams. "Apollo is leading the pack."

"Good." Matt said now feeling much better that they didn't have to try and fight the Alliance on their own. "Now start firing at those motherships." He said eagerly.

Destiny used the opening created by the arrival of the other ships to renew its attack on the Lucian Alliance, destroying two more motherships before the enemy knew what was happening and pressing the attack against the others. The Earth ships led by Colonel Ellis meanwhile launched their own fighters the F-302s which began dogfighting the death gliders with railguns assisting from their base ships. The blue Asgard beams slammed into the shields of the motherships which quickly buckled and fell under the relentless assault, before the beams ripped the enemy ships apart.

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Colonel Ellis beamed aboard the station the moment that the last death glider had been destroyed to talk with his commanding officer. A flash of blue light announced his arrival on the command deck of the station. He turned to see the familiar sight of General Samantha Carter with Colonel Sheppard and Colonel Everett Young at her side. He walked over and introduced himself.

"General, Colonel, Colonel." He said respectfully and General Carter acknowledged.

"Colonel welcome to the party what ships did we get?"

"The Apollo of course." Ellis said with a note of pride that his ship had been made flagship of the taskforce. "Then the Sun Tzu, Charles De Gaulle, George Hammond, the Avasta, the Krieger and the Viraat." He listed the ships that had been available to reinforce the station, including the German manned Krieger and the Indian run Viraat which had been rushed into the service for this battle.

"So with the exception of the Avasta they are all X-304s?" Young asked not being fully aware of the disposition of the growing space fleet during his time away.

"Yeah, that one is the half pint." Ellis said with some distain.

"Half pint?" Sheppard said looking confused.

"Half pint is what the other ship commanders call the Avasta." Carter explained. Demeaning though it was, the X-306 was a small destroyer designed to work in concert with the larger X-304s. The decision as to whether anymore X-306s would be built was being debated in the IOA conference room. In field tests the nimble little ship had proved highly effective and had the teeth of a larger ship, but it was still smaller than the X-304s so they were working through the pros and cons.

"That might be but we need all the help we can get." Young said. "We need to hold off the Alliance till the scientists manage to bring the weapon systems online." In all likely hood against the unknown number of ships Massim had committed to this campaign would overwhelm the defenders eventually if they could not bring the station's own impressive but disabled defences online.

"Yeah how is that going?" Ellis said with derision as the discussion brought up the civilian scientists that he personally did not like at all, something he was well known for. While he held the members of the front line team of the Atlantis Expedition in high regard he was a strict military man and felt that the civilian scientists lacked discipline. The other officers who had worked with Ellis before realised that they should have seen this attitude coming. Young looked over to Rush who was working on the command deck and asked.

"How is it going?" Rush sighed at being interrupted and got up from under his console and put his tools down. He walked over to Ellis and stood with his face just inches from the Colonel's and told him with his harshest tone.

"Well Colonel we are trying to undo the damage done by possibly the most advanced race in the universe over ten thousand years ago to bring highly sophisticated and destructive weapons online that can save all of our lives but to do that we have to fix equipment and computer sabotage all over this station when only four maybe five people on-board are qualified to do it. We have to talk the others through it while we're working ourselves so unless you think you can do a better job why don't you leave the thinking to us." Before he went back to work.

Ellis looked completely stone faced as he suppressed his own reaction to Rush's little speech while everyone else looked on waiting for it when they were distracted by the door to the transporter opening and Claire walked out and went over to Sam. Seeing the six month pregnant Claire changed Ellis's mood from anger to disbelief.

"Sam we managed to get the sensors operational. The weapon systems are still a few days away, Sam we could really use your help down there." Claire told her mentor looking very tired with bags under her eyes.

"Sorry Claire, but I need to be here to co-ordinate our defences." Sam said with regret, normally she would have loved a challenge like this but she was the highest ranking officer here and therefore the one in charge of this situation.

"Well could we get Bill Lee or Radek Zelenka out here? Or McKay's Sister Jeannie?" Claire asked, right now with Sam in charge of the station's defence; only she, Jennifer Hailey, Rush and McKay were qualified to do the work that needed to be done and the four of them were often talking the other less qualified scientists through the work they had to do while busy with different jobs themselves. It was tiring all of them out and as they got more exhausted the rate of work slowed right down.

"I'll see if that's possible." Sam said but Ellis interrupted.

"You're letting a pregnant twenty something fix the weapons?" Claire's temper started to flare up at his disrespect but before she could snap back at him, Sam stepped forward.

"Claire is without a doubt one of the brightest minds that have ever worked for the SGC and has been Destiny's chief scientist for months and contributed to a lot of scientific breakthroughs including the subspace capacitor!" She practically hissed at the lower ranking man. "Now either show her some respect or I will make sure you are never able to set foot on this station or Atlantis ever again." Ellis stepped back from the narrow eyes of Samantha Carter as though they were death beams focused exclusively on him. Sheppard and Young also were giving him the evil eye, allowing herself a little smirk Claire went over to Rush who was watching the exchange with a grim satisfaction.

"What a narrow minded buffoon." Rush told her quietly as the two went to work.

"And to think with Caldwell promoted he's the senior starship commander for the SGC." Claire said with distain.

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As the ships took up defensive patterns around the station as the first day of the Siege of the Watchtower station as it had become known developed, the stargate area on the station was a hive of activity as five hundred Free Jaffa came through in full battle dress under Bra'tac. The old warrior began to deploy them around the station to reinforce the earth forces that were already on the station. The humans from Earth were unsure of the alien troops but they all understood how much they needed the help so they did not act on their unease. The Tok'ra Scientists then joined them going to integrate with the existing science teams already on the station. While none of them really had any experience with Ancient technology they were skilled technicians and quick to learn.

"I wish Daniel and Vala would get back here with some more information. We really need to know more about what the hell Massim is planning." Colonel Mitchell said as he commanded defences around the control tower. The two indicated members of his team had recently departed to try and discover more Intel on Massim that might be helpful in the coming battle.

"Well right now I would settle for knowing how many ships we are dealing with and when they are going to get here." Young said as he cleaned his rifle. He was eager to get back to Destiny, if there was going to be a fight then he would rather be on his own ship with TJ and Carman safely on Earth but TJ had refused to leave.

"Well Colonel hopefully we can grant your wish." McKay said as he came bustling in with his trusty tablet in hand. Anise was standing at his side and Claire and Ginn were working at the other side of the room before coming over to see what the sensors had to tell them. "Here we go." McKay said with a triumph smile. On the screen in front of them an image of the local star systems going as far as ten thousand light years or more. It displayed the normal phenomena of the area and in remarkable detail.

"Sensors are online." Claire said with satisfaction before turning to Anise. "Could you add in the details for the Alliance motherships?"

"Certainly." Anise said and put in the relevant information for the sensors to be able to isolate the Lucian Alliance ships that were making their way towards them.

"That isn't too bad." McKay said when he saw ten ships that would arrive here in a few hours. Then twenty more signatures. "That's not too serious." McKay added his face falling slightly as did everyone's in the room and then the screen lit up like a Christmas tree. "Oh crap." McKay said in alarm as everyone around him saw roughly four hundred Lucian Alliance ships that were making their way in small groups towards the station. It would take roughly a week for them all to get here so at least they did not have to face them all at once but this was still going to be one of the hardest battles they had ever faced.

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On the early morning of second day of the siege twenty Motherships dropped out of hyperspace and approached the station at sublight speed. The defending ships led by Destiny flew out to meet. Death Gliders were already being launched from the motherships and F-302s from the Earth vessels. The fighters were the first to engage in a hurricane of dogfighting. The capital ships then opened fire on each other with Earth's ships getting off the first shot. Despite being outnumbered by a two to one margin what the Earth ships lacked in numbers they made up for in skill and technological superiority. The professional military of Earth's forces allowed them discipline and co-ordination that the largely disorganised mercenaries or forcibly recruited rabble of the Lucian Alliance could not compare with. They came from a dog eat dog world were friendship was a weakness and the only way to advance was through personal achievement rather than as a group. Since the Alliance forces pressed the attack hard with their superior weight of numbers, the defenders struggled to hold them back but their regained the momentum and started to counter attack.

And that was the pattern, a new attack every six hours or so. Sometimes with only four or five ships, sometimes against twenty. And as the relentless the stargate of the station was constantly sending through reinforcements and fresh supplies. The crew members of the defending spaceships became more and more tired as they fought against the constant attacks. Fighting the enemy then rushing to repair any damage before they had to fight again, catching whatever brief moments of sleep that they could manage. On the station meanwhile the scientists worked night and day to reactivate the station's defences which when working would make the station all but unassailable.

Day Seven of the Watchtower Siege…

The Earth starships held their tight formation around the space station. Colonel Ellis was sat in his command chair on the bridge of his ship, the USS Apollo the flagship of the small fleet. His eyes felt so heavy that he was struggling not to shut them as he downed his latest cup of coffee, the beverage was being consumed by the barrel and dispensers had been set up all around the ship. Around him he could see his crew in a similar position to himself. The ship's navigator was sat back in her chair with her eyes barely open as the ship's computer did most of the work for her. At his other side the weapons officer was leaning against the console as he checked the readings, his energy almost depleted. He was really starting to get annoyed with the scientists over on that blasted space station who were costing them all so much with their lack of progress.

"Sir. Incoming contact." The tactical officer said with alarm and everyone on the bridge tensed as they prepared to go into battle again, only to breathe a sigh of relief when they saw that it was only Destiny returning from a recharge run into the nearest star.

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The scientists that had Ellis so mad were no better than the crews of the ships right at that moment. The four leading scientists McKay, Hailey, Rush and Williams were all worn out from all the work they were having to do to fix the station. The lower ranking scientists below them were just the same as they all pushed forward. In a compartment near the power room where the station's four ZPMs were kept the three senior ones met to decide what they needed to fix next. Jennifer had taken the opportunity to grab some rest.

"I think we need to work on the connections to the neural interface chair." Claire said as she sat down to rest her aching feet and back. Rush was nursing the largest cup of coffee that Claire had ever seen with enormous shadows under his eyes and McKay was dozing in his chair. Frustrated and her temper short from lack of sleep, Claire not even bothering to get up yelled.

"MCKAY!" The man in question bolted upright so fast that he fell over. Looking embarrassed as he got to his feet he was about to say something to Claire but seeing the intense glare in her eyes he decided otherwise. She handed him the tablet she was holding with a huge yawn that was quickly echoed by Rush and Claire. Vanessa then wandered into the room, her own face dominated by bags under her eyes. Like them and the rest of the scientists Vanessa had been working her butt off to get the station ready.

"Done with the interface between sensors and weapons." Vanessa said her voice out of breath as her exhaustion showed.

"That means we're nearly done." Rush said with a hint of relief in his tone. Claire smiled as now they were only a few hours away from finally getting this station operational. McKay then said.

"Okay so we just have to push ourselves a little longer. How about that help we asked for?" McKay asked turning to Claire, who's smile was wiped off her face in an instant before she said with a bitter frown.

"Earth said that they were all involved in delicate projects that could not be disturbed. In reality however it is because they don't think we can win this battle and they want to keep some of the brighter minds safely tucked away." She told them and the narrowing of the eyes of everyone in the room was enough to describe their feelings at that precise moment.

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An hour later, two more ships appeared near the station but they did not belong to the enemy. Earth's two newest ships that had been rushed into service to assist in the defence of the station. The X-304 that had been taken over by the Italians named Siena and the HMNZS Endeavour that was the X-305 belonging to New Zealand. The expanded shipyards were now proving their weight in gold as now Earth could work on four ships at the same time and most of the common materials and components could be made on the spot and ready for use by the beam replicator saving a lot of money and labour on materials. On the bridge of the station General Samantha Carter sat in her chair just as exhausted as any of her temporary staff. The struggle to defend this outpost was starting to tell as everyone's last reserves of strength began to drain away. They were close to repairing the station's defences but there was still hours of work left to do before it was finished if they could hold out that long.

"General." The voice of her communications officer Kevin Marks said from her right so she turned to face him. The man had served on most of the early Earth starships and on Atlantis occasionally but why he was routinely reassigned was a mystery that no one seemed to know the answer too. "The Siena has General O'Neill and Carl Strom on-board. They are about to beam over."

Sam nodded and moments later, the flash of the Asgard transporter announced the arrival of her superiors. Seeing Jack again made her smile despite how tired she was feeling. Seeing Bill Lee at his side was certainly a relief too because it hopefully meant she could send him down there to help McKay, Rush, Claire and Jennifer in getting the station operational.

"General Carter." Carl Strom said briskly before Jack could say anything turning the smile he had been giving her into a frown as did Sam's. Strom looked around and remarked. "So this is what is costing us millions of dollars." Sounding distinctly unimpressed. Sam gritted her teeth at the short sighted man who had been responsible for cutting the SGC budget by two thirds since she had taken command. If it hadn't been for the beam replicator they probably wouldn't have managed.

"So this is the Watchtower." Jack said loudly over Storm giving him a sharp glare. His gaze softened as he looked over to Sam who sent him a look of pure relief. "Mighty impressive." He commented before becoming serious. "We have some reinforcements ready to beam over and the two new ships are ready to help out."

"Yes considering the expense in getting them ready so fast there had better be a considerable return." Carl Strom said loud enough for them to hear. Everyone around him even his own staff which he had decided to bring with him gave him a frown. Jack was about to say something but decided instead to go over to Sam and tell her.

"I'll take over co-ordinating the defences for a while. Go get some rest." He said quietly in her ear and she sagged against him slightly in relief. She turned to his chief scientist Bill Lee and his unofficial right hand Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman who both gave her a slight smile.

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Destiny was toured first by Strom and his staff while O'Neill took charge of the station's defences. The old dark corridors of the ship did not impress Strom, nor did any other part of the ship. When he arrived in the ship's mess hall, he saw Camille Wray sitting down to a meal with her partner Sharon and a bunch of people in rough leather outfits that he remembered were the Lucian Alliance crewmembers that Destiny had taken on after the failed attempt to take over the ship. Distain creeped quickly across his features at the sight of the criminals. He walked over to Camille and the aforementioned woman looked up and started to get up quickly in the presence of her boss.

"Miss Wray." He said coldly no longer feeling any need to project a nicer image given that she was now within reach and could not cut off communication with him. "You haven't reported in since you returned from the Pegasus galaxy."

"Sir we sent a report-" Camille started to say before being interrupted by Strom.

"What's more these criminals are walking around free." He said going off into a rant not even feeling the need to look at the former Lucian Alliance members sitting around the table whose faces now that they had turned to face him all began to darken as Camille struggled to defend her position.

"They have served loyally on this ship sir and with a lot of our personnel being lent out to the station we need them here to operate the ship." Camille said but Strom refused to acknowledge her point and then turned on her.

"I really have to wonder if you are suitable to retain this position." Stunning Camille who was about to try and save her job when Sharon now seething with rage got to her feet and with no warning slammed her best right hook into Strom's face. The man stumbled back as he fell on his butt as his long suffering staff rushed forward to check if he was alright. Camille looked on before turning to Sharon and said.

"You shouldn't have done that, he'll make your life hell because of it." She warned Sharon who looked at Camille with a sad smile.

"How many times do I have to tell you? You mean more to me than anything else in the world." Out of the corner Camille could see the Lucian Alliance crewmembers giving her a smile each for standing up for them.

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A few hours later while the scientists continued to toil away fixing the station, the officer assigned to the station's long range sensors had dozed off in his chair. He awoke suddenly when someone dropped an ammo box that they had been carrying. He looked around quickly and sighed in relief when he realised that no one had seen him asleep on the job. He blinked for a moment till his eyes had come back into focus and looked at his screen before someone noticed that he had been taking a quick nap. When he did his expression turned from nervous tiredness to abject horror in a split second.

"General." He called out urgently. O'Neill turned from the conversation he was having with Walter and Bill Lee about the status of the repairs and asked.

"What is it Lieutenant?"

"The next and last attack wave sir." The lieutenant said with fear blazing in his eyes, the General walked over to see the screen and his own eyes widened at the sight.

"Oh crap." Was all he could say and he looked over to Bill Lee and asked.

"How long before we get weapons?" Bill looked over and told him.

"Three maybe four hours why?"

"Because in thirty minutes we're going to have a hundred ships knocking down our door." O'Neill said as the large cluster of red moved closer and closer to the station. The men he had been talking to looked over his shoulder and grimaced. They were no strangers to hard tasks but from the looks of it, this was not just a hard task.

But an impossible one.

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A seemingly solid wall of motherships dropped out of hyperspace, all flying forward without any fear as the Earth ships lined up against them, outnumbered ten to one. On the bridge of the mothership leading the formation, Massim sat on a throne that double as a command chair as his lackeys toiled around him. His face was twisted by the almost demented grin on his face as the prey that he had searched for was finally in his grip. The Tau'ri with all the secrets imparted to them by the Asgard and the power of the Ancients with Destiny and the station. They would make him invincible once his spy had delivered them into his hands. Since he could not miss the chance to taunt the enemy that had vexed him for so long he turned to his pilot and told him with an eager sense of anticipation.

"Hail the Tau'ri on the space station." He said with a crazed grin on his face. He was going to enjoy this.

The image of the legendary leader O'Neill appeared on the screen, his grey hair short on his strong face. Massim had to admire the way O'Neill held himself. Tall, unwavering even in the face of overwhelming odds. A weaker man would have shown fear or even just unease on their face but not O'Neill whose face remained set in stone.

"General O'Neill." Massim said with sick delight in his eyes. "I see your old age is creeping up on you. How are the twins?" With an added threat. O'Neill's face tightened and his eyes flashed with anger at someone no matter how vaguely threatening his children. O'Neill decided not to give Massim the pleasure of seeing him get riled up and replied with a flippant.

"Oh you know, teething and all that, a lot of late nights. You know how it is." He said striking back with a reminder of Kiva, Massim's own daughter but the crime lord showed no reaction to it which surprised O'Neill.

"Can't say I really do. Kiva was not my concern and to be frank an embarrassment. But shall we as you say it on Earth 'cut to the chase'." Massim said without a care. "You are surrounded, there is no escape. My ships will easily overwhelm yours and take them for ourselves. You could save us a lot of time and effort by just giving up now and I will spare 'most' of your people's lives."

The tension was rife as the two men started their own staring contest to see whose will would break first. Both men were not willing to concede defeat and without a word, Massim broke off the transmission. O'Neill gritted his teeth and grasped the rail in front of where he was standing, around him everyone looked at the man they considered a living legend waiting for his orders. He spoke without turning around.

"Raise the shield, all forces to combat stations." He said in a quieter voice than he usually used but for this moment rather than the easy going man he was known to be, Jack O'Neill was a man focused on defending this station. An alarm sounded all over the station telling the people that they were under attack again. The Earth ships launched their fighters that lined up in formation with their carriers who armed their missiles, loaded their railguns and charged their Asgard beam weapons. On the station, the soldiers defended loaded their weapons and the Jaffa prepared their staffs. The scientists including the Tok'ra redoubled their efforts to get the station's weapons online. The tension in the air was sniffling as everyone went about their jobs.

Outside the Alliance motherships all flew confidently forward, so sure of their victory that they didn't feel the need to go in fast so they moved in at a relaxed almost lazy pace. The Earth humans tensed while the Lucian Alliance grinned smug grins at what they honestly believe will be an easy victory.

Their easy going meant they took their time in choosing their targets while the Earth forces selected their own to inflict as much damage as possible. So the Earth ships fired first, their blue energy weapons landing damaging hits on the shields of the foremost motherships with a volley of missiles slamming hard into the hulls, splintering them into pieces as their nuclear warheads enhanced with naquadah detonated. After that the F-302s launched a barrage of missiles at the death gliders that had been deployed, scattering their lines as the alien fighters broke formation in a vain hope of avoiding their demise. By now however the Alliance motherships were in range and their plasma staff cannons took dead aim on the defending Earth ships who broke formation themselves to divide the enemy forces as they opened fire.

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On the space station, Carl Strom and his staff huddled in the shield control room which was where they had been as part of their tour when the alarm went off. Strom for the first time in his life was nervous, this was way out of his comfort zone. He should have been in a comfortable warm office back on Earth where the only thing he had to worry about was what he was going to have for lunch, instead of trapped on some old space station at the other side of the galaxy and terrified that he was going to be killed or captured by some off world gangsters and tortured to death. He looked towards the exit and said to his staff.

"To the gate room, there is no reason for us to die here with the military." He said with a strong hint of condescension towards the men and women that were fighting and dying for him at that moment while he remained safe and secure inside the station.

"Sir, we should stay here, the gate room is a long way from here on foot and the military switched power from the transporters to the shields to reinforce them." Clarice Artois, the British/French IOA Director of Logistics. He scowled at her for disagreeing with him something which was happening more and more now that the woman had settled more securely into her job. But his distaste for the military was what was occupying his mind. He was about to walk out of the room to begin the long trip to the gate room when his executive assistant, Archibald Styles. The dark haired middle aged man said from behind Strom.

"I can't let you do that Mr Strom." And before Carl could turn around to face him, Carl felt a sharp and sudden pain in his back and through it heard the gasps and screams of the team around him. He fell to his knees and then on to his face as his eyes went glassy, the man who had once inhabited the body, passed on to whatever was next.

Archibald stood there with his previously concealed knife covered in Carl's blood. He bend down and wiped the blade clean on the jacket of Carl's suit before walking over to the bank of controls that covered the far wall. Clarice managed to regain enough of her faculties to turn away from Carl's body and look over to Archibald, a man who she had worked with every day for the last two years as she had ascended the ranks of the IOA. Never before had the man been anything less than polite or dedicated to his job.

"Why?" Clarice said bewildered. Archibald turned around to face her and said with a self-assured smile that sent a chill down her spine.

"Why else Clarice? Money, lots of it. The Alliance gives me enough gold to buy my own country, in exchange I slip them some files and I do this." He said quickly opening a draw and before anyone could stop him, he pulled out one of the vital crystals and threw it across the room where it smashed into a million pieces. The displays went dark and the machinery around them suddenly went silent to everyone's horror.

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On the command centre the shock on the faces of the control technicians as they studied their displays was evident immediately. One of them reported the problem to the General in a voice that was close to panic.

"Sir the station's shield just failed. I've got no response from the control room." O'Neill who had been so concerned about the battle out there that the sudden changing of problems nearly gave him whiplash as his head turned more quickly than it was meant to.

"Get a security team down there now. Make sure that General Carter is with them." He said thinking how they needed to get this sorted out as fast as possible. With that shield gone the people on this station were helpless. The battle in space wasn't going too well either, the only reason the shields on the ships were holding was because they were pushing the subspace capacitor aboard each ship to the limit to provide enough energy to keep fighting. The Destiny was struggling from the sheer volume of fire raining down upon it as the largest ship on Earth's side and the biggest target.

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In the Shield control room, Clarice was staring eye to eye with the man responsible for this terrible turn of events, the traitor Archibald Styles.

"If you think they'll deliver on that then you are stupid." Clarice said with her smooth French accent as cold as ice in fury as she contemplated the man in front of her. He was well groomed, his hair slicked back professionally and a suit that must have cost more than most families made in a year. "These are some the vilest people in the galaxy. Treachery is second nature to them."

The expression on Archibald's face changed in an instant from smugly satisfied to seething with rage in the blink of an eye. He brandished his knife again and lunged towards her wildly. She instinctively jumped away before she delivered a quick jab to the hand that was currently holding the knife causing him to drop it. Then before he could duck to recover his blade, she began to piston kick his chest and arms as they came up instinctively to protect himself but he recoiled from the impacts till she suddenly did a sweep kick knocking him clear off his feet before delivering an upper cut to his jaw. The man passed out immediately and Clarice took a calming breath and thanked her lucky stars that she was a black belt in Savate; French kick boxing from her college days and had kept up her skills. She turned to one of Carl's former lackeys and told him.

"Give me your tie." The man was awestruck by what he had just seen her do that it took a moment for him to process what she had said before quickly pulling his tie off and handing it to her before she removed Archibald's tie as well and bond his hands and feet before kicking the knife away from him. She was about to get up when she heard a noise at the door and saw a security team standing there looking confused.

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"Sir the station's shield is down." The pilot of the mothership told Massim who smiled at his agent's apparent success.

"Bring the other ships within range." Massim told him and the pilot nodded while Massim operated a private com on the throne that served at the command chair on the bridge.

"Lead the assault on the station personally my dear. Try to save some of the scientists, they could be useful." He added with a sinister grin.

"My pleasure." Came a female voice from one of the other ships in the fleet.

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In space the situation was getting worse as some of the Alliance motherships broke through Earth's defence line and park themselves near the station. They activated their ring transporters which unfortunately connected to the station's receiver pads. Squads of Alliance foot soldiers began to pour onto the station from all the motherships. At their checkpoints the defenders had little warning before the Alliance soldiers came into view an opened fire. The defenders ducked for cover and began to return fire. Human soldiers used either their rifles or mounted machines to shoot down the wide corridors while their Jaffa allies used their staff blasts. Matthew Scott was at one of the checkpoints to engage the Alliance soldiers.

"Alright maintain suppression fire if they try to take this corridor then we kick their asses back to wherever they came from." He shouted to his troops, missing Greer who had remained on Destiny. He had been petrified at the idea of having to fight like this but his training kicked in and he was able to focus on the job in hand.

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On the bridge of Destiny, there were sparks flying everywhere as the ship was bombarded by enemy fire. Colonel Young sat in the control chair as Peter sat at navigation, Val was at engineering and Riley was at tactical.

"Colonel! Shields are failing." Val told him urgently, she had never been on the bridge during a battle before and it was proving to be terrifying. Then an alarm sounded from her console and she told him her fear mounting. "A troop transport just clamped on to the starboard airlock. Alliance troops are pouring into the ship."

"Shake it off." Young barked to Riley sharply who complied while Peter tried to get a lock on the transport that had latched on to their ship but none of the available batteries could manage to get a clear shot. Young then pressed the communications buttons on his own console. "Greer we have boarding parties at the starboard airlock. Get over there with whoever we have left."

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Out in space the smaller numbers of F-302s duelled with the death gliders in swirling dogfights. The better quality earth fighters with their better trained pilots were trying their best but even with the support of the railguns on the larger ships they were being overwhelmed by the seemingly endless number of death gliders. Colonel Cameron Mitchell was in one of those F-302s and was gunning down his twelfth kill of the day with his railguns to conserve his missiles.

On the station it was little better. Eli and Ginn had been helping fix the station's weapon systems when a squad of Alliance soldiers had come sprinting down the corridor straight at them. Eli had but a split second to dodge before the Alliance soldiers fired. He ducked with Ginn behind a large pillar and looked at the pistol Matt had given him with terror in his eyes. The blood was rushing through his body as his heart thundered in his ears. This was nothing like the video games he had played in the past. Here there was no extra lives, no cheats, and no guide to tell him what to do. He took a deep breath and with a terrible feeling that this might be the last thing he ever did, leaned out from behind the pillar and fired at the Alliance soldiers who were rather stupidly staying out in the open. Despite his hand shaking badly as he pulled the surprisingly heavy trigger as fast as he could, Eli managed to hit one of the Alliance troops before ducking back behind the pillar. His breathing so fast that he felt light headed, Ginn looked at him with terror as when he looked down, Eli realised that he had used nearly all his bullets and Matt had not had any extra clips to give him. Both of them stared into each other's eyes before Ginn leaned out to see the Alliance had stopped firing. She suddenly saw a familiar face in the group and instantly felt relief.

"Fenrir." She called out, he was from her village and had been a friend when they had been growing up. When they had been taken by the Lucian Alliance she had vowed to escape with him and return home.

"Ginn." Fenrir replied in surprise, Ginn was about to step out to see him properly when Eli saw that Fenrir had raised his weapon and pointed it straight at her, giving Eli only a moment to pull her out of danger again as he fired. Shock was the first thing Ginn felt at her lifelong friend trying to kill her. That was quickly followed by an appalling sense of betrayal.

"I thought we were friends." Ginn said desperately. "That promise we made." She said trying to remind him, only for him to shout back at her as he moved forward, reloading his weapon ready to kill Ginn.

"That was a long time ago, Ginn. Back then I was a nothing, a peasant boy who lived in abject poverty. Now I'm a Lieutenant, I never have to go cold or hungry. I have all the women I want and all I had to do to achieve it was to proving my loyalty by finding and killing all links to my past." He told her without regret, he remembered things very differently to her how the village had looked down on him like a street rat, how his belly had always been empty and he was always cold. How his mother and father had regarded him as a burden and left him without so much as acknowledgement. How Ginn had only been his friend out of pity.

"All links!" Ginn exclaimed in horror. "Your parents!"

"The whole village." He said with a grin, watching them grovel at his feet begging to be allowed to live but he had laughed in their face as they had once laughed in his before putting a bullet right between their eyes. "Your father even tried to rally them against me but I just pulled back and bombed the place. Now the only link left to the hell I came from, is you traitor." He said.

Ginn fell back against the pillar and slid down it as horror filled her mind. He had to be lying! They couldn't be gone! She tried to convince herself that he was deceiving her but at the back of her mind, she picked up the certainty in his voice. She heard Eli sit next to her and put his arm around her before gently pressing his lips against hers. She kissed back, both of them thinking that they had both reached the end, when suddenly they heard staff weapons being fired. They broke their kiss and looked up to see that Jaffa warrior Bra'tac with a squad of his best men behind him firing on the Alliance troops. Caught by surprise the thugs were cut down quickly before Bra'tac walked over to Eli and Ginn. They both looked up in awe and in Ginn's case grief filled shock, the old warrior peered down on them before telling them.

"Now is not the time to mourn. It is the time to avenge."

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Outside the station's infirmary Colonel Sheppard and Major Todd were manning machine guns in the defence of the wounded that were pouring from all over the station as TJ and Chloe with whatever medics that were available. Sheppard was gunning down as many as he could but was really missing having Teyla and Ronan here. Both had been unable to come as there had been some diplomatic crisis between Teyla's people and one of their trading partners but he had to admit, having the hot major at his side instead was a plus.

In the shield control room of the station; Sam and McKay were desperately trying to restore the station's shields.

"No good." McKay said as he examined the smashed crystal with fear evident in his eyes. "It's completely ruined. We're dead!" He finished looking terrified.

"Not if we can bypass it." Sam said rushing over to the control console and activating the display. She then shouted to Teal'c who was standing at the door. "Cover us."

"Understood General Carter." Teal'c said in his calm formal tones, not disturbed at all by the dire situation. Sam frowned as even after knowing him as a colleague and close friend for thirteen years he still refused to call her by her first name, preferring to stay almost infuriatingly formal. But that aside Sam trusted him without restraint. He had fought alongside all these years and Sam and Jack had trusted him to be one of the godfathers of their twin girls, the other being Daniel of course but he had been fortunate not to be here today as he and Vala had gone to try and get more help from their more advanced allies in the Milky Way and get more intel on Massim and his plan.

Feeling more secure, Sam went to work with a still scared McKay working at her side. Rodney may look like a coward but when the going got tough Rodney was right there working on a solution to whatever disaster they were facing. He was a lot braver than even he suspected but right now was not the time to convince him of that.

"Yeah, I think we can bypass that crystal." Rodney said now a lot more confident as they kept on working.

"Then let's do it. At least we can stop more soldiers getting on the station." Sam said, her fingers typing away furiously.

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On Destiny; Greer was barely holding the corridor with Becker and Dunning. The Alliance soldiers had been hitting them hard here as the bodies of two other marines that was beside Greer and his buddies showed. A slight break in the fighting while both sides stopped to reload allowed Greer to hear the pounding of feet coming from behind him. He swung around to see Brody, Lisa and Volker running up the corridor with pistols or rifles in hand. Greer shouted to them.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Brody answered.

"We finished fixing the shield generator, the ship has shields again but the Colonel told us to reinforce you here." Brody sounded nervous but was confident that he could help in some way.

"Get out of here, these guys are dangerous." Dunning shouted as he began firing down the corridor again followed by Becker and Greer.

"Hey we're not useless." Volker said too annoyed at being dismissed outright to be scared at the moment. To prove this he leaned out from behind Greer and fired wildly down the corridor, screaming like a wild animal. The crew of Destiny were shocked to see such behaviour from the normally calm scientist. The Alliance must have been surprised too because they ducked back for cover to avoid Volker's crazed assault. Taking their cue from him, Lisa and Brody started firing at the Alliance personnel too although not with the same bloodlust as Volker. When they had expended their ammo, the three soldiers looked at them surprised while Greer offered them spare clips, he thought to himself that even after serving with these people for nearly a year and a half they had to go all Rambo now when the journey was nearly at its end. The Alliance soldiers realising that the crazy Earth attack had stopped for the moment resumed firing causing the Earth personnel to duck back away.

Then all of a sudden, the fire stopped. Cautiously Greer peered out from the protection of the alcove they were all nestled in to see Varro, Tasia, Calvos and Koz standing over the bodies of the Alliance soldiers, rifles in their hands. Greer got up and walked over to face Varro and he and his team walked to meet him. Greer held out a hand which Varro took in a fierce grip and they both gave each other a nod. Hearing gunfire from the direction of the research lab Varro asked Greer.

"Shall we?"

"Lets." Greer said back.

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On the station Rush was running from a gang of soldiers with Camille and Sharon. They ducked into a room to try and lose them when they discovered Claire and Vanessa working frantically at their consoles, they looked up when they entered and Vanessa asked.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Trying to avoid getting shot." Rush shouted back, cursing as he heard the boots of the Alliance heading towards them. Vanessa must have heard them too because with an annoyed growl she left her station and picked up her rifle. She headed towards the door and waited, peering out slowly to see four Alliance coming towards them checking room to room. Waiting for the right moment when they were out in the open without cover or a place to duck into, Vanessa kneeled down and swung out firing a wide but controlled spread. The Alliance soldiers had no time to react when she fired and the four where cut down quickly.

Claire meanwhile was pushing her aching fingers to type as fast as was physically possible to reactivate the weapon systems or they were all dead. Her breathing was rapid till all of a sudden she saw a message pop up on the screen that she had been dreaming of since this siege began.

"We've done." She cried elated, bringing the attention of everyone in the room. When she saw the questioning looks on their faces she told them elated. "Weapons are online."

"Well use them." Sharon insisted, scared out of her wits by this madness.

"Not that simple." Rush said with concern. "We need the neural interface chair." He told them and seeing the blank look on Sharon's face he added. "The control chair."

"Where is it?" Camille asked urgently.

"A deck up." Claire told them, she went for her radio to tell the people up there to use the chair but all she could hear was weird grinding noise that put her teeth on edge. "And the Alliance is jamming the radios."

"Well let's get up there." Vanessa said quickly and with the female marine taking point the group made its way out of the room towards the access corridor, they heard gunfire in the distance but nothing too close yet. The tension in the group was intense as they moved further towards their destination. A few minutes later they arrived in the corridor leading to the control chair room, they could see the impressive looking chair since the door was open less than forty feet away. Camille who was bringing up the rear of the group suddenly let out a cry as a blonde woman appeared from a dark corner they had missed in their excitement over being so close to the chair. The blonde woman held Camille with a strength that was beyond what Camille had thought possible but it was the gun that the mysterious woman had put to her head that caused her to hold her breath in fear. The rest of the group turned around and Vanessa aimed her rifle while Claire drew her particle magnum but the mystery woman held Camille in front of her face so neither could get a shot.

"Lower your weapons." The mystery women demanded without fear, knowing they had little choice Claire and Vanessa did just that. "Good." The woman said a little of her blonde hair showing. Claire could sense the malevolence in this woman's mind like an artic wind hitting her nearly making her shiver. But then she frowned mentally as she heard something quietly coming from the woman's mind that was desperate and scared but was almost drowned out by the sheer evil coming from the woman's mind.

But one thing she could sense clearly was that unless they disarmed her quickly, she was going to kill all of them. Desperately she looked for a way that she could take her down without killing Camille but the woman was nearly the same height as Camille and about the same build. There was no vulnerable area she could shoot at without hitting Camille. Looking nervously at the gun in the woman's hand that was pressed to Camille's temple she suddenly had an idea. She had never tried anything this complicated before but for the sake of all their lives, she had to try. She clenched her fists and focused her gaze right on the pistol, reaching out without her mind. Sweat began to form and make its way down her face and a headache growing as she pressed harder.

Then just as she was about to give up, something in her mind just snapped into place and the headache started to ease at the same time as the gun in the mystery woman's hand fell to pieces, coming apart leaving her only holding the grip. Everyone froze in surprise and the evil woman's hold on Camille slacked in shock, taking advantage Claire focused again, blasting the evil mystery woman off her feet and down the corridor with the same force as a pickup truck hitting her. The blonde's head smashed into a support beam knocking her clean out. Everyone turned to Claire who was breathing heavily with the effort that it had taken to do what she had just done. With her strength ebbing, Claire ignored the looks she was getting and walked down the corridor to the control chair. Sitting down in the rather hard object she placed her hands in the surprisingly warm gel, a light suddenly came on as the chair lowered so she was almost lying back. She felt her mind connect with the available systems and focused her attention on weapons.

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On the Apollo, Ellis was out of his command chair with a fire extinguisher in hand and cut across his face as he doused the fire on his own bridge while his crew struggled to keep the ship fighting as they took more enemy fire. He took a moment to look out of the large window on the front of the bridge just in time to see a mothership coming right at them when an intense beam of green energy struck it, blowing it away like dust on the winds.

In the cockpit of her F-302 Kathy was struck speechless as the weapon batteries on the station roared silently into life firing large beams of green energy at the enemy motherships and smaller blue bolts at all the death gliders that was swarming around within range.

On the station in question's command centre O'Neill was reminded of the battle over Antarctica against Anubis as small but deadly drone swarms fired out from the station before smashing into the motherships.

Massim stood his feet routed to the bridge of his mothership as hundreds of explosions lit up his view, his forces being decimated by the fire power of the station. He saw a group of drones heading straight for his mothership and let out one last primal scream of anger before his ship was torn apart.

The defenders that could watched and breathed a sigh of relief. Although there were still some remaining soldiers that had boarded the station and Destiny, they could be dealt with easy enough now that they had been deprived of further support.

The battle was finally over, the SGC and their Jaffa and Tok'ra allies had won.

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A few hours later, General O'Neill went down to the station's infirmary where the wounded were being tended too by whoever was capable. Seeing the blonde haired Lieutenant Tamara Johansen tending to a Norwegian soldier he walked over. Despite the higher ranking officer walking towards her she kept tending to the wounded man staying true to her chosen profession. O'Neill didn't want to distract her for too long but there were some questions he needed answering.

"Lieutenant." He said to make sure he had her attention.

"Sir." She responded without getting up but did look up at him.

"How bad was it?" He asked her, dreading the answer but he needed to know.

"Three hundred and forty seven dead, two hundred and nineteen wounded overall." She said sadly, thinking of all the people that had given their lives and those that suffered now. She lowered her head as the weight of those lives lost hit her. O'Neill was the same, he felt the weight of those deaths even more than she did given that he had been in command and those people had been his responsibility as were their deaths. This was the one thing he had always hated about command was the loss of people under your command. He saw Claire walking towards him looking concerned.

"Are you okay?" TJ asked beating Jack to get the first word.

"Fine, a bit of a headache but other than that I feel great." Claire reassured one of her best friends. O'Neill gave her a smile and told her.

"I heard that you went all Jean Grey on that Alliance soldier. Dismantled the gun and blasted them unconscious." Jack said putting an arm around her shoulder in fatherly comfort. "That was cool."

Claire smiled back at him as did TJ. "Well just hope I don't go all Phoenix on you." Claire teased but became serious when she remembered the reason she had come down here. "Our ships are badly damaged but they are all repairable, given time they'll fight again. Give us a few days now that the station is secure and we could use the station's automated shipyard to fix them here so they don't have to go back to Earth in this state. Save the team on Earth some work." She suggested and O'Neill nodded liking the idea of getting the ships fixed up as fast as possible.

"Sounds great. That just leaves her." He said looking over to the sole remaining Lucian Alliance soldier, the one Claire had knocked out who that yet to wake from the blast to the head that she had sustained. She was strapped down to the bed she now occupied till they could decide what to do with her. "You really did a number on her." O'Neill said with a hint of praise in his mock scolding.

"Good, after holding Camille hostage she deserves…it." Claire said hesitating as she turned her attention towards the enemy they had captured, feeling a strange tingling feeling in her body as she looked on her. Claire walked over and took her features in as she focused on her. She was quite beautiful now that her face was not twisted by evil intentions, her face was soft looking in her early thirties. Her small mouth was kind soft now that it was not distorted with a sneer and she was about the same height as Claire. Claire was about to turn away when she felt that feeling of desperation and fear that was akin to a whisper carried on the breeze but it was now much easier to hear as the woman was unconscious and not drowning it out with her conscious thoughts.

Claire frowned at the different things she was sensing from this woman's mind, almost as if there were two minds in that body. Suddenly Claire took a step back alarming TJ and Jack.

"Claire what's wrong?" TJ asked quickly checking to see if the prisoner had woken up only to be confused to see that there was no apparent reason for her to have suddenly retreated.

"Get Bra'tac and Anise in here." Claire said urgently now that she thought she had figured out what was going on with the mysterious woman but wanted to confirm her suspicions with the more experienced Jaffa and Tok'ra.

"Why?" Jack asked puzzled.

"Something I need to confirm." She said simply not wanting to tell them till she was certain that she was right.

"Okay." Jack said as he activated his radio and asked for the two requested people to come to the infirmary. While he was doing that, Claire watched the mystery woman with great care in case she showed even the slightest sign of waking. TJ looked on her friend with confused concern at what had Claire so worried.

It didn't take long for the Jaffa Warrior and Tok'ra Scientist to arrive, when they entered the room they looked puzzled but then they felt the same thing that Claire had felt when she was close enough to the mystery woman. Both of them suddenly became tense and Bra'tac instinctively raised his staff and aimed it at her.

"I take it you can sense the Goa'uld too." Claire said now feeling confident enough to speak her conclusion shocking both TJ and Jack who instinctively reached for his side arm. "Is she one of yours?" She asked Anise.

"No one as far as I know has been infiltrating the Alliance." Anise said as she walked over to get a better look at the mystery woman but when she got close enough to see her face she paled in shock and exclaimed in complete surprise. "Rosha!"

"Who is Rosha?" Jack asked urgently and Bra'tac was giving the Tok'ra woman one of his most intense stares.

"Jolinar's old host." She said in her shock at seeing the woman again. "After Jolinar went into hiding on her last mission and changed hosts we thought she was dead."

"Well obviously she survived somehow." Claire said looking at the woman. "I think I can sense the host mind beneath the Goa'uld. Do you think you can remove it?" She asked Anise who nodded.

"With all the Ancient medical equipment lying around yes." Anise said so Jack took control and told his long-time ally in the Tok'ra.

"Do it, Johansen help anyway you can." He ordered turning to the young blonde human who nodded eager to see how Anise removed the parasite in Rosha's body.

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An hour later, while Jack, Sam, Bra'tac, Teal'c and Claire waited Anise with the help of TJ managed to remove the Goa'uld from Rosha. Placing the sedated parasite in a water filled tank modified to keep it alive, they waited for Rosha to regain consciousness. When the blonde woman's face started to tense and her eyes slowly opened, fluttering as they adapted to the light. She remained motionless for a moment but then seemed to realise that the presence that had held her hostage in her own body for so long was gone. She experimentally clenched her hands and then raised them to her face as her expression became one of joyous relief with huge smile forming on her face and tears in her eyes as at last she was free.

"How are you feeling?" Anise asked smiling at her old friend.

"Anise, Freya!" Rosha exclaimed happily and sat up quickly to pull her into a tight hug. The others watched with smiles as Rosha revelled in her freedom. Anise let this go on for a moment or two before asking the question they all wanted answering.

"Rosha, we thought we lost you years ago. What happened?" Anise asked and instantly regretted it as Rosha's face fell. But the blonde former host was made a sturdy stuff and told them.

"After we fled Cronus he sent the ashrak after us. Jolinar decided to leave me so that he would go after her and leave me alone. Well after he tracked me down and found out that Jolinar had taken another host he didn't kill me but decided to take me back to Cronus anyway." She explained feeling the pain of her separation from Jolinar even now and what had happened because of it. "I tried to commit suicide but he stopped me and presented me to his master who decided to use me as a host to his daughter Kryse." She stopped remembering the pain as having that monster forced on her and becoming her plaything before pushing it aside to continue. "She ripped the knowledge of extracting the symbiont from its host from me and used it on Cordesh when she recognised him from my memories, she replaced him with Anker." She told her stunned crowd especially those that had been there when Cordesh had been outed as a spy in the Tok'ra and now knew the real story behind it all. But then Rosha gave them a part of the story they hadn't expected.

"When the empire began collapsing Kryse got together with some other Goa'uld and decided on a way to maintain their power after the empire had gone." Rosha told them now coming to the most important bit. "They started taking Baal's serum to hide their Goa'uld nature and after taking new names or in some cases new hosts began to recruit murderers, thieves and any other criminal lowlife they could find, providing them with ships and weapons they had stashed away to form a new organisation." She finished and everyone in the room was silent till Bra'tac asked.

"Are you saying that?" He asked her not quite believing what he was hearing but needing to hear it anyway.

"That the Lucian Alliance is under the control of the Goa'uld." Sam said and Rosha nodded. For a moment there was silence till Jack in furious rage swore before beginning to say proper sentences.

"Damn it!" He shouted. "Why couldn't they just give it up? They always find a way to keep their slimy little hands in the pot no matter what we do."

"How many are there?" Teal'c asked quietly his own anger at this revelation not managing to overcome his ever cool exterior but inside he was seething.

"Most of the senior positions and few of the mid-level ones. Massim was one of the former, before he was made a host he had been a crime lord so it helped get them started." Rosha answered relieved that she was now finally able to warn them of the threat that had managed to remain hidden for so long.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Claire asked them and Jack told her.

"We carry on and hunt those snakes to the end of the universe if we have too." He said now more calm. Claire smiled and told him.

"Count me out. Never going there again." The humour did bring a small smile back to most of their faces before saying. "But regarding getting rid of them, I'm with you all the way."

"Now if you don't mind." Claire said as she began walking towards the door. "I'd better get started on getting the repair facilities working so we can patch up our ships before we get back on road. Next stop Earth." She said with eager anticipation.

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Next chapter = Full Circle