Chapter 10, Part Two

April 3rd, 1947
It was finally time to put ES-4 behind them and start exploring ES-5 (much to the relief of the heat weary soldiers).

One of the squads was gearing up for their next mission. Hammond handed out the new earpieces they'd been issued, one of the first yields from Heliopolis. They'd cleared out another small room in the castle, virtually a closet, and found a device in it with pictographs that appeared to be an instruction manual. The pictographs depicted the device, a small gray platform with a small red crystal button on it, being used by a humanoid figure. When the button was pressed, according to the pictographs, the device would emit a flash of light, and a small device, rectangular, with a tiny protuberance near the end on one of the long, wide faces of the rectangle, would appear. The device was then inserted into the ear, with the protuberance being the actual earpiece, and, if the pictographs were correct, in only a matter of words, the device could build up an automatic, two-way translation program between any two languages.

They'd also proven to be a useful two-way radio, with no discernible limit to distance, at least on planetary scales; Hammond had personally spoken to Professor Langford via the devices through the gate while Langford was in Nevada and the gate was still located on the East coast. A number of the devices had been sent back to Earth for study, mainly because if the technologies that allowed for such a small electronic device could be reverse-engineered, electronic systems could be reduced in size significantly. A radio that could actually be concealed in the palm of the hand, not to mention the benefits to other technologies ... the translator devices were apparently being given top priority in research on Earth. If the scuttlebutt was accurate, a couple of the devices were going to be used to provide secure lines of communication between the White House, 10 Downing Street, and other locations of importance to the SGI.
Hammond felt the familiar rush of coolness as he and his squad emerged from the gate on the new world they were assigned to explore. ES-5 was different insofar that rather than an empty field like on ES-3 or a large desert like ES-4, ES-5 was located in a small meadow, with a thick tree line surrounding the clearing. The trees were tightly linked together, which made vehicular transportation difficult, even the small Bren Carriers the British had brought over would have a difficult time moving through. It was therefore decided to send one squad through to participate in an initial survey of the world. One of the two new halftracks was coming with the squad though, both as a transport for some basic supplies and to provide a measure of security at the gate with its quad machine gun. While it was principally designed to take down aircraft, it would also play havoc with infantry.

Stepping down the small stone platform the gate had been erected upon; he heard the heavy drone of the halftrack's engine as it began to emerge from the gate. Stepping to the side, he watched as the heavy vehicle rolled down the small flight of stairs and settled in the meadow below, its driver and gunner casually scanning the tree line. The rest of 1st squad quickly emerged from the gate as well, and quickly fell into place. Circling up, Hammond began to bark orders:

"All right, listen up. We've been given a couple of days to scout out this place. We'll head straight for the tree line and go in for a bit before we circle around and make sure everything is on the up and up. We'll rendezvous here later today and establish a base camp. We'll unload the halftrack after we've made sure this immediate area is secure." Opening up a small disk in his hand, Hammond circled in the spot while looking intently at his palm; satisfied, he closed the lid. "Good news, this world has strong magnetic poles, our compasses work, so that'll help us navigate through this forest. Johnson and Turlington will stay with the track and help our fine driver and gunner, while the rest of us head out. Any questions?" Then men shook their heads. "Alright, well, then, lets go!"

Unslinging his Thompson, Hammond took the lead, his remaining men falling in behind him as they made their way to the tree line. Behind him, the four men remaining at the gate quickly gathered around and started to light up some cigarettes, before settling in to their guard.

As they reached the tree line, Hammond and his men weaved their ways through the forest. While the trees were thick and closely packed together, there was still enough space for a man to move through, though in general, only one person could fit through a gap at a time. Fortunately, there were many twisted and gnarled paths that allowed the squad to maintain a rough sight-line of each other. Thick creepers hung from the trees, extending dozens of feet to the ground below, the dark canopy of leaves cutting off most of the sunlight to the lower levels of the forest. Dead leaves and fallen sticks littered the earthen floor below and made it difficult for the squad to move silently, every other second, a loud snap could be heard as a twig broke under foot. Don frowned, if they found any contacts, it would be difficult to sneak up on them.

About an hour went by as the squad weaved its way through the forest, each man moving slowly and deliberately, though after a while, a sense of calm and complacency set in. They were still alert, but were becoming more accustomed to their surroundings.

"Hey, Simmons!" Hammond heard one of the soldiers close by say over his shoulder. Donowitz, that was his name. "I bet you a pack of smokes we finally find us some genuine aliens on this place!"

"We already did, remember those weird camel things we found on ES-4? Don't those count?"

"No, I mean the real deal, like the kind you read about in the magazines. The ones with the beautiful women, and the ray guns, and their ships that can carry them through the stars!"

Simmons chuckled. "You really think we'll find something like that on this place? Have you seen the forest here? I don't think even the Amazon runs this thick, if there's aliens here, I betcha they're as primitive as the savages in the woods back home."

"So you're taking the bet, then?"

"Sure, why not, easiest pack of smokes I've made."

"Ha, joke's on you, everyone knows from the stories that the aliens tend to be more in harmony with nature and all that shit. Maybe they're so advanced, they don't need to cut down so many trees, or maybe this is a colony, or maybe even they could be invisible and watching us now. Come on Simmons, all these trees and wildlife, and you're going to tell me there's nothing special here?"

"Alright, can it you two." Hammond said turning his head slightly to the side. "We've got a lot of forest to cover, and I think I speak for everyone when I say we don't want another three hour argument about aliens." Turning around and walking backwards, he spoke up. "Though I would like to remind you gentlemen that the pot is now up to twelve packs of cigarettes, fifty dollars, four candy bars, and a lovely poster of Rita Hayworth. All for the first man to make contact with an alien civilization, so keep your traps shut, and your eyes and ears wide open." he finished as he turned and almost smacked into a tree. Awkwardly dodging to the side, he managed to keep walking, and preserve his dignity in front of his squad.

They walked for another couple of hours, by then they had begun to move in a clock wise pattern from their entrance into the forest and were slowly moving through the brush. Periodically the group checked their compasses and made sure they could remember the alignment of the meadow clearing to their position. Upon hearing the sound of running water, the squad quickened up its pace, and found themselves in a small clearing. A small rock outcropping protruded from the north end of the clearing and extended deeper into the forest, a stream flowed from the top of the rock and made a little waterfall that continued the stream towards the western edge. The meadow with the Stargate was to the south, and the men had come from the east. Checking the compass alignment once more, Hammond called for a break.

"Alright boys, take ten, smoke them if you've got them, don't drink from the stream, and remember, the rock is pointing towards the gate."

As the men settled in, Don found a small rock near the waterfall, by the edge of the forest and sat down. So far the patrol had been going well, no incidents, no trusted ankles, no supplies shortages, no one trying to drink from a strange cactus (apparently the ES-4 cacti had powerful hallucinogens in their water, as Simmons and two others had discovered when they tried the water on a bet. Since then the new rule was "don't sample the local produce until it had been tested"). While Donowitz was optimistic, Hammond doubted they'd find any aliens here. Oh sure they'd likely find lots of wild life, enough to keep the base's biologist's busy for a long while, but no alien species. Any race would likely have their Stargate secure, and the fact they met no one meant that the pot would likely grow larger. Ironically, at that moment, he heard rustling in the bushes that would shatter that preconception.

Looking up, Hammond stood and moved to the right, behind a larger rock formation next to his small siting stone. Now in partial cover, he whispered harshly into his earpiece, "Contact, everyone shut up!" he ordered, as he quickly heard his men silence themselves as they tried to find cover in the open clearing. Listening intently, he heard what he thought were more twigs and leaves snapping and moving underfoot of something, and it sounded as though it was getting closer. After several moments, the sound stopped. He crouched and held his Thompson firmly in his grasp and waited.

Second trickled past and nothing happened. No animal darted out, no predatory sounds were made, no continuation of the movement. Just silence. Taking a small mirror, he held it out from the side of his cover and looked at the reflection; seeing nothing in the woods ahead. He scanned the mirror back and forth several times and saw nothing. Sighing, he put the mirror back in his pocket, maybe his imagination was…

At that moment, the rock above his head exploded with a massive bolt of energy, leaving a faint tinge of ozone hanging in the air.

"Shit! Incoming!" he barked into the earpiece, though judging by the wild fire from his men, they'd seen it. Grasping the mirror once more, he attempted to see what was happening in the forest. He saw nothing once more as the mirror scanned the tree line, but more energy bolts impacted his cover. Just as he was about to withdraw closer back to his men, he saw it.

Leaning close by a tree, so that the shadow covered it and its black armor, Hammond saw a creature that strongly resembled the Eagle warrior they had seen in the video, they had similar armor styling, a similar stance, and were wielding a staff. However, there were two distinct differences, this creature's armor was almost entirely night black, which concealed nicely within the shadows, and its metal head, with its four narrow, angry red eye slits, looked like a scorpion, brought to life on a man's body.

The scorpion warrior was busy firing on the men further down the clearing, its staff held towards its hip, a bolt shooting out every couple of seconds. It was paying little attention to Hammond. Taking the opportunity, Don leaned out of cover and raised his Thompson. Holding it as steady as he could, he squeezed the trigger several times, sending out bursts of fire at the warrior. He grinned slightly as he saw the warrior stumble back as several bright sparks played across his armor, but it quickly vanished as it righted itself and leveled its staff at Hammond's position. He ducked back in just in the nick of time; the rock near his head shattered as several bolts slammed into it.

Grunting, he began to bark orders into his radio. "Alright, listen up, we have no clue how big of a force we're fighting, and our weapons seem to be of limited use, at least our SMGs. Everyone, group up into teams of three and start falling back to the gate! Give each other covering fire!" Reaching to his vest, he pulled off a grenade. Yanking out the pin, he depressed the lever and threw it as hard as he could, right in the direction of the scorpion warrior. He was rewarded with the sight of the thing looking down as the pineapple shaped piece of metal landed at its feet.

The explosion knocked it back several feet and sent it slamming into a tree. Falling forward, it laid prone, unmoving.

"So they're not invincible! Perfect!" The firing slaked for a brief moment following the warrior's death. Taking that opportunity, Hammond broke into a full sprint back towards his men. "Covering fire!" he ordered as he ran. He saw several more bolts whiz pass him as he neared he soldiers, many of whom now took up positions in the tree line. They traded fire with their unseen foe.

As he neared the forest, he saw one bolt strike a tree branch, sending a hail of splinters into the face of a young soldier, who fell backwards, clutching his face and screaming. Reaching the trees, Hammond wheeled around the tree and knelt by the soldier. The boy kept screaming as he tried to move his hands away from his face, until finally, the squad's medic joined them. Nodding at Hammond, he moved the boy's hands, and inspected him. Several long gashes cut deep, angry crisscross across his face, and his helmet had stopped the wooded shrapnel from covering his entire head. His eyes were shut, but blood trickled out from behind his eye lids, several large wood shards protruded. All the while, the boy continued to let out an unearthly scream.

"We've gotta keep moving!" He said, looking as the medic, who was attempting to clean some of the boy's face.

"I wouldn't recommend it sir, he's gonna lose a lot of blood if we move him and…"

"Damn it, I know, but we need to fall back, there's no telling how many more of those thing are out there."

Exhaling heavily, the medic looked down and nodded. "Give me two seconds, then start having the men fall back."

"Alright people, I hope you found your battle buddies, first group start moving back now, second group, follow behind them after 20 seconds, third and fourth group will depart together!" As he ordered the men, he emptied another clip in the direction of the warriors, his gun might not have been as effective as he'd have liked, but they could still put pressure on the scorpions and stop their advance.

After a minute, the fire had significantly reduced on his end as the first two groups made their departure. Slinging his Thompson and pulling out a service revolver, he looked at the medic, who had just finished wrapping the boy's head in gauze wrap, the white cloth already stained red. Nodding, they both put a shoulder under the boy's armpits and began to move as quickly as they could.

As they proceeded to go deeper and deeper into the woods back towards the gate, the enemy's fire significantly reduced, though Hammond attributed that to their growing distance. It had taken them almost an hour to get this deep into the woods, but that was with a brisk march; with everyone moving as fast as they could, sprinting in small bursts, and running when they could, he expected the first group would arrive at the gate in about twenty minutes, while the third and fourth groups would get there almost ten minutes later…

Simmons was running as fast as he feet could carry him, he and the other two men of the first group were trying to make sure the gate could be secured in time for the remaining groups. Leaping over a fallen tree, he stumbled for several seconds before regaining his balance and resuming the sprint.

"God, real aliens!" he thought. They'd all seen footage of the Eagle warrior, but he never expected they'd encounter them or their ilk in the field. He'd been holding out hope for a peaceful encounter with aliens, one with a lot less shooting. That hope had been thoroughly, brutally dashed, though. Gripping his Garand tighter, he ducked under some branches before running headlong into some creepers. Slowing down as the heavy vines draped over his body, he unsheathed his knife and began to furiously slice at the green cables holding him. After about thirty seconds, he was through, though winded and panting heavily. Not wanting to deal with that again, he mounted his knife on the bayonet nub on his rifle and began to walk through a smaller series of creepers, easily slicing through them. It was only then he realized he was alone.

"Kowalski?! O'Brien!" He yelled before remembering his earpiece. "Where are you guys?" he asked.

"Don't know. I got caught up in some vines, I'm still heading in the right direction though."

"Same here, I'm knee deep in some bramble, but still going the right way."

"Okay!" He said as he started walking forward. "Just be careful, we don't have a ton of support, so if you see anyth-" he stopped as he saw a dark figure emerge from behind a tree, its red eyes locking with Simmons'. They both froze for several moments, before they both raised their weapons at each other. Unconsciously, Simmons leveled out his rifle and squeezed the trigger. He felt the familiar thud as the rifle's kick back hit against his shoulder blade. He was rewarded with the sight of the warrior's armor sparking as the bullet struck home. As it reeled back, Simmons squeezed off a quick series of three more shots, each slamming home and sending the warrior sprawling.

Shaking slightly, Simmons slowly advanced on the alien. Keeping his rifle leveled at it as he did. He breathing quickened as he got closer and closer until finally he was a scant couple feet from the creature. He saw red blood pouring from the wounds as the warrior attempted to move, but to no avail. After struggling for several more seconds, it went limp, its bright red eyes going dull. He stared. What was this thing? Silence fell on the woods.

"I heard gunshots! You guys okay?" he heard O'Brien radio.

"Yeah…Yeah I'm fine, just found another Scorpion warrior. Good news…they bleed just like us."

"Holy shit, you bagged one, Simmons?!"

"I saw the L.T. take one out with a grenade! Good to know our guns work on these things too."

"Yeah, listen, you guys try and converge on my location, I'll try and snag some its weapons, take' em back to base. We might be able to grab this dead one and see if they can cut it up and see how it wor…" a twig snapped behind Simmons as he spoke. Diving to the side instinctively, he saw a bolt cut through the air where he stood several breaths earlier and explode against the tree. Rolling, he saw a second warrior steadily advancing towards him, its stiff open.

"Ai'emain! Ai'emain krenol tar!" He heard the warrior yell at him in a strange language as it shot another bolt at his location. Ducking behind a tree Simmons poked his rifle out and squeezed a shot off, but it went wild. Several more bolts slammed into his tree, whittling away at it. Remembering the soldier from earlier, Simmons sprinted to another tree several feet away, just as the tree behind him exploded into a hail of slivers.

"Krenol me tar!" The warrior shouted again as it marched towards Simmons's tree, unloading more bolts of light. It was only several feet away now. Thinking frantically, Simmons took a deep breath and wheeled around the tree, leveling his rifle at the warrior. As he squeezed off another shot, the warrior rolled and he missed. Righting itself, it continued to surge forward with frightening speed. Simmons managed to snap off one more shot and saw it spark against the warrior's side, but it didn't slow his advance. He saw it raise its staff and attempt to bring it down on him. The hilt contained a wicked looking pointed edge, seemingly meant for stabbing. Ducking to the side, he felt the staff whiz above his head, as the Scorpion attempted to smack him with the end that shot energy.

"KEK TAR!" it bellowed as it swung once more at Simmons. Raising his rifle, he roughly parried the blow and swiped his knife to the side along the warrior's armor, only to see a shower of sparks as it clanked off the chainmail. Parrying several more blows, Simmons tried to aim his rifle at the creature to squeeze off a shot, but the thing was skilled with its staff and wouldn't relent. Blow after blow was rained at Simmons, each he managed to duck or parry. The wood of his rifle was chipping away as it slowly felt heavier and heavier in his arms. Finally, the Scorpion raised his staff above his head, and brought it down on Simmons, who managed to elevate his gun in just enough time to catch the blow. The momentum sent him sprawling on the ground.

Standing in triumph over Simmons, the alien raised its staff one more, bellowing in its language, "TAL!" Just as it was prepared to bring the point down on Simmons, he brought his rifle to bear. The warrior's chain-mail was loose and Simmons saw a small patch of unarmored black skin, a fleshy X seemed to briefly show. Thrusting his rifle forward, he stabbed the creature, he shrieked as he twisted the bayonet further in its body. Red blood began pouring over his knife. Rising to his feet, Simmons's withdrew the blade and thrust it forward, right towards the creature's chest. As he did so the creature staggered towards him. The combine momentum of the two allowed the knife to plunge through the rings of metal and settle in the creature's chest.

Simmons then pulled the trigger on his rifle.

He saw a spray of blood exit the warriors back. At the same time his Garand ejected its clip. Tugging, he couldn't pry the rifle from the creature, who was slowly moving backwards. Shoving the rifle forward, it remained embedded in the warrior as it fell back, spread eagled. Simmons heard it cough on its blood as it lay dying.

"Lo…Lo mik'ta tar. Kek….kek en Terac Shri!" it wheezed, before its lights dimmed as well.

Breathing shallowly, Simmons took several moments to collect his thoughts as he surveyed the bodies. Both were leaking red blood as they lay motionless. If they were playing possum, they were doing a damn good job of it.

Just then, he heard some rustling in the bushes behind him, yanking out his pistol, he leveled it the source, only to see Kowalski and O'Brien emerge. They surveyed the scene and went wide eyed.

"Holy shit, Simmons, you weren't kidding, you got two of them!" Kowalski said as he walked over to the one warrior he'd shot several times. He nudged it with his boot before continuing "Damn!"

"What the hell do you think these things are?" O'Brien asked as he walked next to Simmons.

"Don't know, all I can tell is they bleed and die just like us. Now help me pick this one up, the science guys might want to cut one open." he said, gesturing to the one with the rifle sticking out of its chest. "Plus I'd prefer not to leave any hardware for them to find."

Nodding, the two moved over and started to lift the body. It leaked more blood as they held it at waist level.

"Shit…This thing weights…a ton!" Kowalski said, straining.

"Its…its all that…goddamn…armor!" O'Brien replied with short breath.

"Okay, okay, drop it!" Simmons ordered, which the two men happily complied with. Looking over the corpse, Simmons stroked his chin.

"Maybe we can try and get some of the armor off and carry it the rest of the way. We probably don't need most of the chest pieces, so we can…Did you hear that?" He asked, snapping his head to the side.

In the tree line they all saw multiple figures moving, heavily armored boot steps echoed through the forest as they rapidly approached.

"Okay, new plan, grab the staffs and run like hell!" He yelled as he bent down and scooped up the staff. It was surprisingly light, he could easily carry it in his left hand while still brandishing his pistol in his right. O'Brien grabbed the other staff as the three of them ran into the forest back to the gate.

They dodged between trees and various pieces of cover as the footsteps followed them, behind him, he could hear the sharp hiss of the energy bolts as several flew wide. A few exploded some of the smaller trees nearby, but none of the shrapnel hit the soldiers. Approaching a thick bush of bramble, the men had no choice but to go through, the small thorns tearing at their flesh as they plowed through. It tangled their legs and their low hanging equipment. Simmons almost dropped his pistol, and after a second he heard O'Brien yell,

"Fuck, I dropped the staff!"

"Leave it!" Simmons ordered as they tried to make their way through. After an excruciating minute, they finally got clear and broke back into a full sprint. Behind him, he heard as the warriors effortlessly stomped through the bramble in their metal armor.

After almost ten minutes of sprinting as fast as his legs would carry him, the three finally broke through the tree line and emerged in the meadow. The soldiers back at the gate were standing attention. Waving his arm in the air with his pistol, Simmons started shouting.

"Start the gate, Johnson!" he yelled over the empty meadow. "Johnson! START THE GATE!" he screamed once more before remembering the ear piece again. Cursing himself, he radioed, "JOHNSON, START DIALING!" He saw the soldier scramble to the side and start the gate dialing sequence. After a tense couple more seconds, they finally reached the halftrack and the soldiers guarding it. Panting heavily, Simmons saw Johnson finishing up the sequence and watched the gate spring to life as Camp Roosevelt was dialed. Looking back, he saw the second group emerge from the woods.

His radio then crackled to life.

"Attention, this is Camp Roosevelt gate command, requesting clearance and identify confirmation."

"This is staff sergeant John Simmons attached to Alpha Squad, 37942607."

"Sergeant! It's good to hear from you guys, what's going on?" The operator asked, his voice now a lot more friendly.

"We're under attack, we're just waiting for the L.T. and a few others. We need the portcullis raised!"

"Okay, I need the authorization phrase."

Wracking his brains, Simmons took several moments to remember the precise words for the poem they had to memorize in case they had to get the portcullis raised. Finally remembering the exact phrases, he recited the passage: "Home they brought her warrior dead: She nor swooned, nor uttered cry: All her maidens, watching, said, She must weep or she will die."

"Sounds good, we're raising it now, and we're alerting base personnel now."

"Okay, keep people clear from the gate, these energy bolts seem to pack a wallop. We're going to stay put until the L.T. comes, but be prepared!"

The men waited several minutes, the gate behind them glowing blue, the small sound it made humming over the battlefield. Eventually, they saw movement towards the trees. Standing at attention, the men leveled their rifles at the commotion. After several seconds, they saw Hammond and the rest. The boy's bandages were now covered dark red, and he was slumping slightly to the side, but still running, the medic fully propped up against him. Finally the L.T was there too, helping prop the boy up with one shoulder and brandishing his revolver with the other. The other three soldiers were making a full sprint to the gate, Simmons saw Hammond gesturing the three to go forward. They saw him squeeze a couple of rounds towards the forests as he and the other two made their way, more slowly towards the gate. Energy bolts began to pour out from the forest.

The halftrack roared to life as it surged forward, racing across the meadow. Pulling to the side slightly, so the trio was out of the way, the gunner opened fire on the tree line, raking the area with dozens of rounds a second from the quad mounted machine guns. The bolts slackened after several seconds of continuous fire from the halftrack. The gunner continued the onslaught as the heavy vehicle pulled up behind the three men, shielding them from the return fire. However, then the energy-blasting aliens began to focus on the halftrack, as a hail of bolts rained on the vehicle. Simmons saw as one bolt strike the ammo box on one of the machine guns and watched as the resulting explosion tore across the back of the vehicle. The gunner was thrown to the side, his body dangling limply from the side, his arm a good distance away in the field. Miraculously, the halftrack kept moving, using its armor to keep the three men protected as they neared the gate. Meanwhile the soldiers near the gate went prone and began to pour fire onto the tree line.

Realizing they were leaving the coordinates available for all to see, Simmons, grabbed several cylinders from the satchel near the gate, and pulled the pins on the metal tubes. Dropping them in front of the gate, he watched as a thick smoke enveloped the platform and the ring. Jumping to the side, he watched as the trio finally managed to reach the gate.

"Sir," he said to Hammond, "I've radioed ahead, the way is clear!"

Nodding, Hammond spoke into his radio, "We're coming through!, we've got wounded!", and with that, the LT ran through the smoke towards the gate with the wounded soldier, followed shortly by the tattered halftrack, which somehow kept moving despite the explosion. Risking a look, Simmons saw that there were dozens of large holes in the armor where the bolts had struck. They'd eaten away at the layer of armor easily and were damn near close to the fuel tank.
As the track entered the smoke and slowly rose up the platform, Simmons yelled to the assembled soldiers.

"Alright the LT and the wounded are through, everyone else now!"

The ten remaining men at the site, all rose and scrambled towards the gate, as the bolt fire intensified. Simmons stood by the ring's edge and counted the number of times he heard the faint splashing sound people made when they entered the gate. He managed to make out through the smoke, several men running through the gate, with the last couple sprinting up the steps. Turning, he leveled his pistol at the tree line and emptied the clip. Just then the men reached the top and charged towards the gate. A bolt then cut through the smoke and struck one of the men in the back. Simmons smelt the faint tinge of ozone and burnt flesh as the soldier's body was flung forward through the gate. Swearing, Simmons ran through the portal as well.

After several seconds he emerged on the ramp at Roosevelt. Remembering the bolts, he continued down the ramp, the soldier's body lying there. As he reached the bottom, he saw several more bolts fly through and impact the far wall.

"That's everyone!" he heard a voice yell. A couple seconds passed before the gate shut down.

He heard a door open, and he saw the halftrack driver stumble out. The man was shaking in his boots, hardly standing. His hand clasped firmly against neck. The right side of his body was caked in blood. Simmons realized there was blood leaking out from beneath his hand. The man made a small sound before collapsing, his hand fell to the side, reveling a large jagged cut along his neck. Looking at the halftrack, he saw several large holes in the plating behind the driver's cabin. The explosion must have done more damage than he though. He felt a rush as a pair of medics ran pat him. Leaning against what was left of the track, he looked around.

The men were exhausted, many were leaning over and panting, most hadn't run like they had since basic. A lot of them were cut up from their run through the forest, Simmons looked down and saw that his battle dress' leggings were torn up and stained red from his run through the bramble. He looked over to the body of the soldier who'd been struck by the bolt. The medics had turned it over and he saw that it was Donowitz. Poor kid.

Sitting down on the concrete floor, he saw several MPs and a pair of men in white lab coats wheeling over a long metal case. Looking at the staff, he realized what it was for. As they opened it, he struggled to his feet and dropped it in. Nodding the group quickly sealed the case and wheeled it off to some other part of the base.

Grunting, Simmons looked back at Donowitz's body. At least they had recovered something…

Back in the forests of ES-5, a group of heavily armored warriors marched in formation, dragging a struggling figure behind them. The man was bound in chains and swearing angrily at them, but no matter how hard he struggled, their grip held firm. In the clearing was a larger gathering of warriors, in front of them was another armored figure, smaller than the others, but standing taller than the rest. Stepping forward, her helmet retracted, revealing a short woman, with dark hair cut in a tight bob and several lose strands of hair dangling in front of her forehead. He almond shaped eyes closed as she took a deep breath. As much as she preferred the intimidating and concealing portions of her armor, Selket enjoyed the fresh air when she could, though she preferred the safety of the carefully filtrated air of her palace offered. Looking to the assembled Jaffa, her disembodied voice boomed.

"I see you have captured our quarry!"

Kneeling, the Jaffa all retracted their helmets and looked down. The lead figure spoke.

"Yes my lady, your Ashrak squads helped us subdue the target."

"Rise."

Rising, the First Prime looked at the assembled warriors and realized something; there were fewer than had been with them when they arrived. More than that, several of their bodies were on the ground, as well.

"My lady! Did this wretch claim the lives of my brothers, your loyal servants?"

"No. While we were engaged in our hunt, our rear guard was engaged by another group of interlopers. A group of heavily armed humans it would seem."

"Humans? Where where they from?"

"The soldiers didn't get a look at the Chappa'ai, the humans had the foresight to obscure the gate with smoke before they could see the coordinates."

A set of footsteps interrupted, Selket looked over to see the last of the bodies being dropped off. All in all this attack had cost her a dozen Jaffa. This last body had something sticking out of it. Walking over, she yanked it out. It was some kind of fusion of metal and wood, complete with a pointed front. Looking it over, she saw a small opening in the back. Sniffing it, it had a familiar sent of black powder. She knew; she had experimented with such weapons on occasion.

"Hm, a primitive tool." she dismissed it as she walked towards the chained figure. "But it is of no matter, you're why we are here. Ammit!"

The figured struggled again against the chains as he snarled at Selket, his eyes glowing for a brief moment as he snarled. He cursed at her, which resulted in a thin ribbon of golden energy washingover his head. He yelled in pain for several moments before slouching. His breathing intensified.

"Your lord Sobek is most displeased with you." She chided " Perhaps it was not a wise idea to try and sell secrets to Ba'al."

Straightening himself, Ammit looked her in the eyes. "Spare me, Selket, I am of more use to you alive, the knowledge I carry about Sobek could gain you worlds, more power and influence, all can be yours, if you just spare…" His pleading was cut off as the energy swept over him once more.

"Do not presume to try and buy my loyalty, worm. I have no need for more worlds or power; the lords already respect and fear me! ONE WORD AND MY ASHRAKS COULD KILL WHOMEVER I PLEASED!" she boomed as the device was held closer to Ammit, whose body began to spasm and convulse violently. "Each lord must humble themselves should they wish to use the service of my ashraks. Even the supreme Ra knows respect when requesting my services." She said as she advanced on the man. "What use have I for worlds or ships, when I command all the darkness?" she whispered, loud enough it carried over Ammit's screams. Standing over him now, she lowered her voice again, slackening the device temporarily as Ammit continued to spasm. "Consider yourself lucky, Sobek was more worried about keeping you silent. Had he requested, I would have happily taken you back to my palace and shown you how I deal with traitorous weaklings. The last traitor I got to…know ended up scattered across six star systems. Alas, not today, only a quick death for you." she finished as she raised the hand ribbon once more and let the energy wave over Ammit, whose screams once again filled the clearing. After several minutes, Ammit stopped moving, only small twitches here and there, a large black mark was over his forehead, where the ribbon was held close.

Looking to her First Prime, Selket barked ordered, "We're done here, strip the bodies of anything useful, then burn them all, including Ammit."

"I will be done my lady…What should we do about the humans?"

"It is none of our concern, true we lost some of our warriors, but they were the rear guard, the young ones just out of training. We'll refill the ranks easily. As for this world," she said, her arm outstretched. "it is not our world, this is Ba'al's domain, let him worry about them if they ever pester him. We needn't concern ourselves with these petty affairs."

"As you wish my lady…"