CHAPTER FIVE: RETURN TO EARTH
"Anubis cannot have missed our arrival," Teal'c commented to the other passengers of the scout ship.
Daniel Jackson and Sam Carter exchanged worried glances, looking uncertainly at Jack O'Neill who was kneeling beside the transport rings, attempting to increase their power outage, allowing the Knowledge to guide his hands.
"You are correct," Bra'tac affirmed. "Al'kesh and gliders approach. Many. They will be in firing range in thirty seconds. More ships approaching from the opposite direction."
Sam had a bad feeling that the scout ship was about to get blown out of the sky.
"Sir," she yelled to Jack, who didn't even glance up at her shout. "We're about to get our ass-"
"They are not Goa'uld," Bra'tac suddenly observed, taking a closer look at the second group of ships heading their way.
Sam ran to the front window, glancing out to get a better look.
Bra'tac was right. The ships approaching weren't Goa'uld at all. A squadron of X302's were heading their way, and rapidly approaching the Al'kesh and Deathgliders that were threatening the safety of SG-1 and Teal'c mentor Bra'tac.
"Prometheus!" Sam exclaimed in awe. She hadn't been expecting to see the ship at all, and knowing that there were people at their back made the next part of their mission a lot less stressful.
"SG-1, this is Hammond, do you read?" came their commanding officer's voice over the intercom system.
"Yes sir, it's good to see you," Sam replied, not at all stunned that it was Hammond taking charge of the Prometheus. She knew that General Hammond would do everything in his power to protect their scout ship, and there was no way that the General would allow anything past them if he could help it. She glanced over at Daniel and Teal'c and nodded towards the transport rings. "Let's go."
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"We are in range, my lord," Anubis' First Prime announced, entering the room, appearing to be completely oblivious to the tension between his lord and the small Tau'ri woman in front of him.
"Fire," Anubis commanded.
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The Knowledge would not allow this to happen. The Knowledge could not sit by and idly watch as the planet that had once been home was destroyed. And the Knowledge could not allow for Anubis to survive the attack from the Opelia when the time came. The Knowledge had no doubt that the weapon would work, but that Anubis would not cease to exist even with the destruction of his ship. It wasn't possible to destroy energy…but it could be transformed.
Janet Fraiser did not fully understand what the Knowledge was telling her. And then she heard a familiar voice in her mind, an Ancient that she'd spoken with, an Ancient that had healed her with only her hand and the sheer strength of will. Ayaina. Ayaina's voice was instructing her. Ayaina was the Ancient who best understood the body, and even though she'd chosen not to ascend, she understood the process through the sharing of Knowledge within one mind.
Janet took two steps forward and concentrated all of her energy into her right hand. Without a moment of hesitation, she brought her hand up and thrust her palm into the black murky energy encased behind Anubis' cloaking shield.
Anubis' First Prime stepped forward, his staff weapon raised to blast the Tau'ri woman for attacking his master, but before he could ready the weapon, his master and the prisoner were encased in a blinding white light. Herac, the First Prime to Anubis, could only turn his head away, unable to watch, and fearful of what was about to happen.
When the light finally died down, Herac forced himself to look up, only to nearly choke on his shock. Where his master had once had a proud bearing, and a smoking black energy, a short, tubby and balding man was glaring angrily at the woman before him. This was his master?
"My lord?" Herac asked.
But Anubis was far too angry to answer his First Prime.
"You will not get away with this!" he yelled angrily.
The voice was no longer the two-toned sound that the Goa'uld spoke with. And while there was anger tinging his voice, he sounded no more threatening than the average Tau'ri male.
"I already have Garone. You betrayed us once. We will not allow it to happen again," the Knowledge said, speaking in the quiet voice of Janet Fraiser.
Anubis lunged for the woman, but Janet merely sidestepped and shook her head.
Anubis' defeat was further compounded by the sudden thudding sounds of his ship being attacked, and his shields completely failing. Anubis looked up in shock, staring out the window of the peltac, looking on in shock as he recognised the Ancient Loilalies that flew around the ship, destroying it piece by piece. The Tau'ri had discovered the outpost. They'd found a power source to make it work, and they had someone with the correct DNA to use it.
When he turned to glare at the Tau'ri woman who had so successfully defeated him, she was gone.
Moments later, Anubis' ship was nothing more than tiny pieces of debris floating in Earth's orbit, and Anubis himself was destroyed for eternity.
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Below the ice and inside the outpost of the Ancients, Daniel, Sam and Teal'c watched as the last of the bright squid shaped creatures was shot from the Ancient weapon. Without even a warning sound, the lights in the cavern went dark, and without looking, they all knew that their commanding officer had lost control of the Ancient seat he'd been controlling.
"Sir?" Sam whispered softly, moving from her position at the cavern entrance and hurrying over to Jack. She gently lifted his head, checking his pulse. "His pulse is erratic."
Daniel moved forward, worried for his friend, and Teal'c abandoned his guarding post to step closer.
"Don't you dare leave us now," Sam said softly, her voice quietly passionate and her eyes filling with tears at the thought of losing Jack now. "We won."
Jack weakly opened his eyes, and Sam gently took hold of his chin. "Colonel?" But O'Neill could only gaze at her, his eyes more serious than she'd ever seen them. "Please, Jack."
"Dolmata," Jack whispered.
Sam remembered Daniel's translation of that word from earlier. Sleep. It didn't sound encouraging. What they needed was a miracle. And then the transport rings activated…
