Chapter 15 Game On.
Sam Carter sat in the commander's chair on the bridge of the George Hammond, watching as the last of the Jaffa were beamed surreptitiously down to the planet below. The fact that none of the enemy could be seen, hastening towards them, made the Colonel's spirits lift a little. Laylun had obviously managed to do what he'd hoped, and bring the huge Tau'ri ship down to ground level while still cloaked.
The Hammond hovered, a mere hundred feet or so above the ground – if Athena gets wind of us, we're in trouble, Sam thought. But at the moment, all seemed to be going well.
Jack had radioed some time earlier, to say that Daniel and Vala had busted Mitchell out and hooked up with more Jaffa inside the palace, who weren't as loyal to Athena as they were to Dakara. The knowledge that the Temple wasn't destroyed had boosted morale as well.
Mitchell, Daniel and Vala were going to attempt to return to the Hammond to retrieve one of the Naquadah generators, then with the help of Athena's ex-warriors take it into the palace and blow it up. One of the other generators would be beamed onto the Ha'tak if Athena tried to make a run for it.
The Free Jaffa, under Teal'c and Jack, had spread out into organised groups, ready to begin the assault on the palace. Sam could see, from her vantage point, the odd glint of armour or quiver of vegetation as they moved into position.
It was all still quiet around the palace. Don't tell me that I'm actually going to be involved in a plan which goes without a hitch, Sam thought to herself.
She really ought to have known better.
o – o – o – o – o – o –
Mitchell waited silently, with three of Athena's ex-warriors, near to the main door of the palace. They were in a large, white-marbled, beautifully cool atrium-like room. Two colonnaded staircases rose one on each side, leading to the upper levels.
Vala stood on the other side of the hall, tucked in behind a pillar. She grinned at Mitchell as he watched, and waved her Zat, clouting Daniel who stood next to her.
He frowned and elbowed her.
She glared and shoved him back.
Mitchell shook his head – they were at it again. But then, much to his astonishment, the archaeologist leaned in and whispered something to the space pirate, before pulling her close to himself and kissing her hard on the mouth.
The Colonel blinked, mouth slightly agape. Did I just see…?
Vala looked over at him again, still grinning and performing the twisty wriggle that she did when excited.
Mitchell shook his head, trying to rid himself of what he'd just seen. He caught Daniel's eye, who just blushed faintly and shrugged.
"I give up," mouthed the long suffering CO of SG-1. "You two sure pick your times!"
Suddenly, everyone looked sharply away from the main doors, back into the palace. Approaching swiftly – the sound of marching feet – and in the midst of that, the unmistakable tip-tap of four inch high heels.
"Athena!" hissed Vala. She nodded with her head in the direction the noise was coming from.
"I know!" Mitchell prepped his own Zat, given to him by one of the guardsmen. Typical. Another couple of minutes and Sam would have given the signal for the assault to start on the palace.
"What do we do?" Vala lifted her shoulders, face grim.
"Just- wait," Daniel told her.
She looked at him incredulously. "Seriously, darling? Wait where? In the cells again? I think not. Her ladyship is coming this way, and I for one am not going to let her ruin our party!" Then before Daniel could grab at her Vala was off, across the hall, heading towards Athena.
"Jackson!" snapped Mitchell.
"I'm on it!" Daniel limped away, his side still rather sore. We only have to distract the Gou'ald for a minute or two – surely the signal will come by then? he thought, slipping slightly as he turned a corner and collided with his team mate.
Vala stood like a member of Charlie's Angels, one arm crooked lazily with her Zat pointed straight at Athena, her other hand resting on her hip. She tossed her head, grinning widely, but her furious storm-gray eyes were fixed on their adversary. "Hello, dear."
"Ah, Qetesh," Athena smiled nastily, but didn't move out from behind the two warriors who stood in front of her. Two more were behind. "How lovely to see you. I had a feeling that you might turn up here sooner or later. Pity about the loss of all those Tok'ra up in orbit – weren't you supposed to be looking after them?" The Gou'ald folded her arms, appearing relaxed, but the tenseness of her shoulders belied this.
Vala just levelled her Zat straight at the little group. "You hurt my Daniel," she remarked, and fired.
One of the warriors dropped immediately, Vala fired again but only caught the wall, as Daniel dragged her sideways to escape a barrage of blasts from the remaining guards.
Athena swore loudly before shoving aside one of the young warriors. He then careered into the wall, in the midst of firing his own staff weapon - it missed Daniel by mere inches.
Vala brought that Jaffa down with her Zat, before immediately turning it on Athena, who staggered from the shot and began to tumble towards the ground.
Daniel never knew if Vala would have fired twice on the Gou'ald – another guardsman moved in between the two women just as the archaeologist dragged his team mate back through the door way. The subsequent staff blast ricocheted off of the door frame, missing them completely.
At the same time, they all heard the sound of a Jaffa horn being blown outside.
Mitchell, on cue, swung open the huge main doors of the palace and the battle began in earnest.
o – o – o – o – o – o –
Jack, Teal'c and the various teams of Jaffa swept in quickly, out of the trees surrounding the palace and across the courtyard. Fighting began almost at once – some of Athena's guardsmen might have swapped sides, but most were still committed to their leader, seeing her as their hope for a bright new future in the galaxy. Warriors and SGC personnel alike broke off into small groups, engaging in bursts of fighting all over the compound and beyond.
Mitchell had immediately run for cover amongst the undergrowth nearby – a shot from a Zat hit the wall next to him, but head down he kept going, throwing himself into the foliage as quickly as he could. He was aware of Daniel and Vala also making it into the lush greenery of the woodland, but they had become separated – his team mates were farther back, away from the two great space ships.
The George Hammond had lowered itself completely now, and was residing flat on the ground, several hundred yards away on the far side of Athena's Ha'tak. As Mitchell watched, several dozen of the opposition's warriors ran towards the huge Gou'ald ship and set up in defensive positions around it. The Colonel had to get past them to make it on board the Hammond and collect the Naquadah generator. It was too dangerous for Sam to attempt to transport it to him – if it re-materialised even a few feet off target it could fall into the enemy's hands.
Mitchell gritted his teeth and set off towards the huge X-304, keeping as low as possible. He bobbed and weaved among the undergrowth - even so he was aware of several shots from various weapons directed towards him. One hit a tree close to his head – the bark fragmented into splinters, several catching the Colonel above his hairline and close to his left ear. Thin red blood began to trickle down his neck.
Dammit! Mitchell shook his head irritably, wiping the blood away from his eyes. He twisted to the right as another blast hit a tree ahead of him. Peeping out at the Ha'tak he could see that an awful lot of the warriors there had weapons pointed in his direction. They must have seen him go crashing into the bushes.
The Hammond was nearer now, but not near enough. Unexpectedly however, Mitchell's radio crackled into life.
"Mitchell!" It was Jack. "Where are you?"
"I'm in the bushes sir!" He estimated the distance between himself and the X-304. "About two hundred yards from the Hammond! Daniel and Vala are behind me somewhere – I lost them but I think they're okay."
"Can you get to Carter?" Jack's sounded as if he was on the run somewhere.
"No – I don't think so." Mitchell scanned all around, but there was no further cover between himself and the Hammond.
"Standby!" Jack replied. There was no sound for a few moments, then a barrage of gun and weapon fire began across the open space, coming from a position close to the palace. For a brief moment Mitchell saw a flash of olive green BDU's moving quickly in the shadows. Mitchell shook his head in amazement – General O'Neill could still pull punches with the best of them. It sounded as if he had half the Jaffa army with him too.
Taking advantage of the distraction Mitchell bolted out of the woodland as fast as he could, heading towards the Hammond. He didn't bother trying to weave – time was of the essence now, and they needed that Naquadah generator back in the palace.
One hundred yards – weapons fire hit the ground behind him. Eighty yards – again, several blasts spat gravel up the back of his legs. He barely felt it and just raced onward.
Sixty yards, fifty – then Mitchell was hit from out of the blue by a staff blast fired from one of the zealous warriors near to the Ha'tak. The man had caught sight of the Colonel's flight across the courtyard, managing to wing him at last.
Mitchell staggered and hit the ground, rolling away as best he could. The young man approached and levelled his weapon but before he could finish off his work he was hit by a barrage from Jack O'Neill's P-90 and dropped like a stone.
Mitchell pulled himself in tight against the body of the enemy fighter – it was the only cover he had. "Thanks, sir," he whispered into his radio.
"You okay?" Jack paused to talk to someone else for a moment, before repeating. "Mitchell, you okay?"
"Think so." His thigh felt as if it was on fire – his BDU pants had a huge, smoking hole in them, he didn't even want to investigate the singed and scarred flesh which was visible beneath. At least the wound didn't appear to involve anything essential to life – such as huge blood vessels or major organs or suchlike.
Mitchell took some deep breaths. The pain was pretty excruciating. He tilted his head backwards – those fifty yards between himself and the Hammond were as good as fifty miles now. He was interrupted in his musings by the sight of Vala, erupting out of the bushes and high tailing across the courtyard towards him. She threw herself onto the ground by his side.
"Hello Cameron." She lay flat out, face mere inches from his own, wide eyes sparkling with the excitement of the battle. "Do you need a hand?"
Mitchell lifted his own hand to pat her cheek. "I'll cover you as best I can. You'll have to be the one to take the generator into the palace now. Think you can do that?"
She nodded vigorously, blonde curls bouncing. "Of course."
"Where's Jackson?"
"He's fine. He's over there with a load of Bra'tac's Jaffa." She flapped her hand vaguely, somewhere behind Mitchell's head.
"Take him with you then, okay Princess? Don't do this on your own."
"Of course," Vala lied, smiling brightly, having no intention of taking the still sore and recovering Daniel back into the palace. "Absolutely. I totally will. I mean it."
"Vala…" Mitchell warned, but was interrupted by a large group of Bra'tac's Jaffa exiting the trees and beginning hand to hand combat with the enemy soldiers guarding the Ha'tak.
Daniel appeared too, he began to fire on a few straggling warriors who had taken to the balcony that ran beneath the upper floor of the palace.
"Come on!" Daniel yelled to Vala. "Get to the Hammond!" Hauling her to her feet he pushed her in the direction of the great vessel – she broke into a run, making it quickly to the ship and up the gangplank.
Daniel crouched down beside his CO. "Come on!" he repeated, before having to duck as weapons fire from above sprayed around them.
Mitchell flipped onto his stomach and levelled up a couple of shots with the fallen staff weapon that lay beside the dead soldier. He shook his head at Daniel. "I'll cover you from here! Jackson – it's up to you now! You and Vala must get that Naquadah generator into the palace!"
"I know." Daniel winced as he stood. Another blast from a staff weapon hit the ground in front of them.
"Go!" ordered Mitchell, but his team mate was already away – loping as quickly as he could towards the Hammond. Seconds later and the archaeologist was safely inside.
Mitchell, using the dead Jaffa as a prop, trained his weapon on the balcony guards. Ignoring the screaming pain in his thigh he pressed his lips tight together and began to fire.
TBC...