CHAPTER THREE

Planet PJ3-176,
Milky Way Galaxy.

Colonel Mitchell couldn't say a word for a long moment – his mind was racing away at a mile a minute, and it was hard enough even to stay standing upright. The pressure of the moment was pounding away at his head like a jackhammer. But he had to stay focused! The imperative to try and regain some semblance of control over events was overwhelmingly strong on Cameron… and it also made sound tactical sense.

"Look, I need to get something sent from Stargate Command if we're going to take on this Prior for you," Cameron said with firm resolve, looking right at the Unas Goa'uld without fear or hesitation. "If we don't get this device, you can kiss this world goodbye because there'll be nothing stopping the Prior and his followers from wiping the floor with the lot of ya!"

"What device do you need, Mitchell?" Tel'mar hissed through tightly clenched teeth, glaring at the airman through slightly hooded eyes. "And trust me when I say this – I will not tolerate one single act of betrayal. If I feel like I am being misled in any way, I will kill all four of you and abandon this planet to its fate. There is always another world out there in need of my divine benevolence… if I must, I will leave, but I will make the cost of my departure so horrific it will make even the Prior take pause!"

Mitchell blanched. There were no mincing those words – the meaning behind them was quite clear. If the Goa'uld was forced to leave, then he was going to take his forces and extract such a heavy toll amongst the civilian population under his domain so that the Ori Prior will be hard-pressed to convert any more followers. It was a terror tactic, so brutally cold and callous… but it just might prove to be effective, if it had to be.

But Cameron Mitchell didn't want it to be employed at all. Not because he didn't act, or chose not to act. Regardless of whom he had to work with, it was the Colonel's primary task every time he stepped through the Gate to protect human lives from oppression and tyranny. The Ori were going to bring about a new age of enslavement and religious domination to the Milky Way Galaxy, unless brave men and women stood up and made their actions counted.

There was no choice in the matter – with or without the agreement of Tel'mar to get the Prior inhibitor device sent to them from Earth, SG-1 still had to attempt this mission. The Goa'uld and his loyalists would have to be dealt with in time, because Mitchell was by no means naïve enough to think they were just going to be let free once the operation was completed.

"Look Tel'mar, I'll help you, and my team will help you, just as long as you let us all do our jobs the way we would operate on a regular mission. No limitations, no restrictions. You and your forces still command an overwhelming numbers and weapons advantage – I imagine you have Al'kesh bombers and Ha'tak motherships at your disposal? So there should be no problems with this agreement," the Colonel said with forceful conviction.

"Alrght – you get what you need from your homeworld. One radio communication with Stargate Command, then they can send through the equipment that you need to eliminate the Prior. If they send through a rescue force or anything other than the device, there will be violent consequences." Tel'mar's clawed fists were being clenched and unclenched – Colonel Mitchell could see quite clearly that he was pressing his advantage with the Goa'uld Lord. "I will allow you to send this message to your command now – but Denamor will be listening to your every word, and will be prepared to deal with you if there is the slightest deception."

The huge wooden arched doors swung wide open again, and Denamor came striding in, followed by his two armed lackeys in close pursuit. There were no more words exchanged between Tel'mar and Colonel Mitchell; the human just gave the Unas/Goa'uld a slight nod, which was returned, and rose up out of his chair to leave the dining hall.

The doors were closed firmly shut behind them as the small party left the room, leaving Tel'mar to continue enjoying his lavishly prepared feast alone….

# SG1 #

Denamor led the way through the fortress, past the entrance back down to the dungeon where the rest of SG-1 were being held, and to a large wide-open room where a multitude of weapons and equipment were stored. Mitchell quickly identified their gear from Earth amongst the vast amount of supplies.

"Say right where you are!" the First Prime of Tel'mar barked, slamming his right fist hard into Cam's stomach before he could take another step.

Colonel Cameron Mitchell buckled over in pain, almost falling down face-first onto the ground had it not been for one of his jailers, Telos, grabbing him under the right arm. Kern swiftly moved into position right behind the Tau'ri warrior and activated his staff weapon – the man meant business, and would not hesitate to fire his weapon at the slightest provocation.

"Point out the radio device to me, Cam Mitchell, and I will bring it to you," Denamor continued, staring right at the Colonel and keeping his right hand very close to his holstered zat-gun. Suddenly, there was a large crackling sound that filled the room, then the sound of voices speaking in a strangely alien dialect the Colonel could not understand.

Denamor snatched up a strange, round, slightly glowing device from his belt, and clicked a small depression on the side of it. Then he spoke briefly back into the device in that strange language. It had to be some form of ranged communications, employed by those in the service of the Goa'uld.

All the while, the warrior's eyes never left Mitchell. He smiled now at the Colonel, grinning with something akin to wolfish menace before finally speaking. "The Chapa'i is currently activated, and an entire contingent of warriors loyal to Tel'mar have surrounded it, with enough heavy weapons and explosive ordinance to repel an invasion force of hundreds. If you tell any of your people back on your homeworld about the true situation here, that your team has been taken captive by Lord Tel'mar, then the deal is off and you all die. If you deceive us and summon a rescue force, you'll be calling them to their deaths at the hands of my men, and I will then be forced to kill you and your team in retribution. My people will not leave the Chapa'i unattended for any reason, until your mission has been completed or you are all executed, so there is no possible hope for escape that way. Do not let this come to pass."

There was nothing benign in what Denamor was saying, or the look that blazed in his eyes as he spoke – if there was the slightest chance he was giving anything away, then there would be the swiftest of consequences for them all. Cam knew he would have to play everything very carefully from this moment on…

"Okay, its that thing right there." Mitchell pointed to one of the radios lying in a small bunch near the edge of one of the tables, and Denamor quickly walked over to snatch one up. He didn't take his eyes off Cam for a moment – and that right hand of his stayed real close to the zat'ni'katel all the while. The First Prime cautiously passed the radio over to Mitchell, who took the device, activated it, and quickly depressed the TALK button.

He thought for a few short moments, about what he was going to say and how he was going to approach this whole set-up; then began to speak into the mike. "SGC, this is Mitchell, come in please." A pause, static and nothing more, then the Colonel pressed down on the button again. "SGC this is Colonel Cameron Mitchell, please respond."

# SG1 #

Stargate Command, Earth,

Milky Way Galaxy.

Master Sergeant Walter Harriman was, yet again, the commanding officer in charge of the Control Room at the SGC – it was a position that he seemed to fill on a regular basis. To many a person working at Stargate Command, including Walter as well on occasion, it seemed that he rarely left the place to go home.

The Stargate had been activated from an outside source just a few moments earlier – the incoming wormhole was unscheduled, so the usual precautions were put into effect.

Armed troopers came rushing in from both entrances to the Gate Room, taking up their assigned positions around the Stargate as the iris immediately closed over – this would prevent any unapproved persons or objects from stepping through the event-horizon and coming out on the other side, at least in one piece. But nothing came through… except for a radio message over a military channel.

Walter immediately picked up the signal and had it patched through his computer speakers. It was Colonel Mitchell! "SGC, this is Mitchell, respond please…" With just a couple of mouse-clicks on his computer terminal, Sergeant Harriman had a direct line of communication open with the leader of SG-1.

"Colonel, this is Sergeant Harriman. I'll get General Landry right away!"

There was hardly a pause in the reply, slightly broken up through the transmission through the iris but hardly altered. "Don't worry about it, I can re-establish contact with you in exactly half an hour. But I need the Prior inhibitor device prepped and ready to be sent through the Gate ASAP – just the inhibitor, nothing and no-one else. We can set it up on our end." There was a pause, then, "Do you understand, Walter?"

Harriman was a pretty intuitive kind of person – he had to be to hold his current position, and to be somewhat of a liaison officer for the General in command of the SGC. He knew how to read someone well, how to tell when they were trying to convey something in their words or actions.

At that moment, he could tell that Mitchell was clearly attempting to convey something in his voice, in the tone and timbre of what he was saying. The Master Sergeant tried to read quickly between the lines, but at first came up with nothing.

"Yes, Colonel, I understand…" Walter Harriman said softly. "The equipment that you've requested will be made available to you in half an hour, I'm sure… and General Landry will be here to talk with you."

"Good, thank-you Sergeant. I will make contact with you then," the Colonel said in a straight, pleasant enough sounding voice. But there was definitely something finite under there, something not quite right about Cam Mitchell's voice as it came through the speaker system. Walter knew instinctively that there was something wrong.

He would have to inform the General immediately.

# SG1 #

General Landry had been working at his office – it was late again, as usual, but he couldn't stop working. The situation with his missing team, SG-1, was a plague on his consciousness, and Hank just couldn't wind down because of it. Various options and contingencies were being weighed and evaluated,

He was really glad that he hadn't gone home that night though, when Sergeant Harriman contacted him through the intercom system and told him about Colonel Mitchell reaching them through the Stargate. But when he got to the Control Room and learnt of the message, and also about Harriman's suspicions in regards to Mitchell attempting to convey something without just saying it outright – well, it brought understandable pause.

Hank Landry was left with quite a predicament.

"Well, prep the relevant personnel to have a Prior inhibitor packed and ready for transport through the Gate," Landry said to Harriman, as soon as he had enough time to process what he'd learnt and come up with a viable course of action.

"Already done, sir. They will be ready within the next ten minutes – that leaves ten minutes after that until Colonel Mitchell should get in contact with us again." The General was hardly surprised that the Master Sergeant was one step ahead of him – more often than not, Harriman was, it was just the way he was. "Sir, I have to say this – what if the Colonel has been captured, and is speaking under duress?"

"That sounds like a very real possibility, Walter, and I we'll find a way to confirm that theory and try to get our people home!" the General said with resolve. "But until then, we trust in SG-1 and hope they can face whatever challenges lie ahead on their own, at least for the time being."

# SG1 #

Planet PJ3-176,

Milky Way Galaxy.

"The device is to be sent through the Chapa'i and nothing else. Men are down in the dungeon with the rest of your team right now, and at a single command, they will kill them all with their staff weapons. That will happen if we are betrayed," Denamor vowed. They were still standing in the storage room, and Colonel Mitchell was still holding onto the radio. The deadline for their next communication with the SGC was almost upon them.

"I know the stakes, Denamor; you don't have to keep repeating them to me." Both Telos and Kern had their staff weapons trained on Mitchell from behind now; and they were far enough away from him that Cam knew he had no chance whatsoever of disarming them both before he was killed.

"Alright, then I will tell the commander of the forces near the Chapa'i to expect your weapon to be delivered to this world." The First Prime smirked with contempt, and leaned forward so that he was very close to Mitchell, almost nose to nose with the human from Earth. "I will be right here beside you. Try anything that I do not approve of, and your death will be swift indeed."

# SG1 #

Landry sounded somewhat cautious on the other end of the radio connection – almost wary. Mitchell could understand this, as he had inflicted enough hints and nuances in speaking with Sergeant Harriman to cause it.

"Colonel Mitchell, its good to finally hear your voice! Is the rest of your team alright?" the General asked. General Hank Landry's voice was coming through the radio loud and clear. Mitchell could hear him fine… but so could Denamor and the others.

"Yes sir, we're all fine; well, as alright as we can be, under the circumstances," Cam replied. "Just a bit of Prior trouble, is all, but nothing that can't be handled thanks to some local assistance."

"So the planet has a Prior visiting?" General Landry inquired.

"Well, not exactly." Cameron paused for a moment, trying to formulate his words the right way in his head before continuing on. "It seems that this Prior is actually leading a portion of the planet's population against the other portion, the larger percentage that does not believe in the message of Origin. This world is on the verge of a full-blown civil war."

"So what is your intention?"

Mitchell sighed. He couldn't just come out and explain the real situation to his superior – that would not have gone down well at all with Denamor. He had to be very cautious here. "We plan to use the Prior inhibitor to stop this guy from using his special powers, then we'll ambush him and his bodyguard force before there's any chance he can adapt to the energy weapon's attack. The rest of the top echelon of the Ori force can then be taken out separately. I want to cut the head of this army off while there's a chance to stop a full-scale war."

"Operate as you see fit, Colonel." The General paused for a short moment, and then asked, "Do you require any other supplies, or additional personnel?"

"No sir," Cam said back with maybe a little too much haste. Denamor didn't pick up on the little slip, though, which was a lucky thing for Mitchell. "We should be fine with the Prior gun thanks."

"Alright then," Hank said, and it was quite clear by the way he spoke that he got the message Colonel Mitchell had been trying to send across – they were in trouble and needed assistance, but sending anybody through the Gate would be a bad idea. Help would be coming for them soon, but from another direction. "The Prior inhibitor is being sent through now. Good luck, Colonel."

"Thank-you, sir." The connection was severed, and Denamor received another communiqué from his man at the Chapa'i. Two large crates had been sent through the Gate on a large, sturdy trolley-device. The Prior inhibitor, Mitchell assured the First Prime of Tel'mar.

Now they had what they needed to defeat the Prior.