Jeroon had a neutral expression on his face as he studied the small icon that appeared on his control board, and the almost uninterested look didn't alter as he pulled up its contents and turned to face his Aschen leader.

"The planet of Shateen is reporting that it is under attack from a strong Jaffa force and are requesting any available reinforcements. We could be there in 22.4 hours if we divert now."

"No," Degon said almost casually. "Our mission takes precedence. No planet will be safe unless we decapitate this threat immediately. The Oracle has foretold of Asgard involvement in this war, thus we must act before that prophecy comes to bear. Fighting them and the Jaffa simultaneously is not a pathway to victory. Diverting to Shateen would waste time and resources when we have little to spare."

"Shall I send a response?"

"No. They will serve as a useful distraction if Jaffa forces are there and we want them behaving normally. Tell them they are to hold the Jaffa there as long as possible and the altered strategy might tip our hand. Send no response. Continue on course as planned."

Jeroon turned back to his console, seemingly unphased, and dismissed the alert.

The Jaffa army landed on the surface of the planet outside the Aschen cities via transport beam a few at a time, infantry assembling in groups that were supplemented by large metallic beasts standing four times the height of a Jaffa. They had four legs and a thick head, looking like cats, but they moved with a stiff grace, controlled by computerized movement but with a single pilot inside them controlling…or more accurately guiding their movements.

Ponken sat within the Jaffa battlecat, telling it where to go and having it decide how best to get there. He directed it to lead the infantry as they began running in columns towards the city not too far ahead, from which there were already Aschen machines, both small and large, headed their way. The big turrets in the city were now smoking craters thanks to the H'tel high overhead and they were continuing to provide fire support with spurts of plasma here and there, but there were so many buildings that it would be impossible to clear them all from overhead. Troops were needed on the ground, and thus they were going in even before all the obvious targets were taken out from above.

Everything near to them was gone, but the Aschen had ways of hiding targets and surprising attackers so the Jaffa were approaching swiftly but cautiously, with Ponken using the sensors in his Chor'tek to search for traps and noticing several pop up before him, aligning in an arc that probably ringed the city.

He targeted the location and fired two globes of shining red plasma that hit the ground and did nothing more than blast apart an old stump and burn some grass. The weapons hidden below didn't respond, so he amped up his ride's shields and had it run up closer. The Chor'tek slowed on approach, irritating Ponken, but he had no ability to force it to go faster. The artificial intelligence walked the cat-like body up close to the location, then pounced forward and landed right on top of it.

The Jaffa cursed, but there was no effect. He repeated his target icon, wanting it to fire into the device buried below ground, but the Chor'tek only walked around for a moment, looking down at the spot, then the sensor package altered and instead of absorbing specific signals sent out and interpreting them to get a view of the object, it began emitting a false signature imitating lifesigns of the Jaffa infantry not far off.

Suddenly the ground erupted and the battlecat was thrown off its feet into the air in a huge surge of dirt. It fell on its side, its shields weakened near to the point of breaking, but no damage had occurred. On his display the sensors returned to normal, showing the region of buried mines with one less dot in their formation.

"Stupid beast," he said, knowing that it had taken out the weapon as ordered. He had it walk off a ways to let it recharge, then saw another come up and pounce on the nearest mine, seeing it detonate almost immediately and toss that Chor'tek up and into the air…then the metallic cat rolled over and got to its feet, having cleared a larger path for the infantry to approach on.

Ponken hated having to 'ride' these machines rather than pilot them, but they were getting the job done so he held any further complaints and let them do the task regardless of how stupid they looked in the process.

"Master Teal'c, our forces are encountering additional resistance in the northern quadrant of the third city."

"Show me."

An image from another H'tel zoomed in on the region, showing many of the large spheres ducking in and out from buildings and overhangs to confound the warships' gunners, but managing to move around enough to give the Jaffa troops all manner of trouble.

"Reports indicate that there are lairs within that hold many enemy machines, but we cannot detect them from here."

"Cause?"

"Unknown."

"Are the buildings blocking our sensors?"

"Perhaps. I cannot say for sure."

"Then clear the area of our troops and level one until we find what is blocking them."

"The rubble may cover it."

"Fire on it until there is no rubble left."

Rak'nor nodded. "As you wish."

Teal'c's H'tel repositioned until it was directly over the chosen location and combined its firepower with the closest other ship, dropping large plasma orbs along with smaller bursts into the structure, almost immediately collapsing the upper levels amidst a cloud of dust and debris, then those pieces were blasted apart even as they fell, grinding them down more and more as the clouds mushroomed across half the city blanketing the Jaffa fighting nearby, but Teal'c knew their armor gave them the ability to see through it sufficiently to avoid shooting one another and keep their focus on the Aschen machines.

"No change," Rak'nor reported.

"Keep firing," Teal'c insisted as he watched the sensors, which could see through the dust cloud easily. A hole in the city formed, being dug deeper and deeper even as more debris kept falling in around the sides only to get chewed up and stirred about by the repetitive blasts.

Minutes passed by, but other than blowing apart a lot of structures nothing changed.

"Cease bombardment," he finally relented. "I'll deal with this personally."

"Yes, Master," Rak'nor said without complaint.

Teal'c mentally activated his own armor, which he wore as a light vest plate over his tight Alterran-style Jaffa robes. The hard torso cast extended, suddenly covering his entire body save for his head in armor that was blood red, yet dull enough not to make him too obvious a target. The glowing symbol on his forehead could only be seen by his kin, but in a moment it disappeared as well when a solid helmet formed and encapsulated his head, far smaller than the old snake helmets of Apophis, but yet somehow even more intimidating in that there was no visor or eyes, just an impenetrable mass of technology that matched his stoic demeanor well.

He touched a few controls beside his command chair and selected a target on the surface, then a moment later he was surrounded in white light and the bridge disappeared…with him suddenly on the planet amongst the dust cloud and his Jaffa.

"Master," one of them said deferently as Teal'c wasted no time running through his troops and up to the front lines were weaponsfire was evident even within the dust clouds. He ducked to one side, passed under an archway on the street, and ran through a short alley as he signaled for six Jaffa nearby to follow.

"We have a mystery to solve. Come with me," he said as a weapon sprouted on his right forearm and he led his squad into a nearby building in search of a route below ground.

Several days later Teal'c returned to his H'tel, having located the jamming devices placed below ground the hard way…having to fight through wave after wave of Aschen floating drones to eliminate each of them, after which his ships could pummel an area and knock out the production facilities that were still making new enemy weapons even as the attack was ongoing.

There were still more locations to search and destroy, but it looked like the main areas of resistance had been decimated. Several booby-traps had severely injured his Jaffa, but thanks to the high quality of the armor they wore none were beyond saving…though a few had to be brought back to the ship in order to be revived, their bodies tore up but still complete enough to be restored to full health by the magic of the Alterran healing devices.

Teal'c took rest immediately, weary from so many days of fighting. The other Jaffa had been rotated out 10 hours previously, but he had persisted longer, as was appropriate of a First Prime, though he had left before he was truly spent rather than stubbornly staying until every last Aschen and their machines were destroyed.

He was not through 3 hours of meditation before the communications system aroused him. It was configured not to do so unless something urgent occurred, so even before he heard Rak'nor's voice he knew something was wrong.

"Master, apologies for the interruption, but we've received a message from Dakara. They are under attack."

Teal'c was visibly startled. "The Aschen or another foe?"

"The Aschen. Bra'tac summons our return at all speed."

"Then do so and waste no further time speaking with me."

"What of the troops on the ground?"

"Emergency retrieval. Jump to hyperspace immediately upon their full return."

"May I destroy a few more buildings while we wait?"

"Do as much damage as you can, but do not hesitate a moment longer than necessary."

"Understood," Rak'nor said as his voice disappeared simultaneously with Teal'c's body rushing out of his personal chambers.

It took days to return to Dakara, but when they emerged from hyperspace they saw that the battle was not resolved. Masses of Aschen Elementals, both in individual form and joined groups, infested orbit. There were no H'tel there, but Teal'c noted that there were four on the surface of the planet, taking refuge beneath larger shields as there was an apparent stalemate. The Aschen were beyond bombardment range, and likewise were out of danger from surface-based weaponry that would shred Elementals far faster than anything the H'tel carried.

But there was activity on the ground…four massive battlefronts beyond the Jaffa cities where the Aschen had boldly landed ground troops. With them were also Elementals, apparently guarding their landing area, and swaths of such dead ships surrounding the landing zone, attesting to the price they had paid to get their troops to ground.

"What are your orders, Master?"

"Hold beyond weapons range and contact Bra'tac."

A moment later a hologram of the System Lord appeared, the look on his face grim but grateful.

"Thank you for returning, Teal'c. As you can see, we are besieged."

"How are we faring on the ground?"

"Poorly, but that will change if the enemy manages to push closer to our city defenses. At the moment I am stalling them."

Teal'c nodded. Now that he had three more H'tel in play the odds had changed, though there were so many Elementals here that he wasn't sure how effective they'd be, but he was certain that Bra'tac had a plan of attack.

"How shall we engage them?"

"We will not," Bra'tac said firmly. "Do not let the enemy engage you, even if you have to leave this world. Also do not attempt to land on Dakara. They are seeking engagement to their advantage, do not give it to him."

"I understand," Teal'c said, noticing that there was some small movement in the orbital formations that had some Elementals being dispatched towards them. With a glance he had Rak'nor's attention on the matter as he continued to address Bra'tac. "How may we be of use?"

"Time," the Alterra insisted. "Time is what we need, my friend."