1802 October 27 1997 [Local Calendar]

Pocket Dimension

Outside of normal space

I fall into the ground from the planet and out of the wall of one of the warehouses near the Star port, momentarily stunned by the shift in gravity. Quickly enough I readjust myself and turn to my team behind me. "Go get yourselves geared up. Full kit." I say before turning around and jogging towards where I can see a line of Pelicans ready to fly with several Huragok floating around and some of the cloned pilots checking on things.

Moving towards the end of the line, I find one of the Stealth Variant Pelicans. As I approach I wave down one of the floating engineers. "Have you made any upgrades to this ship?" I ask, hoping that that's the case.

Hello, yes we have been working with this vessel quite extensively. The floating creature signed quickly, their tentacles moving in a highly complex series of shapes. The Ancilla Cortana has been giving us several new pieces of technology from the new vessel that she wanted integrated into this Pelican. The tentacles seemed to stumble over the very human word. We have introduced a superior power generator that can produce enough energy to sustain many hours under the new cloaking system…

Thankfully that answered my next question, unfortunately now it was on its version of a rant as it explained every single upgrade that has been made. After five full minutes of nonstop explaining, I decided that I needed to get moving and so I held up my hand to indicate a stop. "Thank you for the detailed status report, can you and your cohorts please prep the ship for flight?" I ask, getting a nod back from the creature as it turns to let out a series of moans and whistles to grab the attention of the other two Huragok inspecting the ship.

Seeing that it was well in hand… er… tentacle, I made my way towards the Full Moon. Thankfully the ship had originally been designed to land on a planet, unfortunately it wasn't meant to take back off, but I anticipate that we'll be able to work around that issue in the future. As I approach the hangers, they being the lowest point of the ship, I was pleased to find that a ramp had been lowered to accommodate vehicles loading and unloading. Stepping onto the flight deck I move to a terminal. "Cortana, are you here or over on the Battlecruiser?"

After a few moments longer than expected I hear the beautiful voice that I was hoping for. "I was on the Battlecruiser, but thankfully I'm here now. What do you need, Fred?"

"Well, first of all I need to address the issue of the name of the Battlecruiser so we can stop just calling it the Battlecruiser." I say, cupping my chin in thought before shrugging. "Fuck it, let's just call it the Valkirie and call it a day, we have more important things to worry about."

"I've updated the ship's registration, now what do you need me for?" She asked again, starting to sound frustrated with my lack of focus.

"Right, I need you in the Chief's armor in 30 minutes, get me a squad of Marines in EVA suits, and can you request a Huragok to come down and help with getting me suited up?" I list off before heading towards an armory.

"Oh is that all?" The AI replied, her voice trailing along with me from the speakers in the wall. I couldn't make heads or tails on whether or not it was sarcastic. "I certainly hope that you need me for more than just sending messages around, that's entirely within Vega's, admittedly limited, wheelhouse."

It was definitely sarcasm.

"Of course I do Cortana. I have a mission for you." I announce as I walk into the armory and move towards the weapons racks. "Once myself, the away team, and the squad of marines and loaded up and ready to go, we'll be taking a Stealth Pelican to attempt to capture an alien warship. On that note, how's your Egyptian Hieroglyphics?"

She paused for three full seconds, which means that she had actually taken a not insignificant amount of time to consider her answer. "I've just read up on them, given the context I'll assume that the ship in question uses a Hieroglyphic based writing system."

"Yep." I reply, pulling a SOCOM magnum from the rack, checking the slide, and grabbing some ammo before setting it on a table near the door.

"… Fine, I suppose that gets you off the hook for using me as a simple messenger." She says, and if this room had a holo-tank I'm sure that she'd be giving me a rather arch look with just a hint of humor.

Deciding to play along I reply. "Oh, thank you for your benevolence my lady." I say, pulling a BR55 from a different rack. I look in the vicinity of the Battle Rifles and find a series of drawers on the underside of the rack that have a pretty decent selection of modifications that are compatible with the weapon. I grab a Sentinel Sight, an Extended Mag, a Bayonet, and a Silencer. I would have loved to grab an Energy Bayonet but it seems like it wasn't available.

Moving over to my work table I am able to quickly assemble my chosen modifications. I finish tightening the final screw when the door opens and a Huragok floats in carrying the crate with my armor. In 60 seconds flat the mechanically adept balloon had gotten my armor fitted and secured. It only took me a quick movement to secure my gear to the magnetic clamps and jog out, grabbing Cortana's data chip from a console on my way out of the ship.

Making my way towards the pelican that I had ordered to be prepped, I see the two other SPARTANs and Sarah standing in front of the small formation that the marine squad had formed up in. Slowing to a walk, I move to stand alongside my team, handing Cortana to the Chief as I pass her.

"Alright, here's the deal. We have an alien parasite that is planning to kill all sentient life on the planet we just left. We're going to stop her, and as payment for our magnanimous efforts she's going to give us her ship. Any questions?" I say, trying to channel my inner Avery Johnson.

Seeing no indications of any, I continue. "Onboard the ship there are two High Value Targets. Once in the System, Cortana is going to attempt to find and isolate the HVTs before venting the atmosphere from every other compartment. If that is not possible then Kerrigan will stealthily make her way to the secondary HVT, she is a human girl no older than nine named Cassandra." Receiving a nod of affirmation from the woman I continue. "While she does that, the rest of us will make our way towards the primary target. If their cyber security is better than expected then we will be running and gunning. We have to take care of the primary before she can escape, activate the self-destruct, or both." Getting a nod from everyone I move to take a step before I remember something. "Oh and if the atmosphere is dealt with, either restrain or double tap any opposing troops. I have seen them survive that situation for maybe a week if they enter a deep enough meditative state, reducing their heart rate to one or maybe two beats per minute."

Having said my piece I stepped into the Pelican and made my way to the cockpit. I motion for Jane to take the controls while I climbed the small ladder to the navigation station. Once in my seat I checked to make sure that everyone was loaded up before pulling on my connection with the dimension, shunting the drop ship and its passengers into the same clearing where we'd returned from.

Feeling the engines starting to peak in their startup sequence I checked the controls and quickly found a switch with a safety cover that looked slightly off, not by any significant degree but it just looked like taking the speedometer out of one car and putting it into an entirely different brand and type of car. It didn't look out of place, just ever so slightly different from every other switch and display.

Flipping the cover open, I quickly flick the switch and the navigation display had an overlay that pronounced:

Stealth mode activated

Time until energy depletion: 3:44:59

Well that's convenient. I quickly plot a course for the moon and find that the best route will take about three hours, giving only 45 minutes to slip onto the ship and neutralize the crew… no problem.

2137 October 27 1997 [Local Calendar]

P8X-987 Lunar orbit

Milky Way Galaxy

Sure enough we were quickly approaching the Hatak that was in close proximity to the moon, and we had nearly an hour to do our work. "Cortana, is the ship emitting any frequencies that you can piggyback into their system from here?"

After five seconds of searching the AI responded. "I'm not detecting anything that I'm familiar with. My guess is that if they are aware of Earth's presence on the surface they might be trying to hide."

I nod, Nirti is a smart enough Goa'uld that she'd be cautious about dealing with any intruders from more advanced civilizations, not that she wouldn't fall into the same traps of being an egomaniacal bitch but eh potatoes potahtos. Guiding the drop ship towards a closed hangar on one of the sides of the primary pyramid I put it into station keeping so that we wouldn't move. "If the Chief were to give you direct contact to the door, do you think you could open it?"

"No idea, I've never interacted with the systems on these ships. If nothing else there's a personnel airlock 50 meters above the hangar door, it probably wouldn't be too difficult for an infiltration team to gain access as those kinds of access points have an external terminal."

I nod and begin to exit the cockpit, the Chief following me. Looking at the marines strapped into their seats I focus on Seni and Sarah who are sitting next to the ramp. "Six, I want you in the pilot's seat. Sarah, you're with the Chief and I." The women give me a nod of acknowledgment before standing up.

Seni quickly makes her way to the cockpit while Sarah grabs her rifle from the overhead storage. I move to the side hatch and look around to ensure that everyone has their helmets on, while Environmental Defence II should allow us to operate in vacuum without any ill effects, it is better to be safe than sorry. Confirming that everything is in fact secure, I depressurize the rear compartment and open the hatch.

The infiltration team makes our way quickly onto the outer hull of the pelican before making the quick jump to the hull of the Hatak. The Chief and I manage to get our magnetic boots onto the hull, but it feels like walking on an oiled marble floor. Damn, I forgot that gold wasn't exactly magnetic. It was rough, but doable. Feeling a psionic pulse I look over to see Sarah using her mind to anchor herself to the hull much better than the two Super Soldiers.

With deliberate care we make our way up to the access point, and I flash an acknowledgment light to the Chief, signaling her to plug in our rather rambunctious AI. The Chief placed her hand on the panel next to the door and with a flash of blue light Cortana was in the system. In less than 10 seconds the airlock cycled and opened, allowing us access.

"Come on in, I know it's a little cold outside." Her playful voice sounded in our comms system. As we entered the airlock she continued. "I've secured this channel and overridden the airlock sensors. Unfortunately that was the easy part, their system is so different from anything I've interacted with before that it's taking longer than expected to access their primary operating system, on the bright side their cyber security is essentially nonexistent. I'm uploading the ships schematics to your HUD now."

Sure enough, the motion tracker in the armor flickered for a moment before reestablishing itself with the three Green recognized friendlies in the small room right in between a hallway and a vast expanse of nothing. As I was looking at the map the chamber repressurized and allowed us into the ship itself. "Cortana, give me a waypoint to get to the hangar." Before the final syllable was pronounced a pair of overlapping blue triangles appeared ahead and to the left of our current position and a line appeared on the motion tracker following that same general direction.

Just before we could start moving I heard the rhythmic pounding of heavily armored feet coming down one of the connecting corridors and I quickly gestured for the team to duck into the cover offered by the doors of the airlock. I quickly sneak a fiber optic lens around the corner and watch on my HUD the image of eight Jaffa turning the corner and walking away from us, deeper into the ship.

Once the sound had passed I quickly motioned for us to move forward and led the way to the intersection. Making sure my motion tracker was clear, I turn the corner and make my way to what looked like a ladder.

About halfway down the hall I hear the ships alarm going off. "What the hell?" I ask myself as I break into a full sprint. "Cortana, what happened?"

"One moment, checking." There was a noticeable pause before she responded. "Damn, this ship has internal sensors that are capable of tracking life signs."

That technology shouldn't have been invented yet, and even then it was Anubis. Well if anyone would have this kind of tech, it'd be either Nirti or Ba'al. I think to myself as I skip the rungs and just slid down the ladder into another hall but my tracker kept pointing down so I kept going.

Three floors lower and the waypoint was finally on the same level as me, unfortunately so was a squad of Jaffa. I dove behind a golden support strut and pulled my Battle Rifle off my back and leaned around the corner to take a shot.

At the same time I pulled the trigger, a trio of golden energy blasts impacted my chest immediately dropping my shields to nothing but static dancing across my armored body. Those three shots were contrasted by nine others going wide, compared to my three round burst dropping one of them.

"Chief! Sarah! Any time now would be appreciated!" I shout into my comms, squeezing myself back into the corner I was currently using for cover.

In answer to my words the Chief dropped down, ignoring the ladder, and lay down a sustained burst from her Assault Rifle while moving to the support across from mine, her shields dropped as she pressed her back against the wall and used what little room she had to allow her shields to recover.

Once Jane's fire cut off I saw a shimmer swing down out of the ladder hole and stay in place before a crack rang out and two more Jaffa dropped, one with the left side of his head missing and the other with a hole the size of a fist punched through his chest.

Feeling a bit like I was the guy getting carried by the team, I decided it was time to step up. Peaking around the corner I saw that there was five bodies on the ground, two from each of the women and one from me. Leveling my own rifle, I let off a trio of bursts, dropping two more and clipping the arm of a third. A quick count brought the total to five remaining combatants, well four and… nope that guy is just powering through.

Having several high energy plasma weapons pointing in my direction was plenty motivation to take cover. Looking across at my fellow SPARTAN, I motion for a grenade toss. Complying immediately, I watch her hurl not one but two grenades down the hall.

One, there's a lull in the amount of fiery impacts two feet from my head.

Two, one of the Jaffa shouts. "KREE!" In the kind of way that you only get when a live grenade is involved.

Three.

There's a pair of whumps, as it seems that two of the men dove onto the explosives to save their comrades, deadening the explosions to the point of being disorienting rather than deadly.

The deadly part came for the final three men when my companions and I all vacated our cover and each pulled the trigger once. Stepping over the remains of the firefight I stepped over to the wall that had a large golden hieroglyph inscribed panel either engraved into the wall or decorating it, I wasn't sure. I quickly found a small serpentine symbol about waist high and rotated it about 45 degrees, causing the blast door to open.

As soon as it opened Cortana radioed us, a tone somewhere between fear and confusion evident in her voice. "Fred, the ship just launched two escape pods from the brig."

I was confused for a moment as well, checking my map I saw that Cassandra was still in the brig, and Nirti was still in her throne room/ bridge. Then I realized something. "Cortana, what's the approximate landing position?" I ask in growing horror, hoping that my suspicion isn't true.

"The pods will land approximately 2 miles northwest of the Stargate." Came the reply immediately.

"Damnit, Cortana can you commandeer the weapons and shoot them down?"

"Not before they touch down, I've been focusing on life support and communications." She replied, my fear being reflected in her voice.

Damnit, what can I… "Hijack the comms array and patch me in." I tell her, motioning for the team to move into the Hanger. "I want you to take off the kiddy wheels and bulldoze the systems, no more escape pods are to be launched, and lock down all of the Ring platforms."

The A.I. didn't reply verbally but she did blink her digital acknowledgment light twice as the icon for an outgoing transmission bloomed on the left side of my HUD. Taking a breath to steady myself I begin to speak. "SG-7, SG-7, this is Commander Drake. Be advised that you have an imminent Biological or Chemical attack inbound. Ground zero will be approximately 3 kilometers north-northwest of the Stargate, touchdown will occur in…" At my prompting Cortana displayed a countdown in the center of my line of sight. "Three minutes and 43 seconds, I say again three-four-zero. I have no idea if it'll work but your best bet is to get into MOPP four, full hazmat. Halt all outbound Gate activity, we don't want whatever this is to get through to Earth. General Hammond, if the Gate is currently open from your end I recommend closing the iris and waiting 72 hours before sending any personnel through, subject to environmental change on this side. I don't think that I am currently able to receive any signals, but I am praying for you all. Drake, Out." I finish with an air of solemn hope, disconnecting from the communications array. "I just hope that it gets there in time."

A/N: Alright, here we are once more. So this is still the infancy of my ability to write direct combat scenes, and I'd greatly appreciate getting feedback on what I did well and what I could do to improve it. Now then onto review responses.

Amerikhan: not to spoil anything but you're not far off. And I meant to address your previous comment last chapter, but was too excited to get it out. Thanks for that clarification about the deep dark secrets of the Star Forge, great to know. The only problem is that this story is really a self insert (in the event that wasn't obvious), and I'm trying to keep it to what I knew at the time that I started the story. So as of November 2022, I thought that the Star Forge was just a ridiculous amount of production, the tool to create the biggest stick, with some mandatory maniacal laughter added in. (Just to clarify I am aware that there is a high degree of Dark Side manipulation at play.) So while I appreciate your clarification on what I was stretching to achieve, I am still going to write it as I do, but now I have something in my pocket for when I get to Star Wars.

Mugen-Muse: you are entirely correct, I just kinda let things get going on their own and next thing I know those are the words I'm writing.

Once again I thank everyone for your support and for enjoying this crazy tale that is brewing in my mind.

Read. Follow. Review.