Chapter 11: The Departure
Courtyard, Royal Palace, Bright Moon, Etheria, July 13th, 1998 (Earth Time)
The shuttle was heavy - too heavy to easily lift. And Adora didn't have the leverage to lift it, anyway. But she should be able to drag it, in a pinch, if they could rig some sledge or something. And it was good to know that.
She smiled at O'Neill. Then she noticed that he was staring at her. Had he expected her to lift the shuttle? Well, she couldn't beat physics! "Alright, now let's secure it!" she said. "We want to lift off on schedule!"
"Alright-y!" Entrapta's hair started to push buttons, and the shuttle seemed to freeze to the floor. "Magnetic clamps!"
Ah. Adora nodded. "Let's get the rest of the supplies."
"OK!" Scorpia followed her out of the ship. The four crates left took them two trips - you had to be careful with the parts Entrapta and Hordak were bringing.
"Alright! Everyone, to the bridge!" Entrapta said. Then she blinked. "Or to the ramp to say goodbye, I guess."
Glimmer's dad was waiting there, with the rest of the Alliance. Even Frosta was there, though she was scowling. Which made her look adorable, not that Adora would ever tell her that.
"Dad." Glimmer hugged Micah, closing her eyes.
"Be safe, Glimmer."
"Be brave!" Sea Hawk raised his fist to the sky. "You're going on the greatest adventure ye..oh!"
"Don't scream," Mermista told him after elbowing his gut. "And you! Don't get killed!"
"We won't, "Adora said. She would make sure of that.
"Not if we can help it," Catra added with a snort.
Perfuma, one arm wrapped around Scorpia's waist - as far as she could manage, at least - smiled at them as well. "And tell me about new plants and animals you meet."
Right. That was a good idea. Earth would have many exotic plants and animals. "We'll bring you back some seeds!" Adora told her.
"Ah…" Bow scratched his head. "That might not be a good idea…"
"I can keep them safe," Perfuma told him.
"Good." He nodded.
"Safe?" Adora wondered.
"Foreign plants - or animals - unbalance nature," Perfuma explained. "It happened before, on a smaller scale, on Etheria, when new plants were introduced to an area."
"Oh." Adora hadn't thought about that.
"They didn't cover that in Force Captain Orientation," Scorpia said.
"That's because we tended to log the trees and crush the rest," Catra said.
"Which we don't do any more." Perfuma smiled. "Anyway, safe travels."
"Thank you." Adora hugged all her friends. "Be safe."
"Right. And Come'ere, Wildcat!" Scorpia grabbed Catra, pulling her into a hug despite the latter's protests. Adora grinned at the sight.
"We'll keep things going," Netossa told them. "You forge the alliance with Earth."
"Bye!" Entrapta waved at everyone as she walked up the ramp, where Hordak and SG-1 were waiting. Adora and the others followed her.
"That was a touching sendoff," O'Neill told them at the top of the ramp. "I expected more speeches."
"Speeches?" Adora blinked.
"You know, state affair, big speeches about the importance of this trip, a cheering crowd…" The man shrugged.
"It's just a trip," Catra remarked.
"It's also a diplomatic expedition," Daniel said.
"And the Alliance was here to see us off," Catra pointed out.
"Right." O'Neill nodded. "Everyone important, at least."
They had reached the bridge, and Adora took her seat in the centre.
"Everyone, strap in!" Entrapta announced. "We're ready for lift-off!"
As the holographic projections appeared, showing the state of the ship, the others sat down.
"All's green!"
"System's are good."
Adora nodded. "Darla, take us up!"
The ship shook a little, then they rose, quickly clearing the palace walls. Then the view changed as Darla tilted, pointing her bow at the sky.
And then they were shooting towards space. Towards Earth.
"Your Divine Highness!"
And towards Third Fleet, which had been assembled in a close formation in orbit. Adora suppressed a sigh and smiled at the display showing their leader.
"Your Faithful stand ready to escort you on your holy mission!"
"Thank you, Priest," she replied. "We're happy to have you all with us. This is a very important mission."
"We are ready to lay down our lives for you, Your Divine Highness!"
She winced. "Let's hope it won't come to that. We're on a diplomatic mission."
"Yes, Your Divine Highness!"
Catra snickered softly behind Adora. And O'Neill was mumbling something that Adora didn't catch but which had both Daniel and Carter whisper to him. Or at him.
"Thank you," she repeated herself. "Let's proceed then."
"Standard formation! Vanguard, cruise speed ahead!" Priest exclaimed. "Main force, form up around the Holy Vessel!"
Apparently, Darla had been upgraded in status. Adora really wanted to sigh. This was so embarrassing. And Catra found it incredibly amusing.
But they were moving now and would soon engage the hyperdrive.
"Now, let's see if our calculations are correct!" Entrapta said. "We should be noticeably faster than before!"
"'Should'?" O'Neill asked. "Haven't you tested this?"
"Not on such a long trip, not yet," Entrapta told him with a wide smile. "This will produce very useful data!"
It was clear that he didn't share her enthusiasm, Adora noticed.
"Don't worry," she told him. "We are good at repairs in space."
"Great."
Etheria System, July 13th, 1998 (Earth Time)
Samantha Carter watched the screens on the oversized bridge of Darla. According to the sensors, they were surrounded by Horde frigates. And since she could see some of the sleek ships just by looking out the windows on the bridge, she was inclined to believe the sensors.
"If the Navy ever sees the size of our escort, they'll go green with envy," the Colonel commented.
"The Navy?" Catra asked.
Sam hadn't noticed her walking over to them. The woman could be very quiet, apparently. The claws on her feet must be retractable, so any sound they had made before on the floor had been by choice. Perhaps to make people underestimate her.
"You don't have warships on Etheria?" The Colonel raised his eyebrows.
Catra snorted in return. "Of course we do - and you know it; you've met Mermista. So, there's some rivalry between you and the Navy?"
"We're Air Force," the Colonel told her. "The Navy doesn't like us."
"I think it's not quite so one-sided, Jack," Daniel cut in. "At least according to, oh, everyone I met at the base. Except for the Marines."
The Colonel grinned. "But the Navy started it. Anyway, they would be green with envy because you've got more ships as an escort than they have in total."
Catra, unexpectedly, frowned. "That'll make recruiting trained crew harder."
"They're trained on ships, not spaceships."
"But the principles are similar," Catra retorted.
"That is correct - in as much as Horde sailors are concerned. I set the training so they would require minimal training to crew spaceships as soon as we made contact with Horde Prime," Hordak said.
"Really?" The Colonel frowned in return. "That sounds a bit inefficient."
"The only major sea power amongst the Alliance is Salineas, and they became isolationist after the first Alliance fell apart. I considered the additional training worth the effort."
"And you lost the war," the Colonel said.
"Not because of my Navy."
"Well, we're Air Force. We're used to flying and crewing airplanes, so you'll find us more suited for crewing spaceships," the Colonel said.
"And Air Force pilots were the first astronauts," Sam pointed out.
"That, too. I guess we can recruit from NASA as well. That's our space agency."
"You've got space forces?" Catra asked.
"Not officially, no," the Colonel admitted. "Nasa is a civilian agency."
"And they don't know about the Goa'uld, right?" Catra shook her head.
"That seems rather inefficient," Hordak commented. Sam glanced at the alien - he wasn't showing any expression. But Sam was used to Teal'c and was sure he enjoyed turning the Colonel's words back at him.
The Colonels shrugged. "It worked well so far. We haven't had much trouble with other services, no mass panic, not too many senators and other bigwigs meddling with operations, no international pressure…"
"And all built on a lie," Catra replied.
"Technically, it's an omission. A secret. You know, need to know and all that stuff." The Colonel smiled, though it was a little forced. Sam could tell.
She cleared her throat. "So, I checked the route. We'll be taking quite short trips through hyperspace." According to what she had seen, Darla should be able to make much longer trips.
"Oh, that's because we haven't fully mapped out the route - our data isn't as precise as it could be," Entrapta said. "So we'll be making frequent stops to check our data. Later, we'll be able to shorten travel times. Also, this way, we can check that everyone kept up. If a frigate suffers a malfunction and drops out of hyperspace, she'll be easier to find if we don't have to backtrack all the way to Etheria."
"Yeah." The Colonel nodded. "Losing a spaceship is much more embarrassing than losing a plane."
"Exactly!" Entrapta beamed at him. She turned to Hordak. "See?"
"Certain frigates wouldn't be a loss at all," Hordak said.
Catra scowled at him for that but didn't comment, Sam noticed.
"Everyone, strap in! We're engaging the hyperdrive in a minute," Adora announced.
"It's just for the very, very unlikely case that we've made a mistake modifying the hyperdrive," Entrapta said. "The data checks out, and, as I said, we've done shorter trips without issues, but sometimes, longer trips reveal a mistake in the setup."
Right. They were on a shakedown cruise. Sam pressed her lips together. It wasn't as if she'd never done anything like that. But, usually, it had been under pressure, with no time to carefully test anything. This wasn't the case here. Well, they were effectively at war, and the longer they waited, the higher the chance that Stargate Command would write them off, but…
"Three. Two. One. Hyperspace Window formed! Entering!"
And they were in hyperspace.
"Bubble's holding stable."
"No anomalies detected from the escorts."
Adora sighed audibly. "So, we're in hyperspace." She got up and stretched.
"And my scanners don't detect any signs of imminent system failures," Entrapta added.
Sam sighed herself. With relief. And a little apprehension.
They were on the way to Earth.
"Alea iacta est," Daniel mumbled, mirroring her thoughts. For good or ill, they were now committed. But then, they probably had been committed ever since they had met Adora and the others.
Hyperspace Near Etheria, July 13th, 1998 (Earth Time)
So, they were on their way to Earth. Catra sighed. It would take them about a month if Entrapta was correct - and the princess knew her business. About a month on the same ship as O'Neill and the others.
She looked around the bridge. It had changed since her first trip with it. For the better, in Catra's opinion. Originally, it had been She-Ra's ship. One single seat for her, no consideration for anyone else. Just She-Ra and the ship. That wasn't a good way to travel, in her opinion.
"Something wrong?" Adora asked in a low voice.
Catra snorted. "Just wondering about our passengers," she lied.
"Ah." Adora nodded with a slight frown. "You still don't trust them."
Well, duh, of course not. She shrugged.
"You threatened O'Neill."
"I warned him," Catra corrected her. "That's not the same."
"They're our guests," Adora said.
Catra shrugged again. If they hurt Adora, they could be their sworn allies for all she cared; she would make them pay.
"So far, everything looks good!" Entrapta announced.
"The ship's performing within expected parameters," Hordak added.
"And are those parameters good?" O'Neill asked. "Just checking!" he added with a grin.
"Why would we alter the ship's systems to decrease performance?" Hordak asked.
"That would only make sense if you're trying to sabotage a ship," Entrapta added. "And Darla is our ship."
Adora's actually, though Darla might have second thoughts about it, if she could talk, in Catra's opinion - Entrapta had spent far longer with the ship.
"The ship's speed exceeds the speed of known Goa'uld ships, Sir," Carter said.
O'Neill nodded. "That's good then. If you're faster, you control the engagement."
"Unless you're on the defensive," Catra pointed out. You couldn't run if you had to hold the line. Or fortress.
"Yeah, yeah. But we're in a spaceship. Even if we have to hold a planet, speed will help a lot. Right?" He looked at Teal'c.
"That is correct," the big man replied. "Although by using the mass of your ships against important targets, you can force even faster enemies to engage you at a point and time of your choosing."
This was starting to sound like a tactical course for cadets. Catra snorted and stretched, groaning softly as she bent and straightened her spine. "So, we're in hyperspace and won't drop out for a few hours at least."
"Twelve, to be exact," Etrapta cut in.
Catra nodded. "Twelve hours. So, what's for dinner?"
"Rations," Glimmer said.
Catra scoffed. "Yeah, right." As if anyone would choose to eat rations, least of all a princess.
Glimmer chuckled. "I had the palace kitchen pack us a meal. We just need to reheat it."
Catra perked up. That was better than what she had expected. "Don't tell Priest, or he'll try to have his cooks do the same for us."
Glimmer and Adora shuddered.
"I take it that clones aren't known for their cooking skills?" Daniel asked.
"In the Horde, efficiency was more important than frivolous comforts," Hordak said. "Rations provided everyone with what they needed."
O'Neill grimaced. "That doesn't sound like taste was a priority."
"It wasn't."
"Horde Prime had some great cooks," Catra said. She suppressed a shudder at the memories of her time with Horde Prime. Glimmer tensed, too, Catra noticed. "But they didn't survive the war." She frowned. Or had that been Horde Prime himself, taking over their bodies to cook his own meals? It seemed absurd, but Catra also could imagine Horde Prime declaring that only his cooking was good enough for him.
"Let's go then! I'm a little hungry after loading all our supplies," Adora announced, changing back into her normal form.
"Did they make tiny food, too?" Entrapta asked as they walked to the door. Or bulwark, since they were on a ship.
"I think they prepared tiny desserts," Glimmer said.
"Oh, good!"
"Ah… who's standing watch on the bridge?" O'Neill asked.
"Darla," Entrapta replied.
"The ship herself?" Daniel cocked his head and looked around.
"She knows best," Entrapta told him. "And she can call us if we're needed."
O'Neill nodded, though he looked a little uncomfortable, Catra noted. Was that another Earth thing? Did he mistrust Darla? Or was he concerned about the fact that Darla had cameras all over the ship?
She kept an eye on the soldiers as they walked towards the mess, her ears twitching as she listened to their conversation. Ah. Something about Artificial Intelligences and computers. O'Neill didn't trust bots.
Not a stupid attitude, of course - bots, no matter what Entrapta might say, weren't people. Not even Light Hope. But Darla could be trusted - she hadn't been messed with by the First Ones.
And not having to stand watch, at least not in hyperspace, made travelling easier. Catra wasn't really looking forward to spending a night on the bridge instead of with Adora. Unless, of course, they could spend the night together on the bridge. Use the oversized She-Ra seat for something fun, for once.
But Adora wouldn't want to risk anyone walking in on them, even though that only made it more fun. So, this would probably remain a fantasy.
Well, you couldn't have everything you wanted. Catra had learned that the hard way.
Hyperspace, July 14th, 1998 (Earth Time)
"All systems running as expected!"
Entrapta sounded so happy and excited, Jack O'Neill refrained from making a sarcastic comment. They were heading home to Earth. On a spaceship. With a fleet.
And waiting to finish the first leg of their trip - a 'standard navigational stop', as Entrapta put it. And yet...
"I didn't think that we'd travel to Earth on Love Boat," he muttered.
"Jack!" Daniel gasped next to him.
"What?" Jack nodded towards the others. Everyone was on the bridge, though Jack was sure that any Navy officer would have a fit if he saw them. Catra had placed herself in Adora's lap with one of the smuggest expressions Jack had seen lately. Glimmer and Bow were standing next to each other, talking in low voices, and looking at their expressions, Jack was sure that they weren't discussing politics or space travel. Unless they were literally in love with either. At least Hordak was checking the screens more than Entrapta. "Just look at them," he whispered.
"But…" Daniel shook his head. "That's obviously normal for them."
"Public displays of affection?" Jack grinned at his friend. "On duty?"
"Well, are they technically on duty?" Daniel asked.
"We finished breakfast twenty minutes ago," Jack pointed out.
"Yes, but…"
"We're ready to drop out of hyperspace," Entrapta announced.
Glimmer turned and walked towards Adora while Bow went to check the scenes on his side of the bridge.
And Catra slid out of Adora's lap.
"Now they're on duty," Daniel said. "See?"
Yeah, even General Hammond, for all that he was a rather laid-back Texan, would raise his eyebrows at that. Which would be amusing, at least. Still, working alongside three couples? For a month? That was a little much. Jack very much didn't look at Carter.
"Dropping out in three...two...one!"
And they were back in 'normal space'.
Entrapta's hair tendrils flew over the consoles next to her. "Everything and everyone is where they should be. Deviations are within safety margins and tolerances."
The big screen lit up, and the clone commander appeared. "Your Divine Highness, we have arrived. All ships are accounted for! Command us!"
"Thank you, Priest." Adora nodded. "Start preparing for the next leg. As soon as we've finished our system check, we'll depart again."
Priest hit his chest and bowed. "As you command, Your Divine Highness. We shall prepare at once!"
The screen went blank again. Jack snorted. "I can see how that would grow old quickly."
Adora pouted at him.
He grinned. "You could tell him to use a title that's less of a mouthful."
"I tried," she said.
"Priest's 'unfailing devotion' fails when it clashes with his ideas on how to talk to a goddess," Catra said.
Which was rather worrying, though not unexpected, if Jack was honest. "So, he claims that he knows his dogma better than his goddess does? Wouldn't that qualify as heresy?"
"I'm not a goddess!" Adora snapped.
"I don't think it would be considered heresy since Priest is the de facto head of their church," Daniel said. "Although it's hard to say since we don't have gods that actually talk back when prayed to and might comment."
"Except for the Goa'uld," Jack said.
"False gods," Teal'c stated.
"Well, in the past, something that went against established doctrine and custom of a religion often was called heresy, though since this faith is rather new, there probably is no established consensus about this yet." Daniel pushed his glasses up. "Or Priest is defining it as we speak."
"Don't give him ideas!" Glimmer said.
"Even without writing scripture, his ideas will likely form the dogma of the faith," Daniel pointed out. "As long as he is the uncontested leader of his, ah, flock."
And if there was a schism, they would have to deal with two competing sects of religious fanatics with their own spaceships. A recipe for disaster if Jack had ever seen one. "Yeah, let's hope that they don't start splintering," he said.
Adora sighed. "I just wish they'd stop treating me as a goddess."
Catra snickered. "Just them, though, right?"
Adora blushed - Jack wasn't going there - and Glimmer rolled her eyes.
"All systems check out!" Entrapta interrupted them. "Calculating the next course! Well, recalculating and adjusting for minor stellar drift. So far, we're doing better than expected! The star charts we have are matching up well."
"They should. We're talking stars. They shouldn't move erratically," Bow said.
"Well, Etheria was in another dimension for a thousand years," Entrapta retorted. "Its absence should have affected the other stars nearby. Not to any great extent, but enough to affect navigation."
Another dimension. Jack didn't want to even think about that. Scientists back home would have fits one that came out.
"Easily compensated for," Hordak commented.
"But we still need to verify the data through actual observation," Entrapta told him.
"Which we just did."
"Yes. And which we will keep doing!" Entrapta smiled. "This is exciting! We're making history - of sorts. It's not our first trip, after all, but we're much better prepared now."
"And we're not about to charge at Horde Prime's fleet," Catra said. "That's already an improvement."
Jack nodded. A nice, peaceful trip back to Earth would be perfect. No, it would be perfect if they found a Stargate on the way, so they could warn Earth.
Hyperspace, July 14th, 1998 (Earth Time)
The second trip through hyperspace went as well as the first. At least as far as Adora could tell. Entrapta and Hordak were tinkering with Darla or the shuttle or doing something else together that involved First Ones technology. Adora didn't know what exactly they were doing, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know. They were a lot closer than she had expected. Not that she would admit that to Catra - her lover would be insufferably smug for having pointed it out before.
Her lover… Adora sighed as she twisted so she was lying on her side and looked at Catra. She had been curled up against Adora and now was groping for her body in her sleep. "You just want my body heat," Adora whispered with a smile as she wrapped her arms around her.
"I just want your body," Catra mumbled without opening her eyes as she snuggled into Adora's embrace.
"You're awake."
"Of course I am. You think I wouldn't notice you leaving just because I was asleep?" Catra whispered into Adora's chest.
Adora chuckled - Catra's breath was tickling her skin. And her tail wrapped itself around her leg. "Of course not."
"Good. 'Cause I'm not gonna let you leave."
"You will have to - well soon arrive at the next stop," Adora pointed out.
"We can sleep through it." Catra wrapped her arms around Adora and held on more tightly. "The others can watch Entrapta do her thing and then enter hyperspace again."
"And talk to Priest?"
"Bah! They can tell them you're doing your Divine Duty with me."
Adora snorted. "My Divine Duty?"
"Getting much-needed rest. R&R is crucial for a soldier, remember?"
"Ah. We haven't done too much resting today," Adora pointed out.
"That's the recreation part," Catra replied. "The best part of R&R."
"Right." The instructor in cadet school had told them so with a rare grin. Not that the Horde had been big on R&R in practice, though. Adora suppressed the urge to sigh. That was the past. They weren't cadets any more. They weren't Horde any more. Even if they might still be wearing their old uniforms. Or not wearing them right now. "But I can't stay in bed. We've spent the whole trip in bed." Well, much of it.
"I bet you we can."
"I need to be on the bridge." She had to. What if something happened? She was She-Ra. It was her duty.
Catra sighed this time. And not the happy, contented sigh she used after, well, recreation. "You're a dummy."
"But I'm your dummy," Adora replied.
"And don't you forget it." Catra's arms tightened around Adora, squeezing her for a moment before releasing her. "Let's go be useless on the bridge then." She rolled to the side, staring at the ceiling. "After dinner."
"Right." And after a shower.
O'Neill looked a little grumpy, Adora noticed as they entered the mess. "Is something wrong with the food?" Adora asked. This meal hadn't been prepared by the palace staff, after all, but by Bow.
"What? No, no. It's peachy."
"Peachy?" Adora asked.
"It's fine. The food is good." O'Neill speared a piece of meat with his fork and put it into his mouth.
"It's excellent," Daniel added with a smile.
"Much better than rations," Catra commented as she filled her plate from the big pots.
"Indeed."
"Where's Sam?" Adora asked.
"In the engine room with Entrapta and Hordak," O'Neill replied. "She took a sandwich." He was frowning again.
Ah. Adora nodded. That was it. "Don't worry. We'll make them eat proper meals in the future." Entrapta had been doing better until now. Hordak must be a bad influence on her. Or she was too excited about their trip, Adora added with a slightly guilty feeling. Hordak hadn't done anything so far to make them suspect him. At least in her opinion.
And the food was good. She smiled at Bow. "It's great!"
"Thank you!" He beamed at her.
Glimmer snorted. "I bet you would even find rations good, as famished as you must be."
"Jealous?" Catra grinned between bites.
"Hardly!" Glimmer sniffed, then grinned. "It's like a vacation, isn't it? No court to bother us. All the free time we want while we travel. All the privacy we want" She smiled at Bow, who blushed a little.
Adora nodded. Her friend was right - this was nice. Nice so far. Darla wasn't the palace, but they had their own rooms. And there were no guards or staff following them around and asking questions.
"Enjoy it while it lasts," O'Neill said. He looked even grumpier now. "We're still at war."
"We know," Catra told him. "It's still nice. Nicer than our last war."
Adora nodded. Definitely. She wasn't fighting Catra this time. Etheria wasn't about to be destroyed by some ancient superweapon. Her friends weren't mind-controlled. It was much nicer than their last war.
So far.
"It's a little new for us," Daniel said. "We aren't used to so much, ah, free time on a mission."
"Right. You travel through gates," Glimmer nodded. "No travel times."
"Yes. We're generally home for dinner," O'Neill said.
Oh. Adora was so stupid - they were missing their home! "We'll get you home soon," she told him with a smile. "Promise!"
That didn't seem to cheer him up as much as she had hoped. Not very much at all, actually.
"And the hyperspace bubble is perfectly stable even with the changes to the generators here," Entrapta explained.
Samantha Carter could see that. But she could also see something else. "It could be more efficient, though, if you tweaked the converter there."
"That would remove redundancy," Hordak objected. "Not something you want to do when it concerns hyperspace travel."
"It wouldn't remove redundancy - both this and the other converter there rely on the same systems," Samantha pointed out. "The lessened strain would strengthen the whole system."
"Oh, I see!" Entrapta piped up. "Yes, that would work. Probably. We need to test it."
"Yes." Hordak nodded in one of the most grudging ways that Sam had ever seen. She was sure that if Entrapta hadn't agreed, he wouldn't have agreed either. "We'll have to make adjustments at the next stop."
"Which is in… oh, five minutes! Time flies when you're having fun!" Entrapta announced. "Let's go to the bridge!" She turned and started for the door.
Sam followed her after a last glance at the machines in the room. Whatever else this trip might result in, she had learned a lot about advanced hyperspace drives. She might not yet be able to craft one herself, but she was close. And she should be able to duplicate a standard Goa'uld drive with the right parts.
But that could wait. First, they had to find a way back to Earth. Which meant a series of navigational stops to update their charts - because they had been out of touch and out of sync with the rest of the universe for a thousand years.
Sam still had trouble with the idea that an entire star system had been shifted to another dimension - a pocket dimension, even - for a thousand years. But the way everyone talked about it as something that had happened, the way people mentioned seeing stars for the first time in the sky… It had to be true. Something else to give nightmares to the people back on Earth who would be worried about magic.
Though Sam was also sure that more than a few people would be speculating about using something similar to save Earth in extremis. She hoped they wouldn't find support - what she had heard about the Heart of Etheria from Entrapta gave her nightmares.
They reached the bridge, and Sam felt a brief pang of guilt and embarrassment when she noticed that everyone else was already present. Arriving last was never a good thing for a subordinate.
"The drives are running fine!" Entrapta announced. "No trouble at all!"
"Good." Adora nodded at them.
"Carter! Did you enjoy your sandwich?" The Colonel raised his eyebrows at her.
Sam suppressed the urge to frown - she knew what he really meant. "Yes, Sir," she replied. "We tweaked the drives a bit." She carefully didn't smile at his slight twitch upon hearing that.
"Well, next time, take the time to eat with us like civilised people," he told her. "Unless it's an emergency, of course."
"Yes," Glimmer agreed, looking at Entrapta. "You need decent meals, not just snacks. Or tiny snacks."
"We had rations," Hordak said. "They covered our nutritional needs perfectly."
Catra made a gagging noise, and everyone else from Etheria winced as well.
"They weren't bad," Sam said. "No as good as MREs, but edible." She had tried some, after all.
"'Not as good as MREs'? That's practically poison, Carter!" the Colonel blurted out, shaking his head.
"Jack! People have different tastes and culinary traditions! You can't just insult their meals like this!" Daniel protested.
"Of course he can - Horde rations are horrible," Catra said. "I've eaten enough of them to know."
Adora nodded. "Yes. There's no comparison to actual food. And…"
"Exiting Hyperspace in one minute," the voice of the ship's computer interrupted her.
"Oh!" Entrapta turned to the screens and consoles. "Good girl, Darla!"
Sam watched the screens showing the power fluctuations in the hyperdrives. That was a critical phase of the trip - entering and leaving hyperspace. The phase that was most prone to failure, Hordak had claimed, which made sense.
But they made the transition without apparent trouble. All readings were within expected parameters.
"And the fleet made it out as well… getting a count… still complete!" Bow announced.
"The frigates were kept in top condition - anything that might fail was replaced," Hordak said. "And anyone," he added with a deep frown.
Priest appeared on screen a moment later, telling them what they already knew - Third Fleet had arrived safely - but taking longer with all the "Divine Highnesses" thrown in. He would be trouble; Sam was sure of that as well, even though she understood the reason they had taken him and his fleet along. Another reason that they needed to find a Stargate. If Priest got into a debate about religion with some of the more… fanatical faithful on Earth, the consequences could be catastrophic.
"Scanners running! Navigational update… We're at the projected coordinates, with a slight but expected deviation," Entrapta announced. "So, let's take the time to tweak the engines before we start the next leg of our trip!"
Sam nodded. "Yes."
"Tweaking our hyperdrives, Carter?" the Colonel asked.
"Minor adjustments to improve efficiency," she told him.
"Not so minor!" Entratpa beamed. "If this works, it'll make Darla even faster!"
"Ah. That's a good thing."
"Yes, Sir, it is," Sam replied before she could help it. She knew what she was doing.
"Scanning finished… Oh," Bow interrupted the Colonel's reply. "There's Naquadah on the planet in the nearby system. Processed Naquadah. According to our data, the system should be uninhabited."
Everyone looked at the screen. Naquadah on a planet? That usually meant advanced technology. And a Stargate.
Outside System PK-327, July 14th, 1998 (Earth Time)
"Anything in the system? Ships?"
"No," Catra replied. She didn't see any hostile contacts on the screen.
"We're outside their scanning range, right?" Adora asked.
"We're outside the range of the Goa'uld sensors that we know of," Bow told her.
That wasn't as reassuring as Catra liked. SG-1 might have claimed that the Goa'uld didn't advance their technology, but that was the sort of assumption that got your plans foiled at the worst moment, in Catra's experience. Granted, she had been fighting Adora and the princesses, not some age-old megalomaniac parasites, and SG-1 had a lot of experience with them, but still… She couldn't help worrying.
"And we didn't pick up any active scans," Entrapta said.
"Could they have picked up our scans?"
"They shouldn't have. But…" Entrapta bit her lower lip. Not a good sign. "Third Fleet is big enough to show up on optical sensors - if they have some."
Optical sensors? Oh, telescopes. The frigates' colour scheme wouldn't help, either.
"They would have to be looking at this exact location," Hordak replied. "And we're too far out for our arrival to be easily detected with hyperspace sensors, either."
"That means travelling to the planet in the shuttle will take some time as well, though," Catra said. And 'not easily detected' didn't mean 'undetectable', either.
"If we want to travel to the planet in the first place," Glimmer said.
Catra snorted at that. As if they wouldn't check out the planet. O'Neill would probably walk there if he had to. And they had to know if there was a Goa'uld base so close to Etheria.
Glimmer smiled wryly. "It had to be said." But she had that glint in her eyes - she was craving some action. The queen was rather bloodthirsty for a princess.
But that raised another question. "So, who's going?" Catra asked.
"Me!"
"Us!"
"I want to see the new technology!"
"You need me on the ground - I can teleport us."
"I can carry a Stargate if we need to."
"We need to go and see if there's a Stargate."
"We've got the most experience with Goa'uld."
"So, basically everyone wants to go," Catra summed it up. But someone had to stay back and watch the ship. And Third Fleet.
Everyone looked at each other. Catra sighed. This would be ugly.
"...and we'll stay in contact. If there's any trouble, you can come and relieve us," Adora said.
Glimmer rolled her eyes. "We - and the entire Third Fleet."
"Don't pout, Sparkles," Catra told her. "Someone has to stay back, and you're the Queen. You're in command."
"Yet no one is listening to me!" Glimmer looked like she was about to stomp her foot.
"Glimmer." Bow put his hand on her shoulder.
She gripped it, sighing. "I know."
Catra stretched. It sucked to be Queen. Not that she cared as long as she was with Adora.
"I still fail to see why I need to stay back," Hordak complained.
"So in the case that we get discovered, people will not connect us to the Horde," Entrapta replied. "Though we could disguise you, I guess…"
"We don't have the time for that," Catra lied.
"Be careful," Glimmer said.
"Of course!" Adora nodded with a serious expression.
Catra suppressed a snicker. Adora and cautious? Yeah, right. Catra would have her hands full trying to keep her lover from risking her life. "So, stay safe and don't get bored," she said.
"Right! Let's go!" Entrapta hugged Hordak, then entered the shuttle. "Let's see if our stealth system works!"
"Uh… it does work, right?" Daniel asked. "We're about to fly towards a Goa'uld-controlled planet."
"We've tested the system, and it should work," Carter told him. "But this is the first time it's used on an actual mission."
"Nothing like field testing new gear on a recon mission," O'Neill said with a snort.
"It's very efficient!" Entrapta said, sticking her head out of the shuttle.
"As long as it works…" O'Neill muttered.
"It should, Sir. The calculations work out."
"Sometimes, math doesn't work in the field, Carter."
"That's not how it works, Jack," Daniel said.
"You know what I mean."
"Well, yes, but…"
"Let's go!" Adora said. "The sooner we go, the sooner we're back. For the Honour of Grayskull!"
Watching her lover grow into a huge princess never got old, in Catra's opinion. But it was over quickly, and then Adora stepped into the shuttle. Catra waved at Glimmer, Bow and Hordak before following her. O'Neill might be worried, but Catra wasn't. If Entrapta, Carter and Hordak were sure that the stealth system would work, then that was good enough for her. Entrapta might be a little too confident, and Carter was hard to read, but Hordak wouldn't let Entrapta go if he didn't trust their technology. And if it didn't work, well… They had She-Ra with them. And the shuttle was fast.
They were ready for whatever awaited them on the planet.