A/N: Thanks for the review L.C. I will pass your thoughts on the bug killer weaponry to Tarantulas as he was the creator of those particular toys.


Assault on a Queen

The staging area resembled a parade ground. The troops had divided up into four groups of twenty-five, and each group was aligned with military precision in five ranks of five. Each group's leader stood before the group: Carter, Harper, Teal'c, and Tyr were the only four in the room (besides O'Neill) with experience fighting Replicators, brief though the fight had been. O'Neill had been unsure about Harper's leadership skills, but Carter had gone to bat for the Andromeda's engineer, and O'Neill trusted her judgment. Staff Sergeant Samuda with his bandaged leg and Lancer Dow with her patched eye refused to be left behind, so O'Neill had assignments for them and Sergeant Haulder. O'Neill began the pre-strike briefing.

"One thing we know for sure about the bugs," said O'Neill, "Is that each one knows what all the others are doing at any given time. They are part of a hive mind, which, creepy as it might sound, actually works in our favor. If we attack all four underground caves at once, then no cave can come to the aid of any other cave. If that makes sense. Basically we're going to keep them all busy defending themselves so they don't gang up on us. Each group will have thirteen shooters carrying O'Neill bug squashers (GOD I love that name!) with a thousand rounds of ammo, and twelve ammunition carriers with two drums of a thousand rounds each. So multiplying that by four groups, we get... Carter?"

"One hundred forty-eight thousand rounds, sir," said Carter with a smile.

"That's right!" said O'Neill. "We have lots! And we'll also have forty-eight gauss rifles with as many rounds for those as you feel you can carry safely. Now I'm assigning Staff Sergeant Samuda, Sergeant Haulder, and Lancer Dow to duty aboard the Samantha Carter assisting Thor with communications. There may be some hot spots, and I want anyone who shouts "Mayday" to have the bug death ray right behind them before the echo dies. I'll stay aboard the Siege Perilous and direct the ground attack. Admiral Tanaka here will command a squadron of AF/A-29 Phoenix atmospheric attack craft in the role of close air support. I believe we have a superior fighting force here, and the Replicators don't stand a chance against us. All of you are familiar with the lay of the land, and where each cave is located, so if needed you can back up another team if they get into trouble. We have named the teams and the caves, and they are as follows along with the team leaders - Colonel Samantha Carter: Team One, Cave Alpha, Seamus Harper: Team Two, Cave Bravo, Teal'c: Team Three, Cave Charlie, and Tyr Anasazi: Team Four, Cave Delta. Now before we go stomp some bugs, does anyone have any questions?"

One hundred seven warriors stood before the Admiral and the General, backs ramrod-stiff, eyes gleaming with pride and anticipation. There was complete and utter silence in the room. O'Neill smiled a small and dangerous smile.

"Then let's go do it," said O'Neill. "There are some bugs down there who will regret the day they were ever...assembled. Go make 'em sorry!"

Four teams vanished in four flashes of bright light. The three exhausted Lancers also vanished, headed for a different (and safer) destination. O'Neill turned to the viewscreen showing the aggregate surface scans from the orbiting fleet above. Another viewscreen showed a video image of the surface as seen from Thor's ship. O'Neill watched the teams approaching the entrance to the caves, and unconsciously crossed his fingers, wishing them luck.


Team Four reached Cave Delta first. Tyr motioned one Lancer to each side of the cave entrance. Their ammunition handlers followed behind them, gauss rifles at the ready. Tyr halted the group at the cave entrance, and when he heard the sound of firing from the other teams, he ordered the attack. The team members activated their headlamps and entered the cave, firing as they walked. Replicators swarmed out from the back of the cave in a massive moving carpet, but unlike the first experience with the gauss rifles, the bug squashers made short work of any mechanical device on the ground and walls and ceiling. The team members didn't even have to slow down. As soon as one bug squasher ran out of rounds, the operator just stopped, and the operator behind him stepped up and began firing. It was labor-intensive work, trying to hold the barrel steady against the massive backward push of the exploding rounds, but the Lancers who had been picked for it were well suited to it, and they executed their duties with a grim determination and no small measure of satisfaction. Replicators exploded into a myriad of tiny pieces, each piece covered with Shorinol, and each piece squirming and rotating, trying to combine with another piece. This made for an unsure footing on the cave floor, so the ammunition handlers stepped up and braced the shooters from behind so that both had a firmer stance.

When the team approached the back of the cave, their lights illuminated a massive Replicator, twice the height of a man. It was churning out the standard bug-type Replicators as fast as it could, but without a supply of raw material now, the supply was slowing down. This part of the cave was wider, so the armed Lancers were able to spread out and stand shoulder to shoulder six across. At the signal from Tyr they opened fire on the big Replicator. It tried to separate into smaller bug-style Replicators, but the sheer number of pellets in the air were too much for it, and it was reduced to a pile of small mechanical pieces in short order. Tyr ordered the team members to check the cave for cracks or secret passages that the Replicators might have used to escape deeper into the ground, but there were none. Stepping to the cave entrance, he activated his radio transmitter:

"Tyr to O'Neill," he said. "Cave Delta is clear. Team Four sustained only one casualty. Lancer West slipped and fell on his arm. It looks like it's broken. He is the only Lancer within six feet of me. I request that he be evacuated to..."

Lancer West disappeared in a flash of light.

"Tyr to Asgard One," he said. "Thank you, Thor."

"O'Neill to Tyr," came the voice on the radio. "Didn't you encounter any resistance at all? It seems like it should have taken longer."

"This is Tyr," he said. "Basically we just walked to the back of the cave without stopping. Maybe it's our superior firepower."

Aboard the ship, O'Neill gave Tanaka a worried look. At that moment the radio came alive again.

"Carter to O'Neill. Sir, Cave Alpha is secure also. We encountered very little resistance ourselves. It doesn't seem right."

"Very well, Carter," said O'Neill. "Stand by until we hear from the other teams."

"General O'Neill, this is Teal'c. Cave Charlie is secure. One casualty, Sergeant Palmer, killed instantly by a falling rock from the cave roof. We met with very little opposition also."

"Understood, Teal'c," said O'Neill. "O'Neill to Harper. What's your status?"

"This is Harper. We've walked quite a way back in this cave and haven't seen a thing except rock walls. I'm not sure there are any Replicators in here."

"Carter to O'Neill. Recommend Team Two evacuate Cave Bravo immediately! Sir, I think it might be a trap!"

"I concur," said O'Neill. "Harper, get your people out of there! Teams One, Three, and Four, respond on the double to Cave Bravo."

"Yes sir!" responded Harper. Carter, Teal'c, and Tyr indicated that they were on the way. O'Neill glanced at Tanaka again, feeling an impending sense of doom.

"Okay folks," shouter Harper, "Let's get out of here!" He turned to go and almost ran into a young lady who was standing before him. Surprised, he stopped to look at her.

"Come on," he said to her, "We have to go."

Harper stepped to one side and started to leave. The young lady moved with him, placing her hand on his chest stopping him from leaving.

"Please don't go," she said. "I've been here for so long all by myself. I could use a friend."

"How did you get here?" asked Harper. "And better yet, who are you?"

"My name is Reese," she said. "What's your name?"

Harper started edging to his left, planning to slowly make a circle around her until he had his back to the cave entrance. Then he would make a break for freedom. The Lancers, seeing his predicament, had stopped and were slowly returning, watching Reese warily. He was positive that he could depend on them to rescue him if things turned sour. He wasn't sure who Reese was, but he was positive she wasn't human. No young lady should have been able to stop him dead in his tracks with only one hand. But there appeared to be no immediate danger in the area, and she was quite pleasant looking, so maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

"My name is Harper," he said. "Seamus Harper. I came here with some friends to explore this cave. We didn't know there was anyone in here. So, where are you from?"

He was hoping to keep her distracted with small talk, but it wasn't working. He had circled around far enough that Reese was able to see the Lancers and notice that while their guns were not pointed directly toward her, they weren't pointing away either. The Lancers had spread out from one side of the cave to the other so each one had a clear field of fire. There was no doubt that the Lancers were capable of handling anything that might occur.

Reese looked from Harper over to the Lancers and back to Harper again, her face filled with suspicion. She took Harper's arm in a vice-like grip and stepped away from the Lancer force, pulling him along with her. One of the Lancers activated his communicator and spoke quietly into it. Even if Reese could have heard it, she wouldn't have understood the language. But the implication was clear.

"What's he saying?" she asked angrily. "They want to hurt me, just like the others did. They think there's something wrong with me. They think my father didn't make me right! I WON'T LET THEM HURT ME!"

She took another step back, dragging Harper roughly. He tried to pull free but her mechanical strength was too great. Her head was snapping from side to side now, looking angrily at the Lancers through narrowed eyes. Harper could imagine a gun's crosshairs sighting in wherever she looked. He began to have an uneasy feeling about the safety of the Lancer squad. Scanning the cave behind them, he noticed movement behind the Lancers, up near the ceiling.

"Look out!" he shouted, his eyes locked on the ceiling. The Lancers followed his gaze and whirled around to face the danger. But it was too late. A gigantic blade swung down from the ceiling, instantly decapitationg two Lancers in the center of the cave. The rest of them shrank back from the carnage and aimed their guns toward the ceiling, but it was impossible to see what was up there in the formless darkness.

Two arms silently extruded from one side of the cave, wrapping around two of the Lancers who had stepped close to the cave walls. As they both shouted in surprise, the rest of the Lancers brought their weapons to bear, but did not fire for fear of harming the captives. Maybe they should have. The cave extrusions covered the Lancers from head to foot, so only their outlines were visible. Then, horribly, the extrusions constricted until they were no more than a cube one foot on a side. Retreating back into the wall, the extrusions left behind two tightly compacted heaps of material on the cave floor. Harper was thankful that the cave was not brightly lighted

The Lancers moved to the center of the cave and stood back to back with guns raised. They whispered among themselves, and suddenly one of the Lancers took aim with a gauss rifle and blew Reese's arm off at the shoulder. Harper ran toward the Lancers, opening the dead fingers and dropping the dead arm on the floor. As Reese screamed in pain and rage, the cave attacked.

But the Lancers were ready. The O'Neill bug squashers erupted with flames, sloughing the Replicator cells off the walls and ceiling of the cave. Giant constructs rushed at them from all sides, only to be reduced to component pieces. Several of the Lancers were relating a running commentary on the radio, but Harper could not hear the words over the roar of the guns. He had retrieved a gauss rifle and was firing at whatever he could see, but he was afraid he wasn't doing much damage. It appeared that the entire cave was covered to a depth of about twelve inches with Replicator cells. How are we going to get out of this? thought Harper. The Replicator cells were moving, massing in some areas and becoming sparse in others, so it was becoming difficult to know where to fire to get the maximum effect. As the gunfire died down, Harper could hear Reese screaming angry threats from deeper in the cave. He looked back toward her, his headlamp illuminating her, and noticed with a strange sense of detachment that her arm had grown back. As she waved her arms this way and that, the cave Replicators seemed to follow her motions as though she were a conductor and they were the orchestra. iShe's the bloody Replicator Queen/i thought Harper with amazement.

Harper's gauss rifle ran out of ammunition and the action locked back, ready to accept another magazine full of rounds. Harper looked around for another magazine, but couldn't find one. Two of the bug squashers had run out of ammunition at the same time, and it was taking longer than planned to connect a fresh magazine. They had practiced in the staging area under the bright lights, but the cave was dark and the connections required a certain amount of dexterity. Harper looked at a large wave of Replicators rolling toward him, directed by an angrily shrieking Reese, and prepared to meet his end.

The air around him appeared to shimmer, and the approaching wave collapsed. Reese raised one arm as if to ward off a blow, but it made no difference as she melted into the floor. Replicator chips rained down frim the walls and ceiling, completely dead. Harper spun around and looked toward the cave entrance.

Hovering at the entrance to the cave, her force fields depressing a huge crater in the ground, the Samantha Carter fired the Weapon of the Ancients into the cave, killing the last Replicators on Arzawa III