Prologue
Ships arriving over Chulak was nothing unusual.
As one of the great Hub-Worlds of the Star Empire of one of the greatest of System Lords Apophis himself, it possessed a population of over 3 Billion, consisting of hundreds of millions of Jaffa, Billions of Tauri serfs and even a good number of human, Serakin and Unas Slaves.
Taken in grand raids on the territories of the Hebridan Commonwealth, rival lords or the tens of thousands of primitive worlds that were yet unclaimed by the impossibly vast realms of the system lords alliance, Anubis or the nightmares under his employ, the horrors of the Ashen, Sokar, the Jade Empire or the Free Races Alliance.
Dozens of ships arrived on the world even on a quiet day.
Massive Cheop class ships were today's travelers, each one many kilometers in diameter. Many decades ago, before the great galactic war, they had been the vessels of the now extinct family of the great Rah. Now, with the start of the immense galaxy wide Industrialisation that Sokar´s seemingly endless warmachine and the peerless production capacities of the Hebridans had forced on all their rivals, they and their successors were used to transport tens of thousands of tons of naquada, steel, foodstuffs and countless other items to the buzzling metropoles of the Galaxy.
Smaller Hataks of all generations, the newest ones coming straight from Abashier`s shipyards to nigh obsolete pre war relics and hulks retrofitted purely for planetary defense, alone, in duos and whole small fleets of them entered and left the system, on patrols, raids, garrison duty and a myriad other deployments.
Tel'tak's and and Al'kesh brought many a personage that were not fit to use the Chappa'ai, while traders and smugglers used a manifold number of "improved" improvised ship designs to miss the many patrols and star stations of the planet, disregarding the health risks such modifications had for the crew.
Indeed, ships arriving over the world was nothing new.
Still, the sight of 31 Kal'ek class hataks, brimming with heavy staff cannons and wielding dozens of naquada torpedo ports, all centered around an immense 4.6 kilometer broad Apophis class Mothership, whose main guns could lay waste to entire continents, unannounced on top of that, did unnerve the many commanders of the world's garrison more than a little bit.
So it was to the considerable relief of these Jaffa that their panicked notifications requests were quickly answered. Chulak's defense fleet may have outnumbered this force by a matter of three, but even with it´s orbital batteries, there would have been no way of handling this many modern warships without ruinous damage.
A number that would have been normal excessive for anything that wasn´t an outright war party, nevermind just as a personal escort. Except the person this fleet was escorting was anything but normal.
For the high vizier of Apophis, endorsed and chosen above all others by the System Lord himself, this escort was nothing more than yet another sign of strength, only the latest power play among countless in the court of a God.
For few things were more imposing than a fleet that lesser powers of the galaxy could only dream of being used as glorified bodyguards.
For Daniel Jackson, High Vizier over an empire spawning over ten thousand inhabited systems, mastermind behind the modernisation and industrialisation reforms that had made Apophis one of the greater powers of the galaxy, such things had long since become routine.
40 Years spent doing cloak and dagger plays within the court of a delusional alien claiming to be god would do that to someone. Of course he also had been always very careful to never mention that he was shamelessly copying and stealing from the dozens of great reformers and state reforms, people he had studied so intensely over his younger years.
Or that he was in fact anything else than a particularly light skinned member of a tribe of the desert continent on abydos.
He had, after all, every intention of taking the secret of Earth with him to the grave.
The thought of these more innocent days still brought a smile to his lips.
He barely noticed the tremble when his Mothership entered the upper atmosphere of Chulak, his high position easily allowing him to cut past all the red tape and regulations he himself had seen introduced.
The world itself had come a long way from the nigh medieval circumstances it had endured when he had been purchased there as a slave. He held fond memories of it despite that, partly because of all the nice visits to Teal'c's wife and son there.
Still that was not why he was there.
The recording device in the center of the room was still playing the scene that he and the First Prime had spent so long observing.
The Chappa'ai opened like it usually did in the center of Belak, the city that had formed around it after it had been integrated in the industrialisation of the world. It´s energy shield had activated and several hundred of jaffa around it had mobilized, for it was not unknown that some horror of the Ashen, Anubis, or forces of the FRA, enabled by some technological marvel of either tollan or hebridan make, managed to bypass such defenses.
Still, what happened next was unprecedented.
No creatures, soldiers or weapons, in fact no matter at all passed the so-called eye of the gods. Instead an mind spell of unfathomable potency breached the blue surface, strong enough to outright explode the heads of the handful of hoktaur dedicated to the defense of the gate, in a shower of gore and blood, before an intense purple blue hole formed out of nothing in front of the Chappa'ai.
Out of that hole then, stepped monsters fit right out of the gene factories of Anubis or the Ashen.
Tall green behemoths that seemed able to crush even an unas with just their hands. Massive serpents, 4-5 meters long. Most horrifyingly of asgard, bizarrely tall and aggressive, and Tauri, all armed with plasma and energy weapons, clad in armor that rivaled even modern Jaffa naquada suits.
And by far the most remarkable of all, an absurd number of Hoktaur in comparison to the quantity of the force itself, a force composition almost unheard of outside of the forces of Nirrti. And of course a large number of warriors of steel, robots as old earth would have called them.
In total, there had been about five hundred of them and yet it had cost them almost a thousand Jaffa and near the entire city's number of hoktaur to reduce them to a dozen that could be captured. Those captives were achieved with Zat'nik'tels or by chance with heavily wounded invaders, even then the frequency of that had been slim.
Not one had willingly surrendered.
"Their advanced technology and their warriors of steel indicate them to be of the heathens and heretics of the FRA." Teal'c began, addressing more the various Jaffa on the bridge than himself. "Reports of the Jaffa that faced them also tell that they have to various extent replaced their own bodies with forms of steel."
That caused enough rumblings in the others. Apophis, at the very least from the location of his empire on the galactic plane, had little contact with the FRA. Their numerous invasions of Anubis realms and those of his minions, as well as the titanic clashes Hebrida and Sokar had, if anything, aided him over the years. But there still had been a good number of skirmishes, especially whenever the latest tokra cell had been revealed.
These battles, from what reports Daniel had received - from both sides for that matter- had always been exceedingly bloody.
"Yet their use of abdominal fleshcrafting hints more at the enemy being from the origin of the Dark God Anubis or the demonic Aschen." Teal'c continued and this time there was much more clear and visible anger amongst the Jaffa. Little wonder. Given their relatively high positions as fleet and army commanders, they likely had been witness to at least one battle with either of these hellish foes.
As well as the horrific genocides they brought wherever they went.
"Beyond the demons in their force, the Tauri they brought also seemed to have some flesh craftsmanship to themselves." An exemplary picture of an admittedly gorgeous blonde woman showed up in the lower half of the hologram. Absent-mindedly, Daniel took notice of the various crosses on her armor.
Thirty years younger and he would have been fascinated at the tendency of parallel development amongst cultures.
"One of our honorable battle brothers sought to make this Hoktaur his spoil of war after the powers of her mind had been bound, and yet she spat a vile brew on his face that melted in less than a minute. His death was most gruesome."
Jackson couldn´t help but raise an eyebrow at the last sentence. He had to remind Teal'c later to hide his distaste better, lest he was caught. On that note, he mentally made a note to give the unit that particular Jaffa was part of the honour of being sent to the Aschen containment zone.
The percentage of warriors that survived such an honour past the first year was in the single digits.
Still, that was for another time.
The task of reforming the empire to be less monstrous was impossible enough already.
As he stood up to leave, the conversation between the Jaffa ended outright, a show of respect that probably was outright alien to Jaffa anywhere else, be they loyal to the Goa'uld or among the forces of the free jaffa.
They all remained silent even as the two thoroughly mummed up Hoktaur to his side followed him, the air around them brimming as if either was a miniature lightning storm themselves.
The "witches" Ass'ud and Isertu were two lovely ladies he had more than once served tea, their bodies as third generation Hoktaur showing none of the horrific deformations that had been the rumored reason for the uniform which traditionally covered the bodies of all hoktaur, for the shame they felt to be seen.
As far as he knew, the reason had rather been that the Goau´ld had demanded them to hide themselves for their "ugliness."
Two lovely ladies he had personally seen tear an Ashrak who had sought to kill him limb from limb. before liquifying his brain in such a manner that fluids had run out of his ears.
Neither had even stood up nor looked up from where they had been seated.
He shook his head to get that rather grisly image out of his head. To think Apophis had originally assigned them to him as a sword of Damocles to assure his subservience.
It was a wonder how persistent friendliness and good treatment could change one's loyalties when the previous employer had treated them like dirt or living weapons.
Though the way they abruptly could warp space around them in a purple outburst as so all sound was warded of was creepy for all it´s usefulness, he´d lie if he said anything else.
"Do you believe them to be from the Free Races Alliance or our foes, old friend?" Tealc´s voice was calm as always, but the little jump in his voice showed his excitement.
He could of course understand it to an extent. The prospect of a possible new advanced civilisation to oppose the System Lords was always a welcome one, given than among the hundreds of thousands of human civilisations in the galaxy, only the Orbanians, Aschen, Tollan and Hebridans could be said to do so, with only the Aschen and Hebridans having the both the technologies, numbers and sheer industrial capacity to do so on a galactic level.
Then again, as one of these four showed, a newcomer to the galactic fold hadn´t to be necessarily good news. As horrible as the Goau´ld were, the Aschen were worse, their atrocities only matched by the likes of Moloch and Anubis.
"They are not from the FRA. None of my contacts among the Tokra informed me of this raid and they´d knew better than to strike Chulak with such a small force. Not to mention that the FRA lacks the Hoktaur to simply throw them away like this." For all that the faction who came the closest to being the good guys of this nightmare of a galaxy, what they could boast of their industry and technology, they lacked the sheer number of "witches" that Niirti´s revolution had introduced.
Mostly because the Hebridans and Tollans weren´t so careless with human lives to accept a thousand dead for each living Hoktaur made.
"Neither have my brethren among the free Jaffa." There was still that quiet joy whenever he mentioned them, that even Daniel couldn´t help but share.
It was of course always possible that the Hebridan News Bureau had acted on it´s own accord without either Tokra or free Jaffa aid, for he knew they always had mistrusted his sincerity to the cause of the free races of this galaxy, but even they wouldn´t have acted this foolishly.
"Anything that points towards the Ashen?" The Humans amongst their force, for all the genetic manipulation of them going by the reports had looked far too….. intact (for a lack of a better word) to be of Anubis's hosts.
"No diseases of the body, soul or mind have been detected on any of them, nor any of the other usual foul weapons of suffering and death."
Diseases of the mind and body were such terrible small words for what the genetic and memetic hazards of the Aschen did.
Daniel didn´t believe in souls, but if anyone could make a poison just for it, it would be the Aschen.
"So not them then." That pointed towards a new species.
If that was good news or bad news, he still was going to see. No matter, he had seen pretty much every horror he could have seen in the 43 years since he had been picked up by jaffa on Abydos. Aliens, monsters, evil coffins that could resurrect and corrupt the dead.
Seen it all.
This new alien race or collection of races wouldn´t be able to surprise him.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Haste demanded that his party simply ring directly into the keep acting as their prison. Apophis would personally hear of this situation, the sooner the better. However, Daniel ordered his craft to land at the spaceport. To personally inspect the damage to the realm, as to be thorough in his report. Apophis would understand his excuse.
Under the typical megalomania was a clever mind by System Lord standards, who was easier to persuade than he thought, but still he appreciated loyal yet competent underlings. So long as Daniel wasn't too tardy and delivered a concise presentation, Apophis would be patient for a couple hours.
Yet Daniel had more reasons than economic reports or reconstruction estimates to walk to the prison. Oh he would give Apophis any information he requested as expected of a good Vizier, but his reasoning for this delay was anything but loyal.
With Teal'c leading as the public persona required, and flanked by a Jaffa guard detail who tracked anything that moved, Daniel walked the short distance from the spaceport to the prison, getting an eyeful of the aftermath. And earful, and noseful, and all the other senses too. Jaffa had cordoned off the area, so he could get away with a smaller escort.
A guard tower had fallen just out of the way of the path, busted yet largely intact save for its base. That appeared to have been melted like a plasma weapon struck it. Dust had mostly settled by now, so it wasn't difficult to breathe. Its former occupants rose from resting on the rubble to hail them, sporting bandages over light injuries. They were the lucky ones.
Passing the rubble of a warehouse, Daniel slowed to count bodies inside. Mostly Jaffa with a few tauri workers or watchmen, many charred with uncharacteristically small burns for staff weapons, though after a moment he amended that thought upon seeing a slave tossing burned limbs into a pile. A stench of charred meat hung in the air, a cloying scent that made him glad his last meal was a while ago.
Old chainmail had offered zero protection, newer trinium or naquada armor withstood the foe's weapons better even if they had not held out for long.
Some of the fallen outside looked to have been crushed, wrapped by some living chains or smashed by boulders, leaving bloody piles where they fell. Slaves hadn't cleaned up this area yet, so Daniel was treated to the lovely view of a wall splattered with blood and viscera, apparently where the Jaffa were physically pelted against the stone. At least the smell of blood was weaker, it wasn't doing that annoying tendency of sticking to his tongue.
Weirdly some of the Jaffa bodies looked unharmed, their armor was practically untouched. Their faces were covered in blood, gushing from all their orifices by the looks of it, and the smell when they walked past. Crude compared to the ladies' work, but clearly effective.
Teal'c slowed, affording Daniel the perfect opportunity to see what had wrought such carnage. Surrounded by Jaffa guards, specially trained slaves, fulfilling the role of tradesmen under the new order, carefully picked around a torn up section of wall. They were collecting samples and recording data for the researchers, methodically working towards five blood soaked bodies.
The armor was strangely designed, with thick plates and soft looking underpads, largely black but with patches of what looked like camouflage patterns painted on. Or was before staff weapons had scorched it. Yet the armor was still recognizably intact, strange. High end FRA equipment was this tough, but the design was nothing like Aschen (no respirators) or Hebridan (not stylized enough) gear.
Four of the five looked like tauri, the last was a snake. Daniel had trouble taking his eyes off the beast, seeing what looked like a gigantic king cobra with its hood bared and fangs out, staring with milky eyes towards the sun. Clawed arms were splayed out, one anyway, the other was blown off. While its body was riddled with wounds, he saw similarly designed armor on its hide, just like the human-esque allies it had died alongside. He saw no weapons on any of them, instead a slave was carefully handling several crates onto a cart.
Daniel was so glad that his position let him pinch his nose without losing face. The smell clinging to this area was unpleasant, it would always remain so. Forty years of horrors hardened his will, but he would never enjoy this sight.
"What was the composition of the attackers?" Teal'c questioned a wounded Jaffa, both of them looking at a swollen corpse that looked like it was already rotting. But it had only been a few hours? Daniel spotted a gash on the poor man's neck, then eyed the dead serpent uneasily.
"Most were tauri and hoktaur, my lord. These beasts were in the minority." The Jaffa clutched his ribs, hissing in pain. "I-I already checked, their armor is not mechanically enhanced."
"Most troubling. Rest now, I may request your presence with our lord soon." Teal'c dismissed the Jaffa, moving on to ask details from a handful of others. How he could remain so composed was a mystery.
Focusing on that Jaffa's stoicism helped bring his mind to his newest task: gaining an idea of how these newcomers could help. If they could. One needed only to recall the Aschen to understand why a new civilization was regarded with suspicion nowadays. But even a mad dog could distract the overseer, thus he went to work.
On the way to the prison, Daniel noticed a good sign among the carnage. A squad of Jaffa called in from another city were rounding up a number of tauri in the ruins of a temple, beating them, counting their numbers. A lot at a glance, outnumbering the Jaffa by quite the margin. Not so much that they could reenact Rah's downfall unfortunately, but their survival painted a picture of what these people were like.
The main shops along this boulevard which sold goods to ship crews were flattened, and several buildings nearby collapsed. By the looks of it, the attackers had consciously focused on the system lord's forces, not destroying infrastructure or civilians on purpose. No doubt many slaves did perish, those new blocks were crowded after all. But it could have been worse.
Especially with who did it.
Again they slowed, seeing Jaffa holding a perimeter in biohazard gear. His party was close enough to see bodies sprawled in the rubble, in particular a pair of reasonably intact creatures. As tall as tauri, but utterly naked save for a gauntlet, not that its body had anything there. The one in sight was muscular and pink skinned, with a huge jaw filled with fangs that hung open in death. Those black eyes it had made him shiver.
Superficially it resembled an Asgard, but the more he looked the more he wanted to dismiss that idea. They were related no doubt, but being this close he saw that the videos didn't capture the whole picture. Apophis might have grounds to make a case against the Protected Planets Treaty, but Daniel would advise against it.
Laying against the wall however was an ox of a creature, easily half again as tall as a Jaffa and nearly as wide. The busted remains of a mask showed a set of mandibles on its jaw, with massive arms that ended in claws. The beast was covered in gore, purple from its many, many wounds, showing red blood on its hands. Reddish scales adorned its remaining skin, whatever wasn't torn open or burned or stabbed. It endured a lot of punishment before it went down.
How tough was this thing?
He glanced back at the splattered wall and made a quiet 'ah' noise. Then offered a wince to a jaffa on a stretcher, coated in bandages and moaning in pain.
He spied some other things nearby, like a pile of burned metal parts with an inhuman arm sticking up, but Teal'c got moving again before he could examine it. The guards didn't let them get too close anyway, if for no greater reason than for corpse disposal under the hygienic procedures he championed.
All this damage, in just one area. This whole district had been hammered, similar scenes were present in adjacent streets around the chappa'ai. Any more damage and the defense fleet would turn its guns on the city, heedless of the people. Daniel did not follow that thought, nor did he ponder if he could have abused his authority far enough to stop them.
Probably for the best that they moved along, military affairs like this were better left to Teal'c. But all the same he was deeply curious.
Monsters like these things in their ranks, yet they avoided deliberately targeting civilians. Hoktaur in strength and numbers only Nirrti could manage. Equipment that was of high quality yet unknown manufacturer.
Friend or foe, Daniel was going to get a lot of use out of these people.
Catching a glance from Teal'c, they shuffled towards the squat building. Daniel's thoughts churned with what he observed, a chunk of his thought process drafting a report to Apophis, the rest working on how to contact this faction. He had to get in touch with the Tok'ra as soon as possible, they were his best shot at getting information. His contacts in the Hebridan commonwealth or the Tollan government may have something too, no stone could be left unturned.
Daniel did not focus on a crushed shop where another ox creature had smashed through, the kind of family owned business that had sprung up like weeds since industrialization began. He did not look at the smaller, not entirely favored temples which provided services to the population, helping with public health and offering opportunities for slaves with talents. These ones were perforated in the battle, it was unlikely that the priesthood would be quick to rebuild.
The smashed watchmen post he did look at, where tauri guards handled all the countless mundane crimes that Jaffa could not be bothered to do.
He mentally counted the damages, worth far less than the people who died. Slaves or tradesmen or Jaffa or whatever they were. Death was the same for all.
By his side he unclenched his fist before the guards noticed.
Teal'c hurried them into the building with a minimum of fuss, even considering how many more Jaffa there were than normal. Ones with heavy combat gear rather than the usual staff weapons, who only grudgingly allowed him in. Hums of shield generators made his skin prickle, heavy doors sliding open only long enough for the party to enter.
"I wish to speak to the prisoners. Lord Apophis will desire firsthand input." Daniel used the formal tone that usually got results, surprisingly the guards were still reluctant. "You value the life of a tauri over the patience of our god?"
That let him through. Past a blast door, then a shield generator, then another thinner reinforcement door, then a set of automated turrets. Jaffa hated those things, but machines weren't so easy to mind control.
In the old stone of the dungeons, still recognizable as such after the massive changes in recent years, Daniel came face to face with the invaders who could be his new allies.
Jackson´s lips, his very tongue were dry, so long had he been staring at the man before him. Of his bionic steel that seamlessly joined flesh on his right arm and leg. Of the gray hair on his head, the piercing eyes that burned with intellect, snark and power.
Of the muscles and size that he knew weren´t - couldn't - be natural.
"It´s been a while, Jackie-boy."
Jack O'Neill, the man who had once brought him to another star system all these decades ago, a man who was supposed to enjoy retirement on a peaceful, quiet Earth, untouched from Alien horrors, stared back at him, the helmet he had worn broken by heavy staff weapon fire, the injuries on his face healed by a regeneration that would have made an unas weep.
"W-what…. what happened?" The High Vizier allowed his eyes to wander over the aliens around him. Over the woman who had drily introduced herself as 'Samantha Carter' the 'Living Saintess of the knights templar.' Who´s magic had been responsible for half of all the deaths against them before they had been overwhelmed.
Of the impossibly advanced - by Earth standards- weapons that had spewn plasma and death. Of the personal shields, of the armored suits made out material he did not recognize, of the gene modifications that every human around here clearly was affected by.
Gene modifications that let a woman spew acid on a rapist's face that could melt through steel. Gene Modifications that made every human here at least 2 meters tall and that gave them -according to some hasty autopsies- multiple hearts, lungs as well as organs he knew were not human - like acidic blood- and that made a man he knew to be in his 70s look not a day older than 35.
"That…. Daniel…. is a long story." Jack let out a deep sigh as he looked around, the way his eye shifted clearly indicating it´s artificial nature as well. "Suffice to say…. you had it better off."
With a grunt he pulled at the chains holding him against the walls, the muscles on his natural arm clenching and tensing to a nigh unnatural extent.
Daniel groaned, using a great deal of self control to keep his composure. "Those are solid naquada chains, a hundred times as strong as steel."
"Bet I can break it." Jack nonetheless tugged, muscles straining. The chains held, but the stone they were embedded in almost a meter deep crumbled, dust falling to the floor as it gave.
Which in itself was somehow less disturbing than the multitude of popping noises that his fingers and joints made when they flexed.
A moment later, a green flash filled the area that caused his two bodyguards to twitch and step forward, purple energy bristling in clenched fists, with only a nod of himself sending them back.
"Huh, the tokra would be very interested in just how you managed to hide a plasma weapon from the scanners in that arm." Daniel raised an eyebrow as he sent a discrete signal, waiting for a breathless moment before two jaffa entered the room. "Jaffa Kree, what say you?"
"In the words of Master Bray'tac and Teal'c, kalach shal tek." Both jaffa pounded the ends of their staff weapons on the ground, then grinned. "Skek kek nem ron."
Daniel slumped in relief. "Thanks again Teal'c."
"Thank master Teal'c in person." At his wave the jaffa hurried to the chains, undoing the bindings. Despite a glower from Jack and showing no small amount of unease at his presence, they freed the man(?) from his chains, letting him flex his arms. One jaffa tossed a key for Daniel to catch, he managed not to fumble it.
While freeing his ankles Daniel observed how all around him, the other humans had their bindings undone in similar manners, with several men wrapping the naquada chains around belts or shoulders instead of discarding them. When their chief hoktaur in that knight templar garb was approached she let loose a shower of purple light, it was demonstrative more than threatening but it made the jaffa back away.
The fact that a formation named after an extinct catholic military order among what he presumed a group of US soldiers was almost as confusing as the presence of advanced genetic and bionic technology as well as the aliens.
"So, you mind explaining what happened?" Daniel finished and stood up, wincing a second at his back popping.
"I´ll tell you over a beer." Jack stretched himself. "But first I gotta check if you are still the Daniel I knew 40 years ago." His eyes blazed with blueish fire for a moment, leaving little for the imagination just how he intended to do that.
"Yeah, I can imagine that. There are many ways for an alien to turn a human's head after all." The only reason why he wasn´t being puppeted by a Goa'uld after all was that Teal'c and Bray'tac had succeeded in convincing Apophis that any Goa'uld with his information was too dangerous as a rival, and that a human who died of old age soon after he did his reforms was no threat.
Plus, there was of course simply the option that he had gone native and become a traitor.
He let out a sigh. There were plenty of lower "magic" seals in this prison, which seemed good enough to suppress the average hoktaur among the americans(?), but Jack and that woman seemed to be of a different cloth entirely. A bit like Ass'ud and Isertu, it seemed.
Speaking of them.
"I´m okay with that, but my two hoktaur might get pretty annoyed if you´re too harsh." And he didn´t just say that because he feared pain, he really didn´t. He genuinely didn´t know what the two would do if it looked like his mind was about to be fried, even if he told them to stay their hands.
Jack, of course, simply nodded and looked to the templar at his side. "Carter? What threat class are they?"
The woman in armor gave his two companions a short glance, one the two met before both, to his surprise, faltered and had to look away.
"Two beta-class psionics. Not a threat to either of us, Sir." There was absolutely no doubt in her voice.
"Aight. Beta-class, peachy." The man that had once saved his life scratched his neck with an arm made out of a metal he didn´t recognize. "So, yeah, those two ladies aren´t a concern, trust me. I´ve killed seven Ethereals and helped murk the big honcho of those guys."
"Ethereals? I don´t follow…." Was that the name of the Aliens that had obviously come to Earth? He had never heard of any of them from Apophis data-banks.
"I´m sorry… Daniel, but you will." And then an intense psionic bolt the size of his head struck him right in the forehead.
For a second Daniel felt like his head was about to pop like an overripe fruit, then he saw things. Secret bases charged with the most important mission in history. Enemies putting aside their differences to work together.
A city in flames. Skylines he recognized when he still had credibility as an archeologist, some he had never seen with his own eyes. He breathed in and suddenly coughed, hacking for air. All his lungs could get was smoke and ash, there was no oxygen here.
He looked up and saw lines of people walking in unison, marching aboard an alien ship towards certain doom. Turning around he saw hordes of deformed monsters swarming the streets, once human but no longer.
Blinking, he was inside a fortress that was not built by humans or goa'uld. Where monsters fired terrible weapons that killed men beside him, the fortunate ones died immediately from plasma or lasers, the unlucky ones… yet they charged forward anyway. For cause, country, species. Vengeance.
Because failure was not an option.
Because faltering would mean the end of everything.
Daniel had been through too much to turn away, he had to see what had happened to change so much.
And then he was pulled back further.
Past burning cityscapes he recognized from his youth. New York, Berlin, Paris, Cairo, Mumbai, more. All aflame, scorched beyond recovery.
Past a solar system where ships of the same kind were engaging each other. Lights flashed across the sky, it was so beautiful even when explosions ripped through space.
Past a dozen alien raids into neighborhoods and cities all across earth. Homes were smashed without a second thought, defenders could hardly slow down the invaders. Their weapons, their tactics, their preparations, all did nothing.
Past a military complex he knew from all these years ago, deep within a mountain where he proved his fringe theories were real, in defiance of the odds. Where he witnessed a classified project come to life.
Right to where it all started, on a balcony beside a plain house like any other, where a telescope was aimed at the sky. A starry night that was perfect for some amateur astronomy.
Then a car pulled into the driveway.