CHAPTER THIRTEEN

In orbit over PJ3-176, onboard the USS Odyssey,
the Milky Way Galaxy.

Far below her, the devestation wrought by the USS Odyssey's railgun systems must have been immense indeed, but Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter supposed that even this assessment was somewhat of an understatement.

The high-velocity weapons' uranium-tipped rounds must have been tearing up the ground down there to a hellish degree, and she sure didn't want to trade places with any poor soul that hadn't managed to get under the umbrella of protection the Ori anti-air gun positions provided.

Sensors and high-imaging, sturdy video-camera ports along the underside of the battle-cruiser were making it blatantly clear that, although their bombardment from orbit above hadn't managed to seriously weaken the Ori followers' shields that protected their dangerous cannon emplacements, they did effectively carve up whole battalions of enemy ground troops.

And, it had seemed that a constant, unceasing attack on an Ori weapons platform effectively negated its offensive potential – the cannon's shields couldn't be powered down to the minimum levels required to fire its main gun, or it would be subsequently destroyed.

A small handful of their adversaries on the planet far below had tried to strike back against them while they had been under direct attack from the railgun batteries of the Odyssey, and had paid for their mistake with their lives, as well as the loss of their advanced gun-site. The foolhardy tactic, though valiant, had not been tried again.

The Ori rebels were clearly helpless now to stop the Tau'ri ship high above their positions from continuing to penetrate their territory. Sam had, in the end, come up with the right course of action, and it had probably saved the lives of her teammates on SG-1... if they weren't already dead already.

The sudden thought that they had all come so far along in their mission, only to have the rest of her team killed before they could arrive on the scene to rescue them, gnawed at Carter's gut like a vicious animal, tearing at her stomach from the inside. She bit down on the agonized cry of frustration and panic that threatened to boil up out of her.

This was no time to lose it, damnit! Sam snapped at herself with vehement passion. People were counting on her to get them through this; and Carter was holding herself, now as always, to the exacting standards she always set for everything that she began. Failure, quite simply, was not an option, especially with so much at stake.

Sam squinted at the screen of raw data and sensor readings that were coming through, from all over the ship. In all, their shield levels were down to 68, but this was much better than anything she could have hoped for, once the power of the first battery opening up on them had been properly assertained. She had truly believed that the Odyssey would be beaten back and humbled by the network of anti-air weaponry arrayed against them... before the solution of overwhelming suppressive fire had come to her, and they had implemented the theory with such resounding success.

Now, repairs were being made to their vessel's damaged systems, and the shield strength was slowly working its way back up. So far, high 70s... dropping back down a notch now and then, but quickly moving back up again a few long moments later. At last, things had stabilized at 79 compacity, and from what Carter read of things, that was about as good as they were going to get it without a long stint in the dry-docks back on Earth.

Still however, there was one bit of cheery news – they'd made it past the last of the Ori weapons platforms far below, and within a half-minute, would be completely out of their effective range of fire. None of their positions had even attempted to open up on them since the fourth site had been obliterated in a maelstrom of railgun slugs, and that had been almost ten minutes previously.

Since then the trip had been somewhat routine – an Ori weapons site would be picked up on sensors, combat intelligence programmes would flag the target for immediate attention, one of the technicians on the bridge would designate railgun positions to fire on the platform, the offensive site would be effectively 'de-fanged' because it was under direct attack by the space-craft high above and couldn't do anything but maintain its defense shields, they would fly right on by overhead unmolestered.

Wash, rinse, repeat, Sam Carter thought with an ache in her head that was almost as bad as the beastly gremlin trying to rip through her stomach. Damn all this, she wished she could be on the ground with the rest of her team, fighting through the same battle they were faced with...

At least, they were passing by the last of the Ori's main defenses... as far as their vessel's sensors could tell, at any rate. Yes, it was possible they still had other special weapons lined up in reserve, but something told Sam that, despite everything, this was not a full-scale Ori attack in their galaxy yet, and it was not their way in any event to be so covert, as to conceal or hold back the full arsenal.

Well that was fine, well and good. She guessed that, later back on Earth, there were going to be a big hubbub over this whole mess – a lot of the Intel guys were going to be in an uproar over the whole mess, trying to outguess and outplay themselves into a quagmire over just what the Ori strategy was in this new, intergalactic war Stargate Command was facing.

But at the moment, that was a future problem to be reckoned with. She had much bigger things to deal with, as it stood.

Like... just HOW were they going to locate the rest of SG-1, once they were hovering high over the city of Alden?

Carter hadn't quite managed to come up with a solution to that problem yet...

# SG1 #

Planet PJ3-176,
Milky Way Galaxy.

They weren't going to make it all the way out of the city without drawing attention... much to the disappointment and chagrin of the team's new leader, Lt Colonel Cameron Mitchell. The order to stop immediately, bellowed out by a mean-looking Jaffa thug that came out from one of the adjourning alleyways as Cam and Daniel Jackson raced past, trying to keep pace with Teal'c up ahead, could hardly have been obeyed.

The warrior called back down the alley – to fellow city guards, of that they all had no doubt – before giving chase to the two men on foot, who galloped away without any thought to stealth or makeshift concealment of any kind. The game was up, and SG-1 was now well and truly exposed. If they didn't act fast, the city guard detachments, all loyal Ori followers to the core, were going to surround them and cut off all escape.

"Oh man, this was not the way I'd hoped this would go down!" Mitchell complained listlessly, as he ducked low just before an energy-bolt fired from the Jaffa zipped right over his head. It was a very lucky move that he'd done that right at that moment – Cam hardly wanted to contemplate how close to death he had just come. He pulled his 9mm Beretta sidearm out and pointed it haphazardly over his right shoulder, squeezing off a couple of random shots back at the pursuing enemy as the three members of SG-1 ran for their lives.

"What? Well, I think this has every hallmark of a Cameron Mitchell plan, myself!" Dr Jackson replied, smirking with satirical humour even under such dire, life-or-death circumstances.

Teal'c, just a few yards in front of them, came up short all of a sudden, and the two men behind him almost came crashing headlong into the imposing Jaffa warrior. There though, up ahead of them in the centre of the street, was a large Goa'uld heavy weapons platform, behind which two Jaffa stood, about to discharge the device.

Cam didn't even have to say anything – they all knew instinctively what to do. Scatter, find some cover and fight back, hard!

Because, beyond the heavy cannon, was about thirty armed Ori followers, a motley force of Jaffa and humans, who wanted nothing more than to slaughter the unbelievers who had managed to penetrate their territory so deeply. This whole situation was spinning right out of control...

# SG1 #

In orbit over PJ3-176, onboard the USS Odyssey,
the Milky Way Galaxy.

"Sir, I'm picking up multiple energy sources down on the surface below, originating from somewhere in the western section of the city," one of the Air Force officers on the bridge said in a low, brief and generally emotionless tone. "Looks like there's a heavy firefight down there. There's at least fifty lifesigns in that vicinity, with many more detected converging on that location from all directions."

"Copy that, Captain," Colonel Emerson said serenely. He leapt up out of the command chair and stepped right up to the clear reinforced glass panelling that looked out into the sky, and stars, around their ship, which hovered in low orbit above the planet designated as PJ3-176. Down below – FAR below – was a city, Alden, and somewhere in that city, they believed, was the three missing members of SG-1.

Paul Emerson had a decision to make.

At last he turned back around to look out across the bridge of his vessel. Colonel Samantha Carter was staring at him expectantly from where she sat, at the computer console she had practically taken over from one of his technical experts after being rescued herself from the planet's surface some hours earlier. Her eyes blazed with the intensity and passion the Colonel had come to expect from her. She was ready to go down there and get her comrades back... just like Paul would expect from any good Airman.

"Okay... Colonel Carter, you have a go." Sam practically propelled herself out of her char, and flew across the room towards the exit from the command and control centre of the Odyssey. "Take Conners and a dozen ground-pounders with you, Sam. And good luck, all of you. Looks like you'll be going down to meet a warm receptioning party..."

"Thank-you, sir," Carter replied. Then she paused and, before crossing over the threshold and out into the corridor beyond, she stopped for a moment, turned back, and added, "For everything."

The Colonel nodded solemnly, and watched on as Colonel Carter slipped out and down towards the teleportation room.

# SG1 #

Sam Carter felt almost buoyant as she headed down the twisting corridors and ducked through under bulkheads to make her way towards the teleportation room. Along the way, she collected her supplies from one of the ship's numerous armouries, positioned at key locations throughout the vessel. Sliding a new magazine of rounds into the breech of the P-90 assault rifle and clipping a few fragmentation grenades onto the front of her Kevlar vest, Sam felt more excited and pumped with adrenaline than she had in a long while – and couldn't help herself when she smiled a wolfish, predatory smile.

It was time to go down there and bring her boys back home. The Colonel knew how to lead troops into battle, and this was the one fight she was almost looking forward to facing. Being out of the fight had been more difficult on her than she cared to acknowledge... and it was only when Carter was getting back into the fray when it became fully apparent how achingly difficult the last few trials had been, on a deep personal level more than anything.

Well, time to brush all that crap aside and step up to the plate, damnit! Sam thought to herself. She entered the teleportation room, and there already gathered around in small clusters waiting for her were the fighting men and women accompanying Carter down onto the planet's surface, far below.

They were all geared up and ready for a hard battle ahead. Each and every trooper Colonel Carter looked at had their hard, grim-looking 'game face' on, and she could tell by the silent, confident air in which they all carried themselves about the place that they were well and truly ready to follow their leader into the mouth of hell. Just like any SF worth their money would be, to get back some of their own people trapped and cut off from escape by the enemy...

Conner was the only one out of the fourteen of them, including Colonel Carter herself, that showed any outward sign of nerves... and when she glanced across at the Major before joining the rest of the unit in the centre of the room to be teleported down onto the world below, Sam didn't like it.

Frank Conner had risked his life extracting her from the fortress of Tel'mar before it had been destroyed along with a number of these troopers around her now, Carter knew that.

But she'd also come to know him as being a cautious, reserved tactician – this guy sometimes thought too much for his own good, especially in certain combat situations where there was always going to be a large degree of risk. Sam had a feeling that she would have to keep an eye out for this guy in the future...

# SG1 #

Planet PJ3-176,
Milky Way Galaxy.

The Jaffa warrior fired the cannon again, and a second huge clump of dirt flew up in Cam's face, barely a few yards from where he was crouched behind a corner wall, spraying a long burst of bullets back down the street towards the advancing enemy forces. A couple of the human troops in the front row of the oncoming detachment went down, torn open by the lethal high-velocity rounds fired from his automatic weapon as Mitchell tried to provide suppressive fire for the others.

Daniel and Teal'c raced out into the middle of the roadway while Colonel Mitchell was hammering away at the front rows of the Ori followers bearing down upon them all, and pulled the pins of the live grenades they each clutched in their right hands. The two men threw their weapons high and straight at the horde ahead of them, then ran back over to their own positions of cover as fast as they could move.

The grenades sailed through the air at such a languid pace that Cam thought they would detonate far too soon – but they stayed intact, and landed amongst the enemy further back behind the front of their formation, to explode with horrifying effectiveness right inside the depths of their packed group.

Bodies and body parts were hurled high above the detonations, and the screams of the wounded and moans of the dying poured out of the enemy compliment, now in staggered disarray, threatened to drown out the rallying cries of some of the surviving enemy leadership. The two Jaffa manning the heavy gun were stunned and disorientated by the blasts, but immediately after they got their senses back together, the warriors were firing back down upon SG-1 with renewed vigour.

They were aiming better, too. The wall behind which Mitchell was sheltered was hit a couple of times by their energy-bolts – huge sections of masonry and cement were blown out of the side of the building, and the impact of the blasts reverberated through the entire structure.

This is not looking good, Cam thought bitterly to himself with venomous disgust, wondering quietly just how the hell they were going to pull themselves out of this mess. And now, here comes the self-doubting and personal recriminations...

Suddenly though, there was a shrieking sound of displaced air shooting past, as a rocket-prepelled grenade launcher discharged further up the road from where their team was hunkered down, and tore in towards the attacking enemy. The Goa'uld heavy weapons platform was the target, and the two Jaffa gunners manning it weren't quite fast enough to get out of the way of the deadly little piece of ordnance barrelling down upon their position.

The explosive round struck its target, and the weapon, the two warriors that controlled it, and a couple of other unfortunate combatants that were near enough to the cannon were all engulfed in a huge, flaming-hot fireball.

"Hey guys, I thought you could use a hand getting out of this mess!" a familiar voice shouted out at them from the direction of the unexpected help, and Mitchell, who had quietly contemplated just how long they all had to left to live, broke into a huge, relieved grin.