As Harm and Aiax were in the refining plant when the ships entered the
system, bereft of anything approximating a long-range sensor, they worked
on, completely unaware of the approaching threat.
"Uh, Captain Rabb?"
"Just call me Hammer, I have no idea whether I'm gonna be confirmed as a Captain."
"Okay. You see these flashing dots on this screen?"
"Yeah."
"Is there even the smallest chance that they're a good thing?"
"I don't think so. It looks like a radar readout showing the approach of hostiles."
"That's what I was thinking. I knew that MIG ride was good for something."
"I heard it also got you into the Martin Baker Fanclub."
"Do Martin Baker make Russian ejector seats?"
"Good point. But those dots are getting closer real fast."
"Do we have any idea how to let Harm know?"
Harm Sr looked around the small bridge. "I think this thing is some sort of communication device, but we have no way of knowing if the approaching hostiles could hear us. And because we were at Mom's place rather than in the mountain or another planet, we don't have radios with us."
"So no."
"No. Can you remember the way to the refining plant?"
"Pretty much. I saw you playing with the furry guy with some sort of string earlier, where did that end up?"
"It's in the room we were in earlier. It got a bit tangled, though. You gonna do the Minotaur trick?"
"Yeah. That way even if I don't find Harm, I can at least get back here."
As Mac made her way through the winding passages, she began to get a sense of urgency and broke into a run, favouring speed over the certainty of what direction she was going in. With the twine gradually unwinding behind her, there was no chance of her getting completely lost.
She was about to head down one corridor when out of the corner of her eye she saw movement off to her left. She skidded to a halt and changed her direction. If the movement was Harm, all well and good. If it wasn't, she needed to know just how screwed they were.
"Mac? Why aren't you on the ship?" Okay, not as screwed as they could be.
"There's something showing up on one of the screens. We think it might be a fleet of hostiles."
"Damn. Aiax, I can finish up here. Get to the ship and see what's going on."
"No. Destroying this place is my duty and my privilege. You go to the control room. It is not far. If I need any help, I will send the woman to bring you. Go, we may not have much time."
As there wasn't any time to argue, Harm sprinted off down the corridor, taking with him Mac's ball of twine so that she could find him if necessary.
Even the new (or old, if you're being pedantic about it) languages which Apollo's memories supplied him with did not provide enough swear words to give Harm any sort of satisfaction when he took a good look at the screen. Although Anubis' ships were not in hyperspace, which restricted their speed somewhat, they were still travelling a lot faster than Harm would like. He estimated they had about ten minutes before they arrived at the base. That wasn't enough time to properly programme the timer on the bomb.
Seeing one of the headsets used by the pilots of larger vessels to keep one eye on what's going on outside whilst leaving one eye free to look at their controls, Harm seized it, found to his relief that it was linked to the base's main computer and not keyed to the DNA of any particular Jaffa, and sprinted back to the refining plant, settling the headset over his brow as he did so, forcing his right eye to stare through a lot of little green dots, representing the approaching fleet. As they drew gradually closer, the computer was able to confirm what Harm had guessed immediately when he saw the size of the fleet. The ships belonged to Anubis, and they were armed to the teeth. This had obviously not been intended as a social call. As it was unlikely even Anubis could have found out about the events which had just occurred on the base so quickly, and mobilised a fleet, he had probably been expecting to have to eliminate Pan's defences. The distinct lack of those defences would not work to the favour of the small group on the ground.
Mac very nearly lost her last shreds of hope when Harm came careering back into the refining plant. Urgency oozed from his every pore, and he had a wild-eyed look she could not consciously remember ever seeing before in him.
"Anubis is coming!"
All colour drained from Aiax' face. "How long do we have?"
"A few minutes. There's no way we've got time to set the timer."
Aiax nodded, staring at the bomb, a strange expression in his eyes. "I was not meant to die like this."
Harm looked like he was about to agree, or make some comment about it being a good way to go, when all his features suddenly froze. He turned his head to look at Mac, the wildness gone from his eyes and replaced with a very, very strange light.
"Looks like this is a day for fulfilling prophecies, Mac."
"What?"
"sangue meo, vobis vitam donabo."
"Uh, Captain Rabb?"
"Just call me Hammer, I have no idea whether I'm gonna be confirmed as a Captain."
"Okay. You see these flashing dots on this screen?"
"Yeah."
"Is there even the smallest chance that they're a good thing?"
"I don't think so. It looks like a radar readout showing the approach of hostiles."
"That's what I was thinking. I knew that MIG ride was good for something."
"I heard it also got you into the Martin Baker Fanclub."
"Do Martin Baker make Russian ejector seats?"
"Good point. But those dots are getting closer real fast."
"Do we have any idea how to let Harm know?"
Harm Sr looked around the small bridge. "I think this thing is some sort of communication device, but we have no way of knowing if the approaching hostiles could hear us. And because we were at Mom's place rather than in the mountain or another planet, we don't have radios with us."
"So no."
"No. Can you remember the way to the refining plant?"
"Pretty much. I saw you playing with the furry guy with some sort of string earlier, where did that end up?"
"It's in the room we were in earlier. It got a bit tangled, though. You gonna do the Minotaur trick?"
"Yeah. That way even if I don't find Harm, I can at least get back here."
As Mac made her way through the winding passages, she began to get a sense of urgency and broke into a run, favouring speed over the certainty of what direction she was going in. With the twine gradually unwinding behind her, there was no chance of her getting completely lost.
She was about to head down one corridor when out of the corner of her eye she saw movement off to her left. She skidded to a halt and changed her direction. If the movement was Harm, all well and good. If it wasn't, she needed to know just how screwed they were.
"Mac? Why aren't you on the ship?" Okay, not as screwed as they could be.
"There's something showing up on one of the screens. We think it might be a fleet of hostiles."
"Damn. Aiax, I can finish up here. Get to the ship and see what's going on."
"No. Destroying this place is my duty and my privilege. You go to the control room. It is not far. If I need any help, I will send the woman to bring you. Go, we may not have much time."
As there wasn't any time to argue, Harm sprinted off down the corridor, taking with him Mac's ball of twine so that she could find him if necessary.
Even the new (or old, if you're being pedantic about it) languages which Apollo's memories supplied him with did not provide enough swear words to give Harm any sort of satisfaction when he took a good look at the screen. Although Anubis' ships were not in hyperspace, which restricted their speed somewhat, they were still travelling a lot faster than Harm would like. He estimated they had about ten minutes before they arrived at the base. That wasn't enough time to properly programme the timer on the bomb.
Seeing one of the headsets used by the pilots of larger vessels to keep one eye on what's going on outside whilst leaving one eye free to look at their controls, Harm seized it, found to his relief that it was linked to the base's main computer and not keyed to the DNA of any particular Jaffa, and sprinted back to the refining plant, settling the headset over his brow as he did so, forcing his right eye to stare through a lot of little green dots, representing the approaching fleet. As they drew gradually closer, the computer was able to confirm what Harm had guessed immediately when he saw the size of the fleet. The ships belonged to Anubis, and they were armed to the teeth. This had obviously not been intended as a social call. As it was unlikely even Anubis could have found out about the events which had just occurred on the base so quickly, and mobilised a fleet, he had probably been expecting to have to eliminate Pan's defences. The distinct lack of those defences would not work to the favour of the small group on the ground.
Mac very nearly lost her last shreds of hope when Harm came careering back into the refining plant. Urgency oozed from his every pore, and he had a wild-eyed look she could not consciously remember ever seeing before in him.
"Anubis is coming!"
All colour drained from Aiax' face. "How long do we have?"
"A few minutes. There's no way we've got time to set the timer."
Aiax nodded, staring at the bomb, a strange expression in his eyes. "I was not meant to die like this."
Harm looked like he was about to agree, or make some comment about it being a good way to go, when all his features suddenly froze. He turned his head to look at Mac, the wildness gone from his eyes and replaced with a very, very strange light.
"Looks like this is a day for fulfilling prophecies, Mac."
"What?"
"sangue meo, vobis vitam donabo."