AN: All rights belong to MGM. I take no credit except for the OCs.
Rebirth of Ares
Not another one?!
March 2003
Alarms blared as the stargate activated, its unstable vortex shooting forth before stabilizing. The iris was shut as normal for an unscheduled activation as the officers in the control room awaited a signal. Eventually one was given and the iris opened and a few seconds later a man in his fifties or sixties stepped forth wearing red cloths and leathers. At the bottom of the metal ramp he was met by a similarly aged man in a pale blue uniform and a bald head. "Jacob, good to see you. What brings you back home?" he said extending a hand.
"George! Good to see you too, unfortunately Tok'ra business. We have some developments you will want to hear" Jacob replied with a small smile and shaking the offered hand.
"Very well, to the briefing room. I'll call SG1 too." The two men made their way through the base to the control room and then up the metal stairs to the briefing room. Waiting no more then seven minutes, the last of the famous, or infamous, lead gate team arrived. "So Jacob, what's up?" Jack asked once the greetings were exchanged.
"With the battle of Abydos open war has now taken a hold of the System Lords. Ares is leading most against Anubis with moderate success. We believe Anubis started this conflict with around 500 Ha'tak vessels taken from Sokar, has built himself, was gifted by minor lords who joined him and those absorbed from those he's conquered. Ares has almost 2000 Ha'tak ships thanks to Apophis, Sokar, Heru'ur and Cronus forces being absorbed. I mention Sokar for both System Lords because when Apophis took over Sokar he absorbed those forces but when Apophis in turn was killed some ships fled or disappeared. We think Anubis took them."
"What do you mean by 'moderate success' Jacob?" Hammond asked. Jacob sighed and frowned momentarily.
"We don't know why but Ares hasn't deployed the full might of his fleet. His ships are still mostly in his territory and he's got the other lords doing the dirty work for him so to speak. That said when his ships do appear, usually at the last minute, they tilt certain battles in the System Lords favour. It's like he wants to do the bare minimum while he waits for something. It's confused the hell out of us George though then again maybe he's just getting the other lords to waste their resources so he can swoop in afterwards to take their domains. It matches with his more intelligent modus operandi."
"Even so that's a bit of a risk right? What's good old Anubis up to in return?" Jack asked next.
"Yes it is a risk for him but we don't know why he's doing it anyway. As for Anubis, well we're having a less than perfect time infiltrating his forces and tracking his ships but mostly Anubis is losing steadily but slowly. This mainly due to numbers. The Systems Lords have rallied and outnumber him drastically despite Anubis' superior ships. If Ares wasn't supreme and the others were still fighting over Ra's, Apophis', Heru'ur's and Cronus' domains things might be different. As it is, it's mostly a stalemate without Ares involvement, but with him it tilts things in the favour of the System Lords. We think at the current rate Anubis will last for another seven to ten months before he's surrounded on one or two worlds. But anything could happen before then given Anubis and his knowledge of Ancient technologies. Luckily his flagship was destroyed but he's now building a new one, possibly with the super-weapon installed." Jacob was looking down at that point looking at a data pad he'd brought with him so he didn't see the glances exchanged by the other around the table.
"You believe Anubis' ship was destroyed?" Hammond asked neutrally. Jacob bowed his head before looking up again.
"There is no evidence to suggest Anubis still possesses the ship and Ares has not mentioned claiming the ship. While we have not been able to visit the space above Abydos to confirm it yet, the assumption is that it was destroyed above Abydos. Why?"
"Oh no reason we were just curious about the assumption" Jack quickly said, cutting off anyone from mentioning their secret gift that currently sat in orbit of their Alpha Site and was swarming with scientists and engineers. They had already learned a few things from it resulting in some changes to their weapons for the Prometheus as well as new subspace scanner that would do better than their currently installed one.
"Very well, as I say you have nothing to fear as the ship is gone but be warned that Anubis is rushing the build on a second one. He began construction shortly before the first was destroyed, likely as a back up but maybe as a gift for a loyal battle commander should he gain one. It is still more than three months from deployment though it may not be fully operational due to the lack of the Eyes. We believe it will have the super weapon on board so he will likely be looking for a way to power it." Carter nodded in agreement knowing the power requirements for the weapon based on readings from their prize while the others looked worried at the news of a new flagship that could out-do all but Ares' flagship.
"It seems things will be hectic out there. I'll advise my people to keep a weather eye open for any intel and for combat situations in case they're caught up in anything" Hammond said after a moments thought.
"Not a bad idea George. Look Anubis is mostly contained so he should be put down without too much more trouble. It will still leave a Supreme System Lord in charge but he's better than a mad one like Anubis, with Ares we can work with and more or less predict his actions" Jacob commented after Selmak returned control back to the host. "We'll keep you apprised if anything major happens. Right, well, I had best be off, I got a mission to investigate Ares' actions. We want to know why he's not doing much."
"Good luck Dad" Sam said with a smile.
"Thanks kiddo, you lot take care." With that he got up, nodded to Hammond, and left heading to the control room while the rest were left to their thoughts on the new conflict in the stars.
Meanwhile in deep space on board his command ship Ares sat watching the shipyard before. He was doing a rush job of upgrading his fleet of Ha'taks to be able to fight more effectively against Anubis. The System Lords were expending themselves fighting Anubis while his upgrade programme was carried out. They had a good shot of winning already without the upgrades but James knew Anubis was planning something. With what Doctor Jackson had also said regarding Anubis being partially ascended, it had made him extra cautious. 'Why defeat him if you can't kill him?' and thus this slow fight was acceptable as it bought him time to research ascension and find a way to beat him. Unfortunately for him the Repository was somewhat lacking on the hows, why's and therefore's of ascension giving only a light overview of what it was and the basic theory of how i.e. spiritual enlightenment and acceptance, the shedding of your physical self and moving up to a higher plane. He wondered if Atlantis might have more but it was another galaxy far away. His search for a possible Potentia factory meanwhile was progressing more successfully. Although he had narrowed it down in the database he still had not yet found the correct file. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack, a haystack the size of a planet if not larger. He just had to hope Earth and he could last long enough. Thankfully he had back up plans for most outcomes by now, he just didn't want to use them. It helped that Carol had sent some portions of the Repository to Earth for safe keeping. These data files were kept on an isolated computer with no outside links and were accessible only by Major Carter, Doctor Jackson, Doctor Bill Lee and Jonas Quinn. It wasn't much that had been sent though, mostly histories and some science theories.
June 2003
Jonas was sitting at a desk in the Repository room going over some extracts and reading some papers. He'd come down here to do some translations and research as a replacement for Doctor Jackson and attempt to find more on the Ancients. He picked up a thick tome on languages and history and compared it to what he had on the paper and the computer screen before a sense of achievement came over him followed by a smile on his face. "I got it. I got it!" he yelled with a jump to his feet. He then ran out the room and began hurrying down the endless corridors to a lift. He asked for level 28 from the person inside as he bounced on his heels with excitement. "It's not the lost city. See, there's a subtle difference in meaning when you use Asgard translations of early Ancient. Remember that" he said to the confused man before rushing out upon reaching level 28. He hurried into the control room looking for Major Samantha 'Sam' Carter and learned she was with General Hammond and so he ran up the stairs to the General's office and the briefing room where he found them discussing the latest from the Goa'uld war. "According to Tok'ra intelligence General, Anubis is still fighting back, in fact the conflict is at a standstill now. His new flagship, which is proving to be a great threat to them, can power its super weapon for one or two weak shots using a large dedicated Naquadah generator but it doesn't have the damage the Eyes would've provided. Even with this change in circumstance Ares is still doing nothing apart from the occasional key battle." Jonas paused at the door to catch his breath before interrupting.
"I got it" he said simply when they noticed him.
"Hopefully, it's not contagious" Sam jokingly returned.
"Ha, ha. The lost city." Hammond sits there waiting expectantly for more. "I found something in the Repository fragment we have" Jonas adds.
"You found it?" Sam asks in surprise. "I thought it was in another galaxy according to Ares?"
"Yeah Atlantis is, only it's not the only lost city I found. I found another lost city. Though that never made sense to me anyway. I mean, the Repository is written in Ancient. How could they lose one of their own cities? And even if they did, why would they call it the lost city? They wouldn't. They would call it by its name, right?
"Mr. Quinn…" Hammond prompted in exasperation.
"It's not the lost city. It's the City of the Lost" Jonas explained.
"Do you have a Gate address?" Sam asked.
"There's a reference in some partial translations that Doctor Jackson was working on from the library of the four races, you know the one you found on Helipololis after Ares stabilised that castle place for you to travel to and the writings of Dr Littlefield. It talks about a city of the Ancients called Vis Uban as being a place where the plague began. This city was going to be the crown jewel in the entire Ancient domain. Only it was still under construction when the plague broke out." Carter sighed at the unnecessary explanation.
"Two words: Gate address."
"Four years ago, when Colonel O'Neill had the Ancient Repository of Knowledge downloaded into his mind, one of the things that he did was to put a bunch of new Gate addresses into the SGC computer. How many did he put in there?"
"Well, we've been sending probes and cataloguing them as fast as we can" Sam replied.
"Any possibly relevant planet goes on the mission list" Hammond explained.
"Yeah, well how many have actually had probes sent to them?" Jonas asked
"Less than a quarter" Carter answered regretfully.
"And do you think that he came up with these, ah, Gate addresses randomly? Or could there be some sort of order?" Jonas then prompted.
"Yeah, I suppose…"
"If Vis Uban wasn't finished being built at the time the entire Ancient civilization fell…"
"You're saying the Ancient city you found, is the last one on the list?"
"Well, we've been going in order from first to last, right?" Jonas said with a smile. Hammond turned to Carter, "send a probe."
"Yes, sir."
It would turn out to be a ruined city with many structures scattered about and a nomadic tribe in residence. There were no discernable energy readings for the SG teams to find and indeed all they found was a pleasant surprise; an amnesic Daniel Jackson alive and well, apart from his memories. It was shortly after that they'd come up with their insane plan. Or at least that's what James thought when he heard it and their suggestion to weaken Anubis again. They wanted to lure Anubis to this Vis Uban place they'd found on the pretence that it was an Ancient city with Ancient technologies lying about and then cripple his command ship once in orbit allowing for it to be destroyed by Ares. A good plan James thought as he considered it again. Indeed the other System Lords had been getting angsty with his lack of action though he'd now gotten more than 85% of his fleet either upgraded to some degree or had been built with the upgrades included. With this plan he could say that he took out a key piece of Anubis' forces. And so he was now moving ships into a position near the system in question to deal with Anubis' flagship. Well that was easy to do with the majority of his fleet not engaged with Anubis so he dispatched twenty ships plus his flagship to a system nearby but not en route form a likely trajectory Anubis would take to get there thus leaving them undiscovered.
Unfortunately it was not his only problem. There was a growing discontent in some locations throughout his domain, mostly in Apophis' and Heru'ur's former domains. They were ripe areas for the growing Jaffa rebellion that Teal'c and Bra'tac were leading, which was...problematic to say the least. Hopefully they held off doing anything drastic until Anubis was defeated, at least the refit/upgrade programme was a good excuse to insert his fail safes.
On other fronts though, various construction projects were going well. New housing for the Apophis and Heru'ur worlds was progressing as were various other infrastructure projects such as trams and other train-like transport for moving the masses around his larger towns or the cities.
Back at the SGC a final briefing was now taking place in a darkened briefing room on the plan to destroy Anubis and finally end his super weapon before it can be improved. "As you all know, we've had little success using Naquadria to power the F-302's hyperspace generator for any length of time. However, if our calculations are correct, we believe that a short, controlled burst would send the 302 into subspace just long enough to bypass the mother ship's shields" Major Carter was explaining with some diagrams on display based on intelligence of the mothership behind her.
"And if your calculations are incorrect?" O'Neill asked curiously.
"The 302 would bypass the mother ship all together, or worse, re-emerge inside it. But let's not go there right now."
"Of course. Let's not dwell" Jack returns glibly.
"Now, uh, er, according to intelligence provided by the Tok'ra, the power core of Anubis' new weapon must be cooled by a ventilation shaft on the exterior of the ship. If that can be targeted and destroyed just as the weapon is powering up, the dedicated generator will over heat and be destroyed" Sam continues.
"Where is the shaft, exactly?" asked O'Neill knowing the answer. Sam looked at him with an irritated expression before swallowing and replying. "As Colonel O'Neill is well aware, we don't know exactly where the shaft is."
A woman wearing brown leathers and clothes then spoke up from one of the seats in the room. "Our operative in Anubis' ranks has been unable to get aboard the new ship and has only been able to glean a very limited working knowledge of it. Anubis protects his computer systems with elaborate ciphers coded in the oldest known Ancient dialect. We have been unable to translate them."
"Which is where Jonas Quinn and Daniel Jackson come in. They'll sneak onto Anubis' ship and access the computer" Sam interjected, taking control of the briefing again.
"We have devised an injectable radioactive isotope that will allow them to move freely on Anubis' ship, undetected by its sensors, for eight hours" the Tok'ra operative explained helpfully.
"They'll decipher the codes and relay the location of the target to Colonel O'Neill and myself, who will be flying the F-302" added Sam.
"No problem, right?" O'Neill asked of Daniel and Jonas.
"Hey, sounds easy to me" Jonas said happily while Daniel gave a thumbs-up.
"Good. Anubis' ship is destroyed and we all live to save another day" Jack said happily. Sam then gave him another irritated look and a thin smile.
"Again, as the Colonel is well aware, we have reason to believe that eliminating the Naquadah power core of the ship's main weapon won't destroy the entire ship. Its defences and auxiliary weapons will remain intact, though we predict due to the explosion it will be damaged somewhat."
"Why don't we dwell on that for just a minute?" Jack asked of the room.
"Our goal is to take out Anubis' new super weapon. It's what gives him a clear advantage over the rest of the Goa'uld mother ships. Now, we've received word from Ares that he will bring a large fleet of around twenty ships plus his own flagship down upon Anubis once we've succeeded to destroy the mothership again."
Jack then turned to the room "Okay. Everyone who thinks this is an absolutely insane idea, raise your hand. Come on, be honest." At that everyone raised their hand, even Carter who sighed and reluctantly did so. Hammond then spoke up over the silence and raised hands.
"Keep your hands up people, because the next question is who is going to make this happen?" Jack shrugged, nodded and kept his hand up along with everyone else at the General's words.
"Well it's going to take us at least a week to relocate the inhabitants of the ruins…" Jonas commented as the lights came up on the briefing room.
"Which will give us more than enough time to build a makeshift runway and get the 302 through the Gate and reassembled" Sam explained.
"Once everything is established the Tok'ra will plant our fake tablet and, with any luck, we'll lure Anubis to the planet" Jonas said. Hammond then turned to everyone "Let's move people."
"Er Sam surely we'd know some stuff from the project?" Jack asked discretely. Sam frowned and nodded slightly.
"Technically we may have an idea, though it assumes this ship is completely identical. As for why I didn't mention it in the briefing that is because there was a Tok'ra present and we are under orders not to mention the ship or hint we have it. Supposedly because we need an advantage we don't want leaked. Mostly, I hear, because the Tok'ra still have our Ha'tak and haven't returned it. So politics" Sam answered.
"Ah politics."
Just over a week later Anubis arrived in orbit of this supposedly deserted and ruined world. His sensors detected nothing to indicate the presence of any technology which according to the tablet that he'd found may be there. He ordered Herak, his First Prime, to send troops down to the surface and search the ruins. "The ruins are quite extensive my lord but I will not fail you" he promised as he left.
"No you will not or I will end you" Anubis retorted. The searches went slowly due to the size of the ruins and they had so far found nothing. It was then they detected a launch from the surface of all things. "My lord a fighter of some kind is on approach, shall I shoot it down?" Herak asked gleefully, having returned to the ship after leaving his troops to search the ruins.
"No, send out gliders to intercept and destroy it. Scan the planet for a launch site and eliminate it" Anubis declared.
"By your command my lord" Herak said with a bow before going to his console and issuing orders. Ten gliders launched from the mothership to intercept the approaching human fighter.
"Colonel, we have incoming!" Carter said from the rear seat as she spotted the gliders on the sensors.
krathrede"Alright hang on!" Jack said hurriedly before sending the fighter into a few steep dives and weaves leading the gliders away from from the mothership which began to manoeuvrer into a subtly different orbit. They ducked about, taking out the occasional glider with their built in rail guns, while waiting for Daniel and Jonas to report on their target. After almost ten minutes of hanging around while trying to escape the ten gliders in pursuit they eventually got the signal and a target location and so Jack pulled them into a sharp reverse spin and shot off towards Anubis' ship. As they flew towards the large ship before them Carter began the start up for the hyperdrive. "Sir we still need them to charge up the main weapon."
Inside Herak was concerned with the illusive human fighter. "My Lord, the attack vessel continues to elude our gliders" he called out to his god.
"Send in another squadron" Anubis replied distractedly.
"I do not believe what you are searching for is here."
"I agree."
"Shall I target their base, my Lord?"
"No. Recall the ground troops" Anubis said thinking of an entirely different way to eliminate the insolent humans.
"Yes, my Lord" Herak replied smirking at knowing what was to occur next.
"So we're going in NOW, right?" Jack asked after hearing that Anubis was targetting the planet.
"We need the Ares and his fleet here to finish the job" Carter replied before adding upon spotting four signals on her instrument panel. "Sir! We've got four more gliders headed this way."
"Crap! So are we going in now?"
"Aye sir, activating hyper-drive" Carter called out as the fighter began to hum as the hyperdrive was activated and F-302 jumps briefly before exiting past the shields and very close to Anubis' ship.
"Oh shi- extending, straight up" Jack called out as he pulled hard on the joystick and the fighter pulled up flying meters above the ship's hull. "Damn. That was close."
"Nicely done Colonel. Transferring target data to your terminal, sir. Good luck." Jack flew along the surface dodging weapons fire that came close but luckily doesn't hit.
"Target is locked. Fox four, two" he calls out and launches the missiles at the target location which responds with a large explosion.
"Nice shot" Carter calls out with a smile.
"Well thank you ma'am" Jack calls back feigning smugness. Jack flies them clear of the ship and they can see the after effect of the explosion as lines of electricity arch around the ship and sections look unpowered.
"My lord the core is gone!" Herak calls in terror as he faces Anubis who shouts in anger as the ship rocks from the explosion. He then turns to his console when an alert bleeps. "My lord we have captured an intruder who may have helped aid the humans."
"Bring him to the interrogation room, I will see to this myself."
"It will be done my lord" Herak replies happy to get out of the room with an angry god in.
Shortly thereafter Jonas is on his back, strapped down to a table by a yoke that goes across his neck and wrists while his legs are trapped down at his feet. Anubis turns off the force-field that seals the cell shut and enters the room.
"You will suffer greatly for what you just done."
"Yeah, I figured as much. Although, I am consoled by the fact that we succeeded in destroying the power source for your new weapon" Jonas replies gleefully.
"You are in no position to gloat."
"We just wiped out your single advantage you had over the Goa'uld. I would say that that's about as good a reason as any" answers Jonas smugly.
"Enough!" Anubis shouts in anger.
"I won't tell you anything."
"Oh yes, you will" Anubis says calmly and pulls out a round device with spikes all over it and holds it so that Jonas can see. It's the memory probe that had previously been used on Thor.
At that moment out in space a number of ships shot out of a purple rift and surged forward to surround Anubis as they had around Abydos. Leading the fleet was Ares' flagship, the Achilles. "My lord we have arrived and have surrounded Anubis' ship. He has no escape and it appears the Tau'ri have succeeded in their attack, his super weapon no longer functions" reported Honeric.
"Very good, open a channel to Anubis, I will order him to surrender" James commanded, he privately doubted Anubis would surrender but it was always good to give them the option when out gunned as much as this. "Anubis, I see you have failed to learn from your mistakes and have let yourself be surrounded like before. Surrender and we can end this destructive conflict, you will submit to my superiority."
"I am a god and I will not submit to the likes of you. You test yourself at your own expense. You will pay for my previous losses eventually" Anubis replied angrily, still fuming over the loss of the Eyes, before cutting the signal.
"My lord sensors indicate he is charging his engines, he must mean to flee." James really wished he could destroy the ship now and while he could, Anubis would still live. It was better that Anubis left in the ship now until he could be killed for good. It would also drag the war out thus giving him time to find a way to kill Anubis. Hopefully.
"Fire a few shots but let him go, we do not have the coverage to prevent another escape ship breaking free and he would just build another command ship. We will defeat him at a later date." The fleet did as ordered and let the mothership go after firing a dozen shots at it which lightly damaged the ship with the loss of some weapons, hull breaches and some decks loosing life support.
Outside Jack and Sam watched in disbelief as the fleet allowed Anubis to escape. "What are they doing?! The plan was to destroy the ship not let it escape" Sam said angrily.
"What a shocker, the Goa'uld didn't keep up their end of the bargain" Jack snarkily replied.
"But it's James in charge, surely he would have?"
"Not unless he had a reason not to. We know Anubis is partially ascended or whatever thanks to Danny boy, maybe he does too and doesn't want to try to kill him until he has method to do so?" They then heard over the radio that Daniel and Jonas had not returned to planet and were presumed to be on Anubis' ship still. "Damn it, well we better head home Carter, we gotta figure out what to do about Daniel and Jonas now."
"Yes sir, hope those two are ok though" Sam said glumly. The F-302 adjusted its course and began heading back down to the planet as they began to plan to liberate their friends.
AN: So I hope you liked the latest instalment and should be posting at least once a week but maybe more often depending how quick I write.