Robotech: The Stargate Saga

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and universes that I am about to mangle around and mash together for my own demented author amusement – sadly all Robotech and Stargate characters and concepts remain the property of Harmony Gold and MGM respectively – I am merely borrowing them and make absolutely no profit from their use. As a result, please keep the legal attack dogs – also known as lawyers – firmly muzzled and on a leash as I have no money to give to anyone.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Asgard Battlecruiser Skuld

Calora Orbit, A Few Minutes Earlier

"Commander sensors indicate that the power output of the Ancient warships gravitic reactors are rapidly increasing towards normal output levels. All primary systems on the warship are also beginning to power up and awaken from storage mode."

Sitting on his command throne Commander Audun listened intently to the report from the sensor officer on the change in the status of the Ancient warship docked on the planet below. A warship that until a day ago they had not known was there, indeed nobody but the native Calorans had known was there. A warship that thanks to an ancient interaction between returning Lanteans and the ancestors of certain Terrans was now slowly, but surely, coming back to life. Soon, if there was no undetected lingering damage from fighting the Wraith, it would be able to leave the world that had been its home for the last ten thousand years.

"What is the status of the vessels propulsion systems," he asked.

"The ships inertial dampeners, anti-gravity wave generators and gravitic ion engines have begun slowly powering up," the sensor officer reported scanning his holographic screens to confirm, "as has the hyperdrive. However, all four systems were completely shut down and cold and so are having to go from a full cold start. It will be at least fifteen minutes before the vessel is able to fly and nearly an hour before they'll be capable of even short-range hyperspace flight."

"Understood. Keep an eye on them."

"Yes commander."

"Our new friends definitely have a strong connection to our old allies," Briar commented observing the main holographic display showing an image of the Lantean destroyer as it slowly but surely came back to life after ten thousand years of dormancy. If all went well both with the vessel's reactivation and in discussions with the Caloran leadership, then the destroyer could soon be flying the stars again – at least for a little while.

"Indeed," Audun agreed, recalling what he had been briefed on by Thor and what Loki had discovered during his latest bout of mischief making and law breaking, all for the greater good of course. Granted this time he might well have accomplished the long hoped-for, prayed-for even, goal of curing them of their genetic and cloning problems it still didn't excuse some of his more reprehensible actions, like abducting someone and experimenting on them while a handy clone took their place so nobody would be the wiser about the person being missing. As part of his research Loki had discovered that some Terrans shared specific genetic traits with the Ancients – with Captain Hunter having the strongest known expression – which their near constant exposure to the ambient energy field created by protoculture was only amplifying and enhancing. Something that would be frankly quite fascinating to monitor to see just what happened as there was so much about protoculture, and how it affected living beings, that they did not know.

He was brought out of his thoughts by a warning bleep from the sensors. "Commander long range sensors have detected a large number of Goa'uld warships in hyperspace approaching our location," the sensor officer reported grimly, "they will be here in another few minutes."

Ba'al has moved quicker than I expected, Audun thought with a slight frown of concern knowing that even for the Skuld a few dozen Goa'uld ships were not foes to be challenged lightly. "How many," he asked after a moment.

"We read twenty-nine individual contacts commander," sensors reported, "war book identifies them as three Sha'ha'tak-class motherships, twelve Ha'tak-class motherships and fourteen Nar'kesh-class frigates. ETA two minutes."

Audun and Briar exchanged a look of mutual concern. A Goa'uld fleet that large was something to be both respected and feared as the Goa'uld had them massively outgunned and while the Skuld had very powerful shields, some of the strongest in the fleet as only the shields on the Gungnir-class battleships like Thor's ship were stronger, and superior weapons this was not a fight they could win. But then they both knew that they didn't need to win the battle that was sure to erupt when the Goa'uld arrived…

…they just had to delay them.

"All hands to battle stations," Audun ordered after a moment. "Bring all weapons systems online and divert as much additional power as possible to the shields. Communications contact Supreme Commander Thor and advise him that we are about to be attacked by a large fleet of Goa'uld ships belonging to the System Lord Ba'al."

"Yes commander."

As alarms began to sound throughout the ship, summoning the crew to battle stations, Audun looked over at the holographic display showing the projected arrival time of Commander Neleya's fleet. Based on what they knew about the capabilities of Zentraedi space fold drives they would be here in at most another ten minutes. Which would instantly tip the scales quite firmly in their favour as even the watered down particle cannons and lasers issued to the Zentraedi by the Robotech Masters were nothing to sneer at power wise and had shown quite clearly at the Battle of Elysium that they could quickly beat down even the new, more advanced conformal shields that the Goa'uld had begun employing on their ships since their current civil war – one of the worst seen in the Goa'uld Empire for a good few centuries if not a millennia or two – began several years ago.

"Commander the Goa'uld fleet is dropping from hyperspace," sensors reported, "original tally confirmed… this is strange."

"What is it?" Briar asked even as a faint thrum of power ran through the ship as their lateral thrusters fired turning them to face their parasitic foes and incidentally bringing their primary weapons arrays – especially the heavy ion beam cannon – to bare upon the Goa'uld.

"Sensors are showing differences in the weapons systems on one of the Sha'ha'tak, three of the Ha'tak and all fourteen Nar'kesh," sensors reported, "the plasma cannons have a different design to anything we've ever seen them use before. They look almost like a Goa'uld take on an Invid plasma lance."

"Confirm that," Audun demanded exchanging a slightly alarmed look with Briar. If the Goa'uld had gotten their hands on Invid weaponry somehow or someone among them had managed to create something like the powerful plasma beams weapons used by Invid hiveships and supercarriers – which was a distinct possibility as the Goa'uld were far from stupid and could be both very sneaky and very innovative when they actually wanted to be, it was one of the things that had made them a power to be respected – then it would be a potentially dangerous shift in the balance of power between them and the Goa'uld in this galaxy. Especially as beam weapons were far more effective against shields than bolt firing weapons.

"Confirmed commander. Some of the Goa'uld ships are armed with plasma beam weaponry albeit crude plasma beam weaponry. Commander the Goa'uld have raised shields and are powering up their weapons."

"Why did we not know the Goa'uld had developed something like that?" Briar wondered.

"I don't know," Audun reported grimly, "though if Loki's tampering with our monitoring satellites have something to do with it." He didn't say anything more as he didn't need to as while Loki might have indeed solved the biggest problem facing the Asgard his tampering of the satellites letting the Goa'uld develop something like plasma beam weaponry without their knowledge would come back to bite the renegade scientist badly.

Though even as he thought that he realized that there was another and potentially much simpler, but still very dangerous, explanation for the Goa'uld suddenly having access to such an advanced form of plasma weaponry. The Terran Lieutenant Grant who, through the actions of an idiot who should have known better, had been taken as a host by an unknown Goa'uld. A Goa'uld that then caused an explosion on the factory satellite and used the subsequent chaos to steal a ship and escape into Goa'uld space. If that unknown Goa'uld had entered Ba'al's service – which wouldn't be an uncommon thing for a young Goa'uld In their first ever host to do as it was the first rung on the long and very greasy ladder to promotion and power in the Goa'uld Empire – then that would explain how the plasma beam weapons came about as if he remembered right hadn't Lieutenant Grant spent the Terran/Zentraedi War as an engineer on the SDF-1. Thus he, and now by extension the Goa'uld inside and controlling him, would have the knowledge and experience to create such an advanced plasma weapon.

Which made it more imperative than ever that they find this Goa'uld. Find, remove him from his host and terminate him before he could pass more robotechnology secrets onto the Goa'uld. The parasites were bad enough as they were they didn't need to add even simple knock offs of robotech weaponry and robotech in general to the repertoire of stolen knowledge that they used to oppress so many worlds and species across a vast swathe of this galaxy. Audun made a mental note to speak with Thor about this as soon as possible, any form or facet of robotechnology in the hands of the Goa'uld was not a situation that could be allowed to endure.

Right now, though he had to deal with Ba'al and what robotech he had here and now. A point emphasised by a chime from communications.

"Commander we are being hailed by the Goa'uld flagship," communications reported. "It is Ba'al."

"Acknowledge the hail," Audun ordered, "I will speak with him."

"Yes commander."

Hopefully I will be able to keep him talking, Audun thought knowing that would give their new Zentraedi allies – and certainly Thor as well as he wouldn't be at all surprised if the Gungnir was already moving out of Earth orbit to come racing to their aid – time to arrive. Arrive and drive Ba'al away from this planet allowing the recovery of the Ancient warship to continue without any Goa'uld interference.

A holographic screen blinking into existence in front of Audun brought him out of his thoughts. It showed the typical ancient tomb/temple motif of a Goa'uld bridge right down to the presence of braziers and the hieroglyph encrusted walls. Ba'al himself was sitting on a tall ebony throne with a pair of bull shaped statues on either side of him – their horns meeting some distance above his head and holding a glowing ball of light. Audun suppressed a shudder of distaste at the totally unnecessary decoration of the Goa'uld bridge or pel'tac as they called it. The Goa'uld spoke immediately.

"Commander Audun. I am Ba'al. You have violated my domain and threatened one of my ships. I demand you explain to me why you are here and what you want immediately. If you do not, I will destroy you."

"Dramatic much," Briar muttered giving the subtle Asgardian equivalent of a roll of the eyes at the pretentious attitude of the System Lord. Not that it wasn't unexpected given the Goa'uld had an extreme affinity for both pretension and melodrama. After all these millennia it was something practically written into their DNA. It was all Audun could do not to give a subtle, Asgardian chuckle of amusement at his first officers observation. Instead, he focused on responding to the Goa'uld.

"Lord Ba'al there is no need for threats," Audun replied, giving the Goa'uld a look that would hopefully communicate that he was not at all impressed by the bluster and threats. "As I told your lieutenant we and some friends of ours are here on a retrieval mission. Once we have what we have come for we will leave."

"Tell me what you have come for and I might be willing to allow it."

"You do not have a choice and this matter does not concern you. Please leave before any unfortunate unpleasantness erupts," Audun replied knowing that he couldn't, under any circumstances, tell Ba'al about the presence of the Ancient warship and the Terran officer who was slowly bringing it back to life. If the Goa'uld knew about it he would certainly move to capture it for himself, eager to pilfer the Ancients technology for his own use. Which was something that he could not allow, even if preventing it meant he and his crew would have to fight.

"I insist you tell me," Ba'al demanded. "I tire of asking this Commander Audun. What are you attempting to recover from a planet in my domain? And why should I let you have something that belongs to me? This is your final chance, answer me truly or I will be forced to open fire."

"I cannot tell you Lord Ba'al," Audun replied, "but do not think you will be able to attack my ship without ensuring that you and your domain will endure the most severe of consequences. Are you willing to see our Fleet wipe your fleet and domain from existence? Have you not learned from Seltok's foolishness?"

Audun gave a subtle Asgardian smirk at the expression of unease that appeared on the powerful System Lords face as he said that. Ba'al surely remembered Seltok as it had only been about a hundred to a hundred and fifty years since Seltok, then a powerful and ambitious System Lord, had courted the wrath of the Asgard Fleet by attempting to annex one of the Protected Planet's for its large reserves of trinium. Not only did they destroy his entire invasion force, but the retaliation strike had seen Seltok's entire fleet be destroyed and his domain fall in mere hours with Seltok himself being permanently disintegrated by Asgard offensive transporter use.

The prospect of his own domain facing such a strike was not one that Ba'al would relish. Not that it would happen as he had this Asgard ship outnumbered, outmanned, and outgunned. Plus, he had the new plasma beam weapons that young Tharos had cooked up for him. Against such power the Asgard shields, as undeniably powerful as they were, would not last long.

"I don't fear you or your threats Asgardian. Tell me why you are here, and I will be merciful and let you live and leave. Continue with this insolent defiance and I will destroy you. Tell me why you are here NOW. "

Audun resisted the impulse to sigh at Ba'al's shouted demand. He had hoped that Ba'al, who was known to be generally a very intelligent individual by Goa'uld standards, would be reasonable and leave. But that seemed to be a somewhat foolish hope on his part, the System Lords clearly believed that he had too much of the upper hand with both his superior numbers and his new beam weapons to be reasonable.

"You know I cannot," he said at last, resigned that a battle here was now inevitable.

"Very well, you have chosen your fate."

The holographic screen blinked out of existence as the communications link between the Skuld and Ba'al's flagship was closed from the other side. A new holographic screen showed the Goa'uld ships manoeuvring into a combat formation – Ba'al's ship falling back a bit behind the protection of the other two Sha'ha'tak and a screen of frigates – facing them. Fighters and Al'kesh bombers were also beginning to stream out of the Goa'uld launch bays and moving into both attack and screening positions. Alerts flashed on side windows on the screen showing the Goa'uld targeting sensors locking onto the Skuld…

…then the Goa'uld fired.

Glowing whitish-gold beams of superheated plasma lanced out from the Goa'uld fleet and burned across space towards the solo Asgard warship sitting in orbit of Calora. Almost immediately the beams impacted the Skuld's shields and shattered breaking apart and dispersing into a harmless fog of Cherenkov radiation even as the shield glowed and the vessel beneath shuddered under enemy fire. The Asgard returned fire immediately, silver-blue beams of ionic energy emanating forth from their weapons arrays towards the Goa'uld fleet.

Two of the frigates and one of the Ha'tak were hit immediately. However, it was here that the Asgard got a surprise as instead of their beams immediately penetrating the Goa'uld shields to impact, and then destroy, the ships the beams broke apart against the shields. The shields glowed and rippled, revealing the polycrystalline-like structure of the force field, but held against the onslaught, the beam energy dissipating in a fog of Cherenkov radiation leaving the ships beneath unharmed.

Pel'tac

Ba'al's Flagship

Sitting on his pel'tac throne Ba'al allowed himself a small, satisfied smirk as he observed the Asgard's first volley of return fire sleet ineffectively off the shields of his fleet. When Tharos had unveiled the beam weapons to him one of his first moves had been to give Nerus the challenge to create a new shield matrix design to better withstand beam-based attacks. Attacks that were far more focused and piercing than those from more conventional bolt-firing weapons which tended to be blunter and more concussive, thus very easy for even a basic shield matrix to defend against.

Somewhat to his surprise, when he really shouldn't have been as for all his disgusting qualities Nerus was actually very good at his job, the fat Goa'uld scientist had quickly produced the required redesign. According to Nerus it had not been that difficult to design the shield matrix to compensate for the difference in damage type and patterns imparted by beams. This was its first real test, and he had to say he was quite impressed with the new shield design. Coupled with the new weapons they would give his fleets a huge advantage over their rivals. Granted it would only be a fleeting advantage as Ra and the other System Lords would force him to hand over the designs to them for replication, but it was one he planned to exploit for however long it lasted.

"Shields are holding my lord. Our ships remain undamaged," his First Prime reported from the main console.

"So, I see. Our days of bowing to the Asgard may finally be over," Ba'al commented, "keep firing. Bring the Asgard shields down then target engines and weapons only. I want them disabled and ready for boarding."

"Yes, my lord."

Ba'al smiled evilly as he watched his fleet fire again upon the Asgard vessel that had foolishly trespassed in his domain. This time not only did his plasma beam equipped ships, with their longer ranged weapons, strike at the Asgard but so did his ships with more conventional plasma weapons. Which also allowed his Sha'ha'tak to start firing their superheavy plasma cannons as well, beams and bolts raking the Asgard shields making them flare with the strain.

Of course, the Asgard gave as good as they got unleashing a tide of energy beams. Beams whose power could not be denied as within moments a frigates shields – hit by two beams together – failed and the beams impacted the hull. Immediately the frigate erupted into a fireball as the naquada in the hull amplified and conducted the destructive energy of the beams. Ba'al scowled at the sight before making a mental note to put both Nerus and Tharos to work on finding a solution to that problem. Even as the frigate died the other ships fired upon the Asgard again pounding them hard.

"My lord the Asgard shields are down to forty percent," his First Prime reported.

"Excellent keep firing and prepare boarding parties."

"Yes, my lord."

Soon Asgard your secrets will be mine, Ba'al thought feeling a profound sense of satisfaction. For so long the Asgard had stood against the Goa'uld, now with one of their vessels about to fall beneath his newfound might he would get a chance to learn all their secrets. Secrets that would let him and his beloved Queen finally achieve their long-cherished dream of dethroning Ra and taking his place at the very top of the Goa'uld hierarchy.

"My lord sensors are picking up a massive power surge from the planet," his First Prime reported immediately sending a shiver of unease through Ba'al. "Some objects are coming up from the planet and are heading straight for us. Sensors cannot identify them."

"Show me."

"Yes, my lord."

Immediately the HUD over the pel'tac viewport shimmered and changed to show the snow- and ice-covered mass of the planet once called Calora by its punished inhabitants. A thin stream of odd yellow-white objects was coming up from somewhere in the mountain range that had separated the great plane on which the capital had stood from the caldera of the Antek'ya supervolcano. What in Ra's name are those, he wondered with a puzzled frown as the odd objects shot past the Asgard ship – even as said ship destroyed two more of his frigates and sent a Ha'tak to its doom – flowing around it like water flowing around a rock and continuing course for this ship. Within seconds they reached them…

…and the entire vessel resounded to a powerful explosion.

Bridge

Ancient Destroyer Aurelius

Presidential Bunker, Calora

A Few Moments Earlier

"The Asgard shields are failing under the Goa'uld plasma beam assaults," Rick said as, still sitting in the command chair and thus connected to the destroyer's datastream, he read the information being reported by the sensors. "They're down to forty percent and weakening rapidly. They'll be destroyed soon."

"Is there any way we can help them," President Jowmart asked, just beating Colonel Ferretti to the punch. "Could you launch this ship and take it up there to help?"

"No sublight engines and anti-gravity wave generators are still powering back up it will be at least another ten minutes before we can fly," Rick replied, even as something in the datastream flashed for his attention. With a part of his mind, he opened it and saw that it was from the neural interactive simulation of Captain Bonran, informing him of something that he could do now to help the Asgard. "But we don't need to fly to help them."

"What do you mean," Ferretti asked.

"Watch," Rick replied as he concentrated on both the hangar interface and the weapons systems of the Aurelius, well one weapons system. He sensed the hangar doors opening for the first time in ten thousand years, opening with ease revealing a long and miraculously still clear tunnel to the surface. A slight rumbling from outside caught the attention of both the Caloran president and the STORM Commando and they walked to the front viewport to see what was going on…

…to see a large circular hatch on the upper hull of the ship iris open. A moment later a stream of thirty small objects each squid-like and surrounded by an odd glowing yellow-white energy field emerged from somewhere within the ship, flying out through the opened hatch and shooting across the hangar and into the tunnel to the surface. They were clearly weapons of some kind, but unlike anything either of them had ever seen before. Prompting them to exchange a puzzled look before looking back at Captain Hunter to see that his eyes were closed as he was clearly concentrating on something.

A moment later a holographic screen blinked into existence for them to see what was going on. The stream of Ancient weapons was shooting along the tunnel leading to the mouth of the apparent cave in the side of one of the mountains and the frigid atmosphere beyond. In moments the stream of weapons was through the tunnel and climbing through the frozen snow-laden skies towards space, accelerating and travelling at a speed that seemed impossible for something so small.

In seconds they broke through the atmosphere and moved towards the battle, passing the Asgard ship – whose shields were glowing fiercely under Goa'uld fire even as it gave as good as it got unleashing powerful beams of its own – and moving through the Goa'uld fleet towards the command ship. The Goa'uld began firing small bolts of plasma from their defensive batteries at the weapons, but it did no good as even as the weapons simply charged through as if the bolts were no consequence.

Then they reached the Goa'uld flagship.

Immediately the stream of weapons passed through its shields like they were not even there and tore into the hull triggering a large explosion and an eruption of debris. A second eruption of debris appeared on the opposite side of the ship a second or so later as the stream emerged from the hull, arced around, and tore into the vessel again triggering more explosions and eruptions of debris and burning atmosphere as they attacked again and again. Secondary explosions tore through the Goa'uld vessel under the assault, and it visibly began breaking up as the weapons made their final strike. This time instead of burrowing through the vessel and emerging on the other side they stopped within its already starting to break up core. Then detonated each explosion creating the formation of a tiny quantum singularity – no bigger than a tennis ball – that pulled in the debris and burning atmosphere for a few moments before the subspace pressure of normal space-time caused them to implode each releasing a single devastating pulse of hard radiation and antimatter particles.

The blasts merged and tore through the interior of the mothership with the force of a hurricane. Already damaged reactors let go and in seconds the entire mothership simply ceased to exist, reduced to nothing more than a plume of burning plasma and irradiated dust.

"What the hell were those," Jowmart wondered awed by the display of power.

"In our language they're called drones," Rick answered, "from what I understand of the database so far they were the Lanteans equivalent of missiles and torpedoes."

"Lantean," Jowmart questioned. "Is that what the Ancients actually called themselves?"

"Yes."

"Can you fire again," Ferretti asked.

"I could but it won't be necessary," Rick answered a smile on his face as he read the information coming in from the sensors. "Watch."

The other two men turned their attention back to the holographic screen Rick had summoned for them and watched as first a hyperspace window opened and a second, much larger, Asgard ship that Ferretti recognised as Thor's flagship came charging into normal space. It opened fire on the Goa'uld immediately unleashing beams that were not only more numerous than those fired by the now smouldering Skuld but much brighter and far more powerful. In seconds one of the two surviving Sha'ha'tak exploded torn to pieces as heavy ion beams tore through its shields and hull like they weren't there to turn the entire vessel into a fireball.

Simultaneously dozens of fold spheres erupted into normal space, expanded, and evaporated to reveal the squadron of Zentraedi warships that Commander Breetai had dispatched to help secure Calora. Warships that immediately turned their mighty guns on the Goa'uld and opened fire unleashing a tidal wave of laser and particle beam cannon fire. Combined with the fire coming from the two Asgard ships it was as about as destructive as said tsunami. Over a dozen Goa'uld warships – including the third and final Sha'ha'tak – crumpled into plumes of plasma and energized flotsam under that sudden and ferocious bombardment.

The remaining Goa'uld ships broke and ran. Opening hyperspace windows and fleeing into them before their opponents could fire again and send them to their doom as they had their god and so many of their fellow Jaffa.

The battle in orbit was over.

"Unbelievable," Jowmart breathed with a shake of his head. He had never seen the Goa'uld be defeated so quickly and so relatively easily before, back during their own war with Ba'al destroying even one mothership had been considered a major victory. "I have never seen the Goa'uld lose like that before."

"They'll lose a bit more now," Ferretti replied, "there is no way that the Asgard will allow Ba'al's attack on one of their ships to go unpunished. The Goa'uld System Lords are going to have to do some serious grovelling if they don't want to face the Asgard's wrath and something tells me that is not something anyone with an ounce of sense wants to face."

"Couldn't happen to better people," Jowmart answered with a smirk, wishing he could see the looks on the faces of the System Lords at the notion that they could be about to be at war with the Asgard. A race his own people only knew by reputation as someone even the 'gods' feared to cross.

Rick smirked and was about to put his own two cents worth in when an alert from the proximity sensors caught his attention. Focusing on the alert the feed from the external optical pick-ups entered and filled his awareness and he watched as three people – one of whom he recognised as General Pemblake – come running into the hangar firing bolts from one working pistol at what looked like an entire pursuing squad of soldiers. Without hesitation, and with a mere thought, he locked onto all three with the Aurelius transporter and beamed them straight here to the bridge.

"What the devil," Ferretti said as three Caloran military officers, including Pemblake, appeared on the bridge in a shimmer of golden transporter light.

"General what is going on," President Jowmart asked, as startled as Colonel Ferretti by the sudden appearance of his military commander on the bridge though he guessed that Captain Hunter was the one responsible for him appearing here as while the effect had looked somewhat like their transporter beams it clearly hadn't been being both faster, smoother and much quieter.

"Mister President I am glad to see you're alright that he didn't get you," Pemblake said seeing his commander and chief here alive and well. Given what Messyr and three others had mounted he had feared that President Jowmart and their guests were all captured or worse dead.

"By he you mean Senator Messyr. He and some supporters tried to storm aboard but Captain Hunter used the ships internal security systems to disable them," Jowmart replied, "all seven of them are now lying unconscious in the brig."

"That's good to hear sir but Mister President we have a very big problem."

"Which is?"

"Sir supporters of Senators Messyr, Dukon and Svenkali with the support of Vice President Kuenovo have taken control of the bunker."

Authors Note: Well, another chapter bites the metaphorical dust. I hope you all enjoyed it. Ba'al is dead – or is he as Ba'al can be like a cockroach you can never be sure that he is gone for good as the wily System Lord always has backup plans and escape methods, some of which are not obvious. One thing for sure the Asgard are going to really go to town on his domain to both illustrate the degree of their displeasure over attacking the Skuld – which is still intact though quite seriously damaged – and remind the other Goa'uld of the price they can pay for crossing them. Until next time.