Johnathan was monitoring his station in the hanger bay while working out the bugs on another piece of reverse engineered programming when he noticed something and brought it to the group's attention.
"Alexander, another one of those large pyramid ships seems to have drifted into Earth's orbit. The orbit is decaying fast and will breach the atmosphere before long. It'll probably crash into the Pacific Ocean."
"Perhaps you should destroy it like you did the Reelokian vessel?" Giles suggested.
"I have a better idea." Corda said. "It's alot smaller and weighs a whole lot less then the asteroid did, we could tow it to the moon. Not to mention, Earth could use the spare parts from it to maintain the functional one until they have more ships of their own."
"And the moon isn't nearly as far as the Kuiper Belt. We'll have to decloak again to do it, but will be out of the cloak for alot less time. I say we do it." Alexander agreed.
"Then we should do it now." Johnathan said. "The orbit is decaying fast."
"Alright, Corda, Jonno and Oz. There and back again. Let's go." Alexander ordered and the three of them followed him to the Altimah. Once they were all in position, the awning and hanger bay doors were retracted and the Altimah left the hanger bay and cloaked, headed for the pyramid ship. Once there, Alexander dropped the cloak.
"Activating tractor. Jonno, monitor the Altimah please, make sure those repairs on the microfissures hold. Oz, watch the Potentia, we just can't be too careful with it. Fortunately, this will only take a few minutes. Accelerating to one quarter light speed. And we have arrived at Earth's lovely moon. Take a moment to admire it people, who knows when you'll next get to see it so close. And tractor is released. How are the repairs holding, Jonno?"
"Just fine, not a crack and after that wild ride in the Earth ship's wake, I'm not surprised, but wear and tear."
"Potentia barely noticed what we were doing." Oz reported.
"Good, reengaging cloak and heading back to the hanger. Quick and easy and I hope I didn't just jinx us." Alexander joked, as the Altimah headed back to Earth.
Maybe he did because a few months later Oz, who was working to recreate the hand held scanner with available Earth tech, was also multi tasking by monitoring a station in the hanger bay when he noticed something.
"Alexander, I think there may be a cloaked vessel above Earth. The cloaked satellite detected a fluctuation in the star field." Oz reported, startling everyone because Oz just didn't use that many words when he talked. Alexander moved to examine the readings.
"I think you're right." He said. "A fluctuation like that could indicate a cloaked ship. We haven't reverse engineered the cloak yet and we saw no indications Earth's ship had a cloaking mechanism built into it. We should take the Altimah up and check it out. It's a poorly made cloaking system if it's fluctuating like that. Or it could be damaged. Someone may be in trouble. Either way, it bears investigating."
Once again, the four of them took their positions and Alexander launched the Altimah. As the Altimah approached the cloaked vessel, they scanned it.
"I'm reading thru the cloak." Johnathan reported. "I don't think it's damaged. It's a very small ship. The dimensions fit that one the people used to gain access to the first pyramid ship we saw. I'm not reading any damage, it appears it's just a badly made cloaking system."
"So if they're not damaged, then I doubt they're hiding for a good reason." Corda commented dryly.
"I'd have to agree." Alexander said. "Let's try hailing them, I don't want to fire on them unless they prove to be an enemy. Attention cloaked vessel, state your business for being in Earth's orbit."
"My business is my own! I am Osiris! How dare you question me?!"
"More Gah-uhl people, the ones who like to pretend they're gods." Alexander retorted.
"Goa'uld! We are Goa'uld! Remember that name for you will soon bow to us!"
"Arrogant little bitch, isn't she?" Was Corda's comment on the situation.
"Alexander, she's powering weapons!" Johnathan called out.
"So much for avoiding a firefight." Alexander snarked, as he returned fire.
"The cloak on the unknown vessel has failed." Oz reported, wanting them to be sure to understand it wasn't their own cloak that had failed. See, he could use more words, he just chose not to.
"Didn't expect anything to happen to it. We definitely build to last." Alexander joked. "Firing again."
"Unknown vessel damaged and jumping to hyperspace." Johnathan reported. "Are we going to pursue?"
"I don't think so. We stopped them before they could do anything. Let's return to Earth. We'll keep an eye out and if they show up again, see about sending them running again."
Unfortunately, maybe he should have pursued, they'd never know if confronting, firing on and letting that little ship go, contributed to the reasons why a massive fleet of ships, led by a very large pyramid ship appeared in orbit over Earth's southern pole a few months later. But they did know they had to help, even if it meant exposing themselves to Earth.
"We're going into true combat. Corda and I have alot of years of experience at this. Jonno, you and Oz don't. If you choose not to come, no one will blame you." Neither he nor Corda were surprised to find they both took what had become their regular stations. Much as Buffy, Giles and Jenny would have also liked to accompany them, they knew they'd be in the way. Alexander launched the Altimah and headed for the south pole.