A/N: I'd like to thank Mia66, piecesofyourheart and SVU Chicky for their kind words. Hope everybody enjoys the new chapter.
Stargate: SVU
Chapter Eight
'Damn it,' Hammond thought, shaking his head. 'Something's just not right!'
He leaned over to the microphone and shouted, "SG-3, hold your position! Cancel!"
Colonel Drumlin was just about to lead the first wave of his team through the stargate when Hammond's order echoed in the gate room. Drumlin immediately raised his hand and waved his confused-looking team back from the gate.
"All SG-3 officers, report to the control room," Hammond said. Then he turned to Harriman and added, "Walter, get me the original video of the MALP that first arrived on P3X-897, and put it up side by side with the present image that we have now."
"Right away, sir," Harriman said, as he began typing the commands into the computer. "The image from the MALP that first explored P3X-897 is up on monitor two, sir."
Hammond watched as the recorded footage of the MALP that originally explored P3X-897 played on the second monitor. "Son of a bitch," he muttered, shaking his head. "Walter, freeze the image right there!"
"Yes, sir."
Drumlin entered the control room with Major Lyman, Dr. Fraiser and Lieutenants Hailey and Satterfield. "Sir," Drumlin said respectfully, "may I ask what happened?"
"This happened." Hammond pointed at the two monitors. "Monitor one is a live feed from P3X-897, while monitor two is footage from the original first contact MALP. They're both showing the exact same area, but during two different times. All of you take a good look and tell me what you see."
"Good God," Hailey muttered, as she stared in disbelief at the two images. "That boulder, sir. I don't recall seeing that before…."
"Exactly, Lieutenant," Hammond said with a nod. "That massive boulder, which we now see sitting in front of the stargate platform, wasn't there when we first made contact with the planet. In fact, you will notice that it's one in a group of boulders that now circles the stargate--all of which have magically appeared out of nowhere."
"Shield generators," Hailey said. "That's what they've got to be! The entire area surrounding the stargate is encased in a shield."
"Those bastards created a killing box," Drumlin angrily said. "We would have been trapped, left wide open for snipers--who are probably all along the ridges above, sir."
Hammond was about to order Harriman to search, but was pleased to see the sergeant had already began to scan the upper ridges that surrounded the stargate with the MALP camera.
Harriman excitedly pointed at the screen. "I see something, sir!"
"Zoom in," Hammond said.
When he did, everyone was stunned to see not Jaffa snipers, but a series of Jaffa staff cannons all lined up on the ridge above the stargate.
"Sweet Jesus," Lyman said softly. "We would have been slaughtered…."
Hammond switched on the microphone and said, "SG-3, clear the gate room, now!"
Under Sergeant Barman's shepherding, the Marines quickly scampered out of the gate room.
"What are you going to do, sir?" Janet asked, looking pale.
"I'm clearing the road for you, Doctor," Hammond gently replied. He then glanced down at Sergeant Harriman and added, "Walter, shall we?"
Harriman merely looked up at him with a broad smile on his face. "With pleasure, sir!"
SG-1: SVU
'Why are they taking so long?' Neith wondered, as she watched the glittering stargate with suspicion. Normally the Tauri Stargate teams emerged through the gate the instant it was activated. Neith considered that perhaps it was her own desire to see her enemies ensnared in the trap she had so carefully built for them that made her so impatient.
She was about to command one of the peltac technicians to contact the staff cannon emplacement leader, to see if he could tell what was happening from his vantage point, when something happened that made Her Lord Empress Neith stand upright from her chair and stare in disbelief at the stargate.
A missile shot out from the stargate at a sharp angle. It arced straight up, right over the top of the shields--using the very same opening that would have allowed her staff cannon crews to fire down on the hapless stargate team--and rammed itself right into the ridge where Neith had placed her staff cannons.
Neith watched with horror as the majority of her staff cannons and their crews were obliterated in the ensuing explosion. And, to make matters worse, the ridge had been weakened to the point where it collapsed; the resulting avalanche having swept away the few remaining gun crews that managed to survive the initial attack.
And as if that weren't bad enough, then the second missile emerged from the stargate.
It roared almost straight up into the sky before it swerved in a graceful arc and flew back towards the ground--right at the camouflaged shield generators. Instead of ramming into them, the second missile exploded directly above them, the force of the explosion--along with the millions of shards of shrapnel that it released--ripping three of the generators apart.
Neith watched, stunned, as the shield crackled and sparked. With the circular link broken, the remaining generators could not maintain the integrity of the shield, and so it shut down with a fizzle.
The stargate was now wide open and unprotected.
"Nooooooo!" Neith roared in fury.
SG-1: SVU
"The shield is down!" Harriman reported from his console. "All staff cannon positions have been taken out!"
"SG-3, you now have a go!" Hammond ordered. "Godspeed, people!"
"Go, go, go!" Drumlin shouted, as SG-3 all raced up the ramp and into the stargate, their weapons ready.
When she emerged on the other side, Hailey was greeted with a much better sight this time. In the distance, a large cloud of dust arose from where the staff cannon emplacements were, and Hailey smiled when she got a glimpse of several damaged-beyond-repair shield generators sparkling and crackling on the ground before her. Their camouflage rock coverings fluttered absurdly in the wind.
"Keep moving!" Major Lyman called. "Don't stop until you're under cover of the tree line!"
Hailey jumped off the stargate platform, with Satterfield right next to her, and dove for cover in the foliage. Once they were in the woods and safely away from the stargate platform, Hailey started to look around in a panic for the other shortest figure in the group. "Hey! Anybody see Fraiser?!"
"H-Here," she said, waving. Doctor Frasier leaned up against a tree, trying to catch her breath.
"You all right, Doc?" Satterfield asked, as she and Hailey came over to Fraiser.
"Oh, yeah," Fraiser replied, still breathless, as she gave the thumbs up. "That was…a little more excitement…than I'm used to…I guess!"
"You know, ma'am," Hailey said, as a slight smile crossed her lips, "you should really learn how to pace yourself."
Fraiser shot her an annoyed look. "Oh, very funny! You remind me of my daughter, Lieutenant. Like you, she's a great kid, but can be a little brat when she wants to be."
"Everybody take cover!" Colonel Drumlin ordered.
Hailey saw through the trees that Neith's mothership had launched what appeared to be a missile. She dove for cover as the missile shot straight towards the stargate and exploded on the platform. The MALP was incinerated. But the stargate and the DHD, which were made of far stronger stuff, survived.
"The explosion shut down the stargate, sir," Hailey noted.
"Let's move out," Drumlin quietly ordered, "before they adjust their range with the next one."
Before Satterfield joined Hailey, Fraiser and the rest of the team as they sought deeper cover into the woods, she paused to stare with disgust at the billowing smoke that was created by the explosion.
"Jeez, what a sore loser," Satterfield muttered, as she walked away.
SG-1: SVU
They were all about to storm the slave quarters when Teal'c--who was acting as a scout, walking several feet ahead of them--had paused by the doorway and motioned for all of them to stop abruptly.
When O'Neill came up to his position, Teal'c simply pointed beyond the doorway. O'Neill was disheartened to see a large force of Jaffa now patrolled the slave stalls--far too large a number for them to deal with. Apparently, their rescue of Luanda before had been noticed, and reinforcements were sent to secure the area. The presence of this small army of Jaffa in the slave quarters threw a major monkey wrench into O'Neill's plans.
Carter came up on his six and glanced over O'Neill's shoulder. Her eyes grew wide at the sight of the Jaffa force within. "What do we do now, sir?"
When he glanced back at her, O'Neill noticed the reddish marks on her throat and wrists for the first time--and angrily realized they were from the straps that had bound Carter to the examination table in the laboratory. She had been a helpless captive, and had it not been for Olivia, Sam's life would have been snuffed out as if she were so much a lab specimen.
'Damn it, I should have strangled that little son of a bitch,' O'Neill thought, as he glared hatefully at Nacre. The Royal Physician was being carefully watched a few feet behind them by Daniel and Olivia.
"Sir," Carter prompted, gazing at him with concern. "What now?"
He stared into Sam's eyes and realized how close he came to losing her forever. And all O'Neill really wanted to do right now was to just hold Sam tightly and never let go of her.
'Focus, Jack, stay focused,' he commanded himself. 'We're not out of the woods, yet.'
Not exactly knowing what to do now--he never had a plan 'B,' in case this one didn't work--O'Neill simply shrugged and said, "How about we go find that Jaffa spa that you and Liv were talking about before? I could sure go for a good massage right about now…."
Teal'c merely cocked an eyebrow at him, while Carter slowly shook her head in disbelief--yet O'Neill was pleased to see that she still had a small smile. He loved how Carter was always receptive to his humor, even if she didn't get the joke every time.
"Ok," O'Neill admitted with a sigh, "so maybe that's a bad--"
He was cut off by the sound of a loud klaxon that erupted throughout the ship. It was a high-pitched, continuous whooping sound; not unlike the action station alarms he'd heard on U.S. Navy ships.
"Great, because of us, now the ship's going on full alert," O'Neill glumly said.
"No," a stunned Liandra said, gesturing at the klaxon. "This is a call to battle stations! We're under attack!"
"O'Neill!" Teal'c called, as he gestured once more inside the slave quarters.
They watched as the small army of Jaffa, responding to the klaxon, hastily picked up their weapons and marched at a full run through a side door. They left behind only four guards on the main platform.
'Now that's more like it!' O'Neill thought happily. 'We can handle that bunch….'
"Jack," Daniel called. "Liv and I can't be sure, but we thought we just heard explosions before."
"They sounded muffled," Olivia added, "like they came from outside the ship."
"General Hammond might have sent reinforcements," Carter said hopefully. "We could be hearing the battle outside."
"I hope they're SG-3," Daniel said. "We could use some Marines at this party."
"You ready T?" O'Neill asked.
When Teal'c nodded, bringing his staff weapon up to bear, O'Neill glanced back at the others and said, "All right. Let's see if we can't invite a few more friends of ours to this little party of ours. Let's go!"
SG-1: SVU
"The stargate platform was hit by a missile," Harriman reported, with a shake of his head. "The MALP is history, sir. But all of our people were clear long before the missile hit."
Hammond nodded. "Reload our missiles and prepare to redial the gate, Walter." He switched on the microphone and ordered, "Prepare a UAV for flight!"
"The same address, I take it, sir?"
"You're damn right, the same address," Hammond firmly replied. "I want to keep the pressure up on Neith for as long as we can."
SG-1: SVU
The four Jaffa who had been left behind on the center platform were easily taken care off. Olivia was pleased to see Teal'c took two of the bastards out with his staff weapon, while Sam and O'Neill each got the other two with their zats.
Olivia stayed behind with Daniel, Liandra and Luanda to cover them. She also helped to keep a wary eye on Nacre, who kept nervously mumbling under his breath about the diseases they were being exposed to just by standing in the slave quarters.
'A doctor who's a hypochondriac,' Olivia thought with a roll of her eyes. 'Now I've truly seen everything!'
They stood in front of one of the slave stalls, and its inhabitant was a poor soul who was already dead. Olivia had seen her share of squalid places as a detective with the Special Victims Unit, but the slave quarters was just hell, plain and simple. The sight of this wretched place had made her not only determined to survive this nightmare, but to also make sure she could do whatever she could to help the others to put a stop to Neith.
Olivia stopped short when she thought she heard something--it sounded like a cry out for help from some where within the mass of slave stalls. But thanks to Nacre's constant babbling, she couldn't be sure.
She strode up to Nacre, stuck her zat into his face, and said, "Hey, shut up."
A wide-eyed Nacre stared fearfully at her as he immediately ceased talking.
Daniel glanced back at Olivia with concern. "What's wrong?"
"Just listen," Olivia said, holding up a hand. "I thought I heard--"
Olivia was startled when she heard a man's voice call out: "Liandra?"
She glanced around, holding her zat up just in case, until she heard the man call again. "Liandra? Is that you?"
A glance at the woman told Olivia that she didn't hear the man. Olivia went over, tapped Liandra on the shoulder and said, "There's somebody calling your name back here."
Liandra and Luanda came back with Olivia, and when she heard the man's voice call again, Liandra's eyes grew wide. "Marten!" she called, running into a stall.
Olivia saw Liandra embrace a man who was shackled to a post in a slave stall. When they released each other, Marten said, "Sartor is here. He's in the next stall!"
Luanda let out an excited squeal as she ran into the next stall. "Daddy!" she cried. "Mommy, he's dead!"
Olivia came in and felt the prone Sartor for a pulse. He had been savagely beaten, but was still alive. She smiled with relief at Luanda. "He's just unconscious."
Olivia got out of the way as Liandra bent down and gently caressed her husband's face. "Awaken, my love," Liandra murmured. "For your wife and daughter are here by your side."
Sartor awoke with a puzzled smile. "Liandra? Am I dead?"
"If that is so, then we are all dead," Liandra told him. "Nay, we still live, my husband. And while we still draw breath, my love for you shall live on."
Olivia grinned at the joyous family reunion, as Sartor tightly hugged his wife and daughter in the confines of the narrow stall where he had been kept prisoner. His ankle was shackled to a post.
Daniel called to O'Neill, Sam and Teal'c: "We've found Sartor down here!"
"Great!" O'Neill said, as he came over to them. "How you doing, buddy?"
"I am as well as I can be in this horrendous place," Sartor told him, as he held his wife and daughter in an embrace. "Yet now, I am even better! Much thanks to you, and your friends, O'Neill!"
"I'm afraid it's not over, yet," Sam said.
O'Neill nodded grimly. "We've still got a hell of a fight ahead of us, Sartor. You think you and your people are up to it?"
"Free us and we shall show you, O'Neill," Sartor said with a broad smile.
"Teal'c?" O'Neill asked.
"Stand clear," Teal'c told Liandra and Luanda.
Mother and daughter quickly got out of the way as Teal'c aimed his staff weapon and blasted the chain that secured Sartor's ankle to a post in the wall.
"All right, let's start freeing up all the people we can find," O'Neill said.
SG-1: SVU
When Mo'at arrived on the peltac, it was a hotbed of frenzied activity. Officers ran back and forth, scrambling for new information, as well as carrying out new orders. And in the center of it all stood Neith, who was so enraged that Mo'at was afraid to approach her.
When she saw him standing there, Neith's eyes flared momentarily. "The Tauri managed to wipe out my staff cannon emplacement, take down the shields, and mount an assault," she said. "I have badly underestimated them, Mo'at. It shall not happen again."
"My Lord Empress," Mo'at said by way of greeting, bowing respectfully. "Has the new stargate team sought cover?"
"They have. And it was more than just a four-member team this time. Hammond sent a larger force of about fifteen, and they appeared to be well-armed," Neith told him. She shook her head with disgust. "I have sent troops to secure the stargate, as well as to hunt down--"
"My Lord Empress!" one of the peltac officers shouted, as he pointed out the window. "The stargate!"
Mo'at glanced outside and saw that the stargate was once more open. A small, remote-controlled plane shot out and flew over the troops who were presently rushing towards the gate. They all stared at it as though it were the strangest bird they'd ever seen. In fact the troops were so distracted by the plane, that they never saw the missile as it roared out of the stargate, heading straight for them.
Mo'at flinched as he watched the missile strike the army of Jaffa dead center within its ranks. The explosion tossed Jaffa bodies around as though they were rag dolls. The entire ground force was wiped out.
"Where are my gliders?!" Neith screamed. "I ordered them airborne minutes ago!"
"There they are, my Lord Empress!" Mo'at said, pointing at a pair of death gliders that had just taken off from the mothership.
"Command them to shoot down that plane," Neith told him. "It is choosing targets for the Tauri missiles!"
Mo'at relayed her order to the glider pilots, who quickly hunted down the unmanned Tauri plane and blew it out of the sky.
But not before another missile shot out from the stargate.
"Incoming missile!" Mo'at shouted.
"Where is this one headed?" Neith asked.
Mo'at's eyes grew large with fear. "Straight for us, my Lord Empress!"
Neith let out a low, angry snarl as the second Tauri missile bored right down on the peltac command center of her ship.
SG-1: SVU
"What you ask is impossible," the man told Sartor. "We are now trapped in the belly of the great beast, how can we dare fight back?"
'There's always one in every crowd,' Sam thought, trying to hide her irritation. She glanced at Olivia, who also looked annoyed at the less than enthusiastic reaction they had received so far.
They had freed a sizeable number of the people in the slave quarters--mainly the recently captured Kelori, who were still in decent enough shape to fight. But as soon as Sartor tried to rally them to arms, he was met only with fear and panic, which was stirred by a select few who had witnessed the execution of their leader Revlon.
"The great Revlon, along with the high council, are all dead," the man continued. "Their heads now on display on Neith's ghastly trophy wall. How can we go on?"
Olivia leaned in and whispered into Sam's ear: "Now I'm really sorry I made fun of the poor guy…."
Sam just gave her a sympathetic look, as if to say 'what can you do?'
O'Neill stepped forward on the platform, where he stood with Sartor and the others. "How can you go on?" he asked the crowd of Kelori. "Any way you can!"
"But we are in the lair of the she-wolf!" another man called.
"The she-wolf isn't invincible!" O'Neill shouted back. "She can be defeated just like anybody else. You heard the alarms go off before. Neith is under attack right now by my people. Now is when Neith is at her weakest, and it's now that we must seize the advantage!"
The crowd muttered among itself uncertainly.
Then everybody in the slave quarters were startled when a heavy rumbling rattled throughout the entire mothership. The lights in the ceiling flickered briefly as the alarm began to blare once more throughout the ship.
"What the hell was that?" Olivia, looking stunned, asked. "An earthquake?"
"No," Sam replied. She couldn't keep the awe out of her voice. "We were hit by something."
"Indeed," Teal'c confirmed with a nod. "It would appear that this ship has just been struck by incoming fire."
"From the SGC," Sam said, as she exchanged a hopeful look with O'Neill. "Sir, I think it's safe to say that General Hammond has launched a full scale assault out there!"
"And we've got to help them!" O'Neill said to the crowd. "My people are out there, fighting--and possibly dying--for all of us. Are we just gonna sit here and do nothing?!"
"NO!" Sartor cried. "If this is truly the only opportunity we have to rid ourselves of Neith once and for all, then we must help O'Neill and his friends, no matter what the cost! And even if we should fail, then I would rather die fighting on my feet, than die like an animal chained up in these stalls!"
With that, the Kelori all roared their approval as one, raising their fists up in the air in defiance.
"Finally," O'Neill said, as he came over to Sam and the others. "Who knew Sartor had it in him to stir his people on like this?"
"Oh, I don't know, sir," Sam said, smiling. "You were pretty stirring yourself there."
"Yeah, I'd follow you into battle," Daniel chimed in. "Actually, I have followed you into battle…quite often, in fact…."
"But shouldn't we just take cover?" Olivia asked. "I mean, if they're bombing the ship out there--"
"The ship's shields will protect it from any onslaught of missiles," Teal'c told her. "It is a tactic of harassment, at best."
"Not unless we take out the shields," O'Neill said.
"We could if we pulled the proper crystals," Sam confidently told him. "Just show me where the controls are."
"These shields," Olivia asked, "are they anything like what they have on Star Trek?"
"Pretty much," O'Neill told her. He grew thoughtful for a moment, and Sam knew him well enough to know that O'Neill was formulating a plan of action. "If I know Hammond, he's got people on the ground out there, and that second team will try to penetrate this ship."
"They can't. Not with the shields up," Sam said. Then something occurred to her. "Unless they try to come in through the complex."
"The complex?" Olivia asked.
"It's the base where we found you and the other abducted people," Sam explained. "The mothership's landing platform is right on top of it. But I doubt the ship's shields extend to the base itself, sir."
O'Neill nodded. "That's the Achilles' Heel to this whole place. We've got to get down to the complex and help the second team to get in." He turned to Liandra and asked, "Do you know what a ring transporter is?"
"Yes," Liandra said with a nod.
"Great. Where's the one that's nearest to this location?"
"Down the east corridor, in the central junction," Liandra replied. "But it's always heavily guarded."
Getting an idea, Sam turned to Liandra and asked, "Would you know where they've put our gear?" When O'Neill gave her a puzzled look, Sam said, "Sir, it would be a big help if we could communicate with the other team and coordinate our plan of attack."
"And I'd also feel better taking on a squad of Jaffa with our regular weapons," O'Neill said. "Good thinking, Carter."
"Your gear?" Liandra said, looking confused.
"They had equipment, tools and weapons, which the Jaffa took from them when we were all captured," Olivia patiently explained. "Do you know where this stuff would be kept?"
"All belongings taken from newly acquired slaves are placed in the storage bin," Liandra replied. She pointed at a massive vault-like door on the far side of the slave quarters. "Right over there."
"What would you wish for us to do, O'Neill?" Sartor asked.
"Have your folks start freeing everybody they can find," O'Neill told him. "You and some of your men can come with us. We're going on a little shopping spree!"
As they ran over to the vault, Olivia asked, "What's a ring transporter, anyway?"
Sam was about to give her a detailed answer--she had just opened her mouth to speak--until O'Neill interjected: "You know the transporters on Star Trek? Pretty much the same thing, Liv."
"Really?" Olivia said, looking impressed. "Cool!"
O'Neill gave Sam a sheepish look and said, "Sorry Carter, but we don't have all day to listen to your techno-babble."
'But you have time enough for it when it saves the day, don't you?' Sam thought with an infuriated sigh. Still, she supposed the Colonel had a point, as always. They had to move fast. Besides, there was always that lunch that she promised Olivia. There would be time enough then for them to talk about whatever they wanted.
After Teal'c blasted the lock on the vault with his staff weapon, they were able to get the door open and uncover a veritable treasure trove of their equipment--including their weapons, radios and even their vests. Sartor and his people were pleasantly surprised to find their weapons--including bow and arrows, crossbows and spears--had also been stored here as well.
Sam immediately felt better as she strapped her equipment and weapons back onto her body. She'd felt naked without them. O'Neill, who had finished strapping on his own gear, held up his radio and said, "Shall we?"
Sam shrugged. "Only one way to find out, sir."
SG-1: SVU
"We have arrived at the gate, my Lord Empress," the Jaffa in command of the secondary ground force reported by radio.
"Dial the gate with the address I've given you," Neith commanded from her chair in the center of the peltac. "Do it now."
The peltac shields had resisted the Tauri missile, as expected. And once they recovered from the attack, Neith had shut the stargate down once again with another missile strike on the gate platform. And now that her secondary force had arrived, they could open the gate from their end and prevent any more missile attacks from earth. But the problem was that this ground force had to be diverted form their original mission of hunting down the new SG team that Hammond managed to get through. And they could be anywhere by now.
"The stargate is dialed out, my Lord Empress," the commander reported.
"Keep the gate open," she instructed. "As soon as it closes, open it again right away. Understand?"
"Yes, my Lord Empress!"
Neith sat back wearily in her chair and thought, 'I am missing something. What is it?'
Mo'at bowed before her. "My Lord Empress, allow me to take command of the ground troops. I shall hunt down this new Tauri stargate team like the dogs they are!"
Neith was about to give him permission to do so, until a revelation struck her. "No, Mo'at. This new force Hammond sent is an aggressive one; they are a group of hunters. They will try and strike at us at our weakest point. That will be the base upon which our ship sits. Take a battalion of Jaffa down to the base and defend it against attack. Just wait for them to attack, Mo'at, and then kill them all."
Mo'at nodded with a smile. "As you command, my Lord Empress."
As he ran off to do her bidding. Neith glanced up at the glowing force shields that had protected her and the peltac command crew from the incoming missile. General Hammond had to have known that her ship would have been protected with shields, yet he still shot that missile straight at her in any case.
'It was an act of pure impudence,' she realized, growing angry. 'The very nerve! Once I conquer earth, I shall find Hammond and impale his head on the highest stake!'
SG-1: SVU
'Good God,' Janet thought, as she gazed up at the Goa'uld mothership with awe. She'd forgotten how imposing these things could be.
She had taken cover just behind the tree line on the edge of the forest with the rest of SG-3. Hailey and Satterfield were with her; the two young lieutenants had stuck to Janet like glue since they left the stargate. Janet wasn't really sure if they stayed close to her because they were protecting her, or if they thought she was protecting them…and she didn't really care. She liked Hailey and Satterfield, and had grown used to having them by her side.
Janet ducked her head down behind the fallen tree when she heard the death glider screech right over their position in the skies above. The glider, unable to see through the canopy of trees they were under, flew past without incident.
She didn't realize it at first, but Janet had protectively placed her hands over the heads of Hailey and Satterfield, who each lay on opposite sides of her. With a shy smile, Janet quickly removed her hands from their helmets and guiltily said, "Sorry…."
"A compassionate doctor to the bitter end…." Hailey jokingly muttered.
Satterfield rolled over on her side and gazed thoughtfully at Colonel Drumlin and Major Lyman, who were huddled together a few feet away from them in conference. "When do you think we'll be hitting the installation?"
"When Colonel Drumlin's ready, I'm sure we'll be among the first to know," Janet replied. She stared at the vast Goa'uld complex once more and just hoped that SG-1 were still alive somewhere in there. The thought of having to use her medical skills to save Sam and the others was a frightening one, but Janet had braced herself for that possibility.
Then, everybody within SG-3 were startled when their radios came to life with the voice of Jack O'Neill: "Sierra Gulf One Leader to any Sierra Gulf team in the area. Come in. Over."
Drumlin, who had been just as startled as everyone else, quickly keyed his radio. "Sierra Gulf One Leader, this is Sierra Gulf Three. Come back. Over."
There was silence for a spell, then O'Neill casually said, "Hey, Gene! You and the kids just happen to be in the neighborhood? Over."
Drumlin couldn't help but smile at that. "Yeah, Jack. And we've got some extra room in the mini-van. You'd like a ride? Over."
"That's a big affirmative, Gene. My kids and I are all together and safe…for the time being. Over."
Janet was just elated beyond words to hear that news. If it were at all possible, she would have called Cassie right then and there, just to let her know that Sam was all right. When she saw the immense look of relief in Hailey's eyes, Janet realized that she and Cassie weren't the only ones who had been worried sick about Sam.
'Well, first things, first,' Janet dolefully reminded herself, as she stared back at the Goa'uld monstrosity that loomed over all of them. 'Now we've got to get them out of there, somehow….'
SG-1: SVU
Once the plan had been worked out between the SG teams over the radio, O'Neill led SG-1, along with Olivia and Liandra, down the corridor towards the ring transporter. Luanda remained behind with her father and a large force of well-armed Kelori warriors who held the slave quarters. They also left Nacre behind in the slave quarters, and Olivia was pleased to see Sartor had put the Royal Physician to work helping as many of the sick and ailing slaves as he could.
When they arrived at the ring transporter, Olivia was disappointed. She didn't know what she had expected, but it looked just like any other corridor junction in this vast ship. Thankfully, there weren't that many Jaffa guarding it--just three, and they were easily subdued by SG-1.
Once the Jaffa were out of the way, Teal'c went over to a control panel on the wall while O'Neill, Sam, Daniel, and Liandra took up positions within a semi-circle pattern on the floor.
Sam gestured at Olivia. "Come here, Liv. Stand next to me."
"What's going on?" Olivia said, as she came over and stood next to Sam. "Where's the ring transporter?"
"You're standing on it," O'Neill told her. "First time on one of these things? You're gonna love it."
Teal'c came over and joined them. "I have programmed it to take us all the way down to the complex beneath the ship."
"Going down," O'Neill muttered, sounding like an elevator operator.
"Whoa!" Olivia cried, startled, when a series of massive metal rings rose up from the floor, encircling them. She anxiously clutched Sam's arm. "What's wrong?"
"Relax, Liv," Sam assured her, smiling. "It's normal."
"Beam me up, Scotty," Olivia nervously murmured, as everything around her disappeared in a blinding white glow.
When the glow subsided, Olivia saw that the area outside of the rings had changed. Instead of the black and gold walls of the ship, they now stood in the metallic gold hallways of what must be the base below.
Yet before she could revel in having been "beamed" for the first time in her life, Olivia glanced over her shoulder and was stunned to see Mo'at standing before her, with a large group of heavily-armed Jaffa right behind him.
"Kel mal tak Tauri!" Mo'at commanded, as he pointed at them.
"TAKE COVER!" O'Neill shouted, as he opened fire with his P90.
Several Jaffa, who had been equally stunned to see them "ring" down before them, jerked back as sparks from bullets hitting their armor erupted on their chest. They fell back into their comrades before they could draw their staff weapons--which gave Olivia, Sam and Liandra plenty of time to duck into an alcove just before a massive onslaught of staff weapon fire erupted in the hallway.
A still-stunned Olivia looked over and saw Sam had returned fire with her P90, as did Liandra with her zat.
'Hey, I should do the same!' she thought, as she brought up her own zat and started firing back. Olivia saw that O'Neill, Daniel and Teal'c were in an alcove on the opposite side of them. 'Jeez, not only did we run into an ambush, but we're cut off from each other again!'
"Talk about rotten luck!" Olivia said to Sam. "Are days like this normal for you guys?"
"All the time, Liv," Sam dourly replied, as she quickly reloaded her P90 and started firing again. "All the time…."
To Be continued...