Chapter 93: Scouting Part 4

Unclaimed System, January 28th, 1999 (Earth Time)

Another Ha'tak self-destructed. "This isn't working," Samantha Carter said. "We can't secure the magazines fast enough to prevent them from blowing themselves up." Sokar's Jaffa must have orders to detonate the ordnance - or fuel; it didn't really matter much when it came to Naquadah-powered technology - at the first sign of enemies in the vicinity. Or at some pre-determined line or point. Or the order had them trigger the self-destruct if they lost contact with certain posts inside the ship.

"Welllll…" Entrapta scrunched her nose. "Not unless we somehow find a way to knock all of them out at the same time. But that's difficult - they will have closed their hatches and bulwarks, and the ship's compartmentalised to avoid loss of atmosphere if a part of the hull is breached, so a stun gas won't work. Maybe a binary stun gas…"

"They might have rigged the detonators to dead man's switches," Sam pointed out. That's what she would have done if faced with such a threat.

"Oh. Well, in that case…" Entrapta shook her head. "Then we'd have to sneak in and disable that."

"If I could teleport in space, I could get into the magazines and then port the bombs out," Glimmer said. She didn't sound convinced of that, though.

"You can't teleport that many bombs," Bow objected.

Glimmer frowned. "Let's see if our prisoner is willing to talk, then."

Sam didn't think the odds of a maintenance technician - or the Jaffa equivalent to that post - and, apparently, a screwup in addition to that, would know rally spots or standing orders. But it wasn't as if they had many alternatives. "I'll attempt to hack the next Ha'tak then. Remotely hack," she clarified when Glimmer looked at her with raised eyebrows. Sam hadn't considered doing it in person. Not seriously, at least. Besides, Glimmer had no room to talk with her teleport comment.

"OK."

"As long as we keep at it, we should succeed sooner or later," Entrapta said, but Sam could tell that her friend wasn't really optimistic either.

But there wasn't much else they could do. They had sent out the spy bots on the same course the missing Ha'tak had taken, but without further data, and accounting for the inherent variation of the vectors and the range of the bots' sensors, the network had a lot of space to cover. This could…

A beeping sound interrupted Sam's gloomy thought. A report from the spy bot network? She gasped.

"They've caught a message that may be from our friends!" Entrapta exclaimed.

"Playing it," Sam said, hitting a few keys.

"Scouting Party to Main Task Force. We've taken control of our ride, but we're stuck in space." That was the Colonel's voice! Sam blinked as she took a few deep breaths, hours of tension suddenly leaving. And coordinates followed!

She quickly switched the holographic map on and sent the coordinates to it. It was quite the distance - a quick mental calculation told her that the Colonel and the others would have only managed to disable the hyperdrive about half an hour ago.

"Call Priest!" Glimmer told Bow. "We need to get them at once!"

"Yes!" Bow replied. "Setting course for the flagship."

"Rerouting the spy bots to the area," Entrapta added as the shuttle picked up speed.

Sam softly sighed as she started coordinating the different sensor networks. The Colonel had done it again. Just as she had hoped, known, he would. Now all that was left was to reach them before the enemy did.

Which was… well, they had good odds of success. Horde frigates were faster than Goa'uld ships. But if the enemy's rally spot - or base - was close to the Ha'tak's position…

Sam clenched her teeth and redirected the spy bot network to focus on the projected course the Ha'tak had taken before it was stopped by the Colonel and their friends.

They were just setting down in the flagship's hangar when the first results came in - long-range signals being picked up. There weren't many signals, but their point of origin, according to estimates based on their strength, was far too close to the Colonel's position for Sam's comfort.

If the Ha'tak had an emergency beacon active instead of being disabled to prepare for Sokar's false flag operation…

Sam clenched her teeth again. This was going to be a close call. Far too close for her taste.

Unknown Location, January 28th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"We have established contact with the Main Task Force."

Catra, guarding the prisoners in the makeshift prison Adora had constructed, perked up at Teal'c's announcement. Yes! Their friends would be coming to get them now. Not that she had doubted it, of course. But it was good to get confirmation.

"Great, Teal'c," O'Neill commented on the comm. "Did you notice any distress signal from our ship or any other communication?"

"I did not, O'Neill. However, the communications equipment was slightly damaged, and even if it were working at full capacity, I could not exclude the possibility that the false god Sokar has had his followers install hidden beacons to find his ships, should they go missing."

Yeah. Catra nodded. For a paranoid bastard like Sokar, who couldn't track his minions through their minds, like Horde Prime had been able to, installing a device on a ship that regularly sent its position to his headquarters and not telling anyone of the crew would make sense. That way, he could appear to be all-knowing. Which had also been a stick of Horde Prime. Of course, he might have wanted that removed for a false flag operation. So, what would his paranoia have gone with? Increased control over his Jaffa or increased security?

Both, Catra concluded. Sokar could easily have the signal sent to an automated or otherwise expendable small ship stationed in the middle of nowhere and scrubbed of all signs of its owner. She could have done that. "We'll have to assume that there are such beacons," she spoke into her communicator.

"I concur," Teal'c said.

"Well, you're the expert." O'Neill didn't sound happy. "But my gut agrees. We'll have company sooner or later."

"Let's hope our friends get here first!" Adora, of course, was optimistic. "For the Jaffa's sake as well," she added.

Catra smirked even though no one except, maybe, some of the prisoners in the room in front of her, could see it. "Yes, we wouldn't want to get any of your new faithful hurt, would we? That would be a black mark on your divine record."

"I'm no goddess!" her lover insisted at once, as Catra had known she would.

"I think Daniel would disagree," Catra retorted. "Didn't he point out that you match the definitions of a goddess according to some religions on Earth?"

"I'm no goddess!"

And there she was. Catra smirked again as she saw her lover appear in the hallway leading to her spot at the door to the prison area.

"I'm no goddess," Adora repeated herself for the third time, but off the comm, as she joined Catra. "I don't want anyone to worship me."

Catra shrugged. "I thought the plan was to convert them."

"I wanted them to stop worshipping the Goa'uld. I didn't want…" Adora pressed her lips together as the prisoners behind the bars they had jammed and spot-welded to block the door got up and stared at her, several bowing their heads. "...that."

"Win some, lose some. Partial success is better than a complete failure," Catra said. Of course, Adora had been raised to only ever consider complete success as an acceptable outcome…

Adora sighed. "I know, but that doesn't mean I like it. Why can't people just… stop worshipping anyone?"

Catra shrugged. "Some can, but I think most need something or someone to believe in." She grinned again. "And there are much worse people to believe in than She-Ra." And no one better, she added in her mind.

Adora pouted at her again, then turned to face the prisoners. "Hello! Is anyone in need of healing? I only healed the worst cases, but now I have the time time to heal everyone else."

For a moment, none of the Jaffa said anything. Not even Catra's ears could pick up a whisper from the room full of prisoners.

Then one of them glanced over his shoulder before addressing Adora: "We will soon recover fully, Onak. Except for Haken. He has lost his prim'ta."

Adora's eyes widened. "Oh, no!"

Catra clenched her teeth. That meant the Jaffa's immune system was failing - he was doomed. They had been afraid of… Her eyes widened. That meant the other larvae were fine - Adora's healing hadn't killed them! That was… that meant it was safe to heal Jaffa. Or Tok'ra. Possibly. A human host and a Jaffa were different, after all. Still, it was important to know that Adora couldn't accidentally kill a Jaffa by healing them.

Adora raised her chin and stepped directly in front of the door. "Come forth, Haken!"

The crowd of prisoners parted, some shying away from looking at her, and revealed a Jaffa sitting on the floor, one hand on his stomach. He got up, stumbling a little - was he already sick?

Adora summoned her sword - Catra heard many prisoners gasp and hiss at the sight - and pointed it at the Jaffa. A moment later, magic energy enveloped him.

He, too, gasped, even blinked, and stood straighter.

"I have cured you of whatever disease infected you. But without a, ah, prim'ta, you will keep getting infected, so I will have to keep healing you until we find a solution. We're working on that, though." Adora smiled at him.

"Th-thank you, Onak!" Haken fell on his knees, bowing.

So did several other Jaffa. A few hissed in obvious anger, but more seemed to be… holding back?

Catra had a feeling that even those who didn't want to abandon Sokar didn't question that Adora was a goddess.

She snorted softly. Her idiot lover just couldn't help it.

"...and we're about to enter hyperspace, sir."

Carter sounded as professional as ever, in Jack O'Neill's opinion. Of course, the signal lag would help with that - having to wait a few seconds for a reply made it easier to prepare your response. Not that she would need such help. And, speaking of help… "Good to hear, Carter," he replied. "We're all wishing that we'll be able to get off this ship here before someone comes to repossess it. Oh, and prepare for a few hundred prisoners."

"Yes, sir. Entering hyperspace now."

It might have been his imagination, but this time, the signal lag seemed to be a second longer than usual. Jack grinned - if they pulled this off, this might even top the Apophis mission. Destroying one Ha'tak with a team of four was one thing, but taking it as a prize?

Don't count your chickens before they hatch, he reminded himself. Sokar's relief or clean-up forces might arrive before the task force did. And if they did… Well, there wasn't much that they could do about this. Except for what they were doing. He hit his radio button. "How's it going with Plan Bugout, Teal'c?"

"I am preparing the two crafts for launch, O'Neill. Although the bay is at quite a distance from the bridge, so in an emergency, our departure will be delayed some time."

Jack was aware of that. But absent a Stargate - and the ship didn't have a gate; they had checked thoroughly - a Death Glider was their best bet to escape being captured or killed by Sokar's ships.

It wasn't a very good bet, mind you - the ships were not able to enter hyperspace, and Sokar would send dozens of Death Gliders after them, and not even Teal'c had a lot of experience with flying the things - but they only had to survive until help arrived. And a small chance was still better than no chance at all.

And Jack was Air Force. If he had to go down, then doing so behind the controls of a fighter wasn't the worst way to go. Surrendering to a snake who styled himself after Satan - or was the original Satan - was out of the question, of course.

Steps in the hallway made him turn away from the console and grip his carbine. It didn't sound like a Jaffa in armour, but better safe than sorry.

But it was Adora, and Jack relaxed as soon as he saw her step through the doorway. "We've got a problem," she said with a grimace. "More than one, actually."

Oh? That didn't sound good. But Jack shrugged - an officer had to project confidence, after all. "Well, what's a few more problems?"

"One of the prisoners lost his larva. I've healed him, but he'll keep getting sick," she explained.

"Ah." That wasn't really a problem, in his opinion. Unfortunate for the prisoner, but people died in war - and they had already killed a lot of Jaffa to take the ship. One more dying from lingering wounds wasn't going to make Jack lose any sleep. He didn't say that out loud, of course. Because Adora obviously considered it a problem, and Jack wasn't about to try and make the girl who could wreck starships single-handedly care less about normal people and collateral damage. "There's not much we can do about that," he said.

"No, we can't. We really need a solution for the Jaffa's immune system." Adora sighed and sat down on a broken console.

Definitely. If Adora planned to keep healing the prisoner until a solution was found, then that would seriously hinder the war effort. You couldn't drag a prisoner along on every mission. Of course, as the supreme commander of the Alliance, she shouldn't go on missions to begin with, so this might be a blessing in disguise. But that could wait for now. "So, what's the other problem? Or problems?" he asked.

"Some of the Jaffa think I'm a goddess."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "Like Teal'c hoped for?"

Adora frowned at that. "Yes. But we already defeated them."

"Which probably helped convince them." Seeing a seven-foot-tall warrior princess shrug off your best shots as if they were nothing while she went through your ranks and then healed you afterwards of what should have been lethal wounds would be enough to make even some American soldiers reconsider their religion, in Jack's opinion.

Judging by the way she narrowed her eyes at him but didn't disagree, she thought the same. "But what do we do if the prisoners who are loyal to Sokar start attacking those who aren't?" she asked.

It was Jack's turn to wince. He hadn't considered that - and, in hindsight, he should have. "That's a problem, yes," he admitted.

"We need a second prison to separate them," Adora went on. "But what if some of them, ah, change their opinion after being separated?"

She was right - even dividing the prisoners now wouldn't prevent such issues. And they couldn't really spare the guards for two prisons. "Stun them all?" he suggested.

That earned him another frown. "Catra is planning to."

Ah. Jack should have expected that - Catra was a fair bit more pragmatic than Adora. A bit more callous as well. He shrugged again, though with a sympathetic smile. "Then I can't think of anything else. But our friends will soon arrive, and then we can hand the prisoners over to them." And they should have the facilities to handle the Jaffa - they had come prepared for prisoners, after all.

"Yes. But that still leaves the worship." Adora pressed her lips together.

Some people would love to be worshipped as a god. Jack could think of several politicians. Or officers. But Adora hated it. Which Jack understood. But what could he say that wasn't just a platitude? Priest and his clones hadn't stopped treating her as a goddess despite her repeated denial. Jack didn't think freshly converted Jaffa would be different. Converts were often the most fanatical followers of a religion.

He was almost glad for the alarm that broke the awkward silence. And Adora reacted as if she shared his sentiment.

An alert? Adora wheeled around. The main screen of the Ha'tak's bridge - they still didn't know the ship's real name, she realised - was broken from a stray staff blast, but there were still a few working screens on some of the consoles. And one of them was showing the ship's surroundings - and radar contacts.

"What's happening?" Catra asked over the comm.

"Several ships arrived in our vicinity," Adora replied.

"Too soon to be our friends," Jack added. She glanced at him and saw that he looked as tense as he sounded.

The display didn't show the new contacts as hostile either. So it was probably… "Sokar."

"If it's anyone else, this would be an incredible coincidence." Jack nodded.

So they had to be Sokar's troops.

"Great. How many?" Catra went on.

Adora checked the data. She was no expert, but she had studied Goa'uld systems in preparation for this mission. "Four Ha'taks."

"Yep. Not very sporting of Sokar."

She glanced at him again. "Didn't you say that a fair fight is a sign you failed at war?"

"That was meant for us, not for the enemy." He snorted.

Catra spoke up again: "We can't beat them in a fight. Not in a crippled ship and no crew."

And probably not in a fully-working ship with a skeleton crew, either. Not at those odds. "We only have to last until our friends arrive. I can get out there and… fight." Though she didn't think she could do too much to a Ha'tak. Especially not if they kept their distance.

"Can you keep them from blowing the ship up while you're at it?" Jack asked.

No, she couldn't. She pressed her lips together.

"No, she can't," Catra said.

"Then we need to be tricky." Jack tilted his head.

"The Death Gliders are almost ready to launch," Teal'c reported.

Which meant they weren't ready. And the enemy ships were closing.

"Well, we know Sokar's cruel and paranoid. Let's hope he's also arrogant and curious," Jack said.

Catra snorted. "You want him to investigate."

"Yep." Jack looked around on the bridge. "How much more time do you need, Teal'c?"

"The refuelling will take a few more minutes, O'Neill."

"By that time, they'll be too close to escape," Jack said. "But… can you rig them to fly by themselves?"

"You wish for them to act like decoys."

"Yes. And to explode upon capture or something. If Sokar or his commander thinks we left the ship and died, they probably won't blow it up - if only to get more information about us." Jack grinned at Adora. "And even if he suspects we hid, he might bet on being able to capture us."

"Sounds like a good plan," Catra said. "Better than Adora going out there and trying to cut up Ha'taks."

Adora frowned, but her lover was correct. "But we need a good spot to hide in."

"The ventilation ducts, of course," Catra shot back at once.

The console beeped, and then a voice sounded from the speaker. Adora couldn't understand the words - it was Goa'uld - but the gist was clear. A demand for information. Or for their surrender. Probably with a threat. Well, it wasn't quite clear, but clear enough.

"And that's our cue to move! Teal'c, launch the Death Gliders as soon as you can, then join us in…"

"...the main hub in the ventilation ducts." Catra appeared in the doorway. "Hurry up!" She turned and headed back into the hallway.

Adora and Jack followed her. Behind them, the voice - it sounded like a Jaffa, not a Goa'uld - repeated their demands.

Adora clenched her teeth. If the Jaffa were about to blow up the ship, there would be nothing she could do about it. Everyone would die.

"Sokar's not going to blow us up right away," Catra said as if she had read Adora's thoughts. "He needs information. And I bet he wants to torture his enemies and make a big deal about it. So he can show off how powerful he is."

That sounded like Horde Prime. On the other hand, this was a false flag operation, and Sokar would be ready to cover up his involvement… But he didn't know what had happened to his fleet. He couldn't just blow them up and risk getting blindsided. He would have to know how they found his fleet.

Adora hoped she was right. They didn't have enough information to be sure.

Catra stopped below a ventilation duct's opening and jumped up, easily and gracefully slipping inside.

Adora looked at Jack.

"After you," he said, looking over his shoulder.

Adora hesitated a moment. She should bring up the rear - she could resist most of the Jaffa's weapons. But Jack knew what he was doing.

And if they turned out to be wrong about Sokar's aims, if the Jaffa outside decided to blow up the ship, then Adora wanted to be with Catra. Hold her.

She jumped, grabbed the edge of the opening, and pulled herself up and into the duct, crawling after Catra.

As Jack followed, muttering a curse under his breath, Teal'c announced over the communicator: "Launching the Death Gliders."

"Great. Join us here," Jack repeated.

And then they had nothing else to do but wait and hope they had guessed right.

Hyperspace, January 28th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"We're closing in on the location of Her Divine Highness. Our estimated time of arrival is five minutes and thirty-one point five seconds."

The clones had taken Samantha Carter's request to keep her informed with precise information almost literally. If they had been human, she would have suspected malicious compliance. But they sounded earnest and diligent as they kept her updated with information the computer of the stealth shuttle was already telling her. And since this was about rescuing Adora, amongst others, it was quite doubtful that they would resent her request.

She could have amended her request, but… a bit of redundancy never hurt anyone except, maybe, the budget. She snorted at her feeble joke. Not that the budget was a concern anymore, now that the entire world was aware of the war.

Shaking her head, she forced herself to focus on the screen in front of her again. Five more minutes until they would arrive at the coordinates of the Ha'tak the Colonel and the others had, apparently, taken. Part of her still felt this was an amazing feat, even though she should know better - she had seen what Adora could do in a fight. Entrapta, Glimmer and Bow certainly weren't surprised.

And yet, it could have all been in vain. If Sokar's fleet found the ship before their task force arrived… Or if they simply blew the ship up…. Or if someone in the crew of the ship managed to scuttle it…

"Don't worry! Adora is with them. She'll keep them safe."

Sam felt herself flush a little in embarrassment. For Entrapta to pick up her emotional state, Sam must have utterly failed to keep a calm facade. "I know," she forced herself to lie. "I still worry."

Entrapta nodded, smiled and turned back to her own computer.

Glimmer, though, only nodded at her with a grim expression. She would realise how perilous their friends' situation was. The princess was hovering behind them, torn between sitting in the shuttle's cockpit with Bow, ready to fly out of the flagships hangar as soon as they arrived, and sitting with Sam and Entrapta in front of their screens, to keep abreast of the situation.

The minutes ticked by, faithfully announced by a clone. Sam ran several calculations that she had already done just to keep busy. Maybe a simulation of a meeting engagement… Perhaps they should have dropped out of hyperspace on the way to get an update from the spy bot network's data… but that would have delayed their arrival. And Sam had no doubt that Priest's task force would charge in no matter the odds anyway.

As would she, of course.

"Estimated time of arrival in thirty seconds."

It was time. She took a deep breath and strapped herself into her seat as Glimmer headed back to the cockpit for the fifth time. Sam watched the countdown, watched the screen showing the task force's relative position to their destination. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

The shuttle shuddered slightly as the frigate dropped out of hyperspace, and the sensor readings changed immediately.

"Contact! Hostile! Jamming field active!"

"For Her Divine Highness! Smite the Enemies!"

"Engaging!"

The sensor display lit up with enemy contacts. For a fraction of a second, Sam felt frozen. Then her fingers flew over the keyboard as she took in the data. Five Ha'taks. The rest of the contacts were Death Gliders. And four Ha'taks were surrounding a fifth, which was damaged. Analysis… "There they are!" she whispered, relief filling her - only to be replaced with dread as her sensor picked up debris near the crippled ship. A craft had been destroyed there. At least one. Had that been… No!

"Jammers are effective. Enemy communication is suppressed!" Entrapta announced.

"Find Her Divine Highness!"

They were already doing that! Sam gritted her teeth as she attempted to contact the Colonel. "Task Force to Scouting Party, respond. Task Force to Scouting Party, respond."

The Goa'uld ships were reacting to their arrival - Sam saw the Ha'taks starting to change formation on her screen, turning to face the attacking frigates, with the Death Gliders covering them. But the ships were too spread out - the vanguard of the task force opened fire on the closest Ha'tak before the other three could close ranks. The Goa'uld ship's shields shattered under the assault, and Sam held her breath as the frigates kept firing at it in passing.

But the fire was aimed at the ship's propulsion and weapon systems - the Ha'tak shuddered, debris being launched away by the hits, but didn't blow up.

"We're in range of the scanner! Scanning!" Entrapta reported.

Sam split her screen, one side showing the fleet battle as Horde fighters engaged Death Gliders in a hail of blaster fire, and the frigates sped towards the remaining Ha'taks, the other showing the scanner's data.

There! "The Scouting Party is on the damaged Ha'tak!" Sam snapped, transmitting the data to Priest.

"Destroy the enemy ships! Protect her Divine Highnesses's vessel!"

The clones changed tactics at once. The next Ha'tak, already under fire, blew up seconds after its shields failed as every frigate in range kept firing at it almost indiscriminately.

The two remaining enemy capital ships were starting to reverse course, trying to escape, but the task force was too close and too fast - and already splitting up to go after both of the ships simultaneously.

"Task Force to Scouting Party, respond!" Sam repeated herself. They were in range of the comms - even accounting for some interference from the jammers, and Goa'uld countermeasures, they should be able to…

"Scouting Party to Task Force. Good to hear you."

That was the Colonel! He was safe! Sam smiled - and blinked a few times to clear her eyes. "Task Force to Scouting Party, how's your situation?"

"We're holed up here inside the ship. Could use some help before the prisoners start trying to escape."

Sam checked the sensors. Enough Horde fighters had been launched to handle the Death Gliders. And the two Ha'taks wouldn't last much longer either. "We're coming!" she announced.

Their stealth shuttle was first out of the hangar, but half a dozen conventional shuttles packed with troops for boarding followed close on their heels.

A flight of Death Gliders tried to intercept them, but the shuttles were flying in close formation, and their blaster turrets made short work of the attackers.

Sam checked the sensors for more threats, then stared at the crippled Ha'tak looming bigger and bigger on their screens.

They were coming for their friends.

Catra's ears picked up the sound of shuttles touching down on the Ha'tak's hulls and engaging their magnetic clamps. "They've arrived!" she announced, then sliced the grate in front of her open and slid through. A quick twist later, she landed on her feet in a hallway near the central shaft.

"We've docked and are about to hack the airlock!" Entrapta enthusiastically announced over the comm. "Don't worry, we won't overlook the remote locking routine this time! Even though there shouldn't be anyone able to use them with you in control of the ship."

"We're not on the bridge right now," Adora replied, joining her on the floor with a grunt. "But we've blocked the way, so it should be empty."

It better be empty - if anyone reached the bridge, they could do a lot of damage. At least they had disabled the comms, just in case, but if there was some secret scuttling charge… "Let's meet on the bridge," Catra said into her communicator.

"Yep," O'Neill agreed as he pushed himself out of the ventilation duct. "Not that someone else tries to claim our prize."

He hadn't said that on the comm, Catra noted with a grin.

"If you need assistance, we can blow our way into the ship at once, Your Divine Highness!"

"No, no!" Adora quickly told Priest - was he on one of the shuttles? Catra didn't think so, but she wouldn't put it past him. "We're fine here!"

"We've hacked the airlocks and are going in!" Entrapta reported a moment later.

Catra heard Adora's relieved sigh clearly and grinned.

"Zealots being enthusiastic with explosives…" O'Neill shook his head.

"I do not think that such a course of action would have endangered us," Teal'c said.

Catra cocked her head and held her hand up to silence the banter - were those shots she had heard?

"We've engaged hostile forces," a clone - not Priest - announced on the comm.

Definitely shots, then. And relatively close. "Must be stragglers," Catra commented. She nodded in the direction from which she heard the fighting. "It's not on the way, but…"

"Let's take them out so fewer people die!" Adora nodded with a firm expression and moved past Catra, then slowed down when she saw the junction ahead. "Uh…"

Catra grinned and slipped past her. "This way!"

They reached the fighting half a minute later. A dozen Jaffa were trying to stop twice their numbers of bots and clones. And their rear guard only noticed them when Adora ploughed into him and knocked him out.

Pincered - and under attack from Adora - the Jaffa didn't last long. Catra tasered the last one and looked around.

"Your Divine Highness!" The leading clone bowed deeply, followed by all the other clones. At least the bots didn't bow.

Catra blinked as the bots did bow. Priest must have had someone reprogram them.

And Adora was struck speechless for a moment.

"We're at the bridge. Where are you?" Entrapta asked

"We're coming!" Adora replied at once. "Take the prisoners - ah, take them with us!" she ordered the boarding party.

A quick walk and a short trip up the stairs later, they reached the bridge area. It was obvious that the barricaded doors hadn't stopped the others, but it was also obvious that no one else had reached the bridge before them.

"Adora!"

"Adora!"

"Catra! Adora! Friends"

"Sir."

"Jack! Teal'c!"

And here came the hugging. Catra let herself be pulled into the 'Best-Friends-Squad-Group-Hug', as Bow dubbed it. She knew better than to try to resist. And it felt kind of nice, anyway.

"Carter! Sorry about the mess - I wanted to get you an intact ship, but we kind of broke it."

"It may be fixable, sir. Although I would need to check on the hyperdrive's condition as well as the controls - it might require more time than we can spare."

Ah, how cute - both of them acting so professional - well, for O'Neill's version of professional - even though they wanted to hug each other as well. At least in Catra's opinion.

"I was forced to be a bit more thorough than planned in disabling the hyperdrive," Teal'c said, nodding at his friends. "In case the Jaffa had spare crystals."

"Ah." Sam nodded. "In that case, I really need to examine the damage."

"Oh, yes!" Entrapta slipped out of the hug, but she was cheating with her hair. "Let's check the hyperdrive!"

"And let's move the prisoners off the ship as soon as possible," O'Neill added. "We want them - and us - back on a working ship before more enemies arrive."

"Yes, sir."

And with that, the hug ended for everyone. Catra trailed her tail over Adora's leg as she stepped back. The hard part was over. Now just the clean-up remained.

"We got them. Both down, lightly wounded. Not enough for Adora to heal them, but she did it anyway. They could have healed up by themselves, idiot!"

"There was no need to have them suffer longer than they should."

"Don't complain if they start worshipping you! Anyway, are there any more stragglers left?"

Leaning against a piece of undamaged all on the bridge, Jack O'Neill looked at Entrapta.

"Not according to our scanner!" the princess announced. "And we found no data that would indicate that they developed a way to fool our scanner, so there's a very low chance that there are still Jaffa hiding out in the ship."

That didn't mean there was no chance at all, of course - Jack was aware of that. But if Sokar had the technology to fool their magic scanner, and the knowledge that it was needed to deploy it, the whole mission would have gone very, very differently from the start. Namely, Jack doubted that the stealth shuttle would have reached the enemy ship.

So, if the scanner said the ship was clean, it was good enough for him. He switched his microphone on. "Alright, get the prisoners ready for transport." With the shuttles actually docked, that meant they didn't have to stuff them into vacuum-proof bodybags. "Carter, how's it looking with the hyperdrive?"

"The damage is repairable. We have all the necessary spares. Restoring the power will take a while, though. And I have some concerns about the structural stability of the ship after the damage it took."

"Sorry! I wasn't very careful when I had to save Catra!"

"You didn't have to save me! I was doing fine!"

"You had to save Catra?"

"No, Sparkles, she didn't."

"Yes, I did, Glimmer. She was hurt!"

"It was a scratch!"

Jack shook his head as he tuned out the bickering. He didn't think that the damage Adora had done by cutting through the decks would be a problem. But coupled with all the other damage done during the fighting, including Catra and Teal'c's sabotage… "Can we, ah, tow the ship if we have to?" he asked Entrapta.

"Uh…" She cocked her head to the side. "I don't think the frigates are equipped for that. Their hyperdrives can't carry such a big ship along - we'd have to modify them, but constructing a transport ship would probably be easier. And safer. And more efficient since such a modified hyperdrive would draw more power even without a ship to tow. So… maybe? If we have enough time? Though repairing the ship would probably be faster, I think. Provided the structural integrity can handle more flight operations. Fixing that would, hm… I think it would take much longer. I did it for Darla since she was buried in the desert for a thousand years, but Darla is much smaller than this ship. And I still had to do a lot of maintenance fixing her. Still do, actually."

Jack nodded even though he only got the gist of it - no towing Ha'taks. Entrapa wasn't Carter. His second-in-command would have summed up all the relevant information clearly and succinctly. "So, we either can get it moving, or we have to scuttle it."

He pressed his lips together, annoyed at himself for slipping and using a naval term. He wasn't a Navy Puke.

"Yes! But it would be a shame to destroy such a beautiful ship! The style's completely different from the Horde style - or the First Ones', like Darla." Entrapta beamed at him, then at the bridge. "I am sure we can fix her better than new!"

Jack was also sure that Entrapta and Carter could do it. He was less sure that they should spend their time fixing a Ha'tak, though. But he didn't think his opinion would matter - Earth would jump at the chance to get a spaceship of their own, especially one upgraded to Horde specs.

But the war this would trigger over who got to crew and command it… He had to snicker at the thought of a Royal Navy captain standing in the middle of a golden bridge. Now, if they had to wear Goa'uld uniforms…

But, speaking of Goa'uld… He looked at Entrapta again. "No luck on finding a snake larva? A live one, I mean." You had to be precise with her.

Entrapta blinked, then shook her head. "No. We only picked up dead ones on the scanner. We weren't fast enough to save them, sorry."

Which meant the Jaffa who had lost his would keep depending on Adora's healing. Which she would feel obligated to provide. Damn. "And I bet that the Tok'ra don't have any to spare, either."

"I don't think so." Entrapta cocked her head to the side again. "Anise never mentioned the need for Jaffa, only for hosts for adult Tok'ra. I don't think they reproduce, actually. Which would be a huge problem for their long-term survival, wouldn't it?"

"Well, they have managed for a few thousand years…" Jack shrugged. "But if they don't have enough hosts as things are, they might not want more competition for hosts by growing more of them."

"That would make sense. We'll have to ask them!"

Jack grimaced. Kids were about the last subject he wanted to talk about with the Tok'ra. "Yeah, sure, you do that," he mumbled.

He pushed off the wall and straightened. "I'll go check on Carter."

Entrapta looked puzzled, but Daniel, who was translating what manuals they had found, had a stupid grin on his face as Jack walked past him.

He rolled his eyes. Carter was his subordinate. He was just checking up on her as any good officer would.