Stargate: Immortal

by Seraphin2011

Book III: The Ori gone, Aschen imprisoned, Wraith changed and pacified, yet the Alliance is threatened once more. The Vargas are coming and no one knows how they are going to survive an enemy that spans throughout the known universe and had done so for billions of years. By closing the anomalies, they have postponed the invasion by more than two years, but will that be enough?

28. Behind the Curtain

Author's note: It should have been around 10k long, but it turned into something much longer. That's why it took me a month longer to write it down. At least, I think the chapter came out right, but you be the judge of that.

Thanks to all who had spent some time thinking about the Destiny. It is often said that two heads are better than one, and it was the same here. After a little brainstorming, I now have a few good ideas on what to write in the next few chapters and how to make Destiny's crew do something meaningful.

Thanks to my beta, and I hope you'll also enjoy this chapter.

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"Sometimes I think we have the most exciting job in the world—that there just couldn't be anything better a person can do in life. We explore amazing places, meet interesting people, and occasionally vent our pent-up frustration by shooting bad guys," Joshua said but then frowned. "But there are other times..."

Joshua didn't need to finish the sentence for David to know the problem. He, too, felt frustrated. It didn't happen often, but Klaus sometimes gave them the task of following a ship to find its destination. Unfortunately, such jobs often resulted in no discovery after weeks or months of tedious tracking, mostly done through hyperspace; hence not much to see. Consequently, such missions would become protracted with only the target changing but the task itself still being the same; to follow a ship wherever it went, dearly hoping it would reach what they were searching for at some point. Sometimes they had the most boring job in the entire universe, and there was nothing they could do about it.

"This is the fifth ship we're tracking," David said as he stripped his favorite gun in the back of the ship on the table they used to dine. "I hope there won't be a sixth."

Looking towards the front of the ship, he could see the blue swirl of hyperspace outside. There was no point in sitting in the cockpit all the time. The system would inform them of any changes with the ship they had been shadowing for the past ten days. He hoped they would soon find what they were looking for, but only time would tell if the tracked ship was headed for the hidden Jaffa shipyard they were hoping to find. If that weren't the case, they'd have to spend more weeks following the next freighter on TIA's extensive list of candidates.

"Shouldn't this be done by an ONI team?" Joshua asked in frustration. "And why are you taking that gun apart again?"

"It's either taking the gun apart or using it on someone, and since we're alone here, you wouldn't want me to choose the second option, would you?" David said, irritated.

The mission had already lasted over a month, and it was questionable whether it would end soon. One month on a small craft like a corvette was worse than spending it in a maximum-security prison. Even the prisoners would get time in the yard each day—a necessity to ensure their physical and mental health. But what could the two do while confined on a ship with less than thirty square meters of available space?

He knew he messed with his gun so often that even he thought it was strange. But unfortunately, there weren't many options of what to do to pick from. Initially, he found solace in the virtual world the TIA had installed on their small spacecraft. However, that wasn't fun enough, mainly because the system was still in its beta and wasn't networked for obvious security reasons. So, he could only create simple scenarios where he could experience a different environment than the inside of the corvette. But he would realize that it was an artificial surrounding, which meant that the system setup did not meet the crew's needs.

"And to answer your second question, yes, an ONI team should do this work, but what will you do? Will you go complain to Klaus?" he asked mockingly.

"I'm not crazy enough to do that. I can already imagine how Klaus would put on a good-natured smile and agree with me. But before you're aware of your grave mistake, the conversation would turn to another job he'd like us to do instead, and that task would be ten times nastier. Fuck boredom. It would be fine if the next mission didn't force us to infiltrate a nasty group by posing as their sex slaves. The best way to deal with Klaus is to listen, nod in agreement, and do whatever the man asks without complaining!" Joshua said.

"I'm glad you understand. Besides, ONI teams are still green and have no idea how to mingle with the locals. We have to finish this mission covertly. Even if we need to speak with aliens on an alien world to get valuable intel, we must skillfully prevent revealing we are spies," David said, his thoughts drifting once again towards the disassembled gun lying on the table. "I might be able to get a better rate of fire if I put in a faster power converter."

"You might. The gun might as well blow up in your face the first time you fire it," Joshua retorted. "No matter what you do, it will still be just a gun. You're not going to make some ultimate death ray pistol that can vaporize everything in its sight by tweaking it incessantly every day. It has already grown into a gun that will never be mass produced because it has become too expensive and moody to give to the average soldier or spy."

The gun was the same type that Ronon used. Still, he had tweaked it with the knowledge he found inside the vast Terran database that he could no longer consider it the same weapon. He had improved its firepower, rate of fire, and modalities of use beyond the scope of such a pistol. He installed an unnecessarily large power source that allowed it to fire two thousand rounds before needing replacement. It now also had a rapid-firing mode resembling that of a rifle, it could overcharge a shot a hundredfold, and it had almost no recoil while firing. Its accuracy also equaled that of rifles.

It was like turning an ordinary thousand T-credit gun meant for mass production into a unique specimen costing closer to half a million T-credits that no top brass would ever agree on producing. If those in charge knew what he had done, he would undoubtedly receive a stern reprimand, and they would confiscate the gun to show others what to never do in their spare time.

Therefore, there was no point in trying to improve something already improved to a stupid degree, but a month spent in isolation inside their tiny corvette made him find even more idiotic things to consider. It wasn't just the gun, as he had improved every piece of tech he could get his hands on, such as his bracelet, armor, grenades, and other tools of their trade. Joshua even had to step in when he started doing the same to his equipment. Joshua didn't want an AI built into his armor to improve the way he walked or help him during combat. He fervently explained that he also didn't need their already powerful grenades to become even deadlier to the extent that the blast could reach them even if they were well over thirty meters away. David explained that he had solved the problem by improving their armor's reactivity. The AI would (on its own) decide if the blast would injure the wearer and would jump to safety. Joshua had then forced him to go through the upgrades until satisfied that nothing too outrageous remained.

David decided to be sensible and quickly put the gun back together. Joshua was right, but that didn't change the level of boredom he felt. He glanced back at the cockpit, with the same blue swirl of hyperspace greeting him through the forward view. He was sick of looking at it, dearly wishing the mission would end with this latest freighter they were following. He stood up, stretched a bit, and then went to the small fridge, where he grabbed a mango-like fruit that tasted like a pineapple they picked on a planet he could barely remember. He got hooked on it and started thinking it would be nice to create an exotic fruit plantation on Earth after retiring. Having spent so much time inside the corvette, he decided to live outdoors in his retirement days, somewhere warm enough to even sleep in the open. As much as he loved his job, it had taken a toll after so many years of doing it—one so big that even shooting at the occasional villain couldn't make up for it.

Can he continue doing this job for years or decades? He was a Terran with a life expectancy of two hundred years, and he didn't think he could always do the job.

"How long do you think we can do this job before we burn out?" David asked.

"If we manage to last another five years, it would be a miracle. Although, I heard that Klaus plans to give us a long rest after we finish this mission. He realizes we're going to burn out if we keep going at this rate," Joshua replied.

"How long will that vacation last? And didn't he promise us a long vacation before, only to end up with a miserable two weeks?" David asked.

"This time, he sounded determined, unlike last time. He mentioned six months to a year," Joshua said.

"Well, the TIA has enough agents now to cover us, and the ONI is getting more and more work as well," David said. "But what should I do for an entire year? It can't be anything serious because there's no guarantee they won't recall us earlier."

"He mentioned that we can choose between relaxing on Earth or one of its colonies—all expenses paid, of course—or we can take our little corvette and go wherever we want, but preferably somewhere with no bad guys ready to mess up our vacation," Joshua said.

"He's even willing to give us a ship," David said, feeling that somehow it didn't look appealing to spend their hard-earned vacation time on the same small spacecraft he stayed on every day. On the other hand, he had heard that Haven was an incredible place, with exciting things to see and equipped with ultramodern resorts where they could relax. "I think I've seen enough of this ship's interior to spend six months or maybe even a year of my free time inside it."

"You may be right, but we've visited a few quite interesting planets. But you're right. Spending time on Earth or a colony sounds more appealing. We'll have some easy jobs once we are back on duty; we can visit those interesting planets then. I don't think Klaus is so cruel to give us a job like our current one right after returning," Joshua said.

David finished the fruit and went to clean up the mess he had made in the back of the craft. He was the type to pull out any tool, whether he needed it or not.

"I ate the fruit, put everything back where it belongs, and the boredom is back full force," David said.

"At least you ate the fruit and cleaned up the place. I've been sitting here the whole time watching what you're doing," Joshua said.

"You need a hobby," David said.

"I have many hobbies; it's just that I can't do them while stuck on this little ship," Joshua replied, sounding discouraged. "It's depressing to think that even fishing would be nice now."

David knew what he was getting at. Tales of the legendary Jack O'Neill traveling everywhere through the past while spending months—or years, depending on who told the tale—doing nothing but fishing spread across the Earth. Hearing these stories, people wondered if they could do the same if put in an analogous situation, especially the fishing part.

That's why fishing became synonymous with someone not knowing what to do with themselves. Eventually, even Jack had to give up on it and find more exciting things to do. That resulted in the man building a spaceship no less and wandering the galaxy for decades while visiting exciting places and meeting fascinating people from Earth and the Milky Way's past.

David believed that ninety percent of the stories he'd heard exaggerated how enjoyable their High Councilor's adventures had been, but he couldn't be entirely sure. Either way, he envied Jack for how he had spent the last two centuries of his life, regardless of how correct the rumors truly were. But he didn't envy him ever since he returned to his regular job full of filling paperwork from dawn to dusk.

"Then go fish in the virtual reality," David said.

"It's not the same. You can set it to easy mode, which makes the fish rush to the bait like there's no tomorrow, or you can set it to hard mode, where the fish mocks you," Joshua said. "That beta needs some serious tweaking before being of any use."

"I think they did it on purpose," he said.

"On purpose?" Joshua inquired.

"Think about it. If staying in the virtual world was interesting, we could start slacking off. We might not want to return to a reality in which we are stuck aboard a tiny ship with nothing to do. That's why the TIA set a lousy virtual reality system that is barely entertaining and just enough to prevent us from blowing our brains out but without worries that it might cause addiction," David opined, slightly disgusted. "Then they call it beta to trick us into thinking the resulting crap wasn't intentional."

"Well, I wouldn't put it past Klaus to do something so despicable as long as he got the result he wanted," Joshua said.

Suddenly, David heard a familiar beep.

"It beeped, didn't it? I don't think I misheard it," David asked, looking intently at the cockpit. He didn't want to rush there only to be disappointed.

"I heard it too. The console beeped," Joshua said.

"And that was the right kind of beeping, wasn't it? Two short and one long beeps, and then it repeats," David asked, still hesitating.

"It sounded just like it," Joshua replied, nodding in agreement.

There was no need for more questions. They both rushed to the front of the craft, with Joshua reaching the helm a tad faster. He worked his magic, checking in detail what the alert was about while David stood behind him anxiously awaiting the verdict.

"Our cargo ship just exited hyperspace within an uncharted system," Joshua said.

"What do we know about that system?" David asked.

"Since the Terrans never probed it, not much, but we at least know it has no stargate," Joshua said as he read the data on the screen. "But a probe that had passed long ago thirty light-years from the system reported a seventy percent likelihood that it contains a habitable planet."

The existence of habitable planets outside the stargate network was uncommon. Although the probe gave a high probability that a planet in the system could support human life, it must have such a harsh environment that no one would want to call it their home.

"Okay, no point in waiting. Let's sneak in and scan the planet from orbit," David said.

Joshua entered the necessary commands, causing the ship to exit hyperspace far away from the only habitable planet. Even if there were satellites or vessels with advanced sensors near the planet, they would still have difficulty spotting them. It instructed the ship to cloak before beginning the slow approach to the planet. After an hour at a sub-light crawl, they finally entered orbit and came to a halt.

"Here's our target," Joshua said.

As the planet spun, the freighter suddenly appeared, resting in geosynchronous orbit.

"The cargo containers have already separated from the Al'kesh and are currently descending into the atmosphere," Joshua said. "They're heading for the space dock south of the settlement."

The only settlement on the planet was visible, prompting the screen to display a wealth of related information, including its approximate size.

"That place can accommodate twenty thousand people. This is a real discovery considering we didn't know this planet even existed," commented David.

"That doesn't worry me, but the fact that passive sensors have difficulty scanning the settlement does. It's like there's a curtain over it blocking all emissions," Joshua said. "I might get more information if I go active with the sensors, but that would be the same as openly informing anyone listening that someone in orbit is snooping around."

"We can't do that. But I see dozens of visitors on the planet, which should make it possible to snoop around without arousing suspicion," David said.

"Alright, but we should prepare proper clothing to blend in with the locals," Joshua said.

"There's no need because I've added holographic mimicking technology to our armor. We can change our appearance whenever we want," David replied.

"When did you do that? And why didn't I know about it?" asked Joshua.

"You were asleep, and you often complain whenever I upgrade your armor that I chose not to tell you," David said, showing no remorse.

"We'll talk about that later. For now, let's upload the right clothing designs to the mimicking devices and hit the planet," Joshua said.

While they went to prepare, the ship slowly descended on autopilot deeper into the atmosphere and towards the only settlement on the entire planet. The plan was simple. They had to infiltrate the place and find where they had taken the cargo. It was the reason they were more suitable than any ONI team because they could blend in very well with the local populace. Over the years, they had assimilated all mannerisms peculiar to the planets they visited, and planets populated by Goa'uld ex-slaves were their specialty.

"We're loaded for bears, and with the mimic device, we should have an easy task to recon the place covertly. But something about that dampening field bothers me," David mused.

"Ask on any of the Big Whale's controlled planets what a dampening field is, and their people won't know the answer. The only work they did for their entire lives was planting crops, ninety percent of which the Jaffa and Goa'uld later took. Except for a small percentage, the rest could neither read nor write, and the Goa'uld would not have imparted such knowledge onto them. Those who set up the dampening field are not locals," Joshua replied.

They returned to the cockpit and sat in the front seats. Outside, the clouds still hid the view, but only for a moment. As they passed through them, the settlement appeared before their eyes.

"Find a clearing in that forest," David said, pointing where to go.

The ship banked left, heading straight for the forest's edge. They needed to land nearby; otherwise, it would take hours to exit the woods. The front view lit up a decent-sized clearing within the forest-an ideal landing spot.

Aligning the ship in the center of the 30-meter radius opening in the trees, Joshua gently brought the ship to the ground, then shut all systems down except the cloak.

"I don't think anyone will accidentally stumble upon our corvette. But just in case, I'll leave the passive sensors on and instruct the ship to send an alert if detected," David said.

Stepping out of the now dead silent ship, the two Terrans made their way through the thick forest towards the settlement. It took them ten minutes to reach the edge, not more than five hundred meters from the town's southwestern walls.

"How are we going to do this?" Joshua asked.

The guards would notice them walking along the clearing to the main entrance gate. That might not mean much because people from the settlement occasionally went to the forest. The inhabitants must have built the city near the woods to collect all kinds of resources from mother nature. But there was no reason to risk arousing the locals' suspicions if there were other options.

"We cloak and then uncloak only when inside the city somewhere where there are no eyes," David replied.

After cloaking, the two continued unseen through the clearing, the luckily open front gate on the south side, and three alleys before finding a deserted one. Looking around to ensure no passer-by or onlooker at a window was watching, they finally uncloaked.

Before descending on the planet, they scanned the city from orbit and, with help from high-resolution optics, generated various clothing holo-designs the natives wore. They chose slightly different attire to not look like two peas in a pod but still dressed in the most worn garments. At least based on their clothes, no one should suspect them to be spies.

"Now that we're inside the dampening field, I can figure out the direction it's originating from. We have a long way to go before we reach our destination, and it's on the north side," Joshua said.

"And we and the space docks are on the south side," David said dejectedly. Discovering where the damping field originated was their priority, as the people here had undoubtedly put it for a reason. "But there's nothing we can do to change that. Let's start walking."

Exiting the small alley, they entered the main street that led to the center of town, after which they would continue north. Mixing with the locals came easy for the two, who did it often. It also turned out that no one paid attention to them, or else they, with their keen senses, would have reacted to it.

Approaching the central square, David noticed the largest building seen thus far, through whose front doors he could glimpse at something interesting. "So, they have a stargate, after all."

"That doesn't make sense," Joshua said.

The Terrans knew the locations of every stargate in the Milky Way. Moreover, even if one took a stargate from one planet and placed it onto another, Liam showed them how to ping for the new location through the correlative update routine. So, it was very suspicious they didn't know about this planet.

The two of them, wanting to expose how this was possible, entered that building. Looking around, they saw a strange sight. The ground floor served as a bar with people spread on dozens of tables around the dormant gate in the center, chatting merrily with the occasional loud laughter breaking out here and there.

"Let's sit over there," David said while pointing at a table.

Just a moment after they sat down, the waitress came. "What's your poison?"

"Two ales," Joshua replied.

Drinking beer on alien worlds has always been an exciting experience. One never knew the ingredients inside such a drink, and it was always fascinating to find out how long it would take before one had to visit the toilet. It could be minutes or an hour, but most would eventually run to the bathroom. Fortunately, the two Terrans had stomachs of steel, capable of digesting much more potent poisons than those served in this establishment.

But a strange sound escaped from David's belly only seconds after taking a big gulp of that suspicious foamy liquid the waitress brought, making him think of the processes happening inside the brewery that created it. He did not believe it was a clean place or that whoever worked there meticulously controlled the brewing process. Joshua's face didn't look good, either. The taste was such that he didn't show signs of ordering another, which after spending a month cooped up in their corvette was quite concerning. Nonetheless, they could see tables full of empty mugs that once held the same or similar poison. The people who drank them also showed delighted faces. It was usually like that with alcohol. After consuming a certain amount, the drink's taste was no longer crucial. But what kind of drink it was would become important the following morning.

Drinks aside, David hadn't wasted time while inside the building. With a splendid view of the gate, he noticed a detail that might give them insights into what was going on. "Look at the DHD?"

"What about it?" Joshua said while glaring at it.

"Look underneath it," David said, he too, looking at the foreign object attached to the underside.

"What do you think it's for?" Joshua asked.

"It could have many functions, but I bet it can disable a stargate," David said.

"And if that's the case, not only would it be impossible to dial this gate, but the correlative update would also fail to register this location," Joshua finished the thought.

"Yeah, so the mystery of why we don't know about this place is probably solved," David said, thinking there might be other planets with a similar setup.

"But why do they do that?" Joshua said.

"I believe that's because they don't want this place discovered. They can't come to the Terran Federation and ask to install an interdiction device to protect the place against enemies exiting hyperspace into orbit," David explained.

"That means the star system stays vulnerable to Vargas's incursions. Also, leaving the stargate active could serve as a beacon to lead enemies straight to them. They must only activate the gate when needed, thus reducing the chances of discovery," Joshua said.

"That's what I think, but there could be more. I know too little to know everything that goes on here," David replied. It all sounded reasonable, but there might be more to this place than meets the eye. The truth was, they couldn't have brought all the people and resources on the planet by ship alone, as it would have taken years to do so without a stargate available. The ships in the spaceport also seemed small, none more extensive than the Al'kesh. Not the best to carry thousands of people and their luggage.

"It is irrelevant. The gate is not of consequence to the accomplishment of our mission," Joshua said. "We should move on."

"Yes, but that's not the only reason we should leave," David replied.

"You noticed?" Joshua said.

"It's hard not to," David replied.

How come so many people watched them? It was the question that ran through David's head. They behaved no differently than those sitting at the different tables and wore similar clothes as dozens of others. The fact there were around thirty ships in the spaceport should mean that foreigners who the locals might not recognize were bountiful. Still, people looked at them furtively, and the previously lively atmosphere eerily quieted until only sporadic whispers remained.

"I think it's time to move. We won't get anything if we stay here," Joshua said. "Except maybe a bullet."

With the drinks paid, the two casually moved out of the building. The street was the same as before, with nothing suspicious but three guys in the bar getting up as they raised a slight alarm.

They spent another ten minutes winding through five more streets before entering the northern part of town where the suppression field originated. He was confident that if they kept walking in the same direction, they would reach the source, but first, it was best to lose their tail. There were a couple of ways to do it, but they preferred a way that didn't cause a noticeable commotion.

"Let's see what this mimicking device you installed without my consent can do," Joshua said.

After nodding, David sped up, quickly slipping into the deserted alley ahead without their tail noticing. They at once cloaked, becoming invisible. The three people chasing after them entered the same passage, sharply looking around to see where their target had gone.

"Where are they?" one of the men spoke.

"Maybe they went the other way," added another.

"No, they couldn't have disappeared so quickly if they were going straight. They must have headed this way," said the third.

"So where are they then?" asked the first one again.

"The street is long, there are no side streets to disappear into, and they couldn't have sprinted to the end of the street before we got here," said a third.

"I tell you, they must have gone straight," said the other man.

"Why are we even chasing them?" asked the first.

"I told you earlier that something is wrong with them. They're not from here, and even though I worked at the spaceport all day, I can't remember seeing them checking in," said a third.

"Hundreds of people go through the spaceport. How can you be sure they weren't there?" asked another.

"Because it's my job to check the people who come in. Besides, I asked around, and none of my colleagues remembers seeing them. I'm telling you, it's suspicious, and you know what the boss told us," said the third man.

"To keep our eyes peeled and look for people who appeared out of nowhere," said the first man.

"Let's go back. They must have gone the other way," said the third man.

David and Joshua were left alone once again.

"So, someone warned them to be careful," Joshua said.

"Yes, they've been warned to watch out for people appearing out of nowhere, which suggests they fear arrival via cloaked ships," David added.

It was a widespread problem in the Milky Way. The Tok'ra were the first who employed cloaking technology, but it eventually spread everywhere after the Goa'uld improved the technology, allowing even larger ships like the Al'kesh to go unseen. Although the technology Apophis used to cloak the Ha'taks was lost, it was still standard for the Tel'tak and Al'kesh to have a cloak installed. The Jaffa Empire recently improved the original design and sold such ships to the highest bidder. Now that he thought about it, that did not sound right to David. The Jaffa from the Empire simply lacked the skills necessary to improve upon anything as sophisticated as a cloaking system.

David also believed these people were more concerned with another race owning even more advanced cloaking technology than whoever bought the Jaffa Empire's cloaking system. "I don't know who's behind all this, but they're certainly worried about Terran spies finding this place."

"Which means we must hurry. I don't know how long these people will take to search for us before reporting the incident to their boss. Well, who knows, they might have already sent word," said Joshua.

"Let's change our look," David said, scrambling to type on his bracelet.

They changed not only their clothes but also their faces. For spies, a mimicking device may be the most crucial technology to have.

"So, where now?" David asked.

"I'm not sure," Joshua said as he checked the small device in his hand that gave him all kinds of readings. "We are so close that it's difficult to determine the exact location."

It was a dampening field designed to capture all kinds of particle emissions, meaning their job now was not to detect them but to look where there weren't any. Sadly, since they were now close to the source, the readings were almost identical no matter which way Joshua pointed the device. He continued to check, but the outcome remained the same. "Yeah, it's useless."

"We could go check out the spaceport and find out where the cargo that landed there went, but somehow, I don't feel like going back, and I sense it would turn into a gigantic waste of time. Let's look around us until something interesting catches our eye," said David.

"Beats staring at this device that does nothing for me," Joshua replied.

Moving through half a dozen alleys of diverse sizes, the two spent the next fifteen minutes without learning anything new. David suddenly noticed that the street they entered was a bit busier, with people constantly streaming in and out of a larger warehouse-like building. Slowing his pace even further, he looked back.

"That building is suspicious," Joshua said.

"All kinds of people coming and going, but there's one thing that's even more suspicious," David said.

"Those who come out are dead tired, even though it's only morning," Joshua said.

"It seems like we've come at just the right time for the shift change," David said.

"Since it's still morning, those coming out were working the night shift," Joshua added, glancing at the device he was holding. "And the dampening field should originate from the warehouse because I'm getting zero emissions from it."

Unfortunately, this also signified they would be going in blind. "We don't know what to expect when we go in."

"So, you already decided we're going into the lion's den. Couldn't we report that we found something suspicious instead and be done with it?" Joshua asked.

"I don't think Klaus would give us that long break he promised if we did that," David said, thinking the man would send them on another errand instead, with the reminder to do a better job. "We should gather more information, maybe even find out how big this place is."

"That's the thing. This building doesn't seem too big to me," Joshua said.

David could not blame him. They were looking for a place big enough to build capital ships like the Ha'tak, but the warehouse in front of them wasn't big enough. The Ha'tak was six hundred meters wide, not something that could fit in a warehouse that wasn't even a tenth of that size. It would be strange if it could hold a single Al'kesh and the equipment needed to build it, and if that were the case, then, unfortunately, it wasn't the place they were looking for. They were looking for shipyards that could produce enough ships to turn the tide of the war in the Empire's favor.

"Still, this place is shady, with too many people moving in and out, and as you've said, all the ones coming out looking dead tired," David said.

"It's true that since we came here, almost a hundred people entered and exited the building, which is a lot for such a small building," Joshua said. "So, how do we proceed?"

"Since we have these great mimicking devices, why don't we find two shmucks who are just coming into work and take their place," David asked.

With Joshua's nod, they went to the beginning of the street where most people were arriving. They moved two more alleys away and found what he believed to be the perfect spot for an ambush.

Two workers came as if ordered.

"We'll be late again!" said the first man.

"And who is to blame for that?" retorted the other.

"Yes, yes, it's my fault. It's always my fault," said the first annoyed.

"As long as you understand," replied the other, annoyed by the first's lack of remorse.

"This job is too hard! I hardly wake up in the morning because I'm dead tired," complained the first.

"Of course, and it has nothing to do with you spending half the night drinking in a bar," replied another.

"What's the point of a well-paid job if you can't enjoy the money you earn?" the first asked rhetorically.

As they passed the two cloaked Terrans, David quickly knocked the first guy unconscious and dragged him into an even smaller alleyway. He looked over and saw that Joshua did the same with the other man. After scanning the person from head to toe, David fed the holo image to the mimic device. In an instant, he turned into the man lying on the pavement.

"I'm done," Joshua said as he took everything the person had in their pockets. "Let's drag them behind the dumpster."

So far, everything has gone smoothly. While wearing new clothes and faces, the two Terrans returned to the main street on their way to the suspicious warehouse. Waiting for a good opportunity, the two joined a large group of workers and entered together. It was best to be part of a larger herd when entering an unknown place. That way, they would have time to prepare while others went through the inevitable identity checks.

It seemed odd to David that the two people they knocked out didn't have unique IDs, but he soon realized why. The person in front of him had to stand in front of a camera that took a scan. He hoped the camera couldn't see through the holo face the mimic device projected, or they would have to perform a hasty retreat.

David passed the scanner without a hitch, as did Joshua ten seconds later.

"This mimic device and the cloak are a spy's best friends," Joshua whispered as the two trailed behind the group of people.

The warehouse was fifty by fifty meters, and there was not much to see. Two dozen crates were strewn about haphazardly, making it obvious they held nothing of value. Eight locals carrying guns were posted here and there, most looking bored and uninterested in what the people who just came did. However, one thing caught his eye—the large ring platform in the middle. It was more extensive, capable of fitting a dozen people, with room to spare.

"I guess we know our next destination," David said.

Following the group, they all stepped inside the rings, patiently waiting for their activation. When one of the armed guards saw that everyone was inside, he activated the rings via his wrist device. The rings rose, and the familiar golden light washed over him.

The room they appeared in was much smaller than the spacious warehouse, it had no windows, and the guards were different. Instead of local thugs, Jaffa stood stoically in each corner, wearing full armor, and holding their staffs at the ready. Without delay, the group made their way through the only corridor available.

David didn't know where they were going, their job as workers they were acting, or even if following these people was a good decision. But it was not like they had countless options. Right now, the only thing they could do was walk.

The corridor was long; now and then, a door would appear that led somewhere, but the group continued to progress until they reached the corridor's very end. The next room they entered through the last large door was different, so much so that it was hard even to call it a room. The best way to describe it was a large cave with tunnels branching off in a dozen directions.

David thought this was a mining site.

"Of course, they would have a place to extract resources. That way, they only have to bring those they can't mine here," David whispered. "But we don't have time to follow these people and mine the ore for the next ten hours or however long the shift lasts."

"That's true. If it were a novel and readers were forced to read about the two of us digging rocks for ten hours, I bet most would give up and read someone else's story," Joshua said. "Better to stick to the juicy stuff, am I right?"

"Whatever," David replied, unsure what Joshua was blabbing about.

The other thing that now became clear was that they were underground. One would see a simple city from orbit, but the juicy part was hidden deep. However, what they were here to find was not a mine but a shipyard. David believed it had to be here, but in a part of the underground maze they hadn't explored. He saw dozens of doors on the way, any of which could lead to the place they were searching for. "Let's get out of here and comb this place until we find anything resembling a ship."

Since they were inside the irregular passageways, it wasn't difficult to hide for just long enough to activate their cloaks. However, David didn't like how often they used it. The energy levels in his suit had dropped by 27%. It wasn't critical, but they weren't any closer to completing the mission. He believed they would need lots of energy when they decided to leave this place.

He glanced at the bracelet and realized it had no connection to the ship. The dampening field was blocking any signal. Someone would run into their craft without them learning about it, significantly complicating matters. Therefore, the best course of action was to finish the mission quickly.

Walking cloaked meant their stroll went without a hitch. The only problem was that he had to constantly move aside to let people who couldn't see him pass. The first door led them to a large warehouse filled with precious resources that the locals could undoubtedly use in shipbuilding. But that didn't help them either. Everything pointed at this place's purpose, but that was worth little without proper evidence. They had to find at least one shipyard, scan it, or pick evidence to take with them.

After checking a third of the side doors in the long corridor, they entered through the next one in line. They found themselves in a large cavern that housed a slick ship, supported by anti-gravity units, in its final stages of completion. Multiple passages led to other caves holding more vessels.

David looked above as automated machines tirelessly worked on the ship's exterior. At the same time, people brought prebuilt ship components on anti-gravity sleds to be installed. The moment a worker placed the cargo underneath the ship, it was beamed inside.

"That surprised me!" Joshua said in a deep voice. "How is that possible?"

"I'm as surprised as you are," David replied.

He wanted an answer to how these people possessed Asgard beaming technology. It wasn't like the tech was readily available on the open market. Apart from the JFN, who had received ready-made copies that they could not reverse-engineer or replicate, the SGA members were the only ones who could build the system. And he was confident no member would sell it to third parties like the Jaffa Empire or the Big Whale.

"There was that nasty Goa'uld Anubis long ago who stole the beaming system from Thor," Joshua said thoughtfully.

"I don't see Anubis ceding anything to anyone, let alone the Jaffa or their former slaves. I also read in reports that he used Ancient ciphers and algorithms with the strongest protection on everything he considered valuable. There's no way the Jaffa ran into Anubis' terminal and breached its defenses," David said.

Even the Terrans needed the help of the Alterrans to unlock the protected portions of Atlantis' database. To believe that Jaffa or former slaves who had never received any form of higher education could break through Anubis's protection was laughable.

"Yeah, and Anubis isn't the type to leave his master password written on a piece of paper lying around for everyone to read," Joshua said.

David realized the last remark was a reproach to his behavior because he used to leave access codes in the ship's drawers. However, that was utterly irrelevant. The earlier realization did nothing to help them understand how these people had obtained Asgard beaming technology—tech that the Terrans and Asgard would never sell. The Terrans had sometimes used the system to send nukes inside Hive ships. So, why wouldn't others produce the same or similar ideas if they had the technology? The Asgard never intended anyone to use their beaming system as a weapon, but that meant nothing to people like the Jaffa Empire or the Big Whale.

"Militarily, the Big Whale is weak. They have too many scattered around planets. With most stargates deliberately disabled, the number and quality of capital ships matter the most. But having beaming technology could give such people who realize they are among the weaker races weird ideas. Like flying in a cloaked Tel'tak above a planet and beaming a Naquadah enhanced warhead over the most populated city on the ground below," David explained his dark train of thoughts.

"You're thinking of the Big Whale, but isn't the Empire even more inclined to do something like that? If the war against the JFN goes poorly for them, which is the most likely outcome, wouldn't they see this as a practical strategy?" Joshua added.

"If they're desperate enough, yes, I believe they could," David agreed.

As a rule, the Empire would not use such a method, not because the Emperor cared about the countless lives lost in the attacks, but because the Jaffa would consider such an act cowardly. They would condemn an action that a proud warrior would never dare do. He was sure that most of the Jaffa would leave the Empire if that happened, which was precisely why the Emperor hesitated to use such a stratagem. However, if his head were already on the chopping block, he didn't know what the man wouldn't do to keep it attached to the rest of his body.

While hidden under their cloaks, the two walked through the interconnected caverns, quickly discovering how vast this place was. They had passed through a small part, but even that had been enough to see hundreds of berths filled with ships in various stages of completion.

"No wonder the Empire can keep up with the JFN. If they have more such places, they could surpass the JFN in production ability," he said, but something else bothered him. "How are they getting these ships into space? We are hundreds of meters underground, and there is no retractable roof."

"You're forgetting they have Asgard beaming technology," Joshua added.

"But to use it, they'd need to have an incredible power source," David said, thinking that it wasn't easy to teleport a capital ship, regardless of the technology.

"It's not like they lack space to stack reactors," Joshua said.

"Right. With enough reactors, they can send even an object like the Ha'til into orbit. That's why they don't build Ha'tak here," David explained.

The mystery of how the Empire was still in the game even though they were fighting the JFN—eons ahead in military assets, technology, and economy—became easier to understand now that they saw this place. Still, he couldn't help but keep a frowning face. He couldn't figure out what was bothering him in this ordeal, but he knew he was missing an important piece. For now, he felt like he was putting together pieces of a puzzle he couldn't entirely complete.

Still, not understanding everything was perfectly fine. They were here for that reason; to find out what was happening and report back. Although this was outside of Jaffa territory and under the Big Whale's purview, the JFN and the Terrans could not allow things to remain as they were. But he didn't like the implications. The possibility that the Jaffa civil war could spill over into human territory and draw in more races that thus far had stood aside worried him. However, these shipyards had to be destroyed, regardless of whose territory they were in.

"What are we going to do now?" Joshua asked. "We saw what we could. So, are we leaving or what?"

David had to think for a moment. Because they had been walking around cloaked the entire time, their suits' energy dropped below thirty percent. Whatever they were going to do, they had better do it soon. People might also find the two guys they were impersonating hidden behind the dumpster, raising the alarm. "I'm not that worried, but we should still wrap things up in the next fifteen minutes, which means we have little time left. A guy that looked like he was in charge was working at that big console in the first cave, and it seemed like he could control the whole place from there. Accessing that console could be a better way to understand this place, and we might even score proper evidence we can bring to Klaus."

"And that guy could give us a lot of juicy details if we asked him nicely," Joshua added with a chuckle.

David knew nothing would be polite about the way Joshua would ask him. He felt sorry for the guy. "But he's rarely alone; I've seen two Jaffa guards beside him and at least half a dozen other people doing various tasks."

The man in question was in a room built inside the cave wall. They could see him through the glassless window—he was sure there was a force field to isolate the room—and the only way to get to him was through the door on the side. Even with their cloaks, getting in undetected was difficult. Still, he figured it wasn't impossible if they followed someone going inside.

Waiting for the right opportunity was tiring, especially since time was slipping away quickly, and Joshua seemed impatient. But patience was vital in their profession, as a month spent tracking cargo ships could attest. Thinking about the upcoming vacation didn't help him calm down either.

"I saw at least three people going in before we decided on the plan of action, but now that we're ready and waiting like idiots right by the door, no one is coming. That makes me incredibly frustrated. I know there's no such thing as luck—whether bad or good—but sometimes, I swear, I feel like there is," Joshua said. "And for some reason, bad luck always follows me around!"

"I hear you! Who knows, we might have done something bad in a past life, and that's why we're paying the consequences now," said David, not meaning it, to keep the conversation going.

"I don't believe in all that Karma crap, and it's foolish to think that I must pay the price for my past misdeeds in the next life where I might be a saint on the level of Mother Teresa. If Karma exists, then it should not follow you in the next life," Joshua clarified his reasoning, with which David fully agreed.

"Yeah, you really resemble Mother Teresa," he commented.

As they joked, a Jaffa strolled in their direction. He would be disappointed if the Jaffa suddenly turned and went elsewhere. David was glad to see the Jaffa continue down the same path, now without any chance of going anywhere other than inside the room they wanted to enter. The Jaffa stopped before the door, pausing momentarily as if sensing someone was there. It made David's heart skip a beat. Fortunately, the Jaffa shook his head and entered the code into the side panel, after which the door slid open. He stepped inside, and the two Terrans followed shortly.

The alarm in the room blared the moment they stepped in. David noticed at once that he could now see Joshua's faint outline. They must have installed an advanced detection system that emitted lepton particles capable of disrupting even the most advanced cloaks.

He quickly dismissed his daze as he watched the Jaffa next to him promptly turn and try to aim his staff at him. David drew his gun faster since his opponent's weapon of choice was a clumsy stick. He pulled the trigger as he pointed the gun at the Jaffa's head.

"Weird. I was convinced I set the gun on stun," David said as he quickly moved behind the nearest hiding place, a decently sized console they could both fit behind.

"A Jaffa with half of his head missing says otherwise!" Joshua shouted as he ducked behind the same console.

David fiddled with the gun's settings, switching to standard mode, then cycling until it reverted to stun. He leveled his weapon from behind cover at the cleanest target he could find, a Jaffa who was dutifully discharging his staff weapon. David ducked after seeing the Jaffa shivering from the powerful, stunning effect. It seemed from his face that he was in great pain.

"It should be on stun now," David said, but even he thought the effect on the big and strong Jaffa was too pronounced. "Maybe a little overpowered, but his head didn't explode this time."

"Why are you laughing? That gun is a menace we need to destroy, preferably by throwing it into a star so that no traces remain!" Joshua said while firing back at the now vigilant enemies.

The poor Jaffa was still writhing on the floor in pain from the stunning effects of his over-modified gun. It was as if the Jaffa's eyes were telling him he envied the other Jaffa that had died instantly. Or he just wanted to pass out and be done with it, but for some reason, the gun's awful effect kept him painfully awake. He might have preferred Joshua targeting him instead. The effect of his weapon was milder as if causing the person hit to fall asleep under the gentle influence of top-notch anesthesia.

Since he couldn't change how his weapon worked, he continued to shoot uncaringly at the other people in the room, systematically reducing their numbers. Joshua was also busy shooting at the man they were trying to get ahold of, who unfortunately had his shield active.

"Jaffa, Kree! Kek mal tak Tau'ri!" the man shouted in a distorted voice as his eyes flashed menacingly.

Joshua ducked behind the console. "That surprised me!"

"What's a snakehead doing here?" David asked, not understanding why Jaffa from the Empire or former Goa'uld slaves would want to have anything to do with a Goa'uld. "Mark my words! This whole thing is going to come biting us in the ass!"

"When this comes out, the galaxy will explode as if McKay fiddled with a poorly assembled Arcturus reactor!" Joshua added.

"We will think about it later. We must get this guy out of here as proof," David said. The Jaffa outside had noticed the Goa'uld shouting. There was no way they weren't charging here, meaning they only had seconds before Jaffa surrounded and overpowered them. "Keep the snakehead busy!"

Joshua followed his instructions and returned cover fire against the only enemy still standing. Meanwhile, he began again fiddling with his gun, changing the setting to something that wasn't even among its standard options. "This should work."

He stood up and started running towards the Goa'uld. Even though Joshua shot at him, the man at once switched targets, but David had predicted that. As the Goa'uld fired from the weapon usually used by an Ash'rak, he activated his bracelet's short teleportation system, instantly appearing right next to the astonished Goa'uld. The modified bolt of energy fired from the over-modified weapon struck the shield from zero distance, forcing the discharged energy to envelop the man and further spread inside the bracelet he had mounted on his wrist—the source of his shield.

Just like with the Jaffa, the Goa'uld eyes expressed how badly he wanted to fall unconscious but kept thrashing on the floor instead. David looked at his gun. "Maybe this gun truly is a menace."

"Lose the maybe part!" Joshua said as he rushed past him and hastily placed a small device he pulled out of his pocket on the console. "We need to take control of the system for no reason other than to seal this room."

The device the Asgard gave them was fantastic. In just one second of attaching it, it broke through all the console's defenses and displayed a user-friendly hovering holo interface.

Touching a few floating buttons was enough to seal the room and increase the strength of the force field on the windows.

David watched the Jaffa outside, trying to shoot through the windows. Realizing that they weren't getting anywhere, they switched to shooting the armored door, but that would also take time to break through. Ironically, just as the room was supposed to protect them in case of an assault, it now served to prevent them from easily breaking in and rescuing their boss. "We should be safe for now."

"I give ten minutes before they break in. So, we've got that long to figure something out. Honestly, I wouldn't say I like our odds if we must rush through all these Jaffa to the surface, especially if we must drag this guy with us. I can't believe he's still convulsing," Joshua said while watching the dude on the floor imitating a fish taken out of the water.

"We won't have to break through anything, and it only takes a minute to sort out all our problems," David said, amazed at how long the Goa'uld had been flipping on the floor. It could be a new record, thinking it might have lasted that long specifically because he was a Goa'uld. Even the strong Jaffa fainted sooner.

"How?" Joshua asked.

"Have you forgotten that our friends have an Asgard-designed teleportation system capable of beaming even capital ships in orbit," David said.

"Now that you mentioned it, it should be easy to teleport near our ship if we have access to the system," Joshua said.

"But before we leave, download all the data available through that console. We're also taking our friend here because I'm sure people at home will want to ask him many questions," he said. The man had finally fainted, which was a good thing.

As evidence that something sinister was happening in the Big Whale's territory, a live Goa'uld was the best. No one could refute the accusations brought against them if they had him as the star witness.

"They must have denied this console access to the central database. We won't get anything more from it, and we could soon lose what little control we still have over the local system," Joshua informed.

"Then let's go while we can still use the beaming system," David replied.

Ten seconds later, the three appeared ten meters from their cloaked corvette. Moving quickly, they dragged the unconscious snakehead inside the ship.

"While I start our ship, you take out any devices he might have on his person and sedate him," David said.

"You think he needs to be sedated after the five minutes of trashing your gun caused him?" Joshua asked.

"Those Goa'uld tend to wake up at the most inopportune times, so it's better to be safe than sorry. Knock him out so the next time he opens his eyes, he'll already be inside a Terran prison," David explained.

David started the craft, and it was off the ground in no time. Without giving it time to climb appropriately, he fired up the thrusters and pushed the ship forward so that it barely made it to pass above the treetops. There was nothing more to wait for. With the alarm raised, it was only a matter of time before all the forces in the system descended upon them.

"Luckily, our craft can cloak," Joshua commented as he took the seat next to David's.

David checked the indicator on the monitor that told him the craft was indeed cloaked. Now no one would be able to detect them.

"Is everything alright with our guest?" he asked.

"There are so many sedatives in his blood that even if I slapped him for half an hour, he still wouldn't react," Joshua announced.

"Ah, how I love to hear good news," David said while smiling.

"Ugh, I'm just so happy we won't have to spend all day sitting inside this craft anymore," Joshua said.

"Just don't start with the hemorrhoids story again," David said. He didn't care to hear how Joshua was afraid of getting them because he spent fifteen hours a day in the pilot's seat.

"I have every right to be worried. It's not good to sit for so long, and the food we've been eating for the past month doesn't help," Joshua replied.

"Even if three times a day you ate only fatty meat with the side of even more fatty meat, all topped with the spiciest sauce you can think of, and if you then sat and slept in the most uncomfortable chair, your advanced physiology and nanites in your body would still prevent any formation of anything resembling hemorrhoids!" David said in frustration, hoping the story would be over for the last time.

"But now we won't need to find out if that's true or not," Joshua retorted stubbornly. It seemed that, at least when it came to hemorrhoids, he had to have the last word.

"There you go; you just jinxed us," David replied as he looked at the instruments. They had suddenly started showing strange readings.

"What are you talking about?" Joshua asked.

"The instruments went berserk. Ah, and now I know why," David said.

"Why what? I don't understand anything," Joshua answered in frustration.

"They've artificially ionized the atmosphere, and that's causing major problems with our electronics," David replied.

He expected the adversaries to do something to try to detect them, but he thought they would only try once they were in orbit. He was sure they would release a large concentration of leptons to break through their cloaking. However, he hadn't considered that heavily ionizing the atmosphere could lead to a similar, if not worse, effect. It wasn't just that their cloak was failing, but other more sensitive systems were also under stress.

"Can't this craft handle that?" Joshua asked.

"Our shields can repel these ionization levels very easily," he said just as the cloaking system stopped working. "And now that the cloaking is off, there's no reason we shouldn't raise shields."

"But that means we're now fully visible," Joshua noted.

"And we already have five bandits hot on our tail," David announced. "And since they have no difficulty flying within the ionized atmosphere, I believe they equipped those Death Gliders with shields," David said.

That hadn't been the case in the past, or at least he couldn't remember a time when Death Gliders had shields. But these certainly did, proven due to the ionization in the air that would otherwise disable the spacecraft.

It wasn't long before the lead glider fired a shot, with plasma bolts whizzing over their heads. It missed, but the second and third attempts did not, which David could feel against the craft's tail. "I don't know if it's better to face them or just leave the atmosphere and slip into hyperspace," Joshua said.

"I feel that the longer we stay, the number of opponents will only increase, regardless of how many we take down," David said. "But let us show these five and anyone else who might be watching that those who come after us will be risking their lives."

Without waiting for a response, David started a well-rehearsed sequence that allowed the corvette to position itself high above the attackers, with its nose oriented downward toward the front two vessels. Joshua, in charge of weaponry, fired from the frontal plasma cannons without hesitation. The powerful bursts tore apart the first craft and disabled the second just moments before the corvette cut through them. Unfortunately, this also meant that the remaining three gliders wouldn't miss the opportunity to take revenge for their fallen comrades. Or at least they tried because the corvette's shield was still too big of a hurdle to overcome in a single attempt.

David re-directed the craft to achieve an ideal approach vector for the remaining three vessels. The front two cannons were a modified version of anti-capital weapons the original Defiant Liam built once employed. Although slightly weaker than the original, the mounted cannons had enough power to tear apart a craft as fragile as a death glider in a single shot, regardless of whether it had shields.

The second pass was even more effective, with only one enemy barely avoiding the fatal fate of their companions. "OK, I think I've had enough of playing with these bandits because I see ten new ones trying to catch up to us. I can only wonder what awaits us once we enter orbit, but we have no choice but go and see."

The ionization prevented them from knowing what awaited them outside of the atmosphere. Still, both knew that space would not be as empty as they had hoped.

"But once we're out of the atmosphere, we can rush into hyperspace," Joshua replied cheerfully.

The system had no Nox interdiction device to stop a ship from entering hyperspace. Therefore, they could not test their fate by fighting the enemy. But David thought the Goa'uld, Jaffa, former slaves, and perhaps even a wandering pirate—you never know who'd join in—might have devised a method to make it hard for them to leave. "You very well know it's never that easy."

"Of course, it has to be like that. Imagine if this were a novel that people like to read. In it, the two of us, as the main characters, get scot-free without firing a single shot or a hint of uncertainty about whether we can escape. Half the readers would turn off their devices and never return!" Joshua explained.

"Okay, whatever you say," David retorted, looking at Joshua strangely as if he were looking at an alien. "Instead of spouting nonsense, you better prepare to use our cool weapons if the locals prepared a warm welcome when we fly out of the atmosphere. Also, let's double-check our systems while we can. That ionization could have done similar crap with other systems, not just the cloaking."

"Everything looks fine to me, and the shields didn't lose much to those stupid gliders either," Joshua said. "Those death gliders are only good to be trampled."

"Yes, everything looks fine, but I would be happier if the energy buffer managed to overcharge. It is not that big anyway," David said. Since they started running as soon as they took off, there hadn't been enough time for the reactor to charge the modest capacitor the craft had, which would become vital in case the fight dragged on. However, he hoped they could slip into hyperspace and solve all his worries that way. "As far as I know, no one in our galaxy other than the SGA members can stop someone from opening a hyperspace window."

"Me neither, but these interdiction devices have been around for a while. Who knows, they might have figured out exactly what the device does to prevent FTL travel," Joshua said.

It wasn't entirely impossible. The Terrans had spent time observing the changes in subspace that the device would cause by emitting specific radiation. Even if they didn't understand what was going on, it would have been enough if they had found a way to replicate the same emissions. "We're talking about Goa'uld who only know how to scavenge others hard earned discoveries, Jaffa from the Empire who get hives the moment you mention any profession other than being a warrior, and ex-slaves who only use books to prop a rickety table! Do you think they could invent a device that emits specific radiation they know nothing about?"

"And are you aware of how much bad luck I have? Do you want me to tell you how often I was mistaken for someone else and ended up in a small cell where bad people interrogated me for days?" Joshua retorted.

"Yes, that's true. Should I then leave you on the ground? I'd have at least twice the chance of getting out of here if we did that," David said with a slight hint of sarcasm. He didn't believe in karma and such bullshit. But if Joshua insisted, he should have him wait down on the planet while he goes to get help.

"Ha-ha, really funny," Joshua said before staring at the instruments. "We are exiting the atmosphere."

David looked through the canopy, noticing two Ha'til and a bunch of smaller vessels resembling an Al'kesh. The Terrans had known the Jaffa Empire had produced a better design to replace the old and useless Al'kesh. Although the Terrans still thought it best to ditch the Al'kesh design entirely, the Empire decided to base the new craft on the old bomber. That was one of the reasons the JFN didn't accept the plans, knowing that they could make something much better if they put in the effort—something that could then remain proudly in their fleet for centuries to come. However, designing a new vessel was far more complex than changing an existing one. If the Empire still had help from the Goa'uld—as evidence collected today would suggest—it was no wonder they managed to start producing them quickly.

"I don't understand. All indications are that there is no issue with me opening a hyperspace window," David said, unsure exactly what was going on.

"It might be one of those situations where you have no clue anything is wrong. But then you fly into the newly formed hyperspace window, and pieces of your craft end up scattered half across our galaxy." Joshua again surprised David by inventing a dark scenario in which the two pass to greener pastures.

David smiled as if he were the devil himself. "Well, what else can we do but try and see if you're right!"

"Hang—!"

Joshua started to speak, but it was too late. David had already engaged the hyperdrive, and the craft rushed inside the newly formed window. "Looks like you were wrong!"

Nothing fatal occurred even after the craft continued to accelerate through hyperspace for ten seconds.

"It was unbecoming of you to enter hyperspace without warning me, but worse even is that it turned out kind of anticlimactic," Joshua commented.

"I admit that I expected more difficulties when escaping from the system. Both the adversaries in the atmosphere and those stationed in orbit were not a challenge," David said. "But I feel like I'm overlooking something."

"Like what?" Joshua asked.

David planned to answer, but the instruments started giving him various concerning readings. "For example, like what is happening right now. Those stationary ships that were doing nothing are now doing something."

"So, what can they do?" Joshua asked.

"Chase after us," David snapped.

"And how will that benefit them?" Joshua asked.

"Shall I give you the bad news first or the worse one?" David asked.

"Go ahead," Joshua said. "I'm not going to like what you have to say, regardless of the order."

"The bad news is that their Ha'til class is faster than our corvette," David said.

"Now that you say it, it doesn't sound so outrageous," Joshua retorted. "While the Jaffa were improving their ships, the TIA crippled our corvette to make it look like an old piece of junk that has little in common with any Terran military vessel than the one you'd proudly own."

"As you say, this craft has nowhere near the capabilities of its counterpart in the Terran Navy. Even though a Ha'til and this corvette can use the same highest hyperband, we can't achieve the same acceleration. It will take them time to reach a high enough speed, but after five more minutes, they'll start gaining on us," David said.

"Okay, that won't be good for our health," Joshua said. "And what's the worse news?"

"If by any chance you thought we could somehow survive the fight against these two Ha'til, forget it because three more just joined in," David said. "They are not even a minute behind them."

"Yes, of course. When it rains, it pours," Joshua replied. "And you say there is no misfortune following me."

"Instead of thinking about unnecessary things, let's figure something out to get us clear of this mess. For now, I've sent an SOS and a summary of everything we've discovered. We've already completed our mission even if they catch us," David said.

"It would be better if we could bring that Goa'uld back as evidence. But even without him, the Terran Federation has enough to take the investigation to a higher level," Joshua said. Still, his expression said the situation was not to his liking. "But now, most important is to find a way to survive until help arrives."

"We need speed. How about you go in the back and shoot the control crystals with a zat-gun just like our High Councilor did so that we can get an intergalactic hyperdrive?" David asked.

"Achieving such a thing is impossible for us," Joshua explained while shaking his head. "A feat such as upgrading a hyperdrive by shooting the delicate control crystals can only work if you're Jack O'Neill, the story's main protagonist. Anyone else would get a bunch of broken control crystals instead."

"But you said earlier that we were the main characters!" David said.

"I might have slightly exaggerated our importance," Joshua explained the said truth. "We are talking about a story that takes place across galaxies and has dozens of characters with all kinds of interesting things happening to them. At most, we can be the story's focus one every ten chapters, which is me being generous here."

It was remarkable how strong Joshua's declaration had sounded despite its nonsensical content. David sighed, not liking the situation they were in one bit. "It really won't be easy to overcome this crisis. Our Navy has at its disposal jump stations that allow for rapid deployment up to ten thousand light-years distant locations. Unfortunately, we do not have any station close enough to receive direct aid."

"It will take a task force not ten minutes but much longer to reach us while partly traveling through hyperspace. No sooner than half an hour that we can expect rescue," Joshua said.

"That's how I see it too, but that's not crucial now," David said. "The only thing we can do is follow the protocol developed just for situations like these."

"To find a safe place to hide until help arrives, I know," Joshua finished the thought. "Are you aware that the safest spot was on the ground where we parked the corvette?"

"I know. If only we had stayed cloaked and waited for help to arrive, we would not be in this predicament. But we must now face instead of what could have been," David said. "I saw a system with a dense asteroid field nearby, and I believe that's our best bet to survive. Actually, I think it's the only choice."

"If it's our only choice, then we have nothing to argue about. We're going to hide behind a big rock in a congregation of thousands of similar ones. They can shoot to their heart's content while guessing under which rock we're hiding," Joshua retorted.

There was no surefire plan, and the probability of their survival wasn't remarkably high. But the situation wasn't so easy that a solution was readily available. David knew they were doing everything possible. He could only hope that whoever received their SOS wasn't sleeping on the job and that the rapid response unit didn't become rusty. If it took them more than 45 minutes, they were not doing their job right. But that would not mean much to them because regardless of how dense the asteroid field was, the Jaffa would discover them by then.

There was no choice but to trust their Navy had their backs.

---

"Walter! Where's that last report about the Caledonians—"

"Jack, Walter's on leave," Daniel interrupted.

Looking around, he realized that not only was Walter not there, but he wasn't even on Terrania or Starbase One in orbit above it. Instead, he recognized the study room reserved for his use aboard the Enterprise. He got used to having Walter constantly buzzing around, and now that he wasn't, he missed the man's efficiency. Before the scheduled meeting started, he needed to review all the recent reports on the various races in the Milky Way. With Daniel substituting for Walter, the Council had forced him to go on this diplomatic tour of the galaxy, where he would have to shake hands with countless dignitaries. At someone's (who shall not be named) suggestion, the Council agreed almost unanimously (he opposed it) to send him on this terrible journey filled with diplomats and politicians that would make anyone get nightmares each night, even months after it was over. But, as usual, that didn't help him in the slightest. The majority won, and he was now traveling to Tegalus, where he would meet with the Caledonians and Randans—two races he knew nothing more than the last time he visited five years ago. Around that time, the captain of the Enterprise, Amy Donovan, boldly interfered in the opening salvos of a war between the two races—a war that, if left to continue, could have decimated the planet's population. He read the account of the conflict and afterward heard nothing new about what happened to them. But now, he needed to make up for the five years of events he had missed in which both sides had worked relentlessly towards achieving permanent peace. However, with all sorts of occasional crises created by unsatisfied individuals with the status quo, things were not looking too great. Since Amy had stopped the Rand Protectorate, the public opinion on Tegalus was that the Terrans were on the Caledonians' side, which had given them a stronger standing during negotiations. The fact that the Terrans destroyed the Ori who supported the Rand Protectorate weighed on their people, leaving them with little room to maneuver during talks or risk offending the Terrans. Daniel informed him that the Caledonians were moderate in their demands because they did not want to abuse their relationship.

But that was just one trouble-riddled planet he had to visit. There were a dozen more he would have to go to on this wretched tour, which would last most of the next three months if all went well. If it didn't, as he suspected it wouldn't, he would be stuck doing this undesirable job for much longer. His thoughts drifted to when he blissfully traveled the galaxy in his little craft without worries or having to stare at his pad chuck full of lengthy reports constantly, none of which had a single picture to make them more attractive.

"I can't find that last report on the Caledonians that came in a few days ago," he asked. Considering that the only other person in the room was Daniel, it was known to whom he directed the question.

Daniel dug through his datapad briefly. "Try searching under reference number Tegalus-011386."

"Ah, Tegalus! I always forget that we use the planet's name in the report's ID instead of the race's," Jack retorted.

"Even if you searched by their race's name, the system should still have returned the report," Daniel retorted.

"The problem is that it gives me too many results. Our database has become so complicated that a general search will return so many Caledonian results that it's a miracle anyone could find a thing. Worse, most are not even related to the planet Tegalus. I guess it's enough that the Caledonians get mentioned in any context, and that report gets on the list. That's why I wanted to limit the search to its ID. Still, I can't believe we have reached number 11386 for reports related to Tegalus. There's no way I'm going to read all of them, and just when I need Walter, he's not here," Jack replied in frustration.

"But you don't have to. I'll send you a memo with what to read, and I'll be next to you to jump in if you're asked something you should know but are clueless about," Daniel retorted with a slight smile. "And as for Walter, you better try to enjoy yourself while you can."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jack asked, slightly afraid of what the answer might be.

"Well, Walter didn't go on leave for a long time, and it was clear to everyone how exhausted he was, especially in the last month. It's no wonder since it's the first time he went on leave in two years, and he works for you," Daniel replied.

"Okay, I don't know why you had to emphasize the last four words, but that doesn't matter now. The point is that I still don't understand what you're getting at," Jack said. It wasn't his fault that the man didn't go on vacation for so long—he had offered many times—and he also thought he was among the better employers every assistant should enjoy working for.

"I'm saying that after several years of continuous work, he will be coming to work completely refreshed and full of energy," Daniel explained.

Only now did he realize what trouble he was in. Walter returning with recharged batteries meant weeks of his excruciating working schedule. "Why do I feel I'll soon need a vacation?"

"So, you should enjoy this trip to the various planets our beautiful galaxy has to offer," Daniel concluded.

"It all sounds great, but it boils down to me spending time prattling with a bunch of diplomats who talk nonsense or want to get something out of me!" he replied, unsatisfied. "Even when there was a cool trip to visit a landmark, those vultures didn't stop nagging. How can I enjoy the sight of the biggest waterfall on their planet when their forestry minister incessantly wants me to sell oaks around the galaxy!"

"Their oak is of solid quality, but that minister was too daring. Even I, who has built a considerable tolerance, had enough of listening to him," Daniel said.

"Which is why he rushed over to me and started with the same story he tried to sell to you," Jack said. "He even had the guts to suggest that we should get only ten percent of the profits because we would only oversee transportation, which is a trifling matter to us. And he wanted us to lend him a couple of ships so their people can go looking for clients!"

"You have to admit that the man has an enterprising spirit. For a civilization that doesn't have a single interstellar ship, to start a business that completely relies on others for interstellar transportation of people and goods, you need to have considerable cojones," Daniel said with a smile on his face.

"But that ten percent really bothers me! How can he offer us so little when we would have to do the lion's share of the work? Oh, and get this! When I told him we didn't deal in ships, he shamelessly suggested that we should then be the one to go around chasing clients to sell those damn oaks. He'd even be so generous to give us fifteen percent of the profits! Can you imagine the guy's generosity!" Jack said, not understanding how anyone could be shameless enough to offer such a rip-off deal.

"Our oaks on Haven are better," Daniel retorted. "If we wanted, we could start the business ourselves and achieve better sales."

Jack wanted to continue the discussion about the sale of the oaks, if for no other reason than to postpone doing his job. However, the incoming call prevented him from doing so.

"I apologize for the inconvenience, but we've received a distress call, so I'm letting you know we're changing course," Captain Edward Norton said over the comm.

Jack had been mildly annoyed at the sudden interruption. He could already predict Daniel would stop their discussion about the oaks, and he would have to return to doing his previous tedious work. But now that he heard something interesting was happening, he was excited about the prospect of spending the afternoon differently. "We'll be on the bridge in a minute!"

"No, you don't have—"

Ending the call, Jack quickly stood up and headed for the exit. He would not stay cooped up here working while the ship went on a rescue mission. He didn't know who they needed to rescue. But, even if it were an automated craft, it would still be infinitely more interesting than hunkering in his study, forced to read one boring report after another until his head exploded.

Daniel followed him as they walked the corridors of the first ship to bear the name Enterprise on their way to the bridge. The new Armageddon-class Enterprise under Captain Amy Donovan's command was currently in a distant galaxy serving as the flagship of Jack O'Neill, the one five minutes from the future. It would be a shame if such a mighty ship and excellent captain spent their time taxiing him around or, worse, spent time floating idly in the Solar System. Under the leadership of the less experienced but capable Captain Edward Norton, the old gal was more than capable of performing such a task.

It didn't take long for them to reach their destination, where they were met by a bridge crew on full alert.

Jack waited for the right time when the captain had a moment of respite. "Captain, can you tell me the current situation?"

The captain turned to him and Daniel. "We received the first message twelve minutes ago, containing an SOS and an encrypted file. The system informed me that the protocol used belongs to the TIA, and the identification codes belong to agents under the code names Barns and Homer. I need the proper key to open the encrypted file, which I, unfortunately, do not have. I assume the TIA exclusively uses it."

"That part is unimportant now; it must hold information about their mission. What is crucial is that when our people are in trouble, we help them," Jack said. He knew the agents codenamed Barns and Homer were Joshua and David, whom Klaus often mentioned, and Jack knew of from when they served as spies on the Galactica. "Do we have their position and what their situation is?"

"The second message we received six minutes ago contains the star system they are hiding in and the information that five Ha'til are after them," the Captain replied.

"They are not having an easy day," Daniel interjected into the conversation.

"Even if the corvette were the model we use in the Navy, it still wouldn't stand a chance against five capital ships. Let alone the bucket of bolts the people at the TIA have gobbled together," Jack said. Simply put, the TIA intended the craft for infiltration and data collection—for sabotage, if unavoidable—but certainly not for engaging capital ships in a battle. "I suppose, Captain, we are not the only ones who have received the SOS."

"The nearest jump station at Terra Nova reports that the fast response unit can jump in the next few minutes. But even after a ten thousand light years jump, they'll still be further away than us. They reckon it will take them about half an hour to reach them," the Captain replied.

"It's too long. And how long will it take us?" Jack asked.

"I diverted the Enterprise as soon as we received the first message, so we're much closer to the site. Ten minutes give or take," the Captain replied.

"A lot can happen in ten minutes, but I think we should still say that we are lucky to be so close. "Our two undercover agents will manage for the next ten minutes," Jack said.

"We must jump to help when the need arises, and this case is no different. But I would like to note that this ship has not seen combat in half a decade, except, of course, for the exercises the crew regularly performed," the Captain said.

"What are you trying to say, Captain?" Jack asked.

"I'm saying that this ship is not ideal for confronting five capital ships of the Ha'til class that we helped design and vastly improve. Especially if our goal here is not to cause too big of a commotion. I think it would be best if we can pick up our agents and quickly leave the scene without having to confront them," the Captain said.

"I also think it's best if we don't clash, mostly because the assumption is that these ships belong to the Jaffa Empire," Daniel added.

It was always best not to meddle in Jaffa affairs. Not because of the Empire—honestly, he couldn't care less what they thought—but because of the JFN, who preferred to solve their problems without the Terrans' help. However, Jack first wanted to make an informed decision.

"Let me see if my secret code as High Councilor can unlock that file," he said.

"Perhaps the information in that file can shed light on why the Empire is after our agents," Daniel said.

"It's not certain they know they are our agents; I don't believe that Barns and Homer introduced themselves," he said.

He sat down at the first workstation and started unlocking the file. Since he was not a member of the TIA, the system began to ask various questions to confirm his identity to check against TIA servers whether he had the right to open the encrypted file.

Finding that he had authorization, the servers instantly supplied the decryption key. The system used it to unpack the file, at which point Jack felt great displeasure. "Of course. After spending all day reading reports, what do you think I get when I open this file?"

"A lot of material to read?" Daniel shot back.

"Our agents were in a hurry, so they stuffed whatever they could think into the file. They included the ship's records, the logs of their suits, and the full transcript of their conversations. For some reason, they even mention hemorrhoids, which I'm hoping are irrelevant for completing their mission. They should watch what they say while on a mission, especially if they want others to read it. In short, it will take me longer than ten—" he said but suddenly stopped.

"What?" Daniel asked.

"I came across a word that caught my eye," Jack said as he hurriedly read the text, skipping half of it because it was irrelevant banter.

"And that word is?" Daniel said, his voice sounding slightly irritated.

"Goa'uld, Daniel. The word that intrigued me and that the transcript mentions repeatedly is Goa'uld. And I can tell you right now that I like the context just as little," Jack said, sounding grim. "The Big Whale and the Jaffa Empire seem to have no problem collaborating with their former masters. Honestly, I don't understand how it could even occur to them. I know they're buried up to their necks in crap, but side with those guys."

"Is it possible that Barns and Homer got confused? It's weird enough to see these people collaborating. But to see them working with the Goa'uld is unthinkable," Daniel said.

"Anything is possible, Daniel; I read too little to be sure of anything. But knowing those two, I don't think they'd send anything without evidence," Jack said, but then he came across another piece of information. "Well, there is no doubt anymore. Our two agents have captured a Goa'uld, which must be why the Jaffa are chasing them."

"As far as I'm aware of the war between the Jaffa Empire and the JFN, the Empire is having trouble maintaining their navy. The Big Whale is in equally great trouble regarding space travel. "I guess their only option was to find someone who knew how to build and maintain spaceships," the ship's captain said. "Also, we will arrive at the location in three minutes. Even though we know that the Goa'uld are involved, and I have no problem opening fire on Empire ships, my plan is still to pick up the corvette and leave."

Jack knew little about Edward Norton. On paper, everything looked above board, even with the lofty standards of the Terran Navy. But what bothered him was why such a competent captain was content with a position that amounted to taxiing VIPs. Even worse, that job didn't need to be done often. Hence, the ship and crew spent time in the Solar System waiting for their High Councilor to go on a new diplomatic mission.

But, who knows, the man might find it rewarding to be the captain of Space Force One.

The Enterprise was also not up to modern standards. The ship had seen more interior decorators crawling through its corridors in the last five years than engineers. The reason was that the vessel needed to be as comfortable as possible for the ambassadors they sometimes ferried around. But he had to admit that the bed he was sleeping in was more comfortable than the one he had chosen for his home. One only needed to look at his study room, which eerily resembled the Oval Office, to know the level of effort put into decorating and improving comfort. But that also suggested no improvements in the ship's systems. Except for the support system that now emitted slightly scented air or the installation of teleportation booths so that guests would not have to walk more than the length of a single corridor, the ship hadn't been changed in any meaningful way.

He had confidence in the crew's abilities and the ship that, although not the latest model, had already been special at its unveiling. With a ZPM, even the newest capital ship class in the Jaffa ranks—which the Terrans had helped design—would have no easy task of breaking through its powerful shields.

"I think it's a good plan. We have a ship that even the Ori had a tough time damaging, and that's why I think you'll have enough freedom of maneuver without having to confront the Empire directly. But captain, my message to you is that if any Jaffa ship gets in your way, you open fire without hesitation."

"Understood," the captain said.

They told each other what they had to do and knew everything they needed to know before the start of the mission. Now it was time to bring their people home. The Enterprise burst into normal space, finding a sea of asteroids no more than thirty thousand kilometers away. But although in the majority, they were not the only floating bodies the ship's sensors detected.

"Detecting eight capital ships believed to be Ha'til class, thirty assault frigates believed to be Al'kat class, and forty squadrons comprised of two death gliders each," the lieutenant working the sensors shouted.

"Al'kat?" Daniel asked.

"That's the new bomber the Empire decided to replace that useless Al'kesh with. We don't have specific information on it," Jack said as he watched the main screen and furtively read the information on his console. "But now the bigger issue is that the situation isn't what we imagined. I blame our two agents for sending us the incorrect information."

"Probably the situation was as they described at the time of sending the message, but most likely other ships from surrounding systems joined the pursuit afterward," the captain said. "But it doesn't fundamentally change what we must do. However, I believe we might win a little time if we talked to them."

"Captain, I'm picking up strange readings from within the asteroid field. Whoever is inside will have trouble opening a hyperspace window," the same lieutenant said.

"See how all the eight Ha'til have positioned themselves. I bet it's to create an interference field," Jack said. They were using all eight capital ships only to surround the place. There was a good chance the Empire didn't have advanced enough technology to create such a field with fewer than eight ships.

However, the number of ships to catch one corvette was sufficient, with the leading eight forming a ring and the remaining Al'kat and Death Gliders scouring the large asteroid field. So far, it looked like all they'd done was blasting a hundred asteroids in vain.

"It means that if we enter the asteroid field, we will not be able to open a hyperspace window and will have to get out of it first," Daniel said.

"We will have to take risks. If we stand here, we have no chance of saving our people," Jack said. "Come on, captain, contact their flagship so I can talk to whoever is in charge."

"Jack, are you sure this is a good idea?" Daniel asked.

"What do you mean? The captain suggested we buy time; therefore, we aimlessly negotiate with them," Jack replied.

"No, that part is clear to me, but the fact that you are the one to chat with whoever is on the other side worries me. Don't you think it might be better if I talk to them?"

"Nope. There's no one better at wasting time talking nonsense than me," Jack retorted.

"I agree, but maybe a little experience in diplomacy would come in handy," Daniel said.

Jack thought he should feel offended by what Daniel said. Still, the part that bothered him was that he wasn't convinced diplomacy and talking to Jaffa from the Empire had anything to do with each other. "You overthink it. Captain, make the call. And you know what to do for the rest, right?"

The captain nodded and went to work. Their agents were hiding well, with their craft powered down so that no one could detect them. The message said their cloak broke, meaning they had to hide deep inside an asteroid. With all guns pointed at the asteroid field, the agents certainly didn't plan to move until salvation was at hand. That meant the Enterprise would have to go deep inside the asteroid field and search it from the first floating pebble to the last.

Another problem he had was how to pick them up with raised shields because lowering them while surrounded and under constant fire wasn't a choice a wise man would make.

"As you wish, but I think the talks will go awry," Daniel replied.

The wait time wasn't long, with the main screen suddenly showing a Jaffa warrior. He dressed in full armor, which was almost impossible to see in the JFN these days, at least outside a parade. Most Jaffa had realized how little sense it made for the ship's crew to spend their day wearing heavy armor. It was clear to him that the Empire was too conservative, still keeping with silly traditions the Goa'uld instilled.

"The Jaffa Empire is conducting exercises in this system, and I recommend that you leave at once. You wouldn't want a stray shot accidentally hitting your ship," Jaffa announced sternly.

"It's amazing how many people have gathered in the same spot by sheer accident, isn't it?" Jack said, smiling wickedly. "Speaking of which, haven't you by any chance heard a distress call originating from around here?"

"We received no call for help and saw no one who could have sent one," Jaffa replied flatly. "But I know we have obtained permission to enter the Union territory, which I can't confirm for you."

Meanwhile, the Enterprise inched ever closer to the asteroid field.

"Is this the Union's territory? These days it's hard to tell how far it reaches. To ask them, anything within a thousand light years of their planets would be part of their territory. It's also amazing that no matter how often we tell them that it can't be like that, they keep falling on deaf ears," Jack said. "You know how it goes. Through one ear in, out the other?"

Just because someone inhabited a system, the Union claimed that everything in a thousand light years around it should belong to that race. Years ago, the Terrans announced that ten light years around an inhabited system were just the right volume to claim as their territory.

Most races followed suit, knowing it was a perfectly prudent space allocation. But there were a couple of races that didn't agree. Among them were the Big Whale and, who else but the Jaffa Empire. If they owned such a vast area, everyone traveling would have to make detours, causing delays and other inconveniences. Or they could pay a fee and pass through, which was what they were truly after. The Jaffa Empire and, to an even greater extent, the Big Whale had such scattered holdings that if they had their way, half of the galaxy would be in their possession. It wasn't for no reason that other races often referred to the Union as the Big Whale.

But over time, it became so tiring that most races stopped trying to convince the Empire and the Union.

"The nearest inhabited system belongs to the Union, less than a thousand light years away. It makes sense that this place belongs to them," Jaffa retorted.

Daniel would do better in this debate. But Jack didn't want to let go of the baton while he still had more ammunition. "How funny! And what if the Terrans decide to terraform one of the nearby systems less than one thousand light years away from here? Would we then become the owners of this system? It sounds ridiculous that this place should belong to the Union, which practically has no ship to sail here. Isn't, therefore, talking about ownership of this system pointless?"

"I have no intention of getting into a debate about the ownership of an insignificant system. But we currently have exercises here. Therefore, leave this place now!" Jaffa retorted.

Jack's tactics didn't work very well, but at least the Enterprise kept steadily approaching the asteroid field. Still, the Jaffa in front of him was already angry—something that, frankly, wasn't hard to induce in a Jaffa—and it was evident that if the exchange continued on the same note, it wouldn't last long enough for them to even reach the first asteroid in the vast field before the Jaffa exploded, let alone sweep through it in search of the corvette.

He wanted to add something more to rekindle the conversation, but Daniel interjected before he could. "The Jaffa Empire has no right to speak for the Union. Even if we accept their claim of this being their territory, which we have no reason to, the only one who can dispute our right to be here is someone from the Union government. Is there such a person around?"

Daniel was an excellent speaker. One sentence was enough to put the Jaffa in a tough position. The Jaffa Empire had no right to tell anyone they couldn't be here when this wasn't their territory. Moreover, his claim they were here to perform military exercises was highly questionable. The story just didn't hold water, and the best part was that the Jaffa in front of them didn't realize the trap he was about to fall into.

"We just happen to have a Union official authorized to speak for his people on board," Jaffa said with a smile.

The man might have been a solid warrior—Jack had no basis for judging since he had just met the man—but it was clear the guy was a complete tool when it came to politics. They already knew the Jaffa Empire was cooperating with the Goa'uld. Still, it would be difficult to prove that the Union was also involved, especially not at the level where they could present the accusations to the other races in the galaxy. But now, the Jaffa announced a governmental official from the Union was on board. If they could find out there were Goa'uld on their ship, and with the evidence their agents had already collected, they could put the screws on both races.

The person from the Union was not too happy about having to come out. Only the Jaffa had the balls to take the Terran Federation lightly. All the other races knew that no matter how busy the Terrans were in a distant place, it was best to stay out of their hair. It's always best to let the lion sleep, as the saying goes. But the Jaffa, especially those from the Empire, were oblivious of such or similar expressions.

Reluctantly, the representative of the Union entered the screen. "The Union considers this to be its territory. Except for the Jaffa Empire, to whom we allowed to conduct exercises, no other race has the right to stay here except in an emergency. We only allow transit through hyperspace."

Unlike the Jaffa, this person knew what he was talking about. He argued that other races could still travel through here if they did not drop out of hyperspace. He specifically stated this so there would be no controversies that could easily extend the debate into lasting for months, which in the current situation would favor the Terrans. But even with that, the answer gave Daniel enough ammunition to keep the discussion going for at least the next half hour. At that time, not only would the Enterprise enter deep into the asteroid field, but also help from Terra Nova would arrive.

"Being a member of your government, you are surely familiar with the provisions passed at the session held two years ago on the planet Tegalus, where most races accepted our proposal that no one could own space more than ten light years away from an inhabited planet without the express consent from the surrounding races. Since your Union has possessions everywhere in the galaxy, this would require seeking consent from most races. Even if we considered only the races bordering the area in question, the Union would still need to get the consent of five races, including that of the JFN. Somehow, I believe they didn't give you any such consent," Daniel said.

Daniel was unbelievably good at such talks. No one knew how to spit completely irrelevant nonsense as he could, and the eyes rolling on the faces of the two on the screen were a good sign of that.

Jack was on the verge of spreading a beaming smile from ear to ear, but that would make what Daniel was trying to achieve more difficult. So, he stood motionless, trying to think of anything but how funny the two on the big screen looked right now. God willing, they might get enough time for the Enterprise to find their agents before the discussion was over.

Of course, he was aware that it was only his hope for something that wouldn't happen.

Daniel dominated the conversation expertly, allowing his opponents to barely utter an uncertain word before interrupting them with even more nonsensical rhetoric that took at least a minute or two to understand.

"Enough of this useless discussion!" the Jaffa yelled after five minutes of listening. "Your ship is steadily approaching the asteroid field even though I told you to leave the system!"

Seeing the Jaffa angry while the man beside him appeared ready to run and hide was incredibly funny.

But Daniel knew how to respond even to such a retort. "Interesting. Since when does the Terran Federation have to listen to what the Jaffa Empire says? It is clear to everyone that no one here has the right to appropriate this system. Therefore, we could easily interpret your speech full of indignation in which you ordered us to leave as insulting and even hostile. Do you think the Terran Federation will acquiesce just because you raised your voice? Also, what are you planning to do if we decide to stay?"

Jack couldn't help but put a smile on his face. He was so proud of Daniel right now. He was usually too timid with his retorts. But now, he finally bared his teeth, just like a proud member of the most powerful human race in the Milky Way should. If Daniel had responded timidly to the angering Jaffa speech, he would have jumped right in.

But it turned out he had no reason to worry.

"We Jaffa are conducting exercises within this field, which is why we ask you to leave so you wouldn't risk getting hit by stray fire," the Jaffa retorted, this time with a much milder tone.

The Jaffa must have realized how bad it would be for this incident to escalate even further than it already had. The Emperor would not thank him if this incident added the Terran Federation to the list of active enemies—a list of races increasing by the day.

Various human races took a long time to get their heads out of their asses. However, they eventually realized how much easier it was to deal with the JFN than the Jaffa Empire. If the JFN won the conflict, as long as they didn't attack them first, the JFN would never start a war with any of the human races. More importantly, knowing the JFN, the Jaffa Empire would survive the war in one form or another. They would be weakened for sure, especially militarily and economically. Still, the JFN would not finish them off and would instead demand war reparations. They would not go for the Empire's dissolution. From the human races' standpoint, such a resolution of the Jaffa conflict would be ideal. Even after the war ended, the JFN would still have to keep an eye on the Jaffa Empire.

However, it would not be suitable for anyone if the opposite happened. The Jaffa Empire would certainly annex the entire JFN, and future negotiations with the expanded Jaffa Empire would become a challenge. With the Terrans engaged in a faraway war that could easily last centuries, the Jaffa Empire could get all sorts of weird ideas of conquest. Therefore, they realized that the only good Jaffa Empire was a subdued one. Promptly, they started negotiating with the JFN on how best they could help in the Jaffa conflict, if nothing else, by supplying resources and intel.

The Jaffa Empire could deal with that for now, but if they were to piss off the Terran Federation, they would be in real trouble.

"So, you're telling me that a military exercise in the middle of nowhere is so important that it's even alright to risk an international incident to complete it?" Daniel retorted. "I'm not a military expert, but I don't think it's difficult to order all ships to stop firing."

A flawless victory, that's how Jack would describe it. With those last two sentences, Daniel buried the Jaffa with no way for a comeback. If the Jaffa came into the system only to shoot at the asteroids, there would be no reason they could not leave and return on a later day.

Meanwhile, the Enterprise had reached the Ha'til they were talking to. Another minute and they'd be inside the asteroid field, and the Jaffa didn't have the rhetoric to dissuade them justifiably. But the man didn't look like he was ready to give up, at least not yet. The situation was dire for their side, and he found himself tasked with the impossible duty of hunting down the offenders who had so daringly kidnapped the Goa'uld. But even such a difficult mission became even more so after meeting a Terran battle cruiser.

"Give up!" Jack added hastily. He needed to push the man just a bit more. "As a warrior, you surely know that you cannot always win. Sometimes it's best to retreat so that you may live to fight another day."

It might have been a foreign concept to the Jaffa, who used to always charge at the enemy. However, times were changing, and even the conservative Jaffa thought differently today than when they were under the Goa'uld. They knew that sometimes rushing headlong against an unbeatable enemy was downright foolish.

Therefore, it was difficult for Jack to understand why a score of plasma cannons from that Ha'til suddenly opened fire at them. Like everyone else on the bridge, with widened eyes, he watched as a dozen plasma bolts traveled thousands of kilometers before hitting the Enterprise's shield. The slight tremor that came with each blow continued for the next few seconds.

"Status!" the captain shouted.

"Shields holding, currently at 174% of nominal strength!" the tactical officer said.

It hadn't been long since they received the SOS, but with a ZPM, it wasn't hard to pump the shield buffers well beyond their declared levels. If they had waited a little longer, they would have reached their maximum of 200 percent. With their shields so reinforced, it was no wonder that the Enterprise barely budged even though fired upon by cannons they had helped design—weapons that used the latest technological advances Anubis had left behind and the Aschen technology they had handed over and helped integrate. All this meant that those cannons were by no means weak, which the very fact that the strength of the shields had slightly decreased could attest to that.

"Okay, this was most unexpected," said Jack, convinced the Jaffa was on the verge of giving up. He never thought they would fire a volley at the Terran Space Force One with two high-ranking members of the Terran Government aboard no less. "If that's not a declaration of war, then I don't know what is."

"Let's not jump to conclusions. I admit that having their flagship open fire on us is not a good sign, but do you see the face of the Jaffa on the screen?" Daniel asked.

He noticed even before Daniel said anything. The Jaffa looked distraught, glancing around without knowing what had happened. Best of all, he had a perfectly valid theory about what had happened. However, he wasn't sure if it affected what the Jaffa's cruiser had done and the consequences that must follow.

"Who fired without my permission? Have the courage to stand in front of me!" the Jaffa yelled. He wasn't thinking that the Enterprise was recording the entire conversation. His behavior would only make the Jaffa Empire an even bigger loser in this mess. Their current discussion was enough to not only show how lousy the Jaffa Empire was at diplomacy but how loose their control in the military was as well.

"Why don't you see if, by chance, a certain individual whose eyes sometimes glow for no good reason doesn't happen to have gained access to a tactical console? Say, in the auxiliary control room?" Jack decided to help the poor Jaffa, who had trouble grasping what was happening.

The Jaffa didn't understand at first, but after thinking a little longer, he figured out what Jack meant. But he must have realized another point as well. "You have known there are Goa'uld on our ship from the beginning, which means you have already received the intel from the fleeing craft."

"No, I couldn't be sure if a snakehead was onboard at first, but I assumed there was after this unprovoked attack. It's so easy to understand their mentality," Jack retorted.

Jaffa remained thoughtful. "Does that mean you won't hold the Jaffa Empire responsible for the attack?"

"For the attack, no, we won't. But what's coming next is a problem." Jack had learned exceedingly well how the Goa'uld think in the more than two hundred years he'd spent wandering a galaxy they ruled.

"Explain," Jaffa asked with a frown.

"I feel like the Goa'uld won't stop at this one weak-ass attack, that's all," Jack retorted, shrugging.

It looked like the Jaffa was about to retort when Jack heard someone else's voice who wasn't visible.

"Our ship broadcasted your order to open fire on the Tau'ri vessel!" the unseen Jaffa shouted.

The Jaffa's on the screen eyes widened. "Send the recall order!"

"I can't. The system will not let me!" the other Jaffa replied.

"That's how it goes when you have the Goa'uld service your ships. Frankly, I'm amazed you believed they wouldn't screw you up in one way or another," Jack retorted, quite disappointed with the prevailing mentality in the Jaffa Empire. He knew the Empire was in a pickle and had to find a way to get its navy running at peak efficiency but going to the Goa'uld for help was beyond moronic. He turned to the captain. "Captain, you know what to do."

"Helm, push towards the center of the asteroid field at full thrust! Sensors, I want an active scan of every particle in this place! And tactical, anyone who fires at us should immediately regret it!" The captain fired a slew of orders.

Sitting in the back, Jack watched the situation unfold. There was no longer a Jaffa on the main screen, but outer space filled with asteroids. Since it was an uninteresting sight, he turned to his console, where he noticed the tactical officer performing various tasks. She had marked potential targets and changed the settings of the Enterprise's weapons. Since all the Ha'til formed the outer ring, they were the most distant. The only capital ship in a position to fire was the one with the Jaffa they had talked to. Still, that ship stood motionless, showing no signs of pursuing. They must still try to regain control over their vessel and contact the remaining fleet ships to refute the fake order. But knowing the gap between the knowledge the Goa'uld possessed and that of the Jaffa, he believed it would take ages before they accomplished anything.

Since the Ha'til were still far away, the first opponents would be the Al'kat and Death Gliders, for which the Enterprise's weaponry was ill-suited. Heavy plasma beams were out of the question since both classes of Jaffa vessels were too maneuverable and the weaponry too powerful. Using it against a Death Glider would be like trying to shoot a mosquito with a gun, and it wouldn't be much better if used against an Al'kat.

The standard plasma beams, of which the Enterprise had six, could be helpful against smaller craft. However, just as the tactical officer had done, they needed to be set to lower output and shorter beam duration. Thus, the firing would be more frequent, yet the power would remain in the range of Terawatt hours, quite enough to destroy the shields of a craft like the Al'kat. But here, too, they would have to wait for the enemy to approach before the weapon became effective. This is where the new plasma lance would be better, with greater precision and higher beam velocity.

In contrast to the latest Terran weapons, the now obsolete plasma beams were the first weaponry of its form that the Terrans and Asgard conjured to fight the Ori toilets and Wraith Hives; tough ships but with extremely poor maneuverability. But the Enterprise did not have these new weapons because no one thought a ship tasked to taxi VIPs would need them. The ship's priority was to ensure the safety of the people aboard while leaving the fighting to others. However, today in they would like to have the new weapons installed.

But it wasn't that the Enterprise had lousy armament. In addition to the plasma beams, she had plasma repeaters and railguns ready to tear apart any smaller craft that dared to approach them. It also owned torpedoes of various strengths and purposes and old but perfectly adequate drones that the Terrans had once upon a time made in insane quantities on Asura, and now someone needed to waste them.

Radar, Lidar, and Asgard subspace sensors returned a plethora of data but nothing about the corvette's hiding spot. He believed that with its systems turned off, the corvette was hiding inside an asteroid partially made of metals so that no sensors could distinguish them by composition. Of course, if they hadn't done it, the Jaffa would have found them and blasted the asteroid long ago.

He hoped their two agents would soon signal them, letting them know where they were. Otherwise, it would be hard to find them in a field of tens of thousands of asteroids.

The first Al'kat that came within fifty kilometers opened fire with all its weapons. Unlike its poorly armed older sibling, the Al'kesh, the younger model had three times the number of guns, each more potent than its predecessor. Honestly, the cannons the Al'kat had were more powerful and accurate than the Enterprise's plasma repeaters. But that didn't mean much because that wasn't the only weapon at their disposal.

As the plasma rained down on the Enterprise's shields with minimal consequence, the ship returned fire with its plasma beams. Short but frequent fire made the Al'kat evade as they must know that a single shot could severely damage their ship, if not outright destroy it.

"A score at last," Jack said after seeing a shot hit the Al'kat left flank. It was enough for the craft to lose control. Damaged, it continued in a straight line until it met a giant asteroid, in which confrontation the latter won. "Like a fly on a windshield."

"Well, it's not much of a comparison," Daniel commented.

"I know, but somehow I couldn't think of anything smarter," Jack retorted. "And you know how I always like to comment."

Meanwhile, the number of Al'kat that came within range of their weapons increased, and a dozen Death Gliders joined the chase. The Enterprise had to split the fire, but Jack wasn't worried. He wouldn't be concerned even when the remaining seven Ha'til joined the attack in the inevitable future.

"Isn't the hit-to-miss ratio of our weapons pretty bad?" Daniel asked.

"Plasma beams were never meant to be used against an opponent like the Al'kat. In fact, if that craft had a bit more advanced technology and enough of them, it would be the bane of a ship like the Enterprise. It was the reason we developed a plasma lance with improved capabilities, including a higher beam velocity. It makes it almost impossible to avoid even for vessels for which high maneuverability is the key factor in combat," Jack explained in detail. "But don't worry. Look at the level of our shields."

"178 percent. It's higher than after that Ha'til shot at us," Daniel answered.

"Even now, with a bunch of Al'kat and Death Gliders bearing down on us, we can still expect the shields to drop by a couple of percent at the most. We have a ZPM capable of recovering the spent energy in a jiff. This level of weapons fire is also unable to damage the shield emitters. We'll see how it goes when the main force joins in, but even then, I don't expect too great of a difference," Jack replied.

"The Enterprise is the Enterprise. Although not the newest ship in our arsenal, she was once capable of going head-to-head with an Ori toilet," Daniel said.

"Exactly. The only problem is finding our two agents and getting them on board without lowering our shields," Jack said. "The new Armageddon can partially lower the shields where the hangar is, but the Achilles class has a shield that creates a sphere around the ship. Unfortunately, it works on an all-or-nothing principle."

"Well, how about we try the same thing you did when you entered hyperspace only long enough to bypass the shield of Anubis' flagship?" Daniel gave a possibility.

"First, I don't like the idea because we're risking the lives of our two agents and everyone on the Enterprise. I don't believe the captain would agree to it when the slightest mistake could result in the corvette materializing inside the Enterprise." Jack noticed the captain shaking his head in agreement. "And secondly, the Jaffa still won't let us open the hyperspace window. If not, the corvette could fly a couple of light years away where we could pick it up. That would be the easiest and safest way, but unfortunately, it is currently impossible to do."

"The solution should be to destroy enough of their ships so they can no longer transmit the interference," Daniel said. Still, his face expressed he didn't prefer that solution.

"I'm not in favor of that either, even though they keep shooting at us. If there is no choice, we will solve the current crisis that way, but let's try to find a more elegant solution," Jack said.

Meanwhile, the remaining seven capital ships had gotten close enough to begin firing. The Enterprise made random course corrections as it meandered through the asteroid field, making the task of the opposing capital ships, still at extreme weapons range, challenging.

"I have an idea of how to accomplish this, but first, we must find our agents and get rid of these little nuisances," the captain announced. "Tactical, leave their capital ships alone for now. We could hardly hit them after a hundred attempts at these distances with our and their evading. Focus on disabling the Al'kat instead."

The firing continued, occasionally with an Al'kat downed under the relentless fire. The shields began to drop slightly, but even the added fire from the opponent's capital ships did not take down more than thirty percent of their strength. But it was still worth mentioning that the Ha'til was an incredible improvement over the Ha'tak. Although it was three times smaller, it could point the same number of cannons at a single opponent as the Ha'tak, even though barely two hundred meters long.

"We have a signal!" the communications officer exclaimed. "A short, encrypted message was sent via a remote relay."

"Decrypt it!" the captain ordered.

Without the express order of the ship's captain, the comm officer did not have permission to unlock a message that the ship received unless of a personal nature. But with the order received, the officer quickly set to work. "We have the coordinates of the corvette!"

"We don't have time. Although our agents cleverly used a relay so that the Jaffa couldn't pinpoint their location, the enemy would realize they must be in a direct line of sight with the relay. And I'm sure they already know where the relay is," the captain explained. "Redirect the ship to the relay, and transfer the message to my console,"

The agents had exposed themselves, and it was only a matter of minutes before the Jaffa found them. The only good point was that there was no theory that the Jaffa could decrypt the message, which meant they had the upper hand. But they had to react quickly because if not, that advantage could easily melt away.

The situation outside was not bad. The Jaffa lost seventy percent of the Al'kat and half a dozen Death Gliders stupid enough to come within range of the Enterprise's plasma repeaters and railguns. No way such a small craft could harm a battlecruiser like the Enterprise, even if they decided to crash into her side. Therefore, what remained was to face the seven Ha'til and manage to get their agents into the ship's hangar.

The Enterprise approached where the relay was, but, in the meantime, two Death Gliders had passed by and showered it with plasma fire until only small pieces remained. It didn't matter. The relay had done its job, and its destruction would not affect the mission's outcome. But now, the question was how exactly to approach the biggest concern. The captain mentioned that he had an idea, but he didn't specify what it was. But Jack knew it would be wrong to start asking questions in the middle of an operation. He would have to remain silent and wait for the captain to do his job.

The captain's answer did not take long to come. "I like the corvette's position, with many bulky asteroids around it. I want us to hide between the multitude of asteroids so that none of the Ha'til can shoot at us. Their weapons are the only thing that can harm the ship. We could then lower the shields long enough for the corvette to board. But we must be well synchronized, and I think we must diminish the number of combatants by at least one or two."

"By my analysis, we need to disable two Ha'til before we can attempt your plan. If not, it will be impossible for us to find a hiding place long enough to take the corvette on board without risking sustaining damage," the tactical officer retorted.

The Enterprise could survive a shot from the Ha'til main guns with the shields down—they didn't make the ship with paper. But Jack knew the captain would never risk it, especially not with two high-ranking government members on board. Such a risk was simply unacceptable.

"Then there's no choice but to disable two Jaffa cruisers," the captain said before turning to the tactical officer. "I leave the choice of targets and the tactic to approach the location of our corvette to you. Coordinate with the communications officer what kind of message to send our agents to get out of hiding on time. We will have only seconds to get them on board and bring our shield back up."

The worst part was the Jaffa were attacking because of a message sent by a Goa'uld impersonating their leader. Therefore, no one on the Enterprise was too prepared to blow two ships with more than a hundred fooled Jaffa on board. However, the Jaffa were to blame for choosing to cooperate with the Goa'uld. Worse, the consequences they would have to pay later would be many times higher after it was revealed that they had collaborated with the scum of the galaxy and that they even got exposed. All the races in the galaxy would condemn them for the former infraction. For the latter, their emperor certainly would denounce them. He would distance himself from the case by pretending to be ignorant of his subordinates' actions. The whole affair would be a great shame for him. Still, he and other individuals from the Jaffa Empire and the Union would find ways to walk away from taking responsibility.

The Enterprise sped toward the location of their two agents while the Jaffa ships redirected to keep pace with them on this new course. Unfortunately, his prediction came true, with the Jaffa flagship still unable to send a recall. Their people should wonder why their flagship, from which the order came, was not taking part in the chase, but it was instead floating peacefully.

But that was too much to ask of the Jaffa in the heat of battle.

It was time to bring this whole affair to an end, and the first step to achieving that was to send a message to their two agents to come out.

"The message has been sent, and now it's up to them to come out at the right time," the captain said.

Jack saw on the monitor that in two minutes, the Enterprise would be in an ideal spot among the asteroids where it could bring down the shields. But before that, it was necessary to cut undesirable elements whose line of fire asteroids would not block. The asteroids would protect the ship from most sides except for the one where two Ha'til were rushing from. They were already firing at them, but while the Enterprise was making evasions, it was not difficult to avoid most shots.

For the first time in a while, the capacitors of the heavy plasma beams became energized. The cannons spat short but powerful compressed plasma beams at the thousands of kilometers distant Ha'til. Two of them missed the target, but the enemy ship did not manage to avoid the third. Although short-lived, the beam lasted enough for a small percentage of the plasma to penetrate through the fully powered shield. The glowing plasma grazed the hull's port side.

"I detect considerable damage to the hull, their shields in that place have dropped to 40 percent, and half of the guns on the port side are no longer usable. Unfortunately, we did not hit a vital point on the ship that would have disabled it," the tactical officer said. "I'm targeting the other ship."

The first target hadn't been fully disabled, which meant they still had to target it. But the tactical officer wanted to deal with the other ship first. In the meantime, they could change their minds and withdraw, which would be the best outcome. But the opponents were Jaffa, who didn't know the term strategic retreat.

Heavy plasma beams again lit up space, but this time none of the three fired managed to hit the other enemy ship. It looked like they were ready for it and evaded just in time. However, the tactical officer was also aware of that possibility and prepared a countermove. In addition to three heavy plasma beams, the Enterprise also had six standard plasma cannons, weaker but still anti-capital cannons capable of releasing terawatt-hours of energy in a matter of seconds.

Thinner but still highly destructive beams rushed forth at the ship's changed location. It was a long distance, yet two beams managed to hit the Ha'til.

"Their shields are down to 60 percent, and the next hit could reach their hull," the tactical officer noted.

And so, it was. Four plasma beams flew towards the enemy ship, this time three of them capable of smashing against it. The beams pierced the starboard side, heavily damaging the bow. Moreover, the vessel had partially lost control.

"The ship seems unable to continue the chase. I'm switching to fire at the first Ha'til," the tactical officer said.

It was not easy to score a hit at such distances. The best tactic was to use multiple beams, not all of which would travel directly at the enemy. They would point some toward where they predicted the vessel should move in response to the fire. Algorithms on the ships struggled to figure out where the fire was traveling and enacted micro-corrections of the ship's trajectory in milliseconds. But once they did correct the ship's course, new plasma beams deliberately fired with a slight delay would target the ship's new position. That was why it was important for the tactical officer to know how the automatic systems on the enemy's ship would react. Given that the Terrans had helped build the Ha'til and its more complex algorithms that allowed such a vessel to fly, they had an incredible advantage over whoever used it. Also, he suspected that the Jaffa on the Ha'til's bridge was clueless about changing those algorithms to reduce the Terrans' advantage.

Inevitably, one of the heavy plasma beams found its target, striking the targeted Ha'til smack in the middle. The shot was powerful enough to shatter the front of the ship, which, although still in one piece, no longer posed a threat to the Enterprise.

"The first Ha'til is disabled, and the second only partially but hiding behind a larger asteroid," the tactical officer said.

"We still have about thirty seconds before we reach the rendezvous point. The other ship has left the intercepting course, and thus no Ha'til can pose a threat any longer," the captain said. "Let's hope our agents won't be late."

That was the most critical part of the whole operation. For now, the Jaffa did not know where the Corvette was nor where the Enterprise was going. But when the Enterprise stopped, they would know that the Corvette was nearby. The longer it took the flier to enter the hangar, the more chance it gave the Jaffa to get a good shot at them.

"The Enterprise is now stationary," the helm announced.

"What are they waiting for?" Jack said impatiently.

"Here they are!" Daniel exclaimed after seeing the corvette icon appear on the console.

"Okay, so at least we won't have to beat them up for being late," Jack retorted as he could now see them on the main screen. "Come on now, full speed ahead!"

The Corvette was racing towards the Enterprise, but it wasn't alone. The remaining Death Gliders and Al'kat—until now hiding in fear of the Enterprise shooting them down—like vultures began to appear from behind the various asteroids. Now was the time to perform an all-or-nothing action because, in less than a minute, the Corvette would safely land inside the hangar of the Enterprise.

Plasma rained down on the nimble Corvette, which expertly dodged while not bothering to return fire. They must have diverted all their energy towards the shield and thrusters, as their mad dash could attest to it.

"I'm orienting the ship so they can enter the hangar more easily!" the officer at the helm said.

"I'm lowering the shields," the tactical officer declared as the Corvette came close enough.

The crew on the bridge did everything they could to help the Corvette board safely. But the Jaffa did not want to make their tasks easy. Not only were they madly firing at the fleeing Corvette, but now that they saw the Enterprise's shields were down, half bore their weapons at them.

"Firing drones!" the tactical officer said.

The ancient drones were not the best at distances measuring thousands of kilometers. Still, they were deadly for the enemies currently buzzing in their vicinity. Not only that, but they were accurate enough to get in the way of the plasma shots rushing at them. The plasma repeaters and railguns also had their say; there was simply no reason to spare them in their current predicament.

Fire from various weapons rained down from all sides, with the unprotected Enterprise in the middle. The crew awaited the Corvette to pass the few final kilometers before reaching the hangar bay. Without shields, the Enterprise felt even shots from a Death Glider that left shallow traces of destruction on its hull. However, everyone on board was convinced that the hull's composite material could survive a shot or two without significant consequences. The Corvette also took hits, but their shield was up and working at full strength.

"The Ha'til is emerging from the asteroid cover! I'm reading increasing emissions from their weapons," the tactical officer informed.

The situation did not bode well. The Al'kat and Death Gliders fell like ripe fruits that the drones and the ship's short-range weapons would pick at. Still, the Enterprise also suffered hits, and those taken from the Al'kat weapons were not light. But even that was nothing compared to the damage the fire from the Ha'til's much larger weapons would cause if it hit with their shields lowered.

"The Corvette has entered the hangar!" the sensor officer shouted.

"Raise the shields!" the captain ordered.

Everything happened simultaneously: the captain who issued the order, the tactical officer who started the procedure to raise the shields even before that, and the shots that the Ha'til fired from its main guns that hit the Enterprise. The ship shook strongly enough to make Daniel standing next to him, fall to the floor.

"Status!" the captain shouted.

"We managed to raise the shields in time, but some of the weapon's energy still went through. I'm detecting damage to the hull's exterior, including two shield emitters on that side not working. The system is trying to compensate, but the shields on that side are at 50% of their nominal strength," the tactical officer announced.

"We are in one piece, and the Corvette landed safely in the hangar. We did well," the captain said, but his face showed anger. "However, we cannot forgive those who damaged our ship like this. Target that Ha'til. I don't want to see it anymore. Helm, assist tactical, and after their ship is gone, move us out of the asteroid field."

The Enterprise turned as if angry towards the ship that had dared to harm her. There was no more moderation in the attack that ensued. All plasma cannons, whether heavy or not, didn't matter anymore. They all opened fire, in short order, starting to cripple the Ha'til. The first few shots fatally wounded it, but the last one from the heavy plasma cannon went through the entire length of the unprotected Ha'til, leaving behind a burning, lifeless wreckage. Drones, plasma repeaters, and railguns swiftly cleaned up their immediate surroundings because smaller ships had dared to shoot at Space Force One—an unforgivable offense.

There were five more Ha'tils in hard pursuit. Still, the Enterprise was traveling at full thrust in the opposite direction, and the interference was visibly weakening with the distance increasing.

"We're out of the interference," the sensor officer announced after two more minutes.

"I see that the task force from Terra Nova will be here in ten minutes. Send them everything that happened here so they know what awaits them. On the other hand, we can leave this place," the captain said. "Helm, open a hyperspace window. It is time to continue on our earlier path. Tactical, I want a detailed description of the damage the ship sustained—"

Jack stopped listening to the orders the captain was giving. With the incident over, the captain and crew had plenty to do, and he did as well. He needed to send a summary of what had happened here back on Earth, and it would be good if he talked to their two secret agents before that. It would also be good to inform the incoming task force that they should continue to the planet where the agents found the evidence in case there were no more Jaffa here. They'd better get there before the Jaffa and the Union destroyed everything. Knowing how brutal they could be, they might detonate the underground facility and even carpet bomb the city from orbit. Later they would claim they were clearing the site where the Goa'uld had set up the base without their knowledge. It was a stupid excuse no one would believe in. Still, he was almost one hundred percent sure that the Jaffa and the Union would begin to distance themselves from the whole incident in such ways.

Jack stood up, nodded to Daniel to follow, and headed for the exit.

"And so, we go back to prepare for the meeting on Tegalus," Daniel said as they walked.

"Did you have to remind me of my cursed fate the very second the crisis was over?" Jack replied angrily.

The door opened, and the two stepped out just as the Enterprise entered hyperspace.

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