Stargate Revealed: Power & Politics, Part 19
by Livi2Jack

Summary: Jack is a hero again. The battle rages on. Intrigue continues. Ba'al is no fool.

Rating: T

Pairings: None

Category: Action/Adventure, Drama, Humor, Mystery, Point Of View, Other

Related SG-1 Episode(s): 703 Fragile Balance, 817 Reckoning, Part 2, 901 Avalon, Part 1,

Related Atlantis Episode(s): 201 The Siege, Part 3

Featured Characters: Jack O'Neill, Jack's Clone, Samantha Carter, Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, Hammond, and Hayes.

Author's Note: Spoilers for Season 9+.

Feedback is requested.


Chapter 19: The Battle of the Little Big Dipper
"My Lord, we are being bombarded by tiny devices." The Goa'uld subordinate at the command console of Ba'al's Mothership dispatched other Goa'uld crew to the various locations.

After the recent defeat of the Goa'uld, the remaining System Lords had very few Jaffa left who would serve them. And the number of Goa'uld was severely diminished as well. The situation created a trained manpower shortage on the fleet. Not wanting to rely on mere humans for critical crew positions, the System Lords decided to staff the more important ships and positions with other Goa'uld. It was a risk, but there were few mature symbiotes to go around now. The chances one or two could rise to power were slim. They would compete with each other first. And the surviving Queen had yet to produce more than one spawn of prim'tah who would take years to mature. The latest Commonwealth effort had killed the only other Queen in Ba'al's control. So, Ba'al's Mothership had the most number of Goa'uld on board.

"What do you mean by tiny devices?" Ba'al activated his command screen. More bridge activity indicated a situation had developed. "Our shields are active. Perhaps it is some sort of space debris taken up through the exhaust vents."

"No, My Lord. These are micro-machines. They may be Replicators, My Lord." The bridge officer was getting concerned. Another bridge officer ran out to direct the countermeasures.

"That's impossible. We wiped out the Replicators months ago. I am certain since even the Asgaard consider the matter closed in this galaxy and the four galaxies next to us. They worked with us to activate distant gates simultaneously when we implemented the Ancient device on Dakara." And that fool Nerus tried to say he had done it alone. Humph. Ba'al commed his other mothership. The discussion indicated they too were under some kind of mechanical attack.

"My Lord how is it possible that we have been attacked while in hyperspace? Nothing can move between ships during the voyage. It is a fact." The duty officer continued to monitor reports from all over the fleet. "Many Al'kesh ships reports infiltration. And these devices are multiplying."

"What are they doing?" Ba'al checked the readouts.

"We don't know. Other than re-assembling into larger units, nothing right now."

"Emit a strong electro-magnetic pulse in the affected areas. And try to capture a sample as fast as possible." Ba'al began the calculations.

"My Lord, the pulse required will render our shields useless and damage our communications and propulsion." The officer directed personnel toward the infestation. He listened to more reports. "The things are so small that they form an array in and of themselves over a wide distance. Some are the size of single-cell organisms like bacteria. It will take an enormous pulse to get even a majority of them."

"My Lord," another Goa'uld officer entered the room. "We have reports that our exhaust vents are blocked by the micro devices. Attempts to flush out the vents are useless. Staff weapons have no effect. We have even sent self-propelled drones to ream out the vents to no effect. The core will overheat soon. Your orders?"

"Blow out the vents by sending Death Gliders through them to ream it out." Ba'al ordered and checked his own plot of the infected parts of the ship.

"But, that will damage the vents. And there will be secondary damage, My Lord," protested the Engineering Officer.

"Better than overheating and exploding. Now do as I command." Ba'al sat back with a look of concern. "Bring the ship out of hyperspace and slow down to let the fleet re-group and cool off the engines while we solve this problem."


"My Lord Admiral," the Commodore's hologram on the bridge of the Base Ship 'O'Neill the Great' stood waiting to deliver his message. Admiral Zay lifted his head from the reports that held his concentration.

"Yes?" Admiral Zay's tired countenance showed the strain of years of stress. Even in a society, which prolonged its life spans and youthful appearances, Zay wore his burdens on his face as never before.

What the crew did not know was that Lady Anna had assumed power as the Regent today. He knew. It had always been the plan since the Goa'uld torched one of the Commonwealth's planets, killing off most of the Royal Family. The King was unprepared and incompetent. He was truly despised for his weakness by the masses. But Lady Anna was their champion. While her opponents exploited fanatics and the religious establishment, Lady Anna worked the situation to build a defense force and a strong political base. Today, she was in charge...of everything. Zay had no problem with that fact. But he was not going to take chances telling the crew and creating a distraction at the moment battle began.

"The enemy fleet just dropped out of hyperspace 12 light hours from Earth's solar system. Our mines seem to have done their work." He bowed to the Admiral. Both men felt satisfaction. It was one thing to make these new devices work in a test situation. It was a whole other matter to do it in battle.

"Let us praise Our Great Lady's determination and foresight." Admiral Zay meant it. Lady Anna was his cousin and childhood friend. He had been her greatest supporter throughout her life. And now all their efforts, struggles, and planning had come to the moment of truth. Could the human race defend itself against powerful predators? Could it stand on its own hind legs and roar?


"What just happened?" Jack looked over to Daniel and the two Earth Scientists for an explanation.

"It looks like the approaching fleet just dropped out of hyperspace, General." The balding middle-aged scientist offered apprehensively.

"Um, yeah, that's what this readout says, Jack. They just dropped out somewhere over 60 times the distance between Earth and the Sun. That's past the Kuiper Belt." Daniel continued to read the data stream over the Ancient Chair where Jack sat. "I guess that means they are here."

"What's that," asked the other scientist? The first one gave him a look that said 'dummy.' "Hey, I am a computer scientist not an astronomer." He got angry. "This is stressful enough without the attitude."

"Hey, that's enough!" Jack corrected them. "For your information, the Kuiper belt is out past Neptune, up to somewhere about 50 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun. The Kuiper Belt contains the short-term comets, like Hailey's Comet that takes less than 200 years to appear." He saw their amazed expressions. "Astronomy is a hobby." Jack shrugged and went back to manipulating the data.

"You don't think the telescope on his roof is just to look at the neighbors, do you?" Daniel raised his eyebrows at them and huffed.

"Oh, no, sir, no we never would think, oh definitely not," answered the two men who retreated to the far side of the area.

"Well, not initially," confessed Jack sotto voce to Daniel.

Daniel's special Commonwealth communicator fashioned to look and function like a cell phone rang. "Jackson." He listened intently. "I'll ask him." Daniel pressed mute and spoke to Jack. "It's Sam. She says she ran into a problem at the dig. The technicians went in, saw it, experienced equipment problems, came out and went back to retrieve it. They never returned. And now no one can get in anymore. Not even folks with the Ancient Gene. What can that thing tell you?" Jack tried to find the information. Something appeared but it did not seem to apply. Or at least neither Daniel nor Jack could figure it out.

"Gimme that." Jack held out his hand for the phone. "Carter? That you?" He listened to the long explanation. "Ack, enough, just come here. We have some data we don't understand. But, don't tell anyone where you are going. And Colonel Carter, go up to the baseship first and have them transport you here. They have this place secured. You won't arrive in one piece otherwise." He hung up.

Jack spoke to his security chief, "Colonel, please inform the Commodore on the 'DanielJackson' that I want Carter transported here. And ask him how long before the Sarcophagus arrives for her." Jack pointed to Lady Anna's stasis pod. "And have some more food sent down. I'm hungry."


"Captain, we have the human slaves secured and the base commander in custody." The First Officer of the Commonwealth Starship 'Enterprise' commed his commander, Captain Jack O'Neill. Jack's clone thanked him for the notice.

"What about any Jaffa? We get some?" Captain Jack wanted to know. He looked over to his guest and watched for any reaction. Teal'c was not giving anything away. "Ok, have them transported to the prison ship for a debriefing. I'll be along in a moment."

"Teal'c, you want to see this?" The young man with the burnished high cheekbones and bushy brown hair was a study in contradictions to the Jaffa. He was O'Neill and not O'Neill.

"Indeed." Both stood. Teal'c let Captain Jack; as he was learning to term the clone, lead. Moving through the ship to the brig, Captain Jack tried to observe the Jaffa he still thought of as friend and realized that the man did not feel the same. A note of sadness passed his mind, but he shuffled it aside. New beginnings meant change. They stopped just before going into the guard station. Jack turned to Teal'c.

"T, listen, I know you have your doubts about all of this. You don't think I am who I think I am but I am who I think I am, I think. Ok, what I mean is I am for all intents and purposes Jack O'Neill. That being said, I have to know that you aren't going to do something, well, in opposition to this mission." He waited for a reply. Teal'c considered.

"You are not the same man. You have the same memories. But you are a unique individual, Captain." Teal'c regarded the Captain impassively. "What do you want from me here?"

"I want your cooperation. We have to make the bad guys understand that straying too far from home is a bad idea. Sometimes we hit a pocket of Jaffa still loyal to the Goa'uld. You could make the difference between a big battle and a successful negotiation for their surrender. Sometimes, they just need a reason to revolt. Sometimes, they want to fight. Either way you could be a big help." Jack stopped. The lack of reaction was disturbing. If Teal'c had accepted him, then there would have been some other response. "What?"

"What do you do with them if they surrender?"

"What do you want to do?"

"That's not my question."

"The ones who agree to accept Tretonin and lose the snake are given choices. Otherwise, we send them to a planet without a Stargate." Captain Jack waited. He knew that was not a perfect solution. He also knew something else was bothering Teal'c.

"I see."

"What?"

"And those that take Tretonin?"

"We debrief them and ask them to work for us in various capacities."

"Indeed."

"Yeah."

"And if I want them to be sent on to the Free Jaffa on Dakara?"

"Then we do it on a case by case basis." Jack waited for Teal'c to think it over. "We have to be certain that they do not change their minds. And we are not ready to let them discuss how we managed our victories. The less they know the better. But those that work for us and do know anything related have to stay for a while."

Teal'c noticed the use of the pronouns 'we' and 'us.' Captain Jack was truly Commonwealth. "And what about my Jaffa delegation and me?"

"What about you?"

"When this mission is over, will we be free to return to Dakara or Earth?"

"Sure." Jack had hesitated a moment too long. And Teal'c gave no sign he noticed.


"My Lord, the electro-magnetic burst did not work!" The bridge officer turned in dismay to Ba'al, the Supreme System Lord of the new Goa'uld Empire. Another report of more infiltrations passed on the screen from the other mothership with the fleet.

"We have not been able to capture one of the devices. As soon as we locate them, they seem to disappear and reappear elsewhere. They are all over the ship now. They are in every important system. We have tried to flush them out by shutting down whole sections. But they just re-locate." The image of Ba'al's principal commander from the other mothership cut out several more times and turned to static.

The lead mothership rocked from explosions. Lights flickered and resumed on secondary power cells.

"Re-route power through auxiliary power cores. Repair crews are to initiate separation of the main command center from the body of the ship. Have a Glider make contact with the other mothership and have the core there rendezvous at the agreed coordinates. Have every Al'kesh that is still functioning enter hyperspace and immediately launch every glider as soon as they re-enter normal space in Earth's solar system." Ba'al considered for a moment. Then he made a few adjustments and smiled. "We shall eliminate this threat to the Goa'uld. The Hak'taur woman will become host to my queen. And the Tau'ri will never disturb the Goa'uld again."

"Separation is complete, My Lord. We have the other mothership core and half the Al'kesh with us again. We can reach the Earth System in seven minutes." The bridge officer relaxed a little. Ba'al was indeed a most powerful god. After all, he had survived Anubis to become the Supreme System Lord.


"Sir, good to see you." Carter approached the tall man concentrating on the data above him. He lowered his gaze to smile at her. "Daniel." Sam looked around. The Commonwealth soldiers moved to stand between her and O'Neill. Their weapons were drawn and obviously she was the target. The blonde officer in dress uniform spun around with a questioning look at the General.

"Take it easy, stand down, Colonel. She's with me." Jack's new Chief of Security approached Carter and nodded. His subordinates passed more devices around her to be certain she was not armed. By then Sam was shivering. "Somebody get her cold weather gear." A blanket appeared while a parka was located. "He's been assigned for my protection." The silver-haired general threw out a thumb towards the Commonwealth Colonel.

Daniel handed Sam a steaming cup of hot coffee. She looked at the doughnuts, longingly. Then the slim athletic woman managed to resist the urge. The men grinned watching the internal struggle to avoid Kripsy Kremes. "Sir, what did you want me to see?" His gaze directed her attention to the plot of the approaching ships. They seemed to stop and change. After a while, different configurations appeared, grouped, and set off again.

"It says that the enemy task force briefly left hyperspace twelve light hours beyond Neptune. Then they jettisoned some of the parts of their ships and continued on." Daniel pushed his glasses up his nose and rubbed a hand over his face. "Now they are out in the Kuiper belt resuming the journey."

"Then their arrival at Jupiter will be about 40 minutes after they come out of hyperspace around Neptune." Carter did some math. "Sir they could be near Earth ten minutes after that."

"So, we are looking at an ETA of under one hour?" Daniel asked her. He looked at Jack who was playing with the images.

"It will take longer." Jack seemed certain.

"And you know this how, sir?"

"I have seen the defenses."

"Jack, we saw them lose their defenses. The base on Saturn's moon just blew up." Daniel was excited and speaking rapidly again. "It was glorious charge with insufficient hardware and no preparation. Jack, it was just like Custer's Last Stand! Unprepared. Undermanned. Underpowered. They got over run by the Goa'uld. In another ten years it will be known as the Battle Of The Little Big Dipper!


"Mr. President, we have a video conference call from someone claiming to represent Ba'al." The diminutive Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman interrupted the briefing. He lowered the screen and connected the call. All heads swiveled to focus their attention and surprise. On the screen, Ba'al's face appeared. He sneered and then in a patronizing voice addressed President Hayes.

"So you are the leader of these pathetic humans?" Ba'al gave him a once over that left no doubt the President was found wanting. "No matter, we have a proposition for you."

"Oh, and what would that be?" Hayes acted bored and disinterested. He could play this game too. "We're a little busy at the moment. Your gloating doesn't interest us." Hayes turned away and raised his hand to signal the Chief to disconnect the call.

"My proposition is simple. If you want to live, you will give me those whom I seek. And, you will make some other small concessions." Ba'al smirked. He knew they were listening.

"What are you blathering about, sir? I don't have time for guessing games." Hayes grinned back. "Get on with it, man."

"No doubt you are aware that my fleet is rapidly approaching Earth. Our numbers insure our success. Your worthless allies could not prevent our arrival. Oh, they tried. And they failed...miserably." Ba'al let his malevolent demeanor bring the seriousness of the situation to each person around the table. "We know what happened to the fort in the outer system. These Hak'taur were crushed in mere minutes." He let that information percolate through their minds. "And we are aware that you are without your Asgaard protectors. They didn't come. And they won't. We made certain of that."

"So what's your point? You do go on. Spit it out." Hayes chuckled back. In poker, sometimes you have to bluff and bluff big.

"I want the Earth Stargate. I want all the new technology from the Hak'taur. You see I am a reasonable god. My wrath can be appeased. And I have become, fond, of your little world. It has its charms." Ba'al snickered and then pretended to be sincere. The reactions of the men around the table were to snort in disbelief. "To demonstrate your compliance, the first sacrifice I demand is O'Neill and the Hak'taur woman. No one defies his god and lives. You must learn this lesson. In my benevolence, I shall allow the people of Earth to live relatively undisturbed so long as my interests are not attacked on your world." Ba'al paused pretending to be affable. "And if you give me the two I seek quickly, I shall return the leaders who are presently, my 'guests.' Defy me and you assure your own doom."

"Is that all? You must be joking." Someone threw a wadded up paper ball at the screen.

"Oh don't bore me with your threats." Hayes looked back in annoyance. "Don't you want us to worship you, too?" He was laughing. "Don't let the suit fool you. We're gonna fight."

"I know that Earth is naked before me. Give me the little I ask and all this unpleasantness can be avoided." Ba'al smirked and dissolved as the transmission ended.

"Options?" President Hayes sat down tired. It had been a whole day since he slept.

"Wouldn't worry about it, sir." Hammond grunted in disgust. "They all talk this way. He obviously thinks we would react differently to the abductions. Now he finds out we don't care. He'll just try something else. I just talked to Dr. Jackson. He gave us a blow by blow description of the Battle of the Little Big Dipper. It just doesn't add up. She spent way too much time over here to have barely enough resources to kill some Death Gliders from a couple of Ha'taks. And her cohorts act surprisingly unconcerned about the whole thing. It seems that Jack wasn't kidding. We just don't know what all she's got up there."

"Can we really trust them that much?" The SecDef was incredulous that Hammond was calm.

"I trust Jack." Hammond replied.


"Good one, Daniel. Funny. I like funny." Jack reached for another doughnut. He looked unconcerned by the analysis.

"Even if you suppose something survived it can't be effective anymore. Although it did take out most all of the Gliders from the three Ha'taks already here." Daniel countered. "Jack, you have to get serious. The situation is dire."

"Those are not the only defenses, Daniel. She has much, much more." Jack turned his gaze toward Sam. "Carter, what did you want to tell me about the Ark?"

"Sir, I think that the barrier is acting like a computer security system. If the right password is not entered after a few attempts, it locks out any more attempts for a period of time. We had people pass through the barrier five times. I am guessing they are still in there but I don't know for how long they have to stay. And we can't send any supplies in to them." Carter put on the parka and gloves. One of the guards brought her a space heater and seat. She sat down gratefully.

"You don't look so good there, Carter." Jack considered the fact she had been terribly wounded nearly 24 hours ago. Even with all the advanced medical know how, the toll on the human body had to be great. He knew he was just beginning to feel well again.

"I'll be fine, sir." She smiled to reassure herself and him. Daniel handed her another fresh mug of hot coffee, removing the previous cup." Anyway, we saw a sketch of the interior of the chamber and the object is still there. Lights were on. And, the air was breathable. That fact alone suggests that the air had to be circulated and purified before we entered. Sir, I'm guessing someone has already done reconnaissance recently. And I am betting it's them." She cocked a nod to the Commonwealth personnel.

"And, so, therefore, what?" Jack was losing patience. He didn't feel 100 percent either. And he was hungry.

"Jack, she's saying that they must have attempted the same thing earlier. And they couldn't remove it." Daniel got excited. "Jack, this is great!"

"How do you figure that?"

"Sir, Daniel's right. If they can't take it, then there is no danger of losing it. It makes sense that they would take a look once they located it. And probably, they even tried to remove it. Maybe they tried to transport it out. But it's still there. So they can't." Sam looked at Daniel and thought about her next question. "Daniel, do you know of anything which could be the combination or password that we have overlooked? Something that has to be done or said before we can move it?"

"I don't want to hear this." Jack sat up in alarm.

"Well, yes, I suppose. There is reference to how the High Priest would go in at a special time and do some prescribed things beforehand. There was a warning that if he didn't, he could die." Daniel frowned trying to remember. "I haven't read that part for a long time."

"Shut up, Daniel." Jack was up and out of the chair. "Is that subtle enough for you?"

"Why?" They asked in one voice.

"Just stand down, that's an order." Jack looked at the guards and the Team. He frowned at the guards. "We have bigger problems than to play Raiders of the Lost Ark right now. What do you say?" He pointed up. "Any minute the Goa'uld are going to come pounding on us. Now, focus on that."

"Ok, what do you want us to do, sir?" Sam went back to business. She was feeling better and color came back into her face.

"I want you to come up with a back up plan in case all her fancy toys don't do the job." Jack looked over at the stasis pod. "And I want you to figure out if she can be revived without a sarcophagus. It is late arriving and I want her up and functioning."

"I thought the Chair was the back up plan, sir." Carter looked at Lady Anna and frowned. "And as to her? Unless you can use the Ancient's healing powers yourself, I don't see how she can be cured. You can't just will a solution, sir."

"Where there's a will there's an 'or.' And you'll think of something, Carter. You have a way of pulling solutions out of your ass, er butt...um, ear, I meant head." He frowned at his faux pas and went back to surfing the information. Carter rolled her eyes. "Carter," Jack tilted the Chair upright and got out. "I am ordering you to put aside your personal reservations about her."

"Sir, I don't have any..." Carter objected.

"Sam, I think you do." Daniel interrupted. "Jack's right. It's obvious that you don't trust her. Sam, she did save your life."

"Yes, sir." Carter walked over to the Chair, deliberately avoiding the stasis pod. "What do we know about this besides it's a weapon and some kind of computer that can run the outpost and provide information?"

"We know it can conduct surveillance at a great distance. We know it can act like long-range radar, really, really long range. We know you can surf it like the Internet." Daniel was stumped for more explanation.

"If it is like the Internet, then can you also send messages across it?" Jack went to the doughnut pile. "I mean a sort of Instant Messaging thing or email?"

"Sir, you may have done it again." Carter sounded surprised.

"Thanks, Carter. Now, what did I just do?"

"You have a way of seeing things at their simplest," Sam grinned. "Sir, if this can communicate too, then would the other side need the same equipment or something similar?"

"I see where you are going with this. Something like Internet Phone Service." Daniel saw Sam nod and Jack draw a blank. "These days, the Internet can act as your phone. Calls can be placed over the Net instead of the land based traditional phone lines. Lots of people are disconnecting their landlines and going with Internet Phone Service. They've been sending faxes for years this way. And Commonwealth hologram communications do not require equipment on the receiving end. So maybe this doesn't either. The question is how far away can it call?"

"Okay, so maybe we can 'call' Thor or someone else using the Chair." Carter shrugged. "It's all I've got right now, but it's worth a try."

"Well what about that communications thingy we found at Glastonbury Tor in England and had to destroy?" Daniel was not eager to try that again. That time he found himself inside someone else in another galaxy and discovered the Ori or rather they discovered Earth. It was a bad day. "I mean maybe we could get a really wrong number?"

"I don't think so, Daniel." Carter postulated. "That was some sort of mobile system and from a much later time than this Chair. But you are right, we should be careful. Sir, focus on Thor and nothing else."


"Colonel Maybourne says this is the place." A man wrapped in flowing robes and headgear pointed at the door. " Remember, he wants them taken alive. Use zats. But don't risk your own lives. Are we clear?" Heads nodded.

"Sure, Lieutenant, and I kissed my arse good-bye this morning." The Earth team member spat out his gum in disdain. "So let's get the bad guys for a change. Anyone bother to bring a second dampening field. I didn't like walking around with my pants down around my ankles yesterday." Snickers went around the group.

"Now, fan out." The Lieutenant gestured at the two closest to take point. Part of the men filed into the courtyard. The rest went for their positions on the roof and the rear of the villa. Using hand gestures, the team got into position and then crashed through. One man tossed a Goa'uld grenade ball in a room off the hall. The bright light made certain anyone there was knocked out. More bright lights indicated anyone in the other rooms in the villa met the same fate.

A room by room search revealed little. Finally, the Lieutenant aimed a device at a wall. He gestured to the others. They all stood back and took cover. Small devices attached to the wall. And then the wall wasn't there. No sound or explosion tipped off the occupants. The team opened fire and took down three guards. The Earth member went for the window chasing someone out to the dusty alley behind. A few minutes later he returned dissatisfied.

"No. That one got away. What did we find here?" He looked at the women bound on dirty mattresses. It didn't take a genius to figure out what happened there. He commed for doctors. Then he sent the team to the next location while he waited for the medical team. Harry wasn't going to be thrilled but at least they got a few. He sighed. This was way better than being in the N.I.D. Only they didn't tolerate side deals.

"Ok, good work team." Maybourne's hologram spoke to the Lieutenant. "I think you should look for someone appearing to be less than what he is. Scout the area. We think the ashrak is using some kind of naquadah suppressant. We saw it on Kelowna. The Tok'ra have been working with us to detect the suppressant.

"Harry, I am beginning to think that Ba'al has them on a ship nearby. Have we detected any signs of a cloaked vessel in orbit or just beyond?" The Earth team member frowned.

Maybourne called up his data images of the solar system. "Any guesses where such a ship would be?" He looked at his aide.

"Yes, My Lord, and those places have all been scanned to no avail." The Operations Officer was sly. This one, thought Harry, has possibilities. He doesn't wait for instructions to do his job. "We have considered that they may also be dead by now. Then they would not register on any of our sensors."

"Could they just be on another planet? Do you think that Ba'al has another Stargate on Earth or on a nearby ship and got them out undetected?" Harry wanted to see who was on his toes and who was not.

"My Lord," the Ops Officer began again. "We have checked the emissions from all known SGC and Commonwealth Stargate connections for the past two weeks. There are two, which seemed to be anomalous. They originated deep underground in Antarctica. But we know that there is no gate there. Our scientists thinking it had something to do with powering up the Ancient Chair device since both are Ancient technology."

"And what have you done about it?" Harry was alarmed. If there was another Stargate below the Outpost, such a presence would compromise security and the Chair weapon. "We could have a security breach. Did any of you think of that?"

"Yes, and we have teams searching underneath the ice for additional structures. So far, nothing has been found. But it doesn't mean it wasn't there before." The Ops officer reported very professionally. "We did consider the implications and arranged additional force fields to be inserted below the Outpost."

"Yes, but did you consider that someone on the Outpost is now controlled by nishta? Or maybe we have a zatarc down there?"

"Lady Anna is in stasis and Lord O'Neill is there, working the Chair," the Ops Officer said to the staff in the office.

Maybourne stood up. "I want everyone on that site to get a zat blast, NOW. And anyone who didn't arrive with O'Neill is a zatarc suspect."

"I shall prepare the zatarc detector, My Lord. Indeed, Our Great Lady placed her faith in all of us for a reason." The Ops Officer was already on the com system and arranging the matter. Harry nodded approvingly. This one deserved more attention when this was all over.


"Sir, Ba'al has reached the Solar System," Colonel Checkov reported. "He made contact with the Americans. His demands are straightforward. He wants O'Neill and Lady Anna. The rest is probably negotiable. He wants the Stargate. And he wants all the Commonwealth technology already received." Colonel Chekov reported to Russia's Vice-President, during the SGC briefing's recess. Since the President of Russia had been abducted, the Vice-President assumed power with confirmation by the Duma or lower house of the Parliament.

The Russian Defense Minister was suspicious. "It's too little to merit mounting such an offensive considering all the resources they no longer have."

"We agree. President Hayes laughed him off. They think it is a ruse to create chaos among us while the battle draws near. What do you want me to tell them?" The ruddy-faced portly Russian Colonel waited on his end of the secured communications line in the SGC.

"Tell them I fear that we shall never get our leaders back no matter what. It's unfortunate but true. Tell the Americans we have mobilized our entire military, as they requested." The Vice-President knew he had to mobilize just to keep the internal situation under control. "And inform them that our operatives have narrowed the search for fanatic cells where the Goa'uld may be operating either here or through nishta controlled subjects. When we know something, we shall let them know."

"Yes, sir." But the line was already hung up. Chekov sighed heavily. Politics were in play. He knew the game. The old leaders were a write-off.

The Russian Vice-President didn't want President Mikhailov returned. What for? With a satisfied smile, the Russian V.P. realized he would take power and all would continue anyway without that fat obstruction of an amateur. As far as he could tell, no one wanted the abducted leaders back. All the successors were okay with this. They could blame the previous administrations for the lack of security and all the related problems. Now each one could take charge with wartime powers. This was a good thing. Ba'al did them an unwitting favor. Great.


Having set all his plans and drilled his troops, Admiral Zay took a nap. Interfering at this point would only take people away from their positions and assigned tasks. It was difficult not to meddle. But the Admiral had done his homework. He read about how General Eisenhower went to sleep once D-Day commenced. The theory was that his part was done. Now it was in the hands of those who would carry out the tactics and strategies planned long before. He had to rely on those below him to get the job done. But once he was up and refreshed, he wanted an update. The Commodore's hologram from the bridge reported to Admiral Zay in his office onboard his flagship 'the O'Neill.'

"Admiral, the enemy has arrived between Jupiter and Saturn. We count one larger ship, which does not match the usual mothership configuration. We can confirm seventeen Ha'tak class vessels, down from thirty-eight. And there are sixty-eight Al'kesh down from at least two hundred. Our first step drastically reduced their force. But it is still formidable."

"This confirmation of their strength puts an entirely different complexion on our tactical situation. The sheer numbers coming would have been bad enough under any circumstances. They must have Wannabe ships and crews among them. They cannot possibly be able to staff those ships with enough Jaffa and Goa'uld. And they would never rely on mere human troops. Those are just fodder for the battlefield to soften up the enemy lines."

Admiral Zay punched up a holoimage of Ba'al's fleet in system. He waited for the Commodore to finish his report. "The fact that they have brought the Wannabes just makes this situation worse. We don't know about their tactics. It's unusual that the Wannabes are taking part in a battle."

"What surprises me is the configuration of the largest ships. They must have come up with something new since we began this conflict." The Commodore speculated. "This is the first time we have seen these types. Knowing enough to build ships that can separate and recombine into other ships is our innovation. Do you think they have penetrated our shipyard security and come up with a countermeasure for our Base ships?"

"I think they must have figured out something. All it would take is an ambitious under-Goa'uld with enough IQ to seal his own shoes. They could have come up with this themselves." Admiral Zay didn't like it anyway.

"It's more likely that they copied us. They are scavengers. As for the new ship configurations, it looks like they've come up a little short on the execution end. Our analysis is that these new combinations are weaker than what they had before we mined them. And we know they are out there and where. But they still can't detect us. Unless they split their force, they can't pin us. And they are now deeply enough in system that they cannot easily make a hyperspace run toward Earth." The Commodore received a report from his aide. He turned back to the Admiral. "Sir, the plot of their course and speed is definitely Earth, not our bases. They don't know about them. And they will pass right by the Asteroid Base along the axis of our pod defenses."

Admiral Zay studied the displays and pondered options and alternatives. "No, this is too easy. Ba'al is not that simple minded.

"I agree, My Lord. We have begun Scenario Three. Our drones and sensor platforms above the plane of the ecliptic, as far out as the Oort Cloud, are cycling on active from passive. But we are keeping the ones in the Oort Cloud on passive, and also the ones on the other side of the plane of the ecliptic. There have to be more out there. Call it a feeling."

"My Lord, General O'Neill wants to talk to you." The Admiral's aide announced Jack's hologram. The Admiral was mildly annoyed at the distraction. Didn't the man understand he had one task and only one in this battle? O'Neill's battle station was the Ancient Chair. Period. But Lady Anna was with him. So it might be important. That was one weird relationship, Admiral Zay mused. Anyway, his questions would be about the defenses. What could this primitive hope to understand about such advanced robotic warfare?


On Ba'al's mother ship chaos reigned supreme. "My Lord, the micro-machines have begun again. Communications and life support systems are failing on three Ha'taks. We have reports of the things on several Al'kesh. The electro-magnetic pulses did not eradicate them. What is your order?" The Goa'uld subordinate at the communications station bowed low.

"Use a stronger pulse and do it again." Ba'al checked his own readings.

"My Lord, if we do it any stronger we shall damage our own systems beyond repair." The other bridge officer informed him.

"Are you defying me? I am a god. Do as I command." Ba'al managed to look unconcerned. The pulse was sent out. The ship rocked from explosions. One of the Ha'tak blew apart. Ba'al saw the spectacle and his face changed to worry. "Get me Second Unit's commander." The image appeared and bowed to the System Lord.

"Do not return from hyper space before I attack and the enemy has shown themselves. Then come from behind the sun to pin the enemy." The commander acknowledged.


Jack's hologram turned around to find Admiral Zay. "Oh, there you are. Listen, Admiral, we have a question down here. We want to know if we can plug into your FTL communications system to call your boys on K'tau? It's been hours since I sent a team to K'tau and we haven't had any word." Jack put his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. He wasn't going to tell this guy he could see the mess on K'tau. He wasn't going to reveal anything he didn't have to about the Chair's capabilities.

"We could but right now, that would expose us to the enemy. So far, they have no idea where our positions are. If you want to use the FTL Com, it had better be to come up with a better strategy than trying to call Thor." Admiral Zay knew about O'Neill's relationship with the Asgaard.

"Right. I can understand that. Look, Zay, we see the bad guys down here, too. But, Zay buddy, there's too many of them, even with what you've got." O'Neill wanted to tell him about his discovery about the Chair. But Zay was holding back too. "And I want to get Lady Anna to some real help. That Sarcophagus is not showing up any time too soon I take it?"

"It should be there in an hour. She'll have to wait." Zay frowned. The Med ship was overdue. "But don't worry about it, My Lord General. We have many more possibilities than you realize."

"I figured you might. What do your long range scanners show? Did you detect that they split their fleet?" I wonder what their detection capabilities are, Jack mused.

"That's very interesting, My Lord General. What did you see from the Ancient Chair?" Admiral Zay was all business.

"They left some ships about 12 light hours back. But the rest of the main force just arrived between Saturn and Jupiter. And there's ten large main ships plus supporting smaller types standing by in hyperspace ready to jump in from the opposite side of the sun from you and on the other side of the plane of the ecliptic from you. I'm guessing they aren't yours." Jack had a satisfied look on his face. "Have you detected those?"

"That is very valuable information, My Lord General. You may have saved the day." Admiral Zay responded. "If you see anything else, please inform us as soon as possible. And we shall follow-up on the Medship."

The exchange concluded. Both rang off. Pompous ass, decided Jack. He probably does not have a clue about the Medship situation. And he is lying about not knowing about the ships 12 hours behind.

Zay's patient smile fell off his face. Stroking the Lord General's ego required a tremendous amount of self-restraint.


The secondary part of the operation continued across the galaxy. Teaching the Goa'uld not to wander far from home had its own timetable. The ' Enterprise' commanded a smaller task force of light battle cruisers for precision engagements. The stationary targets were less of a problem for the smaller ships. And this division of labor enabled the Commonwealth to strike at will.

"Captain, we have the Wannabe station commander ready for the interrogation." The brig officer saluted smartly as Captain Jack and Teal'c approached the security area. The Wannabe shipyards around this planet were now in Commonwealth hands thanks to the expeditionary force led by O'Neill's clone. The officer lowered the force field giving Teal'c a wary glance. He ignored it and followed Captain Jack into the meeting. Teal'c was curious to learn more about this situation.

"So, you're the head honcho?" Jack looked at the pale man with the pronounced brow ridges and pointy ears. He had not seen one of the Goa'uld allies. "Anyone ever tell you that you look like an albino Klingon crossed with a Vulcan?"

Teal'c just looked at O'Neill with a startled reaction of disbelief. Well if he isn't the original, this Jack is close. He is certainly off the wall enough.

"I will not tell you anything, human." The man stood defiantly. "You may begin the torture. I will never break."

"Oh, I have already begun the torture. Hear that music?" Jack pirouetted and did a bump and grind motion, while pointing to the ceiling with a finger from one hand and then another. "It's disco."

"What? You dare mock me?" The Wannabe Commander demanded.

"Of course, I dare mock you. It's what I do." The deep-set brown eyes missed nothing. Jack looked him over again. "Here's the deal. I shall send you to the nearest Goa'uld world to tell your masters to stop messing with us. You take them a recording showing this complex is toast."

"That's two things, O'Neill." Teal'c observed in a monotone.

"Thank you, Teal'c." The tall bushy haired young man crossed his arms over his uniformed chest. He cut a fine figure of a Commonwealth starship officer.

"You are the Sholvah? And you, you are O'Neill?" The man looked confused. "But...?" Then he became alarmed. Then he panicked. "I do not wish to be sent to the Goa'uld. My failure will be my death."

"Not my problem."


Admiral Zay had the boyish good looks of a twenty-five year old. But he had the experience of a long life. Commonwealth people manipulated their DNA to live hundreds of years. The Admiral had served in the Commonwealth Admiralty Service for 60 years since graduating from the Academy. He was older than Lady Anna by a decade. Zay thought of her as his little sister. In fact, they were cousins. And they had much in common. Because of Anna's admiration for Zay, she had pursued a career as a starship captain. And Zay had encouraged her. Anna was a natural leader. Although she was a member of the Royal Family, she was sufficiently minor in status, so such duty was open to her.

After her successes as a commander, the King took notice and demanded that she take a detour to deal with diplomatic issues. Then, he made her divert into politics. The King saw talent and decided to develop it. He needed allies in the political structure. But, Zay stayed with the Service. And now, Lady Anna was his boss. Anna told him more than once that he was the only person in the entire Commonwealth that she could trust. Zay would never let her down. His toughest test came today. And, the strain of the years of planning and struggle to get to this moment played across that boyish face. He was worried he would fail his Lady and his people.

At 84 years old, Zay was a sly old fox. Zay had suspected that Ba'al split his forces. With Jack's information, he knew where to redirect his reconnaissance drones. After a few minutes, reports of another fleet hiding there confirmed what Lord O'Neill told him. Well, at least that man would prove useful in this engagement after all. He shook his head in wonder. Lady Anna called it right again. How that woman always seemed to know these things kept him guessing. She predicted O'Neill would be necessary. His cousin had an uncanny ability to see beyond the ordinary. Zay had to admit, if the decision had been up to him, he would have dismissed O'Neill back to his people with gentle thanks and kept going. It would have been a mistake.

Earth Force Advisors were now part of Zay's resources. The President's contractors still worked for him at the secret base. But their usefulness was more as a theorists, framers of general approaches and strategies. They could not understand the true capabilities of his people. So Zay could not use them on tactical issues. Zay's experts went to work on the strategic plans offered by the primitives. Sometimes Commonwealth experts could pick out an innovative idea and turn it to their advantage. More often, they had already thought of some of it. And the rest, well, their advanced capabilities made Earth Force suggestions irrelevant. So Zay was keeping an open mind about future possibilities. But Lord O'Neill was something special. His position as Lady Anna's Earth Force Advisor placed him in a unique position between the Admiralty and the Pentagon. Lord O'Neill was marginally useful in Zay's opinion. But, just when no one thought Jack could contribute anything, he kept providing something crucial. Once again, Lady Anna's Earth Force Advisor earned his title, thought Zay amusedly.

To Admiral Zay, Lord O'Neill was a study in contradictions. He was irreverent and disrespectful in the extreme. Yet, he was very gentle to Lady Anna, even caringly protective. There was some kind of strange understanding between them. Yet, O'Neill could barely use the words, 'My Lady,' to her. Zay knew the Lord General called his superior officer by her first name to her face, even in public sometimes. With irritation and a generous dose of sarcasm, he spoke roughly to her. His rude behavior stripped her arrival of solemn importance at the SGC. And she took it; handling the incident with true diplomatic aplomb and royal dignity; never letting her pique show. Jack spoke gruffly but his intentions were kind. Kindness from people at her level was rare. Mostly people offered polite formalities while looking for their own advantage. Jack spoke his mind. Anna had always valued truthfulness. And finding kindness and straight talk together was unheard of in the political cesspool of Commonwealth politics. Perhaps for this, Anna permitted Jack nearly everything. Certainly, he showed no respect and yet he did apparently have some. It seemed to Zay that Jack had enough respect to treat Anna as HIS equal.

Admiral Zay knew that this level of familiarity was unprecedented. The proper old school Admiral was mystified. The Commonwealth practiced a stratified system of manners not unlike medieval Japan. Not bowing in medieval Japanese society meant getting your head cut off. In the Commonwealth it could mean exile. Even the type of bow one person gave another under Commonwealth etiquette was ritualized, just as in the Japan of today. Bows to superiors are different from bows to equals. Bows between men and women are also different. Where these protocols originated were lost in all the mixing with peoples from various planets encountered. Commonwealth policy demanded intermarriage to refresh the gene pool and to secure alliances through mass marriages. All sorts of customs and ideas mingled as well. Like America, the Commonwealth was a melting pot of many peoples.

Yet, O'Neill barely tolerated bows. Zay saw Anna treat Jack with more tolerance and patience than any highborn royal lady had ever done with anyone, let alone a primitive functionary. A person behaving as O'Neill did towards her would have been summarily exiled, especially now that she was Regent. Zay and others were shocked that Anna permitted O'Neill to touch her. He was seen taking her hand; guiding her by her arm; touching her face; and handling her with the ease of intimate family association. Jack went everywhere with her. He even ate with her and handled her food, not that he understood the meaning of these privileges. In public, Jack was seen having many heated arguments with this leader of billions. Sometimes he didn't even manage one of those Earth salutes. The stern Admiral shook his head at the complete lapse of protocols the Supreme Commander of the Commonwealth Forces permitted her Lord General. He was outraged that O'Neill still did it knowing that Anna was the Regent of a society of 38 billion people on 24 planets, besides Earth.

The shocking reports on Anna's Earth visit were scandalous. Remembering the report of those nights in the woods, the cagey old gentleman shuddered. Anything could have gone wrong and nearly did. On Earth, she went to O'Neill's shabby home and accepted his crude hospitality, such as it was. Anna was always gracious woman in private. Running around a primitive world with a barbarian was just not necessary to be considered gracious. In Zay's opinion, Anna took too many chances. Zay noted that Anna had no fear of O'Neill. She should, thought the Admiral. No one in her position had ever exposed herself to so much danger, and yes, criticism. O'Neill was not a male relative; yet Anna spent time alone with him, risking scandal. Tongues were wagging in the Fleet and in certain circles at home. Going off alone to that dirty little shack was the sign of madness. And she did it TWICE! Zay knew Anna must be up to something. He couldn't imagine what. Zay didn't buy the story about the particle tags causing all this unseemly emotional attachment to that barbarian. Knowing Anna as her elder cousin did all her life, he had to believe something greater was at stake. And if there were tags, well his clever girl probably did them herself, although his scientists swore the Commonwealth didn't have the capability.

Zay brought his attention back to the immediate situation. Silently he studied the displays of the two task forces facing him this day in battle. He could try turning on either one with his entire force. And, maybe, he would have an excellent chance of defeating either one in isolation. But he would have to intercept one force before the second part of the enemy's force could come to its assistance. The bigger problem was what would happen if the enemy chose to avoid action with one force while pursuing with the other. That tactic might prevent the interception Zay wanted. Or worse, he might achieve the interception he wanted but with too tight a time frame to defeat the force he 'caught' before the other in pursuit 'caught' him. The dilemma had him stumped. There was too great a chance that the enemy would catch him between them instead of him catching them separated. Zay shook his head.

Admiral Zay knew that Lady Anna would expect him to exercise judgment and discretion in a case like this one. He believed he should stage a strategic retreat and try again elsewhere. His main concern was that he might be wrong. He didn't think he was, but he could be. And if he was, if he was over-thinking the situation, he would be throwing away a genuine opportunity to gut the Goa'uld alliance and their remaining wall of battle. The implications were overwhelming. Earth would fall under Goa'uld control. It would probably be temporary but no one could guarantee it. Zay decided to believe in Lady Anna. She had come this far with bold action. And she had been correct right down the line. If she said the battle had to be here today, then let it be so. He just worried that something had addled her mind considering her new relationship with O'Neill. Nothing about that situation made any sense to him.


Meanwhile, Jack was trying to make sense out of the images flowing above his head. With his mind he tried to direct the Chair to scan the solar system. All sorts of images floated by.

"Jack, do you see that flicker over there?" Daniel pointed to a shimmering image winking in and out at the far edge of the hologram above Jack's head. Jack was still surfing for information on the Ancient Chair device in the Antarctic Base. He was thinking about how to find a way to communicate with the Asgaard. It had him worried that he couldn't seem to find anything.

"Yeah, got it." The image seemed slightly clearer. "There, what the hell?" All three looked and saw the faint outline of an Asgaard vessel. "Is that...?"

"Yes, that's what the message says. It's Asgaard." Daniel took off his glasses and cleaned them on his black cotton undershirt. "They've been watching all this. The text says something about gravity displacement and an estimate of size. It's a big one."

"Thor?"

"I don't know. Could be. Why is it just sitting there? Why doesn't it do something?" Carter moved to see it better. "Sir, can you look inside the way you did at the SGC?" Daniel had filled her in on the eavesdropping. She didn't like it any more than Daniel did. But Jack was right. A threat assessment had to be done. Considering aliens were involved, no one could be sure who was doing what to whom. The tall Air Force colonel wondered how many more times SG-1 could be expected to save the planet. At some point, somebody else would have to receive the torch and run with it. A static filled image of the bridge of an Asgaard ship appeared with many little grey fellows speaking and running equipment.

"Can it tell us how long that thing has been there?" Daniel was on to something. Daniel spoke rapidly and seemed jumpy. The older man concentrated on that idea. Ancient devices worked based on thought. Jack was amazed at how much this chair device could do. If Anna had not said something to him, he would never have tried any of this. "Ah, it says it has been there for the past week." Daniel pursed his lips and squinted his blue eyes in anger.

"Sonofabitch! They weren't going to say anything. And they know how hard we have tried to contact them. Aw crap." Jack was furious. Inwardly he began to replay all the conversations he had had this week with Lady Anna about the Asgaard. She was not convinced that the Asgaard were such good guys. She kept telling him that the Asgaard had their own agenda. Well who didn't? And she said it probably did not coincide with human needs or goals. She was adamant that he understand one thing; the Asgaard were not human. And he mustn't believe that they thought like humans, or had the same morals and feelings. Lady Anna thought the Asgaard regarded humans as lab rats or lower beings. To them, human beings existed to serve the needs and purposes of greater races. But, Thor was a buddy wasn't he? Their ship was here. Maybe they were just waiting for the right moment.

"Jack, the Chair is translating some of the Asgaard conversations. And you won't like this." Daniel shot a worried glance at Jack. Carter gathered around the chair and tried to discern whatever she could recognize.

"What?"

"They are saying that they can't find you or Lady Anna. And they are looking frantically. The one over by that left-hand console is saying that he doesn't care what happens to all the stupid humans on that awful planet. But he has to find you and her." Nervously, Carter and Daniel watched Jack sit there taking it stoically. Daniel continued to translate. "They are confused why their tracking devices don't report on you both. They are saying that Thor is demanding to know what happened to you. And Jack, they are afraid of him."

"The tags, that's what they must mean." Carter shifted and cocked her head. "Sir, an intense field will interfere with those particle tags. You are in that Chair. Maybe while it works, it creates a shield around this area." Carter pointed up at the Asgaard in the image. "Now, they can't find you."

Could it be that Lady Anna was right? Something is wrong with the Asgaard. They know and they don't seem to care, thought Jack. The silver-haired career officer felt abused. After risking his life over and over for the Roswell Greys, Jack felt betrayed. He watched some more and cut the image. Jack made a decision. "We have to tell the President."


"My Lord Commodore, I am getting IDs on at least some of their largest ships from the remote platforms," the Sr. Battle Tactical Officer put in. "Nine match the recorded emissions that Intelligence reports for Wannabe ships."

"That's about a quarter of their original task force of Ha'tak class vessels. But Intelligence says they are different from the usual Goa'uld Ha'taks. These are supposed to have the latest hardware that Anubis left behind and Ba'al now controls." The ship's resident Intelligence Service (I.S.) spook reminded the bridge crew that the I.S. was on the job. Everyone was a little reticent around the man. The Intelligence Service was ruthless. For this battle, the ships were filled with their presence. Lady Anna was taking no chances that a crew would mutiny in an 'Act of Refusal.' Many times before, crews would refuse to take life in the heat of battle causing even greater casualties and all of them among Commonwealth forces. Today, the orders were to shoot their own who even seemed to suggest mutiny. None of the crew knew that the Religious Council was all arrested. Nor did they know the leaders of the Opposition who used religion to subvert military action had been executed. They did know it wouldn't be tolerated today. Anyone shot for dereliction of duty knew his entire family would pay the bill with their lives and fortunes.

"Let's do it," ordered the Commodore on the Admiral's flagship, the 'O'Neill the Great.' He looked around satisfied. "Send in the first wave from hyperspace. Then send the Medship to Earth's moon to rendezvous with the 'Daniel Jackson.' I want all medical services online before the shooting starts. And get that Stargate working in orbit so the smaller attack ships can arrive through it with the miniature pods in tow."

"Aye, Aye, sir," responded the First Officer. Orders flew about the bridge. The battle began in earnest. There was no turning back. "Deploy the pods we are towing as soon as we accelerate to meet a zero-zero intercept with the closest division of the enemy. As we return into normal space, prepare to launch our special counter measures (CM) and our Electronic Warfare packages (EW) as we pass the Asteroid Base. They need the weapons screen before sending our little presents along to the enemy."

"Jump in six seconds." The Helmsman finished the countdown. An audible sigh was heard as people holding their breaths relaxed. The ship left the gravity wave closest to the point of exit and moved into normal space with enough force to carry it halfway to the Asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The Commonwealth Fleet positioned itself between the oncoming enemy task force and Earth.

"Hail the Snakehead sonofabitch in command of their fleet." The Commodore instructed the Com Officer. An unfamiliar face with pale skin and brow ridges appeared on the holoscreen. He looked disdainfully at the Commodore. "I take it you are the poor bastard going to die today?" The Commodore decided to enjoy this. He had been out with Lord O'Neill a few times. The Wannabe Commander blinked in surprise at the words.

"What do you want, human? Are you offering your surrender already?" He knew this game. And he knew just who was listening.

"You can surrender and live. Or you can fight and die. It is all the same to me. As you can see we already have the advantage. We are destroying your ships faster than you can do anything about it." The Commonwealth Commander shrugged. The other commander shrugged back and ended the transmission. "Ok, we had to do that for sake of interstellar law. Now that it's over, keep blowing them to hell."


"Hyper footprints!" called out the Goa'uld Tactical Officer on Ba'al's mother ship. "Tens of thousands upon tens of thousands are launching towards us, My Lord." He activated what counter measures he had immediately.

"Stop that, you fool. They are only minor diversionary readings. The hyper footprints are miniscule. It is a deception." Ba'al smirked a self-confident grin. "Direct our ships to launch the Death Gliders with the enhanced energy weapons. And send a signal to the other Mothership behind the Sun telling them we have begun the battle." He sat back calmly.

"My Lord! The Ha'taks sent to patrol the outer system are exploding!" The Tac Officer worked the controls furiously. "Reports of large hyper footprints indicate a large fleet is arriving near the Asteroid belt just beyond the planetary ecliptic. Your orders, My Lord?"

The sartorially dressed handsome System Lord uncertainly took a look at his screen. Concern fleetingly crossed his brow. "It is as I have foretold. The puny humans have sent their small ships against us. How pathetic." But he watched with mounting worry as wave after wave of ships of all sizes appeared in his path. "Launch our modified tak'uni'taga'mu'terons. The taks for ships will work to slap down their insolence. They will find surprises waiting for them." In elegant disdain, he sat back to contemplate his victory.

Normally taks were small balls that acted like lasers firing focused energy blasts. Ba'al had enlarged them for this battle. It was a long since time the Goa'uld rethought their approach to battle. The Goa'uld were scavengers. Recently, their intelligence assets observed Earth tactics and adapted. It was one of the few innovations in thousands of years. Even with all the new equipment found in Anubis' deserted labs, Ba'al's thinking was old style in approach.

Ba'al watched with satisfaction as one of the Commonwealth ships took damage from a cluster of taks. He nodded wisely. "Let the battle commence. And alert my counterparts on the planet."


A rain of tiny missiles shot out from multiple pod platforms forming a sphere of engagement around the Wannabe Ha'tak vessel. The vessel was moving directly through the axis of pod deployment. The other pods throughout the system disgorged their contents at the other Ha'taks within range. One moment the missiles were on conventional propulsion drives and the next they disappeared into hyperspace only to re-appear inside their targets. The micro-machines carried by the missiles embedded themselves in the ships and reassembled themselves into bombs. The biomechanical detonators already on site met the machines in a deadly combination. Arrays began to form from other microscopic one-cell bioengineered organisms. These arrays coordinated the bomb assembly as distributed hierarchical controls. Other parts of the payload disbursed to form distributed computing capabilities, which could do data mining in the target's computers. The information was sent to other Commonwealth communication arrays nearby. Whisker beam transmissions sent the information bouncing among drones stationed all around the solar system to wash the trail back to the ships and bases. Robotic warfare from every direction harried the enemy ships. A few moments later, the ships exploded.

Two months ago, Lady Anna went to her Lord General for help to make war on the Goa'uld. Lady Anna wanted to know how to stop the Goa'uld from constructing their new fleet and prevent her people from taking great casualties in the process. She intended to strike the shipyards and conduct a great battle. But her peaceful people had not fought a war in two thousand years. If they fought a war as they understood battle, their casualties would be horrendous. Lady Anna knew her people would not accept a war if they took large casualties or lost another planet. General O'Neill's solution was to teach the Commonwealth how to fight a war of using Commerce Raiding rather than direct battle techniques. Through the President, O'Neill sent experts to Lady Anna to teach them about old-fashioned Commerce or Tonnage Raiding. From these lessons, Admiral Zay instituted plans to strangle Goa'uld shipping and commerce. The construction of new ships ground to a halt from lack of supplies. O'Neill believed he bought the Commonwealth more time to prepare defenses.

For six weeks, the plan worked so well that Commonwealth Raiders attacked Goa'uld convoys at will. The Commonwealth Raiders gave their quarries the option to abandon ship or be destroyed. After the raiders established that abandoning ship would result in lives saved, the tactic worked for both sides. No one wanted to die for materiel, which could be replaced. As a result, the convoys required more and more escorts to arrive intact. So the remaining Goa'uld capital ships were reduced to convoy duty. Most of the smaller Goa'uld attack ships were destroyed early in the process. In six weeks, even the convoy cargo ships became scarce. The System Lords were enraged at being impotent against a human foe. O'Neill's plan worked to a point. The shipbuilding halted but the threat was still there.

Now, the System Lords decided to act with what resources they had left. Lady Anna and Admiral Zay knew O'Neill's tactics had flaws. So they tried to bully the new System Lords with a demonstration of their superior capabilities. Two weeks ago, they had O'Neill blow up a dead planet in front of a spy. O'Neill thought that he could institute a Cold War with Mutually Assured Destruction (M.A.D.) as it's principle strategy. The Commonwealth told the spy that if Earth or any of their planets were attacked, this is what the alliance would do to the Goa'uld and their friends the Wannabes. The threat didn't work. Ba'al intended to remedy his situation.

Under Admiral Zay's command, the Commonwealth took Tonnage Raiding tactics to a new level. Capturing and contaminating Goa'uld supplies had become a priority for the Commonwealth. For the past three weeks, Commonwealth spies and Free Jaffa infiltrators laced the food and water with bioengineered organisms and biomechanical devices. Commonwealth raiding fleets intercepted supplies enroute to staging areas. The raiding ships introduced micro devices to the supplies. Other supplies were substituted. Knowing that Goa'uld designs required coolant for the big engines, Lady Anna ordered a straightforward ploy. It was a simple matter to add the necessary biomechanical compounds to the water stored on board the ships at the source. These devices remained dormant and undetectable until the detonation materials arrived by hyperdrive capable micro-missiles.

For today's battle, the next step was to activate equipment already on board the enemy vessels. These little gems activated at the destination when the miniature missiles embedded the necessary components inside the ships. From the food, other little devices invaded the crews to provide other nasty surprises. Goa'uld symbiotes can detect poison and neutralize it. They never noticed what appeared to be unusual minerals in bacteria. Once activation began, the whole procedure took five minutes. Eight Ha'taks including the three advance guard ships went up in tremendous fireballs. On other ships, many Death Glider pilots and Goa'uld Cargo vessel crewmembers exploded, too. The odds against Earth suddenly got better. The Goa'uld Fleet began with two Motherships, thirty-eight Ha'tak class ships, hundreds of Al'kesh mid-range bombers, and thousands of Death Gliders. In one day, robotic warfare cut the fleet by a third.

"That went well," opined the First Officer on the 'O'Neill'. "Now, let's get busy with the Death Gliders that have been launched and their Al'kesh." The First Officer knew the first successes ensured the crew would not mutiny this day. But he also knew the Goa'uld were caught by surprise. They had a few tricks up their sleeves too. The outcome of this battle was far from being assured.


"Mr. President, sir, I must speak to you." Jack's hologram stood at the foot of the briefing table in the SGC. SFs raised their weapons, but General Landry waved them back.

"It's O'Neill's hologram, stand down." Landry barked.

"Nice of you to pay us a visit, General. What can we do for you?" The SecDef initiated the exchange with some rancor in his voice. It was clear that he did not like O'Neill or this situation.

"Sir, the Asgaard are here. But they don't know we know. And they have been here all week." Jack dropped that bombshell hoping for the effect he was now watching. Yeah, chew on that you little shit, he thought looking at the SecDef.

"How do you know?"

"We eavesdropped on them using the Chair. And it wasn't pretty." Jack glowered at the SecDef. "Seems they only want to find Lady Anna and me. They are saying they don't give a damn about this nasty little planet. But they want to find us. And they are afraid of what Thor's going to do if they can't."

"Why would they say that?" Murmurs of confusion swept through the meeting.

"Daniel?" Jack stepped back and let Daniel continue.

"Um, hi, sirs." The handsome archaeologist pushed his glasses back up his nose and began his rapid patter. "We discovered that the Chair can be used to scan large distances. We've seen ships in hyperspace many light years from here. And we've seen ships throughout the solar system. Using the chair, we have seen our personnel on K'tau. The Chair is like the Ancient long range scanning equipment on Atlantis. But it has a twist. We can also listen in to conversations far away. Maybe the one in Atlantis can as well no one has tried." Daniel let that thought go around and saw them become appropriately uncomfortable. Speaking even more rapidly, Daniel continued his exposition on the problem.

"Yes, and so we dropped in on the Asgaard bridge to listen and learn what they are doing here. So it was a big surprise to find out they have been here the whole time. They know we were trying to contact them. They don't want to get involved. Seems they are not willing to risk their fleet now that they are just beginning to come back from the beating the Replicators gave them. And they know that Ba'al has some of Anubis' Ancient Technology on his ships. So they are not about to interfere before they see us knock out a large part of the fleet. And if we can't, then Earth is a write-off. All they want is Lady Anna and Jack at this point for their cloning purposes."

"Did you ask them to help us?" The SecDef was really angry. "

"Can you ask them?" Hammond spoke in a deadly calm. "Remind them they owe us."

The SecDef could not get his mind around the notion that the Asgaard weren't here to save the day. "Make them prepare some kind of ambush."

"We're not sure how to do it, yet. But, there is only one ship." Jack managed not to appear impatient. He was considering all the awful ways to kill that smarmy coward who called himself a Defense Secretary. "One Asgaard ship can't take out two Goa'uld Motherships and 38 Ha'taks with hundreds of Al'kesh and thousands of Gliders. Capiche? They would have to send for reinforcements, if they have any."

"Ok, thanks General O'Neill. You have given me something extremely useful. Good job. Now, do what you can, and stay in touch." The President rose to go make a few calls. Jack ended the transmission. "Why do you have to antagonize the man, Mr. Secretary? It solves nothing. We'll deal with him when the time is right." Turning to Landry, Hayes gave his order. "Recall the teams from K'tau. Now I am in the mood to have a nice chat with our so-called allies in the U.N. and the Gate Alliance."


Admiral Zay watched the Goa'uld's return fire rip into his own formation. His wall of battle was too far from its enemies for its shipboard sensors to resolve what was happening in any detail. The reconnaissance drones fed the information up as fast as possible, but analysis still took a few minutes. The sensor platforms planted throughout the inner solar system were another matter entirely. Their data streamed in too fast. Human beings could not react fast enough so they needed the help of the computers. The Commonwealth employed distributed computing architecture. This architecture implemented hierarchical controls. Any number of intelligent agent programs directed the battle and all its components. These programs could learn and adapt to the situation. Most of the information was handled by the computers out in the field of battle without human interaction. The whole system minimized the information that had to be transmitted to and from military headquarters. The digest of information from the drones allowed the battle bridge to evaluate what happened when those missiles reached their targets. The Admiral's eyes narrowed in respectful surprise at the sheer toughness of that tightly formed and multi-layered coordinated defensive envelope.

The Asteroid Base's energy cannon should be online by now, thought the experienced fleet commander. The initial missile defense should have given them the time while the enemy was distracted. Where was it? His plot did not show the weapon had fired. Three more Ha'tak class vessels were within the energy envelope. They must have detected the outpost by now. The red icons for enemy fighters increased as the Ha'taks disgorged their gliders. Hundreds of enemy craft sped onward towards the Base.

Even as Zay knew his secret devices were hammering the enemy, he knew his ships were taking damage. 'The O'Neill's' data display showed their ships disappearing from the display. He wondered how many hundreds, or thousands, of his people were wounded or dying aboard those ships in his task force. He closed his eyes to calm himself. Taking casualties is a necessary part of war, he reminded himself. He hoped their lives were sacrificed for the maximum benefit. Whole planets depended on the outcome of this battle.


In the SGC, the men around the briefing table reconvened to watch the next stage of the battle. The Commonwealth holographic feed delayed the news fifteen minutes and edited some of the information so the enemy could not follow the reports. Still, the view was astounding to men accustomed to planetary warfare. President Hayes kept repeating O'Neill's phrase that none of them had any idea what was really involved. No science fiction movie prepared them for what they saw. Just knowing the preposterous distances involved put a sense of awe in each person there.

"General Hammond, what can you tell us about what is happening?" President Hayes needed a recapitulation. The whole thing was confusing. "Did I just see missiles disappear in flight? Were they transported elsewhere? Is that some kind of new Goa'uld defense?"

"From the volume and repetition, I am assuming they are hyperdrive missiles." Hammond walked up closer and studied the picture. "And those are the big ones. It looks like they have ships launching from far away. The screen shows very small missiles."

"They are still taking a beating. Look at all those ships they lost." The SecDef was alarmed. "They are two-bit amateurs and they're going to get us all killed. Any minute they will turn and run for it. Dr. Jackson was right. This is the Battle Of the Little Big Dipper and the Indians are winning."

"Why can't you believe they are really trying to defend us? I have been trying to tell you that Lady Anna is a straight shooter. She says what she means and means what she says." Hammond glowered at the SecDef.

"All this proves is that we are outgunned. Without the Asgaard, what can we do against her?" The SecDef countered. "And if we all survive this, she'll get her price."


In the Chair, Jack and his team watched the mounting tide of destruction swelling up the data charts. O'Neill fought to keep his despair out of his expression and voice. In thirty minutes, many of the smaller Commonwealth ships were crippled or destroyed. Despite the Commonwealth's incredible energy weapons range and the MDMs long flight capabilities, they were taking hits. The Goa'uld focused their deadly concentration on ships that matched them in size. At least one of the larger transport ships was bleeding air and bodies into space. Any number of smaller attack fighters were nothing more than garbage floating in the vacuum of space. But so was the wreckage of Death Gliders.

A call came in that the Medship was ready. They were instructed to put the stasis pod on the ring pad. The usual transporter could not get through the Ancient's force field anymore. Lady Anna's pod transported out via the ring transporter. Jack sighed looking at the space where it had been. Good luck, ma'am, he thought with awe. She had accomplished miracles. He hoped someone could manage one for her.

"We have not yet begun to fight," intoned Jack looking up at the holoimages.


On Ba'al's mothership, a uniformed Goa'uld entered the command chamber. He bowed low. The elegant man on the command throne smiled with pleasure.

"My Lord, we have the Hak'taur woman as you instructed."


DISCLAIMER: "Stargate SG-1" and "Stargate Atlantis" and their characters are the property of Sony Pictures MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, Gekko Film Corp., Showtime/Viacom and USA Networks, Inc. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended against this or any other story in the universe. The original characters, situations and story are the property of the author(s), and may not be republished or archived elsewhere without the author's permission.