Ding looked down as his radio crackled with life. He looked over at the Marine Colonel standing next to him who answered, "This is Reynolds. What have you got Captain?"
"Sir someone is trying to dial in, please advise."
Colonel Reynolds spoke to the Tok'ra representative standing with them. "Are you guys expecting anyone?"
"No."
Reynolds activated his radio, "Take cover, the Tok'ra aren't expecting anyone. Report back as soon as you can."
"Yes sir."
Ding and Reynolds tensely waited as they gripped their machine guns even tighter. A minute later their radios came to life again and they heard a whispered voice. "Sir, we got twenty-one, repeat twenty-one, Jaffa just arrive through the Stargate! I'm guessing more are on the way!"
"Shit!" Reynolds yelled under his breath. He then turned to the Tok'ra operative next to them, "Get in there and tell them we got company and that Ding and I are going to go take a look and try to secure the Stargate."
The two soldiers then took off at a run as they headed the mile back to the Gate. "Captain, Ding and I are on our way. Hold your position and stay out of sight."
"Yes sir!" he whispered through the radio.
As they ran, Ding asked Reynolds about Jaffa tactics, "What's their plan normally?"
"Changes every time!"
Ding looked up at a ridge that was coming up on their left. "Sir, do you think they'll hover around the Gate?"
"Some of them will, yeah… Why?"
"Well we need to secure that area first, right?" he asked as he looked over at the man running next to him. "Well, I can help those guys at the Gate from up there," he said as he pointed up at the ridge.
"We're still three quarters of a click from the Gate!"
"I'm a sniper remember!"
Reynolds looked over at the Latino man and nodded his head. "Let's go!" They both headed up the ridge to find Chavez a vantage point that looked down on the meadow where the Stargate was.
---
The Tok'ra operative ran into the main chamber, "A group of Jaffa arrived through the Stargate!"
All heads turned at the intrusion as shock and fear registered on the faces.
"Damn it!" Jack cursed as he looked over at Teal'c, "Can't things ever go smoothly?"
Andrea turned and glared at the General, "This happens to you a lot?"
She didn't receive a response as O'Neill motioned Teal'c, "Teal'c…"
Teal'c bowed his head, "Mr. Clark and I will secure our path back to the Stargate." The two men then took off running through the chambers. The General then turned to Per'sus and spoke quietly.
"What the hell were you thinking bringing the President and First Lady to a hostile planet?" Andrea charged the General, this was the last straw for her.
Trying to be the voice of reason, Ryan stepped forward and spoke quietly, "Andrea."
She turned and faced her charge, "Sir, I know you were excited about this trip, but General O'Neill has put you in danger and we," indicating herself and Roy Altman, "are not prepared to take on aliens on another planet!"
O'Neill, who had been ignoring her tirade for the most part, turned away from the Tok'ra's head council member. When he spoke it was from a man in control, "Agent Price. Me and my men have been traveling through the Stargate for over ten years… That's why we're here… We know how to handle this type of situation… I need you to trust me and my men."
"When it comes to the President, I don't-"
"Damn it, they're my friends! Do you think I'm going to let anything happen to them?" he challenged her.
The two stared at each other, neither willing to back down.
Daniel cautiously walked up to the pair, "Look you guys, I hate to rain down on your parade, but we need to evacuate this base."
Jack blinked and looked at his friend and nodded, "Daniel stay with Cathy."
Daniel nodded at receiving his 'orders.' He momentarily thought how Jack was reassured to have him watching out for his friend, probably unlike the Secret Service agents who saw him only as an archaeologist. Back when he'd first met Jack, he might not have entrusted him with Cathy's life, but now… Now, things were different… The once soft-spoken archaeologist had evolved into a man who could hold his own in front of a squadron of Jaffa.
He then walked over to Dr. Ryan and pulled out his zat and held it out to her, "Here."
"I'm a doctor…" she told him as she waved her hands in front of her and refused the weapon.
"Ma'am, I respect that… But the zat allows you to shoot someone and stun them… But only shoot someone once. Two times kills and three disintegrates," he explained as he showed her how to 'cock' the weapon.
"Disintegrates?" she asked stunned.
Daniel shrugged, "That's correct, the body disappears… If you have to shoot a Jaffa, I recommend shooting to kill."
"Per'sus, how long will it take for your people to evacuate?" O'Neill asked.
"Several hours…" he replied. Per'sus noted the look on the General's face, "I understand… you must go… We will contact you once we have established ourselves at another base."
"Thanks…You're more than welcome to head to the Alpha Site in the mean time… We'll leave the door open to block any one else from dialing in."
Per'sus nodded his head, "Thank you for the offer, but that won't be necessary. We will head to our own auxiliary base," he then motioned for the Tok'ra who had informed them of their enemies' arrival to accompany the team from Earth and dial up their back-up base once they had left. He then turned to help with his people's evacuation.
Jack then turned back to the rest of the group, "Okay let's head out of here."
---
Ding was settling into position and lining up his scopes when the radio came to life. "Colonel Reynolds, what is the situation?"
"We've got incoming Jaffa. Chavez and I are set up about two-thirds of a click from the Gate." Chavez mildly paid attention to the conversation as he took a peek through his sniper scope and started ID'ing and locating all the Jaffa.
Teal'c was about to ask why they were so far when Clark explained the situation to him, "Ding's got a sniper rifle with him… He can take them out from that distance."
"Very well, Mr. Clark and I are on our way."
"You better tell the rest of them to start heading back to the Gate. Captain Bates thinks that more Jaffa are on the way."
"Very well, Colonel."
Colonel Reynolds then turned his attention back to Ding, "What do you see?"
"I've got eight Jaffa milling about the Stargate… Do the Goa'uld just find the biggest guys and turn them into Jaffa," he wondered aloud as he noticed the size of the men. Returning to business, "Find out where our boys are."
Reynolds keyed his radio, "Captain, where are you and your men?"
"We're about twenty meters from the Gate at ten o'clock. Thirteen Jaffa just left and split up into two groups, one's headed your way and the others went west."
Ding turned his rifle towards the indicated spot, "I got 'em… Do you see the ones headed for us?"
Reynolds looked through his binoculars and saw seven Jaffa walking along the path below them. "Yeah I got them…"
Without taking his eye from the scope, Ding reached into his bag and pulled out his sight meter and held it out to the man next to him, "Here."
Reynolds took it and aimed it at the Stargate. "Okay, the DHD is 676 meters… And the base of the Stargate is… 683 meters."
Ding quietly adjusted his scope for the new information he was receiving. "And the opposite hill?"
His spotter swung his attention to the crest of the hill, "Crest is 1200 meters… And the fallen tree a third of the way up on the left side is… 1000 meters…"
"Got it…"
"Can you really hit a target that far away?" he asked him skeptically.
"In my sleep, sir," he reassured him. He turned his attention back to the meadow with the Stargate. "Wind is… 10 kilometers per hour heading… northeast…" he muttered to himself as he assimilated all the information and calculated how to aim his shots to adjust for the wind and falling projectile as it traveled over the long distances.
The Colonel looked through the scope and tried to figure out how exactly the young man had determined that bit of information.
"Sir, I can take it from up here… Teal'c and Mr. C could probably use your help down there…"
"You sure?"
"Yes sir," Ding replied as he kept scanning the area in front of the Gate.
"Okay, keep your channel open," he told him as he took off back down the ridge and started to radio Teal'c and John Clark.
"Let's see how helpful those little snakes are in a few minutes," he challenged his unsuspecting targets.
TBC
A/N: So the action is going to start picking up now. There should be several more chapters out by this weekend. I'm just polishing up the next few chapters.
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to review, I really appreciate the kind words and the issues brought up that I must consider. This is my most popular fanfic to date, I hit the Century Club in reviews a few days ago - I can't tell you how happy that makes me!