It seems that what I said in the Author's Notes in the very first chapter has not sunk in with some of you. So I will repeat it again. THERE WILL NOT BE ANY COVENANT IN THIS STORY.
Chapter 4
Location: Unknown Planet, Stargate
Date: March 27, 2527
Time: 1410 Hours
The entire base was tense, they all knew what was happening of course, and had reveled in the success of what had just been accomplished. It was a veritable miracle that they'd managed it at all. The troops on guard in the gate room were the most nervous of the entire base, well behind the actual away team that is. Their unique position of being able to step down was one that each privately considered several times. But thankfully none of them stepped back.
"Is this it?" Major Kawalski, O'Neill's executive officer on the team asked.
"Looks like it Major," O'Neill responded, and looked over at where Captain Carter stood, looking up in awe at the amazing sight before them.
"It's amazing, you can actually see the event horizon fluctuating with the air and solid matter," she whispered. Her eyes were just visible in the visor of her Recon Helmet and if she weren't wearing it O'Neill would have sworn that her jaw would drop to the floor.
"Jackson, you alright?" O'Neill asked.
"Yeah, uh…it's incredible, so…what now?" he asked, looking at O'Neill and the rest of the military personnel.
"Bring in the probe."
A probe was brought up from the garage below the gate room of course. The large mechanized beast was specifically designed for what they'd believed it would endure. It had eight wheels with independent variable suspension systems for each to be able to take on any terrain. It was armed with a light machine gun and most important of all to O'Neill was a nest of eight small UAV's. Each was driven by four propellers, had a camera, and was completely autonomous. For security's sake they had a small thermite charge embedded into them to self-destruct in the event of it being compromised or needed to target something. The probe could have ten sets of eyes out a mile from itself and send what those eyes were seeing to anyone in the unit. That was a huge boon.
And that probe and its mini-probes were rolled forward, slowly and cautiously until the front end disappeared into the rippling watery illusion. Instantly the man in the control room called out.
"Probe en route," and then after a second or two, "Probe has arrived, receiving telemetry."
In a separate window the footage was streamed to their HUD's and each of them saw what appeared to be a snow covered woodland, untouched by civilization. It was pristine, and gorgeous to the naked eye. Nothing seemed to be quite like it. Instantly the team was wanting to go, after all, what they were seeing didn't look too dangerous, and the atmospheric readings would have already made the mission a scrub for them at least. So that meant that the decision was being made whether or not to let them go.
"Colonel O'Neill," the radio crackled with Admiral Hammond's voice, "Atmospheric readings are within acceptable parameters, and you are given the green light to proceed with your recon."
"Thank you sir," O'Neill responded, snapping a salute to the tinted glass, "Alright team, we're green to go. Stack up and follow me."
Those final steps through the gate were the longest and most excruciating steps Jack O'Neill had ever taken. Not even the preceding moments before an HEV Drop were as long and tense. In those he'd been trained for it, he knew what to expect, and he'd done it many times. But here, standing before the rippling pool of watery substance he found himself not knowing at all what was in store in for him. Carter and Jackson were the last ones in line, which meant the eight ODST's were in the lead, ready to take on anything in their way and to keep the more necessary members of the team out of the way.
"Here we go," O'Neill whispered to himself as he stepped forward. First he saw his visor disappear for a split second into the event horizon. Then the end of his SMG went next, and then his hand which he seemed to lose all communication with. Next went that arm then gradually the rest of his body. A sudden and horrible sensation ripped across his body as he went stumbling out of the gate to the other side. Instantly his body stumbled as it regained its center of gravity but then worse still he realized that he was standing on ice that was totally flattened out on a stone walkway that was in no way natural. So without fail he slipped and slid and fell to his face in knee deep snow next to the drone. He heard the sounds of the others passing through and turned to face them as they too slipped on through. None of them really could get their bearings and some fell to their knees while others just stumbled through. Daniel Jackson was obviously the least graceful, and straight up let his feet go right out from under him and fell with a loud thud right on the icy stone. But right behind him had come Carter. And she had no idea that there was a bit of a roadblock in her way. So when she came through both of her legs caught on Daniel and her weight threw her forward and she flew right onto O'Neill coming face to face, or helmet to helmet as the case may be.
Her visor was polarized to its golden state of readiness, and she was glad for it, especially after the way she fell through and especially how and where she landed. She had fallen hard, and the breath had been slightly knocked out of her, but O'Neill had it worse.
"Oh sorry sir," she said, extremely glad that she'd managed to polarize her visor, else the rest of the team see the pink dancing across her cheek at landing in a rather embarrassing way on top of O'Neill.
"That's alright Captain, not the first time a lady's fallen all over me, as it were," O'Neill said back with a grin that she could see through his visor.
"Area's clear Colonel, but I'd still suggest you'd get a room," Kawalski chirped, seeing the ONI officer and his own CO a bit tangled up in the deep snow drift.
"Shut it Major," O'Neill ordered, getting to his feet and surveying the land around them, "Well, might as well send out the mini-drones.
"Already out sir," Kawalski said, pointing at the line of eight four propeller driven robots that were already a hundred feet into the air and hovering over the tree line awaiting orders.
"Alright, Sergeant Halle, you've got the controls on those drones, Jones, Yump, set up camp. Captain, report back to command, report that we've made it and are proceeding on mission."
"Yes sir," Carter responded and tapped her helmet to report back to the SGC.
"Jackson," O'Neill called out, "Get to work with figuring out how to get us home."
"Huh-what?" Jackson asked, not really paying attention to what he'd been told to do, instead he was trying to get to his feet on the still icy stone steps.
"Get down from there before you hurt yourself," O'Neill ordered with an exasperated groan, "And get to work."
"Trying," Jackson said, trying to work his way to ground level.
"Well hurry up. If it gets any colder before we have a shelter up we're gonna be in trouble and you're pretty much the only person who can get us home," Kawalski growled as Jackson finally got to ground level where he could walk without worrying about slipping and sliding like a fool.
"Alright, just need to get-," Jackson started looking up at the Stargate and the cracked ice layers on the symbols, "First I'll need to get the ice off the symbols to see what's what."
"Fine get to work, Major, you're in charge until we get back," O'Neill ordered, "Everyone else, on me. Captain that means you too."
"Yes sir," Carter replied and fell into line behind O'Neill who was now following the trail plowed through the snow by Sergeant Hastings, the Sniper/Scout for the team.
"Man, this snow…is thick," one of the other team members said from behind Carter as he slogged through the snow.
"That's why Hastings is blazing the trail," O'Neill chuckled, seeing the Sniper shake his head in irritation up ahead of them.
"Sir," Carter chirped up, "If you don't mind me asking why you picked me to scout with you? I'd be more help to Dr. Jackson back at camp."
"Well," O'Neill said as he finally made it to the tree line where the snow thinned out and was now only ankle deep, "We can only scout so far with our drones. And no amount of robotics and A.I. can replace boots on the ground in a situation. Especially out here, you never know what might be around the next corner."
"Yeah, we could stumble upon Atlantis for all we know," one of the men chuckled behind Carter.
"Oh please, you don't actually believe in that kind of legend and wizardry," one of the others said with a very annoyed tone to his voice.
"I never said I did!" he responded, "I was just making the Colonel's point a bit clearer."
"Well you didn't do it very well, now shut up and-," the Hastings shouted from ahead as he walked backwards but then a sudden cracking noise and a pillar of snow and dust rose as he fell straight down.
"Hastings!" O'Neill yelled, charging forward to a hole in the ground.
The group ran forward, trying to see what exactly had happened but then found themselves in equally dire straits. As O'Neill and Carter made it to the small hole they felt the ground around start to crack and rumble and then they too felt the ground drop out from under them and they dropped like rocks. Their fall was broken however by a steep slope of ice cold water flowing right beneath where they'd been standing. The scant amount of light from the hole in the roof evaporated quickly as they flowed down the tunnel and tried desperately to keep their heads above water. ODST and Recon armor was somewhat vacuum sealed, and gave O'Neill and Carter a decent chance of survival if they ran out of air. But O'Neill quickly lost his hold on his weapon and felt it flapping about on its buckle on his armor. He didn't exactly notice it all that often, especially as he and Carter tried desperately to cling to each other and not get separated in the underground rapids that were taking through banks and turns and down sharp drops.
The icy cold water now numbed his fingers and arms as they began seeing slight glow in the water as they came closer and closer to their destination. Then, the cavern opened up into a perfectly square opening. Light pierced their visors and O'Neill lifted his numb hand to block it out after the twenty minute ordeal. The flow began to ebb away into a gentle flow and they felt a smooth stone surface five feet beneath them that they tried reaching their feet down to as they flowed in what appeared to be something manmade. The two UNSC officers now found themselves looking up, and saw that they were in a deep valley or ravine that the two of them were flowing parallel to. They could see small square house-like structures dotting the area occasionally, trees were less common here, in their stead was an oddly terraced landscape. And the two of them couldn't believe their eyes, but their HUD's instantly lit up with yellow highlights around human figures in the distance.
"Sir," Carter said, "What-how…"
"What makes you think I know Captain?" he responded testily, and now began looking for his missing Scout who'd fallen through the hole in the ground in the first place, "We need to find Hastings, he was ahead of us."
As they continued to flow through the aqueduct they started seeing statues, human statues towering over ten to thirty feet tall. They were encrusted with snow and ice but their shape and form was unmistakable. Each was exactly shaped like a human! And not just human, humans in ancient Greek style armor with some holding swords and spears and shields. The dark gray monoliths magnetized the attention of the two UNSC officers who now felt something not exactly wanted happen to the two of them. The aqueduct split and forked away taking both of them in opposite directions.
"Colonel!" Carter shouted, seeing the carved granite parting away from her.
"Carter!" O'Neill shouted, trying to stand and pull himself up.
But as much as he tried the icy stone was too much, he couldn't get the kind of grip he needed to be able to stop and back track and get over to Carter. Unfortunately it was a very similar story with her as well. Carter found herself swept through the now steepening curve of the aqueduct and saw for the first time a large glistening collection of stone buildings, temples, and tall columns. It was for all intents and purposes a city, an inhabited city.
Carter tried to keep tabs on O'Neill so that she'd be able to link up with him, but she quickly lost sight of him once the aqueduct passed over a thick set of walls which from what Carter could see had several guards on them in gray and red armor and cloaks. The walls were thick and tall, clearly a great engineering feat, and Carter, in her own natural curiosity started taking in this grand spectacle. She instantly started seeing a common theme to the city's architecture, and she easily picked it out from her considerable knowledge. It was Greek, or Roman, it was hard to tell. This was more Jackson's specialty, not hers. As she continued to flow through the water at a fairly rapid pace she could hear some of the classic noises of a city, or at least she thought it was normal. People talking in a strange language, laughter, yelling, the clattering of horses and carts on stone roads, children laughing and other things.
This got Carter to thinking that the Stargate didn't send them to another planet, it may have been possible that it sent them back in time. That would explain the ancient civilization around her, however she dismissed that as unlikely but kept it in mind moving forward. She was still trying to find Colonel O'Neill but didn't see him, but as she continued to look around she chanced a look over the side and caught a glimpse of where she was headed. The aqueduct banked ahead and steered itself towards a hill upon which a massive structure sat overlooking the entire city. It was for all intents and purposes, a palace. However, that was not exactly where she needed to go. But there wasn't much she was able to do about it at the moment. So she prepared to be able to work her way up and out once she was within that…palace.
Never thought I'd find myself inside of a luxurious palace, not on my salary, she thought to herself as the shadow of the monolith towered over her, man is this going to be an interesting assignment.
Location: Delta Arcturus System, Planet Outland, Hills outside Outback City
Date: March 27, 2527
Time: 1745 Hours
The ODST's hadn't seen them coming, the attack craft had been too fast and too sudden to successfully counter with the three Jackhammers that the platoon carried in each squad. The three flying wing craft came screaming in, firing their plasma cannons right at the ODST's as they walked along the crest of a rocky ridge strewn with large boulders and small trees and shrubs. The explosive force of the projectiles hitting, even though out of lethal distance, were enough for the platoon to take cover out of instinct.
"Incoming! We got one of those big boys coming at us!" one of the Squad Leaders called out, looking out to the side of the ridge.
The ODST Lieutenant, Isaac Motuno, looked out at the large triangular shaped vessel as it came at them lumbering forward slowly and descending towards a flat valley floor below their position. He instantly theorized as to the large craft's purpose and his first thought said "Troop Transport."
"Lock and load! Take cover!" he ordered, pulling his Silenced SMG's action back and jumped down to a large flat boulder as the gray craft came to a stop and he saw a large ramp drop on the ship's left side.
"Hostiles in the open!" one of his men called out, pointing out the numerous gray figures streaming out of the enemy ship's bulbous belly.
"Permission to engage?"
Lieutenant Motuno surveyed the enemy force streaming from the belly of the transport and then looked to his own well positioned and well-armed force and decided to fight it out, "Engage! Engage!"
The sound of suppressed SMG's, SAW's, and Sniper Rifles echoed out and the battle was joined. The enemy troops now seemed to number in the hundreds as they swarmed below the ODST's who fired from long range, hitting their targets with grim precision in the killing ground leading to the rocky ridge. Their black armor blended with the dark gray granite of the rocks and the shadows of the shrubs around them and made the erratic flood of fire from the numerous hostiles miss both wide and very close. Their impacts were explosive and sent tiny molten shards of rock out that pinged off of their cover and armor. Occasionally a piece would burn into their cloth uniforms under their armored plates and would be ignored due to the amount of adrenaline now coursing through the veins of every ODST as they poured precise fire into the waves of enemy troops.
Motuno had already called for help, and knew that the Spartans would be nearby to assist and provide assistance but even Spartans weren't invincible, were they? He caught himself as he thought of the incoming help from the Spartans of Blue Team that they were to rendezvous with before being attacked.
By now the fighting was really starting to heat up. The enemy fighters had returned strafing the ODSTs' positions from behind their own advancing infantry that was yelling and firing wildly as they seemed to advance like a flood. Dozens fell to the bullets of the ODST platoon as they ran between the rocks, trees, and shrubs to where the Helljumpers just pumped lead into them. Motuno was soon able to tell when an enemy soldier was neutralized, a shower of sparks would rip out from their chests as the deadly UNSC weaponry tore into their users. The SMG's did the job, but they took a good burst to do the job instead of a few pin point shots like they were used to. This, unfortunately, meant that the calls for his troops being low on ammo came quickly after the fighting started.
Lieutenant Motuno noticed how quickly his ammunition was starting dwindle and began aiming for the unprotected heads of his foes. This was difficult, but not overly so. There were too many of them not to miss. That was more than he could say for the waves of enemy troops streaming up at his men and women spread thinly along the ridge. Their deadly plasma firing staffs were not exactly great for pin point firing but they made up for that in sheer numbers. Their whizzing noise and loud impacts kept his troops honest and mobile. Jumping and sidestepping often to avoid becoming a stationary target as they ducked from cover to cover, plasma bolts hot on their heels. By this time Motuno saw that at least half a dozen trios of the enemy soldiers were setting up some sort of heavier plasma weapon on the rocks in cover to return their devastating fire with their own. The first of these weapons to fire struck the rock that one of his snipers was taking cover behind. The sheer power of the blast split the half ton slab of granite into pieces and sent the ODST flying with the front of his armor mangled and torn. A medic was there by his side within seconds and three ODST's ran forward to provide cover fire. But before one of them could make it to the place he'd intended to take cover behind a stray plasma bolt slammed into his chest and he was thrown into the air. His own forward momentum making him tumble down the slope and came to rest in a bush, steam rising from his armored chest plate, which was now shown to have resisted but failed to protect him from the deadly blast. The HUD marker for that ODST flashed to red and blinked to gray, meaning one thing no officer or any UNSC soldier wanted to see, KIA.
The tide of enemy troops now began to take a toll, Lieutenant Motuno saw two flashes of names on his HUD go blood red, meaning they had been wounded. An ODST next to him took a shot to the shoulder, spinning him around and making him collapse to the ground, grasping at the wound as the battle raged. Explosions coughed out as the ODST's rolled frag grenades into the compacted enemy ranks, blowing away double digits every time a grenade went off. Rockets were fired in retaliation at the heavy enemy weaponry at the bottom of the hill, sending two of the weapons and their crews flying away in pieces. The Lieutenant watched another rocketeer stand to his feet and fire a rocket at a group of enemy troops running at him and watched the rocket detonate in their midst in a shower of flame and red mist as the bodies were sent spattering into the rocks pinning them in. But then that rocketeer paid for his shot with his life before he could fire his second round. Three plasma bolts slammed into his shoulder, leg, and chest and he collapsed and slid to the side and rolled down the steep hill.
"We're running low on ammo eltee!" one of the Sergeants called out.
"Aim for the heads and legs, make every shot count!" Motuno ordered, looking over to respond. That was a mistake.
When he looked back up he saw the bulbous end of an enemy soldier's staff crash into his visor and sent him sprawling to ground. He rolled and managed to pull his Automag from its holster and fired a perfect headshot that impacted right into the tattoo on the man's forehead. The enemy soldier just fell forward off the rock that he'd stood upon to strike the ODST. It was now getting very close, the enemy soldiers were now within twenty yards of most of his men, some were even closer. By now many of the ODST's were either killed or wounded. Little more than half of the platoon was still in fighting shape while more than a hundred of screaming, charging enemy remained hellbent on finishing off every last Helljumper.
"Hold the line! Stay in cover, don't give them a free shot!" he called out on the radio and as he said that he saw one of his squad leaders get rushed by three enemy troops all at once. The man next to him was already lying with his front on the ground and a bit of steam and smoke rising from the two shots to his back and ribs. The ODST managed to peg one of the enemy troops in the chest as another rushed him from the rock he was behind. The ODST grabbed the staff he carried and slung him to ground and yanked his trench knife and brought it down upon his opponent's neck. But as that happened a point blank shot to the back ended his fight. Motuno pointed his weapon at the perpetrator but a sudden blast of heat in front of him lifted the ODST officer into the air and tossed him backwards. When he landed he landed hard, his helmet hit a small rock and his HUD began to fade in and out of static from the hit. He saw on his HUD only eight green marks were left, the rest were blinking red, or not there at all. He'd just lost the fight, his platoon was practically wiped out, there wasn't any hope left.
But then, out of nowhere, four Blue IFF tags appeared and the loud coughing of Assault Rifles and more screaming and yelling came out. It was the Spartans, they'd arrived, now there was going to be Hell to pay.
"Blue Team, engage!"
The radio lit up with the Spartans engaging their foes with merciless brutality and precision. Gunfire ripped out and Motuno carefully edged himself back against a boulder and saw the silhouettes of two Spartans rampaging towards him. But from behind the smaller of the two came a pair of enemy troops with staffs raised as they, foolishly, tried attacking the Spartans in hand-to-hand combat. But they saw it coming. The first one jumped down from up high, swinging his weapon like a great hammer, but the Spartan spun and sidestepped, grabbing the weapon and snapped it up and into the man's face, caving it in. Using that momentum the Spartan dodged a swing from the second foe by bending backwards and spun on her heel as she then twirled the captured staff and swept his legs out from under him and before he even hit the ground brought the staff stabbing down through his body and impaled him on the ground. It was a little flamboyant but it worked. The second Spartan knew that his compatriot had everything in hand and continued firing.
A trio of hostile troops swarmed around a corner and stopped to fire at the Spartan with their dangerous weaponry. The Spartan saw that he had no cover and had run his clip dry. So as the bolts of plasma lanced out at him he turned and sprinted into a tall boulder and wall climbed up its surface and then leaped back and up, passing clean over the bolts of plasma with a speed and grace that the enemy couldn't even comprehend. But it wasn't like they were going to be able to appreciate the acrobatic showing. In midair the Spartan yanked his Magnum off his thigh and pointed it out one handed as he held his empty Assault Rifle in the other. Three pinpoint shots ripped the enemy troops off their feet and sent them tumbling back onto each other in a heap. As they hit the ground as did the Spartan who scanned left and found several other targets out of Lieutenant Motuno's line of sight. He fired three more rapid shots, and got the response of the loud impacts of bullets against metal plated armor and the screams of the enemy in the crosshairs of the seemingly invincible Spartans.
He then felt something grab his arm and pull him up and turned his head to see two of his own fellow ODST's. One passed him his SMG and he scanned around to see the enemy in full retreat with the firm encouragement of the Spartans and remaining vengeful ODST's.
"Push forward!" Motuno yelled out, and charged around the corner with his men right alongside him.
The fighters now came screaming in for another strafing run, but a rocket arched up and exploded tearing its right wing completely off and sent the craft tumbling into the distance where it crashed loudly against a rocky cliff. The battle had swung disastrously against the aggressors who now felt the full wrath of the Spartans with the back-up of sixteen ODST's, seven of whom had already taken a hit of some kind already but shoved the pain aside and surged forward and attacked. The enemy soldiers retreated back down the hill thick with the bodies of the dead and dying as the UNSC forces behind them came flying down the hill, intent on killing every last one of them. The enemy wasn't retreating in a blind panic however.
Once they got to the bottom of the hill and near their transport they began laying heavy covering fire to keep their pursuers' heads down while they evacuated. The Spartans and ODST's were forced into cover and fired from that cover as several dozen of the enemy escaped into their bulbous craft. The vehicle began hovering as the last few enemy tried making a break for it but were gunned down. But as the craft rose from the blood-stained battleground the rumbling noise of jet engines rumbled in the distance. Then three streaks of fire and smoke smashed into the craft, exploding in an angry fireball and sent the craft crashing to the ground as it splintered and broke apart from the powerful Anvil Missiles delivered courtesy of a flight of Pelican Dropships there to evacuate the platoon of ODST's and the team of Spartans.
Two of the Pelicans screamed overhead, banking hard as the smoke rose from the crash-site while two of its comrades descended down to pick up the Spartans and ODST's. The wounded were now being tended to as the Spartans carefully poked around the wreckage and numerous mutilated bodies. The Pelicans landed and out came a fifth Spartan with a Sniper Rifle, scanning the area on instinct. Several Marines jumped out of the other Pelicans and helped get the other wounded ODST's into the dropships so that they could retreat before reinforcements showed up along with more of those enemy fighters.
Lieutenant Motuno scanned the area, saw the carnage wreaked by his men, the Spartans, and the enemy warriors who all lay dead at his feet. He had combat several times, but nothing like this, no UNSC soldier had ever seen or faced a foe quite like this one. But he would not be the last, not by a longshot.
Location: Unknown Planet, Stargate
Date: March 27, 2527
Time: 1700 Hours
The breaking of ice is tougher than many people realize, especially when the ice is four or five inches thick. It was quite obvious that the Stargate hadn't been activated in a long time, and that made Jackson feel nervous as to why the Stargate hadn't been used in such a long time.
Did it even work? Could he even get it to work if it was out of order? So many questions, so few answers. But he kept pounding at the ice with the hammer and chisel that he'd packed for something like this. It was slow going, especially with Major Kawalski trying to hurry him along as he tried to find Colonel O'Neill, Captain Carter, and Sergeant Hastings. The three of them had fallen into some underground river and they'd lost their signals as soon as they went underground headed west. They'd now lost their CO, Scout, and Technical Officer in one fell swoop of fate. That put the remaining nine members of the team to figure out how to start looking for them. If they could make it to the surface their transponders would broadcast their locations and make it easier to locate them. If not…well Kawalski had forcefully quelled all such talk with a fist to the jaw. Which was not doing Jackson any favors as he continued to break apart the ice.
Jackson had gotten a good portion of the gate ice free until he heard something odd. A sound like the ones he and the others had heard when the gate had first activated within the deep confines of the SGC. It had been a sound that was impossible to forget, and Daniel was surprised to see the symbol next to his hand glow red as it activated.
"Uh…Major?" he called out as more symbols rapidly activated and lit up, which got the attention of the other men in the unit.
"Jackson get down here, now!" Kawalski yelled, seeing the chevrons dialing far more rapidly than he'd anticipated.
Jackson unflinchingly obeyed, running down the steps just as the portal activated, sending the whooshing event horizon out into the cold air. He tried getting up onto his feet, and turned around to see that the shimmering portal was established, completely unchanged from what he had seen of it the last time he had observed it. It was interesting, but not as interesting as what happened next. He saw a towering humanoid figure clad in dark gray armor step through the portal. On his head was a cobra with glowing red eyes. It seemed almost outlandish, but then again, he was on a different planet. He backed up as the Cobra-Person-Thing turned to look at him, and leveled its staff at him. As he fell he tripped over the probe and was surprised when he was yanked to his feet by an ODST who just kept backing up until Jackson heard a strange but loud sound. Then, he felt pain shoot into his back, then yelling, and gunfire. He could feel himself being pulled by several of the ODST's who held him between them, as the others opened fire to cover them. But it seemed that before he even got to the trees the blackness closed in, and he slipped into unconsciousness.
First trip out and Jackson's already looking to die! What's wrong with that guy huh? But it's alright he's a major character no worries. But how about that action scene huh? Seeing as I haven't updated for such a long time I thought that things wouldn't work out all that well. Was I being too hard on myself? Seriously though, was I? Anyway, I have got the tally for the vote and the winner is Indiana Jones. So look forward to seeing him in the future as a fairly major character. Thanks for being so patient with me, I'm really glad that I was able to update the fic and will look forward to writing the update the other one of my stories, A Brutal Truth.
Next Chapter Preview: Ra faces the full might of the UNSC. And O'Neill finds himself in a rather awkward predicament. And will Jackson die…again? Eh, if he does he'll come back in style shortly.