Chapter Twenty-Six: Death Wish


The explosive concussions buffeted the damaged Tok'ra shuttle as the Galactica began its mighty orbital bombardment. For SG-1 and others seeking shelter inside the tiny ship, they experienced one long interlocking string of explosions after another as it reverberated all around them. Huddled in the back compartment with the wounded, they could do nothing but weather it out and pray that the Battlestar in orbit didn't accidentally blow them all to kingdom come.


Seemingly forever, the explosions swept back and forth all about them, pounding the ground mercilessly. Lt. Hailey squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for the possible end, expecting one of those blasts to tear through the roof off the shuttle, ending their existence. She could only imagine what was occurring outside for the Peacekeepers.


Then it was over.


Hailey opened her eyes with the thunderous detonations still ringing in her ears. She glanced about, unsure if the bombardment was indeed over. Everyone looked safe and Sgt. Hathor was on the radio immediately calling up to the Galactica.


"We're still here, Colonel Tigh," Hathor said, then murmured under her breath. "Thank the Lords of Kobol."


Over the radio, they all heard Tigh's voice. "Glad to hear you're all safe, Sergeant. We're scanning the area and it looks clear but sensors are still not operating at one hundred percent."


"Understood, Colonel. We'll proceed with caution." Hathor said.


"The transport shuttle is only about three centars out," Tigh informed. "Get ready for it."


"Yes, sir."


Listening, O'Neill stood up and gestured to Teal'c and Hailey. "We'd better have a look outside and make sure the coast is clear. The rest of you get the wounded ready to move the moment that shuttle touches down."


When Carter got up to follow, O'Neill held up his hands stopping her. "Stay put, Carter. Help them with the wounded."


"Sir?" Carter protested.


"Just do this." O'Neill quietly spoke to her, not wishing to make it an order. "You and Crichton have been through enough. Let us handle this… please."


For a second, Carter looked ready to argue but the subtle pleading tone in his voice made her decide against it. She nodded her head, letting him have his way this time and went to help Freya, D'Argo and Crichton tend to the wounded.


O'Neill himself was grateful that he didn't have to order Carter to stay put. She had done more than enough to earn her pay for this week.


At the opened airlock door, O'Neill, Teal'c and Hailey exited outside in standard leapfrog formation. The smoke hung thickly in the air but a gentle breeze was slowly clearing it away. The once rock strewn terrain was now pulverized, littered with hundreds of blast craters, surrounding in every direction about the shuttle. The only thing that O'Neill could think that would match this level of destruction was perhaps a squadron of B-52 bombers.


Hailey was crouched down by the shuttle's buckled wing, gripping her P-90 when she said to O'Neill and Teal'c, who were standing on her left, "Feels like we're on another planet."


"It's the same planet, Lieutenant," O'Neill corrected as he stepped forward scanning his surroundings amazed. "Only slightly redecorated."


Even Teal'c couldn't hide his awe by the level of destruction. "The Colonials do indeed possess great power."


O'Neill nodded. "Just to be on the safe side, lets make a mental note not to do anything that might piss them off."


Teal'c was watching carefully when a sound suddenly filled his ears. It was a roar of unending fury that no living thing in this universe could possibly match. The Jaffa spun to his left towards the source, levelling his staff weapon just as a figure exploded from the smoky haze. It was black with a face that was stretched into malevolent rage as it pounced.


Teal'c fired as it reached him but the target was faster and batted the tip of his staff weapon to one side as the blast impacted harmlessly into the already battered ground. With one hand gripping Teal'c's weapon, it raised a second bloody hand high before bringing it down, snapping the long slender weapon in two.


O'Neill and Hailey turned to help their Jaffa comrade when Teal'c's attacker just backhanded the huge Jaffa warrior, sending him flying through the air as if he was nothing. Teal'c landed hard and unmoving on the ground.


Behind him, O'Neill heard a frighten Lt. Hailey utter in sheer dread as she immediately recognized their assailant or what was left of him. "S-sc-scorpius!"


It was the Scarren-hybrid. His body armor was torn and tattered. From his left shoulder down to the center of torso his suit was ripped away and the flesh under it was horribly scarred. The entire left side of his face was heavily scorched and disfigured. He could only see from his right eye, his left eye was swollen shut with a thin trail of greenish ooze flowing from it. Scorpius looked like Death himself… after a really bad car wreck.


"You are one ugly motherfuc…" O'Neill started to say while levelling his weapon at the badly wounded Scorpius before the Scarren-hybrid suddenly charged directly at him. Instantly, O'Neill squeezed the trigger and fired his P-90 at nearly point blank range. The hail of bullets exploded into Scorpius' upper body, piercing through his remaining chest armor. Incredibly, Scorpius continued his running advance, seemingly ignoring the incredible damaging punishment that O'Neill's weapon was dishing out.


Scorpius reached out and effortless ripped the P-90 from O'Neill's grasp and grabbed him by the throat.


"Hailey!" O'Neill hollered as Scorpius held him by the throat, before turning him about and holding him close as a Human shield.


"SHOOT!!"


The young Lieutenant froze, like a small child facing the bogeyman.


"Let him go!" Hailey blurted out in a trembling voice.


"What to we have here?" Scorpius hissed while eyeing Hailey. "A familiar and living face. Now, where are Crichton and Carter?"


O'Neill couldn't believe how strong Scorpius was. He must have the strength of five Teal'c's. Even as Scorpius was close to choking O'Neill, the Colonel struggled to wheeze out a command to the nearly paralysed Lieutenant.


"Hailey! …ACK! Take the damn… shot!"


Scorpius could kill them both easily but O'Neill and Hailey were nothing. He wanted to get to the real prize.


"Where are Crichton and Carter?" He demanded again jamming the barrel of the P-90 under O'Neill's jaw. "Where are they!"


From the damaged shuttle airlock, Crichton emerged saying aloud. "What will it take to kill you?" He stared at Scorpius in disbelief, while holding his pulse rifle. "If the Galactica can't kill you, then what on this grey boulder crusted planet will? Silver bullets? Sunlight? Buffy?"


"Where is Samantha Carter?" Scorpius demanded, keeping his tight grip on O'Neill throat. He wasn't interested in listening to Crichton's confusing babblings.


"Right here," Carter announced as she stepped out from the airlock behind Crichton. "Now let him go."


Now having both of the troublesome Humans before him, Scorpius permitted himself to smile. "It's such a pleasure to see both of you together. John Crichton and Samantha Carter… Just looking at you two and knowing how much havoc you brought down on me makes me want to end both of your lives even more."


"Will someone shoot…" O'Neill choked out as he pried helplessly at Scorpius fingers about his neck. "…This asshole!"


The Scarren-hybrid glanced at his captive and pressed the barrel of his rifle against the underside of O'Neill's jaw harder. "Or I can just kill this one and make you both watch."


"Don't be dumb Scorpius," Crichton warned. "You lost. Our side has won. The Galactica is still up there and they're sending down more help even as we speak. I hate saying the obvious but give it up!"


"I don't see it that way, John." Scorpius said. "I'm not about to let you go… Not now. You are not leaving this planet, alive."


Carter stared at O'Neill and the P-90 that Scorpius was holding on him. She made a snap decision. "How about a trade? I'll tell you everything about the Stargate if you let everyone else go."


"No!" O'Neill hissed out. "I order you to shoot him!"


Worried, Crichton looked over to her. "Sam, what are you doing?"


Elsewhere, from the other side of the shuttle, D'Argo and Freya squeezed through a large gash in the Tok'ra shuttle. The two began to crawl low hoping to circle around and to get in behind Scorpius. They moved about thirty feet before five Colonial Vipers appeared and thundered overhead.


For Scorpius, he barely glanced up at the fighters roaring above them. His full attention was on Major Carter. "That is a very alluring offer my dear but I want you both."


"Don't get greedy, Scorpius," Carter said. "Salvage what you can from this and you'll still come out ahead or at least alive."


"This man that I am holding is indeed very important to you," Scorpius smiled, well at least as best as he could with the deep wound inflicted on the left side of his face. "But what makes you so sure that I want you and not Crichton?"


"Because you said it yourself, you want my Stargate secrets and me."


The Scarren hybrid stared at her for several seconds, seemingly appraising her worth. "I can't read if you are telling the truth. I sense it must have something to do with your symbiont that you now possess. If true, that makes you more than worthless to me…. Unless, Crichton is to be added to the offer."


"Uh… Sorry but I just reached my hero quota for this week." Crichton answered, still pointing his weapon at Scorpius.


"Crichton?" Carter pleaded under her breath. "He's going to kill O'Neill!"


Crichton shrugged his shoulders uncaringly. "Your problem, not mine."


"You selfish bastard!" Carter snarled.


"Sticks and stones lady," Crichton countered. "I saved your pretty ass, so don't go all high and mighty on me that I don't do anything for ya. One man can only do so much."


Scorpius watched the exchange in fascination before interrupting the two bickering parties. "That's a nice little performance you two are displaying. Although I can't read Samantha, I can still read you John. You two are stalling for time. Perhaps for help to arrive from above or…" Scorpius raised his voice much louder.


"… To allow someone to sneak up behind me!"


Not far off, D'Argo and Freya ducked down into a blasted crater, quietly cursing. They weren't in position to take Scorpius out from behind yet. The Scarren hybrid caught onto their plan too quickly.


"Now," Scorpius said menacingly. "You will all drop your weapons or O'Neill here dies."


Crichton shook his head, gripping his pulse rifle tightly. "Get a clue, Scorpy. Kill him and you die!"


"Do you think I care what happens to me after this? Peacekeeper High Command will want my head after this debacle unless I have something to show for it!" Scorpius growled. "Now, lower your weapons!"


O'Neill was fighting for every breath with Scorpius keeping a death lock on his throat. However, O'Neill was slowly inching his right hand down, towards the combat knife still on his belt. He kept his eyes glued on Carter, Crichton and Hailey and thankfully, none of their watching faces betrayed his actions. O'Neill's fingertips just touched the hilt of his knife when Scorpius suddenly jabbed the barrel of the P-90 under his jaw again.


"That action would be very unwise, Colonel!" Scorpius warned, easily sensing O'Neill's exact intentions.


"You know what, Scorpy…" O'Neill wheezed out, straining to look into Scorpius' one good remaining eye. "… Your breath smells of week old roadkill and I'll be damned if I'll allow you to have either of them again!"


O'Neill went for his knife, his hand closing on the hilt. Not matter what happened next, O'Neill thought, either way, at least Scorpius wouldn't have him as a human shield to use against his friends.


There was a crackling of energy of a zat-gun being discharged, striking Scorpius. The searing energy jumped and danced over his body before crossing over onto O'Neill just as he drew his knife. Both their bodies broke into uncontrolled spasms.


Surprised, Crichton looked where the shot came from. It was Teal'c! He was laying injured and bleeding from his forehead, but the Jaffa warrior managed to recover enough to pull and use his zat-gun to shoot Scorpius from behind.


O'Neill grimaced in pain before dropping his knife. Scorpius' hand clutching at O'Neill's throat loosened and the Colonel fell to the ground with a painful sounding thud. Amazingly, Scorpius remained standing and held onto the captured P-90 and even started to shrug off the effects of the zat-gun. He started to raise the weapon towards Crichton and the others.


Both Crichton and Hailey opened up and unloaded into Scorpius with pulse fire and armor piercing rounds. A split second later, D'Argo rose from his hiding spot just off to one side and fired his Qualta blade.


The Scarren hybrid was struck and pummelled by all three weapons and incredibly for a moment, it didn't appear he was ever going to fall. Then Carter decided to end it and raised her Ribbon Device, unleashing the weapon's full might on against him. The force blast from Carter's weapon impacted Scorpius with the force of a speeding freight train.


And the effects were very similar…


"Oh, shit!" Crichton whispered, witnessing the sheer damage that Carter had inflicted.


Hailey herself gasped and diverted her eyes from the carnage that the Ribbon Device wrecked. Even D'Argo, Freya and Teal'c couldn't believe what they just saw happened.


Groaning, O'Neill rolled over to see what was left of Scorpius.


"Geez," He murmured under his breath. "Like a fly on a windshield."


***


On the bridge of the Galactica, a very relieved Colonel Tigh approached Commander Adama with much needed good news.


"Sir, the shuttle has landed on the planet's surface and our rescue team has been recovered."


"Casualties?" Adama asked grimly.


Colonel Tigh couldn't sugar coat the news. "Seven dead and eight wounded."


Adama closed his eyes at the depressing report before gathering the strength to ask the next question. "Have you got the final casualty numbers to our Viper forces


"Eleven warriors killed and one still missing," Tigh reported, adding slowly, "It's Aeryn Sun. We couldn't find a trace of her Viper after the command carrier exploded."


***


The Colonial transport shuttle was shaped something like a train boxcar with two engines sticking out the back but amazingly, the boxy ship flew smoothly as it rocketed back up to the Galactica. Meanwhile inside, several paramedics on the shuttle tended to the wounded.


Once the shuttle reached orbit and started making its return trip to the Galactica, Crichton made his way up to the cockpit. He leaned through the opened hatch and asked the two shuttle pilots, "Can you radio the Galactica for me?"


The co-pilot was wearing a comm. headset and glanced at him saying politely. "I've got them on the link right now, what do you need?"


"I need to know about Aeryn Sun, she's a Viper pilot. Do they know if she's safe?"


"One micron," The co-pilot replied. "Galactica this is shuttle five. I have a request about the status of a Viper pilot by the name of Aeryn Sun."


After several moments, and a few head nods by the co-pilot, he turned and said to Crichton. "They say the radiation is still playing havoc with communications on many of our ships, so they won't know the status of your friend until every Viper has returned."


The co-pilot could see that the guy was really worried about this Aeryn Sun, so he tried to ease his concerns. "Listen, we're about to reach the Galactica in about four centars and I'm sure they'll have more information by then. Just go back and sit tight."


Crichton tried to keep calm and not loose it. He attempted to convince himself that Aeryn was indeed all right. After all, she was a big girl and had proved many times that she could look after herself, but something was not right.


"Thanks," Crichton managed to utter before turning to leave. He decided once they returned to the Galactica, he'd hunt down Sheba. Aeryn was Sheba's wingman and Aeryn could very well be with her still. Those two ladies could inflict more damage and stir up more trouble than Thelma and Louise. Together those two could survive anything, so Aeryn had to be okay.


After the longest four centars in Crichton's life, the shuttle finally touched down safely inside the Galactica's landing bay. Resisting the incredible urge to simply race out of the shuttle and start combing the Battlestar to find Aeryn, he decided to stay a few moments to help unload the wounded from the shuttle.


They soon carried most of the wounded out on stretchers to the waiting medical personnel who immediately carted off the most critical to the Galactica's medical bay first.


Crichton saw Sgt. Hathor with her right shoulder bandaged up and her arm in a sling walking off the shuttle under her own power. Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter were nearby, giving her a steady hand to help her off the shuttle. He overheard them talking.


"I have to commend you and your people for a job well done," O'Neill said to the redheaded Colonial warrior.


Hathor nodded her head slightly as she stepped off the shuttle onto the landing deck. "My team deserves the credit but I'm not sure about myself. I still ended up getting shot. Real smart."


"But you stood firm and got us help when we needed it," O'Neill said. "Despite what you think, I would be honoured to fight along your side again."


"Not to mention you redeemed the name of Hathors everywhere." Carter added with a teasing note in her voice.


Then both O'Neill and Carter gave Hathor a military salute. Confused, Hathor quickly recognized the gesture as a show of respect. With her still good left arm, she returned their salute mirroring it as best as she could.


With a tearful expression, she said gratefully. "It was also an honour to fight along the side of my brothers and sisters of the Tau'ri. I can only hope that this will be the last battle we ever need to fight when we finally do reach Earth."


"When you get there, don't forget to look us up," Carter smiled.


"Yeah, we can all get together at my place. I throw the best barbeque parties, ask anyone," O'Neill added.


Hathor looked bewildered. "What is a barb-a-q?"


Crichton choked down a laugh. Some things never change out here in the Uncharted Territories. Glancing about, he spotted Hailey, Teal'c, D'Argo, and Freya helping to get the last of the wounded off the shuttle. With that done, Crichton finally felt he could leave to find Aeryn.


Just as he turned, Crichton saw a familiar face and he smiled in relief. "Sheba!"


Moving towards him was the Silver Spars Squadron Leader herself with Captain Apollo and Lt. Starbuck, flanking either side of her.


Crichton hurried to meet her halfway, delighted to see them. "Am I glad to see you. Where's Aery…"


He stopped in his tracks when he finally got close enough to see their faces, especially Sheba's. She had tears streaming down her cheeks. Meanwhile Apollo and Starbuck had the air of gloom overshadowing over their composed demeanour.


In that instant, a part of Crichton knew what was coming and he thought about fleeing. If he didn't listen, then it wouldn't be real… right? She can't be… No… It to be had been something else that they wished to tell him… This can't be happening… Maybe he died in his module and his corpse is still orbiting about Earth and this is hell… Doomed to never know peace or happiness… This has to be hell after all… Or maybe this is all a bad dream and he will wake up soon… Now would be a good time to wake up… Please wake up!


But he didn't wake up. This was real despite Crichton's quiet pleads and wishes.


Stopping before him, Sheba tried to speak but had trouble forming the words. "John… I'm… I'm so sorry…"

Sheba tried to compose herself. She was a warrior, used to death and this wasn't the first time she had to break tragic news to a friend but this felt much worst. Crichton was a dear friend and he asked her to look after Aeryn and she failed him. He never asked anything of her before except to watch over her and she failed him. Now she was going to tell him the fatal news and destroy his world.


"Sheba…" Crichton barely whispered. "What happened?"


She tried to talk but when she met his eyes, he already knew. His eyes now looked so void of life and vacant, seemingly withdrawing within himself to escape the pain. Now Sheba wished that she had accepted Apollo's offer to tell Crichton himself because she could no longer look at him and see the burning sorrow in his eyes.


Sheba couldn't hold herself together any longer and finally broke down sobbing. She covered her face with her hands and wept uncontrollably. Then she felt hands gently taking her by the shoulders and pulling her forward into a comforting embrace. Sheba buried her face into Crichton's shoulder, crying and whimpering repeatedly.


"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"


With hollow eyes, Crichton looked to Apollo and Starbuck for an answer as he held Sheba's quivering form as she continued to weep.


By now, SG-1 and the others took notice of the scene that was occurring not far from them. They moved closer as Apollo stepped forward and placed a consoling hand on Sheba's shoulder and Crichton's. D'Argo especially watched with sheer dread, praying that it didn't happened again.


"The Command Carrier was trying to ram the Galactica," Apollo said softly. "We hit it with everything we had and it finally exploded. Aeryn… Her Viper was caught in the blast wave. We had searched everywhere but can't even detect her distress beacon. It might have been…" Apollo was about to say vaporized but instead only, said. "She's gone, Crichton. We're sorry."


She's gone…


"NOOO!" Shouting, Crichton pulled away from Sheba. Those words stinging in his ears.


She's gone!


"You are lying!" Crichton said, pointing an accusing finger at Apollo. "You're just not looking hard enough! I know she's alive!"


Those bitter words confirmed everything to D'Argo. Aeryn died. The Luxan warrior didn't know how to react at first… He naturally wanted to go and try to help calm Crichton down, however, another but more angrier part of him wanted to simply curse out loud to the gods that would permit such a thing to happen again to John Crichton and Aeryn Sun.

Sheba tried to approach him again, saying in tears, "John, don't you think we have tried everything we could to find her?"


Moving alongside Sheba, Apollo added calmly, "We searched this entire area nearly five sectors in every direction looking for survivors. Even Talyn couldn't find anything."


Crichton jerked away from them. "Stay away from me! I'm going to find her. She's out there waiting for me."


Immediately, Crichton turned and started back to the transport shuttle they had just came in on.


"Crichton," Sheba called after him. "Where are you going?"


"To find her! I just need to borrow one of your shuttles."


"Crichton," Apollo quickly started to chase after him. "You don't want to be out there in a slow moving shuttle if any Peacekeeper ships should suddenly show up!"


Crichton kept on walking, refusing to listen. "I'll take my chances!"


"It's too risky…" Apollo said, reaching for Crichton's arm to stop him.


As soon as Apollo touched his arm, Crichton suddenly twisted about and pushed the Colonial away, almost back into Starbuck. "Get the hell away from me!"


When Crichton turned back, he found SG-1 standing between him and the shuttle with the three Colonials still behind him.


He glared at O'Neill who was directly in front of him. "Move out of my way."


"Listen to them, Crichton," O'Neill urged him. "You're not thinking this through."


Looking into his eyes, O'Neill realized he was better off talking to a wall. He saw a man with nothing but a death wish. O'Neill himself had that look after the death of his own son: the day he found his gun and accidentally shot himself with it. O'Neill knew that all the reasoning in the world will not stop Crichton.


"I'm going to count to five and after that I won't be responsible for what happens next," Crichton said. The tone of his voice made it clear. It wasn't a bluff, or a threat, but a promise.


"Crichton!" Hailey tried to plead with him. "Please don't do this."


"One."


"John, please stop and think of what you are doing for one micron!" Sheba implored him.


"Two."


"Are you prepared to fight all of us?" Carter said sadly. "Even me?"


Even Samantha's appeal for reason fell on deaf ears as Crichton continued his count upward.


"Three."


Panic stricken over what might happen when Crichton counted up to five, Carter spotted the massive form of Ka D'Argo slowly stepping between Sheba and Starbuck to get in behind Crichton. The Major had no idea what the Luxan's intent was because his face was nearly unreadable.


Crichton was oblivious of the Luxan's presence just a few feet behind him. "Four!"


D'Argo's long whip like tongue suddenly lashed out, jabbing Crichton in the back of his neck. The stinger-tipped tongue took effect almost immediately and Crichton went out like a light. O'Neill and Carter caught him as Crichton fell into their arms.


For everyone there, it seemed that they all tumbled out of one tragic situation into a new one.


"Five," A saddened D'Argo muttered as he stared down on the motionless form of his friend, John Crichton.


***


As expected, it didn't take long for Peacekeeper reinforcements to arrive in the form of six Peacekeeper Command Carriers. Facing superior numbers, the Galactica and Talyn had to make a hasty withdrawal into deep space before they were detected.


With the Colonial battlestar and the Leviathan gunship out of range of the Command Carrier's sensors, the fleet of Peacekeeper warships settled into orbit about the planet Tobin to render assistance to the garrison. A military transport was soon dispatched to the surface under heavy Prowler escort to the base below.


Commander Arin was relieved that reinforcements arrived and drove off that Human ship. Now, in his office, Arin waited for the arrival of his important 'guest'.


The wait was short and the doors parted open to reveal Commandant Grayza. She gracefully strolled inside his office, leaving her two Peacekeeper guards to remain outside as the door closed behind her.


Arin rose up from behind his desk and stood at an attention. "Commandant. Welcome to Tobin Base"


Grayza nodded her head in acknowledgement. "Commander. I came as soon as we heard of the attack. What happened here?"


"It was Humans, Commandant. They assaulted us and destroyed our defending Command Carrier in orbit."


"Humans did all of that?" Grayza couldn't believe what she had just heard. "But they left the base nearly intact."


"That's because they were here only to rescue a Human prisoner that Scorpius had captured, a Major Samantha Carter."


"Give me details Commander." Grayza demanded.


"This Major Carter, according to Scorpius had valuable information about the Stargate and attempted to interrogate but he failed to break her. Before the Human assault started, John Crichton gave the appearance of surrendering himself and Scorpius made the fatal error of putting the two Humans together in the same cell." The Commander then smiled faintly. "They later escaped after someone sneaked in a Goa'uld hand device and they fought their way outside. When the Human warship came with Talyn in support, they sent down a rescue ship. Scorpius led a team of commandoes to stop them and to try and recapture Crichton and Carter but Scorpius and his men were all killed in a surface bombardment by the Human warship."


Grayza stood quietly for a long moment before her lips turned upward into a pleased smirk. "Our little plan turned out much better than we had ever hoped for, eh, Commander?"


Arin looked quite pleased. "We both got what we were seeking, Commandant. I have command of my base back and you no longer have Scorpius to be concerned about in the High Command."


"Yes, I dreaded that Scorpius would make that inferno wormhole technology work by studying that Stargate. If he had, then he would have gained much favor in the government over me in the process. With him gone, I'll make sure that the Stargate remains little more than a curious artifact. However, this Human warship you have described has me worried some. I thought that John Crichton's species were an inferior race? What do you know about this ship?"


"We are still processing the data scans, Commandant. What I can tell you is that the Human warship was big as our Command Carrier with superior weaponry, and their pilots fought most aggressively in battle. In all honesty, I believe that we all have been a victim of a clever deception."


"Explain, Commander?"


"John Crichton could have been sent here to spy on us under the guise of a simple mediocre species. When you think of it, do you honesty believe that a mere primitive could have caused us as much trouble as he has? He could have been fooling all of us, including Scorpius and even his Aurora chair with his act of idiocy. Species that are known to be able to resist it and even project false images on the Aurora chair is nothing new. The Humans even know much about the Stargate and how to use it. There is no telling how formidable they are. The Humans might be a greater threat than the Scarrens."


"You are speculating, Commander, but I will grant you that your reasoning is the only one that makes any sense at the moment. If true, the Humans are truly a shrewd species not to be taken lightly… but think of it!"


"Think of what?" Commander Arin stared, puzzled, at the now excited Commandant.


"What powerful allies they would be with us against the Scarrens."



Author's Note: Please remember and I can't say it enough, feedback is always appreciated.