Disclaimer: I never have and never will own the characters, Ideas or anything else based on these 2 shows. The TV studios that produced them, do. This story is also free as it is a pet project. Enjoy.
"Talking"
"Thinking"
"Wireless/communication"
Chapter 11: Ashes to ashes
Earth, SGC, minutes after SG-1 left
"Why could I not go with them? I am a warrior, just like all the others!" Rya'c protested. He and Bra'tac stayed behind to observe the operation in the SGC.
"You are becoming a strong warrior, but you are not a Jaffa warrior yet. You still need discipline and patience, young one." Bra'tac smiled at his new protégé.
They were observing the mission reports from the control room, a new room build on a higher level in the SGC facility. General Hammond was with them, also looking at the information coming in. It was then that they received a transmission from Aris Boch.
"General, master Bra'tac, I deliver grave news." Aris said over the holo display.
"What news would that be, great warrior?" Bra'tac asked.
"I have heard that Teal'c wife is on Delmak, held by Apophis. No doubt a trap, if he let such information slip into the underworld.
Bra'tac could not believe it. "That coward!"
"Aris, how dependable is this information?" Hammond asked.
"Believe me, I checked multiple sources, it has to be true. I made sure that they would not dare to lie to me."
"Master Bra'tac, we have to ..." Rya'c began to plead.
"Yes, young one. But we cannot go in blinded with rage! This demands a plan."
Hammond nodded. "Agreed, but we cannot inform Teal'c, yet. This could compromise the mission. We tell him after the mission."
"Agreed." Bra'tac replied.
Woolsey, who was in contact with the Earth council, stoped his updating and joined the talk. "I believe that our original plan is still the best chance we have. We will have to accelerate it if we want to succeed. Nothing against Teal'c, but I will not risk thousands of soldiers, human or Jaffa, in a blinded assault that is doomed from the beginning."
Everyone nodded, except Rya'c, who was just clenching his fists, rage on his face.
"I think that we should include a Tok'ra representative in these talks." Woolsey recommended.
"Agreed. Which Tok'ra is overwatching the mission for the Tok'ra council?" the general inquired.
"That would be me George." Jacob appeared on the other side of the holo display.
"Jacob, any ideas on this?"
"I agree with Mr. Woolsey. I will talk with the Tok'ra council. After we get the confirmation on a successful mission with the Aschen, our spy will leak the info of the location of our old abandoned base. Apophis does not know that it is abandoned. Then he will send his fleet."
"That is the original plan, just pushed ahead of time. What would be the point of this for Teal'c?" Hammond asked.
"We are certain that Apophis will send his fleet defending Delmak. If this fleet is on a wild goose chase and we destroy them with a nova, Delmak will have only a skeleton fleet defending the planet. The orbital and planetary defences are still formidable, but without the fleet, not as much of a problem."
"How sure are you that he will send that fleet? Why not another?"
"The rest of his forces are needed at the front to battle Heru'ur and the System Lords. He can't send another fleet. Once his fleet is on the way, we can send your Jaffa forces to raid his primary shipyards. Like Delmak, they are in a hidden location, unknown to the System Lords and Heru'ur. It is also that fact why Apophis would send his fleet above Delmak, he is not risking loosing that world if left undefended. Well, at least to the System Lords and Heru'ur, but not us. But we will need to wait for a while. It will take several hours for Apophis forces to reach the ambush location. The same applies for the Jaffa forces to reach Delmak after raiding the shipyards. Ironically, they are relatively close to the Aschen home world. Less than 2000 Ly. Also, since he has Teal'c wife, our spy is certain that Apophis will remain on Delmak and not lead his fleet to the ambush system. And even if he did, a dead Goa'uld is a good thing in any situation."
"Yes, no Goa'uld knows of Delmak's location, but those loyal to Apophis or formerly, Sokar." Bra'tak acknowledge that fact.
"If that is a fact, why not capture Delmak for the Free Jaffa to use as a hidden base?" Hammond asked.
"We cannot, Hammond of Texas. That planet has a large population, both Jaffa and human. Capturing it would be one thing, holding it quite another. And once Apophis is dead, any of the lower ranking Goa'uld will want to grab power himself or sell the location to the System Lords." Bra'tac explained.
"While I agree with that, there is another, more important reason." Selmak added. "There is one Goa'uld who knew the location of Delmak millennia ago, when Sokar was sent into exile. Anubis. And we have received reports of a mystery force grabbing Goa'uld ships and Jaffa solders of fallen System Lords. It has to be him."
Bra'tac realized that Selmak was right. "So we just assault Delmak, while Apophis forces are busy at the front and his defence fleet is lured into a trap. But why the raid you mentioned?"
"The planet I mentioned, Haron, is not in Apophis territory. Not even known to ANY System Lord. We lost 2 spies getting this information. Only Apophis and his current prime know of its location. And the Jaffa stationed there to defend the planet and keep the slaves under control, of course. It is the single mostly automated ship building operation, and the planet itself, it is in a system rich in trinium and naquadah. An enticing target. Also, it has no gate on it for security reasons. We can take one there ourselves. Since it is so well hidden, only 7 Ha'tak's are defending it. Once we clear that, we should be able to get every piece of hardware from the planet and also keep it, if Apophis and his prime die during our assault on Delmak."
"Selmak, if the Tok'ra had knowledge of this system, why not attack it first? Sounds like a great target, unless there is a catch?" Hammond asked.
"There is. Not until a few days ago did our only spy still alive there, manage to get access to the comm systems on Delmak. He will be able to jam the call that the Jaffa on Haron will send, once the attack begins as well as blind the long range sensors to prevent them seeing our fleet coming. If Apophis is alerted to this attack, he will redirect his fleet from the ambush to his shipyards. That also means that the defenders will have to be dealt with quickly."
"That does make sense." Woolsey added his 2 cents." But what about Teal'c's wife? How do we get her out of there? A cloaked Al'kesh send in advance?"
"No, that would not work. While the Goa'uld have not developed any sensors that can see thru cloaking devices of an Al'kesh, some of them they have an alternate approach to this issue. A Sensor field in low orbit of a planet. This field acts like a invisible bubble of energy. Once anything, like a cloaked ship, passes thru it, it will be spotted. And these fields are designed to temporarily cripple Al'kesh and Tel'tak cloaking devices. Long enough to be shot down. It is a method currently being used only on the most important planets, since it is resource consuming."
Hammond looked around. "Anyone else have a suggestion?"
"Perhaps I have, general." Aris said. "You will not like it, but we have no choice. As you know, I am a bounty hunter. And the Goa'uld don't know yet that my people and planet are part of the Alliance and that I am a double agent. In their eyes I am still a loyal servant. And the System Lords have put a large bounty on Teal'c. I will pretend to have captured Teal'c and bring him to Apophis. In my Tel'tak."
"Out of the question. That would be a suicide mission..." Hammond protested.
"Teal'c will do it." Bra'tac intervened. "Selmak, can this scanning field break a cloak inside a ship?"
"No, why do you ask?"
"I believe that the Tau'ri have a saying. A Trojan horse. We do as Aris said, but we fill his Tel'tak with Sodan Jaffa, all with the cloaking armbands. I will lead them. And if you or another Tok'ra joins us, we can cripple the defences of the planet, if we can get to the control room. Aris brings Teal'c to Apophis. I and a squad under my command will follow, under cloak. Once the moment presents itself, we kill or capture the false god. The Tok'ra agent will have the 2nd squad as an escort."
"A good plan. In that case, I will be the Tok'ra agent on this mission." Selmak replied. "And I will instruct our spy on Delmak to get the location of the prison where she is being kept."
"One question Aris. Will Apophis not react with suspicion if you show up on his planet that you should have no knowledge of?" Hammond asked.
"No he will not. I worked for Sokar before, if you remember. I did many jobs for him and so I know where Delmak is."
"And Sokar let you live with that information?"
"He had no reason to kill me. I was efficient and kept that secret to myself."
"All right." Woolsey crossed his arms." So If I understand, this cobbled up plan is as follows. After we get a 'mission accomplished' from our forces on the Aschen home world, the Jaffa fleet immediately goes for the planet Haron. The Tok'ra spy leaks the info on the Tok'ra base that is abandoned now. Alliance forces set up an ambush there, while both Carter's get the Stargate ready and dial the black hole. While all of this is happening, Aris takes Teal'c as his 'prisoner' to Apophis, while a commando force is hiding on his ship? Then, after the Jaffa forces are successful in the raid and secure the planet, they use the added forces from that planet to attack Delmak, while hoping that on Delmak, our forces were successful in, well everything just said. And during all of this also hoping that Apophis lost his fleet at the ambush to a super nova! Do you all understand the risk of this plan!? And all for one person?" Woolsey then looked at Rya'c. "Sorry, son. Not wanting to sound heartless, but it is the way it is."
Rya'c looked angry. "I know. I am not angry at you, just... it is so unfair!"
"Life is unfair, young one. That is the first lesson anyone should take to heart." Bra'tac said as he put his arm on the boys shoulder.
"Besides, the whole use a nova to cripple Apophis was already going to be used. We just added some parts and pushed the plan ahead of time. I bet that Apophis will not see this multistage attack coming." Hammond added.
"Yes, but I am the one who has to convince the Alliance council!" Woolsey grumbled.
"Better get going then." Hammond responded.
Planet Volia, same time
SG-1 was following the Volian farmer to the Aschen harvester ship.
"Wow, that is a big tractor." Sheppard responded, looking at the harvester.
"And a lot of cornflakes in it." Mitchell added.
"Don't think they have corn here." McKay wanted to correct them.
"Oh you get the point, Meredith."
As they entered the vehicle, they were greeted by an Aschen representative.
"Ah, welcome. I am Borren, the assistant of Mollem, the representative of the Aschen Confederacy." Borren greeted them, in his emotionless manner.
"Ah, yes. Thank you for meeting with us. I am Joseph Faxon, representative of the Terran Alliance. The people with me are the members of SG-1, Earths first Stargate team."
"Earth? Interesting name. Perhaps we will be able to offer you a position in our Confederacy if these talks go smooth." Borren replied as he motioned his guests to the door behind him on the now landed harvester ship.
"Oh, while we would be honoured, you misunderstand. We are here to offer you a seat in the Alliance. You see, Earth is just one of many worlds that are part of this Alliance, and some are as advanced if not more so, than you are." Faxon corrected Borren.
Borren stopped dead in his tracks, looking at his guests. "Really? That is interesting indeed."
As they continued to walk, now entering the harvester ship, Sheppard muttered: "Borren and Mollem? Not really creative with the names are they? Then again their dress code is also so one sided."
"You said it. Sounds like dwarfs from a fantasy novel. Waiting for Legolas to appear now." Mitchell added.
"I just hope that our Jaffa escorts remain hidden for the time being." Young said.
Aschen home world, same time
A cloaked Al'kesh was landed on the main computer hub for a district in the Aschen home world.
"Tell me again, why we can't use the Sodan cloaking armbands?" android O'Neill asked.
"Sir, our bio-mechanical liquids can get saturated and infected by the radiation in the other dimension. Unlike the Jaffa and Tok'ra, we would be out of commission for days after only an hour of exposure."
"That is why we are the advance guard, human." Jolan replied as he activated his armband and joined his team. Their mission was to infiltrate and secure the perimeter. Then android Sam would hack their computers, establish a link with the fleet, allowing the Tok'ra and Tollan cyber experts to begin the download.
"I'm an android, NOT human!" android O'Neill protested.
After several agonizing minutes, SG-1A got the green light. Exiting the exposed loading ramp, while the rest of the ship was still cloaked, they entered the complex. Since the Sodan were the muscle of this operation, they opted to leave their robots behind for this mission.
The building was only lightly defended, the Aschen never foreseeing an attack like this happening. It was in the middle of a dense forest, in the background a large city with tall skyscrapers rising from the ground. Even further in the distance was probably the biggest engineering marvel seen by the team. A tall structure that emerged from a massive facility on the ground and disappeared into the sky. A space elevator. Android Sam did not shut up about it for minutes, until O'Neill ordered her to.
As the team entered the building, they saw that the Sodan did good work. almost too good. all the Aschen guards were dead, laying on the ground in the corridors.
They arrived at the main entrance door for the mainframe access, but it was behind a massive naquadah reinforced door and a force field projector ready to activate, if a breach was detected.
"OK, so now what?" android O'Neill asked.
"I get to that console and with the help of our cyber experts, hack it." Sam replied.
"The sensors will spot you the moment you cross them!" Daniel argued.
"The Sodan shut down the motion sensors, but the bio sensors are still active. They can't spot the cloaked Sodan's and we are androids, no bio signs to spot." Sam answered.
As SG-1A reached the access panel for the door, android Sam put her neck interface device on again. Removing a cable and interfacing it with the console, she went to work.
Alliance fleet, waiting in gas giant orbit, same time
In a special room on board the new DD-304, the Terra, Tollan and Tok'ra cyber experts were waiting for the uplink.
"This waiting is not something I enjoy." Anise protested.
"I agree, but we must be patient..." Narim responded, when he received the uplink confirmation.
He, Anise and the 14 other experts went to work.
"Their programming is impressive." Anise begrudgingly said.
"Yes. Hard to believe that such an advanced human civilisation could be so cold and calculative."
"You believed that once any civilization reaches your level, they would grow beyond the need for conquest? That way of thinking can be seen as a naive way of thinking, would you not agree?" Anise smiled after that verbal jab at the Tollan.
Narim smiled back: "I guess we also have much to learn."
Aschen home world, main computer hub facility, access room, same time
As SG-1A entered the room, Sam went to work, repeating her steps from before.
"OK, this is a round room, if I ever saw one. And it has a large glowing tube in the middle." O'Neill remarked after looking around.
"The slightly glowing tube, as you call it, is the main computer core for this district, Jack." Daniel replied.
"Please be quiet. I need to concentrate. The door was easy, this is not. Security barriers after security barriers. On top of that, we can't be discovered, or this mission will go FUBAR as well." Sam said with her eyes closed.
Alliance fleet, waiting in gas giant orbit, same time
"OK, we are in." Narim said.
"Only with our foot. Getting full access will take time." Anise added.
"Hmm."
"What?"
"I need to make sure that we don't get back hacked if we do get discovered. I would hate for the Aschen to get the entire database on the Terra." Narim replied.
"Agreed."
Planet Volia, one hour later
"Yak, yak, yak! I can't believe that we met someone that could make political debating even more boring that it usually is!" O'Neill roared in the hallway. He removed himself from the conference room several minutes ago.
"You said it sir." Sheppard agreed.
"I actually lost my appetite after all of this." McKay said. "The colonel is right. A race of accountants."
"I'd rather watch paint dry next time." Mitchell added.
"What I want to know is when phase 2 will begin? What is taking them so long?" O'Neill asked no one in particular.
"Emm, colonel..." McKay wanted to say something.
"I mean really, how hard could it be?"
"Colonel, sir..."
"Get in, hack, get out. Even I get a plan like that."
"Colonel..."
"What, McKay?!"
Rodney showed him his PDA. It read: Phase 2 begins.
"Why did you not say anything, Meredith?" O'Neill asked.
"I did try to tell you guys! Does anyone listen? No..."
"Ok, pipe down. Jaffa, you ready?"
"We are, O'Neill." he got an answer from nowhere. Their Jaffa escorts were still cloaked.
"Then let the show begin."
Alliance fleet, waiting in gas giant orbit, same time
Admiral Vix was on the Demetra, when he got the signal as well.
"OK, comm, patch me to the fleet."
"You're on, admiral."
"This is Vix. We just got the confirmation from our ground teams. You all know your objectives. Stick to the plan and keep me updated on any unforseen changes. Set condition One thru the fleet. We jump in 20 seconds. Vix out."
As ordered, the fleet powered up and got battle ready. While the Aschen did not posses any FTL capabilities, yet, their tactical capabilities were an unknown. Military HQ did not believe that besides the bio weapons, the Aschen had much in the form of weapons that could give them headaches, but better safe than sorry.
Since the cloaked Al'kesh had gathered allot of telemetry on the Aschen orbital capabilities, the plan was made based on that. The info gained showed that while the Aschen did not posses many interstellar technologies needed to become a threat to anyone, the Stargate in combination with their bio weapons could change that, as the plague devastating the Ancients in their time was anything to go by.
In orbit, the Aschen were clearly building up, no so much military forces, but planetary defences in the form of large defence platforms and mine fields. War ships were present, but it was clear that not until the Aschen developed or stole FTL technology and anything else needed for space conquest, they would mostly build up their capacities to build ships fast, and not military vessels themselves. From a logical point of view it made sense. Building fleets once you had the tech was more efficient than to upgrade at that point obsolete designs. It saved time and resources. But their whole logic went out the window if the enemy knew where you were, had tactical superiority and the advantage of surprise on their side.
The Aschen's own belief that everyone in the galaxy was a gullible moron, based on the primitive humans they had met up until now, would be their undoing.
As the fleet exited hyperspace, they opened up on the defence platforms on the spot. The Jaffa ships spread out, creating the perimeter, the human build ships filling the gaps. Fighters were launched from every ship while the Al'kesh remained cloaked in their positions, either on the planet or in orbit.
In the orbital command station, a massive artificial satellite that was attached to the planet with a space elevator, the commanding officer stormed into the command hub after the sirens began to sound.
"Report. What is the situation?"
"Sir, we have a large fleet engaging our orbital defences. They must poses some form of FTL, they just appeared from nowhere and opened fire without warning."
"Hmm, they have the element of surprise and they know it. Commendable and impressive. Have you began to analyse the attackers ships?"
The head scientist responded: "Yes sir, but they have the ability to jam our scans. It will take us time to counter act it."
"Get to it then. Tactical, get me an overview."
As ordered, on the large screen, the situation was displayed before him. 19 pyramid shaped ships were spread out into an offensive formation. They had launched hundreds of fighters that were engaging smaller targets in the defence perimeter. In the middle of the formation was another pyramid ship about 50% larger than the others. Between then were another 7 ships, much smaller, but also allot different in design. 5 of them had 2 hangars on each side, large engines at the rear and a long forward section, but 2 of them stood out, looking to be a less refined design. The remaining 2 had the same central design, but lacked the hangars. Instead, there were weapons pods in their place.
As the commander looked over the tactical situation, several massive flashes appeared on the display. Moments later, large chunks of the mine field in the surrounding space were missing.
The commander knew what the enemy was doing. Clearing the air. "Our stealth mines are not as hard to spot as we assumed. They can see them." He looked at his 2nd in command. "It takes the two of us to give the orbital mine field an override command."
His XO looked shocked. well, as shocked as an emotionless 'accountant' could. "Is that wise? The council might protest."
"The mines can wipe the enemy out. They are clearly targeting our orbital facilities, while keeping out of the range of our defence platforms. They are outranging us, and these WMD's can poke holes in the mine field. Once they make them big enough, they will be able to bypass the mine field completely and get into range for a planetary bombardment. The only other way was to go thru the safe corridors, but those would force them to go close to our platforms. They clearly scouted us before the attack. This plan is refined. I believe that they do not know of the fact that our mines have the ability to reposition themselves with the reaction-less drives they have."
His XO nodded. "Agreed."
They both entered their command codes and activated the manual override.
"The mine field is under your control."
On the Demetra, Vix was watching the battle unfold. It went all according to plan. To well for his liking. There is no such thing as a text book executed operation. And e cursed when he was proven right.
"Sir..." his tactical officer wanted to report.
"I see them. Damn. Hundreds of thousands of mines are converging on us. I guess no one in intelligence knew they could do that!?"
"Sir, we could not have known..."
"I KNOW! This is Vix to the fleet, defensive formation, all weapons on defensive fire, Terran vessels, activate your nukes. We fire them in sequence, not all at once, no reason to waste all of our ordinance at once. Vix to Terra, Narim, we need you to hack their military mainframe and turn those mines around!"
"That is difficult at best and increases the risk of us being detected."
"Do it! Or we will have to either retreat or build a new fleet from scratch."
Planet Volia, same time
O'Neill, Young, McKay, Sheppard and Mitchell returned to the conference room, but left the door open for no apparent reason.
"Colonel. Glad that you could join us again." Faxon asked as he stood up." We made excellent progress here and..."
"Yeah, well... "O'Neill interrupted him. "There has been a change of plans."
On that moment, the 2 Aschen representatives were shot by Zat discharges that came from thin air. Seconds later, 2 Jaffa de-cloaked. Other Zat discharges were heard on the Harvester.
"What is going on here, colonel!?" Faxon demanded, clearly in shock.
"The real plan and reason that we are here."
"Real reason?"
"Yes. You were kept out of the loop to make a more realistic performance. The Aschen committed genocide on planets and would have done the same with every Alliance world and beyond. We are just stalling here. The Aschen home world is already under attack."
"You mean I was used!"
"Get over it! We are at war now. SG-1, secure this ship. Our Jaffa friends are rounding the other Aschen on this planet up."
Aschen home world, main computer hub facility, access room, same time
As android Sam was still connected with the main hub, SG-1A's wireless activated.
"This is Vix to SG-1A, come in, please."
"O'Neill here, we hear you sir."
"Change of plans. We need Carter to access their military real time command matrix. The Aschen mine's have reaction less engines and the Aschen are throwing them at us in waves. Sooner or later, we will be out of nukes to swat them away, and there are too many for our point defence to handle, so they will overwhelm us at one point. We need you to shut them down or disable the control function."
"If I do that, you can be sure that the Aschen cyber defence will spot out intrusion. They will try to counter hack us and block our current access to their mainframe. We barely got 10% of their whole database!" Carter argued back.
"Is there any other way to get the database?"
"Not that I know of..."
"Carter? Am I right to assume that we are coping the stuff inside this glowing computer core?" O'Neill asked.
"Yes sir. The Aschen have backups, should their main data centres be lost. This is one of them."
"And ALL their knowledge is in there?"
"Yes sir?"
"OK, admiral, I have an idea. Carter will do as you say, but first, Sam, I want you do cut the connection with this core."
"Why sir?"
O'Neill went to the core and started pulling cables out, until the core went black. "We are taking this thing with us. The egg heads can take all the time later to decode it."
"Sir, how...?!"
"Let me handle that, Carter! You help the fleet! Do as the admiral ordered."
Aschen orbit, Aschen main orbital command satellite, moments later
The Aschen commander was watching the change in tactics of the attackers. His idea of using the mine fiend in an offensive manner had worked.
"Sir, we have a cyber intrusion!" an officer reported.
"Show me."
As the scientists and officers analysed the hacking attempt, the commander saw something that worried him.
"They are hacking our military mainframe. They are after the mine control. If they get it, they can override my commands and use them against us."
"Sir, we may be able to track the hacking attempt and return the favour." his XO replied.
"Agreed, but look at this." the commander pointed at a part of the coding. "This is not a hack from the fleet we are fighting. It is from the planet itself. They must be hacking at one of the mainframe cores! Send the order to planetary command. All core sites must be checked and secured."
Alliance fleet, planet Aschen, high orbit, 7 minutes later
The battle was not proceeding as planned. The fleet was in a completely defensive position, fighters and point defences working overtime to keep as many mines from hitting their targets as possible. Vix had opted not to use all the nukes for defence, since, if he did, they would not have the means to clear the entire orbit of their primary targets.
The mines, while not doing allot of damage piece by piece, the strain on the shields of every ship was mounting up. Death by a thousand cuts. Over 50% of their fighters had alerady landed, most because of sustained damage to proxy mine explosions. At this rate, he would be forced to disengage in a matter of minutes.
"Admiral, why not just jump to the other side of the planet? If they are using the mines like this, the mine field is getting depleted, right?" his XO asked.
"I thought of it, but look at the tactical situation." he pointed at the holo display of the planet. "They are smart. They never take all the mines from a part of the orbit, but small amounts from every part of the orbit. That way they prevent any holes to appear in their defences. Besides, our primary targets on the planet are here, not the other side!"
"Sir, there is something happening!" his tactical officer reported.
"What is it?"
"Sir, the mines... they are slowing down, some even going adrift."
Vix activated the comm. "Narim, are you doing this?"
"Yes, we have succeeded to neutralise the mine control, but we could not gain control of it. Just shut it down. The Aschen will need hours to reactivate it, but the main control hub is in the main defence station anyway. The bad news is that we had to cut all of our connections to the mainframe down there. They were close to hacking us back."
"Good work. We are back on schedule. Tell the fleet to begin the next phase. All nukes we have left will target the shipyards and other unshielded orbital facilities. Our remaining fighters will clean the smaller defence stations, capital ships the large platforms. Execute!." then he looked at the comm officer. "What is the status of our planet side teams?"
"They report that they will have the data in a few minutes. We have however located the Aschen main biological and chemical storage areas, research laboratories and weapon test sites. As well as their Stargate."
"Excellent. Send the command to the remaining Al'kesh to make their raid on the Stargate site. Once we clear orbit, we bombard their weapon areas. Also, how will SG-1A get the data?"
"Sir, you don't want to know."
Vix understood. Another one of O'Neill's ideas.
Aschen home world, main computer hub facility, access room, minutes later
On the outside of the computer hub facility, the Al'kesh had decoked while another arrived to assist the first one. Their job was simple: shoot the roof of to gain direct access to the core room. Easier said than done, as the Jaffa inside had to put explosive charges inside on strategic paces as well to help the breach and not to crush the core under rubble.
O'Neill had gambled that the Aschen would be too busy with the invasion to notice them for a while. And he was right. The first Al'kesh then opened its cargo bay door while hovering a dozen meters over the main core, that SG-1A had now unplugged and moved into position. In this situation, being an android payed off. Their superior strength enabled them to move the core, but lifting it up onto the Al'kesh would require more than that.
After they had secured the core with naquadah cables, SG-1A had moved onto the roof. From there they jumped onto the cargo door of the Al'kesh and grabbed the other end of the cables. A squad of Jaffa, mostly those that were on the ground with them minutes ago, grabbed the cables as well.
"OK boys! Put your backs into it." android O'Neill said as they began to pull the core up.
"Wish we had brought a crane with us!" Daniel added.
"Sir." the Jaffa co-pilot contacted them via comm. "We have Aschen ships incoming. 3 minutes to intercept. We can't cloak or raise shields while the cargo bay door is open and we hover."
"Tell the other Al'kesh to buy us time! We are doing this as fast as, well.. androidly and Jaffaly possible! Since no one here is a human!"
"Androidly and Jaffaly? You made those words up, Jack!" Daniel protested.
"Less whining, more pulling!"
The 2nd Al'kesh went to cover the first one. 2 minutes, 40 seconds later, they had pulled the Core up and closed the cargo bay door. The 2nd Al'kesh was engaged in combat. In the distance, one could see weapons fire from an orbital bombardment, aimed at the space elevator facility. The space elevator anchor was beginning to crumble.
"OK people, we have the primary objective on board, disengage and get us out of here! Jaffa, we are leaving!" android O'Neill smiled.
Daniel shook his head. "Jack? Could you stop it?"
"Oh, I'm actually impressed you got that reference. The Jaffa still need work."
With their mission complete, the 2 Al'kesh began to ascend into low orbit and cloaked.
Aschen orbit, Aschen main orbital command satellite, moments later
"Sir, we are getting a report of an assault at one of our main back up cyber hub facilities."
"As expected. That is why I had our patrols dispatched." the commander nodded.
"Sir, the enemy got an entire computer core. They stole it."
The commander looked annoyed, for an Aschen. "If they crack the firewalls, they would get all of our research, technology... everything. This is not good."
"Sir, another report. Our star portal facility has been raided as well. They got the portal and destroyed the dialling device."
"They wish to cripple us. This was their plan all along." the commander argued. "Evacuate this facility at once. We are their next target. After that our ground military facilities and bio and chemical weapons facilities. They are going to take our ability to wage war."
"Sir, we can still defend ourselves."
"Based on what information? As far as I can see their tactic was flawless. They studied us for months, maybe even years. We lost this battle. Arguing against reality is not logical. Begin evacuation!"
No one argued back after that. The Aschen began to evacuate all their orbital facilities and ground based weapons storage sites.
Alliance fleet, planet Aschen, high orbit, 10 minutes later
"Sir, their orbital defence platforms are destroyed, as are their shipyards in orbit. All that remains up here are their command stations with the space elevators." Demetra's XO reported.
Vix nodded. "They are evacuating. The commander over there knows they have lost. Let's not keep them waiting. Get us thru the mine corridors into low orbit. To the Jaffa: concentrate fire on the space elevators on their planet side attachments, their ground based military bases, weapons storage areas and planet side shipyards. To Terran vessels: Nuclear warheads are green. Target their remaining orbital complexes and command centres. Execute!"
As ordered, the fleet moved into position and opened fire. The Aschen military infrastructure was being torn apart. For a long time, the Aschen would not threaten anyone again.
Alliance fleet, planet Aschen, leaving Aschen orbit, 20 minutes later
The Al'kesh had all landed on the Ha'tak's in the fleet. The Alliance losses were minimal, mostly some maintenance damage of damaged fighters. SG-1A had ringed over to the Demetra to give their report.
"Taking the entire core with you!" Vix shouted as they entered the bridge. "That was either the most innovative move I ever saw, OR you are out of your mind!"
"Interesting how genius and madness can be considered almost the same." android O'Neill smiled.
"Don't get smart assed with me, android or not!"
"Sorry sir, but I had to improvise and the clock was ticking, for all of us."
Vix calmed down. Now he understood what Hammond meant when he said: 'With O'Neill expect the unexpected.' This man really is chaos theory.
Just then, the comm officer spoke: "Sir, we have an incoming transmition from Earth."
"Put it on."
General Hammond and Bra'tac appeared on the main screen.
Vix and SG-1A saluted. Vix spoke: "Sir, mission accomplished. All primary objectives achieved."
"Nice work everyone. But unfortunately, we have bad news. And a new mission that starts now." Hammond responded.
Earth, SGC, 10 minutes later
SG-1 had arrived minutes ago. The captured Aschen were taken prisoner on the planet Volia by Alliance marines. The harvester would be taken once a ship is available for transport. The worlds that the Aschen oversaw in their Confederation, would now be taken care of by the Alliance, helping them to get back on their feet. The captures Aschen would be returned to their home world via Al'kesh transport, once one was available. They would be dropped off somewhere remote, like in a forest.
But all of these plans were currently out the window. As the conference room had been a testimony of. Teal'c vented his rage, and the table was his victim.
"That COWARD!" Teal'c shouted as he grabbed a chair next. "I will make him bleed slowly for this!"
"Teal'c! Calm down!" Bra'tac grabbed him by the shoulder and tried to calm him down. "Remember what I taught you! Do not let your anger blind you. That is exactly what he wants."
"Exactly. Listen you your teacher, Teal'c." Haikon tried to help.
Hammond, who stood at the side, letting Teal'c vent out his anger, approached him. "I agree. Besides, we have a plan as we explained to you."
"Yes, speaking of the plan, who is going to blow up the sun?" O'Neill asked.
"Well, me and myself, sir." Carter replied.
Daniel stepped forward. "So let me get this straight. SG-1 and android Sam go with the Daedalus to the system, where the now abandoned Tok'ra base is located. At full speed, 17 hours travel away. The rest of the Alliance fleet and the entire Jaffa fleet in the mean while gather at the staging area for the assault on a hidden system where Apophis has a large ship building operation to well, get everything he owns. Their assault begins in 8 hours, since it is only 3 hours of travel time at best speed from the Aschen system and our entire fleet is there anyway. One hour before the attack, the Tok'ra spy on Delmak deactivates the long range comm system and leaks the location to the now abandoned Tok'ra base. Once Apophis sends his forces, they will not be able to be recalled or warned. The assault on Delmak begins as soon as the fleet regroups with whatever spoils we get from Haron, leaving behind only a small force of Jaffa and Al'kesh to control the system. We do not know what ships and how many are there and in what phase of construction. We may get lucky or it could be a bust. The Dedalus will be setting the trap for the defence fleet, by dialling P3W-451 and Teal'c will be taken to Delmak as a 'prisoner' of Aris, who will pretend to have captured him. All the while, Selmak and a squad of Sodan Jaffa will be on board, cloaked to infiltrate Delmak and shut down the defence of the planet as well as to help in killing or capturing Apophis and rescuing Drey'auc. The one question I have is this: Why was the Daedalus not part of the attack on the Aschen home world?"
"Yes, I was wondering the same thing." Sam asked.
"The Tollans were installing a prototype new system they wanted to test." Hammond answered. "An upgraded reverse engineered Goa'uld cloaking device. Their hope is that it can cloak the 304. It is already installed, but the Daedalus is the only ship that can get to that system in time, so I guess it will have to be a field test."
"OK, when do we leave?" O'Neill asked.
"Right now." Woolsey answered as he walked in. "The Alliance council has green light this mission. Was not easy to sell them this cobbled up plan."
"Before we go, I have one request." Haikon spoke. "Master Bra'tac, you are a better fleet commander and strategist then me. Give me the honour to lead my solders on the planet. To be part of the infiltration mission."
Bra'tac hesitated. He really wanted to be there when the false god falls, but he saw wisdom in Haikon's words. He took his arm in the typical Jaffa fashion: "So be it! Let us show the false gods what happens when they anger us!"
As they all began to walk out, Hammond went to his office and took the phone. "Hello, Walter? Get me a cleaning crew to the conference room. The table and a few other things will need replacing."
New Caprica, same time
The admiral was having a discussion with Sharon, Baltar, Roslin and the fleet commanders in the president's office. Cain was mission, for obvious reasons.
"We barely began settling here and now you want to start another exodus?" one commander asked.
"I said to prepare a plan for evacuation if it comes to that. The Cylon civil war has shown that we can't remain on the side lines. Because of that I have decided to allow a representative of the rebel Cylons to be brought here, on the Discovery."
Arguments and disagreements to the admirals plan began to fall, until commander Nash spoke: "I agree. This way we control what they see. We remain hidden and learn more about them. We will have to make sure they do not see any star charts or anything like that."
Adama nodded. "Agreed. The main purpose is to defeat the Cavils who will want to pursue their original plan to destroy us, if they win. And based on the reports we received, they just might win now. We can ill afford to just look away."
"Admiral, if I may ask. Who will the Cylon representative be?" Baltar asked.
"A blonde woman by the name of Caprica. A model Six." Adama responded.
Baltar froze. Her. HER. It was her. He would see her again. While he was overjoyed, he was also scared. What if they found out that he was the breach in Colonial security. He did not do it on purpose, but ignorance is a bliss, not an excuse.
"Sharon, what do you think?" Adama asked the Eight in the room.
"The Sixes were always level headed. A bit too passionate at times, like the Threes. But not blinded by agendas. I think it should be OK."
The debating continued for another hour. During this time, Laura did not say much. She kept looking at Baltar. "Did I not see him and a blonde woman kissing and making out in public, days before the attack?"
When the meeting was about to end, Adama looked at Baltar: "Mr. vice president. I don't want to do this, but I have to urge you to concentrate on unlocking the mainframe, either here or on the Discovery. The reason is simple. If we have to evacuate, I believe that the best save place for us to go to is wherever the Discovery was intended to go."
Baltar nodded. "Of course admiral."
Jaffa Pride, staging area, 7 hours later
In the hangar of the Jaffa Pride, Teal'c was getting ready for departure. Aris had arrived in his Tel'tak. The Sodan Jaffa were already on board. Only Teal'c, Aris, Selmak and Haikon were still outside.
"It has been confirmed. The majority of the defence fleet over Delmak has entered hyperspace. Only 17 Hat'tak's, 11 Del'tak's and 2 squadrons of Al'kesh remain, plus the orbital defences and ground batteries. Once we infiltrate the place and you keep Apophis busy, we can deactivate those as well. Then our fleet should have a much easier time." Selmak reported.
"Good. I will not take us there until we get a confirmation that the raid went well and the fleet is ready for the assault." Aris said. "Also, Teal'c, nothing personal, but I will have to beat you up a bit, or your arrival might not look convincing. Apophis might be arrogant, but he is not stupid."
"Agreed. I will endure it, just make it look good."
"The chains and restraints can wait until we get ready for landing. I've modified them so that I can release the shackles by pressing on my hidden wrist controller. Be ready, when I do."
Bra'tac and android Teal'c approached them.
"Good luck to you all. We will be as fast as possible. Hopefully, the defending Jaffa will not put up much of a fight." Bra'tac said.
"I just wish I could accompany you, brother." android Teal'c said to Teal'c.
"I know. But even if you do not register on life sign sensors, we can't cloak you, since it would damage you over time. And we can't risk them finding you. Your presence in the fleet is more than enough." Teal'c smiled.
With that said, Teal'c, Selmak, Aris and Haikon entered the Tel'tak. It took off and set a course to Delmak, entering hyperspace. However, it was not going at full speed. Aris knew that they were not in a hurry. The fleet would need time to complete its mission.
Jaffa Pride, Alliance fleet, en route to the planet Haron, 1 hour later
On the Pel'tak, Bra'tac was looking out the main window, arms ready on the tactical controls.
"Be ready, we arrive in 10 seconds!" he ordered.
10 seconds later, the fleet exited hyperspace. As predicted, only a small fleet was defending the planet. 7 Ha'tak's in total. But that was not the surprising part.
"Master Bra'tac, there is a Hasara space station in orbit, under construction. We also read around 30 Ha'tak's, 12 Del'tak's, 3 Ko'tak's, 3 dozen Al'kesh and many Tel'tak's. At least that many are on the surface of the planet in different construction stages... as well as... Master Bra'tac!" the 2nd in command Jaffa paled as he was reporting to Bra'tac.
"I see it, young one." Bra'tac replied. Another of Apophis mother ships. In an almost finished state. "Begin the operation. Leave the defenders to me! The rest of the fleet go and capture the crewless ships under construction! Then we deal with the planet. Let us hope the Tok'ra shield bypass codes will work so that we can teleport our solders on those ships or this will be a difficult fight."
On the Demetra, Vix smiled. He would not argue with the old Jaffa warrior. Not this time. When his blood was boiling. Besides, his plan was good, no point to look for the fly in the soup.
Aris Tel'tak, en route to Delmak, 2 hours later
"Good." Aris said as he deactivated the long range comm device. He then stood up, leaving the controls in the hands of Haikon. Entering the back of the ship, he saw 12 Sodan Jaffa getting ready. "Good news, the raid went well. 2 of our Ha'tak's got badly damaged, but will be repaired some day. They will be left to guard the planet. Out of the 7 defending Ha'tak's, 6 were destroyed, the last one knocked out and boarded. Also too damaged to take part in the attack. As for the raid success, they are still looking over what we got, but the fleet in orbit is ours. Additional 18 Ha'tak's, 10 Del'tak's and 1 Ko'tak were added. The rest in orbit and on the planet were not finished to a suitable level yet." Then Aris smiled widely. "Also, 1 Re'nak is now part of the fleet, as well as a bunch of Al'kesh bombers."
"Re'nak?" Teal'c asked curiously. He now clearly showed signs of a beating.
"Also known as a mother ship from Apophis. One in orbit, mostly finished, another one on the planet, barely in the beginning stages of construction. The problem is that it's hyper drive is not calibrated yet, so they can't take it with them. We now also known that these 2 would be number 3 and 4. The first one is going to the ambush area, the other is on the front line, so some snake head will inherit her."
"That is a shame, but does not change the plan." Teal'c said. Aris nodded.
"I will now go and contact Apophis and tell him the 'good' news. Be ready to perform.
Going back to the cockpit, Haikon remained in the pilot position, Teal'c kneeled in the middle of the cockpit, while Aris took the co-pilot seat. He activated the comm console. Moments later, he got an answer.
"What do you want, bounty hunter? Better be something good! You know what happens to those that annoy me!" Apophis threatened on the view screen.
"My apologies, lord Apophis, but I am en route to Delmak to claim the bounty on a certain Jaffa who is in my custody."
"And which Jaffa would that be?"
Aris pulled Teal'c's chain to get him in front of the screen. "The Shol'va, Teal'c."
Apophis stood from his throne. He began to smile, his smile growing wider by the second. "You outdid yourself, bounty hunter! Sokar was right about you. Best in the galaxy! Bring him here immediately! You will get the bounty and much more! As for you, Teal'c. Your wife is waiting for you."
As the connection ended, Teal'c stood up again. "I cannot wait to end him."
"Better if we capture him to show the Jaffa around the galaxy what he and his kind really are, Teal'c." Haikon said.
"I know, but if that will not be possible... no guarantees."
Haikon stood up and went to the back. "Get ready, my warriors. 6 Sodan will be shadowing me, Aris and Teal'c. Only engage on my command. The other 6 will escort Selmak to the other Tok'ra spy in order to cripple their defences. For honour! For glory! For Freedom!"
With that said, the Sodan and Selmak cloaked while Haikon returned to the cockpit. They had arrived.
As they passed thru the defence perimeter, transmitting their clearance given by Apophis, they were approaching the anti-cloaking field.
"Now we see if the Sodan cloaks will hold up in there." Aris murmured.
As they passed thru, the ships cloaking generator was beginning to malfunction, but the Sodan warriors remain invisible.
"You are cleared to land. Coordinates following." was the response they got over the comm.
(Insert music Stargate Apophis OST)
As they landed on a platform in the middle of the city, over a hundred Jaffa in red armour exited the main entrance to the landing platform, creating a corridor to the landed Tel'tak. As Aris opened the doors to the outside, Apophis could be seen approaching the ship, with his elite guard and first Prime beside him.
"Welcome, Aris Boch. Your reputation is indeed well deserved. " Apophis said. "Now, where is my prize?"
At that moment, Haikon moved out of the ship with Teal'c in tow.
"Lord Apophis, as you wished, the Shol'va Teal'c." Aris said.
Apophis smiled again. "It has been a long time, Teal'c. Your wife is eager for the reunion. Too bad that you did not capture his son or the old goat Bra'tac, but they can wait for another day. But who is this?" Apophis looked at Haikon.
"My associate. A Jaffa that worked for Cronus, before this Shol'va ended him. He wanted revenge as well, so we teamed up."
"It was said that you never work with anyone. Care to explain?"
"Teal'c was hiding on Earth. Getting him there was no easy task. I took all the help I could find. With a bounty this large, I can afford to split the take." Aris replied.
"Indeed." Apophis nodded. "Although you made my first Prime jealous, he was looking forward for this hunt." Then he stretched his hand out to Haikon. Haikon knew what he wanted, so he gave him the chain attached to Teal'c's restraints.
"Come Teal'c. Your new home awaits."
As the group began to move to the large pyramid in the back, a Jaffa guard said: "You will leave your weapons on your ship. Non negotiable."
"Understood." Aris replied. As he and Haikon then followed Apophis, the secret cargo on the ship began to take action.
"Will we not be spotted by a TER scanner?" a Sodan asked.
"No, our operative managed to get those into a loop. They are still active, but will not record or alert anyone. We only need to fear any hand held ones, but those should not be in use unless they suspect something." Selmak answered.
Selmak and the escort moved out and went to search for the main control room, where the Tok'ra contact waited for them. The others were following Haikon at a distance. The stage was set.
Jaffa Pride, Alliance fleet, en route to Delmak, same time
Bra'tac was pacing back and forth on the Pel'tak. He hated waiting. He left the logistics to Vix. Since the fleet went from 19 Ha'tak's to 36, not counting the disabled ones left behind, as well as many support ships, like the Del'tak's as well as another Ko'tak. The problem was manning all of them. The Jaffa rebels would not have ship issues for the foreseeable future, but man power would be an issue. They needed more recruits, so a victory here and showing the galaxy what Apophis really was would bolster their ranks.
"Master Bra'tac, admiral Vix is calling us."
"Put him thru."
"Bra'tac, we received the signal, they have landed. Now we wait for Selmak's signal."
"Understood."
Delmak, 10 minutes later
Following the signal, Selmak and his escort turned around another corner. All the corners looked the same. It was almost like running in a maze.
"We are getting close, stand by." Selmak said.
They entered a large control room. Inside were several Goa'uld working on their consoles. around 12 Jaffa guards were keeping watch.
"Can you handle them quickly and silently? But don't kill the Goa'uld working on the far left console. That is our operative."
"Understood. 12 normal Jaffa against 6 of us. That is an unfair fight, for them." the head Sodan Jaffa responded.
After they all took their position, the fight began. 6 Jaffa fell on the spot to invisible enemies. As the other 6 began to take cover, one of the Goa'uld tried to activate the alarm, only to be shot by the Tok'ra spy.
"Isur, what are you doing!?" another Goa'uld asked.
"What I was send here to do! To end you false gods!"
Before the Goa'uld realized what that meant, she got shot as well. The Tok'ra spy took cover as well, drawing the fire of the remaining Jaffa and Goa'uld. It was a one sided battle, as the remaining survivors fired their weapons all around them, hoping that they would hit something. The Sodan ended them quickly in close range combat.
Once the battle was over, Selmak de-cloaked and greeted his fellow Tok'ra.
"Nicely done, Isur, but we need to get to work."
"Agreed. With all of them here watching me, I could not do much. Now we can go to work in deactivating the defences."
"Let us hurry then. Teal'c will not have much time."
During all of this, Teal'c was taken to the throne room. Drey'auc was already there, laying on the ground, visibly weak. The large room was typically over the top with decorative objects, both small and large. Most of them golden. Haikon, once he arrived in the room, remained in the background, waiting for the operation to begin.
"What have you done to her, false god!?" Teal'c demanded as he was being dragged.
"Watch your tongue, Shol'va!" the First Prime of Apophis shouted as he shocked Teal'c with a Rod of anguish.
"It is quite all right. Let him defy me in his last hours. As for your wife, well, her prim'ta was removed some time ago. She is very weak. At deaths door." Apophis smiled again.
Aris stepped forward. "As amusing as this is, I want to claim my reward so that we can leave."
"What is the matter, bounty hunter. Can't stomach your own work?" the Prime mocked him.
"Heh, still mad that I can do my job better than you can do yours?"
"What was that?! You..."
"Enough! If the bounty hunter wishes to leave, let him." Apophis replied and snapped his fingers. 2 human slaved brought into the room a large chest as well as a bag. As Aris opened the chest, it was filled with both gold as well as heavily refined naquadah. In the bag was the roshna that he also needed.
"Excellent." Aris replied. Just then a large screen in front of the throne light up.
"What is it!?" Apophis demanded. "I am busy celebrating here!"
"My apologies, my lord. The hyperspace sensors on the planet have detected a large fleet approaching. At least 36 ships so far!"
"How is that possible!? How did they get past our listening posts and sentries? How did they bypass the front? Recall our defence fleet this instant!"
"We cannot my lord. Our comm systems are down. It is sabotage!"
Just then, the Alliance fleet exited hyperspace and engaged the defenders. As Apophis saw the Terran ships being part of the fleet, he began to rage even more. To add insult to injury, his orbital and planetary defences were being shut down. Not all at once, but piece by piece. The damn Tok'ra!
"Well, seeing as to the situation is the way it is..." Aris began to speak as he tapped his forearm. That instant, Teal'c's restraints snapped off and he grabbed the staff weapon from Apophis Prime and killed him with it. "Time to cash in."
As Aris and Teal'c took cover, Apophis raged: "You dare to betray me, bounty hunter!?"
"For too long was I in the service of monsters. No more! Besides, you would not believe the bounty on your head put out by the Alliance!"
"Well, now you can die with the Shol'va!"
At that moment, Apophis Jaffa began to be cut down by staff weapons fire from all around them. Haikon entered the fray from his hiding spot. "Did you forget me, false god!? We have not been introduced properly. I am Haikon, leader of the Free Sodan Jaffa!"
Apophis, who had activated his personal shield, looked both enraged and interested. "So, you are of the first traitorous Shol'va!? Interesting. Your death will mark a great triumph for me!"
"I believe that you overestimate your chances, coward!" was the answer he got.
"And perhaps..." Apophis began to speak as he moved to the centre of his room, all the time under his shield. "you have been underestimating me!" He tapped his forearm. Moments later, rings shot up from the ground, previously hidden under a large rug. Seconds later, Apophis was gone.
"He really is a coward." Aris said, as the throne room was now free of any threats. Theal'c ran to his barely breathing wife.
"Drey'auc, how are you? Can you walk!?"
Haikon checked her over and said: "She is unconscious and weak. We need to get her to one of our ships!" He then went to the former Prime of Apophis and removed his Goa'uld. He put it into Drey'auc. "This will help, but it may be too late. Are you strong enough to walk, Teal'c?"
"Indeed."
Haikon signalled 2 of the Sodan Jaffa to take Drey'auc. He and Teal'c still had a hunt to perform.
"Aris to Bra'tak, we are in the throne room. can you teleport any reinforcements? Also, Teal'c's wife is close to death. She needs to be evacuated."
"As soon as Selmak overrides the ring transporter lock outs. Should not be long."
"Very well. We will move to the control room, this place is not secure." Haikon ordered his solders.
Aris was working on a console and linked it with his wrist computer. "I have another thing to take care of. Good hunting to you two. See you back at the fleet." He then grabbed his bounty and exited the room back to where they came in.
"Wonder what that is?" Haikon asked.
"With Aris, no one knows." Teal'c responded. He activated a console and all the Jaffa stepped on the ring transporter that Apophis used minutes ago to escape. As the rings did their work, they found themselves in a ring room not far away from the main control room. They moved to the entrance without opposition. After opening the doors, they were greeted by Sodan Jaffa pointing their weapons at them. As they saw who entered the room, the solders greeted their leader. "Lord Haikon. Good to see you are well."
"Indeed, my friends. How does it go here?"
"Not as good as we hoped." Selmak replied. "We cannot take the entire defence grid off line in a moment. Only parts of it, one at a time. Since we have the main objective, I suggest that we get out of here and back to the fleet. We can take the orbit, but it world needlessly cost us."
"Apophis is still out there!" Teal'c raged.
"And he is finished. His big fleet will be destroyed, his secret shipyard was raided and he was humiliated." Selmak argued back. "We should cut our losses and count ourselves lucky."
Teal'c hated to say it, but he agreed. "Very well."
During this discussion, Apophis was moving with his elite guard to a hidden platform where an Al'kesh was waiting for him. He had learned his lesson that you should always have an exit strategy.
As he and his guard entered the Al'kesh, he ordered the pilot: "Get us of the planet. Set course to my main forward command outpost! Once I get there, I will take the fleet from there and re-secure Delmak. That Shol'va! He humiliated me for the last time! And that bounty hunter..."
Just as he said that, the cockpit door closed and the pilot turned around. "Aww, love you too, Apophis." Aris responded pointing his Zat at him. Then he pressed a control on the console. Screams from behind the cockpit door were heard.
"I just vacuumed your troops into space. Goa'uld cargo doors are so unreliable at times."
"How did you know..."
"Where you would be? I am not the BEST bounty hunter in the galaxy for no reason. When you took the chain from Haikon, that was attached to Teal'c's restraint's, your hand was infected with a low level radiation signature. My creation." As he explains, he taps his wrist console. A blinking dot was seen on it. "That is you. So I knew all the time where you were. Once I knew you were running... well. I know your type."
Realising what the situation was, Apophis tried to bargain: "I can triple the bounty you got already! I can..." He got no further, as Aris shit him. He then moved to restrain Apophis.
"Not really interested in your money anymore. I have a shiny new big ship from you, the bounty, as well as the one I will get for you. You would not believe the bounty the Alliance put on your head." Aris said as he smiled.
Delmak, high orbit, minutes later
On the Jaffa Pride, Teal'c had arrived on the Pel'tak, where Bra'tac was having his hands full with the battle. While the attackers had crushed the defence fleet, the remaining orbital and planetary defences were, mostly, still intact.
"Master Bra'tac."
"Teal'c, it is good to see you. How is Drey'auc?"
"She should recover. My son is with her right now."
"Good, but it is unfortunate that the coward Apophis was not captured or killed."
"Agreed."
"Master Bra'tac, an Al'kesh is approaching us, but it is not one of ours." a young Jaffa reported. "They are hailing us."
Bra'tac looked at Teal'c, then responded: "Let's see."
On the view screen, Aris Boch appeared. "Greetings Bra'tac and Teal'c. Sorry for being late, but I have a gift for you."
"Aris. This is a surprise. We did not expect you in a new ship." Teal'c smiled.
"Well, that is the least important thing right now." Aris then leaned aside to give the Jaffa a look who was behind him on the floor, restrained.
"Aris, is that...?"
"Yes, my friends. Your prize." Aris smiled. "I expect to be payed as well. But this one was also a pleasure for me."
"This pay is well earned." Bra'tac smiled as well. "You are cleared in bay 3. Once you land, we leave."
Minutes later, after Aris landed, the Alliance fleet disengaged and entered hyperspace.
Unknown to all, another Al'kesh was watching the whole incident behind the other moon of Delmak. In the cockpit, the pilot activated the comm system. A Jaffa appeared on the screen.
"What do you have to report?"
"Something important for the master."
Orbit of planet Vorash, 5 hours later
"Getting bored here!" O'Neill whined. He was in the main engineering room, where the 2 Carters and McKay were looking over the data. They had successfully established a connection to P3W-451 and released the gate in the orbit of the local star. The Daedalus was now in orbit of Vorash. The ship was waiting for the fleet Apophis had sent to arrive. To ensure that it would work, the Tok'ra and Tollans had deployed a sensor scrambler on the planet. It was designed to make it almost impossible for the Goa'uld fleet to get any accurate readings of solar activities. Had the scrambler blocked any more sensor data for the Goa'uld ships, they might become suspicious. So, unless they looked out their windows, they should not spot the nova shockwave.
Since the scrambler was large, it was deployed on the planet itself, deep in the caves of the now abandoned base.
"Well sir, maybe this will cheer you up." Sheppard said as he, Young and Mitchell entered the room. "We just got an update, the mission was not just successful, but Aris got Apophis as well."
O'Neill stood up from his chair and began to smile. "Oh, Aris, that SOB. I now officially love the guy. Might be a bit of a jerk sometimes... But let me guess, he also wants the bounty?"
"Well, I think that he deserves it, sir. I mean, Apophis had almost escaped. If he had, the mission would have been only 66% successful." Sheppard responded. He was still eating his sandwich.
"I guess." O'Neill agreed.
"Hey, you got anything for me?" McKay asked Sheppard.
"Get your own snack! Besides, I have not eaten for 12 hours, you however had 3 lunches!" Sheppard responded.
"Bridge to colonel O'Neill, please report to the bridge. Our sensors have detected a hyperspace distortion. Our guests are approaching." captain Caldwell called them over the comm.
"They are sooner than expected." O'Neill said as they began to move out of main engineering.
As they arrived on the bridge, Caldwell and Daniel were already looking out of the main window.
"So, the planet is evacuated. How is the sun doing?" Caldwell asked the Carters.
"Another 20 minutes. They are here sooner than expected. Guess they must have pushed their engines beyond their specs."
"Will that be a problem?" O'Neill asked.
"Well, I would prefer to remain here until the fire cracker goes off. Only then can we ensure that they don't get wise to our plan." McKay said.
"McKay, the only way to do that is to cloak us, and that system has not been tested yet!" Carter said.
"Unless anyone has a better idea..." McKay responded.
Caldwell sighed. "No, we don't. OK, Carter, both of you and McKay, get the cloak on line and watch over it. Don't want it failing when we don't need it."
In orbit, the Daedalus began to shimmer away, until she was completely gone from the naked eye. A minute later, the Goa'uld fleet had arrived. They took the standard orbital deployment for planetary assault. Al'kesh and troop transports were deployed, while death gliders filled the air.
"They sure are eager, aren't they. Don't even know that we have their boss in custody." O'Neill said as he observed the Goa'uld fleet.
"Helm, take us into a higher orbit, don't need to be spotted by a death glider crashing into us." Caldwell ordered.
15 minutes later, the Daedalus had move further away, but still observed the situation.
"According to their comm traffic, they found the caves and are investigating. They are confused that the gate is missing." the comm officer reported.
"As long as they keep looking and don't prepare to leave, we should..." Caldwell began to speak.
"Sir, we have a problem." android Carter said. "One of the cloak power distributer is overheating. No wonder that they wanted to test this first. We can't stay cloaked for more that 2 minutes longer."
The other Carter and McKay saw the data and confirmed the diagnosis.
"Great. I really hate Murphy." O'Neill muttered.
"How much longer till the nova?" Caldwell asked.
"4 minutes, then 6 for the shockwave to get here." McKay reported.
Caldwell had a deep thought. "OK, Helm, military thrust, get us to the local gas giant. Hopefully, the cloak will hold until we can hide behind a moon or something. We made some distance to Vorash, but ... crap and all!"
2 minutes later, as the Daedalus was at full acceleration, as predicted, her cloak failed. And the Goa'uld spotted her.
"OK, every one to battle stations, the snake heads know we are here. Pilots to your fighters. I was hoping to test our new F-201, but not like this!" Caldwell cursed.
"Well, there is no time like the present!" O'Neill responded as he, Mitchell and Sheppard went to the hangar to gear up.
The Daedalus was still at full burn, but had reached the local gas giant. Here, with the rings, asteroids and moons, they could play hide and seek with their enemy.
In his F-201, O'Neill was catapulted out of the port hangar. Soon after that all of the 12 F-201 and 6 203's were in space.
"OK, Boys and girls. We only need to keep them occupied and keep the Daedalus in one piece. If we can't land when we leave the system, we use our own hyper drives to get to the closest system with a gate. The Daedalus will be waiting there for us. Don't be stupid and take risky manoeuvres. And don't get yourselves shot! That is an order. Only I get to do that." O'Neill instructed them.
The plan worked. The Goa'uld fleet dispersed in order to locate them as they were hiding behind the 15th moon. 2 Ha'tak's were the first to spot them and engage. they launched all of their death gliders.
"Well, looks like they brought the party with them, sir." Sheppard said.
"Stick to the plan. They may outnumber us 10 to 1, but we have the better fighters." O'Neill ordered again.
They opened up with their missiles at long range, making sure to get the death gliders to abandon their formations. Then came the close range combat. The Daedalus was providing cover as much as possible with her rail guns, but was preoccupied with the 2 mother ships, exchanging blows. Her ion cannons were capable to heavily damaging them, even destroying one easily, but that was only a conciliation prize. The surviving one had called for backup, 4 more Ha'tak's. Sooner or later, the entire fleet would converge on them, and they would not be able to last for long. But as long as they did, it created the illusion that there were still Tok'ra in the system, because why else stay in it?
The fighters were having similar problems. They outmanoeuvred and outperformed the death gliders in everything. Their rapid fire rail guns were a much better weapon for close range dogfights. The staff weapons did pack a bigger punch, but the slow rate of fire made them much more limited in a dogfight.
"Crap!" O'Neill cursed. One of theirs just went up in a fireball. "We just lost red 5. Daedalus, how much longer, we can't do this forever!?"
"The sun went nova 5 minutes ago, but we moved further away, so we increased the time. 2 more minutes." was the response he got.
Just then, the command ship appeared around the moon they were orbiting.
"Emm, Daedalus, we don't have that kind of time. The big boy just entered the fray! And he will shoot you to shit!" Mitchell responded.
As Mitchell said those words, the command ship engaged the Daedalus with the enhanced staff weapons.
"Report!" Caldwell demanded.
"Sir, front shield at 21%, all other shields below 40%, our rail gun ammo is getting low and ion cannons are on a recharge cycle." his XO responded. "Sir, from my point of view, this is a position we cannot hold any longer."
"Agreed. Charge up the hyper drive, get our birds back on board. We are leaving, because if we stay, we will be as dead as the snakes!"
"Captain..." McKay wanted to protest.
"Stow it, McKay! Or come up with a solution that does not include our suicide." Caldwell shut him up.
"Since you put it that way..."
The order was given and the fighters returned, under heavy fire.
"All birds on board, FTL is hot, sir." the XO reported.
"Get us out of here." Caldwell ordered.
The Daedalus entered hyperspace, leaving the Goa'uld fleet behind.
On the Pel'tak of the command ship, the commanding Goa'uld was looking on the situation.
"My lord, we are victorious! The cowards fled." the main Jaffa reported.
"I can see that, you moron! Why were they staying here for so long? Have our engineers figured out where the interference that is weakening our sensors, comes from?"
"Apparently from the planet we were inspecting when we detected that ship. But the jamming effect is weakening. As if the source is gone?""
"What part of our sensor data is being affected?" the Goa'uld asked and went over the data on the console. Just then, the moon they were orbiting, got torn to pieces and a massive shockwave approached them. As the fleet was getting torn apart, the Goa'uld saw what was happening and cursed. Cursed the Tok'ra. Seconds later, the entire fleet got torn apart.
New Caprica, high orbit, 16 hours later
2 Vipers were flying in formation. In one of them was Starbuck. In the other, a person not to keen for this flight.
"Kara, I love you and all, but why do I have to do this?" Sam Anders asked, clearly unconfutable.
"Well, since there is so few of us, everyone has to have a main and side occupation. The side one is where you add to the community on a 'volunteer' basis and only 6 are available at the moment. Military, medical, fabrication, mining, construction or farming. You know nothing about medicine, I don't want you in a mine on that moon, you already do construction on a regular basis and the other 2 are not too appealing in my view as well. So military it is. Besides, I'm your wife and instructor here and you have shown some talent in this, so stop whining."
"Since your main occupation is military, do you not get bored to put in double duty in training amateurs like me?"
"Not really. I like to fly and I am not breaking my back in a mine or shovelling dirt on a farm"!"
"Why is there not a sports option?!"
"Because building a Pyramid stadium and creating 2 Pyramid teams is not high on the list for civilization reconstruction, Sam!"
In that moment, space opened up in front of them. It was the Discovery.
"Holy frak!" Sam cried out as he manoeuvred to avoid the ship.
"Haha, yep, you could say that!" Kara laughed at his reaction. "Guess Lee is back. Might want to head back ourselves, see what is going on."
Discovery, bridge, same time
"Exit coordinates confirmed, sir." Felix reported, as the ship slowed down o an approach to the terraforming satellite.
"Good. Felix, get us docked. Dee, transmit all the data we acquired on this trip to the Kobol. I'll go and prep our guest as well as the 2 new items." Apollo said as he left the bridge.
Kobol cityship, New Caprica, 10 minutes later
As the rings lowered themselves back into the ground, Caprica took a look around herself. The architecture of this place was similar to the ship they found. She was being escorted to the control room, where the president and admiral were waiting for her. As she entered, she spotted the ring in the middle of the room, as well as the table in front of it, just like the 2 sets they already had. But all of her exploring stopped when she saw him. She was expecting it, but was still caught off guard.
"Caprica, I presume?" Laura asked as she stepped forward to take in the sight of the newcomer.
"Emm, yes, madam president." They shook hands, even if Laura was not hiding her distrust of her.
"I believe you know the admiral?"
"Only from the information I got, not in person."
"As well as our vice president, Dr. Baltar?"
"Only by reputation and work."
Then she saw Sharon. Highly pregnant. "Oh my." Caprica stepped forward. "You have grown?"
"Well, you could say that. So tell me... em tell us, what is the endgame here?"
Caprica looked puzzled. "What do you mean with that?"
"Your goal? I will not do anything that will endanger my child... and these people have become my friends. You betray them, and I will make you pay for that! Understand?!"
"Perfectly. My 'end game' as you say is simple. The destruction of the Cavils. If they win, we all lose. But for any plan to be made, you will have to speak with our Cavil and D'Anna. They are the leadership of our faction."
"We can discuss this later." the admiral said. "Right now, Dr. Baltar has a job to do." he nods to the briefcase that Lee brought with him.
"Of course admiral." Baltar takes the briefcase and begins to move out of the command room.
"Now, I think that the first thing to do is to go to the conference room we have set up. An exchange of information is needed. You give us info on Cylon tech, we give you info on the alien tech. Sound good?"
She nodded. Not like she had a choice.
Minutes later, Baltar arrived at the main power room. He removed the crystal ha was carrying and inserted it in one of the 2 remaining openings. As he pushed it in, it began to glow.
"Doctor, have you inserted the crystal?" Felix asked over wireless.
"Yes, I have. Any changes?"
"You could say that. The city now registers a much healthier power distribution. Guess it was worth it."
"Guess it was, Felix."
New Terra, 3 hours later
Aophis was being interrogated, mostly by the Tok'ra and Tollans. The Tok'ra were already preparing his extraction, to be shown on the long range communication net that the Goa'uld used from time to time.
Teal'c was in the infirmary with his son and wife, who barely woke up 10 minutes ago.
"Do you remember anything, Drey'auc?" he asked her.
"Only how they found me in the camps. It was mere luck that master Bra'tac and our son were not there as well."
"Indeed."
"It is good to see you better, Drey'auc." Bra'tac greeted her as he entered the room.
"Master Bra'tac. Where did you come from?" she asked.
"The interrogation room. Watching the humiliation of a false god." he responded proudly.
Drey'auc looked confused.
"We have Apophis in our custody. He will be executed for his crimes in time." Teal'c responded.
"I see. could you call the doctor again, I don't feel so good."
"Of course." Teal'c stood up and went past Bra'tac to get a doctor while Rya'c remained with his mother. She then moved from the bed slowly to the bathroom, moving past a guard, Rya'c moving beside her. As she moved past the guard, she knocked him over and took his side arm, a Zat.
"Mother, what is wrong? What are you doing?"
"What needs to be done." she replied and grabbed Rya'c by the throat and shot another guard. Bra'tac reacted on the spot, aiming his staff weapon at her.
"Shol'va! Tell you masters to release the god Apophis or this child of Teal'c dies!"
Hearing the commotion, Teal'c and several guards entered the room.
"Drey'auc, what are you doing?" Teal'c asked her.
"She is a Za'tarc, Teal'c. Our only hope is to stun her and get her to Anise for help." Brata'c replied.
"Enough with your wasting of time! Release my lord or suffer!" she ordered and gestured her weapon even more to Rya'c head.
Seeing the threat, Bra'tac took the shot and hit her in the shoulder. She lost the grip on Rya'c and fell over the bed she way in only moments ago.
As Teal'c and the guards moved around the bed to restrain her, they saw that it was too late. She pointed her weapon at her own head: "This message is from the god you once served. This is the price of betrayal!" She triggered the weapon and shot herself in the head, point blank range.
Minutes passed as the doctors tried to revive her. In the end, they were capable to save her body, but her mind was gone. She was brain dead. Her torture and indoctrination to become a Za'tarc combined with the removal of her symbiote made the single Zat discharge more damaging than usually. Even a sarcophagus could not undo such brain damage.
New Terra, 12 hours later
Teal'c had to be sedated and his symbiote temporarily removed. Bra'tac was looking after Rya'c. Either of them would want nothing more than to kill Apophis at the moment. But for the greater good, he has to be extracted and then executed publicly, if the Jaffa rebels want to get more support from their brothers. But Teal'c would have the honour to do it.
O'Neill entered the interrogation room where Apophis was being held.
"So you just have to find new ways to be evil, don't you?" he said as he sat down opposite of him.
"I assume you refer to Drey'auc? I warned him that there would be a price to pay for his treachery."
"And you thought that this would be a good idea? I am one of the few people that still think keeping you alive for now is a good idea. Frankly, throwing you to Teal'c is appealing to me."
"If she would have been competent, she could have gotten me out of here. However if you do let me go, all of the secrets of the Goa'uld can be yours, O'Neill."
O'Neill grinned. "Oh, they will be. We have your son. You know, the one you should have never fathered. The Tok'ra and Tollans are getting the info from his DNA. Slow, but constant. And this enables me not to take a deal with the devil. You are dead as it is. The only reason you are still alive is because you will serve the Jaffa rebellion. Once all the Jaffa across the galaxy see you for what you really are... " O'Neill stood up and began to leave.
"One day your kind will return to their knees before my kind. It is only a matter of time. onl..." O'Neill closed the door. He had enough.
O'Neill went to the gate room where the rest of SG-1 and SG-1A were.
"And?" Carter asked.
"Tried to bribe me."
"Told you guys. Pay up." Sheppard said.
"Ok, this were a few crazy days. We can take the next few days off I think. will talk to the general about it. Teal'c is off the team for now. He will need time." O'Neill said. "And Carter's. Tell the Tollans that they need to work on that cloak some more. And tell Anise that we need newer anti Za'tarc protocols! this shit cannot keep hapening!"
Delmak, orbit, same time
Apophis territory and military were up for sale. And System Lord or lesser Lord were on it. Ba'al already grabbed Apophis old front line command post and the fleet stationed there. Including the other remaining command ship.
On Delmak it was a similar situation. Goa'uld vs. Goa'uld. The difference was that the System Lords did not know of its location. For now.
At that moment a large fleet counting 30 ships exited hyperspace and entered orbit. They were all Goa'uld.
On the planet, the currently ruling Goa'uld ordered the orbital and planetary defences to open fire. They did... and not much happened.
"We are being hailed from the fleet in orbit, lord Neron." A Jaffa relied to the ruling Goa'uld.
"Let's see what they want." he ordered.
"Surrender the planet immediately. This is your only warning." a blond Jaffa demanded.
"Really? Do you think you have sufficient forces for a planetary assault. I think not."
"Oh, but I think I do." another figure said as it moved on to the screen. It was covered by a large hood.
"And who are you supposed to be?!"
"This is the god Anubis and this world is now his. surrender or die!" Her'ak replied.
"You lie. Anibus died millennia ago!"
"Are you willing to put that to the test. Without a fleet to protect you it is only a matter of time for me. And as you have seen, your weapons are less that effective against my ships. I give you one last chance to reconsider. I don't mind needles killing, but I hate delays!"
Neron realized that this person was not to be trifled with. "Deactivate our defences."
10 minutes later, Anubis stood in the throne room of Apophis. "He did not have taste at all." Khalek said as he looked around.
"Indeed. Although I think that ascetics are overestimated. Efficiency is what matters."
Then Neron entered the room with Anubis guards flanking him. "The planet has surrendered as you ordered, my lord. Only small pockets of resistances remain. The ones that were resisting me as well."
"Good. You are relieved." With that said, Khalek began to choke Neron with his telekinesis.
"My lord.. why..."
"You made me wait. And you are of no use to me anymore." He then turned to Her'ak. "Replace all Jaffa and Goa'uld in important stations with our own. There is a Tok'ra spy among the ones that worked for Apophis. Find him, but do not kill him. I want him alive."
Her'ak bowed. "It will be done, my lord."
As he left the throne room, Khaled moved besides Anubis. "He is eager to serve. Can I kill him?"
"No, he is useful. An useful idiot. Should he fail me one day, you can kill him. For now, amuse yourself by terrorizing the locals. It will only strengthen my hold on the planet."
"If you would evolve me further, I would become telepathic. That way I could find the Tok'ra instantly."
"Patience my son. Your time will come."
Khalek left.
"Indeed, your time will come, my son. To die, once you outlive your purpose."
Aschen home world, 2 days later
The Aschen council had a session. One they never believed that they would need.
Mollem briefed them on their experiences while they were in custody of the Alliance and being interrogated. An Al'kesh had dropped them off in a secluded forest 1 day ago.
"We lost most of our military assets and they got all of our knowledge. This is a defeat if I ever saw one." the council leader said.
"For now, yes. But our enemies have one weakness that we will be able to exploit one day. Compassion. The logical choice would have been to kill us all. Instead, they let us live. And these Jaffa also have their pride and sense of honour. Another weakness." Mollem responded.
"Perhaps. But we will need time to rebuild. And we cannot get more resources thru the portal anymore. I also think that they will be monitoring us. With the ability to cloak, they will do that. I would." another council member said.
After the meeting, Mollem exited the council chamber, only to be greeted by Mirris, his wife.
"What is the next step?" she asked.
"Revenge."
New Terra, 1 day later
In a few hours, Apophis would be extracted and executed, for the galaxy to see. The Tok'ra had made sure that the transition could not be tracked. But it would be blocked by many, once they would know what it was.
In his room, Teal'c was getting ready. He would get the honour to kill his former master.
A knock on the door got his attention. "Come in."
It was Daniel. "Hey, Teal'c. How are you doing?"
"Better, but my heart is still filled with rage and emptiness."
Daniel nodded. "I know of that feeling all too good. We both now lost our wives to him."
"Do you want to kill him? You have as much reason as me."
"No. I learned from a wise woman in Kheb, that revenge does not bring you peace, or the ones you lost. But I know that we cannot let him live any longer. You at least still have Rya'c. Think about him from now on. OK?"
"Indeed." Teal'c stood up from his meditative pose. They left for the ceremony.
A more SG focused chapter.
Responding to A Reader. I agree. In the end, I believe that the reason for this was story plot. If Earth had managed to reverse engineered Goa'uld tecs fast, they might have had a ship in season 5 and fleet in season 8. An OP Earth would make a boring story. Most people, me included, like the underdog story. During the Ori story line, the Asgard dying and giving their tech to Earth served almost like a Deus ex Machina.