AU Astronomical Unit, the mean distance between the Earth and the Sun.
It is a derived constant and used to indicate distances within a solar system, or approximately 150-million kilometres, give or take a few hundred thousand…

Inbound, P4X-639

The Ang Tae rocked slightly as it left Andromeda's hanger deck and started its run towards P4X-639. Rommie eased the throttle back, sending the squat craft out into the blackness of space.

Dylan typed a few commands into his console, "Ok people, it's silent running from here on in: Andromeda will be operating on just her passive sensors, but she did pick up a Ha'tek in orbit of the planet. I've ordered Beka to hide in the asteroid belt 2-AU's from here, and if we don't return in 72 hours, to destroy everything within a 5km radius of the time machine with a tactical missile strike."

O'Neill raised an eyebrow, "How long would that take?"

Rommie turned to face the Colonel, "Seconds."

P4X-639, 2 hours later

The Ang Tae kicked up clouds of dirt as it made its way silently along the valley floor, keeping well below the skyline as the recon-team made their way towards the Stargate.

Rommie brought the machine to a halt behind a large boulder and set it down on the rocky ground, "Ok, this is as far as we can go without running the risk of being detected. I suggest we take the skimmers from here on in until we are in a position to observe the encampment from."

Dylan nodded, "Ok: Tyr, brake out the skimmers and grab the observation gear." He turned to the passenger compartment, "We'll need some people to stay behind and guard the ship till we get back."

O'Neill nodded, "Ferretti, Hick's, that means your teams: make sure we have something to come back to. This is our only ticket off-planet, so don't lose it."

Major Ferretti smiled, "Have I ever let you down sir?"

O'Neill shook his head, "Don't even think of starting now Lou: apart from me, you're the only survivor of the original Abydos mission."

Dylan opened the side hatch, putting his tinted glasses on, "Man it's hot!"

Carter smiled, pulling her hat down over her forehead, "Yeah, but it's a dry heat."

Tyr opened the rear cargo hatch and started up the first of the two jeep-like hovercrafts, and drove it out to beside the crew hatch.

O'Neill rubbed his hands, "Cool! When do I get to have a go driving one of those?"

There was a loud roar from the cargo bay as Rommie floored the accelerator on the second skimmer and it shot out of the cargo hatch at high speed, before skidding to a halt.

Dylan smiled at O'Neill, "You don't."

Rommie crawled the last few meters to the edge of the ridge so as not to skyline herself against the setting sun. She looked down at the valley beyond, "Ok, I see Jaffa, at least battalion strength, with heavy weapons, looks like plasma-cannons, set up to cover the Stargate and what I presume is the Time-machine its self. There are a dozen parked Death Gliders at the far end of the compound, next to what looks like some sort of command tent."

"Good work Rommie." Dylan's voice came over the encrypted coms system, "Can you tell if they've gotten the machine working yet?"

Rommie zoomed in her eyes on the center of the compound, "I can't tell from here: I'd have to get closer to be sure."

"I would not recommend that you proceed any closer then you already have." Teal'c's voice cut in, "Anubis has accesses to advanced technology: it is possible that his Jaffa have detection equipment that would be able to detect your approach."

"I agree. So, what are our options?" Dylan asked.

"Direct orbital strike, take the entire place out from a few light-seconds out and sift through thru debris." Tyr suggested.

"I don't want to let them know just what they're dealing with right now, so I'd rather avoided using Andromeda." Dylan replied, rolling over onto his back.

"What about those, what do you call them? Planetary Warfare Robot's?" Jones suggested, "Couldn't we use one of them?"

"That would work Dylan: they were most effective back on P5X-729." Rommie pointed out as she made her way back down the hill, "And you know how much the twins like to get out and play every now and then."

"I'm sure the boys would enjoy themselves, but it's still a little to over the top for this phase of the mission: we'll keep Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum in reserve till later." Dylan sighed, "We have to have something with us. Rommie, what rounds do we have for the 150-mm mass-driver on the Ang Tae?"

Rommie came to a halt next to her captain, "Armour piecing, incendiary, High-ex and fragmentation, same as normal." She grinned, "Just what we need in fact."

To Be Continued…