"Shields are up," Jacob called, reaching over Teal'c's broad shoulder and hitting a button on the main console of the Tok'ra ship.
"How long, Teal'c?" Jack asked.
"Ninety seconds until we reach the open area below us," Teal'c replied, looking at his readouts.
"And the death gliders?"
"They have not yet ascertained our whereabouts."
"It won't take them long to figure it out…" Daniel said. "Cloaked or not, we have to be leaving some kind of energy signature…"
"We'll worry about that when it happens," Jack replied, even though he was as tense as any of them.
OOOOOOOOOOO
"My lord!" The Jaffa at the security station was so surprised by what he'd seen; he didn't even wait for an acknowledgement from Anubis before continuing. "We've just been scanned!"
Anubis turned.
"The Asgard?"
He was tired of waiting, and felt a slight thrill go through him at the thought of finally showing the little fools what a real Goa'uld system lord was capable of.
"The scan originated in the hangar, my lord."
"What?"
The Jaffa checked again, just to be certain.
"The scan originated somewhere within the hangar, my lord. We were scanned internally."
Everyone on the bridge knew what that meant. Anubis didn't have to explain it – and the Jaffa didn't dare make the assumption that the system lord didn't know.
"Find them!" Anubis ordered. "Bring them to me. Alive."
He would show whoever it was the folly of trying to infiltrate a Goa'uld vessel. Especially his.
"Yes, my lord."
Motioning to several of the others, the recently promoted First Prime left the bridge at a trot, followed closely by those he'd beckoned to.
OOOOOOOOOOO
Cloaked as he was, Ian was able to move freely through the hangar of the Goa'uld ship. Actually, he probably would have been able to move fairly safely even if he weren't cloaked. The hangar was empty of Jaffa or other aliens. Which didn't mean he took a lot of time to do some sight seeing. The one thing he didn't have was a lot of time. The entire hangar was also almost completely empty of death gliders, which meant the whole compliment of them were on the way to Earth.
"I hope you guys are ready…" he muttered to himself, moving along one of the far walls, his eyes everywhere as he watched for any sign of detection – and also looked for the power relay McKay had told him about.
"Ian! Ian!"
The called startled him so badly he almost wet his pants, and he did flinch. And then he scowled and reached for his mike.
"Are you out of your mind, McKay?" he hissed. He was lucky that no one had been around to hear the call.
"Where are you?"
"In the hangar."
"Have you planted the ZedPM, yet?"
"No. Now stop talking to me so I can-"
"You can't hook it up to a power relay," McKay interrupted.
"What?"
"If you do, it'll alert the Jaffa – and Anubis. It'll either drain their own resources enough for them to notice, or create a surge that they definitely will notice. Either way, you'll-"
"You're telling me this now?"
He couldn't believe it.
"I just thought of it," McKay told him, acerbically. "I wasn't exactly at my best when we were discussing it, remember?"
"Well, thanks…"
"Look, I'm sorry, okay? There's no way you're going to be able to overload it and blow it without them noticing."
"Fine."
Actually, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. He hadn't originally planned on hooking the ZPM up to a power relay anyways. That had been McKay's idea. His idea had been a little more direct – and a lot more dangerous.
"Come back and we'll-""I need to get to the bridge," he interrupted. "Keep off the radio."
He was about to say something else when a door opened suddenly and a score of Jaffa came rushing in, staff weapons at the ready – as if they'd been expecting to find someone. Or something. He made himself very small against the closest wall, and watched them carefully as he quietly keyed his mike. In the softest whisper he could manage, he called McKay.
"There are Jaffa in the hangar… they're probably looking for you, so keep tight… and don't reply to this…"
He didn't want them to find him, either. At least not yet.
OOOOOOOOO
"We are through," Teal'c announced, as calmly as if he'd announced that they were having toast for breakfast.
"Is there a weapon down there?" Daniel asked.
"Unknown," the Jaffa replied, checking his instrumentation. "There is a cavern of some sort – however it could be natural…"
"There's no way it is," Sam said, heading for the ring transporter. "Let's go."
They could all clearly see all the small craft inbound towards them, and knew they didn't have time to dally around.
"Be careful," Jacob said as Jack and Daniel joined her.
"We will," she assured him.
Jack frowned, looking at Thor, who remained standing beside Jacob Carter.
"Aren't you coming?"
"No. I am not so certain the Ancient's weapon will work if I am present – and I am unwilling to risk your planet just to assuage my curiosity."
They'd already decided it probably wouldn't work for the Goa'uld – but Thor had an odd notion that maybe the Ancients had added other safeguards, as well. Not all the Asgard were angels, after all – as Loki had proven nicely – and the Ancients knew their old allies well. Better than the Asgard knew themselves, most likely.
"Activate it, Jacob…" Jack said.
They didn't have time to discuss Thor's reasoning, after all – and they figured that Thor probably had his reasons for being uncertain. He could be right, for all they knew.
Carter moved over to the ring device's control panel and activated it – and a moment later they were gone.
"I guess all we can do is wait…" he said into the silence.
"We have other things to concern ourselves with," Teal'c said.
Sure enough, the death gliders had arrived in the area, and they all knew the pilots of those craft would be activating every sensor onboard their ships.
"It will not take them long to locate us," Thor said.
"Indeed."
"Unless they get distracted…" Jacob said, looking down at the display on the control panel. The first wave of flying craft had just been joined from every direction by an impossible number of other aircraft – and none of them were alien. "I'd say the cavalry has arrived…"
Teal'c turned on the onboard radio receiver, and the bridge of the little ship was suddenly filled with radio chatter. All military, and in enough different languages that they knew it wasn't just one air group.
"Your people will not have much chance against the superior fire power and arsenals of the Goa'uld," Thor said.
"They might surprise you…" Jacob replied. He had a lot more faith than the Asgard. But then, he was a pilot himself – and he knew what was driving the men and women in those planes. "But they're going to buy Jack the time he needs."
Or die trying.