Legal Note: Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, Teal'c, Daniel Jackson, General
Hammond, Dr. Fraiser and other characters appearing in the series don't
belong to me. They belong to Gekko, Double Secret, etc. The story does
belong to me. This fiction has been written for then enjoyment of fans and
not for profit or compensation of any kind, nor will any be accepted. You
get the idea.
Author's Note: Please read and review. Comments and suggestions are welcome. Constructive criticism is welcome, as it will improve future writing.
Thanks to Sych77 for offering to Beta for me. It's much appreciated.
~~~
Cheyenne Mountain, Earth
Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, Teal'c and Daniel Jackson filed into the briefing room and sat down around the table. They had just begun talking quietly amongst themselves when General Hammond arrived. He immediately took his seat at the head of the table.
"People, the President agrees with our opinion regarding the technology you discovered on P4X369. He has authorized us to take the necessary actions to ensure that it will not fall into the hands of a system lord. That said, it's time we work up a plan for assaulting the planet. Approach from space is not an option; we don't have enough transports handy to get us there, nor would those we do have be able to land and deploy troops undetected. Any questions, thoughts or suggestions?"
Major Carter spoke up immediately. "Yes, sir. I have a question."
"Carter, I was gonna say that would be a little fast even for you to come up with a solution." O'Neill leaned back in his chair, a small smirk on his face.
"Thanks sir." She rolled her eyes and returned her attention to General Hammond. "I was about to ask if we'd found out who the Goa'uld running the planet happens to be."
"Actually, I haven't received any information on that yet."
"His name is Koltec." Selmak's voice cut through the air and drew everyone's attention.
"Hi, dad."
"Hello, Sam." Jacob Carter smiled at his daughter.
"Jacob, Selmak, it's good to see you both. I'm glad you're here. Please sit." General Hammond indicated a chair next to Major Carter.
"Thank you, general," Selmak replied.
O'Neill gave a little half wave in greeting. "Guys, nice to see you."
Teal'c inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement of their presence. Daniel looked up from a book he'd been studying and then jerked slightly as he recognized them.
"Jacob, Selmak, how long have you been here? I didn't notice you come in."
"We've only just arrived, Daniel." Jacob replied.
"Alright, would you two stop doing that? Am I the only one who finds this split personality thing just a little creepy?" O'Neill looked around the table for agreement, but instead of agreeing, the others simply stared at him. "Hey, come on now. One minute he's Jacob, the next he's Selmak. I keep waiting for his head to start spinning around."
Carter, Daniel and the general had to work to keep themselves from laughing. Not understanding the reference, Teal'c simply raised an eyebrow and continued staring at O'Neill. Jacob shook his head and looked up at the ceiling.
"Okay, back to the subject at hand." General Hammond's voice pulled all eyes to him. "We now know the name of the Goa'uld. Koltec. Doctor Jackson, do you know anything about this one? I've certainly never heard of him."
"The name isn't familiar to me, general. Maybe Selmak knows something about him."
"The Tok'ra do not have much information on Koltec. From what I've been able to determine, he is only a minor Goa'uld. Not close to being a system lord. However, rumor has it that Hathor was his mother."
"What suggestions do you all have for making a successful assault with minimal casualties? Politically, we can't afford a bloodbath, regardless of the danger we might be in. I'll give you a few minutes to think, but then I need some ideas."
General Hammond sat at the conference room table, unconsciously tapping his fingers on the surface. He glanced from one face to another, trying to get a measure of the others who sat with him. Colonel O'Neill stared intently at a yo-yo he was playing with. Major Carter was leaning forward on the table, chin resting on her hands and staring at the wall. Jacob Carter/Selmak sat almost unnaturally still. They'd come together in order to plan the assault on P4X369, but so far they'd only managed to agree that it was unlikely they would be able to get a foothold on the planet without experiencing heavy casualties. He stopped his fingers and broke the silence.
"Colonel O'Neill, would you please stop playing with that yo-yo?"
"But sir, I was about to walk the dog!" The yo-yo had stopped going up and down and was now hanging at the end of its string.
"Colonel!"
"Yes, sir." O'Neill rolled up the string and placed the yo-yo on the table.
"Has anyone come up with any idea that we can evaluate?" General Hammond scanned the faces around him.
Colonel O'Neill put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. He stared at the ceiling for a few seconds then replied.
"Oh, for crying out loud, general. Why don't we just frag them? Throw a bunch of grenades through and then go through ourselves."
"Colonel, the kill radius on grenades is great enough that we'd be cutting our own people to pieces if we used a mass grenade attack. You know that."
"Not necessarily, sir." Major Carter spoke up. "I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. I mean, just think about it. What is one of the primary things we've taken for granted in wormhole physics?" Her question was greeted by blank stares. "Okay, let me draw it for you."
Major Carter got up and walked to the whiteboard. She picked up an erasable marker and began to draw. "Okay, we're here. This is our Stargate." She drew a circle on the near edge of the board. "This is our destination." She drew another circle at the far edge of the board. "And this is the wormhole." She drew two parallel lines between the two circles. "When we open a wormhole, we go from point A to point B." She drew and arrow indicating the direction of travel. "We know that nothing physical can come back from point B to point A when the wormhole was established with point A as the origin." She paused and looked around the room with a big smile, waiting for the knowing nods to come. They didn't.
"Don't you see? The Colonel is right. We can throw grenades through the gate from our side. We can saturate the area and none of the fragments will come back through the gate. If we throw several volleys of grenades through, we should have a good shot at being able to get our forces on the ground with no initial casualties." This time nods of agreement met her eyes as she looked around the room.
"I did not realize you knew that much about wormhole physics, O'Neill," Teal'c commented.
"Me either," O'Neill mumbled under his breath before giving everyone a very large self-satisfied smile.
"Yeah, who woulda thunk it," Carter added.
"Okay. I think we've got our plan. Tomorrow we'll put it into action. You're dismissed." General Hammond sat in his chair and watched as the others quickly left the room.
~~~
Jacob/Selmak caught up with the members of SG-1 in the hall on the way to the mess hall.
"Sam?" Jacob asked questioningly.
At the sound of Jacob's voice, they all stopped and turned toward him.
"Yes?"
"I'd heard you were badly injured on your last mission. My duties kept me from checking in on you until now. I guess the reports I received were wrong."
"Not exactly." Carter looked uncomfortable and looked at the floor.
"Jacob, Sam was injured," Daniel interjected. He went on to explain the nature of her injuries.
"Then how do you explain this miraculous recovery? Regardless of how capable I believe Dr. Fraiser to be, I know there's no way she could have done what was necessary to heal such injuries this well."
"That's true, dad, but the Asgard could and did."
"That's extremely unusual for the Asgard to take such a position as to intervene in a situation like this. It could indicate a significant change in their political policy."
"I wouldn't bet on that, dad."
"Jacob, like I've been telling everyone else, Thor has a thing for Carter and the whole battle hardened, burned, bad attitude thing just wasn't working for him so he."
"Colonel," Carter interrupted him sharply. She glared at him, holding his gaze until he looked away.
"Okay, okay. Sheesh, try to have a little fun and get into trouble." He paused a moment and then looked at Jacob. "Actually, I asked Thor about that myself. He and Heimdall both felt the Asgard people owed Carter and SG-1 a great debt. Those were their words. So, they spirited her off to their ship while she was asleep and fixed her up good as new. I'm not even sure she noticed until we met in the control room that morning when SG-7 returned early from a mission."
"Indeed, we were all greatly surprised when she appeared and retained no markings from her injuries," Teal'c added.
What O'Neill didn't mention was that there had been politically motivated reasons behind the healing as well. Only himself, Major Carter and General Hammond, knew those reasons. SG-1 was not only the first and best of the SG teams; its members were widely respected for things they accomplished. Often that led to requests for one or more of them to participate in negotiations between parties on a planet or to act as liaison between earth and the government on another planet. The same strong, dependable Carter everyone had come to know and rely on was badly needed. The Asgard had feared that not reversing the physical change might somehow create unforeseen emotional or psychological changes that had not yet manifested.
"Well, then why didn't they take care of it immediately instead of waiting so long? The last I heard, she'd been recovering for nearly a month. If the Asgard were going to intervene, why'd they wait so long?"
"You, Mr. Tok'ra, who always wants us to understand when something your people could do right away isn't done, have the audacity to ask that question?" O'Neill paused, letting the intentionally needling response work for a while.
"Those are completely different situations."
"Yeah, you keep convincing yourself of that, Jacob." O'Neill held the older man's eyes for a moment before continuing. "I asked Thor the same question, and." he was interrupted by Carter.
"Dad, the truth is that the Asgard weren't here right when I was brought back through the gate. When Thor heard that I'd been injured, he and Heimdall came to assess my condition, only they found that I wasn't dealing with the situation very well. Thor was in favor of just picking me up and making the repairs, but Heimdall refused to perform the operation on me until I'd learned to accept the adversity life had dealt me. He believed it to be psychologically significant. They hung around until they both agreed I'd lived and learned and that I was ready to move on. Next thing you know, I get up in the morning, get ready and go to the control room and everyone comments on how there's been a miracle." Like Colonel O'Neill, she left out the facts that she'd noticed the change and that the Colonel had visited her quarters that morning and also become aware of the change before the alarm had been sounded.
~~~
"So, Teal'c you didn't have anything to say about our plan for getting through the Stargate."
"Many Jaffa will die, O'Neill. It is likely that some of them would support our cause, given a chance to do so." Teal'c returned to checking his gear to be sure he had everything he needed.
"So, you don't think we should use the grenades to soften up their defenses?"
"I did not say that. I merely pointed out that many Jaffa will die."
"Do you have any suggestions that might prove as effective?"
"I do not."
O'Neill flipped back the Velcro cover on his watch and checked the time. "Fifteen minutes until we start the assault."
"Is it not unusual that Major Carter, Daniel Jackson and the other teams are not here yet?" The sound of rapidly moving boots on the cement floor drew his attention.
"Looks like the Major decided to join us after all." O'Neill smiled at Teal'c then gave the Carter a nod in greeting. "Major."
"Sorry sir, but I thought of something on my way here. We really don't have any idea how strong a contingent of Jaffa we'll be meeting. It might be thirty or forty and it might be more. I stopped off at the general's office to request double the usual amount of ammunition for everyone. The general is arranging it now."
"Good thinking, Carter. Say, you don't know where Daniel is, do you?"
"I saw him earlier and he said something about making sure he had several batteries for his digital camcorder in case he got the opportunity to record something." As she spoke, Daniel walked through the doorway.
"Am I late?"
"No, Daniel, you're not late. I'd still like to have people here at least half an hour before going through the gate when the other side is going to be the equivalent of a hot LZ."
The sound of marching feet drew everyone's attention as the Marines from SG- 3, SG-5 and SG-16 arrived in the gateroom.
"Squad, halt!" Lieutenant Colonel Johnson, the senior Marine, called out loudly. "Right face! When the command to fall out is given you will assemble in your respective teams and await further orders. Is that understood?"
An immediate collective response of "Yes, Sir!" came from the Marines.
"Fall out." Lieutenant Colonel Johnson turned away from his men and strode toward O'Neill. The others broke up into their teams and began to talk and joke quietly amongst themselves.
"Sir, the Marines are assembled and ready to embark." He paused a moment then continued. "We'd have been here sooner, but we received an order from Generall Hammond to stop by the armory to draw extra ammunition, grenades and other supplies for the assault. The airman in charge of handing out gear made the mistake of telling some of the men that they could take what they wanted for the assault." He shook his head and smiled. "Never tell a Marine he can have his pick of the armory in any amount he wants. Thompson found a .50 Cal recoilless and a box of ammunition for it. Simmons picked up a rotary grenade launcher. Jenkins and Hawthorne picked up a pair of SAWs."
"It looks like the Marines took me seriously when I told them to raid the armory," General Hammond said before pointing to a wooden box on a cart that was being pulled by Sgt. Siler. "Colonel O'Neill, you and your team need to draw your extra ammunition now."
"You heard him. Teal'c, Daniel, Carter. Load up." He walked over and looked into the box, then stopped. "Siler, how'd you end up dragging this stuff around?" O'Neill reached in and brought out several magazines for his P-90 and stuck them into his backpack.
"Same way I ended up getting zatted by Teal'c. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, sir."
"Siler?" Carter interrupted.
"Yes, ma'am."
"What's this?" She held up a combat knife in a cordura sheath.
"SOG Midnight Tiger, ma'am."
"Yeah?" She pulled the knife from its sheath and looked at the blackened blade, then reversed her grip on it, checking the balance. "Nice."
"It's definitely you, Carter," O'Neill said as he watcher her test the edge.
"You think?" She sheathed the knife and fastened it to her combat harness.
From the far corner of the room one of the Marines spoke a little too loudly. "Like she'd know what to do with a combat knife anyway." The others around him snickered.
Carter slowly turned her head and fixed the Marine with an icy stare. "Easy, Carter." O'Neill said in a quiet voice and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Belay that bullshit right now Marine!" Lieutenant Colonel Johnson's voice cut sharply through the room.
Teal'c's calm voice followed it. "I can assure you that Major Carter is indeed proficient with an edged weapon."
General Hammond spoke up. "People, we are a few minutes from launching our assault. I expect you to focus on that, not on what you think someone else can or can't do." He gazed at the group of Marines for a moment. "Or if you think you or someone else has been insulted." This time he looked at SG-1. Carter, O'Neill and Teal'c all nodded. Daniel Jackson, as usual was reading a book and not listening.
"Of course general. Focus is not a problem for us, right guys? We're always focused. In fact."
"Colonel!"
O'Neill waved a hand in surrender. "Yes, sir."
"Okay, clear the ramp. Begin dialing. As soon as the event horizon stabilizes, I want people in place to begin the saturation."
When the wormhole was stabilized, three of the Marines moved forward and took up positions in close to the event horizon. Each one had half a dozen grenades attached to a combat harness. Four SF's carrying M-16s with M203 grenade launchers on them moved into place behind the Marines on the ramp.
"Begin." General Hammond's voice carried easily through the quiet room. The rest of you get ready to go through the gate as soon as we're done softening up the defenses.
The Marines began taking grenades from their harnesses, pulling the pins and lobbing them through the gate.
Please don't let them drop one. The thought came unbidden to General Hammond's mind as he watched the Marines pitching the grenades. Moments later, the Marines moved down the ramp and the SF's came forward. The first rank of 3 knelt and the second rank stood. At a nod from the general, they emptied their launchers through the gate, knowing that their 40mm grenades would reach out further than those that were thrown by the Marines.
"Okay people, move out and good luck."
This was one time O'Neill didn't mind not being the first group through the gate. He watched as SG-3 disappeared and SG-5 was preparing to go through. SG-16 was close behind them.
"Okay, just like we planned it. Teal'c and I move left. Carter, you and Daniel go right. As soon as we're clear of the steps, we hit the ground and evaluate the situation. Keep your interval. Move."
SG-1 started up the ramp a few seconds behind SG-16. A moment later, they entered the wormhole.
~~~
P4X369
O'Neill hit the ground and made a quick visual survey of the area. The bodies of twenty or more Jaffa littered the clearing. Two Marines lay unmoving about thirty feet in front of him. One was staring up at the sky. The other was face down, his rifle several feet away. The only others in the clearing were SG-1. There was sporadic automatic weapons fire coming from in the trees ahead of them. Occasionally the sound of a zat or a staff could also be heard.
"Johnson, report," O'Neill said quietly into his microphone.
"We've moved on from the clearing, sir. Initially we met resistance. A heavy weapon station that somehow survived the grenades killed Ellis. Wang tried to pull him back and was hit too. We took it out and are hunting down any stragglers we can find out here."
"We'll be moving out shortly."
"Understood,sir."
O'Neill heard footsteps behind him and rolled onto his back, bringing his P- 90 to bear.
"Easy sir," an SF named Anderson said. "General Hammond sent us through to hold the gate."
O'Neill could see what looked like a dozen SFs standing around and marveling at their surroundings.
"Well, spread out and try to not be easy targets then."
"Yes, sir." Anderson quickly got his men away from the gate and into positions around the edge of the clearing.
"Colonel." Major Carter's voice drew his attention. "Switch to the alternate channel now. You're going to want to hear this." O'Neill twisted the knob on his radio to channel four. "This is O'Neill. Go ahead."
~~~~
What did you think? Please review and let me know. The third chapter is currently in development.
Author's Note: Please read and review. Comments and suggestions are welcome. Constructive criticism is welcome, as it will improve future writing.
Thanks to Sych77 for offering to Beta for me. It's much appreciated.
~~~
Cheyenne Mountain, Earth
Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, Teal'c and Daniel Jackson filed into the briefing room and sat down around the table. They had just begun talking quietly amongst themselves when General Hammond arrived. He immediately took his seat at the head of the table.
"People, the President agrees with our opinion regarding the technology you discovered on P4X369. He has authorized us to take the necessary actions to ensure that it will not fall into the hands of a system lord. That said, it's time we work up a plan for assaulting the planet. Approach from space is not an option; we don't have enough transports handy to get us there, nor would those we do have be able to land and deploy troops undetected. Any questions, thoughts or suggestions?"
Major Carter spoke up immediately. "Yes, sir. I have a question."
"Carter, I was gonna say that would be a little fast even for you to come up with a solution." O'Neill leaned back in his chair, a small smirk on his face.
"Thanks sir." She rolled her eyes and returned her attention to General Hammond. "I was about to ask if we'd found out who the Goa'uld running the planet happens to be."
"Actually, I haven't received any information on that yet."
"His name is Koltec." Selmak's voice cut through the air and drew everyone's attention.
"Hi, dad."
"Hello, Sam." Jacob Carter smiled at his daughter.
"Jacob, Selmak, it's good to see you both. I'm glad you're here. Please sit." General Hammond indicated a chair next to Major Carter.
"Thank you, general," Selmak replied.
O'Neill gave a little half wave in greeting. "Guys, nice to see you."
Teal'c inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement of their presence. Daniel looked up from a book he'd been studying and then jerked slightly as he recognized them.
"Jacob, Selmak, how long have you been here? I didn't notice you come in."
"We've only just arrived, Daniel." Jacob replied.
"Alright, would you two stop doing that? Am I the only one who finds this split personality thing just a little creepy?" O'Neill looked around the table for agreement, but instead of agreeing, the others simply stared at him. "Hey, come on now. One minute he's Jacob, the next he's Selmak. I keep waiting for his head to start spinning around."
Carter, Daniel and the general had to work to keep themselves from laughing. Not understanding the reference, Teal'c simply raised an eyebrow and continued staring at O'Neill. Jacob shook his head and looked up at the ceiling.
"Okay, back to the subject at hand." General Hammond's voice pulled all eyes to him. "We now know the name of the Goa'uld. Koltec. Doctor Jackson, do you know anything about this one? I've certainly never heard of him."
"The name isn't familiar to me, general. Maybe Selmak knows something about him."
"The Tok'ra do not have much information on Koltec. From what I've been able to determine, he is only a minor Goa'uld. Not close to being a system lord. However, rumor has it that Hathor was his mother."
"What suggestions do you all have for making a successful assault with minimal casualties? Politically, we can't afford a bloodbath, regardless of the danger we might be in. I'll give you a few minutes to think, but then I need some ideas."
General Hammond sat at the conference room table, unconsciously tapping his fingers on the surface. He glanced from one face to another, trying to get a measure of the others who sat with him. Colonel O'Neill stared intently at a yo-yo he was playing with. Major Carter was leaning forward on the table, chin resting on her hands and staring at the wall. Jacob Carter/Selmak sat almost unnaturally still. They'd come together in order to plan the assault on P4X369, but so far they'd only managed to agree that it was unlikely they would be able to get a foothold on the planet without experiencing heavy casualties. He stopped his fingers and broke the silence.
"Colonel O'Neill, would you please stop playing with that yo-yo?"
"But sir, I was about to walk the dog!" The yo-yo had stopped going up and down and was now hanging at the end of its string.
"Colonel!"
"Yes, sir." O'Neill rolled up the string and placed the yo-yo on the table.
"Has anyone come up with any idea that we can evaluate?" General Hammond scanned the faces around him.
Colonel O'Neill put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. He stared at the ceiling for a few seconds then replied.
"Oh, for crying out loud, general. Why don't we just frag them? Throw a bunch of grenades through and then go through ourselves."
"Colonel, the kill radius on grenades is great enough that we'd be cutting our own people to pieces if we used a mass grenade attack. You know that."
"Not necessarily, sir." Major Carter spoke up. "I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. I mean, just think about it. What is one of the primary things we've taken for granted in wormhole physics?" Her question was greeted by blank stares. "Okay, let me draw it for you."
Major Carter got up and walked to the whiteboard. She picked up an erasable marker and began to draw. "Okay, we're here. This is our Stargate." She drew a circle on the near edge of the board. "This is our destination." She drew another circle at the far edge of the board. "And this is the wormhole." She drew two parallel lines between the two circles. "When we open a wormhole, we go from point A to point B." She drew and arrow indicating the direction of travel. "We know that nothing physical can come back from point B to point A when the wormhole was established with point A as the origin." She paused and looked around the room with a big smile, waiting for the knowing nods to come. They didn't.
"Don't you see? The Colonel is right. We can throw grenades through the gate from our side. We can saturate the area and none of the fragments will come back through the gate. If we throw several volleys of grenades through, we should have a good shot at being able to get our forces on the ground with no initial casualties." This time nods of agreement met her eyes as she looked around the room.
"I did not realize you knew that much about wormhole physics, O'Neill," Teal'c commented.
"Me either," O'Neill mumbled under his breath before giving everyone a very large self-satisfied smile.
"Yeah, who woulda thunk it," Carter added.
"Okay. I think we've got our plan. Tomorrow we'll put it into action. You're dismissed." General Hammond sat in his chair and watched as the others quickly left the room.
~~~
Jacob/Selmak caught up with the members of SG-1 in the hall on the way to the mess hall.
"Sam?" Jacob asked questioningly.
At the sound of Jacob's voice, they all stopped and turned toward him.
"Yes?"
"I'd heard you were badly injured on your last mission. My duties kept me from checking in on you until now. I guess the reports I received were wrong."
"Not exactly." Carter looked uncomfortable and looked at the floor.
"Jacob, Sam was injured," Daniel interjected. He went on to explain the nature of her injuries.
"Then how do you explain this miraculous recovery? Regardless of how capable I believe Dr. Fraiser to be, I know there's no way she could have done what was necessary to heal such injuries this well."
"That's true, dad, but the Asgard could and did."
"That's extremely unusual for the Asgard to take such a position as to intervene in a situation like this. It could indicate a significant change in their political policy."
"I wouldn't bet on that, dad."
"Jacob, like I've been telling everyone else, Thor has a thing for Carter and the whole battle hardened, burned, bad attitude thing just wasn't working for him so he."
"Colonel," Carter interrupted him sharply. She glared at him, holding his gaze until he looked away.
"Okay, okay. Sheesh, try to have a little fun and get into trouble." He paused a moment and then looked at Jacob. "Actually, I asked Thor about that myself. He and Heimdall both felt the Asgard people owed Carter and SG-1 a great debt. Those were their words. So, they spirited her off to their ship while she was asleep and fixed her up good as new. I'm not even sure she noticed until we met in the control room that morning when SG-7 returned early from a mission."
"Indeed, we were all greatly surprised when she appeared and retained no markings from her injuries," Teal'c added.
What O'Neill didn't mention was that there had been politically motivated reasons behind the healing as well. Only himself, Major Carter and General Hammond, knew those reasons. SG-1 was not only the first and best of the SG teams; its members were widely respected for things they accomplished. Often that led to requests for one or more of them to participate in negotiations between parties on a planet or to act as liaison between earth and the government on another planet. The same strong, dependable Carter everyone had come to know and rely on was badly needed. The Asgard had feared that not reversing the physical change might somehow create unforeseen emotional or psychological changes that had not yet manifested.
"Well, then why didn't they take care of it immediately instead of waiting so long? The last I heard, she'd been recovering for nearly a month. If the Asgard were going to intervene, why'd they wait so long?"
"You, Mr. Tok'ra, who always wants us to understand when something your people could do right away isn't done, have the audacity to ask that question?" O'Neill paused, letting the intentionally needling response work for a while.
"Those are completely different situations."
"Yeah, you keep convincing yourself of that, Jacob." O'Neill held the older man's eyes for a moment before continuing. "I asked Thor the same question, and." he was interrupted by Carter.
"Dad, the truth is that the Asgard weren't here right when I was brought back through the gate. When Thor heard that I'd been injured, he and Heimdall came to assess my condition, only they found that I wasn't dealing with the situation very well. Thor was in favor of just picking me up and making the repairs, but Heimdall refused to perform the operation on me until I'd learned to accept the adversity life had dealt me. He believed it to be psychologically significant. They hung around until they both agreed I'd lived and learned and that I was ready to move on. Next thing you know, I get up in the morning, get ready and go to the control room and everyone comments on how there's been a miracle." Like Colonel O'Neill, she left out the facts that she'd noticed the change and that the Colonel had visited her quarters that morning and also become aware of the change before the alarm had been sounded.
~~~
"So, Teal'c you didn't have anything to say about our plan for getting through the Stargate."
"Many Jaffa will die, O'Neill. It is likely that some of them would support our cause, given a chance to do so." Teal'c returned to checking his gear to be sure he had everything he needed.
"So, you don't think we should use the grenades to soften up their defenses?"
"I did not say that. I merely pointed out that many Jaffa will die."
"Do you have any suggestions that might prove as effective?"
"I do not."
O'Neill flipped back the Velcro cover on his watch and checked the time. "Fifteen minutes until we start the assault."
"Is it not unusual that Major Carter, Daniel Jackson and the other teams are not here yet?" The sound of rapidly moving boots on the cement floor drew his attention.
"Looks like the Major decided to join us after all." O'Neill smiled at Teal'c then gave the Carter a nod in greeting. "Major."
"Sorry sir, but I thought of something on my way here. We really don't have any idea how strong a contingent of Jaffa we'll be meeting. It might be thirty or forty and it might be more. I stopped off at the general's office to request double the usual amount of ammunition for everyone. The general is arranging it now."
"Good thinking, Carter. Say, you don't know where Daniel is, do you?"
"I saw him earlier and he said something about making sure he had several batteries for his digital camcorder in case he got the opportunity to record something." As she spoke, Daniel walked through the doorway.
"Am I late?"
"No, Daniel, you're not late. I'd still like to have people here at least half an hour before going through the gate when the other side is going to be the equivalent of a hot LZ."
The sound of marching feet drew everyone's attention as the Marines from SG- 3, SG-5 and SG-16 arrived in the gateroom.
"Squad, halt!" Lieutenant Colonel Johnson, the senior Marine, called out loudly. "Right face! When the command to fall out is given you will assemble in your respective teams and await further orders. Is that understood?"
An immediate collective response of "Yes, Sir!" came from the Marines.
"Fall out." Lieutenant Colonel Johnson turned away from his men and strode toward O'Neill. The others broke up into their teams and began to talk and joke quietly amongst themselves.
"Sir, the Marines are assembled and ready to embark." He paused a moment then continued. "We'd have been here sooner, but we received an order from Generall Hammond to stop by the armory to draw extra ammunition, grenades and other supplies for the assault. The airman in charge of handing out gear made the mistake of telling some of the men that they could take what they wanted for the assault." He shook his head and smiled. "Never tell a Marine he can have his pick of the armory in any amount he wants. Thompson found a .50 Cal recoilless and a box of ammunition for it. Simmons picked up a rotary grenade launcher. Jenkins and Hawthorne picked up a pair of SAWs."
"It looks like the Marines took me seriously when I told them to raid the armory," General Hammond said before pointing to a wooden box on a cart that was being pulled by Sgt. Siler. "Colonel O'Neill, you and your team need to draw your extra ammunition now."
"You heard him. Teal'c, Daniel, Carter. Load up." He walked over and looked into the box, then stopped. "Siler, how'd you end up dragging this stuff around?" O'Neill reached in and brought out several magazines for his P-90 and stuck them into his backpack.
"Same way I ended up getting zatted by Teal'c. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, sir."
"Siler?" Carter interrupted.
"Yes, ma'am."
"What's this?" She held up a combat knife in a cordura sheath.
"SOG Midnight Tiger, ma'am."
"Yeah?" She pulled the knife from its sheath and looked at the blackened blade, then reversed her grip on it, checking the balance. "Nice."
"It's definitely you, Carter," O'Neill said as he watcher her test the edge.
"You think?" She sheathed the knife and fastened it to her combat harness.
From the far corner of the room one of the Marines spoke a little too loudly. "Like she'd know what to do with a combat knife anyway." The others around him snickered.
Carter slowly turned her head and fixed the Marine with an icy stare. "Easy, Carter." O'Neill said in a quiet voice and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Belay that bullshit right now Marine!" Lieutenant Colonel Johnson's voice cut sharply through the room.
Teal'c's calm voice followed it. "I can assure you that Major Carter is indeed proficient with an edged weapon."
General Hammond spoke up. "People, we are a few minutes from launching our assault. I expect you to focus on that, not on what you think someone else can or can't do." He gazed at the group of Marines for a moment. "Or if you think you or someone else has been insulted." This time he looked at SG-1. Carter, O'Neill and Teal'c all nodded. Daniel Jackson, as usual was reading a book and not listening.
"Of course general. Focus is not a problem for us, right guys? We're always focused. In fact."
"Colonel!"
O'Neill waved a hand in surrender. "Yes, sir."
"Okay, clear the ramp. Begin dialing. As soon as the event horizon stabilizes, I want people in place to begin the saturation."
When the wormhole was stabilized, three of the Marines moved forward and took up positions in close to the event horizon. Each one had half a dozen grenades attached to a combat harness. Four SF's carrying M-16s with M203 grenade launchers on them moved into place behind the Marines on the ramp.
"Begin." General Hammond's voice carried easily through the quiet room. The rest of you get ready to go through the gate as soon as we're done softening up the defenses.
The Marines began taking grenades from their harnesses, pulling the pins and lobbing them through the gate.
Please don't let them drop one. The thought came unbidden to General Hammond's mind as he watched the Marines pitching the grenades. Moments later, the Marines moved down the ramp and the SF's came forward. The first rank of 3 knelt and the second rank stood. At a nod from the general, they emptied their launchers through the gate, knowing that their 40mm grenades would reach out further than those that were thrown by the Marines.
"Okay people, move out and good luck."
This was one time O'Neill didn't mind not being the first group through the gate. He watched as SG-3 disappeared and SG-5 was preparing to go through. SG-16 was close behind them.
"Okay, just like we planned it. Teal'c and I move left. Carter, you and Daniel go right. As soon as we're clear of the steps, we hit the ground and evaluate the situation. Keep your interval. Move."
SG-1 started up the ramp a few seconds behind SG-16. A moment later, they entered the wormhole.
~~~
P4X369
O'Neill hit the ground and made a quick visual survey of the area. The bodies of twenty or more Jaffa littered the clearing. Two Marines lay unmoving about thirty feet in front of him. One was staring up at the sky. The other was face down, his rifle several feet away. The only others in the clearing were SG-1. There was sporadic automatic weapons fire coming from in the trees ahead of them. Occasionally the sound of a zat or a staff could also be heard.
"Johnson, report," O'Neill said quietly into his microphone.
"We've moved on from the clearing, sir. Initially we met resistance. A heavy weapon station that somehow survived the grenades killed Ellis. Wang tried to pull him back and was hit too. We took it out and are hunting down any stragglers we can find out here."
"We'll be moving out shortly."
"Understood,sir."
O'Neill heard footsteps behind him and rolled onto his back, bringing his P- 90 to bear.
"Easy sir," an SF named Anderson said. "General Hammond sent us through to hold the gate."
O'Neill could see what looked like a dozen SFs standing around and marveling at their surroundings.
"Well, spread out and try to not be easy targets then."
"Yes, sir." Anderson quickly got his men away from the gate and into positions around the edge of the clearing.
"Colonel." Major Carter's voice drew his attention. "Switch to the alternate channel now. You're going to want to hear this." O'Neill twisted the knob on his radio to channel four. "This is O'Neill. Go ahead."
~~~~
What did you think? Please review and let me know. The third chapter is currently in development.