Stargate Disclosure

by pedmore1202

Being prepared for the Disclosure conference results in General Hammond and Major Davis getting a better outcome than they did in the original episode. Plus a focused and logical involvement of the British and French results in a far different Stargate Universe soon afterwards. Chapter 1 has been re-written (17/4/20)

8. Full Circle Part 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate, Stargate SG-1 or anything associated with it, as much as I would like to. There will be mentions of real life people thoughout this story, mainly high ranking military members or politicians. Any views or comments made by them in this story do not represent those people's views or comments in real life. There may be several ship designs mentioned or shown later in the story, and they are used with the kind permission of the creator. If there is an image or description that is owned by someone and I haven't credited it, can you please let me know so I can contact the creator to request permission.

A/N: So this is just the first half of the Full Circle episode. I've slowly been working on this for the past few months, together with fleshing out some background (such as working out the various SG-Teams and who is on them.

For that, the first 20 (SG-1 to SG-20) are the standard US SG-Teams we see in the show. SG-21 is the Russian Team, SG-22 & -23 are the British Teams, and SG-24, -25 & -26 are the French Teams. That is by no means an exhaustive list, and I've got ideas for further teams as well.

I've also been planning out Season 7 and the various events that occur during it. That is likely going to be a combination of timeline/report style writing and episodic writing.

Tuesday 25th February 2003

Abydonian Camp, Abydos

Skaara ran through the large camp, dodging out of the way of various other members, acknowledging their greetings but remaining focused on his destination, one of the larger tents, used as a meeting place for the village elders. Rumours had been rife across the village for the past few hours, rumours about a coming threat to Abydos by Anubis.

Reaching his destination, he was bidden to enter, and sat before the semi-circle of elders.

"You know why you are here Skaara?"

At this, Skaara's heart skipped a beat. The words she had spoken, together with her tone of voice did more to confirm to him the truth of the rumours, than anything else could have. Still, almost desperately hoping it wasn't, he felt he had to confirm.

"Then it is true? Anubis is coming?"

"There's not much time. Kasuf will lead the women and children to the Caves of Kalima where they will be safe."

"No one will be safe anywhere. How can we even hope to defend ourselves against a Goa'uld as powerful as Anubis? His men will cut through our guards like they were nothing."

"Our lives are meaningless, if we do not stop him from finding what he seeks here." The Elder countered, "You must rally all those willing to fight."

"All those willing to die." Skaara started to say, before he was cut off by an unexpected voice, one he had not heard in several years, coming from a darkened corner of the tent.

"All those who must not fail."

In shock, Skaara and the Elders turned to look at the corner, and could now make out a male figure, dressed in Abydonian robes, with his back to them, before slowly turning around to face them.

"Danyel?"

Daniel smiled slightly as he looked at his good-brother. The years since his release from Klorel had been good to him, and even though Daniel could tell he carried some sadness within him due to the death of Sha're, Skaara appeared to be thriving as a leader to his people.

"You won't be fighting alone Skaara."

Wednesday 26th February 2003

SGC Elevator, Level 19

Colonel O'Neill sighed slightly as he waited for the elevator, having just left Carter's lab. It had been a long week, what with the arrival of the British and French contingents. As it was almost all of the SGC's missions had been put on hold where possible, freeing up the SG-Teams to help train the, in his opinion, excessively large contributions from those countries. He was conflicted about their arrival. On the one hand, it was good to see other countries begin to pull their weight in this fight, disregarding the fact that they had only been informed about a month earlier, as prior to that, the Russian's had only put in a token effort of a single 4-man SG-Team, content to sit back and reap the rewards earned with American blood. On the other hand, this could be the initial attempt of other countries to muscle in on the SGC, which may eventually evolve into a 5-way pissing match over the various technologies developed and who should have control over them.

Pushing that thought out of his head as soon as it arrived, he wasn't paid enough to worry about that problem at the moment, he turned his thoughts towards the planned training exercises he would be co-ordinating over the next few days. Luckily, the French contingent had been shipped out to the Beta Site training facility yesterday, so rather than having to organise exercises for almost 50 new personnel, in 5 teams, he only had to worry about 16 men, in 2 teams. Also, due to the far reduced numbers, the majority of SG-Teams that had had their deployments cancelled or delayed, were now starting to get back out there. Several had already left over the past day or so, and several more were scheduled to leave for diplomatic missions soon. Jack was just annoyed that SG-1 were stuck on training, rather than deploying themselves.

Almost on autopilot, he entered the elevator when it arrived, entered his ID card and pressed the button for level 27. He had a meeting with General Hammond, the commander of the SAS unit, Captain Macmillan, and his second in command, Lieutenant Price, in an hour to go over the plan for the exercises, and needed to get back to his office to go over it once more. Luckily, it wasn't going to be anything too heavy. Mainly just ensuring their familiarity with the weapons etc, while waiting for some additional housing to be made available at the Beta Site so they could do the more specialised training that they couldn't do on Earth.

Suddenly, the lights flickered a few times before going out, leaving only the emergency lights for him to see by and the elevator motors whined and stopped working. Slightly annoyed and confused, O'Neill looked around the otherwise empty elevator for a couple of seconds, before reaching for the emergency phone.

"Hello? This is Col . . . Hello?" Concerned as he was unable to even get so much as a dial tone from the handset, he tapped the hook several times, hoping to re-engage it, before hearing a quiet voice speak.

"Jack".

Now confused, O'Neill took the handset away from his ear and looked at it for a couple of seconds, wondering whether he had simply imagined Daniel's voice, before raising back up to his ear.

"Jack." Suddenly he heard it again, this time clearer, and obviously coming from behind him. Sure that he wasn't imagining things, he lowered the handset once more, and turned around, seeing Daniel leaning against the wall of the elevator with a small smile upon his face and giving him a little wave.

"Hi Jack."

Slightly stunned, Jack just stood there, staring at Daniel, as he carried on.

"Jack, Abydos is in trouble. Anubis is on his way. He's after the Eye of Ra. I have that replica the Catherine gave me." At this, he holds up the replica Eye of Ra that Catherine had given him, all those years ago, before the first mission to Abydos. "Now, I'm pretty sure the real one is located in some secret chamber in Ra's Pyramid on Abydos, but I'm not sure where exactly.

"According to legend, there were six Eyes, including those held by Apophis, Osiris and Tiamat among others. Each is powerful on its own, but if used in combination that power increases tenfold. Recently Anubis has managed to track down five of the six Eyes, and only needs Ra's to complete the set. He's looked everywhere that Ra used to hang out except Abydos; and now he's on his way there."

Still slightly stunned, and needing time to process not only the shock of seeing Daniel again, but also the veritable verbal onslaught he had just been subjected to, Jack slowly turned around and hung the intercom phone back on its cradle, muttering lowly to himself. "I'm sure that was an aspirin I took this morning."

"Jack, it's really me. It's me, you have to help, you have to find the Eye of Ra before Anubis does. Keep it, hide it, destroy it, whatever, it doesn't matter, we don't have much time."

Slightly annoyed at Daniel just dropping this on him, after over half a year of Daniel not showing up, not even to check on him after his 'delightful' stay with Ba'al and his gravity shenanigans, Jack decided to be a 'little' sarcastic.

"Hey Daniel, how you doing? Long time. How are things on the higher planes?"

Annoyed, but aware that he deserves it a bit, Daniel turned away from Jack, before he grimaced slightly and decided to play along, knowing when Jack was in a sarcastic mood like this, it was the best option to get Jack to focus on the important stuff. As he turned back around to face Jack, his demeanour completely changed.

"Hey Jack, long time no see. H…h…h…how you doing?"

"Fine, just fine."

"The knees? The back? Everything's…"

"Oh, you know, kind of weather contingent actually."

"Right, right, right. So anyway, what's new Jack?" Daniel asked, hoping to speed up the conversation and get Jack back onto the issue he had come to warn him about.

"Uhm … actually, a funny thing happened to me, today in fact. I'm riding an elevator and an old friend of mine, someone who never calls, never writes …" At this, Daniel not so subtly rolls his eyes, well aware of the dig that Jack is having at his expense, but doesn't interrupt. "…just shows up and tells me all about this very important and apparently urgent missions that needs my attention."

"So, are you gonna help, or …"

"No, wait, wait! Let me tell it, it's good. You see this buddy of mine, this pal, this chum, has … ascended to a whole new level of existence. Do you see the irony? He's asking for my help, and he's this great and powerful being." As he finishes, Jack looks directly directly at Daniel, and his tone has changed over the course of his little speech from very sarcastic at the beginning, to having almost a sad tinge to it by the end.

"Jack, we've already been through this, I can't actually do anything. Ascension doesn't actually make you all knowing or all powerful. It is just the beginning of the journey. The point is, if I was to take any action, at all, to prevent this, Oma would be forced to step in and stop me herself. Even talking to you now is a violation of the rules. She's allowing me to get away with it, as theoretically you could have come across this intel from the Tok'ra, so it's not a major impact. Anything else, and she would have to stop me, or risk the Others stepping in."

"Let me ask you this Daniel. Have you actually met any of these Other guys?"

At Jack's question, Daniel sighed slightly. "No, I haven't."

"Well then, how do you know they're any kind of threat?"

"Just because I haven't met them, doesn't mean they don't exist Jack. And the Others are a very real threat. They're the ones that exiled Orlin to Velona after he interfered to protect the population, forcing him to watch as they wiped out the entire planet as punishment. If I interfere much more, they could do the same to Earth."

As he finished his sentence, the lights in the elevator flickered before coming back on, and the hum of the motor could be heard once again as the elevator started moving again. Jack looked around slightly at this, before looking back at Daniel, who disappeared, leaving one final remark, which, although he would deny it if asked, sent chills down Jack's spine.

"I'm not willing to risk that."

Wednesday 26th February 2003

SGC Briefing Room

"Obviously, we can't match forces with Anubis, but apparently the Abydonian's are willing to back us on this one."

With that, Colonel O'Neill finished his briefing on what Daniel had informed him of and looked around the briefing room table. In addition to General Hammond and his own team, Commandant Boucher and Mr Evans, the French and British representatives, as well as Captain Macmillan, commander of the SAS troop currently assigned to the SGC, were also present, all either looking around at each other, or down at the notes they had been making during the briefing. Well, all except General Hammond, who frowned slightly in his direction.

"Colonel, how did you come by this intel?"

"I didn't say?" queried Jack, slightly sheepishly as he was well aware he hadn't said, but had been somewhat hoping that no one would pick up on it.

"No, you didn't." Well used to his 2nd in Command's behaviour and ability to dodge questions, General Hammond didn't give him any wiggle room with his statement.

Deciding to bite the bullet, and knowing he wouldn't get out of this without revealing just where the intel he had presented to the room had come from, Jack cleared his throat slightly before speaking.

"Daniel told me."

At this, everyone around the table looked surprised, although in the case of the foreign contingent, it was more confusion and concern, than surprise. Commandant Boucher leaned forward slightly.

"Daniel? As in Dr Jackson? Forgive me if this is a little blunt Colonel, but isn't he dead?"

At this, the entirety of SG-1 winced slightly at the reminder. Even just over a year afterwards, the loss of Daniel Jackson was still a sore topic for them. Major Carter decided to take it upon herself to answer him.

"Not exactly. While he was dying from radiation poisoning, after being exposed to the Kelownan Nequadria bomb, he was able to achieve what the Ancients, the Gatebuilders, achieved and managed to ascend to a higher plane of existence.

"In essence, he is still technically alive, he just exists as a being of pure energy, rather than a corporeal being like the rest of us. He is still technically able to interact with us."

At this, she turned to Colonel O'Neill. "But I thought the rules meant he was prohibited from interfering by the other Ascended."

"Apparently it's complicated. He said he couldn't do a lot, as otherwise either Oma would be forced to step in, or the Others would do to Earth and him what they did to Velona and Orlin, but just telling us about Anubis heading to Abydos and why was fine, as we could have learnt that information from the Tok'ra or Rebel Jaffa."

At the mention of Orlin and Velona, the experienced members of the SGC blanched slightly at the memory of that planet, while the newer members were rather curious at their reactions, but collectively decided that asking about it wasn't suitable at the moment.

"Did he tell you where we could find the Eye?" Jonas asked O'Neill, trying to get the meeting back on track.

"Uh, he doesn't know." O'Neill replied, looking slightly annoyed at that admission.

"He doesn't know?"

"I know. Personally I think this whole ascension thing is a bit overrated."

"Sensing the possible beginnings of a SG-1 snark-fest, General Hammond interrupted them. "That's good enough for me Colonel. If Dr Jackson is right, we have to find that Eye and retrieve it before Anubis does. None of the other currently active SG-Teams are available due to already being deployed on missions or on leave, but I'm loath to send you in without support, in case you can't find the Eye before Anubis arrives.

"Captain Macmillan, do you think your men are ready to deploy ahead of schedule?"

"Yes Sir. Give us an hour to get geared up and conduct a quick briefing and we'll be ready. Colonel, you and your team's experience and knowledge of Abydos would be extremely useful during the briefing, if you wouldn't mind joining us?"

Colonel O'Neill nodded his assent as General Hammond looked round the table one last time. "Let's get it done people. Dismissed."

Wednesday 26th February 2003

Level 17 - Foreign Contingent Briefing Room

Present are the 16 members of SG-22 &-23, lead by Captain Macmillan and Lieutenant Price respectively, the 4 members of SG-1 and Commandant Boucher. On the table they are gathered around is a print-out of the Abydos Pyramid floor plan, together with a map and several aerial photographs of the surrounding area.

Captain Macmillan looked around the room from where he stood next to Colonel O'Neill. He was impressed by the professionalism being displayed by his troops. Over the past couple of weeks, they had been hit by shock after shock, more than anyone should be able to cope with in such a short period of time. First by the revealing of the existence of Aliens, then the Stargate Program and finally the fact that they would be Britain's first front-line defense, operating through the Stargate. Before they had even had time to recover from that information, they had then been deployed to the SGC and thrown straight into training, learning the ins and outs of the various technology they would likely encounter and the environments they would be operating in.

He took a breath, before beginning the briefing. "Gentlemen, I know we were expecting a bit longer before we deployed through the Gate on missions, but we don't have a lot of time. Anubis is heading for Abydos to find something called The Eye of Ra. Exactly what it looks like or what it is other than a power source for an extremely powerful weapon, we have no idea.

"SG-1 is going to be taking the lead on this mission, with Colonel O'Neill in overall command. They have the most experience with the planet and Goa'uld technology. Our job is watch their backs and hold off Anubis' troops should he arrive before the Eye can be located. According to intel, it's likely to be stored within the pyramid itself, possibly in a secret room, so we need to secure the facility. Commandant Boucher," he paused here for a second to nod at the aforementioned soldier, "has authorised the deployment of any and all heavy weapons we currently have, including anti-air missiles. Both Britain and France need hard data on how effective our weapons are against Goa'uld vessels, and so we are going to give them that. Word of warning before I hand over to Colonel O'Neill. Abydos, especially around the pyramid, is a desert, as I'm sure you can see." Here he gestured towards the map and photographs on the table in front of them.

"Temperatures apparently routinely reach over 40 degrees by early morning and can hit 50 degrees by mid-day. We've all trained and operated in desert conditions so I shouldn't have to remind you, but make sure you bring plenty of water. Oh, and don't scrimp on the sunscreen."

At Captain Macmillan's little moment of levity, a rustle of quiet laughter ran through all the people in the room, with some small smiles appearing, before he concluded his part of the briefing. "The Jaffa will have it worse, as they will be wearing metal armour, and, if we do our job right, will be forced to advance across several hundred metres of open ground, but do not underestimate them. Their symbiotes will be able to sustain them far longer than any human would be able to operate in those conditions, and as you know from sparing with Teal'c, afford them far greater strength than a comparable human. Colonel?"

At this, Captain Macmillan took a small step back from his position by the table, ceding the floor (so to speak) to Colonel O'Neill. He leaned forward slightly, to ensure he could reach the entirety of the layout on the table, and pointed at the centre of it.

"The pyramid has several access points that Anubis' forces can use to gain entry. Three of them are located here, in the central section. You have the Eastern, main entrance, leading to the outside. This is likely to be the main point of entry for Anubis' troops. As Captain Macmillan mentioned, the outside of the pyramid is a desert, so there is plenty of open space for ships to land and drop off troops. The most likely position for him to land would be here." At this, he pointed to a spot several hundred metres away from the pyramid itself. "It's in a direct line between the pyramid and the Naquadah mine, so there is a rudimentary road, and it is some of the smoothest terrain closely the pyramid. There is also a sand dune running north-south between the pyramid and this position, meaning they will be able to marshall their forces without interference from any defenders.

The main entrance is fairly defensible. There are pillars at the bottom of the ramp to allow for forward positions, although no cover for anyone retreating up the ramp, while the entrance walkway has a small wall running the length of it, thick enough to withstand several staff weapon blasts before breaking apart. Then there is the entrance itself, which is fairly narrow, before opening up several metres in to create the entrance room. This room also has multiple pillars running it's length on either side, again providing a secure defensive position. The only issue is that there is only one exit from that room, a doorway in a straight line across from the main entrance, so if the Jaffa have secured the main entrance, it will be extremely difficult for anyone to evacuate that room without being shot.

"After that, it then opens up into a series of corridors and stairways. Continuing on the central axis, there is a series of stairs and chambers going up until you reach the Gate Room. This is where the other two main points of access are. The first is obviously the Stargate, positioned pretty much in the exact centre of the pyramid, at the far end of the room from the main entrance. The other is a set of rings built into the ceiling, allowing easy access to the Gate Room from ships both in orbit and parked on the pyramid itself.

"This is going to be the main issue for defending the pyramid against Anubis. Although the Rings can only realistically transport a maximum of 6 people at a time, if he keeps sending troops through, we will eventually run out of ammunition and be forced back. And that is our only way off planet. We loose the Gate Room, Anubis will eventually win, even if all he then does is wait us out. Carter?"

"We need to ensure that the Ring platform is disabled as soon as we go through the Gate. That'll be my job, although, Captain, if you want, I could show a couple of your men how to do so, so they can do it in future if needed.

As Carter said this, Captain Macmillan nodded and said, "Yes ma'am. Williams and Pargan." The two men mentioned murmured their assent as Carter acknowledged them. Colonel O'Neill then took up the briefing again.

"Apart from the main entrances, there is one confirmed and one suspected, secondary entrances. The confirmed entrance leads from the south-eastern corner of the pyramid, here, down into a tunnel cut through the solid rock, leading to the ruins south of the pyramid. It's believed the ruins were the original settlement that Ra established on the planet, before the Naquadah mines ran dry and forced the Abydonian's to move their settlement to new areas. It's possible the tunnel was dug to provide a way for Ra to move his Jaffa to the settlement in case of a rebellion by the Abydonian's, following the rebellion on Earth that forced him to leave. The exit of the tunnel is very exposed and indefensible, due to the weathering and erosion that has taken place over the hundreds or thousands of years that the settlement has been abandoned, and the tunnel itself doesn't have any defensive positions along it's length, so the first place we could defend it would be at this point, in the pyramid. The only issue is that is the top of a stairwell, so the first time any defender would see an enemy would be when they were pretty much on top of them.

"The suspected secondary entrance is in the north-eastern corner, and like the other one, is a staircase leading down to a rock cut tunnel. Unlike the other one, this on seems to have suffered a cave-in a short distance along it. We don't know where the exit of the tunnel is as there are no ruins in that direction, but as it is collapsed, it should be secure."

As he finished, Jonas took up the briefing. "As Captain Macmillan said, we don't know where the Eye of Ra is located, but we have a few ideas. The most likely location is for it to be in the treasure room, here." At this, he pointed to a large room located south of the Gate Room. "Dr Jackson did explore that room while he spent a year on Abydos, after the first mission that killed Ra, and his notes theorise that there was at least 1 secret chamber off the treasure room, but he was never able to find it. I'll be heading there to search, together with Skaara, one of the Abydonian's, and Major Carter will be joining us once she has disabled the Ring platform."

With that, Captain Macmillan stepped back up to the table and looked around at his men.

"Lieutenant Price, I want SG-23 to secure the main entrance as soon as we get through the Gate. Set up a couple of Sangars on that walkway, with Gimpy's and MANPAD's as you see fit. Initial priority target's are Al'kesh and Tel'shak's. These are the ships most likely to be used to transport troops down to the surface. The more we take out before they land, the less troops we'll have to face. Once they're landed, any vessels that pose a threat, which we believe will be mainly Death Gliders, are free game.

"I also want a Sangar, again with at least 1 Gimpy, set up at the internal doorway from the main entrance room to provide a fallback position if we loose the entrance and protection if we have to retreat further. According to Dr Jackson, the Abydonian's are willing to support us, and there are several that have been trained up by the SGC as a militia over the years. I don't know their exact skill level, but assume they are competent but not at a professional soldier level. Pargan, once you have finished assisting Major Carter, take a couple of Abydonian's and secure the secondary entrance. Williams, you'll stay in the Gate room. As soon as we have contact with enemy Jaffa, you dial the Gate back to Earth and keep it open, redialling as necessary. We must have an evacuation route available as an option if needed.

"The rest of SG-22 will conduct a search of the pyramid. We need to ensure that there are no further entrances that Anubis could use, and note any defensive positions we may need if both the entrance and Gateroom are compromised. Any questions?"

"Is there a way to disable the gate, even temporarily? Just to ensure that Anubis can't use it?" asked Trooper Gurung, of SG-23. Captain Macmillan looked over to Major Carter and indicated her to answer, as she knew far more than he did about Stargate operations.

"Unfortunately not Trooper. Any way we have to disable the Gate wouldn't be easy to reverse, as the only two ways we could do it easily would be to bury the Gate or remove the power source, and that option in particular wouldn't prevent someone dealing in as the Gate would still retain enough of a charge to activate at least once while receiving a wormhole. And both options would leave us without an escape route should we need one in a hurry."

"What about the enemy ships?" Asked Corporal Singh, of SG-22. "If we are right and they use Al'kesh and Tel'shak's to land their troops, could we use the tunnel to have a strike team launch an assault on them to try and capture them, while their troops are assaulting the pyramid?"

While it was a tempting idea, the risk of being overwhelmed by Jaffa if Anubis dispatched more than they were predicting he would, or the possibility of the strike team being overwhelmed by Jaffa guards left behind to protect the ships, was too great at this point to authorise it. However, both Colonel O'Neill and Captain Macmillan agreed to keep it in consideration if the chance came up, or if they lost the Gate Room and were forced to retreat with the Eye, with Teal'c offering to assist the strike and pilot a ship if necessary.

"Any further questions? Then gear up. We deploy in 30 minutes. Dismissed."

With that, the group broke up, the majority leaving the room, with SG-1 heading for the SGC locker rooms down on Level 25, while SG-22 & SG-23 headed for the locker rooms only a few metres away down the corridor. Commandant Boucher, Colonel O'Neill, Captain Macmillan and Lieutenant Price remained for a short while, looking down at the table and the maps and photographs laid out over it.

Commandant Boucher took a breath, before looking around at the men remaining in the room, "Bonne chance gentlemen. Bonne chance." Before offering Colonel O'Neill a salute and walking away, hoping that everyone returned safely, but knowing that it was far more likely that several of the men he had only recently been placed in overall command of, would not be coming back uninjured, at best.

Wednesday 26th February 2003

Abydos Gate Room.

The half-a-dozen Abydonian's in the room were tense. Word had already spread throughout the small militia of the pending arrival of Anubis. Rumours had abounded from the last Tau'ri visit, almost 3 months ago, about Anubis and his power, overheard from the Tau'ri's conversations. Most within the militia were scared, wondering how they could possibly stand against someone even more powerful than Ra.

Skaara, in charge of the militia, had done his best to allay those fears where possible, pointing out that the Tau'ri had been warned by Daniel, that help was coming, that they would not be abandoned, and while it was enough to embolden some within the militia, many were still too scared, worrying more about their families, and what Anubis might do if they stood up to him.

As such, Skaara had been forced to split his already meagre force. The majority, under the command of his second, Rabiah, would stay with their people, protecting them and leading them away from the pyramid to safety in a series of caves to the northeast. However, 15 Abydonian's were able to conquer their fear and volunteered to help defend the pyramid alongside Skaara.

He had detailed 6 of them, under the command of Tobay, to stay in the Gate Room and watch for any activation of the Stargate, to provide warning and defence in the event of an attack through it, as well as to wait for their allies to arrive.

Suddenly, the Stargate activated. 5 of the militia scrambled to reach cover, hiding behind the pillars and detritus scattered across the room, while the sixth ran out, heading for the main entrance, ordered to warn Skaara and summon reinforcements. Now the remaining members of the militia were scared. It was one thing to talk about fighting against Anubis, it was another thing entirely to stand there, in front of the active Stargate, praying that those that came through it were friendly, and if they were not, that they could survive this.

To their relief, the figures that appeared through the portal wore the sand-coloured clothing of the Tau'ri. Tobay stood up from where he was crouched behind a pillar, and walked out into the centre of the room to greet them, before stumbling to a halt in shock. He recognised the four in the lead. O'Neill, Carter and Teal'c, of SG-1, together with Jonas, who had replaced Daniel when he had ascended. It had been expected that they would be the ones to come. Of all the Tau'ri, those of SG-1 were closest to the Abydonian's. What he had not been expecting was the 16 others following them, together with 2 of their mechanical carts.

As he stood and stared for a few seconds, he heard several footsteps behind him as Skaara, together with some of the other guards rushed into the room.

"O'Nieer. It is good to see you."

As SG-1 and Skaara exchanged greetings, Tobay stepped forward to be at Skaara's side.

"We are prepared to do whatever you ask."

O'Neill nodded his head at Tobay's statement before turning to Captain Macmillan and Lieutenant Price, who had walked up to them after checking on their men, following the trip. "Skaara, Tobay, this is Captain Macmillan and Lieutenant Price. They're in charge of the rest of the troops we've brought."

"Gentlemen. With your permission Colonel, we'll start deploying."

"Granted Captain. Set up a perimeter. I want to know the second anything shows up. Tobay, would you be willing to show them where they need to go?" Tobay nodded, and gestured towards the entranceway to the room, as SG-22, SG-23 and Teal'c started to move away, together with the majority of Abydonian's in the room. At the same time, Carter, together with Williams and Pargan, headed for the Ring Transport control pad.

As they left, O'Neill turned back to Skaara. "Any idea where this Eye thing is then?"

"I will show you."

Wednesday 26th February 2003

Abydos Pyramid Exterior

The main entrance of the pyramid was a hive of work, with both the SAS troopers and Abydonian's working together to set up defensive positions.

The majority of SG-23, together with 10 Abydonian's, were busy setting up defensive positions along the walkway. Lieutenant Price was slightly concerned, as the southern end of the walkway was covered up by a sand dune, resulting in an easy, if slightly treacherous underfoot, access route onto the walkway for anyone landing on that side of pyramid. Due to the height and closeness of the sand dune, if any Jaffa did deploy along there, they would mostly be out of line of sight (and therefore line of fire) of his troops, but would be able to easily target his men. If the enemy did flank him from that side, he would have no choice but to withdraw into the pyramid. And he couldn't afford to position an overwatch position on the top of the dune due to the lack of troops he had available, and anyone retreating from there would be horribly exposed to enemy fire.

One thing that had been quickly realised was that the low stone wall running along the front of the walkway was rather lower than previously thought, worn away through decades or centuries of sandstorms, with very little still standing higher than a person's knees. To augment this, and to construct slightly more substantive Sangars for his heavier weapons, they were filling whatever containers they could find with sand, whether baskets, bags or even the metal containers for the MANPADs, to help provide even slightly more cover than was currently available.

As everyone was working, Lieutenant Price took a moment to review the disposition of his defences. Either side of the ramp leading up to the walkway, he had stationed a G.P.M.G and had assigned two Abydonian volunteers to act as loaders, freeing up his men. In between them, but set slightly further back, towards the doorway, he had emplaced a 3-round STARSTREAK launcher. Spread out on either side he had stationed the remaining 8 Abydonian's. They were armed with an eclectic mix of automatic weapons, mostly MP5's, several of which had been left behind by the original team, back in 1994, but had since been augmented through the many visits the SGC had paid Abydos over the past few years. He had also placed several single STARSTREAK and MISTRAL launchers, as he knew SG-22 would be deployed to assist him once their sweep of the pyramid was finished.

He had also deployed 2 of his men, Troopers Dutkowski and Trenchard, along with Teal'c and 2 of the Abydonian's to a small ruin approximately 50 metres in front of the end of the ramp leading down from the pyramid entrance. Their main purpose was to act as a forward sentry post, keeping watch in case Anubis tried to land his forces on either side or round the back of the pyramid, out of line of sight of the entrance defences, as well as engage the enemy Jaffa further out from the pyramid, slowing down their advance and giving additional time for the members of SG-1 to locate the eye. To accomplish this, they were armed with a M249 Light Machine Gun, which Teal'c had decided to bring, rather than his usual Staff Weapon, along with 4 single MISTRAL launchers, to provide aerial defence against strafing runs, as well as the personal weapons of both the Abydonian's and his Troopers.

Soon enough, the makeshift defences were in place, and they were now subject to the expression so beloved by the military, "Hurry up and Wait".

Wednesday 26th February 2003

Abydos Pyramid Interior (Same Time)

Skaara, Colonel O'Neill, Captain Macmillan and Jonas had moved out of the more commonly inhabited areas of the pyramid closer to the Stargate room, deeper into the catacombs. Skaara and Captain Macmillan both carried burning torches, which they were using to light various braziers which were located along the sides of the corridors and rooms, while Colonel O'Neill lit the way using the torch attached to his P90 and Jonas used his hand torch to survey the walls as they walked. Eventually, they walked down a set of stairs and reached the treasure room. Skaara motioned around the room with his torch as he halted in the centre of the room.

"This is as far as the catacombs go. Daniel and I have spent much time here."

O'Neill and Macmillan looked around, as the braziers scattered around the room, were lit. To both of them, the room looked abandoned. Small piles of rubble lay scattered around the room, indicating that even Ra hadn't used the room for possibly several centuries.

"No Eyes?" Jack asked, as they walked around the room.

"The Eye of Ra is mentioned many times on these walls." Skaara replied, motioning with his torch to the murals decorating the walls of the room. Sure enough, almost every single mural had at least one representation of the Eye of Ra drawn upon it.

Groaning slightly in frustration, Jack stopped walking, grabbing Skaara's arm to get his attention. "Just so we're clear. It's not a real eye. It's a kind of jewel or something. Anything indicating that here?"

"No we have never been able to find anything like that."

Sighing, but knowing that it wouldn't have been that easy, O'Neill looked over at Jonas, who was beginning to study the various murals. "Right, Jonas, you're up. See what can you can find."

Wednesday 26th February 2003

Abydos Pyramid Interior (30 minutes later)

Captain Macmillan sighed slightly as he walked down the corridor. He had left Colonel O'Neill supervising his team as they searched for the Eye, while he in turn checked on his troops. He had already met Trooper Pargan and the two Abydonian's supporting him at the secondary, southern entrance. It was as bad as they had feared. A dog-legged staircase lead from the pyramid down to a rock-cut tunnel, leading straight out to the south-south east. There were no turns or alcoves to use as defensive positions, and on the stairs themselves, you couldn't see the enemy unless you were within a flight of stairs as them. Pargan had however done the best he could. At both the bottom of the stairs and several metres inside the tunnel, he had set up claymore mines ("borrowed" from the SGC's main armoury), to both impede anyone attempting to use the tunnel, and to provide him warning.

Trooper Williams had also been set up ready in the Gate Room. In a deviation from the original plan, Macmillan had ordered him to dial Earth immediately, and keep the Gate open, rather than wait for contact with Anubis' forces before dialing. Just in case Anubis decided to send an advance force by Gate before he even arrived by ship. That avenue of attack was now blocked, thankfully, so currently the only threat was from orbit.

Luckily their intel had been correct about the secondary, northern entrance. Similar to the southern entrance, it too had a dog-legged staircase leading down, however, unlike the other staircase, this one was clearly not as well built, as at some point over the past millennia, several flights had collapsed approximately half-way down, rendering the entire stairway impassible. Between that, and the search his men had completed, he was fairly confident the only access routes into the pyramid were either blocked, or guarded. Any of his men that had been searching the pyramid, he had sent out to the main entrance to help set up the defences there, while he now headed back to the treasure room to check on SG-1's progress.

As he walked, he silently prayed that Anubis would be delayed long enough for them to find the Eye and retreat before he even arrived.

Suddenly though, his radio crackled slightly, and the words that he had been dreading hearing came through. "Contact. Goa'uld ships, due east, high."

Cursing himself for taunting Murphy, he activated his radio to reply, "Roger. Oscar Mike. Report numbers." as he began to run down the corridor towards the main entrance.

A/N 1: Quick glossary for anyone who needs it. A Sangar is a fortified position, with the term mainly being used by the British forces, but I believe several other nations use the term as well. A Gimpy is what the British Army supposedly have nick-named the GPMG, or General Purpose Machine Gun.

And we start to now see the butterfly's appearing. Instead of a 4-man SG-Team and maybe a dozen or so Abydonian's trying to hold off Anubis' forces, with apparently only 1 heavy weapon available (namely the couple of missiles we see Teal'c launch at a Tel'shak and Death Gliders), and an LMG that Teal'c uses, at least in the Gate Room when Skaara is killed, we instead have 20 well-trained and equipped troops, with multiple surface-to-air missiles and heavy machine-guns available to them. Plus the ring platform will be disabled, again preventing enemy troops from entering via there.

And I've managed to give some names for the SAS troop. So far we have Captain Macmillan, Corporal Singh and Troopers Williams and Pargan for SG-22, and Lieutenant Price and Trooper Gurung for SG-23. I am in the process of fleshing out all of the SG-Teams, ensuring everyone has a name and rank (where appropriate), so once that is finished, that'll get posted as a side-part to this story.

A/N 2: And so this is the end of the first half of this episode. This last scene alone for some reason has taken me about 2 months to do and it's less than 500 words. But the chapter now is at about 7,500 words so I'm going to split it off into another chapter. I've got the outline of what I want to happen planned (very roughly), so just needs fleshing out a bit more and writing now. Probably take me about the length of time as this chapter did - 8 months, if not more, because it's me and I take forever to get anything written.