The Spartan shook off the feeling of itching across his body. He'd never get used to the jumps through the Gate, probably. Cortana updated her motion tracker, marking the SG team members as gold dots on the system while whatever lay ahead of them, that being about a dozen dots, in grey. He raised his rifle as he emerged through the smoke first, catching sight of another armored Jaffa. He gunned the alien soldier down with impunity, rounds sparking as they punched through whatever alloy their armor was made of. The attack, of course, caught the other foes by surprise.
"Contact." The Spartan voiced through Radio just as the rest of the SG teams appeared out of the smoke. The Spartan heard a clack as a steel-toed combat boot hit body armor and looked back to see actually dead Jaffa laying on the floor, filled with shrapnel. The 40-mikes had done their job and cleared out a pair of gun emplacements, surprisingly enough. The Chief took a knee, shouldering his rifle and squeezing off another burst just as the hostiles got their bearings and started returning fire.
O'Neill dropped onto his stomach, extending the spindly stock of his HK MP5 and shouldering the weapon. He called out to SG-10 jokingly, "You missed some!"
"Left some for you, colonel!" The major shot back as one of his men opened fire with an M60 LMG. Teal'c followed up the cannonade with his Staff weapon's own malicious bark. A ball of superheated gas slammed into a Jaffa farther away and burned through him, dropping him to the floor like a sack of armored potatoes. Chief gave an approving nod to Teal'c's marksmanship while O'Neill and the rest of the SGC personnel opened fire once more.
Chief watched one of the bastards aim his staff at him. He drew his M6 and put one right between the man's eyes, before sliding the pistol back into its mag-lock and reloading his near-empty MA5. He looked to O'Neill, then tilted his head to the left, asking if they should press the advantage. The colonel gave their supersoldier friend a nod, before calling out "Advance! Marching fire!"
A sound tactical call if Chief had ever heard one. He stood to his feet, pushing toward the Jaffa that were now perched up on a hill to the left of the gate, stopping every four paces to fire, while the infantry leapfrogged behind him and the heavy weapons teams followed. M60s and M4s chattered, Goa'uld Staff Weapons barked and grenades detonated across the advance. The M203s proved a godsend and SG-10 was clearly capable, supporting the advance with their heavy weapons, taking out tightly-packed Jaffa with dead-on hits from their explosive launchers.
The Spartan was leading the strike team as the tip of the spear, raking targets whenever he spotted them. Cortana, meanwhile, parsed through the data the armor's sensor suites were giving to see if she could track the device that sent them here. By the time she'd gotten a conclusive answer from the data stream, the group had cleared out most of the area and forced the Goa'uld troops into a disorderly retreat, by which point the Colonel had ordered them to halt and assess damage and ammo count.
Chief still had enough mags, he figured. He flicked off his output mic, then asked "We got a target?"
"I'm tracking a frequency matching something familiar to us, Chief. Suit's sensors don't give me an accurate distance, but going by what little data I have, it's at our two o'clock." Cortana explained, "I've also excluded Jaffa power sources from our little search parameter, before you ask. Whatever their stuff uses, it's easy to distinguish from our isolated power source."
The Colonel took a knee by Chief and asked "We got a bead on where to go, Chief?"
"At our two o'clock." The Spartan answered, "Distance unknown."
"Well, damn, we're gonna be trekking for a while, then." Jack observed. He looked back to SG-10 and gave them two hand-signals. The team scattered, setting up defensive positions around the Gate as the rest of SG-1 gathered up around the Spartan and officer, then they took off down the heading given by Cortana and relayed by the Chief. Entering the treeline and presumably vanishing out of sight of SG-10, the team maintained a loose wedge formation as they advanced.
The thick vegetation made traversing with care a priority. Slowly and methodically, the team scanned both the ground and the tops of trees for possible ambushes. Chief skirted around bushes, keeping his eyes down and locked onto the floor and on his motion tracker. Far in the distance and high above, they could hear the whir of enemy aircraft, the Death Gliders.
The Goa'uld presence was heavy. The team had had to avoid several patrols, managing to do so only by the skin of their teeth. Apophis, or whomever he gave command of this operation to, must've wanted SG-1's heads. Badly. Faint gunfire still echoed in the distance, punctuated by the wail of plasma weaponry used by the Goa'uld. Jack had called for a stop near the edge of the forest they'd now arrived by to check in.
"SG-10, this is SG-1. What's your status?" He asked.
"Goa'uld troops've been hitting us for the past hour, sir, but they're few in number. I think they're more focused on tracking you and your new teammate down." The commander of SG-10 replied, "We're doing alright, so far. We've seen a few Gliders, but they always turn back before they reach the 'Gate. We had to ask SGC to send extra ammo in via MALP, though, so that's something."
"Roger that, major. Chief, how far away are we from this... Thing?" Jack then asked the Spartan, who replied with a tilt of his head toward the clearing ahead, which led to the side of a cliff face that had a multitude of caves and paths. Jack hummed, then nodded and said "Alright. We'll be back in a few, hopefully. Chief thinks we found, at least, the entrance to the thing."
"Copy, Colonel. We'll keep our eyes peeled and our guns loaded. Y'all just make sure you return safely." The Major replied, "SG-10, out."
"Well, then..." Jack patted the Spartan on the shoulder, feeling another slight zap of energy from his shields. "Ow..." He shook the hand that got zapped, then said "Keep up the pace, Chief. We'll be right behind you." as all of them stood to their feet. They moved at a brisk running pace toward the entrance of the cave system that Cortana pointed out via NAV Point.
Turning the flashlights on their guns on, the team moved in a column as they entered the cave, scanning the walls for any hostile movement or possible threats. Delving deeper and deeper into the system led them down a narrowing path, that only allowed them to travel as they had entered, in a column with only the front and back able to shoot. Teal'c took up rear position just before they'd gotten to this passage.
Still, it was narrow enough that the Chief had to keep his rifle at the hip. Ahead, a faint blue light started to glow, to which the Chief halted. Sam looked ahead and asked "What do we got, Chief?"
"... Something." Murmured the soldier.
"... Helpful, but what?" Jack quipped.
"... I'm not sure if I'm reading this data right... We may have to get closer." Cortana told the Chief, "From my scans... The area ahead should open up into some sort of antechamber..."
The team moved on further and closer to the light. The sound of metal echoed from below them as their boots, armored or otherwise, landed on a floor made out of an unknown material. Chief peered down at it, to see wisps of light running through micron-thin follicles that ran through said metal in familiar, alien patterns, forming symbols and markings that he had seen several times before.
Thumbing the button of his flashlight to turn it off, the Spartan entered the wider main corridor of the cavern antechamber first, scanning his surroundings with his rifle. Silver, etched metal supports lined the walls. They were smooth to the touch and arched up to form a dome-like structure around the central part of the antechamber. A console with a holographic display sat on a pedestal in the middle of the room, multiple struts extending from it to the dozen support pillars around like the rays of the sun in a child's drawing. Between the struts, alien 'glass', or some sort of transparent material, also teeming with symbols unseen and unknown sat, blue lights shimmering and shining through it.
"... This is incredible..." Sam remarked, looking at the walls of the antechamber. She looked back to Daniel and asked "Recognize any of these...?"
"None..." Daniel said worriedly, taking a knee by one of the pillars and taking out a camcorder.
"Uhh... Teal'c?" Jack looked to the Jaffa, noticing he was just as confused as them as he looked around, mouth slightly open due to disbelief. Jack then turned to the Chief, watching as he lowered his weapon and approached the console. He followed, asking "Chief, you sure you know what you're doing?" with a slight air of authority. He stopped on Chief's left.
The Spartan nodded.
"Tech's familiar to you?" Sam asked, taking Chief's right side and watching as the symbols they found etched and shining on the walls danced on the hologram. Chief nodded again, slinging his rifle onto his back. All three gazed past the console, to see a pedestal lined with even more holographic iconography and a shimmering, blue pillar of light shooting out of the top and into the ceiling.
"Well. That's not ominous." Jack murmured, "Any ideas, Chief?"
"Activating the console should give us some answers." The Spartan replied.
"I don't like that idea... Carter, Daniel?" He asked them.
"Can't translate these, Jack. The symbols are... Not in any ancient language I know." Jackson reported.
"And I've never seen this tech before, but Chief has." Sam remarked, looking over the item, "It kind of looks like a DHD..."
"Right..." Jack sighed deeply, "You sure you know what you're doing, Chief?"
The Spartan nodded twice, quickly. Jack shrugged and turned toward Daniel. Cortana started briefing the Chief on what to do. He first moved the top symbol, one resembling a 'turn-off' button, down to the center of the console. Following that, he took two esoteric-looking geometrical shapes and brought them together over the interface, slowly, before pushing them down into the center. Following that, he took the bottom-most symbol, a circle with several ancient scribbles in it, and brought it up to the device's center.
The console flared, flashed and then vanished. A bright light then enveloped the entire room, almost blinding everyone but the Chief, whose visor polarized almost immediately upon making contact with the light particles. Even that was damn near blinding... As the team blinked away the sudden burst, their vision slowly returned. Around them, hundreds of small dots were floating, a holographic display emanated by the pillar behind the central console.
"My God..." Carter murmured, looking at the devices, "This is..."
"A map." Daniel remarked as he recorded it.
"Not just any map. One of the entire Stargate network, from the looks." Sam remarked, before pointing at one star and noting "There, that's Tollana. And over here, it's Abidos. Here, Earth." She looked on with awe at the map, before noticing several planets had 'markers' of some kind pointing toward them. She hummed, then said "Curious... The planets pointed out on this map are worlds we've never visited."
"Can we... Store the gate coords? Maybe it'll lead to some more answers about the Chief." Jack asked, uneasy.
"Looks like a Cartographer, alright... At least from initial scans." Cortana remarked to only the Chief, "It's pointing out planets with Stargates, as Carter mentioned, though, so... I can save the data on the armor's drives, Chief. These're spots we do need to visit, provided we want any of our questions answered. You can hand the Chip over when we're back in the SGC... I'll transfer the data into their computers."
The Spartan nodded, but paused as he heard the thunder of armored boots. He showed everyone to rally up, before slamming the console to shut off the device and taking cover behind one of the pillars that protruded from the walls. O'Neill and the others followed suit, taking cover behind anything they could find, including the console itself in doctor Jackson's case.
"That's about ten Jaffa. Counting one Goa'uld, too..." Cortana said, "Probably their CO."
"Ten Jaffa, one Goa'uld." Chief whispered, thumbing the safety of his MA5. Jack swore to himself, then shouldered his MP5 and hid as best as he could. Carter looked to the Chief as if asking how they managed to track them, before grabbing her own weapon. Having hidden themselves as best they could behind the walls and pillars of this place, the team watched as the Jaffa filed in, with their leader, a man in a silk red robe, with dark skin and short black hair, in the center. Before them, sat Apophis. System Lord, Goa'uld and, currently, one of the greatest threats to Earth.
And he was looking through the room of Forerunner technology with wide, fearful eyes. He called out to his men to fan out and be ready. The Jaffa around him seemed uneasy as well, scanning the walls for any sort of hostile movement. A faint, but sharp whir echoed through the room, one that Chief's helmet had picked up. His motion tracker flared with movement. Cocking his head back and looking up above the pillar, he saw them:The vents and tunnels through which Sentinels would travel.
The first of the combat drones, a central body made up of metallic boons, two diagonally-placed arms, a shimmering blue sensor eye in the center and a beam weapon attached to its belly, exited the left tunnel, turning to face the Goa'uld. All of them trained their plasma weaponry on it... But were taken aback by three, then five, then ten more appearing from the tunnels and forming what amounted to a three-dimensional firing line.
Chief showed his team to keep their weapons down and on safe, turning to the Drones and whispering to Cortana "What can you tell me?"
"Well... I can sense the algorithm from here and... They're non-hostile to us for now." She remarked, "Just don't let any stray rounds hit them..."
The first drone dipped down, approaching Apophis. It gave him a once-over, letting out a loose series of noises that resembled beeps and chirps as it scanned him. Apophis stared it dead in the eye, angrily, the hand with his device trembling as if he prepared to strike at it. Finally, the Drone 'spoke'. It spoke to the System Lord, before its eye flared scarlet.
"... Jaffa..." Apophis gritted his teeth, "KREE!"
Of course, without even waiting for confirmation, the ever-loyal Serpent troopers opened fire. Plasma struck the walls, scorching them and the shields of the Drones, staggering the first few of them. The barrage of plasma blasted at the Forerunner warforms with disregard, halting only when Apophis himself ordered them to. With wide, fearful eyes, the Jaffa and their master regarded as the staggered drones, though damaged, remained afloat.
Apophis couldn't order the retreat in time. The first beams of energy lanced forward like the stingers of angry wasps, slashing the first line of Jaffa and boiling their armor, almost welding it to their bones and skin. Following that up, the other drones engaged. These ones wielded non-laser weapons. Golden plasma balls lashed out like tongues of fire, slamming into the Goa'uld with all the force of a sun exploding, effectively vaporizing two Jaffa.
Apophis called out to his troops and they scrambled out of the antechamber, ten drones in hot pursuit. All of this happened under the eyes of a shocked SG-1 and a worried Chief. One of the drones that remained in the chamber turned to face SG-1. More specifically, it turned to face the Chief. Approaching him, it started its scan while the Spartan held his gun trained on it. He showed everyone else to hold, only lowering his gun as he saw its eye turn blue.
"RECLAIMER" It vocalized in a monotone, robotic tone.
"... Uh... Chief?" Jack looked to him, "Care to explain?"
"It's... A long story, sir." The Spartan lowered his rifle, feeling his heartbeat finally. It was a pulse of almost 140, according to armor statistics, "I'd suggest we leave. Got all the coordinates?"
"On the camcorder." Reported Daniel, "And I agree... Let's get out of here before these things... Whatever they are... Decide they don't like us anymore." before picking up their gear. The team mobilized and left the place as fast as they could. They ran the distance between them and the gate, effectively cutting down the time from damn near an hour to thirty minutes, even with breaks in-between to actually breathe. Up above them, the 10 drones had begun hunting enemy aircraft, to the point that when SG-10 saw SG-1 approaching, the major leading them was able to witness a Death Glider being shot out of the sky.
"Holy shit, Colonel, what did you guys even find?!" The man asked.
"Something that looks like they hate Goa'uld as much as we do, now, c'mon! Let's dial out before they decide they don't like the Chief anymore!" Jack ordered, moving to the DHD as two of the drones flew overhead, arching back toward what looked to be a Ha'tak, a Mothership, that was taking off. Their beam weapons slashed and cut into the massive warship's shields and said ship couldn't track them with their superheavy cannons. The drones were too tiny. So, it was making its escape.
More drones appeared, plasma weaponry scoring hits on the shields while it took off. With a loud whoosh, the Gate opened and the soldiers, SG-1 and SG-10, piled on out through the gate. The last soldier entered and the gate shut down behind them as Apophis's warship escaped, firing several blasts of energy into the mountainside to destroy their attackers.
Punching through the event horizon into the Gate Room, the soldiers of the SGC and the Chief stopped, turning to face the gate as it shut down. Hammond entered the SGC, speaking "Dare I ask?" before watching them turn around. Jack smiled in a more friendly demeanor, before openly stating to the General "We got some data. No definitive answer of where Chief popped in from, but..."
"... I see... What of the Goa'uld forces on the planet?" He asked.
"I'm gonna say they're either dead or running." Jack remarked, then turned to Chief, "Thanks to big guy over here and his friends..." then back to a confused Hammond and finished off "Better if we tell you during the debrief, sir. It's a long story. One I hope Chief doesn't mind regaling us with." He smirked. The Chief hummed, then nodded to his COs and to the others, slinging his weapon on his back.
Well, not like he planned to keep any of it a secret...