CHAPTER FIFTEEN
In
space
above
PJ3-176,
the Milky Way
Galaxy.
Teal'c and Cameron Mitchell's X-302 space-fighter was the second-lead craft in the first formation of four, at the head of the larger squadron that led the advance against the oncoming death glider groups bearing down on their position. The Jaffa warrior flew the Tau'ri designed and built X-302 like an ace pilot, which was exactly what Teal'c was even in this newer fighter craft. In the backseat, Cam hunkered down and pulled up the long-range scanners, making sure to pick out and designate missiles to each of the four targets they would take down with their initial missile salvos. The squadron's first punch would be the most telling - the Tau'ri force had to make their hits count, or else the numerical superiority of the enemy forces would bring them all down.
"You ready for a fight up there, T-Man?" Mitchell asked in his usual boastful, confident demeanor.
"Indeed I am, Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c replied. "Are you adequately prepared as well?"
The Jaffa smirked slightly behind his oxygen mask, which like the Colonel's was firmly fastened up against his helmet, locked into place and pumping clear fresh breathable air down into his lungs. A bit of dry wit was his way of getting back at Cam for his antics... the young leader of SG-1 (at least, when compared to Teal'c, Mitchell was young) was so much like his predecessor, Jack O'Neill, in some undeniable ways.
"Hahah, touche good buddy," Cam 'Shaft' Mitchell conceded with a grin of his own, hidden as well behind his own mask. Then, it was right down to business: "The first targets I've designated are almost within range now. We're ten seconds from weapons-release."
"Copy that," Teal'c said. The same status was reported by numerous other X-302 'backseaters' in the formation, as they all closed the distance between themselves and the enemy death gliders. Then at least, they started to cross that invisible barrier and come into range of their foes - missile payloads were already locked onto their targets before this time, it was only a matter of pressing a button for each weapons system to be engaged.
Rocket boosters propelled the missiles away one at a time, sending the weapons shooting off into space ahead of each one of the X-302s out in the lead, on at time, with each separate delivery system targeting an individual death glider for destruction. By this time, they were all still well out of range of the enemy's own guns - staff weapon variants that were four times larger than the normal, more common kind used by the Jaffa warriors.
However, the death gliders did not have the capability of targeting enemy vessels from such great distance like the Tau'ri did, or have any ordnance that could be used in the same 'fire-and-forget' manner that the Earth pilots used their missiles. Because of this, few if any of the enemy combatants flying in the lead group of death gilders were killed in the first strikes without even realizing the danger they faced.
"Right-on!" Mitchell exclaimed, as he saw their own two medium-ranged missiles impact against their own targeted enemy craft, blowing the death gliders completely apart before either one of them had a chance to evade the rocket-propelled weaponry. He counted up the initial kills - and was very happy with the outcome of their attack so far. "Okay, out of all that, at least a third of the death glider formation slightly in front have been taken out; that's about fourteen enemy fighters. A pretty damn fine effort, hey Teal'c?"
"That it is, Cameron Mitchell, but most of our own craft have used at least half of their missile compliment now," Teal'c countered, instantly bringing the Lieutenant Colonel's jubilant mood crashing back down to reality. "The tide of battle, and the eventual success of this engagement, is yet to be determined. In all likelihood it will be contested in close-combat."
These words, though spoken from the heart and without any preamble whatsoever, were definitely not what Mitchell wanted to hear. There was no better aerial combat force in the galaxy than an experienced Jaffa death glider wing, and the Colonel knew it.
# SG1 #
In
space
above
PJ3-176, onboard the Ha'tak mothership,
the
Milky Way Galaxy.
Denamor watched on through the Goa'uld viewscreen as the fighting raged on out in the near-distance. Formations of death gliders were in pitched battle against the Tau'ri's own space-fighter variants - nothing more than a second-rate copy of the original Goa'uld version. As far as he could tell, though, the human forces from Earth were winning out against the Jaffa/human warriors that flew for Lord Tel'mar.
The First Prime had only counted two of their enemy lost to the heated conflict so far, to the eighteen death gliders destroyed up to that moment - one-fourth of their fighting complement.
The exchange of fire between their own vessel and the Tau'ri warship was also picking up in intensity, as both huge juggernaut rose up over the larger dogfight that was spreading out between them so that they could strike at each other without the risk of hitting any of their own people. The Ha'tak's powerful shield-generators were at full power, though, so the two different kinds of weapons-fire the Tau'ri of Earth were throwing at them was doing no damage to the mothership itself, but the ancient vessel was slowly beginning to deteriorate under the constant barrage.
Despite the promise from Lord Tel'mar that the mothership had been completely repaired and that they would in the end triumph against at least one of their opponents here before finally leaving this world to the Ori, Denamor couldn't help but have his doubts. The humans they were fighting against had done so very much to bring about the downfall of the Goa'uld System Lords as they had ruled for millenia; Denamor, rightly, feared them for what they had done, and what he feared they would accomplish in this battle.
He turned to face Tel'mar, who was seated on the throne at the back of the Pel'tak, with one pawed hand resting on the arm of the gold-plated chair, the other propping up the side of his head, so that the Goa'uld Lord was looking at the digitally-rendered battle spread out across the viewscreen on a slight angle. Slowly, the First Prime approached his Master, and took a position just to the Unas' side. Then, Denamor leaned down so he could whisper into Tel'mar's ear - what he had to say was for the Goa'uld's hearing, and no-one else's in that command center.
"My Lord Tel'mar, I fear that the Tau'ri are too strong for us this day. It will be a close battle, bitterly fought by your loyal Jaffa and human followers, but in my heart I know that the vile enemies from Earth will defeat us here - IF we choose to stand and fight..."
The words almost seemed to burn through his tongue like acid – they were agonizing to speak out loud, but the human servant of the Goa'uld Lord knew he had to say them, and speak honestly to Tel'mar about what he thought of this last vengeful strike against the Tau'ri. Compared to the Ori followers they had left behind down on the planet below, the humans from Earth were the weaker foe; but he honestly believed the few forces they had left would not do the job against this enemy, even so. They would probably all die here if they kept up the engagement for much longer.
Tel'mar only growled menacingly in reply. He looked straight up sharply into Denamor's eyes, and for the longest time the First Prime of Tel'mar thought his Master was going to rip him apart right there and then. But then, finally, the Goa'uld smiled just a little bit, and the man's shoulders sagged back in relief – he was not about to be killed, at least not at that moment and not at Tel'mar's own hands.
"Denamor, do not concern yourself with this assault. There is a plan set in place, in case this battle does not play out the way that we both wish it to. Everything is prepared, and all eventualities have been considered," the Unas promised.
Denamor returned his Lord's smile with one of his own, nodded once, then rose up and stepped down off the podium to walk over to one of the spare consoles, near the front of the Pel'tak chamber. He had known Tel'mar would have made arrangements, even now at this late an hour in their escape – the Goa'uld were notoriously selfish and egocentric.
A contingency plan to get away from the Ha'tak if the battle did not play out as a victory for their forces would have been one of Tel'mar's first objectives upon reaching the space-docks at Remarz Tor. The First Prime now set himself about his duty – this battle against the Tau'ri still had to be fought. Now, at least Denamor saw a window of opportunity to escape, if the fears that he felt were fully realized in the end...
# SG1 #
In
space
above
PJ3-176,
the
Milky Way Galaxy.
The Goa'uld-designed death glider banked and turned to try and shake Teal'c off its tail, but the skilled Jaffa kept the enemy fighter lined up in his sights. He fired two twin-bursts into the vessel at close-range, once he was confident that the Jaffa pilot in the other ship had no time to maneuver to escape the shots. Both energy-bolts struck their intended target, scything through the cockpit compartment and causing severe secondary explosions that tore the vessel to pieces.
"Yeah Teal'c, now that's what I'm talkin' about!" Cam Mitchell exhorted, thumping his right hand down on his knee and laughing happily. "Just like the Marianas Turkey-Shoot, but this time it's the space-combat version."
Teal'c stayed silent, simply bringing their X-302 space-fighter around and back into the fold of the larger battle progressing off to the side. The two enemy formations had merged with their own group in combat, and now everything had degenerated into a bitter dogfight the likes of which Colonel Mitchell had never seen or imagined - not even the Antarctic mission, when his old squadron of X-302s had taken on the best in Anubis' armada back on Earth in direct battle, could compare to this.
There were personal conflicts being waged all over the battlespace, as desperate pilots on both sides tried to stay one step ahead of their adversaries, and stay that little bit further ahead of death. The twisting wreckage of a number of already-destroyed death gliders littered the area in which their epic fight was being waged. Teal'c did his best to pilot their own vessel right into the jaws of the best - straight into the heart of the battle, where the numbers were decidedly against the Earth vessels, and the Jaffa had undoubted numerical superiority.
Firing one snap-shot that took off the wing of a death glider as they tore on past it, the Jaffa Teal'c came charging in on another enemy vessel, flying in towards it at top speed. When they were almost nose-to-nose with each other, and with no sign of either one slowing down or turning, Teal'c snapped off another quick twin-shot. One of the energy-bolts struck the death glider dead-on, cleaving right through the entire length of the vessel and exploding deep in the heart it's superstructure. The flaming debris suddenly flared up right in front of them, spreading out from the point where the death glider had once been, but Teal'c punched up the throttle and their X-302 shot right through it.
Two more death gliders came sweeping in from the left side, sharply turning to attack from a higher arc than their own space-fighter. Teal'c had to sent their vessel into a very steep, sudden banking turn, then a vicious loop. The G-forces exerted against their bodies were severely minimized by the inertial dampeners built into all X-302-model craft, but there was still some major push against their bodies – the two grunted and moaned as they took the punishment put down upon them both, but they managed to shake the pair of enemy craft off their tail for the time being. They were still in pursuit, but not so close behind their X-302 anymore that they were almost touching.
One of their 'friendly' brother X-302 fighters came tearing in with a strafing run on the two death gliders – a burst of energy weapons-fire from under the nose of the Tau'ri space-craft, and the leftmost death glider was torn completely apart.
Teal'c jammed their X-302's breaks on, and suddenly their craft went from full military-thrust right back down to a complete stop. The fighter lurched violently under the straining force of coming to such a sudden halt, but what the Jaffa warrior had been planning came off without a hitch – the one remaining death glider shot on over the top of them at breakneck speed, not managing to line them up in his gun-sights because of their sudden stop.
With the speed and lethal skill of a masterful pilot, Teal'c snapped off one twin-burst of weapons-fire right into the underside of the death glider as it tore right on by them, which ripped straight through the entire length of the vessel and caused it to disintegrate in seconds. The momentum at which the space-craft was traveling when it had been hit kept the fighter's debris hurling forward through the black void.
The two SG-1 members had been lucky, that time, and they both knew it. They quickly joined up with the lone X-302 fighter that had taken out the first paired death glider, and the two space-craft threw themselves yet again right back into the fray. There was no giving up and no retreat – not until their forces had triumphed over those who served the Goa'uld Tel'mar.
# SG1 #
In
space
above
PJ3-176, onboard the USS Odyssey,
the Milky Way
Galaxy.
They were almost through the Ha'tak mothership's shields, finally... but the damage wrought against their own vessel in retaliatory strikes was substancial. Colonel Emerson also found his attention drawn to the heated, intense dogfighting going on out in the depths of space in front of them; already, four of the X-302s had been destroyed in the battle, with two pilot/navigator pairings lost because they had not managed to eject in time. It was still a brutal conflict, but at last the tide was turning in their favour out there as well.
Paul turned to look at Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter and Dr Daniel Jackson, who were standing slightly off to the side of the main action stations around the bridge of the Odyssey. He beckoned them both over to join him by the viewscreen, and they all looked on as the larger battle beyond the reinforced glass raged on.
"So, how long do you think we have to keep this up?" he asked Carter, specifically. Daniel didn't say a word, but simply watched as the lights-show in the far distance continued ever onwards unabated.
"It should be almost over now, sir," Sam replied. She went over to the nearest crew-member with a portable dataslate in their hands, and asked to look at the device. Then quickly, the woman tapped a few icons on the reactive screen, and brought up the relevant information over the wireless network that linked the computer equipment with the rest of the ship's functions.
Carter had the information that she had been seeking brought up on the dataslate, and went over to show it to Emerson directly. "We are reasonably confident now that we know how much a regular Ha'tak mothership can take before its shield generators give out – this vessel has almost reached that limit. So, unless Tel'mar has made upgrades to his warship, it should have its shields collapse inside of the next five minutes."
"Excellent," Colonel Emerson said. "That is good to hear. Taking out this Goa'uld Lord who attacked our ship with such calleous brutality will be a fine ending to this entire situation. Don't you agree?"
