Fall of the Gods Book 1: Colonials on the Run Redux

by Scourge75

A dark past. A desperate race. A forced alliance. The return of a race long forgotten. The effects that no one could've foreseen. - OCs galore! Major rewrites from previous post. New chapter will be posted every weekday.

31. The Storm Part 3: In Harm's Way

The "Sections" parallel any section with the same marking. So all three parts marked [Section C] happen at the same time.

Chapter 30

The Storm Part 3

In Harm's Way

***Local Cluster (Sol System)***

**Mars (Orbit)**

*USS Odyssey (Bridge) [Section A]*

The battle had lasted only a matter of seconds and already the Earth Fleet was losing ground. In an attempt to keep their shields unstrained until needed, the fleet was slowly falling back from near Mars to orbit of Earth while trying to engage the Ori using the superior range of their coaxial ion cannons. However, their original tactic of targeting one ship at a time was proving useless as every time the Cursor dropped one of the Ori Mothership's shields, it fell back behind the cover of another before the two smaller ships could fire a death blow.

"I hate to break it to you, Admiral, but your tactic isn't working. With the upgrades we've received, I'm suggesting that we take this to the next level. I've seen the Odyssey handle two of these ships on her own, and I'm betting the Cursor can take on three. Given that the Devastator doesn't have a ZPM and the Ori have proven themselves capable of hurting her, I suggest she hangs back and keeps them off the Nex. That gets seven of their ships out of the way and in a one-on-one battle that they won't be able to hide from," Davidson suggested over the fleet's battle-net.

"That leaves nine Motherships bearing down on the Nex with our weakest ship as its last line of defense!" Colson argued.

"I'm not all that comfortable with breaking up the fleet either, Colson, but I do see Davidson's point. Keep the Odyssey and Apollo together though, I don't want either of you getting caught with your pants down. Alright people, let's move," the Admiral ordered. The man had been named the Executive Officer of the Earth Fleet for the duration of this battle because of his skills at commanding a large naval force, and, while a space fleet is fundamentally different, he was still the best they had on such a short notice after Sieon who was too busy with the fighters to micromanage the other ships.

The Odyssey and Apollo wasted no time in entering the fray. Once their plasma cannons were fully charged, they shot forward towards the edge of the Ori formation using the full power of their sub-light engines to gain a speed advantage and immediately engaged the larger ships.

The Odyssey, despite no longer being the only ship in the system with a ZPM, still had one major advantage that no one else did. Knowing how useful this could be, Colonel Davidson ordered, "Abe, keep the Apollo on course and give your shields everything you can. Get their attention and lead them off. We'll be waiting."

*USS Apollo (Bridge)*

"Copy that, Ian, we'll bring the pain," Ellis replied.

True to his word, Ellis brought the Apollo into the Ori formation at a high speed. With Sara at the helm, everyone onboard was confident that they wouldn't crash into anything despite the fact that they were moving at seventy-five-thousand kilometers per second which was roughly forty percent of the speed of light.

Dell fired off a volley of shots to get the Ori's attention. Three of the attacking ships broke off their advance towards the Cursor and gave chase to the small Earth ship, but they were looking for a bigger pot. More beams lanced out until five of the Motherships gave chase of the Apollo. Behind the Apollo, the Motherships opened fire with their beams. Five against one was impossible odds in Ellis' opinion, but he trusted his friend.

That trust paid off.

Beams of blue light lanced out from the dead regions of space and cut into the Ori chasing the Apollo. A barrage of weapons fire collapsed the shields of one ship before a coaxial ion round hit something critical once the armor was the only thing between the ship and its death. Then a new ship was targeted and the process began again. Beams came from darkness, no visible source, and Davidson's plan made sense. The Odyssey was cloaked and zipping around untargeted.

'Leave is to a half-ascended Daniel Jackson to invent the only cloaking device seen to date that can remain active while a ship is engaged in combat,' Ellis thought to himself as Sara brought the Apollo around and Dell opened fire with their plasma beams and coaxial ion cannon. The standard ion and plasma cannons wouldn't be of much use against the shields of the Ori, so their power was channeled into the shield.

"I'm marking the Odyssey's projected path. Be sure to avoid them," Apollo informed them, his avatar 'standing' in the back with the other technicians monitoring their power levels. On the forward viewport, the HUD engaged to show an outline of the fast moving and still invisible Odyssey as Marks took the ship in for another strike.

If the AIs weren't linked through whatever quantum communication contraption that had been, ever so briefly, explained to Abe, he would've been uncomfortable with having the AIs talking to each other while the Odyssey was cloaked. Sam had informed them that the Odyssey, unlike Atlantis, kept her shields when she cloaked, but that she still didn't know how to duplicate the feat. Even with all their recent advances and Asgard-given technology, the Ares, the only ship to have received a cloak during the refits, sacrificed her shield when the cloak was engaged.

*USS Odyssey (Bridge)*

Pulling the ship into a tight loop, Marks lined up a shoot and Donnelly fired on the ship bringing up the rear of the Ori formation as they continued their loop. Four plasma beams lanced forward and stuck home before the Odyssey shot pass the Ori Mothership and maneuvered around for another pass. An explosion filled the darkness of space as the lead Ori Mothership took a full volley from the Apollo. Six plasma beams struck the front of the ship followed by three super ion cannon rounds. As the shield drastically destabilized from the beams, the ion rounds managed to punch through and strike the main weapons emitter at the nose of the larger ship. As the main weapons' delicate systems were hit by the direct blow, the Mothership was quickly consumed in secondary explosions.

The Odyssey came out of her turn and fired her plasma beams again. Two more shots brought down her target's shields and her other weapons came into play. Since they didn't need to bolster their shields while cloaked, Davidson had ordered Donnelly to use whatever he wanted. As such, once the shield was down, a triplet of super-heated plasma cannon rounds were fired at the far larger ship. The first round exploded against the thick armor of the Ori Mothership, but opened the way for the second. Cutting deep into the heart of the impractically shaped ship, the second plasma cannon round carved a path. Following that path, the third plasma round detonated against the armor that protected the ship's Bridge and the nerve center was explosively decompressed into space.

The Odyssey came around for another pass on the last two targets, the Apollo firing everything she had into the closest ship to her, and Marks flinched. Both Motherships fired on the Apollo at the same time, both beams hitting the shield in tandem. He had been there when the Korolev met its end to a blow just like that one. He feared the worse, but it didn't come to pass. The Apollo was shaken, that much was clear, but they were far from being out of the fight.

"You alright over there, Abe?" Davidson asked as the Apollo stopped firing its beam weapons.

"We've suffered a few overloads," Ellis replied over the sounds of a fire being put out. "Our beam weapons are offline… again," Ellis added as his thoughts went back to the Replicators and McKay's modifications to their weapons systems. "But we're not out of this yet!"

Just to prove his point, the Apollo fired another round from her coaxial ion cannon and popped the shield bubble around another Mothership. Diving into that oh so very stupid gap in the ship between the engines and the reactor, Marks took the Odyssey down through their defenses, unseen, and Donnelly, much to Marks' surprise, fired off a barrage of missiles. The first three hit the ring around the reactor as they dove down, but, as Marks pulled them up to fly 'under' the Mothership, the last two missiles hit the glowing ball of light. In a burst of energy, the Mothership was consumed by its own power, and the Odyssey continued on without a second thought. The last ship was, for a lack of a better term, gang-raped by the two 304s. The Apollo fired on its bow while the Odyssey hammered its stern. The ship died in a rather undignified and quiet humorous manner. The crews of the two ships, however, had neither the time nor the mindset to laugh about it, not with the Ori closing in on Earth.

The brilliant display of golden light still being pumped out by the Nex was a constant reminder that the Ori were getting closer and closer to breaching their lines and making orbit, and if that happened… the homeworld of Humanity would face trials by fire the likes of which could destroy a great many number of lives.

***Milky Way Galaxy (Norma Arm)***

**Memphis (Atmosphere)**

*Command Vulture (Command and Control Center) [Section A]*

Command Chief Master Sergeant Brandon Taylor watched the battle from his vantage point in the skies. The advanced sensors on the specially modified Vulture displayed the battle in real-time, but keeping up with that much information was a daunting task. He had spent years as a soldier on the ground and learned the hard way that Intel was everything. After losing one too many of his fellow soldiers to the machinations of a broken system, he had vowed to do his part in fixing the Intel gathering and distribution structure. He worked his way up the ranks until his name was replaced with a title given to him by those who credited his style of Intel gathering, sorting, and handling as god-like. 'The Eagle' they called him. A name given to emphasize a high-flying, far-seeing force of good. Most assumed it came from his days as a PJ. They were wrong. He was 'famous' for his work in Intel.

A team of dedicated VIs specially programed to filter incoming information faster than the Human mind could ever hope to highlighted areas that were under more stress, tagged targets of interest, and controlled the Predator drones that filled the skies higher even than his command ship. Equipped with a stealth drive that was, as it was explained to him, an advanced jammer and not a cloak, electronic warfare suit, and advanced Asgard sensors, the drones could map out a planet's defenses in a staggeringly short amount of time. It made assaulting a planet like Memphis, a world that they decided to attack only a few days ago, far easier despite the time crunch. Instead of weeks of gathering Intel, it could all be gathered and assimilated on site within hours of landing. All he had to do was think fast enough for the Intel to be of use. The battlefield was constantly changing. Too much information too fast would mean that opportunities would slip him by, but that's why no one ever worked alone.

When Taylor had been reassigned to the Alpha Fleet, he had brought his entire subdivision of the Office of Airborne Intelligence with him. His team, built up over his years in Intel and composed of the best people he could find, sat around a larger version of the holo-tank he overlooked back aboard the Ares and fed him ideas, notes, information, and comments. His war council followed wherever he went, his 'dream team' never leaving his side. Intel was everything in a battle. Even a rookie soldier fresh out of Basic can win a war if he has the proper Intel, and the battle-net that connected the armor worn by the soldiers made delivering that Intel so much faster and effective.

Below his command ship, the chaos was hardly able to be called controlled. The peoples of Earth had long fought against themselves in wars, and it was rare that a military outside of Earth's own could stand against them. In Pegasus, even the Genii were easily outmaneuvered, outflanked, or simply outclassed. Jaffa had rarely stood against an SG team with success in equal numbers. It took small armies of Jaffa to capture the Human soldiers alive, and now the Humans had deployed a small army of their own. Even that crushing might was being ground to halt by these Ta-tanen. Clearly Ptah wasn't playing around with the idea of conquering Earth. Ba'al was constantly saying he could beat the Tau'ri. Everyone knew he was just blowing hot air and didn't have the nerve, but Ptah? Ptah was a real threat to the people of Earth, and this battle showed that.

To make matters worse, they had shown their hand. If Ptah escaped and went on to live in the shadows once more, if he fled, bought his time, and rebuilt his forces, he would undoubtedly incorporate what he learned of their war machines from this battle into his next great army and Earth would be his first target. They were committed now, and retreat was no longer an option. If they left Ptah uncaptured or alive, he would only grow stronger.

But Ptah's forces still had a long way to go in one major field. The field that mattered the most. They still didn't have an effective means of gathering, cataloging, classifying, and disseminating Intel.

"Flight Ten to grid Nine-A. Redeploy troops to enemy rear lines. Fighters to provide cover fire. Vulture Three to follow," Taylor ordered into the microphone he was wearing. The VI within the battle-net would send his words to those who needed to hear them so as to not have people stopping to hear orders that had nothing to do with their theater of operation. "Vulture Nine to grid Seven-C. Take out that bunker. Pelicans to position seventeen, grid Seven-E. Armor to position nine, grid Ten-F. Artillery to focus fire on grid Two-D. Bring the rain."

More orders were given from both the CCMSgt and his team of Intel officers back on the Ares, the two having worked together for so long they were practically reading each other's minds. Troops were moved like pieces on a chess board, tanks rolled across enemy resistance, artillery pounded hot spots from a distance, and aerial support was given wherever it was needed. With only a few orders and three minutes for the plan to be implemented, the Ta-tanen forces were surrounded. Artillery was pounding every potential problem spot, focusing on the bunkers especially. Tau'ri armor was ripping into the Ta-tanen with tungsten-flechette and high explosive rounds from beyond the effective range of the enemy foot soldiers. Infantry was picking the Ta-tanen off with sniper rifles and assault rifles while gunships and fighters dropped bombs on any enemy sniper nest found in the forest they were marching through. Pelicans and Vultures were raining down plasma rounds by the hundreds if not thousands and ground assault missiles by the dozens, leveling miles of forest and leaving miles more to burn.

Just to assure their enemy didn't regroup later, Pelicans moved behind enemy lines with more troops loaded in their backs and tanks attached to the special, magnetic clamps dangling from the rear. Armor was moved by air at the speed of a jet carrier and the maneuverability of a helicopter, troops were redeployed where needed, and, before the Ta-tanen could even consider retreat, it was removed as an option. The infantry and armor dropped off behind the enemy lines began pushing in while the forward line advanced. The Ta-tanen were trapped between two lines of advancing infantry, armor, and aerial assault craft.

With 302 Space Superiority Fighters keeping any Al'kesh and Death Gliders from launching by destroying their 'airstrips,' the Tau'ri assured their aerial superiority and Taylor knew from first-hand experience that controlling the air space was crucial in any battle. If they were operating in a one-mile radius from any spot, a three mile-radius of airspace was being secured by the hundred-plus 302s the Ares carried in her massive 302 bay.

The Ares, unlike her cousins, had been designed so that each deck had a sole purpose. The Command Deck oversaw space operations. The Flight Deck did everything from housing the 302s to housing their fuel, repair supplies, and pilots. The Combat Deck did the same for the infantry, their armor, small-arms, tanks, dropships, and gunships. Then there was the Intel Deck which housed all the specialized systems needed to operate and secure the battle-net, the computers for the networked VIs that monitored their systems, and control the Predator drones' remote flight and weapons systems.

The radio in his ear crackled to life as a voice spoke to him. "Sir, the enemy line is breaking," his Executive Officer reported.

"So I noticed," Taylor replied distantly. Noting another area in need of more manpower, he issued more orders and the artillery shifted their fire to the new zone. "Don't get cocky on me now, Lieutenant. This battle is far from over. There's still another two lines of bunkers after this one and the city after that."

"Understood, sir," the young Lieutenant who served as his XO answered. From her tone, Taylor knew the woman had saluted him. He smiled at that. She was professional. That's why he like her.

"Ashley?" Taylor asked.

"Sir?" the woman replied.

"What's the status of the planetary defense shield?"

"Ba'al's forces have depleted the barrier to an estimated fifty percent."

"And what's their target?"

"More specific than the planet?" Ashely asked.

"More specific than the planet," Taylor said with a nod she couldn't see.

*USS Ares (Intel Deck)*

There was a moment of silent review of gathered information before the woman replied. "The bulk of their fire is focused on the area of the shield directly above the Ares, sir."

"Then Ba'al has realized the threat we pose," Taylor said matter-of-factly. The line crackled before a new voice joined the original two. "General, I advise you to take action before Ba'al breaches the shield barrier. If Ba'al starts landing troops in the middle of our invasion, this is going to go from hard to impossible."

"We're warming up the surface-to-orbit ion cannons now," General Ervin replied. "How goes the fighting on your end?"

"I'll leave it to Miss Plu to fill you in. My focus is needed elsewhere," Taylor replied. Ervin dismissed him and the channel went dead. Replacing it was a simple point-to-point comms channel for communicating between two areas of the Ares.

"Right now our forces are steadily overcoming the Ta-tanen defenses at the first of three major defensive lines between us and the city. We'll have total victory over this first hurtle within the hour…" Ashley began before the floorboards under her feet shook violently.

On the top of the Invasion Carrier, four massive barrels extended from the hatches that protected them from the heat of atmospheric reentry. The barrels that were thirty meters long reached into the sky, their tips glowing as power built up within their capacitors. When the four, massive ion cannons modified to be surface-to-orbit weapons fired, the ship shook under their power. They would have to put the Ares back under the knife, so to speak, and modify the weapons to include a built-in recoil dampener and inertial dampening system. As it was, until such a task could be completed, they would have to deal with the floor shaking beneath them. It was a minor thing to adjust to when one considered it was giving the ships in orbit hell.

***Local Cluster (Sol System)***

**Empty Space (Between Earth and Mars)**

*Clausus Cursor (CIC) [Section B]*

Admiral Ricks was a veteran of the United States Naval Fleet. When the guys in black suits came to tell him that they needed an experienced commander to take control of Earth's new flagship, he was baffled at the fact they meant a spaceship, let alone an alien spaceship. The crash course he had received on the SGC and all related material didn't really make a lot of sense, though the months of specialized training he had received beforehand were starting to make sense. Thank god his daughter, Isis Ricks who served on the Odyssey as a technician, was there to explain things in a way he'd understand.

'I still can't believe my daughter's been in on this for seven years!' the Admiral thought to himself.

"We've got four Ori Motherships approaching off our port side. They'll be in firing range in two seconds," Major Hector reported. "Another two approaching off the starboard side. They'll be in firing range in ten seconds."

"Fire when ready, Major. No need to wait for my order, you know what to do," the Admiral replied.

Sam's upgrades to the Cursor included sixteen plasma beam cannons, modifications to the power grid, new armor, and two of those spinal mounted, tri barreled, coaxial ion cannons. All of this in addition to the ion cannons and plasma cannons already installed on the ship meant the Cursor now packed an even bigger punch than what the Asgard had made it capable of giving. Add the ZPM to her power grid and the Cursor was a God amongst mortal men. Too bad the Ori were close to having the classification as well.

"Opening fire," Hector said as the coaxial ion cannons lined up with the nearest ship.

A full barrage from both of their coaxial ion cannon firing in tandem was enough to make the massive ship rumble slightly. Since the Cursor is longer, the guns running her length are as well, and, as a result, are stronger due to having more time in the acceleration chambers, thus giving the ship an even more powerful sting with the same weapon the 304s have. With the safeties removed, the cannon that was supposed to fire with one barrel, cool down with another, and load with the third, was able to fire all three barrels at the same time. Therefore, when the Cursor fired, six, high velocity ion rounds slammed into the Ori's shields almost instantly, the force of the impacts violently forcing the ship off course.

The initial attack was followed up by the normal ion cannons firing at the now disoriented ship. As the distance closed between the two opposing forces, the plasma cannons flared to life and filled the distance between the two ships with giant bolts of blue plasma.

A message chimed and Hector reported, "Coaxial ion cannons are ready to fire."

"Lieutenant, line up a shot with the lead ship. Major, fire one cannon then target their middle ship and fire again," Ricks ordered.

Lieutenant Oscar, the helmsman, worked his controls and lined up the shot. Another rumbling boom echoed through the ship as the ion cannon recoiled from the shot, rotated, and fired again, the gun now returning to its standard operating sequence as the safeties had been restored. The last shot took out the lead ship's shield and left it exposed to the plasma cannons. Piece by piece the ship was blown apart as it attempted, and failed, to pull back behind friendly lines.

Once the lead ship was destroyed, it opened a line of fire on the next ship. Already weakened by a brutal barrage from the normal ion cannons, the next ship to be targeted by the Human-crewed Asgard vessel was powerless to stop its own destruction as the first two coaxial ion cannon rounds brought down their shields and the third blew straight through the Ori Mothership, coming out of the back of the ship and gutting the main hull section as it did. Secondary explosions finished off the ship while the Cursor moved to engage the next enemy vessel.

Sparks never flew from an Asgard's computers as, apparently, the little grey men had adequately solved that problem. Nevertheless, the Cursor was surrounded, outnumbered, and taking a beating. "Shields are down to fifty-eight percent. I recommend we pull out soon," Oscar reported as they received more and more fire from the Ori Fleet.

"Alright, Lieutenant, bring us in as close as you can. Major, I want a full salvo of the new plasma beams fired into their broadside, followed by a full spray of close range ion and plasma cannon rounds. Once that's finished, fallback to the Nex's position and keep that ship covered!" Ricks ordered.

"Aye, sir," the Lieutenant replied as he lined up the Cursor with two of the Motherships. Squeezing her bulk between them, the helmsman gave the tactical officer the perfect shot.

The use of the long range weapons on a ship that was so close that the two vessels' shields were inches away from touching each other was brutal on both ships. The plasma beams tore through the Ori's shields, barely leaving them active but casing waves of energy to pass back into the Cursor's own shield grid. As the ion cannons fired a full salvo, the enemy's shields collapsed and the plasma cannons tore the ships apart as the armor failed to hold back the intensive heat of the plasma cannons. Debris from the dying vessels slammed into the Cursor's shield, causing the powerful barrier to flare bright white.

Four down, two to go. "Shields are down to thirteen percent," the Lieutenant informed them in a worried tone.

"Hostiles are splitting apart," tactical added as the last two Motherships that stood before them broke up their formation to keep the Cursor from duplicating its tactic of simply flying between them and destroying two ships in one pass.

"They want a fight for survival, they'll get one," the Admiral said with a fierce determination. "Bring us around and focus on one ship at a time. We'll show them the error of thinking that Earth is weak."

"Aye, sir," Oscar replied with a similar tone to his own words.

As the Cursor lined up her nose with her target, Hector opened fire with everything all at once. Sixteen plasma beams was far in the way of overkill and the shields of the Mothership in her crosshairs failed before the hull was scorched by the energy that didn't go into disabling their defenses. The standard ion and plasma cannons added to it was even more overkill. The coaxial ion cannons firing was just plain sadistic. The Mothership didn't stand a chance against that much firepower, but it did return fire. The Cursor, already weakened from her battles, took two more beams to her shields before the barrier gave out. The third beam struck her hull, opening compartments to space, digging a gouge through the armor, and half of the ship went dark as a result.

"Damage report!" Admiral Ricks ordered as the lights flickered in the CIC.

"That last shot severed several of the primary power conduits. Two of the Neutrino Ion Generators are offline and the ZPM has been cut out of the power grid. The generators are still intact, no reactor breaches, but the lines feeding their power to the ship have been cut," one of the technicians in the back explained. "It's like leaky pipes, sir. There's not enough pressure to get water to taps at the end of the line. If those taps are the shield buffers, then you should understand."

"The beam also cut through the barrel of the starboard coaxial ion cannon and only the standard plasma cannons can be operated right now. We've got no beams, no ion cannons, and not enough power left in the two generators that are working to power the other coaxial cannon because of the 'leaky pipes.' The ship's power grid is in disarray. It'll take us awhile to get the systems back online," the tactical officer added as he frantically tried to redirect power to where it was needed most using the other conduits that weren't cut.

"Do we have 'awhile'?" the Admiral asked.

"Sir, the last of the Ori Motherships engaging us has broken off their assault and is headed for Earth. The Apollo is inbound to provide covering fire for us while the Odyssey moves to intercept the Ori. The Apollo took some damage of their own that needs to be repaired before they can engage the enemy so the battle's down to the Odyssey, the Devastator, and the Nex," the helmsman replied.

As the Cursor turned back towards Earth, her momentum the only thing carrying her through space while the repair teams scrambled to get the ship working again, everyone watched as the Devastator took on three Ori Motherships and another three bypassed the ship to attack the Nex. Her weapons fired as fast and often as they could, but two things were clear. One, the ship was losing its shields faster than it was defeating its enemy. Two, even a 302 wasn't fast enough to get between the Ori and their target. The Devastator was doomed.

A barrage of lesser weapons fire finally cracked her weakened shields and a beam impacted her nose. It was like watching the destruction of the Prometheus all over again. The beam hit at an angle that had it traveling through the ship for a few meters, the internal armor dissipating the energy enough that it didn't break out of the other side, but that wasn't going to save them. Secondary explosions caused more damage as parts of the outer hull were blown away from the main structure by the force of the internal explosions. Finally, as something critical was hit, the ship succumbed to the damage it had taken and exploded.

As a last testament to the Goa'uld who had built her, the Humans who had crewed her, and the Asgard technology that made her lethal, the Devastator fired off one last barrage from its beam cannons and took out a Mothership's shields. The last round from her ion cannons to be fired even managed to hit that same Mothership square in the reactor core. With her last breath, the Devastator took another enemy ship with her.

No longer impeded by the capital ships of the Tau'ri, the Ori advanced into Earth orbit where the Nex had fallen back to continue engaging the fighters. As the fighters swarmed over her and her guns worked tirelessly to destroy such a numerous enemy, the ship had been forced back in an effort to keep the fighters from getting past her. So far the tactic had worked, but now the remaining five Ori Motherships were closing in on the Nex and what was left working of Earth's fleet was still three minutes out from intercepting them. Beams of energy flew into the fighter swarm, entire flight wings being wiped out as the Ori fired on their own people. Cutting a path through the fighters, the Ori beams struck the unimaginably old warship in force.

As the Earth Fleet closed in on the Ori's rear flank, they could only watch in desperation and fear as the last Furling warship in existence lost her shields. A beam dug a trench into her thick armor, knocking out several of her plasma flak cannons and allowing the fighters to get past. As three more beams approached the ship, the Nex disappeared in a flash of light and a burst of energy that had them all thinking the ship was gone. The reaming fighters not destroyed by the ship that had been claimed defending a world not their own slammed into the PDS without the Super Dreadnought there to intercept them, the barrier rippling even as several fighter wings made it through to the planet below.

***Milky Way Galaxy (Norma Arm)***

**Memphis (Surface)**

*Command Bunker (Control Room) [Section B]*

Niptahkau, from his place amongst the largest and most secure of the bunkers in the third line of defenses, could only watch on in horror as the first line of bunkers and manned heavy weapons fell to the Tau'ri war machine. He knew that this enemy in particular would be difficult to master, but he expected the lines to hold longer than the first had. If this is what was to be expected, then they would need reinforcements to keep the Tau'ri from reaching the city.

Ptah had given him total control of the forces his Lord commanded, and if more troops were needed, then they would be deployed as Niptahkau ordered. Opening a channel back to the city, Niptahkau ordered the Elite Guard to report to his position. Unknown to Niptahkau, the moment this line of communication was open, a computer virus latched onto the 'secure' line and began to spread through his systems.

*Tau'ri Advance (Noble Team)*

"All units be advised. Niptahkau has called the Elite Guard onto the battlefield. Watch your motion sensors and focus fire. These guys are reported to have Sodan cloaking devices and personal shields. Be on guard," Ashley reported over the battle-net.

"This situation just got worse," Kat mumbled to herself as she stuck to cover and tried to push forward.

The standard Jaffa tactic of 'shoot anything that moves and have everyone join you' appeared to still be used by the Ta-tanen. Their weapons just fired faster and filled the air with that much more plasma as a result. The bunker that Noble Team was advancing on with another three Special Forces teams was not showing any signs of letting up even with Jorge spraying the area with auto-cannon fire. After the first line fell, they had started to think this battle might not be as hard as they thought, but the second line was clearly better defended if only because they had more time to set up their defenses. Foxholes had been dug out to provide extra cover for the enemy, and, to make matters that much harder, the AA guns in this area were still operational if only because Noble Team was furthest from where the fighters were destroying them with precision strikes and if the artillery units diverted fire to handle the threat, they would lose a lot of good people when the Ta-tanen took advantage of the lack of pressure.

They were fighting a raging forest fire with a tidal wave. Two unstoppable forces of nature colliding in a clash for the ages. The planet of Memphis would forever be scared by this battle, that much was made clear when General Ervin authorized the use of cluster bombs and napalm. He wasn't taking any risks with their lives, and no one minded the extra help. Sure it went against the rules of several treaties on Earth, but this was Memphis and the Ta-tanen were harder to kill and keep dead than a swarm of cockroaches.

And, of course, Niptahkau was taking advantage of his temporary air superiority.

Kat looked up at the sound of engines approaching and her eyes went wide. An Al'kesh flew in, low and slow, a clear sign that it was getting ready to drop its bombs. Even with Jorge's auto-cannon, they didn't have the firepower to take out an Al'kesh! This would be the end of Noble Team.

Reacting faster than she could think, Kat grabbed Jun and tossed the oblivious sniper as far as she could with the strength-enhancing servomotors in her armor. Already Carter and the others were running for the hills, but there was still one left. Kat ran as fast as her legs would carry her and slid through the mud of the swamplands. She arrived next to the man who had tripped over a branch coated in a layer of mud and pulled the man to his feet. Then they ran, but they were too slow. This time it was Kat who was thrown out of the way as the man she had saved threw his weight into her back. As Kat flew through the air, the first bomb fell.

The man behind her was consumed in fire and the shockwave threw Kat away from the blast with enough force to make her impact hurt. A lot! She didn't have time to scream in pain. The Al'kesh was still closing in, but her body wasn't responding to her commands like it was supposed to. She just looked up at the herald of her death and time stopped. Her arm stopped hurting, the ship stopped moving… the only thing that wasn't moving painfully slow was her heart which was beating like a symphony of drummers.

There was a missile inbound, moving in her peripheral vision. It arched over the trees and slammed into the top of the Al'kesh, the flash of light, heat, and shrapnel of the shaped charge forcing the Al'kesh's starboard side down and her port side up. The next bomb the ship released went wide and impacted somewhere in the forest. Another fire sprang into existence at the impact site as a Vulture rose out of the foliage, the hatches on its dorsal structure opening to allow its ground assault missiles to be brought to bear.

Every AA gun in a mile radius around them targeted the rising gunship and opened fire. The shield that covered the Flying Fortress shrugged off the blasts that consumed it entirely as the plasma cannons mounted on her frontend opened fire. Globs of blue plasma, hotter and more powerful than the plasma the Goa'uld used, slammed into and quickly depleted the minor shielding the bomber possessed. Ignoring the ground forces, the Al'kesh readied its ship-to-ship weapons.

Kat felt her body sliding as time returned to normal and her voice finally returned as she screamed in pain. Behind her, Carter pulled her along by the handle built into the collar of all the armors they all wore. It made dragging an injured comrade out of the battlefield easier, especially since the armor they wore was anything but light.

The Al'kesh above them opened fire on the Vulture even as the AA guns continued to fill the skies with their lethal explosions, but the Vulture didn't care. Why should it? It had a shield that could match a Pre-Apophis-Refit Ha'tak. An Al'kesh was hardly a worthy adversary for such a powerhouse. The two-dozen-plus AA guns backing it, however, were sure to even the playing field.

The Vulture roared forward and fired off a barrage of plasma rounds into the Al'kesh that was returning fire in less quantity and with less quality. There was a lot to be said for a tri-barreled design that fired faster than the crap the Goa'uld used. It gave the Tau'ri another in a long list of advantages. The Al'kesh succumbed to the Vulture as the Flying Fortress flew under the midrange bomber. The explosion of the Al'kesh's drive core that probably would've killed the ground teams bellow was largely absorbed by the Vulture's shield overhead as the gunship fired off a barrage of missiles that collapsed the bunker's hastily constructed support structure. As the hill caved-in on the Ta-tanen within, the Vulture, shields now drastically depleted and on the verge of collapse, lowered itself down onto the spot that had once been an enemy bunker and dropped below the range of the sensors that the AA guns used to target her.

Carter was saying something into the battle-net, his voice filling Kat's ears as their helmets linked them together. In a flash of light, Kat's participation in the battle was terminated as she was beamed back to the Ares for emergency medical attention.

***Local Cluster (Sol System)***

**Earth (Orbit)**

*Paciscor of Nex (Combat Information Center) [Section B]*

General Landry had approved the mission to capture an Ori Mothership, and, as a result, those members of SG-1 not stationed planet-side, which is to say Teal'c, Valla, and Daniel, along with SGs 2 and SG-3, were assigned to the Nex for the duration of the battle, or until their mission was completed… or until the alien commander decided to throw them off of his ship.

When the FTL drive had been taken out, Widget started issuing orders. The repair drones were sent to the outer hull to seal the breach and get the main conduits fixed while the technicians sent up by General O'Neill rushed through the ship to conduct whatever repairs the AI ordered them to make. Thusly, with Widget's guidance, the brains onboard managed to get the FTL drive back up and running in record time.

Running back to the CIC, the group arrived just in time for Sieon to shout, "These fighters are giving me hell!" in outrage as the Ori fighters just kept coming. "It doesn't matter how many I shoot down, there's always more to replace it!"

"This is bad, this is really, really bad," Widget said, panic clear in his synthesized voice.

"What now?" Sieon asked in frustration.

"They split the fleet. We've got five Ori Motherships heading straight for us and the Devastator is the only ship between them and us!" the AI replied.

"We have to destroy those fighters before they get past the barrier. We hold our position," Sieon said in a determined voice.

The gathered Humans just stood there, watching as the enemy fleet drew closer and closer. Widget projected a red bubble around the Ori Motherships to show when the Nex would be in their firing range. The thought was solid, show how much time you have left, but the countdown was eating away at their nerves. Despite being trained soldiers, they didn't know the full capabilities of this ship. They did, however, know the full capabilities of an Ori Mothership and those specs were impressive and frightening to say the least.

"This is Colson to the SGC. We're beat here, General!" Doctor Colson shouted over the noise of overloading terminals in the background.

"Go," Dave, the Devastator's AI, ordered. "I'll hold them here."

"Unshackle him," General Landry ordered gravely.

A second later, Widget reported, "The Devastator's crew has been evacuated. Godspeed, Dave."

It was actually sad. They had all learned that these AIs thought of themselves as living begins. How could they not? They were clones of the minds of the men, for there was yet to be a female placed in charge of one of Earth's Battlecruisers, who commanded the ships they served on. They were as alive as they could be, and if the computers they lived in were destroyed, the AI died. When the Devastator went down in flames, she did not go down easy and she did not go down alone.

"The Ori are approaching our position," Widget sadly reported. "I've put everything we have left into the shields, but we won't last for long. The fighters have drained a significant portion of our shields with their damn suicide runs."

Those red circles started moving again as the ship defending them was consumed by the enemy. Finally the moment came. The Nex was consumed by two of the red circles at once and the Ori didn't waste any time. Golden beams of energy could be seen flying towards the larger ship, the golden lights connecting the holographic Ori vessels to the holographic representation of the Nex at the center of the CIC with Earth dominating the background 'below' them.

Each bolt of energy bypassed the golden field of explosions that is the Nex's flak field, cut through the fighters that the Motherships themselves had launched, and slammed into the bubble that represented the Nex's shields. Each bolt that hit caused the ship to shake with each bolt after that causing an even more violent shake. As the Nex stood between the Ori and the planet below, the other three Motherships moved to surround the Nex. All five of the remaining ships relentlessly hammered the Furling Super Dreadnought from all sides as they laid into the larger ship.

Two minutes filled with violent impacts later, Widget said, "The shields are going critical, and I can't compensate for the power draw without shutting off the flak cannons. We either pullout now and allow the fighters through the barrier potentially killing thousands of innocent civilians, or we sacrifice ourselves to buy the 302s and atmospheric fighters the time they need to finish preparing. It's your choice."

Sieon gave no verbal answer, he just sat there gunning down the fighters. Finally the moment came. The bubble around the Nex's hologram turned red before flickering out and disappearing all together. The halls of the massive ship were immediately filled with automated alarms. Two bolts slammed into the ship's dorsal armor leaving massive gouge marks before Sieon finally spoke.

"JUMP THE SHIP!" he roared.

The present members of SG-1 had warned the other teams that the FTL drive could be disorienting. They were proven wrong when, as Widget had told them all those days ago, it was just a matter of getting the drive properly calibrated after so long a time of inactivity. In the end, it was just like stepping through a Stargate; a sensation they were all used to by now.

"Should we go check out the damaged areas?" one of the technicians asked the alien sitting in the command chair.

"Follow the red lights, they'll lead you to the Hazmat suits. Get suited up then I'll tell you where to go," Widget replied as red lights in the floorboards lit up to lead them away.

"Widget, bring the plasma cannons online and ready the dark matter energy beam," Sieon ordered.

"I don't know if you noticed or not, but the last time you destroyed an Ori Mothership with that weapon, the ship went supernova and destroyed the planet we were on! You can't use that in orbit of Earth!" Widget argued, his attention focusing on Sieon the moment the Humans started moving.

"Take us around the moon, full sub-light speed," Sieon continued, seemingly ignoring the AI. "If you don't hit the ship's power core, the dark matter won't have a chance to interact with the light matter. I want you to target their shield generators and nerve centers with the DMEB to cripple their ships," Sieon ordered before asking, "How many fighters made it through to Earth?"

"Two-hundred-forty," Widget replied in a disappointed tone. "On the bright side, we held on long enough for the atmospheric fighters to be reinforced by the 302s."

"See now, that's what I don't understand," Vala mused. "How did they know to try so many IFFs in the first place? It's like they knew we had the shield."

"That's a good question. Widget?" Sieon asked, looking at Widget as if the AI had the answer.

"Sorry, but I'm going to be busy for a little while, so you'll have to control the ship on your own," Widget replied as his avatar disappeared.

"Widget?" Sieon asked again, a bit more worriedly this time.

"The Ori uploaded a Virtual Intelligence into satellite 8-2-336. I'm about to tear it apart," the AI replied with a feral snarl added to the end.

"Stargate Command, come in," Sieon said into the battle-net.

"You've got Homeworld Command, General O'Neill speaking. What's happening up there? Something's disrupting our ground-based sensors."

"The Ori upload a VI into my satellite network, it's how they knew to send their fighters in like that. Once Widget finishes taking care of it, we'll have control of the system again," Sieon reported. "I'm assuming the disruption to your sensors is the wake from the Nex's FTL drive. It'll pass in a moment and I'll have Widget recalibrate your equipment later."

"Copy that, Sieon. The fleet's falling back to Earth to engage the remaining Ori Motherships, but the Apollo's beam weapons are offline, the Cursor's shields are gone along with half of her systems, the Devastator's dust, the Odyssey can't handle them all alone, and Carter doesn't want to use the Artic Weapon's Platform unless we have to. Can you help us out?" Jack asked.

"Will do, General. We're entering weapons' range now," Sieon replied as the holographic bubble once again surrounded the holographic representation of the ship, a clear indication that the shields were back online and covering the non-holographic armor of the massive Super Dreadnought.

Deep in the core of the ship, the two of the protostars that gave the ship life grew from small balls to massive orbs of swirling plasma while the other two shrank drastically. Over the speakers, some small part of Widget that was 'still here' informed, "Fusion Core One status: overdrive sequence initiated. Fusion Core Two status: limits reached. Cool down cycle initiated. Fusion Core Three status: limits reached. Cool down cycle initiated. Fusion Core Four status: overdrive sequence initiated. Projected shield strength: sixty percent."

The Nex grumbled almost like it was growling as it made its way closer to the ships that had wounded it. As the bubble representing the range of its guns passed over the Ori's position, the Humans all watched in fascination as Sieon carried out the orders he had given his AI.

***Milky Way Galaxy (Norma Arm)***

**Memphis (Surface)**

*Command Vulture (Mobile Barracks) [Section C]*

The PJs and other rescue-oriented teams had been loaded up into the Vultures to be deployed as needed. Wolf Pack was the team assigned to the Command Vulture, an honor into and of itself, but, like all things in life, it was only temporary. It only took a flash of light before they were ten-thousand feet in the air, dropping like stones, and on their way to pull a team out of the fire. They would just use a Vulture to beam the injured out, but the birds needed to be above the trees to get an accurate beaming lock back to the Ares and they were still securing aerial superiority in this theater. That, and the drones above them didn't have capacitors on them to collect a person's beaming signature and carry it back to the ship. They'd have to work on that after they got back to the Alpha Site. Nevertheless, deploying a team was a simple matter of beaming them into the air to get them redeployed so at least the team-in-need wouldn't go unreinforced.

By the time Wolf Pack was done, the AA guns in their sector of the push against the second line of defenses surrounding Memphis, the city, had been taken out by surgical strikes from fighters, artillery, Pelicans, Vultures, and Predators. With that done, the fighters pushed forward and went back to taking out the enemy's Al'kesh and Death Gliders for this stage of the assault. Behind the line of fighters, the Vultures took up a higher altitude to resume their beam out and support duties. As such, it was a simple matter of being beamed back into the Vulture for Wolf Pack after their mission was complete. Now they were waiting in the back of the large gunship waiting for their next assignment and hoping it wasn't the task of recovering a dead body. They knew that losses were inevitable against an enemy like the Ta-tanen, but that didn't make it any easier.

Alcatraz was shaken out of his funk when the ship rocked under their feet. Even with the advanced inertial dampeners on the Vultures, he could feel the change in pitch as their ship changed direction and pushed its engines past the red-line in a bid to accelerate out of the path of danger. More weapons fire caused the ship to shake and Alcatraz realized what was wrong with this picture. The vibrations were starting in the ceiling and spreading down. They were under attack from above, not below.

Getting up from his place sitting on the edge of a bed in the Vulture's small barracks, Alcatraz ran into the Command and Control Center where Taylor was still issuing orders to their forces on the ground. When Alcatraz ran in behind him, Taylor turned to him and said, "Get your men ready for deployment."

"Where are we going?" Alcatraz asked.

"Anywhere that's not this ship," Taylor replied before turning to the pilots and other personnel aboard the ship. "It's been a pleasure serving with you, ladies and gentlemen, but it's time for you to return to the Ares." The crew of the command Vulture were beamed out when the CCMSgt pressed a button. He then grabbed the helmet to his own suit of armor and ran towards the rear of the Vulture where the deployment hatch was.

By now, Alcatraz had assembled his men in the room with a circle on the floor. When Taylor ran in, helmet in hand, he pulled the trinium-alloy, full-head helmet over his head and latched it into place on his armor. There was a hiss as the hermetic seals activated and the suit ran a pre-drop flight systems check while bringing his HUD online. Once it was done, a process that took only a second thanks to the onboard VI, Taylor hit a button on the wall without stopping to explain anything. The circle on the floor opened, the wind blowing hard due to both their speed and its own, and the CCMSgt was the first to drop through the opening, the confused PJs following after him if only because the ship was clearly being evacuated.

As they plummeted towards the ground, all became clear. Their Vulture was going down in flames, a gaping hole in her dorsal armor over where her power core once was, which explained why they didn't beam out. There was probably only enough juice left to get the flight crew back to the Ares. That hole in the armor had been put there by a Ha'tak descending into the atmosphere. Ba'al had broken through the orbital defenses, the planetary defense shield was down, and what remained of his fleet was descending on the planet below. Over a thousand meters behind them, the Ares' STO cannons shifted their targeting to destroy those ships descending over the battlefield while the Ha'tak attacking the ship itself did so with impunity, the enhanced shields on the Invasion Carrier more than able to handle the weaker weapons of the Ha'tak for a limited time. Three-thousand meters below them, the battle for Memphis raged on, now made more chaotic by the untimely arrival of the other Goa'uld.

Another thousand meters before them, three Ha'tak descended on the city of Memphis itself. As they did, a vast network of plasma cannon nests tore into Ba'al's ships as they approached and destroyed two before they could land. The third made to land in the city itself and hit a shield that protected the city from attack. The two shields battled briefly, pure white versus crackling orange, before the Ha'tak's shields failed and the ship, no longer capable of fighting gravity as the plasma cannons tore into its engines, fell into the superior barrier that protected the city. There was nothing left of the Ha'tak by the time the shield finished vaporizing it. That would make taking the city harder.

As the Ares focused her fire on the Ha'tak assaulting her people, another Ha'tak shimmered into view above her. The ship, as it decloaked and diverted power from the cloaking system to the shield, took a few hits to her hull that would be concerning if the ship wasn't decked out in armor far in advance to Ba'al's own. Despite the power of the weapons brought to bear against his new ship, the armor held long enough for the shields to be activated. As they came online, so too did her weapons. Plasma cannons returned fire with greater speed and quantity while thin beams of blue-green light bypassed shields to cut power lines, pierce reactors, and destroy Pel'taks. They obviously weren't plasma beams, that much was for sure.

From the black structure that surrounded the golden pyramid, four more ships detached themselves from the Ha'tak's hull and moved into orbit, their own weapons firing. Then they vanished into hyperspace and four Ha'tak were destroyed from within their shield envelope.

"Who the hell are these guys?" Chino asked in an astonished tone, his voice in Taylor's ear as they continued to fall, Ba'al's Ha'tak slowly descending as if it were chasing them.

"Ares is an Invasion Carrier," Taylor replied. "With weapons that are designed to assault a planet, not take on a fleet, did you really think Homeworld Command would send us to a planet we knew Ba'al would be at without reinforcements?"

"The Impolans!" Walsh exclaimed as he realized who would be willing and able to stand with the Tau'ri against both Ba'al and Ptah.

"I've got a new mission for your team, Alcatraz," Taylor said as he brought the conversation to where he wanted it, the whole lot of them plummeting through the air the whole time.

"You want to go after Ba'al," Alcatraz simply stated, the helmets keeping the wind from taking air from their lungs and making holding a conversation while falling at terminal velocity an easy task.

"And you're going to help me capture the bastard alive," Taylor replied as they fell through a field of weapons fire as one of the Impolan ships made a bombing run on their target to buy them the time they needed to land safely.

***Local Cluster (Sol System)***

**Earth (Orbit)**

*USS Apollo (Bridge) [Section D]*

The Apollo circled around for another pass at the Ori Mothership, the Odyssey close on her tail. As her forward viewport lined up with the battlefield, Ellis saw two things that shocked him. The first was the Nex coming out from the behind the moon and firing a black beam at one of the Ori Motherships. He, like everyone else, had thought the ship destroyed. The second was thing, which he found to be truly shocking, was that the beam the Nex was firing went right through the untouched ship's shields, and, after a second, blew out the other end.

A message beeped and Twitch, the helmsman, said, "Sensors indicate that their shields are down, but their weapons, engines, life-support, and all other systems are still operational."

"Take us in and blow 'em apart!" Ellis ordered as the Nex lined up another shot at the next ship.

A volley from the Apollo's ion cannons destroyed the first unshielded Mothership, and, as the distance between the Apollo and the next ship closed too fast for them to fire on it, the Odyssey's beam weapons tore the ship apart. That was the last of the hard combat for them, however, as the rest of the Ori Motherships broke off of their attacks on the Odyssey and Apollo, which were actively chasing the Ori around orbit, and the Cursor, which was limping its way to the safety of orbit where the PDS would compensate for their lack of a working shield system, and headed straight for the Nex with the obvious intent to kill the monster of a ship once and for all.

*Paciscor of Nex (Combat Information Center) [a few minutes earlier]*

Coming around the moon, the Super Dreadnought lined up its forward beam cannon and fired. As the Ori broke off their attack on Earth to charge the Nex, Sieon's eyes went wide and he said, "I'm going to regret this!"

"Wow, I leave you alone for five seconds and you get us into another messed up situation," Widget immediately griped at him as his body took form with a swirl of light. "This fleet is only a diversion, you do realize that right? The Ori are trying to keep us fighting over Earth long enough to martial their forces and really bring the heat," Widget said as he pulled up a display that showed the Ori Supergate activating, and a fleet of ships then flying through.

"Yeah I see it," Sieon replied in an agitated fashion, waving his hand through the hologram to get rid of it. "Target their Bridges with the DMEB and I'll handle the rest. General O'Neill, we've got a major problem developing up here. This attack isn't their full force like we initially assumed. They've got more ships coming through the Supergate as we speak. I repeat, enemy reinforcements are inbound. Exact number to be determined later."

Short blasts from the DMEB briefly connected the Nex to the leading ships, Widget's accuracy not only better than the organic's, but also making it to where he didn't extend enough energy to fire completely through the ship like Sieon had. Widget's accuracy kept a weapon capable of bypassing shields from piercing the PDS and hitting something on Earth. As the crippled ships drifted, dead in space without their command centers, Sieon unleashed all the power his wounded ship had.

Blue bolts of plasmatic energy gathered from the protostars that power the ship fired from the plasma repeaters, weaker bolts than what a normal plasma cannon could produce, but faster firing. The ion cannons the Nex used were older than the ones everyone else had. While just as powerful, if only because they had four stars powering them, the cannons were awkward to say the least. They relied on a positively charged ionic mass being fired from a cannon. In order to give the ionic mass a motive force, a negatively charged electron beam 'tagged' the target ship. The negative charge forced onto the target's hull attracted the positive ion particles. This gave the ion cannons a very limited ability to curve their bullets as the magnetic fields drew together and brought the ion round slamming into the shield of the target ship. It was an old technology that the Asgard had long ago surpassed, but the Nex was older than the Ancients themselves. There were bound to be setbacks.

With a 'flick of his thoughts,' Widget even sent a couple of plasma rounds at the Mothership the Odyssey had, so long ago, destroyed the Bridge of. If they were going to take an Ori Mothership, it would have to be later. More pressing matters and all that.

*USS Odyssey (Bridge) [a few seconds earlier]*

"There's only three left," Marks said, a note of awe to his tone. They had stared down the guns of twenty-five Ori Motherships, and they only had three more left to kick out of their home system before this was all over.

"Then let's finish this," Davidson ordered. "Abe, stick to our six. We'll take out their shields, you finish them off."

"We're with you, Ian. Designate a target and let's show these bastards what happens when you mess with Earth!" Ellis replied.

After designating the rearmost Ori ship as their joint target, both Earth ships opened up with all they had. The Odyssey's plasma beams fired in a barrage, all six of the high powered weapons impacting the shields of the Ori Mothership. As the last shot all but depleted the shield and the Odyssey thundered past her target, the Apollo fired her coaxial ion cannon and the shield collapsed. The Mothership then died the death of a thousand cuts. Ion cannons and plasma rounds blasted off chunks of armor and melted through vital structural points respectively until the Mothership succumbed to the damage and fell apart in orbit of Earth.

By this time, the distance between the Ori and the Nex was so close that the Nex jumped again to maneuver around to their rear flank to buy them more time to fire on the enemy, the distortion caused by the FTL drive once again momentarily fooling the other ships' sensors into thinking that the Nex had been destroyed.

*Paciscor of Nex (Combat Information Center) [a few seconds earlier]*

As sparks flew and the ship rocked, Widget said, "There's only three ships remaining, but we've taken enough of a beating to the shields that we'll lose them again soon. We need to keep moving."

As the Odyssey and Apollo managed to take out another Mothership, Sieon ordered, "Jump us back into orbit."

Another moment of distortion passed and the display now showed the Nex behind friendly lines with the Odyssey and Apollo between it and the Ori. With the ship's advanced FTL drive and AI-enhanced targeting, all of the Nex's firepower seamlessly went from firing at one side to firing at the other as soon as the jump was complete, all without missing a beat.

"Turn us broadside and open up with everything we have!" Sieon ordered. As the Nex rolled onto its side, in relevance to the Ori Fleet, Widget fired every applicable weapon mounted on the top of the ship, being careful to avoid the friendly ships still in the hot zone.

*USS Apollo (Bridge)*

"Ian, I don't know about you, but I'm not staying between the Nex and her prey. I suggest we pull back," Ellis nearly shouted over the force of the hundreds of lethal rounds flying past them outside from both sides. Even with the whole 'sound doesn't travel in space' thing, the effect of that much firepower flying past them was enough to make you think it was noisy outside the ship.

"Same here, Abe. Marks, get us back behind the Nex but keep us in position to fire," Davidson ordered.

As the Apollo followed her sister ship, they both turned, increased speed, and disappeared into hyperspace. Both ships then reappeared on opposite sides of the Nex. The two supporting ships lined up their coaxial ion cannons and fired relentlessly as the Ori tried to make another push to destroy the Paciscor of Nex, which translated into Dealer of Death, the ship living up to its name with a bone-chilling efficiency.

Another Mothership fell to the combined might of the fleet defending Earth leaving only one left, its shield heavily depleted. The last Mothership exploded when it made a kamikaze run for the Nex. The larger ship disappeared yet again and left the Ori Mothership to crash head-on into the planetary defense shield. Apparently Sieon was as fed up with this as an alien older than the Human race could be.

**Earth (Surface)**

*Homeworld Command (Command Center)*

"Come on people, I need a fleet-wide sit-rep!" General O'Neill ordered as an uncomfortable quiet filled the command center in Homeworld Command.

"The Odyssey is still in one piece. We didn't take any pressing damage aside from a few minor systems that suffered from overloads," Colonel Davidson reported, his voice breaking the silence and allowing Jack to release the breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

"The Apollo wasn't so lucky. We've got… two hull breaches, one minor with no losses, the other semi-drastic but the damage was done to the bomb bay, so, again, no loss of life. Other than that, half of our Asgard systems aren't responding and our beam weapons are included in that. Twitch says it's probably an overloaded crystal somewhere," Colonel Ellis added.

"The Cursor is barely holding together. We took a rather nasty blow to the hull when our shields failed. Two of the Neutrino Ion Generators were severed from the power grid along with the ZPM. We're running on half our standard output, one of the coaxial ion cannons was cut in half by the blow, the hull is breached through ten levels, and all but our most basic systems are offline. We're limited to plasma cannons right now, but still… Whatever this ship is made of, the Asgard made it right. The Cursor is holding together despite the damage," Admiral Ricks replied.

"What's the status of our fighter wings?" Jack asked, dreading the reply. Even though the Nex had taken out the bulk of the fighters, the initial wave had so drastically outnumbered their own 302s that he feared they had lost half if not more of their veteran fighter pilots.

"Nothing to worry about here, General," Mitchell replied. Being a natural born pilot, Mitchell had opted to fly with the 302s in the battle so as to do his part. "Overall losses were low, we only lost ten fighters."

"So few?" Sam asked in an astonished tone. Glad, but still astonished.

"They weren't interested in fighting us until we engaged them in the atmosphere, and, by then, we had the advantage of numbers and the fact that their fighters are big, slow, and not very maneuverable in the atmosphere," Mitchell elaborated. "As for the atmospheric fighters… we lost a lot of good people."

"Copy that," O'Neill replied sadly. The atmospheric pilots didn't even know what they were up against. They died fighting an enemy they didn't know existed. "Get the fighter wings grounded, refueled, repaired, and restocked. We've got another wave of Motherships inbound. Now all we need to do is get the fleet repaired in time."

"All of those problems are fixable. The real trouble is the fact that the Ori are so damned devoted to destroying my ship that they tried to ram it!" Sieon growled, obviously outraged. "Widget, I want you to open the armor and cool the ship enough to keep the protostars from going critical."

"Having problems up there?" Sam asked.

"We had to put all four generators into overdrive mode to get the shields to hold out for as long as we did," Sieon replied. "The protostars on the Nex are just larger versions of the FSRs I gave you for the PDS. The stars are a kilometer in diameter at their largest instead of… what I told you earlier, I'm sure you remember, and the Nex's overdrive allows them to be that large which takes them to the very edges of their containment cells. It tends to overheat the hull and has the same effects that I told you about earlier. Now it's just a matter of cooling off the energy harvesting and containment systems so we can stabilize the output. Then we'll be able to get the more energy-hungry systems back online. Until then, we'll be dead in the water for the most part."

"Hold on, did you say that all those problems are fixable?" General Robinson, the Russian representative to Homeworld Command, asked.

"It's your call," Widget said, his tone indicating that the AI had shrugged to his master.

"The Nex is equipped with an automated repair system that utilizes a series of repair drones and nannites. In essence, we can build anything we want to out of nannites, but it comes with a risk. Just like the Replicator ships you've encountered in the past, these nannite cells will fall apart if struck by an energy wave that prevents them from communicating with one another. It works great for battle repairs, but building a ship out of nannites is about the dumbest thing you can do. Right now, I suggest we use the matter conversion system the Asgard gave you to start producing hull material en mass. If you do that, the repair drones can weld them into place well within the timeframe we've been given. Given that the Cursor is the only ship in need of extensive hull repairs, amazingly enough, the drones will get started on the Apollo and Odyssey. We'll have their systems back up to full power in the next hour. Use that time to get us the hull material we'll need for the Cursor," Sieon explained.

"It'll take the next wave of Ori Motherships sixteen hours to get here, just like it did the first group," Sam pointed out. "Can we really get it all done in that timeframe?"

"Only if we start now," Sieon replied.

"In the time we have before all hell breaks loose again, I'd like to get to the bottom of all this. I'm calling for an emergency meeting of the senior-most military personnel in Homeworld Command," Widget said.

If one listened closely enough, they would be able to hear Sieon sternly whisper, "Widget, these are not our people! They don't like AIs, and for good reasons. Don't piss them off by ordering them around like that. Request things, don't demand them."

***Milky Way Galaxy (Norma Arm)***

**Memphis (Surface)**

*Tau'ri Advance (Noble Team) [Section D]*

The arrival of Ba'al's Jaffa was both a boon and a hindrance. They were infinitely easier to kill than the Ta-tanen, far too disorganized, and far too undertrained to be a threat to the forces the Tau'ri had deployed, but their blundering around had opened up new options. Using the chaos their arrival brought with them, Taylor had the Tau'ri line advancing in a new direction. They retreated away from Ba'al's forces, leveling entire sections of the forest with aerial bombardment to be sure there were no AA guns in their way, and used the remaining Vultures to beam their troops past the second line of bunkers, foxholes, and holdouts entirely. Trying to take that position would keep Ba'al's Jaffa and that line of Ta-tanen too busy to stop the combined might of Earth's Special Forces teams from marching on the third line.

While true that this cut them off from their armor lines, it was only temporary. Tanks and artillery cannons were too big to 'fit into the beaming buffers' so the Vultures couldn't move them with the beam. The Pelicans, therefore, had been designed to circumvent this by carrying the tanks and artillery cannons over impassable terrain. It took ten minutes to redeploy the entire force the Tau'ri had brought with them. Another two minutes saw their lines reformed, their wounded sorted, and their soldiers rehydrated with a minor rest period while all this happened. After that, they were marching again.

They had started three-hundred strong. By now, they had lost forty-three to wounds and seven to the Grim Reaper itself. Considering the forces they were up against, that was still a comparatively low number. Once they managed to miniaturize a Naquadah Generator enough to fit one into their armor, personal shields would be standard issue and their losses would drop even more. That, and the forces represented here were still less than half the capacity that their Invasion Carrier could bring into battle. The Ares was a large ship by Earth standards. If the Daedalus-class needs a crew of two-hundred and is less than half the size of the Ares, then the three-hundred they deployed was a pittance. Sure there was another hundred people manning the ship's systems and another hundred dedicated pilots, but the barracks for the ground forces were significantly less than half full.

Like a submarine, the Ares had cramped living quarters and triple-stacked bunks. There was an entire deck dedicated to the soldiers she carried into battle. Everything from a gym to a fully equipped weight room, mess hall, entertainment area, and bunks. Less than half of the bunks were being used for housing, though that might be because the other bunk rooms weren't furnished. They were just large, empty rooms void of anything but metal walls, floor, and ceiling. Needless to say, the Ares was still a work in progress in terms of her Housing Deck.

"Sir, we've located the leader of the enemy opposition," a voice in Carter's ear said.

That brought him up short. Why were they telling him?

"Am I the ranking officer?" Carter asked more to be clear than out of any sense of trepidation. That was something a man needed to know to do his job properly.

"In this theater of operation, yes, sir," the voice replied.

"Alright, where is he?"

"Niptahkau has been confirmed as being present in the bunker half-a-click directly ahead of your position. Our forces are currently tied up across the grid. We'll redeploy what we can, but it's mostly just rescue teams left available."

"Every able body makes a difference," Carter replied. He had spent months training with Wolf Pack. It had given him a new perspective as to what exactly a team of PJs is capable of. "Send them in, shock and awe," Carter ordered before switching to his local battle-net. "We're being sent to capture the enemy leadership. Get ready for some heavy fighting."

"Yes, sir!" the assembled soldiers around him replied in unison.

*Command Bunker (Control Room)*

"The Tau'ri have used the arrival of Ba'al to slip past the second line unopposed," the Commander reported.

Niptahkau rubbed his chin as he took in the scene before him. The Tau'ri aircraft weren't bothering with their previous tactic of only targeting the AA guns. They were destroying the forest with impunity, uncaring as to the damage they caused to this world. Niptahkau respected that. If he had the task of invading Earth, he would care little about preserving the beauty of their world. The Tau'ri were too great an enemy to 'go easy on,' and now the Emissaries of the Mimner had revealed themselves, and fighting alongside the Tau'ri no less.

"They will be coming here," the Commander said in an attempt to get Niptahkau to say something. "Likely for you, specifically."

"Indeed they will," Niptahkau replied calmly. "When they do, however, they will find our forces ready. Cloak the ship and set it above us. Use its rings and altitude to establish a link to Memphis. We will need more reinforce…"

His words were cut off when an explosion shook the bunker around them. Niptahkau first instinct was to look at the camera feeds that showed the surface. What he saw were Tau'ri soldiers falling from the skies, landing amongst his troops, and firing on his fellow Ta-tanen from within their ranks. While this Falling Force tore them apart from within, a line of additional soldiers stormed the foxholes and pinned the Ta-tanen in place. Retreat was no longer an option. Then the bunker shook again, this time far more forcefully.

"Great One, the shield generator has just overloaded!" the young Jaffa reported worriedly.

"How did they manage such a thing?" the Commander demanded. "The generator is deeper even than this room!"

Smoke began filling the command center as the overloaded generator sprang fires in the room it was located in and smoke billowed up into the air vents then down into the other rooms. Niptahkau coughed as the thick, acrid smoke got even thicker. He stumbled out of the Control Room and into the hallway where the Royal Guard were assembled, awaiting his order, and the sounds of the wounded reached his ears.

They had been evacuating who they could so their soldiers could live to fight another day, but it was never enough. The Tau'ri were eliminating their forces without exemption. So few of the Tau'ri had fallen when compared to the number of his brothers that lay dead at their feet. Those who surrounded him, filling the halls of his command bunker, were the better off of those that remained. They would not last the night given the wounds inflicted upon them. The Tau'ri had been holding back all these years. Now Niptahkau saw what the monsters were truly capable of, and he knew true fear.

Gone were the simple vests that protected their soldiers, replaced with advanced armor that covered their bodies fully. The metal was tough, thick, and energy absorbent making the Tau'ri soldiers that much harder to kill. Gone were the simple rifles that fired bullets with small explosions as a means of propelling the projectile, replaced instead with weapons that had far greater force of impact, faster firing rates, and even greater penetration. These new weapons and armor he had seen before used by the Emissaries of the Mimner, and Niptahkau was beginning to question this 'alliance' they had with the Tau'ri. They fought too much the same, used too much the same technology. Yes, their ships were different, and they appeared to be of a three-eyed species, but none had seen one of these newcomers without a helmet. He questioned if there was truly a new species on the playing field, or if the Tau'ri had simply begun playing the game both in full, and on a whole new level that Niptahkau never thought possible.

The Tau'ri forces were vast and well equipped. Niptahkau had overseen many ground operations in his time. He had attacked enemies in the name of his God, he had defended worlds in the same, but he had never been so thoroughly matched. The Jaffa of the Systems Lords were easily cast aside and put down, but the Tau'ri? They were another beast all together and Ba'al's forces were now stretching his own all the thinner. The untimely arrival of the Hated One was most unfortunate indeed.

Then a crackling sound caught his attention. All of the lights in the bunker shut off, the power no longer flowing through the conduits. That should also be impossible. The generator for the base was buried under the shield generator and the flames would travel up before falling down. The entire bunker was sealed off from the outside world with the power lines safely kept inside of the armor that composed the walls. Something was wrong.

On the screen back in the Control Room that displayed the feed from the external cameras, Niptahkau, from his place in the hall, could see a figure staring directly at the camera. The figure, a male judging by his build, tapped the side of his armored head, then a voice filled the halls of his bunker.

"This is Commander Carter, US Navy SEALs. You are outnumbered, outflanked, and outgunned. Surrender and you'll be treated duly. Resist, and we will act accordingly."

Niptahkau couldn't believe what he was hearing. These Tau'ri blasphemers had the audacity to demand his surrender! They had slaughtered thousands, if not more, of his brothers, defiled his God's world, and now they actually expected him to surrender? With a snarl of defiance, Niptahkau gave his reply thusly.

"Anyone who surrenders I will kill myself!"

"So be it," the Human said solemnly, and the figure on his screen turned away from the camera to begin issuing order to his troops. Niptahkau had not expected his words to reach the Human's ears, but it was of no concern.

The rings that linked the bunker to the Al'kesh above them activated and deposited a strange looking device on the floor before them. Niptahkau was just about to order the device destroyed when the world exploded in a blast of intense noise and light, disorienting the aging First Prime. His hearing returned first, though the ringing in his ears made it impossible to discern anything specific. He knew only that they were under attack. He tried to be confident that the Royal Guard would hold long enough for his men to get their bearings, but the weapon used against them had not been an energy-based weapon like the grenades used by the System Lords. It was a physical attack on their senses instead of an energy wave overwhelming their nervous system.

Against such an attack, a personal shield was useless.

Niptahkau could feel the cold, metal hands on his own as his arms were twisted behind his back and held together by another device of the Tau'ri. He finally regained his wits as his vision returned and he looked around to find half of his men slaughtered on the ground where they lay. The others were likewise being bound and tagged as he himself was. Then they were moved into the rings and sent up, but it was not to an Al'kesh.

They were marched forward under gunpoint until they reached a room full of cells. Here another Human waited for them, his uniform different from all others and clearly marking him as their leader. He wasn't wearing any armor. That was his mistake. Niptahkau shoved off of his captors and bull-rushed the Human. The others didn't even bother trying to stop him and Niptahkau smirked. These Humans had no respect for their leadershi…

All thought left Niptahkau's mind as he passed through the Human and ran face-first into an energy field. He sat on the floor, his momentum having been arrested and reversed by the field, and looked up at what had to be a hologram. The Human was laughing at him. Openly mocking him even!

Niptahkau roared in defiance and stood to his feet, meaning to charge again, but the Human spoke. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he warned in a voice that held an electrical crackle further proving it was a hologram. Behind him, one of his soldiers raised its weapon and fired a shot at Niptahkau. He was disappointed to see the bullet impact the field that now surrounded him entirely. He was to be taken prisoner and given no honor in death. "You are a prisoner of war, and, as such, you are entitled to all the protections laid down under the Geneva Conventions of nineteen-forty-nine. You will not be tortured or subjected to any further physical harm. You will receive food, water and any medical aid you may require and will be released at the end of our conflict with the Goa'uld Ptah. Do you understand?"

Niptahkau gave no reply and the Human shook his head in scorn. "You Jaffa are all alike. Blinded by lies and too hardheaded to accept fact. If Ptah is a God as you say, then why were you defeated?" Niptahkau gave no reply. "Surely your God would protect his First Prime?" Niptahkau gave no reply. "Surely the most loyal and loved of the Ta-tanen would be spared capture by his God?"

"You will have not words from me," Niptahkau replied in the mongrel's tongue.

"You're mistaken if you think I care. I don't need anything from you. Your entire defensive plan has already been scanned, studied, and circumvented. The only thing left between us and Memphis is the shield protecting it. Ba'al's forces are minor and will be handled both quickly and easily. Memphis will fall by the end of the day. On that, you have my word," the Human replied darkly before turning away from Niptahkau. "Get the command staff back to the Ares. I don't trust an untested system to hold against a spiteful Jaffa."

"Yes, sir," the other Humans replied before the leader flickered away and Niptahkau felt the ship they were on begin moving.

Niptahkau looked around. There weren't many people present in this holding cell. Just the Ta-tanen Commander and the young Ta-tanen from the bunker with the other five members of his command team. None of the wounded. None of the Royal Guard. They were all back at the bunker, dead or worse.

***Local Cluster (Sol System)***

**Earth (Orbit)**

*Homeworld Command (War Room)*

"We know that the Ori managed to locate one of our satellites and infect it with a VI. Widget was then able to destroy said VI, but make it look like they're still receiving information from the network. We're feeding them falsified Intel in a bid to keep them off-guard," Sieon began.

"What's a VI?" one of the representatives present asked.

"A Virtual Intelligence," Sieon replied.

When the man only continued to look confused, Widget elaborated. "A VI is like the programming you use in your video games. It's smart enough to present a challenge to the player, but not smart enough to try and take over the world like the Replicators did. An AI, on the other hand, is smarter than a VI, and also has a definite personality. Or, at least, that's how the Furlings classified the differences between the two."

"I see," the man replied.

"Damages to all ships have also been repaired except for the Cursor's hull," Sieon continued.

"I can't fix it until Area 51 finishes producing the armor we need," Widget added.

"The Ori now believe that we've lost the Cursor and that the Apollo is unable fight. However, they're still mobilizing in force," Sieon finished.

"How many?" Jack asked, dreading the answer.

"I counted fifty," Widget replied sadly, "but the Gate was still active when I triggered the satellite's self-destruct to keep the Ori from using it again."

"FIFTY SHIPS!? We could barely handle the last twenty-five!" another representative shouted in disbelief.

"Short of equipping all of our ships with even more ZPMs to bolster their shields, we can't make any more upgrades to the fleet in the time we have, so I was wondering if the Nex is capable of producing ZPMs or more of your FSRs?" Sam asked hopefully. "Right now, I'm a little reluctant to advise pulling them from the planetary defense shield to install on the ships. With their numbers, we won't be able to tie the Ori up in battle like we did this last time, and they're sure to surround the planet and just start firing."

"The designs for the ZPMs can only be found in the Atlantis Database, the Ancients made sure of that, so, short of taking a trip to Atlantis, that's out of the question," Widget replied in a frustrated tone.

"As for the FSRs… the only production facility for the protostars was on Therum and it's just as lifeless as the rest of Furling Space," Sieon replied, his face dropping and the room becoming silent. He had told them about the fate of his people only a short while ago. It was another great tragedy in line with the extinction of the Asgard.

"And why, might I ask, are we not going to go to Atlantis?" Richard Woolsey asked, clearly confused by the lack of anyone jumping up to dial the Gate.

"Because I'm not allowed to tell you where it is," Sieon replied with an awkward, apologetic smile.

"We already know where it is," General Hammond said. "We've had a base of operations set up on it for the past three years now, but we still haven't been able to find the plans for a ZPM in the database. Are you sure they're there?"

"You have a base on Atlantis? Really?" Sieon asked with a sigh of relief. "Well, that changes everything! The designs for the ZPMs are hidden in a secure area of the database. Widget can access it, but first we have to get there."

"We can't take the Nex 'cause the FTL drive hasn't been used on an intergalactic scale in way to long for me to even consider trying to jump the ship out of this galaxy. However, if we use one of the ZPMs recently recovered by your team to simply dial the Gate there, I should be able to broadcast myself through the Gate and into their computers," Widget added.

"We won't need the ZPM," Landry replied with a shake of his head. "The Asgard gave us a power source that can dial an intergalactic connection. We used it to send the materials through that would be needed to upgrade the Daedalus and Atlantis. Which is another thing. We sent a message to Atlantis the moment we knew the attack was coming. We ran the numbers and figured the city would be here in two days. Even if they delayed their launch and left a few hours after we sent them that message, they're in the void between galaxies right now. There is no contacting Atlantis with the Gate."

"Is the city's subspace grid operational?" Widget asked, a devious smile on his face. The AI was linked to the suit of armor that Sieon wore and the built-in holographic systems allowed Widget to 'attend' the meeting 'in person.'