Chapter 159: The Double Cross Part 5
Asteroid Belt, Arealis-System, February 20th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"Apophis's Tel'tak just docked, sir."
Jack O'Neill nodded at Carter's report. He could see it himself on the screen - a camera was covering the hallway outside the airlock. They didn't have any trouble opening it, of course - the 'boarding team' that had retreated earlier had not bothered to block or seal the airlock; no one would have done that while fleeing. But… "What damage did the 'failing scuttling charges' do to the engines?" he asked.
"They knocked the crystals out of alignment, sir. Exactly as planned." Carter was slightly annoyed; Jack recognised the tone. Probably not really at the implied questioning of her work but their general situation.
The Tel'kats from the unknown System Lord who had decided to crash their party before they could trap Apophis were only a few more minutes away - despite being cloaked from any sensors but the Alliance scanners, they were still avoiding Apophis's ships and Death Gliders, which delayed them.
"Any chance that Apophis's goons will manage to repair the engine in time to escape?" Jack looked at Carter.
"If they have a skilled hyperdrive engine technician with them who immediately starts working…" Carter shook her head. "No chance, sir. We wanted damage that would take long enough to repair to make the boarding team's retreat believable."
"I know," Jack said. "And it was a good decision. No one could have predicted this."
On the screen, the airlock opened, and he could see the Jaffa pouring through the opening. Blowing it open would have been faster, but that would have led to the ship's air being vented into space if they undocked - or if their ship got shot off the airlock.
The boarders split in two, one heading for the bow part of the ship and one headed towards aft. Or whatever Navy pukes called it. Bridge and engine room. We should build a ship with the important rooms switched, or hidden, he thought. Would confuse the snakes. At least once.
On the holoprojection, the two other Tel'taks were closing in as well, just circling around a damaged Death Glider. Trying to be sneaky snakes.
"They didn't bring bombs," Jack noted aloud. "They can't blow the ship up from the bridge or the engine room, either."
"We know that, but the Jaffa and their masters don't," Daniel said.
Jack understood what he meant - they could trigger the real scuttling charges and hide their smuggling compartments amongst the debris. The snakes would blame each other, with no one the wiser, and keep killing each other.
The victor might stay and collect the wreckage to study, though, if only to have something to show to their master. Still, with the stealth modules, they had good odds of avoiding being noticed until it was safe to recover them. And they had enough supplies and air scrubbers to last a long time. Certainly long enough for a 'Horde task force' to show up and check what had happened to their missing 'superweapon'.
It was the smart decision to take - the mission was fubar. Apophis's goons couldn't get the decoy to their Lord before they were boarded in turn. And odds were, they tried to shoot it up at that point anyway. But…
"So… which System Lord do you think we'll trap instead of Apophis?" Catra asked, flashing her teeth in a cocky grin. Her tail was swishing back and forth quite rapidly, though. And Melog looked not quite as cocky as she did, Jack noted.
"Probably Sokar or Heru'ur," Glimmer said, nodding calmly. "They are fighting him and would likely have focused their spies on him and have the forces ready to react."
"I concur," Sha're said. "But we cannot exclude the possibility that other System Lords have been closely observing the conflict, waiting for an opportunity to take out one of their rivals - or all three."
"Yes." Adora nodded. "We planned for Apophis, but we can adapt and capture someone else."
Sure, they could. But they had prepared for Apophis and his defences, not anyone else. All their contingencies to extract them would be useless. Odds were, the relief forces assigned to get them out if they had to hunker down and hold out until relieved would be out of position now.
Carter and Daniel were looking at Jack, too. They knew that as well as he did that he really should push to abort the mission right here and now - the other Tel'taks were closing in now. About one more minute, tops. And Apophis's Jaffa were flailing around on the bridge and the engine room, trying to get weapons working that were carefully disabled beforehand. If they didn't seal off the hallways, they'd be trying to breathe vacuum as soon as their Tel'tak was in range of the enemy's guns.
And yet… Jack had mostly joked about bagging another System Lord, but they had put a lot of work into this mission. Work he wouldn't want to go to waste. Not when they had decent chances to pull off a victory from the jaws of defeat. After all, whoever was attacking Apophis wasn't expecting this to be a trap either and would be unprepared for them.
And unprepared for She-Ra.
Jack nodded and smiled - about as forcedly as the others, he'd bet. "I think it's gonna be Sokar. That's the kind of sneaky move he loves, according to what we know."
Daniel blinked, and Carter rolled her eyes, but they would follow him.
And the Etherians were already sold on it anyway.
Adora nodded. No matter who won this battle, odds were the decoy would attract a System Lord, and then they could spring their trap. Capture the Goa'uld, take over the ship and escape with it.
"The second boarding force is in range," Sam announced. "They've started their attack run."
"Standard formations," Catra commented as the holoprojection showed the two Tel'taks flying towards the docked one.
"If it works, it works," Jack said.
Moments later, the ship shook, and Adora saw Apophis's Tel'tak shaking as multiple blasts hit it, piercing its hull. She didn't hear anything, though, which was eerie.
Catra pressed her lips together - she must find this disorienting as well, then.
The Tel'tak shook from more hits but remained docked, and Adora couldn't see any secondary explosions. For a moment, she wondered if the Tel'tak would survive this, forcing the attackers to make another run. But then, the ship was ripped apart as something blew up in the aft section, spewing debris into the path of the two attackers, whose shields flared as they flew through the expanding cloud.
And the decoy ship shuddered again when the struck Tel'tak's remains were blown away from the airlock. On the screen, Adora saw a squad of Jaffa taking up positions across the hallway from the airlock.
"They're trying to use it as a choke point," Jack said. "That should buy them a bit more time to get the engine working. What do you think, Carter?"
"They'll need at least a few more minutes," Sam replied. "They have yet to align any of the crystals."
Adora glanced at the screen showing the engine room. The Jaffa - fewer than before; some must have gone to defend the airlock - were wrestling a massive crystal into place. Adora wasn't an expert, but she doubted that would be enough for precision machinery.
"Watch the hull cameras!" Catra suddenly snapped.
Adora turned to look at the other screen, where Sam was quickly enlarging a particular feed. She could see that the Tel'tak had not docked to the airlock, but the hull next to it - and people were leaving the ship.
"That's not standard armour," Sam said.
"It is an armoured vacuum suit," Teal'c said. "Although a rather old-fashioned one."
"Can you see any symbols to identify who is behind this?" Jack asked.
"The places where such markings are usually placed are clear," Teal'c replied.
"So… someone's trying to be extra-sneaky," Jack commented. "Sounds like Sokar."
"I agree. Heru'ur is not known for such subterfuge," Teal'c said.
"Or he has never been caught," Catra pointed out as the Jaffa in suits opened the airlock.
Was the airlock damaged by the destruction of Apophis's Tel'tak? Or didn't the new attackers want to risk suffering the same fate if they docked? Or…
"It's not closing," Catra said.
Oh. Adora grimaced when the inner door of the airlock opened, and the air inside the hallway shot out into the vacuum, dragging the waiting Jaffa with them. They were still flailing, still alive, when they were sucked into space. One managed to grab the doorframe and stop himself from being thrown clear of the ship, but Adora saw a flash illuminating the airlock's insides, and then the hapless Jaffa, a hole blown through his chest, was floating in space as well. That was a very nasty way to die…
"Yeah, that's a bit too clever for a System Lord who likes fighting in the trenches," Jack commented.
"Hey!" Glimmer protested.
Adora scowled as well. Princesses fought at the front; that was how it was done. Your power didn't serve anyone if you stayed behind the lines.
Catra, of course, chuckled. "What about Generals fighting in the trenches?"
"It's not the same!" Jack retorted. "We're talking snakes here - they generally don't like to risk their lives."
"Any System Lord fighting at the frontline risks getting stabbed in the back as much as he risks death at the hands of his opponents," Sha're added.
"Heru'ur is famous for defying those dangers," Teal'c nodded.
Adora watched the cameras again. The hallway had lost all its air, but the internal doors had held - both the Jaffa on the bridge and in engineering were unaffected. Well, physically - the engineers were looking frantic as they continued to struggle with the repairs, and the ones on the bridge looked struck.
"They must not have expected that." Catra shook her head. "If they vent the rest of the ship, they'll win this. Apophis boarders didn't bring any spacesuits."
"Must be embarrassing to miss that," Jack said with a scoff and a glance at his own custom spacesuit.
Adora nodded. Boarding actions were dangerous enough; not to prepare for a hull breach was suicide.
Suddenly, the repair crew in the engineering section froze for a moment before stopping their work on the crystals. Instead, they rushed to the reactor controls.
"They're trying to overload the reactor," Sam confirmed Adora's suspicion. "I've countered their orders."
"Good. Can you make it look like a computer glitch or safety protocol?" Jack asked.
"I already did that, sir," Sam replied.
"Ah, of course." Jack looked a bit embarrassed himself.
On the screen, the Jaffa in spacesuits advanced, splitting up as had Apophis's team before - only this one had double their numbers.
Adora didn't think Apophis's forces would win this. But that meant…
"Two Al'keshs have broken off from the fighting and are headed towards us," Sam reported.
"Apophis's commander must have realised he can't win this," Catra said. "Let's hope Sokar's forces are good enough to stop his last attack."
Adora nodded in agreement.
Samantha Carter watched intently as her scanner tracked the two Al'Keshs flying towards the "Steel Fist". Unlike the Death Gliders starting their attack runs, the bombers had enough firepower to destroy the decoy. Usually, bombs were as useless in space combat as they were in a dogfight, but with the ship immobilised, that wasn't an issue. And it didn't take much to compensate for the lack of gravity - a bomb would continue the trajectory of the ship launching it at the moment of separation. Sam had no doubt that Apophis's crews were trained enough to manage that. And if they weren't, they were likely fanatical enough to ram the decoy.
She ran a few calculations in her head. Rough, but sufficient to estimate the effect. If one Al'Kesh rammed the "Steel Fist", the shielded compartments could hold - provided the shields went up in time. Two Al'Keshs made that rather less probable. "We might have to enact the evacuation plan, sir," she said, "if the bombers are on a suicide course." Which they wouldn't know until it would be almost too late to react.
The General leaned forward, tense and focused, and stared at the holoprojection. "The new snakes are moving to stop them."
Sam nodded. The attackers' Death Gliders, which had been fighting their counterparts, were disengaging and swinging around to attack the two Al'Keshs. But she could already tell that the majority wouldn't reach the bombers in time to stop them, and the firepower of those who would was unlikely to be enough.
"The Tel'taks are undocking," Catra reported.
Adding two stealth ships would even up things, but they had to accelerate first to intercept the bombers.
The first Death Gliders, some of Apophis's own in pursuit, were in range now and started firing. The blasts were deflected by the Al'Keshs' shields, though, and by focusing on the bombers, they left themselves open to the fighters behind them. Sam saw two, then another, explode in short order. No, that wouldn't…
She drew a sharp breath when she realised the surviving Death Gliders weren't pulling up for another attack run but kept accelerating straight at the Al'Keshs. Even though she had considered suicide attacks, to see it happen…
"They're ramming them!" Adora gasped.
A moment later, the first Death Glider hit the shields of the leading bomber and blew up, followed by another. The shields shattered with the third, and the Al'Kesh suddenly changed course in an obvious attempt to evade the next.
They were too late, though - two Death Gliders crashed into the ship at near-full speed, still firing, and sent it reeling. No secondary explosions, but the ship was blown off-course, trailing debris.
"Fanatics," the General muttered as more Death Gliders went in, all firing until they crashed into the bomber.
Sam quickly zoomed in on the struck ship. The hull had buckled under the impacts, she could see multiple breaches, and… there was the first secondary explosion. Not a magazine, but… The ship vanished in a ball of fire before she could finish her thought.
"They were ordered to stop the bombers at all costs," Teal'c commented. "And they did."
The second bomber, trailing the first, had managed to change course in time and had only been hit by two suicide attacks. But that manoeuvre had brought it right into the path of the two Tel'taks. Still cloaked, both flew straight at it.
Sam winced at the explosion that followed.
She felt the deck under her feet shake slightly - the surviving Death Gliders of Apophis's force were throwing themselves at the decoy, but even with their counterparts' numbers reduced by those who had intercepted the Al'Keshs, there were enough Death Gliders around to make that tactic much less effective. And the "Steel Fist" was much tougher than an Al'Kesh. Only two more Death Gliders managed to ram the ship before they were all destroyed, and the damage done was minimal, according to Sam's scanner.
Sam checked the state of the main battle. Apophis's forces were collapsing. Half of his Ha'taks had been destroyed, and the remaining ones were under withering fire as they tried to disengage and retreat - not they were trying to reach the decoy, she realised.
"Won't make it," Catra commented. "Too slow, and the attackers can concentrate their fire."
Sam agreed with the assessment.
"Look, they've reached the engine room," Sha're called out. "They are…"
"...about to blow the doors," the General finished for her with a grim expression.
Without having sealed off the hole in the hull. Sam winced - Apophis's Jaffa were helpless. They couldn't even launch an attack of their own; opening the doors would only speed up their deaths, and… Her eyes widened - the defenders were moving to the doors. Some were tying themselves to the consoles closest to the doors. Why would…? "They're about to open the doors themselves!" she blurted out.
The General cursed. Catra also cursed.
The doors slid open, and the surprised attackers still placing charges were cut down by the defenders' staff weapons and zat'nik'tels. One of them cut himself off, Sam saw, trying to grab a charge as he was sucked out of the room, but his hands missed. Two staff blasts killed him moments later.
The defenders switched their fire to the remaining attackers. Sam saw one of them get hit, his suit rupturing, as they shot back. But the outcome was never in doubt - not when the defenders were already suffocating.
But they kept shooting until they fell unconscious. By the time the last one died, one of the attackers shooting him with a zat'nik'tel when he collapsed, the bridge was under attack as well.
Sam already knew how that would end.
The waiting was the worst, but they didn't have a choice any more. Catra scoffed under her breath as she watched the holoprojection. After finishing off Apophis's forces, which had died to a man trying to destroy the "Steel Fist", the new fleet had formed up in a defensive formation around the decoy ship while throwing over a hundred workers at the task of restoring the ship's hyperdrive before either the Horde or Apophis came back with more ships to retake the decoy ship.
And most of those workers were humans - slaves. Catra had already seen Jaffa literally using whips to drive them to work harder. That meant that if Catra and her friends tried to escape by triggering the scuttling charges, blowing the decoy ship up and escaping while cloaked (and disguised as debris as a backup), they would be killing over a hundred helpless people in addition to a bunch of fanatical Jaffa. They couldn't do that.
Not that Catra would give them good odds of escaping even if they did that, not between all the Death Gliders flitting around the "Steel Fist", probably hunting for more suicidal cloaked Tel'taks. No, they were now committed to the plan; the window to call it off and withdraw had closed.
But it meant she had nothing to do but wait for the workers to finish fixing the hyperdrive and hope nothing else would go wrong. Like a third System Lord sending forces to take the superweapon. Or Apophis returning with more ships. Or the Asgard arriving to 'stop the Horde' or whatever.
She snorted. Any of those scenarios were unlikely. If Apophis had more ships, he would have sent them in the first place. The Asgard didn't have the ships to spare and didn't really care about the Horde or Earth - not enough to get involved. And the odds of them knowing about this were slim to none. And if a third System Lord not only had gotten the fake intel about this operation but had the forces ready to move in time to stop Apophis, then Apophis's security was so bad, he should have been defeated by his rivals already.
Catra knew all that, but a little bit of worry remained. Apophis's security had been been broken by one rival already, after all. Which reminded her… "Hey, Teal'c - seen anything to identify the new guys yet?"
Teal'c replied without looking away from the screen he used to watch the engine room, where most workers were slaving away. "Not so far. Not even the slaves are carrying symbols of worship of their fake god. That in itself is telling - whoever is behind this is quite skilled at hiding their involvement. They must have experience with hiding their operations."
Ah! Catra's eyes widened for a moment. That sounded like…
"Like, say, having fooled everyone into thinking they were dead for a thousand years, like Sokar?" Jack beat Catra to the punch.
"I believe he would be the most likely suspect, as the saying goes," Teal'c said. "We know he was already fighting Apophis, so he would have had forces in the area ready to be deployed, and even after the purges following Apophis's setbacks, it is not unreasonable to assume that Sokar has some spies left at his rival's court."
Catra nodded. That sounded plausible.
"Sokar…" Sha're trailed off, and Catra saw her take a deep breath. "His reputation for cruelty is only rivalled by Ba'al's."
"Well, taking him out will be a good thing, then," Jack commented. "Not that taking out a snake is ever a bad thing, of course."
Catra agreed with that as well, though the Alliance didn't know as much about Sokar's realm as they knew about Apophis's, so exploiting the loss of its ruler would be more difficult.
"We might even discover at least one of Sokar's hidden worlds," Sam added.
"Indeed," Teal'c agreed. "It is unlikely that he will have the decoy moved to his capital, if only to keep it secret from his own court, but with what little is known about his territory, any new information will be a boon."
"That will make it harder to escape, though," Bow pointed out. "We won't know the area, and we won't have any allies nearby. Not close enough, at least, or the spy bot network would have found the system already."
"If we manage to capture Sokar, this will decapitate his forces and throw his court into chaos," Sha're retorted. "His underlings will start struggling for power at once. Sokar's rule relies on fear above all else."
"And no one fears the chump who gets captured in his own realm by a few good men and women. And cats," Jack said, nodding at Catra and Melog with a grin.
She snorted at that. It made sense, but it was also more than a little optimistic. "Let's not get overconfident. We have to capture him first." And then escape before Sokar's underlings realised that this was the best opportunity to get rid of their boss. "And for that, those idiots need to finish repairing the hyperdrive."
"The crystals we knocked out of alignment were further disrupted by the fighting between Apophis's forces and the new attackers," Sam said. She sounded a bit defensive, as if it was her fault that the Goa'uld were incompetent. "The attacks by the Death Gliders also damaged one of the projectors, which will require further repairs."
"Any estimate for how long that will take them?" Jack asked.
Sam grimaced. "Based on their performance so far, at least several hours."
Catra shook her head. Motivation by whipping didn't work. Especially not when it came to difficult tasks such as repairing high-tech machinery. People made mistakes under such stress. And speaking of mistakes… "Can you check their work?" she asked.
"We are plugged into the ship's systems and can run a diagnosis," Sam replied.
"Good. I'd hate for this mission to get derailed further by a faulty hyperdrive sending us god knows where," Jack said. "I'm already behind on the latest season of the Simpsons."
Catra snorted, but Bow perked up. "Oh, you are?" he asked. "I've got all episodes that were aired so far on my tablet."
"Really?" Jack looked surprised.
Probably hasn't expected his joke to be taken seriously, Catra thought with a snicker.
"Yes." Bow smiled, then looked embarrassed. "My brothers like them, and, well…" he shrugged. "Everyone's still doing it."
"Well, can I borrow your tablet then?" Jack asked.
"Jack! Are you seriously going to watch a cartoon series in the middle of the mission?" Daniel blurted out.
"Do we have anything else to do?"
Daniel blinked but didn't seem to have an answer to that.
Neither did Sam, though she was frowning, Catra noticed.
So, it seemed as if they would indeed watch cartoons in the middle of a mission. Well, Jack would, at least. But there weren't many alternatives. Of course, Catra could think of a number of things to do with Adora that beat watching cartoons, but they lacked the privacy for that.
Quite the dilemma. Catra blamed the Goa'uld for that.
The Simpsons had been funnier in the past, in Jack O'Neill's opinion. And he blamed the Etherians for it - the 'Princess of Springfield' character, an exiled Etherian, had started with the 'magic goes wrong' episodes, which now seemed to take up half the season. If it wasn't Bart getting cursed, Lisa trying out witchcraft, or Homer annoying ancient ghosts by mistake, you could bet on some Etherian guest character appearing and making a mess with magic.
Far too much magic in the Simpsons, for Jack's taste. He shook his head as the current episode ended with half the town turned into the Simpson's version of the Whispering Woods - for the second time this season.
"Whoever is writing those episodes has no idea about Etherian magic," Glimmer commented. "Even for a cartoon show, I'd expect more research."
"But they hit the nail on the head with the exiled princess Sour Wasp," Catra retorted with a grin. "I wonder if Sweet Bee will sue."
Jack chuckled at the thought. He'd still prefer it if the character were removed.
"Ah, Bow," Daniel spoke up, "do your brothers prefer the new seasons or the old ones? I mean, the seasons released before Etheria made contact with Earth or the ones after that point?"
"Both," Bow replied. "Though they don't get all the jokes in the older ones. And half the jokes about Etheria are funny because they are so wrong."
"Ah. I was wondering about their grasp of the cultural context." Daniel nodded.
"I don't get many of the nuances of the jokes in Earth media either," Sha're added.
"You're making a lot of progress," Daniel told her. "It's not as if it's different for the audience on Earth outside the USA."
"That's because you have as many people on your world as the rest of the galaxy put together," Glimmer grumbled.
"It's not quite as extreme," Daniel corrected her. "Though we do have a lot of distinct cultures."
"Well, on Etheria, most are only getting to know Western media," Bow said.
"And some Japanese," Catra added with a sigh.
"If your impression of Earth culture is based on our media, it might have interesting effects on cross-cultural relationships," Daniel said. "I've mentioned that in a paper for the tourism commission."
Glimmer groaned. "Don't remind me about them. They don't get that the Stargate is not a tourist transport."
"Or that our cruisers aren't cruise ships," Jack added with a snort.
"We don't have any cruisers, sir," Carter cut in.
Jack rolled his eyes at her. He knew that, but his quip wouldn't have worked as well with frigates. "The point is that we don't have the spare transportation capacity to dedicate to tourists. Or the resources to waste on protecting interstellar Spring Breakers and Snow Birds."
"Well, I don't think that the commission expects mass tourism to take off anytime soon. But they are hoping for luxury trips, as far as I understand," Daniel said.
Jack snorted again. Of course, it was about luxury trips for the rich - they had the contacts and influence amongst politicians to prop up the commission in the first place. Same for the pressure to sell shuttles to civilians. Some people really didn't get that a shuttle wasn't a Humvee.
"If anyone wants to travel to other planets, they can join up," Campbell commented. Isa and the rest of the two fire teams in the compartment voiced their agreement. "They'll get all the exciting travel they can stomach."
Jack doubted that if the kind of people who wanted to go on luxury trips joined the Alliance forces, they would end up on the frontlines. They tended to go for cushy jobs in the rear. Preferably in some exotic travel destination. At least he hadn't had to deal with them at Stargate Command, thanks to the secrecy, and he didn't have to deal with them in the Alliance thanks to his position. Some perks that came with a general's rank were nicer than others.
"So, what about the next episode?" Bow asked, holding up his tablet.
Jack looked around. No one seemed terribly enthusiastic. Bow was probably just politely asking, Catra was curled up in Adora's lap in a way that would have half the brass Jack knew scream about inappropriate PDAs, Glimmer was looking bored, Carter hadn't watched the cartoons anyway but had been busy with her computer and Teal'c was… Teal'c. Daniel and Sha're looked interested, at least, and Jack's people in the back were a toss-up between watching and sleeping.
"Maybe we should…" he began.
"Sir! They brought the hyperdrive online," Carter interrupted him. "The "Steel Fist" is now operational."
Jack jumped up and walked over to her. "That was fast, wasn't it?"
"It's within expected parameters," Carter replied. Which probably meant she could have done it faster by herself.
Jack checked the feeds from the hidden cameras. The workers were exhausted - some had collapsed in the engine room - but the bridge crew was busy. Very busy. And on the holoprojection, the patrolling Death Gliders were racing back towards the Ha'taks.
"Get ready, folks," he called out. "Looks like we'll be on the way to wherever soon."
Hyperspace, February 20th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"According to the navigational data from the ship's computers, we're on the way to PT-1853. The Jaffa have plotted the course in several legs."
Adora nodded at Sam's report. "Do we have any data on that system?"
"Except for the fact that it has a Stargate, no. Exploration has been cut short due to the war effort, and the Tok'ra's data - at least the data they shared - has nothing on it either," Sam replied.
That meant none of the Goa'uld knew about the system. None but the System Lord behind the attack on Apophis's forces. That didn't mean it had to be Sokar - not many Goa'uld would send a captured superweapon to one of their main systems - but it made it a bit more likely; no one knew much about his territory.
"Good work, Carter. Let's hope that the Jaffa don't find our taps."
"Unless they physically dismantle the entire computer system and manage to spot the data ports we've hidden inside, that is unlikely, sir." Sam sounded a bit annoyed. "We're using the ship's own systems, after all, which they control, and our access is purely passive."
Sam was right, of course - they had done everything to prevent their deception from being discovered. Their plan wasn't perfect, of course - the fact that they were not on the way to Apophis proved that better than anything else.
"We're dealing with a paranoid snake expecting traitors everywhere - who has just pulled off an intel coup against Apophis," Jack pointed out.
"We built the system with this in mind and implemented the Tok'ra's advice."
Jack grumbled something Adora didn't catch but which made Catra snort. "I don't think the snake in charge of this will have the ship's systems dismantled for inspection," she said. They would want to keep the 'superweapon' ready to be used as soon as possible - before Apophis might decide to spread the news of this to alert all other System Lords of the danger and unite them against this."
"And they probably don't expect such treachery from the Horde," Bow added.
"Unless they know about his mind control chips," Glimmer retorted.
"Horde Prime probably kept those secret so his enemies wouldn't be warned," Catra pointed out. "Makes it easier to appear all-powerful and all-knowing, too, if people don't know your tricks."
Adora reached out and pulled Catra closer; her love must be remembering her time under Horde Prime's control. Cata grumbled a bit but didn't wriggle out of her embrace.
"At the very least, they won't try to pull the systems apart while they are travelling," Sam said.
"Never underestimate their fanaticism," Jack objected.
"They will not risk destroying the prize they were sent out to secure for their false god," Teal'c said. "Nor will they start to dismantle it without explicit orders. And such orders will likely be given in person - no System Lord will trust an underling with the power to destroy them."
Adora nodded. That was what they were counting on. "How long will we travel?" she asked.
Sam hit a few keys. "If they follow the plotted course, we'll be in hyperspace, with a few interruptions for navigation, for a week."
Adora frowned. They had laid the trap near Apophis's territory. "So, they took a task force standing by to attack Apophis and sent them to intercept us, and now they're withdrawing to a more distant base."
"Probably a forward base for attacks against Apophis," Jack added. "Let's hope our snake will want to check the goods before sending us deeper into their territory."
Adora nodded in agreement. She didn't want to spend weeks or months in hyperspace. That hadn't been a concern when they were planning to trick Apophis.
"So… since we'll be a while here…" Jack grinned. "What's next on the menu as entertainment?"
PT-1853 System, February 27th, 2000 (Earth Time)
"We're about to exit hyperspace."
Adora suppressed a sigh of relief at the announcement. After a week in hyperspace, she'd even prefer dropping into an ambush to spending another night in the stealth compartment. Sure, they had everything to survive for months if needed, but for one thing: Privacy.
All she wanted was to capture the Goa'uld responsible for extending their trip, head to the closest Stargate and return home to lock herself and Catra in their room for the next twenty-four hours or so. And if she had to personally beat the Goa'uld's entire guard for that, she'd do it happily - another week of this, and she'd agree with Catra about using the shower here! Though Melog, who was mirroring Catra's emotions, would probably claw a hole through the walls before that, if Catra didn't do it herself.
"Great! I am sick of Earth TV marathons!" Glimmer sounded as frustrated as Adora felt.
"We also have literally millions of books with us." Daniel obviously didn't quite get what Glimmer was really frustrated about.
Adora saw Sha're lean over to whisper in his ear, followed by Daniel blushing. Well, he understood now.
"Exiting hyperspace in five, four…"
Adora raised her chin and braced for the familiar feeling.
"..three, two, one…"
And they left hyperspace. Adora watched the holoprojection change as their magitech scanner switched on.
They were inside a system with two planets. And a couple of asteroids - no ring, though.
A moment later, several dozen Ha'taks and even more smaller ships appeared in the projection.
"That's either a major fleet base, or whoever is in command doesn't even trust their chosen task force to stay loyal," Jack commented.
"No System Lord trusts anyone," Sha're said.
"They've opened communications," Sam announced.
On the screen that had been showing shows and movies for a week straight, a Jaffa appeared. Adora recognised him - it was the Jaffa in charge of the task force. Gun'il, as they had found out from overhearing chatter amongst the crew.
The picture of him shrank to show another Jaffa, and Adora winced at the sight of the burn scars that covered the man's face. "Gun'il. You have achieved what you were ordered to do?"
"Yes, Kal'toc. We have secured the weapon Apophis craved and slaughtered his warriors. Our God's will was done."
"That remains for Him to judge," Kal'toc retorted. "Prepare for His arrival."
Gun'il bowed his head, and even on the screen, you could see that he was tense before the connection was cut.
"They don't mention their System Lord's name," Daniel commented. "I thought this might merely be an excessive interpretation of an order not to reveal their origin, but they do it even here, in a supposedly secure system. This is quite peculiar."
"That's not normal," Sha're agreed.
"Yeah. Usually, you can't stop them from praising their god," Jack said.
"Indeed."
"And the only System Lord we know who we don't know much about is Sokar." Catra shrugged. "Another clue that it's him, but we already pretty much knew that."
"Such religious practices can give us valuable insight into a System Lord's domain," Daniel objected. "If saying their god's name is taboo, then that could tell us something about their faith. Such a practice is not very common on Earth."
"Or all of them are just afraid of attracting his attention by saying his name," Jack said. "We'll know soon enough," he added, pointing at a Ha'tak that was leaving the planet's orbit and headed, together with most of the fleet, to their position. "I bet he just arrived by Stargate and ring transporter."
"They've docked," Sam announced, even though everyone could see the airlock on the screen.
Adora clenched and unclenched her fingers, almost summoning her sword. Finally! Their target had arrived.
Gun'il and his guards were lined up facing the airlock, more nervous than Adora had ever seen them, even though they clearly had achieved their mission. Then the doors slid back, revealing a Goa'uld, and the Jaffa dropped to their knees.
"Sokar," both Sha're and Teal'c said together when they saw him.
"Told you," Catra added. She was sheathing and unsheathing her claws, Adora saw. And her tail and ears were twitching.
"Do you recognise him?" Daniel asked.
"We recognise his symbol," Sha're replied. "Not his host. It's been a thousand years since he was seen by other System Lords."
The Jaffa were calling him their lord, praising him frantically, until he allowed them to stand up.
"Someone's really full of it," Jack commented as the Goa'uld started his inspection of the ship, led by the still-tense Gun'il.
Adora clenched her teeth. The Jaffa had won a victory for their god - or so they thought, at least. How cruel was this Goa'uld to make his most loyal followers fear him so?
She summoned her sword and went to the concealed doors that led into the control room of the 'Core Cracking Cannon'. Soon, he wouldn't be able to terrify people any more.
"There he comes!" Jack whispered from behind. "He just entered the room."
Adora glanced at the screen behind her, checked again where the Jaffa stood, then used the door controls.
She burst through the opening a moment later, sword turned shield, but the Jaffa guards were just reacting to the ambush, and Adora reached Sokar before they could even try to stop her. She smashed him into the warriors behind him, a personal shield flaring up, then breaking around him as all went down in a tangle of limbs and armour. A moment later, Catra jumped past her to rake her claws over the closest warrior.
"How dare you!" Sokar bellowed, raising his arm - with a Goa'uld torture device! "You will…!"
While shots rang out behind her and bullets and staff weapon fire cut down the guards on the side, Adora smashed the Goa'uld over the head with the flat side of her sword, knocking him out. Catra took care of the closest guards with a bit more vehemence than usual.
"Room secure!" Isa bellowed as the last guard went down.
Jack nodded. "Alright. Move to the bridge! We need to…"
The ship shuddered, almost sending them stumbling, and Adora heard the sounds of explosions. "We're under fire!" she snapped.
"The escorts have disabled our engines," Adora heard Sam report over the communicator.
Jack cursed. "They're very quick to stab their god in the back. Too quick."
Adora nodded. This didn't look like a coup.
"More Tel'taks are on the way," Sam told them.
Boarders.
Catra looked at their prisoner. "Let's hope we did get the right snake."
If this wasn't Sokar… Well, no matter what, they had to secure the ship and repel the boarders.
And then find a way to get away.
