Hello and welcome back.
Anon: Good to know you like this.
Lunatic Pandora1: Oh, you of little faith. Like I told Trife before, I can't just kill off the farseer; she's too important to the eldar and the story, although she isn't the main eldar character anymore. Why don't you do like I do every day: go to crossover games} warhammer} show all warhammer crossovers. I'll still have the Asgård, but their role will be a smaller one. Hmm, I'll have to think about that wraithbone idea. And no, I won't make Jack a psyker or any of his teammates this time. I do have something planned out for them, though.
Trife: Thank you again! Ro'nak will definitely rise to power after Sokar is dealt with in this chapter. Yes, this story is of better quality since I've improved my writing.
Dusel: Thank you. Yes, eldar arrogance is almost legendary, but they have their reasons. Mon-keigh means inferior race actually, usually used to refer to us humans, but can also mean anyone else deemed inferior.
There will be two cameos from different games in this chapter. You don't have bother your heads figuring them out; I'll just tell them in the end notes. If you do figure them out then good for you. The first is easy, but the second one will be difficult. I really didn't know how to describe it.
Anyways, here's chapter number three! Enjoy.
Devil's Fall
Autarch Fetalque Swiftblade watched the alien fighters and ships surround the Sword of Vaul.
He wasn't worried at all about the great pyramid shaped ships launched dozens of fighters that vaguely resembled the necron Shroud class ships or about the round bombers swarmed around his ship, but a small ship sailing towards the nearby planet had caught his eye. It was small, maybe a dozen meters in length, and didn't seem to be a fighter at all. It didn't seem to belong to the surrounding flotilla, either.
"We are picking up communication between the fighters and the pyramid ships, Honored Autarch," said the crewman who operated sensory arrays. "I do not understand their language, but it seems they are trying to gather information about us."
Fetalque frowned; he had expected as much. "Is there any way to communicate with them?" he asked calmly, staring at the viewscreen. "Any way to try to ask for our current location?"
"I doubt it, Autarch."
"We might as well give up trying to ask them anything."
Fetalque turned to look over his shoulder and saw the newcomer who had spoken. It was a warlock with torn robes and scorched armor. Fetalque recognized the warlock; after all they had both been a part of a raid on an ork outpost near Hive Eyryales on Medusa V. The warlock had been caught in an explosion of an ork flamer's promethium tank, and Fetalque had lost sight of him. Such a good thing for him to be alive.
"Elurian," said Fetalque, "I had thought you dead."
Elurian nodded. "So did I, Autarch Fetalque, but we have more concerning things to bother ourselves with." He pointed at the small fleeing ship on Fetalque's personal small screen on his right. "That ship doesn't seem to belong to these aliens that surround us. It was trying to get away from the fighters before we arrived and diverted the flotilla's attention to us instead."
"We gave it a chance to do whatever it intended to," mused Fetalque, turning back to the main viewscreen. "Do we know anything about our opposition?"
"Their fighters won't be a problem, and the ships themselves seem to be lightly constructed. No match for our weaponry. They also seem to have shields..."
Fetalque nodded in agreement; he had come to the same conclusion himself. He hoped to solve this conflict without fighting, but if these aliens forced his hand then he would have no choice but to fight back. He doubted the starships' shielding could withstand a shot from a pulsar lance even at fifty percent power.
"Fighters moving in to engage, Autarch!" announced a crewman suddenly, observing a screen in front of him. "Weapons primed and closing in. Contact in three... two... one..."
Fetalque watched as at least a dozen of those curve shaped enemy fighters swooped past the viewscreen, their wing-mounted weapons spitting fire at the damaged Void Stalker's hull, doing no damage at all. More and more fighters began to bombard the ship with cannons and bombs, trying - and failing - to destroy it. Even the big ships joined the assault, firing their cannons and various turrets.
This continued for a moment before a lucky shot from a starship hit the damaged part of the hull in the stern, causing a small explosion dangerously close the reactor that was already working overtime.
"I think we've let them play around long enough. Activate the holofields and fire a pulsar lance at the nearest ship! Full power!" ordered Fetalque, his voice raised so it could be heard over the sound of hull breach alarm. "I want them to know we do not take kindly to their attack!"
"It'll be quite a show, Autarch," said Elurian with a hint of amusement.
"Indeed it will, Warlock."
The mon-keigh would pay for ever challenging the Sword of Vaul.
Ro'nak's Ha'tak emerged from hyperspace a few thousand kilometers away from the battle. The goa'uld vessels were surrounding the strange ship, bombarding it with all they got. The ship seemed to hold under the firepower that could pulverize a Ha'tak in seconds.
"We are too late," said Meron sadly, his head hung down in shame. "If we had only left a moment earlier we might have prevented this."
"We cannot be sure of that, Meron," assured Ro'nak, staring at the ongoing battle. "This was to be expected from Sokar's forces; they have never tolerated intruders in the solar system."
An explosion on the alien vessel's rear side caught the pair's attention. It happened right on the rupture in the ship's hull in the stern, but it appeared to have done no damage at all.
Then something truly strange happened: all Ha'taks and Death Gliders stopped firing and the lock-on on the ship failed, reverting the viewscreen back to a normal window. All attempts to lock back on the ship failed, no matter how hard Ro'nak pressed the command crystals on the command panel.
Meron gasped. "Ro'nak, look!" He pointed at the stalled battle in the distance.
There, something that would haunt Ro'nak for the rest of his life occurred: one of the massive cannons on the prow of the mysterious starship began charge up, its mighty barrel giving an eerie white-blue glow. A moment later a great bolt of energy shot forth from the cannon towards the nearest Ha'tak, destroying Gliders and Al'kesh in its wake. The bolt struck the Ha'tak's shields and, to the pair's absolute horror, it blasted right through them like a hot knife through butter, and into the pyramid structure in the center, blasting the ship apart.
"Unbelievable!" Ro'nak shouted in disbelief, watching the other cannon begin to glow. He watched in mute horror as yet another bolt speared through a Ha'tak and a squadron of Death Gliders like they were nothing but air, if even that. He saw numerous broadside weapon batteries light up, spitting all kinds of projectiles and energy at the surrounding goa'uld blockade. Ro'nak couldn't watch anymore as more and more of Death Gliders and Ha'taks were blown apart under the onslaught of power. He had to do something.
"Open connection to the lead Ha'tak!" he hastily commanded Meron who complied quickly despite his shock. The screen flickered and formed the image of the lead Ha'tak's pel'tak. On the screen was a young jaffa with the symbol of Sokar on his forehead, just like Ro'nak and Meron themselves had.
The jaffa bowed. "My lord, what do I own this honor for?"
"Retreat to my position immediately! I do not want to be held responsible for the destruction of the entire fleet!" shouted Ro'nak, masking his growing anxiety well from the youth. "Half of the active fleet is already gone!"
"I will relay your orders immediately!" The jaffa began to issue commands to the console in a hurry, seeming rather relieved. "All ships withdraw, now!" he bellowed, relaying his words to the other ships as the image began to shimmer and return to normal.
Ro'nak watched with relief as the Ha'taks broke formation and hastily retreated away from the alien ship. The ship had also stopped firing its weapon, leaving destroyed Ha'taks, Al'kesh and Death Gliders behind, smoking pieces of debris betraying their former locations. The alien ship was a truly formidable opponent to face if it could face and defeat a whole flotilla of goa'uld ships - even if it had only seven motherships, three of which were now nothing more than smoldering wrecks of twisted metal.
"Something is happening again," whispered Meron with worry and fear in his voice.
On the screen the mysterious vessel began to move, this time towards Delmak. It moved faster and faster at every passing moment, ignoring the dumbfounded looks the jaffa aboard the goa'uld ships gave it.
Whatever the ship and its crew wanted, it was something Ro'nak wanted to find out; if the ship came all the way here, it had to be for a reason, unless the ship was lost. But that wouldn't make sense, would it?
The ship couldn't have just popped out of nowhere and not know where it was, right?
Teal'c swore silently as a matter stream beamed from Ne'tu to the surface of Delmak. He was too late to stop it from happening.
No matter how hard he had tried, he had still failed to save his friends. Now, Apophis had a chance to not only kill the rest of SG-1, Martouf and Jacob Carter, but Sokar as well and then he would take over the fleet and army. That could tip the power scale between the goa'uld System Lords to Apophis' favor. With the mighty fleet of Ha'taks he could easily attack Earth again and destroy it.
The mission was over - he had failed.
His internal mourning was interrupted when a massive shape sailed past his ship's front window. It was larger than any ship had ever seen before, even larger than a Ha'tak. It had four massive, wing-like, yellow sails mounted on its stern, going diagonally up and down with two on each side. Its azure colored hull was filled with black markings that Teal'c recognized as staff cannon hits. There were also older, deeper scars on the hull, origin of which he couldn't even begin to speculate on.
This was the ship he had seen a mere a moment ago stopping the goa'uld armada with its appearance. And it was moving towards Delmak, slowly but surely.
Suddenly the communication channel crackled to life and was filled with static. Then a voice was heard. It was young and battle hardened, most likely a jaffa. "Attention Tok'ra Tel'tak, we mean you no harm. Is there a man called Teal'c in there?"
"I am Teal'c, why do you ask? Who are you?" Teal'c didn't know how they knew him or why they asked, but he was sure he would find out in a moment.
"My name is Ro'nak, and we must discuss about a way to save your friends from Apophis. If you could come to my ship, we could try to figure out a way to invade Delmak and possibly eliminate two System Lords at once," suggested Ro'nak honestly.
"How do I know I can trust you?" asked Teal'c, thinking of this as trick to capture him.
"You have no choice, Teal'c. I implore you, please, come to my ship; it is the only way to free your friends." Ro'nak cut the transmission before Teal'c could reply.
Teal'c diverted his attention to the massive ship as it sailed past Ne'tu and disappeared behind it. If only it could help him against Sokar's fleet and defenses.
He shook those thoughts out of his head. He turned to look to his right where Delmak was located, orbited by a fleet of recently activated goa'uld motherships. If this Ro'nak could help him, then he had to seize the opportunity and accept his help in this matter. Alone he would have no chance to even get to the orbit of the planet before being blasted apart, while together with Ro'nak he would at least have some chance to succeed.
Teal'c steered his Tel'tak around and sped off towards the mothership the transmission originated from.
Autarch Fetalque watched with curiosity as the small ship that had fled from the fighter flotilla flew right into the hangar bay of a ship that had appeared during the battle and had commanded others to withdraw.
What had caused the ship to go to the big one's hangar if they were supposed to be in different sides? What was spoken about during the brief communication between those ships? What could be so important that one would go to an enemy ship? What were they going to talk about inside that pyramid ship?
Alliance, probably.
An alliance against who or what?
Maybe the planet the moon that hid the Sword of Vaul from the alien fleet's view orbited.
But why? Wasn't the pyramid ship part of the planet's defense fleet? Were they traitors or rebels? Was there something on the planet that was so important and valuable that it made two opposing forces cooperate?
Most likely.
What could it be? A mineral? A person? Technology?
That remained to be seen.
Fetalque didn't like the possibility of unknown. Unknown was always just what it was - unknown. This whole new civilization was an unknown factor; their weaponry and ships may have been weak compared to the Void Stalker, but they were also something he had never seen before. He had to find out more about this new species and their technology, more of their culture and history.
Fetalque was always the curious and diplomatic one of the siblings, while Elarique was the straight-forward and hit-first-ask-later type. Her stubbornness and determination had always won her battles. He had always been proud of her and her achievements. It was sad that she had sacrificed herself to stop the vile Chaos lord, Ygethmor, but if not for that noble act of selflessness, Ygethmor would have continued to wreak havoc in the galaxy.
His internal musings were interrupted by the blinking of his helmet visor's vox rune. Someone wanted to talk to him, it seemed. He blink-clicked it and said, "Go ahead."
"Fetalque, I've sensed something in the near-future," Aldreth's voice told him. "I wish to discuss it with you in person. It is urgent."
"Understood. I'm on my way."
"I will you meet you halfway."
Aldreth cut the connection, and Fetalque stood up from his throne and jumped down the stairs.
Whatever she wanted to tell, it wouldn't be pleasant.
It never was.
Ro'nak stood in the command deck of his Ha'tak, next to a table with a map of Delmak draped over it. To his right stood Meron, staring at the map like a statue. On the opposite side of the table stood Teal'c, the famed ex-First Prime of Apophis who turned against his own god for the sake of his people.
Teal'c was a man Ro'nak had always admired, and to hear from a commander of another Ha'tak that his team was captured by Apophis and sent to Sokar with Teal'c himself somewhere nearby had made Ro'nak's heart skip a beat. Now, he had a chance to fulfill his dream to defeat Sokar and free the planet's people from enslavement just like Teal'c wanted to free his.
He was glad Teal'c had chosen to trust him and come aboard the ship to plan the attack.
"If we are going to attack Sokar's fortress, we need a plan," said Teal'c. "How are we going break into the fortress?"
"We will send a squadron of Death Gliders to cause chaos on the far side of the planet. They should last long enough for us to use a ring transport to take a strike force into the fortress," explained Meron, pointing at the side of the map farthest away from the fortress's location on the map's right side, near the center. "Then we storm the place. Half of our number should create a distraction near the main gate, while others go to the prison cell and search for the SG-1 and the Tok'ra."
"Do you have a map of the fortress?" asked Teal'c.
Ro'nak nodded and picked up a large scroll from under the table. He unwrapped it and spread it on the table over the previous map. It was a perfect layout of Sokar's fortress. The fortress was built by an ancient civilization ages ago, before Sokar had come and conquered the planet. The civilization was exterminated after they rebelled against Sokar's rule. This map was one of the most valuable items that remained from those days.
"The rings should take us here." He pointed at a small, square room near the center of the massive building. "Then we should move down this corridor and go down these stairs," explained Ro'nak, moving his finger over a hallway above the room and then down a small set of horizontal lines. "We should be able to find the holding cells there, but we must hurry; Sokar is not stupid. The moment the rings take us into the fortress and we split up, he will know of our intentions and will send his bodyguards to kill us."
"How long do we have before we depart?"
"As soon as our forces are ready..." Ro'nak trailed off as a faint beeping sound reached his ears. He nodded toward Meron who went to check the command panel. "It seems the time is now, Master Teal'c. I wish you luck."
"As do I to you, Ro'nak," replied Teal'c as he exited the room to get ready for battle.
When the door closed behind Teal'c, Ro'nak turned his head to look at Meron. "How many jaffa have turned to our cause?" he asked. The attack was doomed if the attacking force was too small.
"The whole active part of the fleet," answered Meron, keeping his eyes glued to the controls. "They, too, share our view and dream. To them, Sokar is but a sadistic dictator who wants nothing more than destruction. Some have also said they fear Sokar's rumored experiments..."
Ro'nak, too, had heard the rumors. Rumors about bloodcurdling screams in the dead of night, echoing from the fortress. Rumors about terrifying creatures, walking monstrosities of metal and flesh, stalking the empty hallways of the fortress, eating alive those caught in their way. Of course, those were just rumors and no one could verify them, but Ro'nak knew there was something evil inside the walls of the citadel.
"What about the mysterious ship?" asked Ro'nak, deeply concerned about the alien ship that had blown up half of the fleet and then disappeared while Ro'nak had talked with the commanders of the fleet. "What is its current location?"
"It seems they were behind the moon a moment ago, but our sensors cannot lock-on to them anymore, and it is likely to have already left the system, considering the speed with which we saw it move."
"It is always a possibility, Meron. I had hoped it could help us against Sokar and his defenses."
"As did I, Ro'nak."
Ro'nak sighed sadly. He had hoped to contact the ship and ask them for help, but now that it was nowhere to be found, no help could be asked for. This attack had to be done with only his jaffa and Teal'c helping him inside the fortress.
Time for attack was only a moment away now.
The metal door of the cell creaked open with a long sound of unoiled hinges.
"See, I told you I could do it," said Colonel Jack O'Neill as he stepped out of the primitive stone cell. "And you doubted my skills in lock picking."
"I didn't think you were serious when you said you could get us out of here," said Doctor Daniel Jackson as he stumbled outside the cell, followed by Captain Samantha Carter, her father, Jacob, and Martouf.
Jack smiled proudly as he took a look at the room outside the cell. It was a dimly lit room with torches hanging from the walls and ceiling. Its floor was made from stone and there was no furniture, only the cell, the torches and the heavy, steel exit door.
"Where are the guards?" asked Jacob, checking their surroundings. "Why would anyone leave a prison cell unguarded?"
"Well, while I was picking the lock, I heard guards talking about an attack on the other side of the planet and that they were going to be deployed there," explained Jack as he strode towards the exit door. He pulled the handle and then pushed, but the door wouldn't budge. "Dammit, locked. I guess they weren't as careless as I hoped."
"Can't you just pick the lock again?" asked Daniel, gesturing towards the open cell door.
"Well, I would if not for the fact that the metal spike I used to get us out of the cell broke in half," said Jack dryly, holding out the two halves of the spike. "Unless you have another one, then we ain't going anywhere."
"What about Teal'c? Could you contact him with your radio and see if he can find a way to help us?" asked Martouf, standing next to Carter to steady Jacob whose legs were still pretty weak after all those days he had spent on Ne'tu.
Jack searched his belt for the radio but didn't find it. "Um, no, its gone," he replied. Apophis had to have taken it when he ordered his men to take SG-1 and the Tok'ra away from Ne'tu.
"Colonel O'Neill, can you hear me?"
Jack jumped back in surprise as did everyone else. That voice sounded like Teal'c, but that couldn't be possible; he was supposed to aboard the Tel'tak in orbit. Judging by the reactions of the others, they had heard it, too.
"Teal'c, is that you?" asked Jack.
"O'Neill!" exclaimed Teal'c, no doubt about his identity anymore. "Are the others with you?"
"We're okay, Teal'c!" shouted Sam.
"Step away from the door; we are coming in!"
Everyone took distance to the door immediately, making sure to stand at least five meters away from it. Sam and Martouf let Jacob stand by himself, trusting that his legs would hold him upright for now. Jack and Daniel stood by the cell door which was continuously creaking back and forth, until Jack slammed it shut, annoyed.
It was then he registered the most important word Teal'c had used. "Did he say 'we'?"
Daniel blinked a couple of times. "I think he did," he said, turning to Jack. "'We' who?"
Sounds of movement and something heavy being dragged on the stone floor was heard from the other side, followed by muffled talking and banging. There were clearly more people than one, just like Jack thought. Something heavy was laid down in front of the door, banging against the door and scraping the stone floor. Sounds of footfalls faded away.
The door exploded open with a loud boom.
Everyone looked stunned as they dodged small, flying pieces of steel.
Teal'c emerged from the smoking doorway, carrying a staff weapon in his hands. "O'Neill! So good to see you alive."
"I could say the same of you, Teal'c!" Jack patted Teal'c's shoulder with a smile on his face. "Say, how the hell did you get in here?"
Everyone gathered next to Jack, curious expressions on their faces. They were probably thinking the same question in their heads.
"Master Teal'c, are they alright?" asked an unknown voice from the corridor beyond.
Everyone tensed as a jaffa in dark red armor stepped into the room with a staff weapon in his hands. His face was hidden by a chainmail mask, but somehow deep within Jack felt that he wasn't a threat.
"They are, Ro'nak," said Teal'c, turning to the newcomer.
"Good. The rest of our forces should be securing the gates by now. We should move quickly if we are to confront Sokar and Apophis." Ro'nak gave them a curt nod and walked back outside.
"Who was that?" asked Sam, curious.
"Ro'nak," replied Teal'c simply. "He is a jaffa who opposes Sokar and helped me get to the planet to save you. He has half a fleet on his side." A small smile crept to Teal'c's lips.
"We'd better go before we are left behind," said Jacob.
"Indeed."
Everybody walked out of the room swiftly. Beyond the doorway was a dull stone corridor with no decoration save for a few torches here and there. They walked down the corridor, meeting up with a few dozen jaffa in the end of it. The jaffa all greeted them and told them to stay close by in case Sokar sent troops to dispose of them.
Jack wondered how Teal'c had found this Ro'nak and his forces. It wasn't really common for a jaffa to betray his so called god. Maybe Ro'nak was only tricking Teal'c, but Teal'c seemed to trust him fully and he didn't do so unless he had believed him completely.
The fortress gave him the creeps.
There were sounds of dripping water and faint footsteps everywhere, as if something bad was waiting for them.
From a small alcove, Merenech observed the humans as marched down the fortress' corridors after freeing a group of prisoners from a cell.
He had followed these humans ever since he first saw them when he and his ranger squad had dropped from a Wave Serpent to the fortress' roof under the cover of the light beam that shot from a space ship to the planet. It was easy to launch a transport from the Sword of Vaul and go undetected by the strange pyramid ships when they had their guard down.
His squad had separated to cover more ground. He himself had followed the human forces while the others had gone elsewhere.
These humans seemed to utilize a strange method of teleportation; the beam of light seemed to lead to a small square room in the middle of the top floor of the fortress where a set of rings sprung from the floor and a group materialized in the middle of them. How intriguing.
He listened as the humans spoke. Their language was beyond his understanding, because it didn't resemble any he had ever heard before, not the Gothic spoken by the Imperium, not the broken speech of the orks nor the language of the eldar themselves. He tried to mimic the words in his head for later usage and reference.
"These human are truly strange," he whispered to no one in particular before jumping from the shadows and blending into the shadows on the other side of the corridor. His movement was timed with their talking to minimize the chance of being heard. "I wonder why we have never met them before now. They don't seem to be aligned with the Imperium." He spat the last word out like a bitter poison.
Merenech watched the humans as they climbed up a set of stone stairs, keeping their strange staff-shaped weapons ready. They were obviously frightened and nervous about something, but what? Was it this fortress that made them feel uneasy, or was it something else? Merenech didn't know, but if there was something that was a potential threat to him, his squad or these humans then it was best that he stayed close and observed them.
He slowly walked after them, making sure to keep the noise from his footsteps to minimum. His ears could pick up faint bloodcurdling screams of pain in the distance. They had to have heard them, too. No wonder if they did; the corridors were made from stone and they echoed badly.
Merenech rounded the corner at the top of the stairs quietly. The dull stony architecture of the fortress made it easy for him to blend into the shadows cast by the walls and alcoves. He crept along the wall towards the humans who were making hasty advance towards the opposite direction from the room they had teleported into. They were moving towards the front gates.
He heard them discuss something between themselves in their strange language as they moved. From their frightened tones, Merenech surmised it was about the screams they all had heard. Their speed at the moment was nothing Merenech couldn't match, but he still kept his distance in case they somehow saw or heard him.
"Merenech, we are near the front gates," came the voice of his teammate, Nalereth, over the vox. "I trust you heard the screams as well."
"I did, Nalereth," replied Merenech. "I am closing in on your position. We will meet up somewhere and regroup. We had better not move alone if there is something that is a potential threat."
"Understood, Merenech," replied Nareleth and cut the connection. Nareleth was always one of the quieter ones in the ranger squads aboard the Sword of Vaul.
Merenech turned his fast walking pace into a light jog, making sure to keep his footfalls as silent as possible and to keep his distance from the group he was following.
He stopped at a corner and peeked around it. He saw the group was still moving at the medium pace with which they had moved after the screams. At this rate it would take a few moments to get to the courtyard and to the front gates. Damn these humans and their slowness! If this continued it would be too late to catch whatever had cause those screams.
Merenech spotted a climb of stairs on his left, in an alcove the group had just passed. He rushed forward, stopped to glance at the humans as they advanced down the corridor and ran up the stairs. He turned right and spotted a door not too far away.
As he made his way towards it, Merenech couldn't shake the feeling something bad was about to happen.
Ro'nak slowly opened the doors to the courtyard for his forces, staff weapon ready for the enemy. It had taken a couple of minutes to arrive to the courtyard, where the bloodcurdling screams had originated from. He was a bit hesitant in opening the doors, but he was a leader and he couldn't show fear when his troops looked up to him for courage.
The doors slowly creaked open and the group rushed through, staff weapons primed and held at the ready.
What they saw was something straight from their worst nightmares.
The ground was littered with bloody, torn corpses and discarded weaponry. Some bodies were torn in half, some were mangled beyond recognition, some were crushed by a great force. There was blood, body parts, internal organs and ragged pieces of armors lying all over the place. The ground was filled with large, shallow pits like something large had stomped through the courtyard, slaughtering the jaffa like they were nothing.
"My men," whispered Ro'nak in horror. "What could have done this?" All around him his jaffa began searching the bodies for any clues about their attackers. "It's like wild animals have attacked them, but... there are no wild animals on Delmak, and these wounds are too horrible to be the work of wild animals."
This was terrible! Half of his strike force now laid dead before his eyes, and without that half the final assault against Sokar and Apophis would be suicide. He needed to call for reinforcements, but now that Sokar knew his fortress was under attack from the inside, they would never survive long enough for them to reach the main strike force.
"Master Ro'nak, there is someone still alive over here!" shouted a grizzled jaffa from the other side of the courtyard, near the massive front gates.
Everybody rushed to the site as fast as they could, forming a crowd around the barely breathing jaffa. Ro'nak pushed past a few jaffa on his way as he moved to the wounded jaffa's side.
The jaffa's right leg was a bloody stump, his arms were broken in numerous places and his armor looked like it had been crushed under a great pressure. Blood was dripping from the side of his mouth and flowing down from a small cut on his horror stricken face.
"What happened here? Who did this?" Ro'nak asked.
"A monster..." the jaffa managed before coughing up blood. "It came out of nowhere..."
"What?"
"We were no match for it. Master Ro'nak, the rumors must have been true..." The jaffa took one last breath before slumping down, dead.
There were gasps in the crowd of jaffa around him as the last the last sentence left the jaffa's mouth. If the rumors were true, and the monster that attacked was the result of Sokar's twisted experiments, then the attack was doomed to fail even further.
"Um, hope you don't mind me asking, but what did he mean by that?" asked one of the members of the infamous SG-1.
Jaffa turned to look at the man with fearful expressions on their faces. No one answered him, afraid that by doing so they would attract the beasts back to them. Ro'nak stared at the man for a moment before he rose to his feet again. "The rumored experiments are true."
A jaffa stepped forth from the crowd, his young face alight with determination. "There are rumors of terrible experiments conducted by Sokar in his madness. He wants an unstoppable army of monsters capable of ripping his enemies' armies to shreds. The monster that attacked and killed these jaffa was the result of those experiments. Sokar has done what the goa'uld System Lords have feared for ages; he has succeeded in his efforts."
Laughter filled the air.
It was malicious and loud, and echoed around the body stricken courtyard as if coming from every direction at once.
Ro'nak turned his head upwards, to look at a balcony that overlooked the mighty front gates, forged by the ancient civilization centuries ago. There stood a man in dark red jaffa armor, a sword in his left hand, a pale and bloody head in his right. It was Apophis, with the severed head of Sokar.
"I thank you for that information, jaffa," said Apophis arrogantly, attracting the gazes of the others around Ro'nak. "Now, I have more than Sokar's army and fleet on my command."
"What makes you think so?" asked a jaffa behind Ro'nak.
Apophis said nothing. He threw the head down to the courtyard, smiling darkly as he did. The head dropped to the ground a few feet away from Teal'c.
Now it was the jaffa who laughed.
Ro'nak turned to face him in shock, not expecting someone to laugh now that Sokar was dead and Apophis would gain control over his forces. His eyes widened behind the chainmail mask of his as he came face-to-face with the speaker. The jaffa was wearing similar gear as Ro'nak - chainmail mask, jaffa armor and a staff weapon - but his eyes showed amusement. Those same eyes were dark green, just like Ro'nak's own.
"Do you think that killing the First Prime would let you take over Sokar's throne?"
Now everyone was confused, even Apophis.
Ro'nak observed the jaffa before him and noticed something really weird about him: the jaffa was his exact duplicate, like a clone. What was this man?
The doppelgänger exploded into an uncontrollable laughter. "And you never asked how I know of the experiments... It is because I am one of them!" The jaffa began to shake, growing in size while the sounds of his popping bones replaced the eerie silence that had fallen after his last words.
His armor tore apart as flesh seemingly erupted from his thin body; his skin turned sickly green and looked like it was ravaged by a plague; his arms turned into great, fleshy lumps of rotten meat with razor sharp blades as fingers; a large gaping maw replaced his mouth, grinning widely at the horrified jaffa and humans; his eyes turned into black orbs of evil; a large hole opened on its stomach, leaving entrails hanging loosely from it and blood dripping to the the ground; two deer-like horns burst from the side of his head.
The monster stood ten meters tall, and it didn't look like it had ever been a man. Its body was swollen like an air balloon, and its legs were fat and short, seemingly unable to bear the monster's weight at all.
It laughed darkly, satisfied by the fear stricken face of those around it.
Everybody rushed away from the monster, making sure to stay at least ten meters away. Apophis had disappeared from the balcony. The monster grinned even wider, reveling in the feeling of power.
Five beams of light shot out from different directions around the courtyard, blasting right into the monster's thick hide. Foul, crimson liquid flowed from the wounds, earning a cry of pain from the monster as it trashed around, searching for its attacker. It grabbed a horrified jaffa who was too afraid to even try to run, lifting him up to the air with breathless ease.
The monster dropped the screaming jaffa into its gaping mouth and closed its maw, devouring the jaffa's upper body, leaving his feet to drop to the ground. The monster's wounds began to close as the last bits of the jaffa disappeared down its throat.
"Delicious. Your flesh shall feed my powers! Now, where is the one who wounded me!" The monster turned to stare heatedly at Ro'nak. It took a step forward, crushing a body under its leg. "You are the leader of this renegade group? Then allow me to introduce myself before I kill you and present your body to my god. I am Ulkair!"
Ro'nak finally got the control of his legs back and turned to run away, shouting for the others to do the same. He could hear the laughter of Ulkair as it strode forward, cleaving a pair of jaffa in two with its claws and stepping on another jaffa. He could hear desperate staff blasts from various jaffa as they retreated with him.
Ro'nak reached the door after what felt like an eternity. It was the same double door he and his forces entered the courtyard, its brown wood unmistakable. He swung it open, letting a couple of his warriors in, along with the SG-1 who had luckily stayed away from the creature that now ravaged his forces.
"Not so fast, little human!"
Ro'nak swiftly turned around when the words of Ulkair reached his ears. He saw the monster grin at him, he saw those hateful eyes glaring at him with anger and he saw the long tentacles of rotten flesh that erupted from Ulkair's stomach through the hole in it and shot towards him. He prepared for pain and closed his eyes, crossing his hands before his face.
The pain never came.
Opening his eyes and lowering his hands, he saw Meron struggling against the tentacles, shouting for him to go and leave him. Ro'nak wanted to argue and try to save his old friend, but he knew Meron was right: it was time for goodbyes. He stepped back to the doorway, stopping just as he was about to close it. He smiled sadly at Meron as he was yanked towards the laughing Ulkair.
As the door close, he saw an arc of lightning blast into the monster's flesh. Maybe someone had come to save them after all. It was faint flicker of hope, but it was better than nothing.
Ro'nak slammed the door shut and sprinted away to regroup with the survivors.
He still had a mission to accomplish.
Spiritseer Girneys shook his head in disappointment as his wraithguards hammered the mighty daemon in the courtyard with their reality shattering wraithcannons.
He hadn't expected to face daemons so quickly after making contact with a new species or civilization. This one had, according to the ranger squad - who had formed a firing line on the opposite side of the courtyard's walkways - hidden itself among the bodies and taken the form of the rebel group's leader before another leader of some sort had appeared on a balcony over the massive front gates. After a brief encounter the daemon had revealed itself and had begun to slaughter these rebels.
No wonder Farseer Aldreth had taken them with her to provide support.
A roar of rage interrupted his analysis of the situation.
The daemon trashed around the courtyard, swiping aside still living rebels and crushing bodies under its massive feet. It was full of small holes caused by the rifles of the rangers, and a part of its body was torn apart, sucked into the depths of the Warp by the wraithcannons of the wraithguards. It was desperate, it knew it would not last much longer under the barrage.
Girneys pointed his hand towards the daemon. He concentrated for a moment, and his palm began to crackle with lightning and warpfire, creating a corona of power around his hand. He sent a bolt of psychic power sailing through the air, blasting apart the daemon's right eye and scorching its face. The sudden attack sent the daemon stumbling backwards with a screech of agony and anger.
Something about this daemon confused Girneys, though. Even though it had a sizable Warp presence, it didn't emanate the vile, corrupting presence of Chaos like every other daemon did, nor did act like a Great Unclean One. This one did resemble those daemons, but that was were the similarities ended.
Maybe it wasn't a daemon at all. But if so, then what was it? What could it possibly be, if not a daemon of Chaos, a being of the Warp? What a dilemma.
That question had to wait for another time for now; for now the creature had to be killed quickly, lest they were delayed too much.
Girneys knew what needed to be done and contacted the appropriate people. "Sword of Vaul, this is Spiritseer Girneys. I require fire support on my location, on the center of the courtyard of this fortress. There is a greater daemon of Chaos rampaging about."
"Fire solution plotted," came the reply. "Firing the bombardment cannons. Take cover, Spiritseer."
Girneys sent a psychic command for the wraithguards to duck and wait for the coming attack. He repeated this action with the rangers who immediately halted their firing and lay flat on the walkway, but not before one of them tossed a plasma grenade over the edge and right into the daemon's - or whatever it was - face. The grenade exploded in a bright burst of plasma, earning a screech from the daemon.
The dark clouds above the fortress split apart as a trio of laser beams plunged down from the orbit upon the daemonic creature one after another. The monster had no time to even scream before it was consumed completely. The very ground of the courtyard was split open, the bodies of the fallen were hurled about or simply blasted apart and vaporized by the beams, and the great daemon was gone.
Girneys rose from his kneeling position, observing the damage. The plan had worked; the daemon was gone, and he could continue his mission unhindered. His objective was to secure an extraction zone near the gates until the others arrived. He hoped they didn't take too long; this place gave him the creeps.
"Rangers!" he shouted, waving his witchstaff, and led his wraithguards through a door into the gatehouse. He could hear the others following close behind him. They descended a flight of stairs, ever vigilant for more daemons, although Girneys' psychic senses told him there was no activity in the Warp. He didn't tell the others that, though; it was better they were ready if an enemy attack did occur.
Subconsciously, Girneys diverted his gaze to the fortress, sensing something in there.
A sense of foreboding overcame him.
Colonel Jack O'Neill peeked around a corner carefully. Behind were the rest of SG-1, Martouf, Jacob and five of the rebel jaffa.
"You see anybody?" asked Jacob anxiously. He was carrying a zat in his hands, primed and ready to fire.
"No," replied Jack, withdrawing his head. "And put that thing down, I don't want get shot by accident."
"We should keep going," said Ro'nak as he walked past them. He had finally taken off that chainmail mask of his, revealing his face. He was pretty pale and had long diagonal scar on his face - from a sword fight with a rival Jaffa, he had said.
"How long till the throne room?" asked Daniel as the group began to continue walking down the corridor, their footsteps echoing.
"With this pace, only a moment now."
Jack was about to ask something when an explosion rocked the entire place, forcing everyone off-balance. The ground itself felt like it was going to break apart under their feet, and the ceiling dropped grumbled stones and dust upon them as they fell over. That explosion was definitely something he didn't want to be near of if it was ever repeated.
"What the hell was that?!" he asked loudly.
"No idea!" yelled Daniel.
"I think it was a bomb," said Sam. She had a bleeding wound on the side of her head where she had hit the wall when falling over. "Does Sokar have any kind of bombs that could have caused that?"
"No," replied Ro'nak, rising up from the floor. "It was no Ha'tak class ship's main weapon, either. They would have been most likely directed at the palace itself. This one seems to have been directed somewhere nearby, but not on the palace itself."
"Then what was it?" asked Daniel. He was trying to stand up himself, followed by the others.
"I do not know, but I have a bad feeling..."
"The mysterious alien ship, am I correct?" asked Teal'c suddenly. He raised an eyebrow like he always did when he saw Ro'nak turn to look at him with a curious expression. "I did not witness their weaponry, but from what your jaffa told me they were devastating."
"Teal'c, what are you talking about?" asked Jack, getting more and more worried as time went on. He did recall Teal'c telling him about an alien ship before Apophis had come to take them away from Ne'tu and took away his radio, possibly even destroyed it later on.
Ro'nak sighed and, feeling the curious and worried stares of the others present, turned to address them. "The ship Teal'c is referring to destroyed three Ha'tak and numerous Al'kesh and Death Gliders with only three shots of its massive frontal cannons. They smashed through fully powered shields and tore the Ha'tak asunder."
There were gasps of shock around him as the true power of the alien ship was revealed at last to the humans and the Tok'ra. The very thought of a weapon so powerful it could destroy a Ha'tak without any trouble was terrifying. Jack hoped this ship was friendly towards Earth, because if it wasn't...
"My lord," said a jaffa, addressing Ro'nak. "We should carry on." The jaffa looked over his shoulder hesitantly. "We have no idea if there are more of those monsters around here. Now that the strike force is all but gone, we have little to no chance to stand against Sokar."
"There you are, you little pests!"
Everyone turned to the direction they were walking towards to when the all too familiar goa'uld voice was heard. There stood Apophis with three feet long sword and a goa'uld hand device in his hands. His face was twisted in a scowl, and he gripped the blade tighter until his knuckles turned white.
"Apophis," spat Teal'c, gripping his staff weapon in his hands.
All who were unarmed stepped back as the ones with weapons took the front, aiming primed staff weapons and a zat'nik'tel at the goa'uld System Lord. Apophis just laughed and launched shockwave from his hand device, knocking over the jaffa before they could fire at him. He strode forth and stabbed his sword through a jaffa's neck, killing him outright.
Jack, having had enough of Apophis, took a knife off a jaffa next to him and blindsided Apophis, tackling him and sending them both to the ground. They struggled on the ground, trying to overpower the other and somehow stab their blades through each other. The others stared in amazement and shock as Jack held Apophis's hand away from stabbing him while he tried to push his knife hand to his opponent's face. The bigger shocker was that he was one winning at the moment.
"Go, guys!" yelled Jack, pulling his knife hand back and punching the System Lord to face with the other hand, which he had used to hold back Apophis's sword arm. It was a miracle he could even hold back Apophis. "I'll hold him off! Go!"
"But we can't just leave you!" shouted Sam, taken aback by Jack's words. Why would he order others who could help to go on without him?
Apophis landed a vicious headbutt, sending Jack off him. Both stood up and held their blades in a ready position, circling each other.
"Dammit, Carter, that's an order! Go, now, I can handle this bastard by myself!" he yelled with confidence, twirling the knife in his hand.
Reluctantly, Sam nodded, moving away from the coming battle with the others who had the same worried look on their faces. They turned their backs to starting battle, walking towards the throne room of Sokar in hopes of finding the goa'uld there.
Jack saw them leave from the corner of his eye and inwardly sighed in relief; he didn't want them to waste their time trying to help him defeat Apophis when they could go on and take out Sokar. He wanted to give them a change to succeed by taking on Apophis so they didn't need to do it and waste their time.
Then Jack realized his mistake. Why the hell did he think he could take on Apophis alone? Apophis was a goa'uld; he would have enhanced strength and more skill than Jack. How could he try to beat someone like that without any support?
Apophis must have sensed his hesitation because he smirked and swung his sword, barely missing Jack's head as he ducked under the swing. Jack parried the next strike with his knife, thanking the jaffa he took the knife for its almost foot long blade. He pulled back a bit, letting Apophis take a step forward as he pushed his sword, and then spun to the side, slashing the side of Apophis' armor and delivering a solid punch to his face.
Apophis staggered, but sent a blow on his own which Jack pushed aside and countered with quick hook to the chin. The goa'uld jumped away and brought up his left hand again, this time not for a strike but for a blast from the hand device. Jack rushed forwards and grabbed the hand just a shockwave blasted forth from the device, hitting the ceiling as Jack pushed the hand away from his face. He kicked Apophis to the side, forcing him off-balance, let go of the System Lord's hand, punched him in the chest and kicked him in the stomach, sending the goa'uld backwards.
Apophis regained his balance just in time to block the next kick aiming for his side. He swung his sword, nearly decapitating Jack if he hadn't blocked with his knife.
They continued their sword fight for some time, neither overpowering the other or landing a hit until Jack made his move: when their blades locked for the umpteenth time, he pushed to the left, breaking the bladelock, sending Apophis forward when his momentum lost resistance and offered Jack a chance to strike from behind. Apophis, however, anticipated this and turned around just in time to parry.
Jack ducked under Apophis' slash and countered with an uppercut to the chin, sending the System Lord staggering. He delivered a hard kick to the ribs and a well placed punch to the side of the head. He then slammed his shoulder right into Apophis' chest, knocking the wind out of him and knocking him over to the stone floor, unconscious.
Jack smiled as Apophis fell over. He had done what he had deemed impossible: beaten Apophis in hand-to-hand combat. What were the odds?
He dropped the knife to floor, seeing no further need for it. He panted heavily, worn out by the fight, slumping into a sitting position. He thought about ending it all now by taking the knife and killing Apophis with it. He would have done it, but he was too tired to rise up, pick up the knife, stab the damn bastard and be done with it.
Kill him, quickly! He is not out! a voice inside his head told him. It was a smooth, monotone voice and strangely sounded like he had known it for his whole life.
Jack hesitantly stood up and turned to face the spot Apophis had landed on a mere moment ago. His eyes widened when Apophis stood up again, the sword held up for a strike.
He watched in horror as the blade came down and cut his left eye.
He fell over, bleeding heavily from a gash on his face. With his remaining eye, he saw Apophis raise his sword high for a final strike on his neck.
So this is how I go, huh? he mused in his head, sighing mentally. He hadn't really thought he would die here by the hands of his team's most hated enemy. It was strange; he didn't feel sad. No, he felt ready to face death.
He closed his remaining eye, waiting for his demise. What an idiot he had been.
The blade never came.
Hurried footsteps went further away from him, going to the direction Jack and the group had come from. Apophis had to have fled, but why? Why would he do that if had a chance to kill an enemy?
Multiple footsteps echoed from a side corridor, sounding lighter than jaffa boots. There were maybe three or four people, going by the sound of their boots hitting the cold, stone floor.
Jack opened his eye, his vision becoming blurrier by the minute. His body was going into shock, and he would probably die from blood loss in a few minutes. Through the haze he picked up four figures walking past him, their steps surprisingly light. He couldn't see details but at least they wore blue robes.
Who were they? What were they doing there? All sorts of questions gathered in his head as he closed his eye.
As he prepared to face death once again, the voice from earlier returned. It is not yet time for you to die, Jack. Do you want to live? Do you want to have revenge for what he did to you? Do you want to protect your friends and loved ones? Do you want to have the power to do all that?
Jack lost consciousness shortly after uttering out loud a single word: "Yes."
Farseer Aldreth walked down a dark corridor of the fortress, her eyes glued to the distant wooden double door at the end of the corridor.
With her were three warlocks: Kelgath who volunteered for the mission because he wanted to learn more of the new species, Ylurail who had insisted on coming along to ensure her safety and Colnir who was selected by Aldreth herself because she saw a need for his ability to create illusions and confuse his enemies. They were silent, sensing the same as their farseer: a daemonic presence in the large room up ahead.
Aldreth's thoughts turned to the dying human they had just passed. His left eye was gone, slashed with a sword by an unknown attacker who had fled the scene after hearing their footsteps. He was going to die soon, and there was nothing they could do for a human, even if they wanted to. But if this was truly another galaxy, how could there be humans here? It made no sense.
"Farseer, I sense something is happening inside," said Ylurail out of the blue, just as they stopped in front of the doors. "A group of humans is in trouble."
"As expected from humans," replied Aldreth. She loathed humans with a fiery passion, and would gladly rip them apart with psychic lightning. Humans had always been a cause for troubles and numerous deaths of eldar people, killing them indiscriminately for being "xenos". Damn them for their primitive barbarity and blind faith in that broken heap of a man they called an Emperor.
As one, two warlocks stepped back, leaving Kelgath and Aldreth standing in front of the door. The farseer folded her arms across her chest and turned her head toward the warlock. Although his face was hidden behind his helmet, Aldreth could sense Kelgath was smiling at the chance to use his powers. He was banned from using his pyrokinetic powers inside the ship after he had almost burned down a training hall during a training session. Kelgath had always been obsessed with burning things down.
"Mael dannan, Kelgath," she said and stepped away from him. "Mael dannan."
Kelgath's predatory grin could be felt on his face as flames engulfed his hands and he pointed them at the door, palms only a few inches away from its smooth wooden surface.
The wooden door blew in from the power of the point-blank blast of incinerating Warp power, sending burning pieces of wood flying all over the large oval shaped hall beyond.
Aldreth was the first to charge through the smoke and flames.
Captain Samantha Carter landed hard on the marble floor from the sheer surprise and fear she felt.
Only a few moments ago had she and her team arrived in the throne room to look for Sokar. The room was oval shaped and built from white marble, giving it an awe-inspiring feel. At the other end of the throne room, some thirty meters away, stood a great obsidian throne, carved with depictions of the devil and hell. They had seen no signs of recent activity but before anyone had time to search the room further, something had landed in front of them: a huge creature with great wings.
It looked like it had never been a real human being at all: its skin was blood red; its upper legs and arms were covered in black, bony growth that formed carapace-like plates; its fingers and toes were razor sharp talons; a long, thin tail with a pointy end flailed behind its back; its head was seemingly made of the same carapace that covered its arms and legs, and had two flat horns that curved upward from either side of its head, while its chin was pointy and pointed straight downward; a pair of great red-black wings were folded on its back, making the thing look more menacing than it already was. The creature kept its arms crossed over its torso so that its hands were on its waist, all the while watching the rag-tag group of jaffa, humans and Tok'ra with contempt.
It growled at Ro'nak who stood defiant with his staff weapon aimed at the monster in front of them. It was astonishing he could still stand and even dare to point the weapon at it when everyone else was too afraid to do so, even Teal'c who was always calm. The creature flailed its tail wildly, growing impatient at the inaction of its opponents. It tilted its head to the side as its eyes passed by everybody, as if waiting for someone else to be with them.
Sam's eyes widened as she realized who it was searching for. It had looked at SG-1 before tilting its head, like it had expected them to be there in full numbers. Sam remembered how horrified she had felt when Jack told her and the others to go and leave him to fend for himself against Apophis in a desperate knife fight. But why was it waiting for him to be here? Had Sokar ordered this monster to kill SG-1 and the rebels, but now that Jack wasn't present it couldn't fulfill its orders?
"Where is the last one?" asked the monster in a hissing and dark voice. "I had thought the whole SG-1 would come to face me with these pitiful rebels." It growled again, this time louder as a staff blast hit in the chest harmlessly. "You dare try to shoot me, pitiful jaffa? You dare raise your weapon against your god?!"
Those words sent a horrifying realization into Sam's head: this creature was Sokar! But how could that be? Wasn't he supposed to be a goa'uld with a human host or something? She would have never imagined that Sokar could be something like this. Monsters like this should only exist in fairy tales and children's books, or maybe horror films, and yet one stood before her! Maybe she should have expected something like this when she saw the monster Sokar had created.
"No matter," growled Sokar, unfolding his wings and moving his hands to his sides. "I shall end your pathetic lives now!" He - no, calling it a he would be too kind - lunged forward with an outstretched fist, sending an unfortunate jaffa who happened to stand nearest to it flying to the nearest wall.
Ro'nak fired again, hitting Sokar right in the face. It didn't even flinch as it continued its silent rampage, hurling another jaffa across the hall until he hit the far wall with a wet splat.
"You are not even a challenge to me, jaffa!" it bellowed. "And I even sent my forces to the other side of the planet to fend off your diversion just to face you all myself!"
Now that explained why there were no enemy jaffa in the whole fortress when they had marched through it. Sam had wondered why they were gone, but had brushed it aside as good luck.
Sokar lunged again, smashing its fist through the marble floor between Sam's legs as she crawled backwards to get away from the monster. "This one is afraid. I had thought the Tau'ri would be fearless! And yet here you are crawling away from me like the little insect you are!"
Sam whimpered as Sokar grabbed her by her leg, lifting her easily into the air. She could see the others staring at her in fear. No one moved a muscle, they were too afraid of Sokar. Even Teal'c was motionless, aiming his staff weapon towards Sokar firmly, but his face betrayed fear for Sam's life. She saw Ro'nak aiming at Sokar's face again, unleashing a shot after shot, hitting his mark every time, but Sokar still didn't flinch as its face was blasted with enough power to kill a man dozens of times over.
"Pitiful," growled Sokar, dropping Sam to the unforgiving marble floor.
Sam crawled towards Daniel and her father who stood a good few meters away from Sokar, on the right side of the door. She couldn't look back at Sokar who laughed and laughed, absently kicking Ro'nak over. Sam reached her destination, grabbing the offered hand of Daniel and rising to a sitting position.
Teal'c and the pair of still living jaffa finally overcame their shock and opened fire, blasting the vile creature that was Sokar with dozens upon dozens of energy balls. It didn't flinch nor did it seem to even care; Sokar kept staring at the door as if waiting for something.
Then something unimaginable occurred: the heavy, wooden double door of the throne room exploded in, sending burning splinters and door pieces flying into the room.
One large piece of the door flew right towards Sokar's face, and it slammed it away with its fist and jumping backwards, growling.
Out of the smoking doorway charged a figure - going by the shape of the body, Sam guessed it was female. She wore a blue, sleeveless robe with armor worn over her chest and arms, and a tall, yellow helmet with a flat, wing-like thing spurting from the back of the helmet that curved over the top like the tail of a scorpion. A yellow cape hung from her back, its edges decorated with various symbols and lined with blue. In her hands she held a beautiful, silver spear that emitted weird light from its blade.
The newcomer threw the spear at Sokar as she ran past the stunned jaffa and humans. The spear glanced its side, leaving a shallow gash in the skin that seeped black blood. The spear - much to the surprise of everyone present - flew back to the hands of the woman, who stood calmly a few meters away from Sokar.
"Who are you?" asked Sokar.
The woman didn't register its question. She stood in front of a creature so terrifying it had made Sam herself quiver in fear. Her face was hidden behind that tall yellow helmet of hers, but Sam had a feeling she was glaring not only at Sokar but at everyone else in the room.
Then three other figures stepped out of the smoke. Each wore a blue robe, yellow armor on their chest and a blue helmet with yellow faceplate that was shorter than the woman's. They all held a sword in their hands. The swords were a good two feet long and glowed with a soft, vibrating light.
No one spoke for the next moment.
The silence broke when a soft humming noise filled the air. Sam turned to look at the three newcomers in blue with curiosity, gaining another reason to be shocked when she saw that flames were licking the hands of the one in the middle, burning brightly but leaving him unharmed.
Sokar growled once again, lunging for the woman who had wounded it. Just as its claws were about to reach her, flames erupted right in its face, earning a howl of pain from it. It halted, trying put out the fire.
The woman leaped up, using Sokar's arm as a springboard, and sliced a deep cut in the monster's face - a deed Sam had deemed almost impossible after it withstood every shot Ro'nak had fired at it. She continued on, plunging the spear into Sokar's shoulder and delivering a hard kick to its burned and wounded face.
"Who is she?" whispered Daniel in amazement as the woman flipped off the creature's shoulder, leaving the spear in it as a fist came close to her. "That is just impossible..."
A bolt of lightning shot from the hand of the newcomer nearest to Sam, making Sokar jerk back as the bolt made contact with its chest. Then another jet of fire struck it in the same spot, turning its skin black from the heat. Before Sokar could even scream in agony, the spear that was stuck in its shoulder came free, flying through the air to the woman's hand like a missile.
Glancing to the side, Sam realized the three robed men had started walking forward. Then, they began to fade away, becoming more and more transparent by the minute. She noticed a faint glow and hand movement of the one furthest away from her, the one who had done nothing yet, just before they all vanished from the sight completely. It appeared this was his doing.
Confused, Sam turned her attention back to Sokar and realized that everyone with a staff weapon had started to fire again. She cursed the fact that she didn't have a weapon of her own.
Sokar howled in pain as the long spear of the mysterious woman dug deep into its gut, sending strange pulses of electricity coursing through the monster's body. It backhanded her away from it along with the spear, sending her flying backwards. She twisted in midair and landed on her feet, sliding a meter or two on the marble before coming to a stop in the doorway.
Suddenly, she, too, disappeared before their very eyes.
Sam blinked once, twice, thrice even, while staring the spot occupied by the woman.
Then a wound appeared on Sokar's back as if slashed by a sword. Then another slash materialized on its legs and a third one appeared in its abdomen. Sokar growled in anger, twirling around with its fists, trying to hit something.
Staff weapons fell silent, their wielders unwilling to fire for the moment.
Sam's eyes widened in realization; all four had become invisible! But was that even possible?
A deep stab wound in the chest stopped Sokar in its tracks, and three deeper cuts stopped it from struggling. A spear and a trio of swords began to appear bit by bit, finally revealing the four warriors. Sokar groaned and tried to flap its wings, until fire erupted once again on its face, burning the deep wound that had already stopped bleeding.
Sam could do nothing but stare in amazement as the three sword wielders jumped back from their female comrade who didn't even seem to struggle against Sokar. The three stood next to each other, completely motionless, not even panting or showing any signs of fatigue. Sam could feel something was off about the situation: there was a faint smell of sulfur in the air and she could taste copper in her mouth, and even as she ignored these facts a strange haze had began to surround Sokar as if the temperature had suddenly increased.
Sokar screamed loudly as a hazy mist began to surround it and lightning bolts began to rain down upon it from thin air like nature itself was against the monster. Somehow, even through the heat vapor and lightning, Sam could see that the woman was somehow acting as a catalyst, creating and guiding the bolts of lightning to strike at Sokar.
Then it was over, and as fast as they had appeared the haze and lightning bolts disappeared, leaving behind Sokar's smoking corpse, held upright by the woman's silver spear.
"Impossible," whispered Daniel, subconsciously taking a step backwards. "Did you just see what I did?"
"Yes, Daniel Jackson, we did," said Teal'c, inching closer to them. His voice was calm, like what just happened was an everyday thing to him. "I can only imagine what else these people can do."
"Yeah, I second that," said Daniel, turning his eyes briefly to Ro'nak who was tending to a jaffa Sokar had punched aside. "I wonder if they're friendly."
The woman drew her spear from Sokar's chest and sent a small pulse at it, reminding Sam of the goa'uld hand device. Sokar fell over backwards, bleeding black blood and ichor from numerous deep, open wounds and ruptures in its skin. Its wings were torn and broken, unable to move at all. Its face was twisted and warped, its horns had melted under the power of the lightning strikes, leaving only bony stumps behind.
Then woman who slew the devil itself slumped down, using the spear as support, panting and heaving. Sam felt an urge to congratulate her for the deed, but didn't want to move from her position, fearing it might bring the wrath of the other three upon her.
Speaking of the three mysterious warriors. All of them had rushed to the side of their fallen comrade, helping her stand up. They seemed to communicate among themselves, but no words were heard. Either they didn't speak or they had radios in their helmets.
Sokar moaned in agony, spitting jet-black blood from its mouth. "Who would have know," it whispered, "that I would fall so easily..." Its words were cut short by a sword stabbing into its chest. Sokar coughed more blood and slumped down at last, last ounce of life leaving it. However, it managed to whisper one more sentence: "Master, forgive me..."
As Sokar died, Sam somehow felt the dread feeling of fear lifting up from her shoulders. It was as if Sokar had somehow generated an aura of fear and despair around it to weaken its enemies. Impossible, but the events of this day seriously made Sam consider the possibility of it.
Ro'nak took a brave step towards the four warriors, attracting their gazes to him. To Sam's utter surprise, he bowed to them and walked past them towards the great obsidian throne on the other end of the room, spitting at Sokar's corpse as he walked by. The last two living jaffa rushed after him, giving quick bows of their own to the four. The warriors just tilted their heads in clear confusion. Had they expected something else altogether?
The woman rose up to her full height, and Sam finally realized just how tall she was. She stood at least six feet ten inches tall, slightly taller than her brethren. For the first time since the start of the battle, Sam noticed that their armor glowed with a soothing, faint light. The woman watched the jaffa examine the throne for a few seconds and then diverted her attention to the humans and Tok'ra.
Even through the helmet's eyepieces her fiery glare could be felt. Thankfully, a hand of her comrade took hold of her shoulder before the situation could escalate.
A man on her left crossed his hands across his chest and murmured something. Then they all faded away in a swirl of wind and dust.
Sam looked left and right, trying to locate them. Only after hearing a piece of burning wood shift to the side did Sam realize they had left. They had come and gone like ghosts. This might be a bit difficult to explain to General Hammond back in SGC when they got back.
"Hey, wait a second," said Daniel out of the blue, looking from side to side. "Where's Jack? Shouldn't he be here already?"
Everyone began to do the same as Daniel, while Sam's eyes widened in horror and a shiver went down her spine. Where was Jack? He had stayed behind to battle Apophis with that knife he took from a jaffa. What was he thinking? Telling others to go without him while he fought a hopeless battle. But what was taking him so long? Surely he had beaten Apophis and was on his way here, right?
No amount of reassuring could stop Sam from sprinting off into the stony corridors of the gigantic fortress, ignoring the shouts of her father and teammates.
Before the great titanium gates of the fortress stood nine figures.
One was dressed in blue robes that billowed in the cold breeze that blew through the city. He also wore a yellow helmet with black, blank faceplate. In his hands was a two meter long staff that glowed with psychic power. He was Spiritseer Girneys of Alaitoc.
Behind him stood three towering and bulky, blue colored wraithbone constructs. Their big and long heads were yellow and the big weapons in their hands were as black as the night. These were wraithguards, eldar warriors whose souls had been saved from the death itself and placed within these robotic bodies to wage war for their kin once more.
Near them stood five rangers, led by Merenech. They were dressed in dark brown cloaks and had their hoods on. Under the cloak they wore the blue body armor of a guardian of Alaitoc. They held ranger long rifles in their hands, aiming down the long street that led to a strange circle that was held upright by the stone platform it was embedded into. This strange circle seemed to be a monument or a device of some sort, but the eldar did not know for certain.
All around them lay rotting corpses of their attackers who had emerged from the fortress before the eldar had even reached the front of the gates. These corpses had been nothing more than rotting, moaning and hungering living dead, much like the plague zombies of Nurgle, the Chaos God of Pestilence. No casualties had been taken since the zombies had been held back by the sheer firepower of the wraithcannons and long rifles, not to mention the psychic powers of Girneys.
Every now and then another kind of a corpse could be seen. These ones were armored, cybernetically enhanced creatures that resembled the servitors of the Imperium of Man.
For a long time now, no more attackers had emerged to challenge the might of the eldar.
It was at that moment that the farseer and the warlocks exited the fortress, their mission complete. No greetings were exchanged, and no words were uttered.
Two Wave Serpents landed near them, opening their rear hatches as they hovered a few feet off the ground. The wraithguards and Girneys embarked onto the first one; the rangers, the warlocks and the farseer onto the another one.
The Wave Serpents took off, flying up through the dark clouds that lingered above the city.
As the grav-tanks disappeared, the massive front gates opened slowly and out stepped SG-1. They rushed down the street towards the Stargate, ignoring the corpses that littered the ground. The scared civilian inhabitants of the city, who knew it best to hide in their homes when someone moved outside, stepped out of their houses, staring at them as they ran. As they began to dial the address of Earth, it would be noticed that only three of them were standing up.
Because on the shoulders of Teal'c lay the seemingly lifeless body of Jack O'Neill.
And that's that.
Onto to the cameos.
Number 1, Ulkair is Ulkair from Chaos Rising. Yeah...
And the number 2, the harder one, is Sokar. He is based on Diablos from Final Fantasy VIII. I just had to include him.
Now you might be thinking why I killed Jack. Well, I didn't kill him, but he did lose his eye and he did accept the power of the mysterious voice. No one knows what'll happen to him. OK, I know somewhat.
Also, the eldar phrase mael dannan means No mercy/no quarter. Literally it means "total and merciless extermination". Oh, and no, Colnir doesn't have an ability to turn invisible; he can create illusions and effect the senses of his opponents, making it seem like he and his allies could vanish into thin air.
What do say about the language barrier between the eldar and humans? I made it to ensure that they won't be able cooperate immediately. Eldar first have to learn to speak English to communicate with the Tau'ri or the jaffa. Maybe I can make Daniel learn to speak eldar from an artifact of ancient times.
See ya!