Chapter 17: Crash
Angéla went for a refreshing shower, quickly after her hectic fight with Vala. Then she joined Sam. Sam had studied Angéla's calculations of the communication system with interest. The results suggested that the ship had to be outside the hyperdrive window to be able to use the gate. She didn't think the Stargate was designed to be opened during hyperdrive, as this could disrupt the stability of the electrical circuits. What's more, she was afraid of using up the ship's energy reserves. That's why she had planned to exit hyperspace to cool the propulsion engines for a short time. She had scheduled it for that very evening. Thanks to the modifications made to the calculations, she thought she would be able to connect to the Gate to send a message. Angéla was excited, as there were still two hours to go before the fateful hour. Sam and Angéla decided to eat early so as not to miss their exit and monitor the parameters. Jack O'Neill was there too, and it was he who was to deliver the oral message, while Sam had written one just in case. Sam had decided to write a brief message instead of sending Angela's log. They had estimated that the connection should last 12 seconds to avoid any intrusion.
-"The connection will last exactly 12 seconds to limit problems of detection of the message by Oriis or others", Sam said. "Just enough to get our messages across".
- "So all you have to do is send the coordinates of the Earth and wait 12 seconds to avoid any problems," Jack said.
-"Normally yes, Angéla will still monitor the connection, to track down intruders, it's the best way to track down intrusions and to install protections such as firewalls".
-"I'm ready," affirmed Angéla, looking at the screens in front of her.
-"As soon as you're ready, go ahead", said Jack, looking especially intently at Sam.
-"We'll be coming out of hyperspace in 5 minutes", informed Angela, as she settled in to take control of the navigation system, since the automatic system would soon be disconnected.
...
-"A few seconds," said Sam.
-"Ok", said Angela, preparing to control the ship again.
She put her hand on the console, which reacted immediately to her touch and connected to the navigation system. This exercise was getting easier and easier, as if she'd created an affinity with the ship by connecting to it. The ship began to slow down and emerge from the window. She felt it vibrate under her hand.
-"Everything's going according to plan, but you're orbiting this planet", said Sam as a new route appeared in front of Angela. "I'm still going to scan the planet for human presence".
-"Is it inhabitable?" asked Jack. "If so, avoid all contact".
Angéla concentrated on her task.
-"According to initial data on the atmosphere. It's borderline breathable, there's no living trace of anything huma",' Sam replied.
-"I'm here", said Angéla. "We're around this star. The engines seem to have reacted well and the energy is intact and constant".
-"Well, I'll prepare the messages, General, give me your verbal message".
-"Here", said Jack, handing her a USB stick.
They touched hands. Sam shivered.
-"Okay, I'm ready", said Angéla. "The door-opener program is right where you said it would be, Sam".
Angéla commanded the ship to open the Stargate controls. An almost invisible screen appeared in front of her with the various chevrons. Jack and Sam were amazed by the chevrons, not that they were amazed to see them because they were used to seeing them by now, but there were some they'd never seen before, not even on Atlantis. Sam vowed to show them to Daniel and study them. What's more, the program seemed to accept the composition of 10 chevrons. Sam showed Angela the address she had dialed, touching the screen with her fingertips. This contact was not unpleasant. She seemed to be touching a liquid, slightly cold surface. One by one, she took each chevron of the address and moved them into the appropriate boxes on the left of the screen. It was like a touch screen. To the right of the screen, the door lay on the floor. As soon as the first chevron was inserted, the door slowly straightened up until it was vertical. Then, one by one, the rafters began to engage. At the last of the rafters, the door opened with the usual translucent blue vortex.
-"I'll start the stopwatch", said Angéla, while Sam sends messages to the Wyoming base on Earth.
After 12 seconds, it was all over.
-"That's it," said Jack.
-"What did you expect, fireworks?" laughed Angéla.
-"Coming from the Ancients, almost".
...
A few hundred light-years away, the Earth's Stargate opened.
-"General Landry?...We've got a transmission...It's Colonel Samantha Carter's ID code...yes I assume it's from the ship...I download the communication?...Yes, it seems secure...well, the protocol is set up...ok, I'll send it behind a firewall for security...I'll call you...Yes sir".
...
When she finally went to bed, Angéla was exhausted from what had been yet another busy day. She fell asleep quickly and drifted off into a deep, almost dreamless sleep. The ship had returned from its momentary pause without a hitch. The engines had reacted very well to its long period of inactivity, as if it had been waiting for this for a long time. He was making good progress and didn't seem to be affected by their presence, despite having covered such a long distance in such a short time. Sam planned to drop out of hyperspace again before their final destination. The plan was to arrive late in the evening and reach the planet early in the morning. This would give Sam time to analyze the target planet throughout the night. She could then study the various atmospheric measurements, mineralogical ...
Sam got up early to prepare for their arrival. What's more, she thought she'd found a solution to their problem. In fact, unlike Angéla, she hadn't slept very well. She got up quickly and hurried to get ready. She didn't bump into anyone at breakfast, not even Angéla, who had decided to get up later for once. After breakfast, it was business as usual. She went straight to the control room to get down to work.
A few hours later, Daniel and Angéla joined her. To Sam's astonishment, they arrived together.
-"What are you doing?" asked Angéla, in a good mood.
-"I'm optimizing our shield according to your calculations", said Sam, without looking up from his computer.
-"What's the problem?" said Daniel, seeing Sam's worried expression.
-"The shield is located towards the engines, where..."
-"Is the Gate", finished Daniel.
-"You think the shield came from the gate", said Angéla.
-"Yes".
-"The ship doesn't have its own shield, then?" says Angéla.
-"Yes, it should, but it's not working, or at least I can't get it to work properly. The shield we've got at the moment is supposed to protect the gate, but I've managed to extend it...", Sam explained.
"'But what's at the back", said Angéla, looking at the measurements on the console."What's in green is what's protected?"
-"Yes".
-"Is it serious?"
-"It protects our engines and weapons systems, but not the ship's hull and bow, which remain fragile", said Daniel.
-"The hull of course has its own resistance to withstand external pressure, but it's true that in the face of repeated attacks, we'll soon be at a disadvantage", added Sam.
-"And in a crash?" asked a worried Angela.
-"The hull has been designed to absorb shocks and modify itself to take them. The shell has an electrical system running through it. The surface is covered with electron particles so that the hull can change shape as required, and reconstitute itself after an impact. The electric current then excites its electrons, which return the hull to its initial state".
-"So the damage will be there but limited, depending on the intensity of the impact", said Daniel.
-"Yes".
-"We can invert the shield and put it on the front, but as the engines are on the back, they're still a little protected", asked Angéla.
-"No, you have to protect them too, and as the door is at the back, the protective field extends close by. But I'm trying to reduce the loop's capacity to extend this field, but..."
-"By changing the efficiency I understand", said Angéla.
-"Yes, the capacity will be lower, but we have no choice".
-"And the door?" asked Daniel.
-"It's completely deactivated, because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to extend the shield, the ship would have refused me that maneuver. Okay, it seems to me that if I extend it, we'll be at 30% shield protection capacity for the whole ship", told Sam.
-"Enough to flee if attacked", remarked Daniel.
-"Yes", sighed Sam."But that's all I can do for now".
-"And the weapons?" asked Daniel.
Angéla returned to her control console. A screen appeared at her request to answer Daniel's question.
-"They look 100%", said Angéla, observing the parameters.
-"I can confirm that my program has been installed thanks to Rod", said Sam, finally happy that a few things are working the way she wants them to.
-"We can't defend ourselves, but we can at least attack", said Daniel.
-"Once we're there, what do we do?" said Angéla.
She'd often asked this question, and so far she'd noticed that they didn't have a welldefined plan apart from finding the weapon.
-"From the tablets, we'll find a database of various discoveries, including the weapon we're interested in", said Daniel.
-"No complicated riddles to solve then, no hidden map in a text or treasure hunt", said a voice behind them.
It was Mitchell.
-"No, I think we'll find the place easily", replied Daniel.
-"For once it seems easy, a little too easy for my taste. Because why would such a powerful weapon be so easily accessible?" remarked Mitchell.
-"And what if a people lived there? To protect it", added Angéla.
-"Daniel will be very happy then. He's hoping to meet some Atlanteans", Mitchell tells Angela. "Iin some kind of monastery".
-"They're not warlike people, but they know how to defend themselves all the same".
-"Yes, but it would be nice to meet some of them all the same. They've always been against the Oriis. We could persuade them to help us, besides, it's their duty," said Daniel confidently.
-"Yeah, we'll see on the spot", said Mitchell. "And the prophecy?"
-"Blurred, the child is only mentioned in a small passage, clearly afterwards it's only allusions to these actions. But I don't have any more information".
-"I was talking about the one that concerns us, the one that came with the address of our target planet, the one on the tablet",mentioned Mitchell.
-"Many are useless, catastrophic forecasts like meteorology. Unfortunately, the one that really concerns us isn't very detailed, it's just instructions. I'll look at it later when I get there".
-"As luck would have it, the only part we're interested in is underdeveloped", sighed Mitchell.
-"And the location of the famous...monastery, just a hint. I might be able to use a topographical map in orbit, directly on the ship, to save time", asked Angéla.
-"He'll be where the gun is, I think".
-"Very poetic", Angéla laughed."Faith you'll have".
-"That was a good one too", said Mitchell.
-"'It's not from me, but from my great master Yoda. But Daniel's right, it would make sense even if I hadn't phrased it like that", Angéla scoffed. "That research would be safe in this monastery".
-"Yes, because it would be the most protected and best defended place because of its sacredness", said Daniel.
-"And monasteries can sometimes be great impregnable fortresses, in my experience", said Angéla.
-"Have you ever been to a monastery?" asked Mitchell, curious.
-"Affirmative".
-"And in what context?" asked Daniel.
-"To find out who I am", said Angéla, shrugging her shoulders.
-"It would be a lot easier if this place had a visible, detectable energy signature," concludes Sam.
-"And you're okay with that explanation",Mitchell whispered to Daniel over Angela's response.
-"Yes".
...
They prepared the ship for their arrival. So far, they hadn't encountered a living thing, and they hoped this would continue to be the case. Time passed and they gradually made their way towards their final destination. The tension grew, nailing them to a deathly silence. For the unknown became more and more palpable as time went by. Of course, the day passed slowly, the inactive crew waiting for something to happen.
In the evening, they all gathered in the control room as something was about to happen. Sam recalled everyone's role in the room and explained their individual tasks. They all wanted to witness their arrival, and Sam wanted to keep them occupied so they wouldn't interfere with her or Angela's work. They all settled around Angéla, who was the focal point. She was surrounded by her highly concentrated screens. Jack and Sam were on either side of Angéla. Sam was helping her control the parameters, while Jack was there to assist her just in case. Since his genes allowed him to participate, just a little. The others had settled into their seats around the central point, in front of consoles or not, wherever they could. The ship had just left hyperspace. It was now moving much more slowly. Daniel watched the data coming in as the ship scanned its surroundings, thanks to its ability to read the Ancient.
-"We've been thrown slightly off course", remarked Angéla.
-"Yes, I saw, we came out closer to our target than expected", Sam annotated worriedly. "That's okay, I'll send you the new itinerary".
A plan appeared in front of Angela. She read it carefully, then put her hand on the console, which immediately lit up when she touched it. She connected to the navigation system to steer the ship. Then a heavy silence fell. For they saw before them a large planet. Angéla stared in amazement at the planet they were approaching. It was getting bigger by the minute. John gazed in wonder at this barren Earth, marked by numerous meteorite impact craters. In fact, a few pieces of the star were orbiting this planet, like Saturn's famous rings or Jupiter's three rings. Data on this planet appeared on Daniel's screen.
-"It has almost no atmosphere, just looks like granite. There's no ocean floor, and in fact no volcanic activity. There's no water. No organisms detected", informed Daniel.
-"It's a dead planet", whispered Angela.
As they went along, Angéla began to feel ill, she tired quickly and the console began to heat up under her hand. The room was lighting up more and more, but no one could really make it out. The circle of signs carved into the floor was increasingly conspicuous, shining with an intense blue light. Just behind the white planet, they encountered an asteroid belt. Sam estimated the distance to the belt, the distance between two asteroids and the width of the belt. Angéla slowed down the ship in preparation for a future manoeuvre.
-"Tell me Sam, those little asteroids in front of us can't hurt us", said Jack.
-"They're not small", Angéla whispered. "We're still a long way from the belt".
At these words, an asteroid appeared compared to the size of the ship, some as big as the ship. Most, however, were smaller, about a third the size of the ship.
-"She's right, we're looking at a belt over 600,000 kilometers wide, with asteroids that can be several meters or even a kilometer across".
-"Can we avoid it?" asked Mitchell.
-"No, it stretches for billions of kilometers", said Sam.
- "Why didn't we come out right afterwards?" complained Jack.
-"It wouldn't have been funny", said Angéla. "And maybe this is the moment to prove my abilities to you".
-"It's going to be a long crossing", Mitchell whispered to Daniel.
-"I don't need proof to know your worth, and other times would have been nice",said Jack.
-"Well, we go?" asked Angéla, speeding up.
- "What does she mean?", John asked Teal'c next door, suddenly worried.
-"We're about to cross the belt and she's picking up speed. You'd better hang on".
Despite the pain caused by the increasingly intense heat, Angéla doubled her concentration on her flight. She accelerated her run and put her second hand on the second control station to help her gain confidence. The ship reacted immediately, leaping forward at her command like a galloping horse at the start of a race. Her gaze was fixed straight ahead. Thanks to the bay window, she could see the whole panorama, but it was thanks to the screens that she found her way among the rocks. She could easily find her way around. She approached the belt at high speed. Then she entered the belt, avoiding the various celestial bodies as best she could. She even grazed some of them. They heard them scrape the hull of the ship. They could almost feel them. Angéla didn't hear the others complain.
-"She's going to get us killed", said Jack C.
-"No...she's not doing too badly",said Vala thoughtfully.
She had found another special ability in Angéla, an exceptional reflex.
Indeed, at no point did the ship slow down, zigzagging deftly, sometimes narrowly avoiding obstacles as it twirled. But despite Angéla's best efforts, a few smaller pieces hit the hull without causing any major damage. Nothing was perfect. The hull instantly reformed as Sam had predicted. His hands began to tremble under the effort and crackled slightly, temporarily restoring his energy. After a few minutes, which seemed long to some, they crossed the end of the belt. Exhausted, Angela released her grip on the ship with relief and immediately switched it to automatic mode. The light faded slightly. The ship continued on its way, alone.
-"I'm just checking the hull", said a calmed Sam.
-"She's intact", said Angéla.
This surprised the others, including herself. She had said it because she knew it by instinct. But how? She didn't know. She was also astonished by her own voice, so weak it seemed to be far away.
-"You'd better rest", said Mitchell, going to support her.
-"Yeah,' Angéla said weakly, rising to her feet like an automaton.
She was having trouble standing on her own. Mitchell took her by the shoulder to help her.
-"No, take the second corridor," Angéla said in a whisper.
She was out of breath.
- "Where do you want to go?" asked Mitchell, seeing that she didn't want to go in the direction of her room.
-"At the library, I just need to rest my mind, and it's a quiet place for that".
-"If you say so", Mitchell said, looking worried.
-"What's the matter?" said Angela, looking him in the eye.
-"It's just that I have my doubts. You're in good shape... you're knocking Teal'c out but flying the ship shouldn't wear you out, tire you out that much", Mitchell said.
He tightened his grip on Angéla, seeing her flinch.
-"Except if the ship requires energy to steer or even to connect. Jack wrote in one of his reports that operating an ancient machine can require a lot of energy to control mentally, as it takes a lot of concentration, but it's also physically exhausting. By the way, there's an ancient outpost under Antarctica, which is what we've been fighting for. To protect it?"
-'Yes. You're talking about the Ancients' chair, I suppose", still supporting her.
-"Yeah, something like that".
She raised her hand to her nose.
-"Your nose is bleeding again", Mitchell remarked.
Angéla looked fearfully at her hand stained with her own blood. But this fear lasted only a few seconds on her face. Mitchell didn't notice. She touched her nose and felt the warm liquid.
-"It's nothing. It's tired. I don't just have to pilot, I have to fluctuate the energy of the whole ship, stabilize it. Everything has to be in balance, and I'm not used to concentrating for so long and so hard anymore", explained Angéla.
- "You've been doing your little tests again," Mitchell said, assuming that was what was wearing her out.
-"No, I haven't done it again, so I'm not tired of it," said Angéla as she enters the library.
She headed straight for the piano, which had become so familiar to her. She didn't know why, but she felt safe there, and playing gave her energy and strength. It was as if the melody was healing her wounds and recharging her energy reserves.
-"How much time do we have left?" asked Mitchell, changing the subject.
-"?"
-"Before we get there", Mitchell clarified.
-"What time is it?"
-"Two hours".
-"3 hours maximum unless there are problems. Sam has already detected the target planet, she's starting to gather information and study the parameters as they come in".
Then she began to play, but her hands trembled so much that she played a few wrong notes and quickly stopped. She got up, went to join Mitchell on a footstool and rested her head on Mitchell's shoulder, sitting right next to her. She sighed. Mitchell took her in his arms to comfort and support her, in silence. They stayed that way for a long time. After a while, about two hours later, Sam called them for the end of the trip. They were approaching their final destination. They reluctantly rose to join the others in the control room. Angéla seemed rested and re-energized. She settled into her seat without a word, just a glance at Sam. Then she cast her gaze ahead, watching with intensity the spectacle before her.
She was surprised by what she saw. Little by little, the target planet grew larger and larger, looking more and more like Earth. For a moment, Angéla thought she was back home, her heart racing at the thought, but to no avail.
Not at home. She put her hands back on the control console and resumed navigation of the ship in manual mode. Everyone was fascinated by the planet, so similar to Earth, even the SG1 team who were used to it. But they could never get enough of the spectacle.
-"The atmosphere is breathable", announced Daniel, breaking the silence.
-"What do I do? Orbit or land somewhere?" asked Angéla.
-"Let's go for a landing", said Jack, a little too enthusiastically.
He'd had enough of going around in circles on this ship, with no action. A little too close to Sam.
-"There's a human presence", informed Daniel.
-"How much?" asked Jack, turning to Daniel.
-"I don't know, I can't estimate the exact number yet. All I can say is that they're scattered...maybe there's a big city".
- "I'll come closer then", announced Angela. "We'll be passing through the atmosphere in a few minutes, so it might get a bit bumpy".
Angéla steered the ship towards the planet, ready to pass through the atmosphere. L'Espoir gradually approached at high speed. It passed in front of one of the planet's natural satellites, its moon.
-"We need to slow down our approach more, Angela", said Sam, who was worried about the speed. "We're going to pass through the atmosphere".
-"Yes, I know, I'm doing what I can...", as he crossed the ozone.
But she couldn't finish her sentence because something shook the ship. She felt it all the way down to her hand.
-"What's this?" asked John.
-"You said we'd be a little shaken up by the atmosphere," said Jack C in a panic.
The ship was struck again, veering dangerously to the left.
-"It's not the atmosphere", Angéla breathed through gritted teeth, trying to stay on course.
Then they saw a bolt of green lightning pass right in front of them through the bay window.
-"What the hell is this?" repeated John.
-"We're under attack! We're taking fire", Daniel shouted to make himself heard as a second shock hit the ship.
Indeed, on the radar just in front of Daniel appeared lines of fire.
-"How? where's it coming from?', Jack shouted, too, to make himself heard, for this time a danger alarm had gone off.
-"I don't know, our radars have just gone blind, but I think it's coming from the planet", said Sam.
-"I think we can forget about the primitive people then", said Vala. "Because as far as I'm concerned, these shots aren't primitive!"
Angéla tried to avoid being shot at by moving as much as possible, slaloming to avoid being an easy target, but it wasn't easy as they were being hit and the size of the ship. The piloting wasn't responding precisely enough. The ship's lights had gradually turned from blue to bright red, like a danger signal.
-"They're targeting our engines and power systems. One of the engines has been hit, and it's about to give out", Sam shouted into the chaos.
She moved with her pc from one console to another with speed.
-"I'm trying to stabilize them", said Sam.
At that moment, the ship began to dive towards the planet and began to shake dangerously, as it began to reach the lower layers of the atmosphere and the hull was seriously damaged. Angéla felt it in her hands, but resisted. She shielded her mind in her subconscious as she felt she was about to experience another crash. The ship was at its most agitated. Everyone was restless and busy with a particular task. Vala and Jack C were trying to put out incipient fires.
-"Is it the Oriis who spotted us and beat us to the planet?" asked Mitchell.
-"No, we'd have spotted it before", said Sam doubtfully.
-"She's right, they spend a lot of energy and are generally not as discreet", said Daniel.
-"I've got the shields all the way up front", said Sam.
-"We've lost air", announced Mitchell.
In all the chaos, Angéla could not be heard. She was so focused on her task that she was blind and unaware of the turmoil around her. She was losing more and more control of the ship, and she knew that the situation was getting out of hand. She looked for other solutions and thought quickly, as time was running out.
-"We have to teleport to the planet," said Angéla gently but firmly.
Everyone heard her, even though she hadn't shouted, but her voice echoed unreal in the ship.
-"It's the best solution, because I can't hold out for long, we'll have to teleport to the planet", said Angela confidently.
The planet was getting closer and closer, and dangerously so.
-"No, I can bypass the various circuits and try to restore the engines", says Sam.
-"But after how long", Angéla whispered to herself.
Because she knew it was the only solution, even if she didn't really like it.
Mitchell turned to see Angela's reaction. Concentration showed on her wrinkled face. He could also see determination. But fear clouded her eyes. He imagined himself in her place. She must have been reliving her last crash in front of his eyes. Except these weren't nightmares, they were reality. And a reality that was getting darker and darker. It must have been difficult for her to relive the event all over again. Then her gaze was drawn to something that had happened too often for her liking in recent days. Her nose was once again bleeding from the effort she was exerting beyond her capacity.
-"She's right, Sam, there's nothing more she can do for the ship", said Mitchell, approaching Sam with difficulty as the ship shook more and more violently.
Then he looked out at the bay window, the ground was fast approaching and Angela was in first place.
Sam followed Mitchell's gaze, looking over her shoulder. She immediately saw the situation and, above all, Angela's condition.
-"OK", Sam decided.
She walked over to the console next to Angela without touching her, for fear of distracting her. But she didn't flinch. She had enough to do and was too absorbed in slowing the ship's course, straightening and stabilizing it.
-"It's not possible, we couldn't access teleportation", says Sam in a panic.
Panicked, they were all busy putting out the various fires. Teal'c had been injured trying to put out a fire. He had been struck by an electric arc and was half knocked unconscious.
-"And manually", managed to say, out of breath.
-"It's unthinkable,' said Daniel, supporting Vala, who had been thrown against a wall. "We're not leaving anyone behind!"
-"I'll do it",said Jack behind him, going to Angela's side.
He had failed to support her in controlling the ship. He had failed to connect to it to help her.
-"No, my general', said Sam. "There must be another solution".
-"And that's an order".
Angéla felt Sam's pain in her heart. She almost released her grip on the ship to go and support her, but held back. She felt for her. That's when she stepped in and made a decision. She couldn't bear to see her friend suffer for the man she loved.
-"It's impossible, you won't be able to", asserted Angéla.
-'The gene of the ancients", said Daniel. "He has the gene of the ancients".
Jack approached Sam's console. But it didn't react to his approach or touch, much to Sam's relief. Everything was blocked. Sam didn't know whether this was because of the damage or whether it was Angela who had intentionally blocked the consoles. For only Angéla still seemed able to connect to the ship.
-"I'm beginning to think these genes are a curse", said Angéla simply.
-" There's got to be another way", said Sam.
For if she didn't want Jack to stay and trigger the teleportation, she didn't want Angela to either. And she thought she understood the young woman's little trick.
-"We'll reach the ground of this dear planet in 10 minutes", Vala remarked.
Sam turned sharply to the console, trying to find a solution. Angela knew there was no other way. Sam was looking for transfer rings like those on Goal'uds ships. You never know. Meanwhile, Angéla drowned her mind in the ship, taking total control of it. At first, she lost herself in the circuits, but that lasted only for a short while.
Sam turned abruptly to Angela.
-"She's taken complete control of the ship, I have no access to anything".
-"What's she doing?" said a worried Mitchell.
-"I don't know, it's too fast, I can't keep up with it".
The screens seemed to be going haywire. Text and numbers scrolled before their eyes rapidly and constantly, sometimes even overlapping.
Angéla seemed to irrigate her surroundings with an electrical barrier to protect herself. For when Mitchell tried to approach Angéla, he couldn't touch her - she was electrified and in shock. After a while, she was no longer lost in the ship's circuitry. At last, she could begin her research. She was absorbed in her task. She didn't notice Mitchell stirring around her to attract her attention. But it was too late, she had gone too far. Mitchell tried to find a way to reach Angela, but to no avail. He saw her smile. She'd found him at last. Of course, the whole system was overloaded, but she knew it would obey her all the same. She opened the program she was interested in with the little strength she had left. She had to save her companions at all costs, whatever it took. Because even though the hull had its own protection, it had been damaged by gunfire and the shield had weakened. At the speed they were going, the impact would still be significant, and she preferred not to take any chances by staying on the ship. For their part, the rest of the crew were trying to regain control. The bright red lights began to flicker, then the screens went out and came back on again at Angela's command.
-"What's that", said Daniel.
-"It's teleportation, she managed to connect to it", read Sam.
-"I thought we'd lost access and energy", said Mitchell.
-"She is!" said Sam.
- "So where does the energy come from?" said Jack.
Sam turned her attention back to her computer, for even if she could no longer control anything, she could still access the measurements. Mitchell watched Angéla searching for a gap in her shield, ready to pounce on it at the slightest opportunity. The screens continued to scroll.
-"Impact in 3 minutes", announced Vala.
-"The teleportation starts", announced Sam. "The program parameters".
-"Halleluja", said Vala.
-"Come on, let your guard down", Mitchell whispered. "We've got to get ready, Angela, we're going to be teleporting soon, we've got to ...", Mitchell began.
But he was interrupted by a white teleport light. He was teleported and didn't have time to reach Angela. The crew was transported to a forest, or at least to the edge of a forest, close to a clearing with medium-sized shrubs. A few seconds later, the burning ship passed overhead and crashed further away. They lowered their heads and dived to avoid the debris, which crashed a few hundred metres from the SG1 team. As it crashed further away, the ship kicked up a great deal of dust, sending it hurtling through the air, along with debris from the ship, soil and vegetation.
End of chapter