Anubis vs the Magog
"Andromeda to Teal'c," said Harper on a low-power communications channel. " Do not reply to this transmission. You have two Magog swarmships headed your way at high speed. Looks like someone lit a fire under them, heh."
The Andromeda bridge crew watched the Magog mother ship through a long-range video scan. Andromeda was concealed behind a large asteroid, ans was using her sensor drones to keep an eye on both Magog and Goa'uld ships. The two swarmships rocketed into the Magog launch bay at frightening speed.
"Hey, even I don't fly like THAT," scoffed Beka, frowning at their inept piloting skills.
"You may not have to, today," responded Dylan. "Maybe we'll just get to sit here and watch the fireworks when they... Uh oh..."
"Andromeda to Prometheus Command," said Dylan over the radio. "You have four Goa'uld bombers headed your way. Will you need assistance?"
"Understood, Captain," came Hammond's response. "I think we can handle ourselves just fine, thanks. Please be careful up there."
"Will do. Andromeda out," said Dylan.
"Hey boss, look at this," said Harper, pointing to the viewscreen. "Looks like we're gonna get our fireworks after all."
The Magog mother ship was turning toward Anubis's ship. Its gun ports were sliding open. Its energy signature indicated that its massive weapons were charging.
"Yippee kie yay," said Dylan softly.
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"Colonel Ronson, scramble eight X-302s," ordered Hammond. "I want two of them on each one of those Goa'uld bombers. Then you and Major Davis coordinate the attack. I don't want a single one of those bombers to get within firing range of the ground."
"Yes sir!" said Ronson, pressing the alarm stud on the Prometheus' bridge. The SCRAMBLE alarm began blaring in the launch bay and the pilots ran toward their fighters. Major Davis moved to the Situation Room and fired up the tracking monitor. It was mounted in a tabletop in the center of the room and could display three-dimensional holographic projections of friendly and enemy craft positions during combat engagements. It also received information from Andromeda's vast array of sensors and drones, extending its range tremendously. Hammond walked over to study the display. Four red symbols marked "B-1" through "B-4" dropped toward the planet's surface. Suddenly there was a loud roar from somewhere back aft, and eight green symbols, tagged as "X-1" through "X-8" appeared, driving upward through the holographic atmosphere toward the approaching bombers.
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In the Prometheus' sick bay, Daniel Jackson sat at the side of the examination table, holding Trance's hand. Her color was ashen gray and her hand was cold and lifeless. He rubbed it between his hands in a futile gesture of revival, but then he stopped, looking up at the ceiling. When he looked back down at her, his eyes were full of tears. He opened his mouth as if to say something to her, but then closed it again in silence. He softly touched the back of her hand against his cheek, and his tears streamed down her arm.
O'Neill stood at the adjacent exam table trying not to notice what was going on. Displays of raw emotion made him feel helpless, and he didn't like to feel helpless. He needed to feel as though he were in command in every situation, even those where he didn't fully understand the details. As a purely idle gesture to pass the time, obviously with no emotion involved whatsoever, he picked up Rommie's hand and held it in his. Just to be doing something. But then he looked down in surprise. Her hand was warm, with the blood warmth of a healthy living human being, not the metallic chill of a machine. Surprised, he looked at the hand more closely. It was covered in what looked like human flesh, with pores, and tiny wrinkles where the knuckles bent, and finely formed fingernails. He turned it over and looked at the palm. The fingers bent as a human's would have if the hand were held with the palm up. He manipulated the index finger. It seemed to have the normal range of rotation of a human index finger. He looked at her wrist, and then turned over the hand to look at the back of it. He glanced at her face.
She was watching him.
He dropped her hand as though it had turned into a giant hairy spider. Stepping back from the table, he mumbled "I was...I was just...umm..."
"It's all right, Colonel," she said, her voice echoing with heterodyne tones from internal system damage. "I was designed and built by Seamus Harper. He will be pleased that I was not destroyed, and so will Captain Hunt. Thank you for saving me." She smiled at him, a wide, beaming smile of pure gratitude.
That's all it was. Just gratitude because I saved her. I've seen that smile before on other women, but she didn't mean THAT by it. No, I'm sure she didn't.
He backed farther away from the table. "I have to go, umm, do that...other thing. I might be back later." He turned and took a step to leave, then stopped. Turning back, he gave her a big smile and said "I'm glad you didn't die!" Turning to leave, he bashed his head on a support column and then walked out as though nothing had happened.
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The warriors on the hillside poured death and destruction into the ranks of the Jaffa below. Any Jaffa who dared to try firing the large swivel-mounted staff weapon met a sudden end within a few seconds from the barrel of Major Penhall's sniper rifle. The light mortar team, under the direction of Colonel Reynolds laid down a barrage of mortar rounds that left no safe place on the entire battlefield, even behind massive stone columns. The fighters had flanked out so far to the right and left that there was no way a Jaffa could come around or over the hill to attack them from the rear. All in all, it was ending up to be a very bad day for the Jaffa warriors of the Goa'uld Anubis.
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Anubis himself apparently thought he was about to have a bad day. The shield around his Ha'Tak ship fairly crackled with power. The point singularity projectors inside the Magog ship glowed with barely restrained energy. The two ships remained that way for several minutes, neither making an aggressive move, yet neither backing down. Something had to give.
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O'Neill strolled nonchalantly into the Situation Room, the red bump on his head beginning to swell. He looked at the tactical display. "So, what's up?" he asked.
"Coming up on Intercept Point in about two minutes," said Colonel Ronson. "We outnumber them two to one, so they don't stand a chance. Besides, there'll be nothing nothing for them to attack since our teams are returning. The Prometheus will be lifting off in a few minutes. Wait, what's happening?"
The red icons representing the bombers were slowing their approach. They came to a complete stop and then reversed course, leaving the atmosphere and heading back into space. The men standing around the tactical display looked at each other in puzzlement. Hammond grabbed a wall-mounted microphone.
"Prometheus Command to X-302 Leader, all ships return to base," he said. "Prometheus Command to Andromeda. Do you have anything going on up there?"
"Andromeda to Prometheus Command," came the voice of Tyr Anasazi. "We have a tactical stalemate here between the two mother ships. I believe you humans call it a "Mexican standoff." Neither side wants to begin hostilities because the other side is equally matched. But both sides believe they are superior beings, so neither side will back down."
"Well those four Goa'uld bombers are headed back your way," said Hammond, "so maybe you'll get to see a fight in a few minutes."
"I do not think so, General Hammond," said the voice of Teal'c on the radio. "I believe the Al'kesh ships will take up defensive positions around Anubis's ship and wait for instructions. I vacated my position beneath the Magog ship because I knew Anubis would be scanning intensely and would detect the Tel'Tac as soon as I uncloaked. There was no chance for success. Teal'c to Andromeda. Request permission to enter your docking bay."
"Docking bay door opening, Teal'c, welcome aboard," said the voice of Tyr.
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The sounds of activity came from the adjacent Control Room. "Helm, commence liftoff," ordered Colonel Ronson. "Once we're clear of the ground, engage shields. Set a course for the Andromeda, but keep us behind the moon, concealed from the Goa'uld and Magog ships."
Hammond put the microphone back on its wall hook and turned to O'Neill and Davis. "Suggestions?" he asked. There was a long silence.
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Beka watched the view screen. The four bomber ships had returned and were hovering in the area, but nothing else was happening. "So, what do we do now?" she asked. No one on the bridge had any ideas. There was enough firepower out there to destroy the Andromeda several times over, not to mention the thought of Magog larvae beginning to feed on one's tender internal organs.
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O'Neill stood at the tactical display with General Hammond and Major Davis. Major Carter had just come in and learned of the situation, but she had no ideas on how to break the stalemate. O'Neill pulled a pen out of his pocket and waved it back and forth across the holographic emitter, disrupting the display from side to side. Hammond watched with contained exasperation. He knew that the Colonel's mind was working on the problem. Even though O'Neill liked to portray himself as a bumbling fool, he was actually a very intelligent individual with keen insight. The pen moved into the display area and stopped below the icon for Anubis's mother ship. The tip of the pen blocked out one side of the icon, causing the entire icon to flicker and fade. Suddenly O'Neill put the pen back into his pocket and turned to Carter.
"Carter," he began, "Isn't there a way we can throw a rock at that shield?"
"I don't understand, sir," said Carter, beginning to understand but wanting Jack to work it out in his mind.
"Well can't we shoot something at Anubis's shield and make it look like it came from the Magog ship?" he asked. "I'll bet Anubis is on a hair trigger over there, waiting for the Magog to make the first move. We just need to make it look like the Magog got tired of waiting and opened fire."
"I see what you're saying," said Carter. "We don't need Teal'c to fire an actual plasma charge at the shield. All we need to do is get a solid object up to a high enough speed that it impacts on the shield and imparts enough kinetic energy to get the shield to react with a corresponding..."
"Carter!" interrupted O'Neill.
Carter looked around the room, the plan solidifying in her brain. Then she looked back at Jack. "Yes sir," she said. "We can definitely do it."
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"Ready to go, boss," said Seamus. "programmed just like Major Carter asked. Launching drone... now."
A Janus light sensor drone launched from Andromeda's underside and streaked away from the two alien ships. Turning, it rocketed upward for several hundred miles. Then it decelerated and stopped, computing its location from the stars around it. Finally it accelerated heavily for several seconds, burning all its fuel, and then shut down, coasting without power, a dead piece of space junk as far as anyone was concerned.
As the Prometheus slowed to a stop beside the Andromeda, Harper counted down the seconds to impact.
"Four, three, two, one, let the games commence!" he shouted.
The drone impacted the forward shield of Anubis's Ha'Tak mother ship at a speed of around 37,000 miles per hour. It penetrated approximately one foot into the shield, which was attenuated because of the distance from the ship and the angle of impact. The impact caused a cascading eruption of gamma and beta rays, but more importantly it generated photons in the visible spectrum at an angle that made it appear that the Magog ship had fired upon the Goa'uld ship. The Jaffa in the Control Room, desperate to please their Master and protect him, instantly returned fire on the supposed attacker, the Magog mother ship.
Since no one has ever been inside a Magog mother ship and lived to tell the tale, what happened within is purely speculation. But suffice it to say that the appearance was that the Magog ship exploded, when actually it was only a swarm of fighters that were sent out from all possible directions, converging on the Goa'uld mother ship and the Al'kesh bombers. The big ships fired immediately, but against so many attackers their gigantic weapons could only take out one or two of a hundred. The Magog fighters could not get to the Ha'Tak mother ship through its shields, but they did impact on all four Al'kesh bombers, thrusting through their skin and disgorging their disastrous payload within.
Anubis, with the Goa'uld desire for revenge against impertinence, ordered his ship to open fire against the Magog mother ship. The Magog returned fire, but it's commanding officer had made a tactical mistake. He had gotten too close to the Goa'uld ship. Had he remained at a distance of several light seconds the tactical advantage would have been his but he had closed to within half a light second to allow for ease of communications. At that range the Goa'uld energy weapons were more effective than the Magog point singularity projectors. The mistake turned out to be fatal.
Aboard the Andromeda, the command crew watched as the sensor drones relayed images of the battle. The shields on the Goa'uld ship flared, then went dark. The Magog ship was able to fire one more volley, the black holes fired by the PSP ripping holes in Anubis' ship, passing completely through the huge vessel. but doing relatively little damage except to the machinery and personnel unlucky enough to be in the path of the projectiles as they passed through the ship. The Magog warship was not so lucky. One of the blasts from the Ha'Tak's weapons destroyed the systems that contained the antimatter that powered the engines of the ship. Antimatter met matter, and the entire ship exploded, sending hull plating, internal structures and bodies out into space.
There may have been an evil Anubis laugh or two, but they were short-lived. The Al'kesh bombers were infested and with its shields down the Ha'Tak was vulnerable to the swarm ships. Within minutes the warship was bristling with swarm ships and the Jaffa were repelling boarders. The Al'kesh bombers were tumbling totally out of control. One of them started moving erratically, and finally rocketed out into deep space on an ever-accelerating pace, two others began drifting aimlessly and without power, but the fourth, either through chance or deliberate action smashed into Anubis' flagship. Combined with the damage the Ha'Tak had already taken, it was the death blow. The collection of wreckage that had once been the Goa'uld mothership began to fall uncontrolled towards the planet below. Unnoticed by the observers on both the Andromeda and the Prometheus, a small but powerful escape pod shot away from the final explosion and was lost to the sensors.
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AboardAndromeda, the view screen showed the interior of the Prometheus, with happy warriors congratulating each other. Aboard the Prometheus, the several video monitors showed a rather subdued but smilingAndromeda crew, and Teal'c who was as unemotional as ever. Jack O'Neill started it off.
"So, Captain Hunt, what do you say?" he asked. "Is the mission to be declared a success?"
"With the Magog, you never really know," responded Dylan. "You think you've killed them and then they jump right up and stick a bunch of larvae inside you. We lost one of those Goa'uld bombers that may or may not have been going somewhere, and we have a bunch of Magog back on the planet who may or may not be dead. The cleanup in these cases is almost always more important than the actual fighting. But let me ask you this, while we're talking. How's my crew? I haven't heard anything from Rommie or Trance since the beginning of the ground battle. Are they okay?"
O'Neill looked down at the floor. For a long time. Then he took a deep breath, cleared his throat, and looked back into the camera. "Captain Hunt, I regret to inform you that Trance Gemini was killed in the battle. We did everything we could do to save her, but she was very badly injured, so in the end, she died. Rommie was badly injured also but I believe she can be healed. I mean...repaired. Anyway, I'm sorry to be the one to bring you the bad news."
Dylan looked into the camera, smiling. "So Trance got killed again, eh? I don't know why she doesn't stop doing that. But I'm glad to hear Rommie is still around. We almost lost her a couple of times. Let us know when you're headed home and we'll follow you back to Earth. Andromeda out."
The video faded to black on the view screen as O'Neill turned to Carter. "I've seen some weird alien races around, but this one pushes the limits," he said. "I thought that guy Hunt was okay, but now he just seems like an arrogant jerk. He doesn't seem to care when his own people lose their lives. That's not the mark of a good leader."
"Colonel," said General Hammond, "I appreciate your concern for casualties, but we can't pass judgment on alien races. We know the Jaffa kill each other all the time, yet we value Teal'c as a member of our team. Captain Hunt helped to take out Anubis. Shall we condemn him just because he doesn't show the same amount of grief that we would on the death of a crew member? I think not. Now let's put this behind us."
General Hammond turned to Colonel Ronson. "Colonel, take us home."
"Aye aye, sir," responded Ronson. "All hands prepare for hyperspace operations. Helm, compute hyperspace entry coordinates, best course for Earth."
Forty five minutes later the Prometheus entered hyperspace and the Andromeda,once more securely attached to the Prometheus,entered right behind it. Earth was dead ahead.