New Beginnings
New Beginnings
by Litus Darkheart
Summary: Ra and Thoth come back, as well as Kinsey (aka Queztalcotl). Add in a world-wide crisis and a massive, inpenetrable base, and you have yourself a race to save the world.first of a series following SG-18
Category: Action/Adventure, Series
Episode Related: 818 Threads
Season: Season 8
Pairing: other pairing
Rating: 13+
Warnings: adult themes, character death, language, violence, none
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story was created for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).
Archived on: 07/20/05
New Beginnings, Part One
__Earth, 1028 BCE__
Thoth observed the battle from a central console in the middle of the laboratory. Anubis kept sending his ships and troops to assault Tau, but the combined forces of Thoth and Ra were more than sufficient to repel the invaders. The fact that the other system lords were against Anubis only sweetened the moment. Nevertheless, Thoth was preoccupied by an ancient device that had been discovered a few weeks before the assault by Anubis. What it was Thoth could not answer, but he had centuries to figure it out, and it was not as if any other system lord would be able to. He had selected his past few hosts for their mental capabilities, even if they were mostly frail and weak. The end result was a superior intellect compared to any other species or being in the galaxy. Well, mused Thoth, maybe not as smart as the ones who built this device. He had surmised that it was some sort of key, but where it fit he could only begin to fathom. Actually, his current host was as curious as he was, and had given him the idea of the device as a key. He was broken from his day-dream when several Horus guards charged into the room, followed by Ra.
"I see our forces are decimating Anubis'," said Thoth, acknowledging Ra's presence, but not looking up from his work. Ra nodded.
"Indeed--Anubis cannot hope to achieve victory, and we have him trapped. That gun emplacement powered by those "eyes" are working miracles, brother--Anubis cannot hope to match the firepower we have brought before him. The other system lords have agreed not to kill him but instead banish him...as an example to other rebels. Numerous system lords are beginning to show an affinity for their own territories, forgetting they owe us--their true gods--their planets for the greater good." Thoth interrupted him with an almost insane cackle.
"Gods? Do you truly believe the words that spew forth from those lips of yours? We are no more gods than the measly insect. No, we are only gods to those who know now what we are. Our technology makes us gods, and for sure our...kindness...does not make us godly. But I believe we should give Anubis a scout ship, disable the navigation computer, and then send him into hyperspace for a couple of weeks. The thought of never finding a galaxy would be punishment enough for the bastard." Ra did not seem to appreciate being talked down to by Thoth, and his eyes glowed in anger.
"Why would you not think us gods? We are the supreme beings in this galaxy, we bring order!"
"My dear brother, order is not always good--look at the worlds around us! Not a single one has true order...in fact, I believe the lack of order is beautiful, like that dance on Karkoum. It was never an organized dance, but rather an outlet of emotions. No, I will not say I am a god. A lord, perhaps, but never a god."
Ra seemed to think this a blow to his own ego, for he did seem to believe that he himself was a god. His rage seemed to rise with every passing minute, as if he was not able to keep his body under control.
"Well then, I am sorry you feel this way...guards!" The Horus guards lowered their staff weapons at Thoth, and the familiar sound of the sizzle of plasma echoed in the lab. Thoth slammed down his instruments.
"It's that damned sarcophagus, isn't it Ra? I told you we had to refine it, that it would disrupt our bodies, but no- you had to feel like you were invincible! No, I will not stand for this- you'll kill yourself because of that infernal machine!" Ra came up to Thoth and back-handed him.
"Enough! You are weak, a dreamer. Your hosts have become and influence on you, and it shows! You do not act like a god, nor do you act like the supreme being you are! You shall suffer a far worse fate than Anubis...yes, you shall..." With that he picked up the machine that Thoth had been tinkering with and found a button that Thoth had marked "DO NOT TOUCH." Pointing the mechanism at Thoth, he fired. The room was filled with a bright white light. An explosive sound then was heard, and everything seemed to be sucked into the machine. When the light disappeared, nothing was present. The equipment, soldiers, even Ra and Thoth were gone.
As his last act of futility, Anubis destroyed the pyramid where the lab was. Little did they know Thoth had built safeguards into the structure, so it could act like a bunker in times of war. The structure itself was intact, yet the locks of all the doors were broken. In the end, Anubis was banished, and a century later Ra was unseated by the collective system lords as the supreme ruler. Ra's fleet and power would be taken by his second-in-command--who also took Ra's name--and his massive empire would slowly be taken away from him until several millennia later at his imposter's death. The great battle of Earth would be lost because of graffiti made by early Christian fanatics, and then even more by scholars interpreting the meaning of the battle's log as merely a myth. Thoth's name was erased from history entirely, and several minor Goa'uld took the name-some say in honor of the late "god," others say because their association with the sciences. Either way, Thoth was to be forgotten until before the Great War...in 2005 AD.
*Somewhere over southern Lebanon, 2400 Hours*
Why did he have to open his mouth? Now he was in this godforsaken piece of land just north of Israel making recon runs at midnight...this sucks, thought Colonel Eric Salter. Just because he assassinated the general--that was the mission--a few hours late, he was pulled off of Spec Ops Duty and placed in recon. He gripped his trusty SR-99 sniper rifle, just in case they ran into a terrorist camp in Lebanon. Yeah, right- and pigs could fly. Lebanon was practically bowing over to Israel after being occupied by Israeli forces, so the chance of finding a terrorist camp this close to the Israeli border was slim to none. Eric stood a proud 6'1" and weighed in at 185 pounds. Slender in build but no one joked around with him after seeing his body in action: he ran a 5 minute mile in full body gear and could knock out a man twice his size in one punch--which he done before. Plus, everyone in the base knew he did bench repetitions of 15 at 200 pounds every other day to keep his strength intact. And he had to keep up with his friend, Chris Barr...who benched at 250 pounds at no sweat. "When are we returning to base," Eric asked the pilot through his com-link, "I'm tired, hungry, depressed, hungry, tired...did I mention hungry?"
"Whenever the General feels like stopping this punishment," the pilot replied with a grin. Eric sighed at that- that meant the crew of eight (six commandos and two pilots) might be out here until tomorrow night...with only the occasional fuel break for the helo. They were in a caravan of choppers, adding up to a little over twenty people. "Hold up guys- I've got a camel caravan at eight o'clock at fifteen hundred meters," the copilot warned the commandos.
"So?" Chris Barr asked incredulously. Chris, an emigrant from Norway, felt drawn to Israel due to his Jewish roots, and when he was 18 he moved to Haifa and joined the Israeli Reserves. A rather normal height for men at 5'11" and weighing in at 180 pounds of raw muscle, he was not the type of man you would want to face in a bar fight. Even though his soft sky blue eyes told women he was calm and easy-going, his set of ten scars--all at least four inches in length--said otherwise. An expert in demolitions and close-quarters combat, he preferred using the European police shotgun, the SPAZ-12. "We see those guys all the time- all they want are water and food to survive another dry season."
"Ya never know," replied the copilot, "These guys might be some remnants from the Iraqi war."
"Yeah," Chris scoffed, "and I'm secretly engaged to..." Chris did not get a chance to finish his sentence, for the advanced warning system on the helo activated once it sensed a lock from a guided missile.
"Missile inbound," the copilot announced, "Throwing chaff, hard left, hard left!" The helo launched small capsules filled with tiny metal pieces, which once released effectively made hundreds of targets for the missile to attack. All of the commandos immediately hung on for their lives, although they had already been strapped in for just this situation. The deedle, deedle, deedle, of the missile alert system blared throughout the tiny space in the helo, making conversation between the commandos incredibly difficult- not that they would be talking to one another, though. "Another missile launched at five o'clock- throwing chaff, break hard right!"
"Shit..." was all the pilot was able to say right before six missiles launched right in front of the helo. "Hold on, guys!" The pilot threw the helo into a sixty-degree climb, all while the copilot launched chaff until they were clean out. "Ok guys, I'm gonna try to get us over the coast- we might be able to get within range of our Patriots." The Patriot missile system, which gained popularity during Operation Desert Storm, was designed as an anti-ballistic missile system to defend against Scuds and long-range ballistic threats. It also could defend the helo from the RPG attacks by making other targets available. Besides, the Patriot missiles were not designed for stealth, and to the guided RPGs internal guidance, the Patriots had a radar blip the size of a 747, while the helo had one of a pigeon. Deedle, deedle, deedle, another launch has occurred, blared in the ears of everyone from the computer system, which just happened to have a sultry voice. That's kind of ironic, Eric thought...though he didn't know how. The helo was thrown into another sixty-degree movement, but this time downwards, in an attempt to make it invisible to radar. Surprisingly enough to everyone on board, the maneuver worked. The missile lost tracking an exploded prematurely. Unfortunately, the missile was only a few meters behind the helo's rear tail rotor, and the explosion rocked the helo traumatically. Eric lost his grip on the helo's netting, and fell through. As he tried to catch something to keep himself inside the helo, he mistakenly grabbed Barr's pack, dragging Barr out of the chopper along with him. Eric could have sworn he heard the pilot's voice yell "Guys, I'm losing control in the pedals, hold on for impact," but all he could see was a black void rushing towards him. He slammed into a dune, instantly losing consciousness. The last thing he saw were two other helicopters on fire and losing altitude fast.
*Cheyenne Mountain, 12 Hours Later *
Wheer!...Wheer!...Wheer! The claxons in the SGC screamed over the gate's activation. Brigadier General Jack O'Neill came down the stairs from his office to see what was happening.
"Anyone scheduled to return?" O'Neill asked the Sergeant Walter manning the gate system.
"No sir- the only team off-world is SG-12, but they are with the Enkarens," Walter replied. "And we are not receiving a signal from anyone."
"Ok then, close the iris," O'Neill ordered, "and check on all frequencies for any and all transmissions." The iris closed instantly with the gentle scraping of the trinium alloy.
"Sir, still no transmissions...what the..." Walter said, watching in awe of the iris losing stability and bending towards the event horizon. "Is that what I think it is, sir?"
"Get Colonel Carter to the gate room immediately," O'Neill ordered into the phone by the gate computers, "We might have situation that requires her assistance."
All of a sudden, the iris seemed like it was about to be sucked into the event horizon like a black hole was affecting it, but then a man, standing roughly 6'1" and black hair, stepped through. Well, rather was launched through. His clothes were tattered and ragged, and he definitely looked to be malnourished and a few pounds under-weight. Colonel Carter ran into the gate-room control center, and looked to O'Neill as if to ask what is going on. O'Neill simply nodded his head towards the new arrival. As she turned to face the figure, Carter gasped...
"Narim..."
*Somewhere in Southern Lebanon, Later That Day*
Well this is one headache you're never gonna get rid of, Eric thought. He looked around his surroundings, expecting to see the base's infirmary--specifically that cute blonde nurse--yet saw nothing but sand. All that he could see from his lying position was his pack, his rifle, and body, and...wait, a body? Eric quickly- well, as fast as he could muster under his pounding head- crawled over to the body, hoping that the man had survived. As he grew closer, the body began to stir...
"Damn, this headache sucks," Chris Barr groaned. He rolled over to see a surprised look on his commanding officer's face. "Hiya sir."
"You lucky sonuva bitch," Eric replied, laughing- ouch, must have broken a few more ribs than he thought. He checked his watch only to see a cracked face. "How long have we been out? My watch must have broken in the fall"
"Sorry, sir- nothing," Barr answered, "Guess the only things we have are my shotgun, your rifle, and this lone pack--musta lost my pack in the fall, when you grabbed it..." Chris trailed off as a figure in the early morning light was seen approaching them. Both men guessed the person's height to be about 5'8", with a slender build- probably a woman. It was then that Eric noticed black smoke coming from the dune behind the approaching figure. Also noticed was the fact that the woman was moving very quickly, sprinting towards them, screaming and pointing--towards the men racing after her with AK-47s. The commandos grabbed their weapons, and aiming, took prone positions, both men lining up their first shots. "We are so screwed..." Barr said, loading up sabot rounds into his SPAZ-12.
"Aw, c'mon Barr," Eric replied grinning while loading his own SR-99 rifle, "This'll be fun..."
*Cheyenne Mountain, That Same Time*
The last thing O'Neill had ever thought to have seen that day was a bunch of Tollans come running through the gate to seek refuge on Earth. Yet, Murphy never fails to send in a curve ball just to see if Jack was on his toes...damn that Murphy. Oh, well, Jack thought, it could be worse...Baal might have come back to gloat about his power again...
"Airmen, stand down!" Jack shouted into the speaker to the gate room guards, who were read to blast every Tollan to pieces and then some. "All HAZMAT and medical teams to the gate room, immediately!" Then, after some thought, "Hiya Narim."
"Hello, Colonel O'Neill," Narim responded, "Thank-you for allowing us passage through to your base."
"Well, it wasn't like we had much of a choice, ya know," Jack said and then with a glint in his eye, "And it's General O'Neill, now."
"Ah, my mistake. If you would be so kind as to allow me to explain why we are here and to...excuse me...eat. We have not eaten in many days and seek nourishment most of all- otherwise we are in mostly perfect health, so your medical teams are not needed," Narim stated, clearly anxious to clear the gate room and the imposing guards.
"Sorry, Narim, it's just standard procedure," O'Neill said, " However, you can debrief me upstairs while your people are tended to- I assume you are the leader, right?"
"Indeed I am the leader of what is left of my people," Narim replied, "And since we are short of time, I will debrief you immediately." He left his people in the gate room with the medical staff and rushed up to meet O'Neill. "Major Carter," Narim gasped, his eyes growing wide, "I thought I would never again see your face." Here we go again, Jack thought.
"It's good to see you again, too, Narim," Carter said. "And it's Colonel now." She grinned one of her thousand-watt smiles that left Narim speechless and on the verge of fainting. Jack waved his hand in front of Narim's eyes.
"Hello? Anyone there? Any urgent matters you need discussed?" Jack said exasperatedly, trying to undo the spell that Carter has cast so "innocently." Actually, O'Neill thought that she knew exactly what she was doing, and loved making men unknowingly stare at her perfect, unblemished...damnit, she did it again! Oh well, Jack thought...there could be worse things to stare at...
"General O'Neill, are you ok?" Narim asked quizzically. Jack snapped out of his trance, noticing half the control room staring at him staring at Carter.
"Whoops, sorry there," Jack said quickly, "Ya kinda put me to...uh...sleep. Shall we go to my office now? Good, great, grand, wonderful, let's go." Jack knew that his excuse did not float worth a flip but he still ran up the stairs like nothing out of the ordinary happened. To tell the truth though, Jack stared at Carter when nobody was looking a lot, so that part was not abnormal- what was abnormal was the fact that he was caught. However, Jack thought he had just scored some major Carter points with that little stunt of his. "So, Narim, what brings you to running through my little Stargate at, oh, 2400?"
"Well, this might take some time, but you asked so I shall tell you," Narim responded...
**Lebanon, That Moment**
"Lower your weapons or you will be killed!" Eric yelled in Arabic, then Hebrew, then Farsi to the men chasing the woman, who had just ducked behind them by an out of place rock outcropping. "Any resistance will be met without hesitation!" He meant to say any resistance will be met with me blowing off your head, but that just wasn't the diplomatic thing to say at this point in time. However, the Arabs--Eric guessed at their nationalities--just would not seem to move from their hiding spots at the top of the hill. They had taken cover there after Barr had "mistakenly" fired off a round into one of the men's shoulders, effectively placing him out of commission.
"We have you surrounded, Zionist!" One of the men yelled back. Coward, Eric said, as he chambered a round into his rifle to aim for a target. He didn't believe for a second that they were in fact surrounded, or they would have already been dead...unless they wanted something alive. Eric tapped Barr on the back to tell him he was going to speak with the woman who had ran to their protection, however weak it may be at the moment. She had taken refuge behind a massive boulder at the bottom of the dune.
"Hey, I'm Eric," Salter said. "And you are...?" He held out his canteen to her, seeing her thirst.
"Natalie...Natalie Barras," she responded while gulping down as much water as she could. "Thank God you were here when I escaped--I don't know what they would have done to me."
"Well, we're not out of the woods yet," Eric said. "We are still outnumbered by at least five men, and it's only me and Barr. But what I need to know is what you are doing out here, where here actually is, and who those men are--for starters, of course." He grinned at his last statement to relieve some of the pressure Natalie was obviously enduring.
"I am out here in Lebanon with an archeologist named Daniel Jackson. We heard rumors about a new excavation discovered by accident by some local herders who decided to go cave exploring. However, by the time we got to the dig site, the Lebanese government had already closed it off, stating that all excavations would be done by Lebanese archeologists, and that all artifacts belonged to the government. They didn't even say if they would even release information to the rest of the world about it! Since Dr. Jackson works for the government, we tried to position a satellite over the dig site, but since it is underground, we could not distinguish anything of importance. So, we tried to sneak in to get a glimpse of what is going on, hopefully to use some pictures taken to show the world what is going on and to make Lebanon bow to outside pressure. It was me, Dr. Jackson, a man named Teal'c, and a few military personnel. I was the only one who escaped that I know of, and I know nothing of the others' fate." She began to cry of shame at her running from her friends, and Eric suddenly felt awkward. He was about to console her and tell her that she did nothing wrong, but then Barr yelled for him to get back to his position.
"Something's happening, Chief!" Barr yelled. Eric rushed to his side to see what Barr was pointing to--hostages. "I think you know who those people are, sir?"
"Yes, I do Chris--and stop calling me `sir'--it makes me feel old," Eric replied, and began to take aim for targets. Five men were laid out on their knees, with a captor behind each one. Damn, Eric thought, too many targets to save all of the hostages. The most the two men could save were three if they were lucky, which didn't seem like a possibility. "I know you're gonna hate this Chris, but..." Eric was cut off by Barr's whispered exclamation.
"There is no way in Hell I am gonna become a prisoner to those cowardly fuckers, Eric, and you know it."
"We really have no choice in the matter, Chris, and you know it." Eric snapped back. Barr sighed.
"So what is the plan then?" Barr hated the three words that escaped Eric's beaming mouth.
"We get captured..."
**Cheyenne Mountain, 0400 Hours **
"So Narim, Baal has control of Tollanna?" O'Neill questioned Narim.
"That is correct, O'Neill," Narim replied. "Originally Anubis had...convinced...several scientists to work fro him to develop new weaponry. But after Anubis' defeat to you, his fleet began to scatter, and much of it was absorbed by Baal. Fortunately Tollanna was the first to be unoccupied, the Jaffa rushing off to their ships one night. We had been fighting them to no avail, and our population was down to a couple hundred. Then Baal comes back to steal some of our technology, not knowing that it had been destroyed once Anubis had attacked. When he learned of this, Baal began a systematic sweep of the entire planet, wiping virtually all life from Tollanna. The few dozen survivors that came through the gate with me are all that is left. We managed to steal several cargo vessels, but two were destroyed in the escape, leaving only two more to carry the survivors to the nearest Stargate planet. We also managed to procure some of the devices that allow us to walk through solid objects with ease--which allowed me to make contact with you." Narim turned to Carter. "I am sorry Samantha, for I was not able to save Shroedinger. He was killed in my house at the first strike by Anubis."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Narim," Carter replied, not knowing what else to say, "I know how much you loved him..." If she were to say something else--highly unlikely, though--she was cut off by O'Neill's more serious comment,
"So what do you need from us?" Narim hesitated, not knowing what O'Neill's response would be.
"We need your help to launch a tactical assault on our former home planet--my people are not trained for this type of fighting. The only problem would be transportation--we have no ships with which to attack Baal's fleet. Other than that, we would be able to supply your forces with whatever you need to deliver the rest of my people which are in slavery."
"Well, we can help you with the transportation problem, Narim," O'Neill replied with a glint in his eye. Narim noticed how his eyes seemed to change from a stony deep brown gaze full of intelligence to a smooth, joyful softness as he was about to unleash his "secret." "For the past few years, we have been able to make planetary travel outside of the Stargate system using our own mother ship, named the Prometheus. There are a few kinks to work out with the hyper drive engines, but other than that she's a lean, mean, fighting machine." Narim's eyebrows peaked up surprise.
"You are capable of hyperspace travel?" He exclaimed. "Your species must have had some enlightened period while I was gone for you to make such a leap in technology." O'Neill merely led him towards the elevators and said only this:
"You have no idea what's gone on..."
*Lebanon, Four Hours Later*
"Yup, great idea Eric," Barr muttered under his breath. Actually, it was more of a yell, but since the massive truck in which they were being transported in was straight out from the first World War, conversations were almost nonexistent. The time was about ten at night, and everyone was more or less exhausted. After a few hours they pulled into a rather modest base with two twenty-foot-tall concrete guard towers with some nasty-looking mini-guns perched on top. Another odd thing Eric noticed was the presence of two Hind helicopters, fully armed and looking to take off at any moment. Through the only peep-hole available to Eric he also saw a small training facility beside a large white structure extending into the plateau which they were next to. Five trucks like the one they were all in presently were sitting next to that structure, along with two barracks (it said so on the sign, which Eric thought was funny seeing as any assault force would go there first) that could probably hold around a hundred or more soldiers, depending on the conditions.
Yet the most perplexing thing about this facility was the fact that Israeli Intelligence had not identified this place. It was a serious threat, able to level any small town, and even take the Golan Heights...with some luck, of course. However, at any case, Eric and Barr had to make their move soon or else the enemy would have the chance to do such a thing. The crowd in the truck's cargo bay was a motley one: Eric and Barr were placed at the tailgate of the truck, with Natalie sitting beside Eric; Barr sat beside a hard-looking Marine that seemed to be about Barr's strength--which was not and easy task. The man's name tag said "F. Olivera." Further down the truck bed sat a large black man with a gold tattoo on his forehead, and across from him a well-built man with short cut brown hair and glasses. Eric sensed that this man was Dr. Daniel Jackson. Eric could make out more people in the very back, about three more people, but Eric could not make out any discernable features.
"Hey--you follow orders, soldier," Eric replied grinning, "Besides, I know what I'm doing."
"Oh yeah," Barr yelled back, "and what exactly would that be?"
"Just watch and learn my padawan, just watch and learn..." Eric trailed off as the truck came to a grinding halt. Barr suddenly knew what Eric was about to do: as Special Forces they had trained to do such a thing if necessary. The best thing to do in this sort of situation was the plan with the smallest chance of success--it guaranteed surprise. Once freed from their captors, they could steal the uniforms and truck then get away, or perhaps call in an air strike from the Israeli military. The possibilities were endless, but to get to that point timing had to be perfect. As usual, two guards came to the back of the truck and lifted the cover on it. Eric merely looked at Barr, who nodded back. The guards normally kept their guns pointed at the prisoners, but since they were now in the "safety" of their base they were relaxed, confident of their power. That would be their downfall. Before either of the guards knew what was happening, both Barr and Eric had leaped out of the truck leg-first, smashing into the guards' heads. Within seconds the men were disarmed and pulled into the truck. Eric motioned for Barr to move around to the passenger side of the truck, while Eric crept around to the driver's side. The men driving the hulking vehicle did not notice the commandos coming up from the sides, knives in hand. At the same instant, Barr and Eric jumped up to door-level and jabbed their K-Bars into their victims' throats, cutting off their supply of air and ensuring silence. Confident of their handiwork, Eric and Barr crept to the back of the truck, surprised to see the large black man--Teal'c--snapping the neck of one of the guards that was not completely knocked-out and not completely cooperative. Eric simply nodded in approval of the man's efficiency and then proceeded to speak.
"Well, I think some introductions are needed," Eric simply said. "I am Colonel Eric Salter, formerly of the U.S. Marine Force Recon, now serving in the Israeli Special Forces. This is my friend and comrade Sergeant Chris Barr. We were on a patrol in Southern Lebanon when our bird was shot down by probably this base. I have no clue whether or not the rest of my team survived, but if they did then they would be here. So seeing as you are more than capable of defending yourselves, would you mind helping us?" The last part was directed mainly at Teal'c, who had snapped the hundred and eighty pound guard's neck like it was a pencil.
"That would be the last thing I expected, but then again, I thought we were all unarmed," Daniel Jackson said with a slight grin. "So with eight grenades, four AK-47s, three pistols, and two knives you expect us to destroy this base?"
"Yup." Eric replied. "Well, also with those miniguns and those Hinds, but those are minor details."
"You are either possessed or crazy, but since I've pretty much seen it all done before, I'll go out on a limb with ya," Jackson responded.
"And the fact that you wouldn't be able to escape has nothing to do with your decision, right," Eric said.
"A minor detail....." Jackson said while lifting and cocking the AK-47. "Now, what now?"
This time Chris Barr spoke up. "Eric and Teal'c will go attack the barracks, while you and I take control of one of those gun towers. The rest of you will throw these guards in the back, put on their clothes, and drive like nothing happened to those other trucks. Then disable all but one of the trucks, and then sneak into the building. We'll rendezvous when our objectives are completed." He motioned towards Jackson to come with him, and the plan was sent into action.
Eric and Teal'c crept towards the helipads where the Hinds were seemingly prepping for launch. Salter motioned for Teal'c to stop and hide behind the corner so the nearing patrol would not spot them. Both men waited for the guards to turn the corner, then sprang on them. Teal'c quickly overpowered and incapacitated the man, Eric doing the same--only it took him a few seconds longer. Quickly donning one of the guard's uniform, Eric stepped out onto the dark pads, while Teal'c crept around to the other side of the pad with dual AK-47s. Eric hoped his long tanning sessions in the beautiful Mediterranean had darkened his skin enough to pass as Arabic for a short amount of time. Suddenly, both gun-towers open-fired upon the barracks, instantly turning the reinforced-concrete into sand. Unfortunately, both gun towers only had around three-thousand rounds each, so within a matter of seconds both had depleted their ammunition stores. However, that in itself was enough. The guards near Eric turned around to face the towers, allowing for Teal'c to mow down two of the three remaining guards. Eric stepped in quickly to the last guard and slit his throat, and with one fluid motion, drew his pistol and aimed for the Hinds. With Teal'c now at his side, the four stunned pilots of the Hinds quickly surrendered. An explosion went off by the main building--obviously the remaining trucks were out of commission. Most of the soldiers defending the base were withdrawing to the main building, so Daniel and Barr were reunited with Eric and Teal'c. The pilots were left in a shack next to the helipad, gagged and bound--with the shack locked, of course. The Hinds were then powered down until they needed them, and Eric wished they wouldn't since all of them would not be able to fit in the two gunships.
The four men then ran towards the central building to meet with the rest of their "squad." The four men and Natalie were under some pretty heavy fire: two machine gun nests, four AK-47-armed grunts, and what seemed to be an RPG-wielding soldier all defended the central building with a burning rage. However, Barr and Daniel had managed to procure some grenades, which when thrown by Barr destroyed both nests and made the rest of the men retreat into the building itself. Damn, thought Eric. He had hoped that they could take out all guards outside before entering the building, but they would have had to deal with the building's personal guards anyway. So Eric, Daniel, Teal'c, Barr, and Olivera moved up the steps while the rest of the crew stayed back in the foxhole until they returned.
Daniel Jackson still could not believe what was happening. After the infiltration was a complete bust, he thought themselves lost...well, until Jack showed up with half the U.S. Army, of course. These two commandos seemed able to do anything in any situation. If they all survived this little scuffle he would have to recommend them to Jack for transfer for the SGC--they were running low on experienced servicemen and women to gate off world to fight. However, that was for later, and he had to make sure they all got out alive. Barr, who was in the lead, held up his hand to stop the four men behind him. They had made it all the way to the double doors leading into the building without incident, which had made all of them nervous. Daniel made his way up to the front of the "line," wishing to know what the next move was.
"This is not good," Barr whispered to Eric. "I haven't heard a single noise since that last gunfight, but I know there isn't another way out from there, unless the cave system leads somewhere else."
"Ok," Eric said, turning to Jackson, "In your surveillance photos, did these caves lead somewhere else?" Jackson was stunned--how did he know about the over-flies to gather information about this area? Eric, sensing what Daniel was pondering, immediately followed with, "Natalie told me when we first met, along with who you people are."
"Ah," Daniel replied. That explained a lot, especially why Barr and Eric were so trusting of them. "And no, we didn't find anything other than an old ziggurat near here, which is actually fascinating because other different..." He was cut of by an impatient Colonel--not for the first time, of course. Jack had always been like that.
"Doc, I don't need a history lesson. I just need to know whether or not that pyramid is close enough to dig to and then out of, or if we have them cornered." Eric said.
"No, they are stuck in there."
"Good, then we can proceed. Barr, you and Olivera are going to have to find a way to climb this building to get in from above. The rest of us will enter through these doors. However, I need confirmation that this door is not either booby-trapped or is guarded by fifty men just waiting to mow us down...got it?"
"Roger that sir," Barr replied, a glint in his eye. Eric knew that Barr was already ready to do so, since he had several lengths of rope in his hand, with a rifle at one end to act as a grappling hook. As Barr and Olivera disappeared around the bend of the building, Eric gave Daniel and Teal'c each a pistol, an AK-47, and a knife--compliments of an armory beside one of the gun towers.
"Ok gents," Eric began, "I see that both of you can defend yourselves, so I guess we won't be so out-numbered. However, I don't know if either of you have been in this type of situation, so I'll give you the lowdown--we are miles away from any help, with limited supplies, and in unknown territory. I'm going to have to rely on both of you to watch my and each other's back when we enter this place, or else we are toast."
Suddenly the door in front of them swung open. All of the men raised their weapons to fire--right at Barr.
"Whoa now," Barr said with a grin on his face. "Olivera and I saw two men guarding these two doors, so we took `em out and decided to let you all in." Sure enough Olivera was right behind him, standing guard over two battered guards.
"Barr," Eric replied with an even wider grin, "Drinks are on me when we get back."
"I love it when ya say that..." The next few minutes seemed to pass like an eternity. The building was separated into two above-ground floors, and about five underground floors, all only connected by elevators--stairs only went between the first and second floors. Silence filled the air as the group moved one step at a time, guns at the level. The first floor, which they were on at the moment, was a large open area with just pillars along the sides. At the end of the hallway, where Barr said the elevators should be (he had taken a map from one of the guards). What was greeting them was alien to all but Teal'c and Daniel--the eye of Ra.
"Oh boy," Daniel said, his breathing like he had just ran a couple of miles. "This isn't good..." The eye was just like the one that hung in Abydos' city when Daniel first made that epic journey to his second "home." Yet something was different...the eye had a small jewel imbedded in it, like it was part of a ring transporter. He just had to think that, for right when he stepped forward, he heard a very familiar sound. Ztew, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. All eyes were on the bright light that signaled the coming of the rings, followed by the ghostly apparitions themselves. Well, they had found the elevator--but with some uninvited company. The rings transported their cargo: eight soldiers in a circular defense position--guarding someone--with staffs in hand.
"What the hell?" Eric said, raising his AK-47 to fire, the rest of the men following suit. Four of the guards dropped immediately to the projectiles, but the remaining four dropped to their knees and fired. A blast from one of the weapons hit Barr in the shoulder, incapacitating him almost instantly. Eric yelled for Barr, looking back at his friend's body. When he turned around he caught a blast right in his chest. The next few seconds felt like decades. He dropped to his knees, looking around at his comrades--all had been hit, and were on the floor, dead or dying. Finally, a figure stepped up to face him. He had Egyptian features, with a short military-type haircut and a long golden robe for clothes. Yet the most disturbing image that would haunt Eric for weeks afterwards was his eyes glowing as he lifted his hand to toss him fifty yards back through the front doors and onto the outside steps. He thought he heard a woman's scream, but all seemed to fade away has his heart beat for one last time...
*Cheyenne Mountain, 0800 Hours*
O'Neill turned the corner into his office to find General Hammond sitting in his desk chair. O'Neill simply grinned and welcomed the general.
"How ya doin', George?!" exclaimed Jack. Then he looked suspiciously at Hammond. "What is it now? Please tell me you have good news..."
Hammond got up, buttoned his jacket, and told Jack to follow him to the briefing room. When they entered, Narim, Carter, and several random scientists all turned to face them.
"Please sit down, people--this is going to take some time," George said. He waited for everyone to take a seat, then began. "This meeting is to come up with a plan to free Tollana, using only Earth-based resources. A gate approach is already out of the question--it will be too heavily guarded. We will only be able to use Prometheus, and then only the six fighters that can accompany it. Special-yield weapons will be at our disposal, but with a limited use--no use of nukes to force the planet into submission. Narim and his followers have said that they will help us modify our weaponry to help them, but after that they will not help us leap ahead technologically."
"Still playing by the old rules, I see..." O'Neill muttered. Hammond simply ignored Jack and continued on.
"The Pentagon wants a plan to be ready to set into motion within one week, and it wants that plan to be activated within one more week. So, we are working with a two week time schedule...good luck to you all." With that Hammond left the room, motioning for Jack to follow him...again. Jack was about to ask what the hell was going on, but George beat him to it.
"I realize that you aren't too happy with being kept in the dark about this one, Jack, but I just learned of this myself. I need to head back to Washington to oversee some budgets for the new X-303B bomber, and try to scrounge up some more funding to re-arm the Prometheus again. I need you to make sure they see the seriousness of this attack--we could quite possibly gain a new powerful ally in this fight, and maybe Narim's people will see the light and maybe they will give us some technology."
"George, we already have saved them...twice! There's no chance in hell that they will even reconsider their policy towards us. We'll always be the children, the ones who will blow ourselves up because we're too dumb to fathom the technologies they would give us. No, I'll only let SG personnel onto this mission if I sign off on this plan."
"Well, regardless of that, I have some more news you need to know, and no one else. I'm sure you've heard of Syria invading Lebanon again, this time claiming a Lebanese terrorist killed their ambassador there. A setup of course, but they soon set up a base where Daniel was digging. Apparently they found the tomb before Daniel did, and they got captured. The Israelis were conducting surveillance over the area with a SpecOps team in a chopper, but that got downed too. Now the entire Middle East is in an uproar. Syria claims Israel is trying to invade them, so they have entered a heightened state of alert, and their entire armed force is on red alert. Iran, being the `nice' neighbor it is, has mobilized forces to its western border...but the bulk of Iran's forces are on the eastern border, seeming to prepare an invasion of three countries at once. The scary thing is that it can succeed with minimal casualties. Also, Turkey has cut off all U.S. planes from flying in their airspace, and has kicked off all U.S. personnel--we are currently evacuating all U.S. citizens, ambassadors, and military personnel as we speak.
"If Iran makes a power grab for countries, you can count on Turkey attempting to take over Georgia, Armenia, maybe even Azerbaijan. This would destroy any buffer zone between Turkey and Russia, and vendettas might be settled between those two. Russia has also asked the U.S. for military help...secretly. They propose a joint preemptive strike against any Turkish forces should the buffer zone dissipate, but the jury is still out on that. Saudi Arabia is covering it's own ass by declaring all American forces to be halved within the week, and even Jordan is mobilizing what little it has. And all that is left is Iraq and Israel to fight a mob. The Middle East, which has finally been seeing democracy, might just go to hell in a handbag. Jack, the President is sending all we have over to the Middle East to settle things down, but seeing as they won't see any politicians to work any deals out, this matter will have to be settled by the bullet. But he doesn't want that to happen. Instead, his final plan would be to use unorthodox tactics...ones that would have resounding effects on the world power struggle and economics."
"He wants to use Prometheus."
"Yes. He hopes that he can scare the Middle East into submission, before the mass panic and international uproar. Of course, that will be the last thing one anyone's mind to prevent another world war." Jack was amazed at how quickly events could become out of control. He tried to grasp what all this meant to him, but finally he had to ask:
"So what does this have to do with this mission?"
"The President wants you to attack Tollana by way of the Stargate."
"WHAT?!" Hammond attempted to calm down Jack, but to no avail. "You just told me the Stargate was off-limits, and now it's the only way to get there?! George, there is no chance in--" Jack was cut short by Carter running into the room, breathless. "What is it Carter?" asked Jack.
"Sir, we just got a report...a large clash was just ended in Lebanon, and now the entire Middle East has mobilized its forces. NORAD has decided to go to DEFCON 1, full nuclear capabilities in the air." She stopped at that, but O'Neill knew that there was more.
"Carter, what else..."
"Sir, the clash was not between any army--one of our satellites saw a base under fire, the same base that was setup around Daniel's proposed dig site. But once the fire stopped, we didn't see any activity in the area until..."
"Until what, Carter?"
"A massive object appeared to lift out of the earth, right underneath that ziggurat Daniel was so excited about. But once we saw it it seemed to disappear. Sir...it looked like an over-sized Goa'uld mother ship."
*Lebanon, Time Unknown*
"These headaches better stop," moaned Barr as he sat up and rubbed his right temple. He stopped when he noticed the room was pitch-black and he could not hear anyone else. Then he heard another body begin to awaken.
"Man, getting shot in the chest never gets old," Jackson said.
"Jackson, that you?"
"Yeah, I'm here."
"I too am here." Apparently Teal'c was a few feet from Barr, and the sudden voice made his hairs go straight up. Finding his nerves, Barr found a question.
"Ummm.....I could have sworn I died in that building, if we aren't even still in the building."
"Yeah....that's a little bit complicated..." was all Jackson had to say. It really didn't matter to Barr, however, for he was just glad that he was alive. Captured and had a massive migraine, but alive nonetheless. He was about to start groping around to find anyone else that might be unconscious when the lights suddenly went on. After his eyes adjusted to the sudden increase in light, he found himself in the middle of a medium bare room. It was like a box, with only grey coloring anywhere. Jackson was propped up in a corner, and Teal'c was sitting in a meditative position a few feet behind Barr. Barr noticed some of his fellow Israeli commandos chained to the walls, but they were obviously out cold.
The door hissed open and two guards shoved in the rest of Jackson's party, minus Eric and Natalie. As if the guards read his mind, they left for a few seconds and brought back Eric's beaten body, along with a sobbing Natalie. The guards finally left and locked the door behind them. Barr went to check up on Eric--he probably had a few broken ribs, a fractured right shin, and plenty of bruises to make anyone feel hurt by just looking at him. Natalie merely had a few scratches and a bleeding lip. Jackson eventually got the whole story from her before she fell asleep in exhaustion: the man with the glowing eyes had interrogated her by beating Eric whenever her answers were unsatisfying. Barr surveyed the room--the only ones that were semi-awake and able to fight were he, Teal'c, and Jackson. Olivera was a mess, with a broken nose and a sprained ankle. Great, thought Barr, we have probably the best of the best in this room, but in too bad of a shape to do anything about it. Barr closed his eyes to sleep and maybe regain some of his strength.
*Cheyenne Mountain, 1800 Hours*
"Well, the shit has hit the fan I guess," said Jack as he walked into the briefing room. The scientists were murmuring excitedly about some plan and weapon that had just been devised. Obviously, however, they were too caught up in their work to have noticed the increased guards and movement of important government workers into the base. They all turned to face the General as he walked over to his chair and sat down, the scientists following suit. O'Neill turned to face Carter. "What do we have, Colonel?"
"Sir, we have devised a plan to use Prometheus in several jumps to the outer rim of the solar system where Tollana lies. We will launch as many X-302s into orbit around Earth and onto the far side of the moon, away from anyone peering into space. Prometheus will then stock up on as man X-302s as possible, and then hyper to the system, launch the X-302s to the nearest planet, then return back home. It will take about a day per trip, so we will have to begin the transfer as soon as we get confirmation of the plan. Prometheus will make one extra trip to stock up on weapons and fuel, since to get in an extra two X-302s in the hangar we will have to keep them in there without weapons, and they will need the fuel to get to the Tollana after the steak move through the system. Also, some scientists have debated over giving several of the X-302s Vulcan cannons underneath the cockpit as well as the normal six missile payload. Once the attack on Tollana is complete, Prometheus will make several trips back to Earth to refuel and rearm the X-302s, which will then fly patrols through the system." She smiled nervously, knowing full well how much this mission would cost, and the immense risks involved.
"Well then...why don't you give me the plan, and I will get it sent to the Pentagon immediately?" Said O'Neill. He looked at the group of scientists. "Ok, good work people. You'll know whether or not this plan is approved within five days. Dismissed." With that he got up and went into his office, not noticing Carter right on his heels. He sat down and was surprised to see her already closing his door. Uh oh, thought Jack, Carter's angry and I don't have an MP around...
"Sir, what else is there that you aren't telling us?"
"Carter, I don't have a say in this, ok? It is all up to the Pentagon and the higher-ups."
"With all due respect, sir, there must be something else..." She gave Jack a cold stare that he swore burned right through him. It was kind of ironic he mused, that here he had faced armies of Jaffa without fear, yet now he wanted to be anywhere than here...trying to come up with a good excuse for Carter. In the end, he told her the truth.
"Carter, with the whole mess in the Middle East, the President feels that we might need the Prometheus and our X-302s for some damage control. If nuclear missiles are launched, Prometheus and those puppies will be our only chance to survive and not return fire with our own nuclear arsenal. And I'm not talking about Russia: China got involved in this scuffle two hours ago, claiming that the U.S. was using Iraq as a stepping stone in a joint invasion of China. Now it is mobilizing its forces to the Russia border, and sending in thousands of "advisors" to North Korea, just above the DMZ. Not to mention the Iranian invasion of Turkmenistan is complete along with Turkey's invasion of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Now if Georgia falls--which is only a matter of time--Russia will have to fight a two-front war. And if Iran allies itself or simply invades Pakistan, then India will have no choice but to use nuclear weapons in defense. So, like I said earlier, the shit has really hit the fan, and it's spreading. Right now we can only pray that this mess gets sorted out soon, but you never can tell. So Carter, try to come with a plan using the stargate or go pray, because I have paperwork up to my eyes to fill out just the because the world decided to end today!" Carter looked absolutely dead. Realizing what he had done, Jack quickly muttered "dismissed," and Carter immediately almost ran out of the office. She locked away her feelings until she was out of the office and into the locker room where she could cry in privacy.
O'Neill felt like crap. Here he was with a heavy burden to keep three separate missions running at once--the monitoring of world events from NORAD, evacuating Senators and the like to Cheyenne, and trying to attack Tollana with a viable plan--and he just had alienated himself from the closest person to him on the base. His head hit the desk with a resounding thud as cried out, "Doh!"
*Lebanon, Time Still Unknown*
Eric awoke, covered in sweat. He feared to open his eyes, praying that the past day had merely been a dream. To his dismay, when he opened them, all he saw a grey room littered with bodies. He tried to get up but heard--not just felt--one of his ribs crack.
"Fuck!" yelled Eric in pain. The outburst woke many people up, save Barr (he muttered "He, that tickles...go lower..." and turned over). Jackson yawned, got up, and came over to Eric, with a finger over his mouth indicating for him to be silent. It was at that time that Eric noticed a body slumped against him. On closer inspection, he realized that it was Natalie. Images of her crying at his pain flooded into his mind, and he winced at the memories. Eric nodded in acceptance to Daniel and then whispered, "Doc, what the hell is going on?" Jackson shook his head.
"Sorry Colonel, but I can't tell you that. It's sorta classified." Eric sighed and almost gasped out in pain as Natalie tried to get comfortable, hitting several of his bruised and broken ribs. Jackson grinned, saying "Well, aren't you the ladies' man..." Eric responded with the finger, and tried to go back to sleep.
***
A foot rammed into Salter's side, waking him up, but at the same time leaving him gasping for air and an escape from the pain. He looked up to see a guard standing over him, yelling in some weird language at him. Eric held up his hands as he slowly rose with the help of Teal'c.
"Ok, ok, I'm up, I'm up." said Eric, holding his ribs protectively. The guard motioned for the entire group to follow them, and Eric noticed his fellow Israeli commandos unchained and in the group with them. The large group followed the ten guards down a long hallway, complete with strange Egyptian architecture, and a long window running down the length of the hallway. The group murmured quietly as they exchanged what they saw: the vast desert seemed to go on forever below them, and they were easily a hundred stories above the ground. The strange sight was only matched by the guards, who wore some type of metal plating as armor. The helmets of the armor were varied: some had a falcon's head, some a jackal's, and one even had one of a cat. All carried a staff like the ones in the building, as well as a nasty-looking knife and a snake-like weapon. As they neared the end of the hallway, the door at the end immediately opened, revealing a large, spacious chamber. A golden throne was in the middle of the room, surrounded by ornate rugs and furniture, tropical and strange plants, and even a large table filled with food. The walls were covered in dark brown wood, and various paintings covered the walls artfully. One side of the room was even a large glass pane, allowing the viewer to see with perfect clarity. The lighting here was a soothing yellow, as opposed to the stark white lighting of the cell. A man walked from a side room, his grace clearly evident.
"Ah, please, sit down," asked the man and motioning towards the chairs at the table. His voice was extremely deep, reminding Eric of an electronically-altered voice. "I'm sure you will find this room more satisfying than that cage you have just come from, and surely you must be in need of food and drink." Cautiously the group sat down, and the guards left. Seeing their curiosity, the man said, "How can we eat a meal in peace when there are weapons pointed at you?" He sat down at the end of the table near Teal'c and Jackson and proceeded to serve himself. The group followed suit, seeing as if he were eating the food, then it wouldn't be poisoned--hopefully. The man motioned to Teal'c. "You are a servant of Apophis?" Teal'c held his head up high and answered defiantly.
"I am not, for I do not serve false gods." The man began to chuckle.
"I am sorry, but did you say god? Heh, I guess Ra's nature had an influence on the others." Still laughing, he took a sip of his wine.
"Who are you?" asked Jackson. The man set his glass down and responded.
"Ah, now there is a question." He bowed his head in respect, and said: "I am Thoth, scientist of the Goa'uld, founder of the stargate system--though I didn't make them, I did figure out how to make them work--and philanthropist extraordinaire." He smiled in amusement at his last comment.
"So, you're like that guy who uh...killed...me?" said Eric nervously. Thoth looked at him and opened his mouth in surprise.
"My dear boy, you have wounds that need healing!" He got up and retrieved some hand device from his throne, and told Eric to get up as well. Thoth placed his hand on Eric's ribs and a bright light came forth from the device. Suddenly Eric's ribs were not hurting, and as Thoth moved the device up along his body, he felt immensely better. Thoth placed the device back on his throne, and sat back down.
"Where were we? Ah, yes--am I related to that man...the answer would be yes. That man is my kin, a Goa'uld. He goes by the name of Ra." He took a huge bite out of what looked like a turkey leg and washed it down with a glassful of wine. The group did not know what to make of Thoth, but finally Daniel spoke up.
"But, we killed Ra a long time ago on Abydos..." Thoth sighed.
"So many questions, don't you youngsters ever stop talking and eat? I haven't eaten a good meal in millennia, how about you? Ah, never mind, I am rather tired from my ordeal. Anyways, that obviously was not the real Ra."
"Well then, where have you been for the past, err...millennia?" responded Jackson. Thoth faced Daniel with a sorrowful look.
"I have been in hell, my boy, hell..." With that he spoke no more, and the group ate in silence until the table was void of any food whatsoever. Thoth pressed a button on his chair and several small wheeled robots came into the room, and cleared up the floor, followed by the table (which they reached by jumping up onto it by way of engines). Thoth got up and walked over to the large window.
"I see that you have ridded your world of my kind, and I am glad to see how far a people can advance without the burden of a false god. However, the awakening of Ra has unleashed a monster onto your world, a monster that I am unable to stop. I have always been a dreamer, a philosopher who cares naught for war and conquest. I hope that your people have enough technology to stop the scourge that is Ra from re-conquering your people, but I myself cannot, and will not help. He is kin, and it would violate my principles as a learned man." He turned around, but in a different voice said, "Please excuse Thoth, but I feel the same. In our time together our views have become one and the same, so I could not force myself to kill Ra either. Helping you escape is one thing, but to kill brethren is like killing one's self to a Goa'uld." With that he turned back around and the guards came to bring the group back to their cell. All Eric could think about on the walk back to the cell was what the hell as going on?
*Cheyenne Mountain, 2100 Hours*
Carter heard a knock on her lab door. She turned around to see O'Neill holding two cups filled with blue jello as well as two spoons and napkins. She wiped her eyes and tried to say something rational, positive, hell say anything other than what her heart told her.
"Shh," said Jack. "Carter, I realized that I pushed you away today, right when you possibly needed a friend the most. Teal'c and Daniel have disappeared, and the world might end any second now. Kinda funny how mow we need to protect the world from itself, eh?" He fiddled with one of her "doo-hickeys," resting on her lab table. God, she loved watching him fiddle around with some of her lab equipment. As much as he tried to hide it, she was sure he was smarter than he let on. She was sure that he would trade everything to just watch her work in her lab. Snapping out of her thoughts, she blushed. "How did Pete handle the whole lockdown situation we're in right now?" Jack finally said. Carter reflected on the horrible phone call to Pete. He had no idea what to do, and she was unable to bring him into the base.
"Uh...fine, sir...just fine..." She quickly tried to make herself look busy typing on her computer. Jack wasn't going to fall for any excuse she gave him, and he simply set the jello beside her computer. He pulled up a chair beside her, and just watched her type. Her ears were reddening by the second. Damn that man, thought Sam. She felt his hand on hers, stopping it from typing. She was afraid to look at him, but when she finally did all she was were the caring brown eyes of a man who would never try to hurt her.
"Sam, you aren't okay. Your dad hasn't been able to come back since the incident, and now that nobody seems to be around for you, and I know that's hard. But you're just closing yourself up and trying to wait this out. But it won't come that easy, because what happens when you get out of this mess and you haven't gotten rid of your feelings? Trust me Sam, the pain just doesn't go away. So I'm just gonna sit here until you speak or work yourself to death." Carter's eyes watered and she tried not to cry but to no avail. O'Neill didn't say anything, instead just offering a shoulder to cry on. They sat there for what seemed like hours, her just resting her head on O'Neill, him not moving.
"Jack...?"
"I know..."
*Lebanon, Time Unknown*
"So how did your dinner with those heathens go, brother?" sneered Ra at Thoth.
"Just fine, brother, thanks for asking. But don't you forget that it was I who got us out of that hell, so don't go spouting that god nonsense to me. I simply wish to live again, not go conquering the galaxy again."
"Too bad, for it takes an empire to live like a god should," replied Ra, obviously not caring about Thoth's philosophical views. Thoth simply turned around and left the sarcophagus chamber.
"I will continue my work on the sarcophagus, so I will be in my lab if you require my assistance."
"Very well, brother, though I wish you would acquire the satisfying sport of warfare...science bores me to much." Ra turned around and went into the ring room. After a short teleportation onto the main deck Ra was ready to begin chaos. A map of the entire world and their major army locations appeared before him. With Thoth's efficient virus planted into the world's computer systems, Ra had been able to learn everything about Earth culture and the state of affairs. It was the precise reason why the ship was now cloaked. While he did wish for the Tauri to destroy themselves, if they used nuclear weapons it would spoil the land and not even Thoth had found a way to revive the land after such an attack. It would be certain that all major powers would fire their nuclear missiles against the ship, and even the attack would fail, it would release such a toxic cloud of radioactivity into the air that would render most of the world uninhabitable. No, Ra would wait for most of the major military actions to finish before he made his move. Until then, he had launched a stealth satellite into orbit around the planet to observe the fighting. To him, it was like a Monday-night football game, quickly siding himself with the forces of the Russians. Well, thought Ra, who can get into checkmate the fastest?
***
"Ok doc, now I really wanna know what the hell just went on! I mean, he just healed my broken ribs like that! Not to mention the fact that we are probably a hundred stories above the ground, and no structure on earth could be that big and not go unnoticed!" Eric was merely voicing the concerns of his fellow commandos, yet he had a strong yearning to know as well. Daniel held up his hands in defense and looked at Teal'c, who nodded in acceptance.
"Ok then everyone...this is going to be a long one..."
***
PART 2
Eric was furious. Not only had his government been lied to about the loss of life after a chunk of one of Anubis' motherships crashed into an Israeli base, but there was a vast network of "stargates" that could instantly transport one human being across the galaxy! He paced the cell in anger.
"Ya know you'll wear a hole in the ground doing that..." Barr warned, his voice tense from the news.
"Yeah, well at least it'll get us outta here." The terse response was all that Eric let out for the next thirty minutes while he thought it all over. He jabbed a finger at Jackson finally. "You should have told us sooner, because then we might have known what we were going to be up against. I don't care if you didn't know that one of these Goa'uld was on Earth, and I don't give a damn. But I do know that if we don't find a way out of here real soon, we're all gonna die....as well as most of the people on this planet. Sure your Prometheus and fighters might be able to stem the tide, but with Thoth's knowledge I'm sure it won't be a problem in a couple of days." He held his right hand up to his mouth in thought. Suddenly he dashed over to the door and began to bang on it, yelling for the guards. They opened it up and Eric found himself staring down the "barrel" of the staff weapons.
"Kri-tak!" One of them snarled at him.
"What the hell are you saying, punk? Just take me to Thoth and leave the tough-soldier shit here. I don't have all day." With that one of the guards closed up the weapon and knocked out Eric's legs, and then the two guards dragged him off to Thoth's quarters. "That's more like it," Eric gasped out as one of the guards kicked him in the stomach.
"I hope he knows what he's doing," said Jackson to no one in particular.
"If I know the Colonel, he doesn't have a clue....just a hope," was all Barr muttered, resting his head on Natalie and attempting to rest.
***
"Hello again Eric, I am pleased we could talk once again." Thoth said, staring into the window and gazing at the beautiful symphony of colors playing as the sun set. "I have forgotten how beautiful this world is...you are truly blessed."
"Yeah....anyways, it's not like I'm fond of talking to myself..."
"I imagine so, but please get to the point--what do you wish to speak to me about?" Eric walked along parallel to the table, sliding a hand as he walked towards Thoth. He thought about grabbing a rather large and deadly-looking knife from the table, but then decided he'd rather live.
"I want to know what Ra is planning...you know, since we're all going to die fairly soon." Thoth chuckled in his deep voice.
"I know what you are trying to do human. You will attempt to seek out the fatal flaw in the plan I have given Ra, and then try an escape plan to also disable the ship." Eric's blood ran cold as Thoth turned and the man's eyes glowed. "But...since I have no stake in whether or not Ra's coup actually succeeds, it wouldn't hurt. You see, Ra has always loved a massive fight. He would sacrifice entire armies, worlds just to make the odds more even and create fantastic battles. Of course, he had me and my ideas as his trump card. He could use his ultimate weapon, and I would live another day in my type of peace. I loathe fighting. I prefer a good scroll and jug of wine any day of the year to a fist-fight." Thoth turned back towards the sunset in a type of trance. Eric coughed, trying to "wake" Thoth up from his daydream. "What? Oh, I apologize. I do not like using the sarcophagus like Ra does...immortal life does not interest me, for when I die my ideas will be spread amongst the galaxy's inhabitants and new life will spring forth. I have actually done such research, even discovering a way to avoid death, which of course I have not let on to Ra...Oh, I seem to have done it again, Colonel." Thoth had seen the look on Eric's face and tried to recover. Finding his composure, his continued:
"Ra, while not the brightest and certainly the most hormone-imbalanced of us out there, does possess a truly brilliant military genius. This can be somewhat accounted for by Ra switching bodies to opposing military leaders and finding out their secrets, but in the end he began with a combat instinct--much like my scientific mind. Ra's plan for this world is nothing short of spectacular. Like I said, he loves grandiose battles. With the help of my virus, he has command of the world's nuclear stockpile. This was meant to ensure an unspoiled landscape after his impending victory, but also to keep the counter measures available at a minimum. I have studied many of your combat mechanisms, but none will come close to defeating the power that this base holds. As you may know, the country of Syria recently invaded Lebanon again, but this time more consequences have unfolded. Iran has surrounded its neighbors by practically lining up its military units on its border...not the most sound of tactics, but they face no imminent danger or threat. The United States' forces in Iraq--the pitiful few there are--will be overrun by Iranian and Jordanian forces in a spectacular battle ending with a launch by one of America's own nuclear missiles from a submarine located near the entrance to the Persian Gulf. Also, China will experience numerous nuclear meltdowns, all pointing to Japan and Korean forces. Most of Japan and Korea will be demolished, though without the help of a nuclear arsenal--which they really do not need.
"Once those countries have been destroyed, the United States will be pushed back to its own borders due to international pressure because it not only failed to protect its allies, but also killed millions of innocent civilians due to a `malfunction' of the nuclear warheads fired. Since Ra does not care for the desert as much, he will simply apply a force-shield to the affected areas and limit travel through the region. Next comes the Eastern European showdown. Russia will make a play to gain territory to create a buffer between it and the coalition of various Middle Eastern forces. Once that battle begins, dash to capture Moscow. The Russia front will wither within ten hours. Europe will attempt to fight back, but without the help of the Americans, they will be crushed and eventually pledge their allegiance to Ra, who will come forth from the fortress to claim Earth as his new homeworld. The United States will be left to watch as country by country falls to the power of Ra's growing armies. Simply put, Colonel Salter, the so-called advanced countries of your world will fall to third-world countries. You must appreciate the irony in that, of course. Rome fell to barbarians, Napoleon to third-rate armies of the time, and so on and so forth. Any questions?"
"Is this really going to happen?" Eric finally struggled out.
"Colonel, let me just say this: within twenty-four hours your world will not be the same one you see today."
Eric was too stunned to talk. While the scope of the cataclysmic events was almost too large to comprehend, Thoth was right in one thing...it was possible.
*Cheyenne Mountain, 0300 Hours *
The claxons would not stop. For the past six hours special teams were being assembled to secure new base sites on habitable worlds and to send many high-level government officials off-world. Narim could be found in a special holding room where his people could rest in peace, Carter in her lab tinkering with the Super Soldier battle armor, and O'Neill signing piece of paper after piece of paper.
"Walter, do these pin-heads going through the gate realize how many trees they're killing?" Walter didn't want to give an answer--knowing how the General got in these situations--and quickly picked up whatever papers were signed and high-tailed himself out of the office. Jack had just leaned back in his soft chair and closed his eyes when he heard a knock on his door. Without moving or opening his eyes he said:
"You'd better be some gorgeous model come to take me back home for a massage..." When he opened his eyes, he saw George Hammond sighing. He got up "Well....close enough. Sit down George. What's up?" Hammond let out another deep sigh.
"Not good, Jack, not good. Most all nations in the world are at some type of high-alert right now, and the Middle East is a powder-keg just waiting to blow the world up. The only country able to keep its cool is Israel at the moment, though we aren't sure why. Digs there have been restricted all of a sudden, and while the CIA has not been able to crack the shell of the ruse--the Israelis practically invented intelligence--we guess it may be linked to the Lebanon dig site. Either way, things are going to get bad before they get any better. Prometheus has been launched into a low orbit for a quick response to any situation, and all F-302s are armed and are currently flying above the North Pole to intercept any and all nuclear missiles launched at our allies."
"How are the Chinese handling things?"
"Well at the moment they have no reason to be angry and attack anyone, though I am sure they would love to gain some territory if the Middle East blows up. The only message we've really been able to get from them though is that if we use any of our advanced alien technology to affect any resulting conflict, they will use their nuclear arsenal and all past treaties and negotiations are off. That means you can kiss South Korea and Taiwan good-bye, and perhaps even North Korea if the Chinese get tired of dealing with those bastards."
"....But the only way to quickly dissolve any conflict would be to use Prometheus..."
"Correct, which puts us at a great disadvantage."
"Has the DOD been able to place another satellite over the Lebanon dig site?"
"Yes, and they saw nothing. Sure, the base was in ruins from the party that some forces had, but no sign of the ship. It's there, but nothing can pick it up. We're trying to move some different satellites over there, maybe pick up some new traces. But other than that, we're in the dark."
"I've been hearing that a lot these days..."
*Lebanon, One Hour Later*
"After your acquaintance Eric gave up on pursuing information from me, I assumed your group had given up. I'm glad to see the determination--your world will need it for the coming onslaught upon your world," said Thoth, turning to face Dr. Jackson. Jackson sat down on the steps leading up to Thoth's "throne."
"I don't understand why Ra would want such a mass-murder in the first place if he wants us as slaves. I mean, sure...the psychological factor will greatly decrease any chance of a rebellion within anyone's lifetime, but the loss of infrastructure could make this world vulnerable to other Goa'uld for almost a century." Thoth shrugged his shoulders.
"Good point, although I'm sure civilizations have come and gone in a fraction of that time, some maybe even better--educationally speaking of course--than the countries of today. Besides, Ra has no need to fear the other Goa'uld, for I am sure many of them have either killed themselves off without a supreme ruler, or have no reason to come here. My initial scans of this world show no visible signs of naquada, and no trace elements such as trinium that could be used in ship-building. In other words, Dr. Jackson, Ra wants this world purely for the fun of it. He wants to take down the largest civilization in history, aside from the ancient-ones, in one fell swoop. And you must agree, doctor, that over six billion people on one planet are indeed a threat for any long-term fight."
"You know of the ancients?" Thoth laughed.
"Of course, doctor, how could I not? I know that some Goa'uld have claimed ownership of several different devices that they could not have possibly created--the stargate system claimed by Ra, the technology to create the sarcophagi, and even the plans for the early death gliders which were claimed by Anubis. Simply put, I was the only Goa'uld sane enough to not believe in our own `infallibility.' I fear that the sarcophagi may be the downfall of the Goa'uld."
"Please forgive me if I don't shed a tear." Thoth's eyes glowed in rage.
"Do not mistake my sophistication as a lack of power, doctor, for realize that you are accusing me of acting like a god, which I am not! I will not leave this host nor can I, for his mind has already died due to my own blending. He wished not to live and I granted him that much. This blending is a necessary evil, one which should be done for the well-being of others. The Goa'uld brought many good things to this world and the galaxy, but it was our own fallibility that led us down this road. I never said I was perfect, and neither are you. To many of the Goa'uld, you are merely pigs. And let it be known to you that pigs are rather intelligent beings, and may deserve the same rights as humans do!" Thoth paced back to the window, trying to calm down. Daniel tried to recover what little he had to peruse the Goa'uld to help them.
"I'm sorry, Thoth, but you must admit what the Goa'uld have done since your time is nothing short of atrocious. Would you not say that the best thing about man is his ability to think reasonably?"
"Indeed, doctor. It is what separates intelligent beings like you from the rest of the living beings out there."
"Then why don't you see that what Ra is doing is pure madness? If it is a game then what good can come of it? Why would he want to secure a world like this when it is of no tactical importance? It is not a major thoroughfare between Goa'uld territories, nor is it hold any resources used in your technology. Ra will probably tire of this planet, using it only for slave labor, where a man cannot think for himself. So ask yourself, why would you want to help someone who is the exact antithesis of yourself and your beliefs?" Daniel heard Thoth sigh.
"You know, I have forever asked myself that question, but the answer eludes me. It must be his character, or rather how he used to be. The powerful leader, headstrong when needed in battle, yet caring when those around him lost loved ones. He was never this way until his damned advisors told him to use the sarcophagus like they had done. I curse that infernal machine, the one item I cannot figure out and the one thing that cost me my brother's life."
"If you don't mind me asking, where exactly did you go...?"
*Cheyenne Mountain, 0500 Hours*
"Jack, I think you'd want to see this." Hammond said quickly as he rushed into O'Neill's office and motioned for him to follow Hammond into the briefing room. Jack's face was one of absolute confusion.
"George, what's going on?"
"Well, proverbially speaking, the shit has hit the fan." With that he turned on a television in the room and tuned it to the CNN. An rather attractive young lady was giving her story with a small image of the world map situated in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Hammond turned up the volume so Jack could hear.
"...are still sketchy, but it appears to be a major conflict has just erupted on the Turkish border with Iran. While relations with between the two countries were less than cordial, it was expected for them to form an uneasy truce while they settled old scores with their neighbors. Apparently a nuclear warhead has been detonated on the border between the two countries however. Seeing this opportunity, Syria has withdrawn all troops from Lebanon and marched them straight north towards the Turkish capital, hoping for a psychological win. Jordan apparently also made several attempts to crack Israel's defense line, only to suffer major casualties. Israeli forces are now on the move to secure the entire area of the West Bank and the Golan Heights, entrenching troops as I speak. China is enraged at several nuclear meltdowns, tow of which have already reached a critical stage, while four more have been reported as only an hour away from critical as well. In response China blames Taiwanese rebels that have been more aggressive as of late, and right now are preparing a sea assault against their island neighbor. North Korea has followed suit with a full military movement, and South Korean forces have done the same. The U.N. is convening to reach a hasty decision to try and calm the world down, but at the moment there seems little hope for diplomacy. Back to you, John." Hammond turned the television off right there, allowing for the information to seep into Jack's brain. Of course Jack was not an idiot, but Hammond could see the gears turning in his head, trying to come up with a viable plan to use the SGC to help secure American lives, both at home and overseas.
"I know what you're thinking, Jack, but there is nothing you can do. The President already has the pieces he needs and wants in position, so the best we can do is simply pray for the best, and hope that the world comes to its senses. But I think that this is too much of a coincidence."
"You think this has something to do with that ship out in the middle of the desert?"
"I think it has everything to do with it. But at the moment we don't know if it has moved or not, due to its cloaking device. And Dr. Jackson's party still has not contacted the SGC, so I think it is safe to assume he is on-board that ship."
"So, again....we just sit and wait?"
"I have every confidence in Dr. Jackson and Teal'c, and besides...you have been in these types of situations before." Jack sighed heavily before responding with the same line Hammond told him almost a year before:
"No George, this time it's different."
*Lebanon, 0535 Hours*
Daniel slumped down in the cell shortly after being led back by the guards. Barr woke up to the disturbance, and even Eric looked up. The two Israeli soldiers got up and moved towards Jackson, as did Teal'c.
"Well, how did your talk with Thoth go?" questioned Barr. Jackson let out a large sigh.
"Incredible. We've never met a Goa'uld like him before. He seems to have a moral code of some sort, and holds his family in high regard, no matter how evil they may be. Yet he does possess a fantastic scientific mind, allowing him to create such technology as this fortress we are in right now. Apparently this structure is like a skyscraper that is over one hundred stories tall, is guarded by the most sophisticated shield system centuries ahead of its time, and not to mention the five hundred turrets that are constantly acquiring and tracking possible targets. Plus it has an incredible cloaking system, cutting visibility down to zero, as well as hiding all heat or electromagnetic signatures. Also, it has a squadron of fifty death gliders, ten al'kesh, and one ha'tak vessel. And it can travel in space for over a year before requiring supplies or more oxygen. It can send out electronic signals of every sort, which has allowed Thoth to infect the entire world's computers, giving Ra control over armed forces. In short, Ra really doesn't even need the virus to conquer Earth."
"What about Prometheus and the X-302s Dr. Jackson?" Teal'c asked.
"No, half of the X-302 fleet was grounded due to upgrades, even though I am sure that they have been jerry-rigged due to the world situation right now. Ironically, Ra is watching CNN for world updates." Daniel laughed at the last part. "But that aside, I got some juicy information for ya. Thoth was working on some sort of Ancient technology that delved into ascension. But they got the `coordinates' wrong, sending them to another dimension, one that vaguely resembles hell. Somehow Ra, Thoth, and three guards survived for over a three millennia there because of the time-dilation effect, much like what a black hole would cause....or at least that is what Thoth thinks. Either way, Thoth found out how the Ancients who traveled there escaped--they built another machine like the one that sent them there. Using the heat power from volcanoes and frequent lightning strikes, they were able to charge up the machine and send themselves back. However, this structure had locked up due to a large blast sometime ago, and it took Thoth over a week to crack it. Once out, they sent out a signal to the Syrian forces in the area, drawing them near under the false pretense of an Israeli strike force. Then they had the Syrian president visit and then implanted him with a Goa'uld. And about fifty soldiers were turned into Jaffa. After that all they had to do is set up shop here, and then begin their world war." The group was stunned. Minutes passed as everyone in the room let the information sink in. Eric was the first to speak up.
"Well doc, I think we've found our way out. I've been talking with a few of the guys and they think it's worth a prison break to save the world, even if it means dying in the process. We need to distract the guards somehow, like having one of us go visit Thoth again, and then have everyone attack the guards. Once a few of us are armed, we can try to find the armory and pick up our explosives. Then we find the ship's computers and blow them to kingdom-come....any questions?" Daniel spoke slowly, trying to understand Salter's willingness to throw himself into imminent danger...he reminded Daniel of O'Neill.
"Yeah.....how will you overcome the guards? I know you guys are all strong, but it's been a while since we all have had a decent rest. Plus, we have no weapons to use." Eric smiled and dug into something in his boot. Out from the sole was a six-inch dagger, with a metal handgrip. The rest of Eric's team did the same. Some of the knives looked suited for throwing, which was what Eric had in mind. Daniel shrugged. "Well, it's better than nothing I guess." He motioned for the scientists and Natalie to move over to the far wall, away from any blasts that may come their way. Daniel was about to knock on the door when is suddenly slid open. All of the Israeli soldiers immediately hide the knives behind their backs. A guard was in front of the door, but his body seemed to stand a bit odd. A second later they all knew why. The guard crumpled to the ground, and Thoth stood in front of them. He held a finger to his lips.
"Quickly, Tau'ri. There is much to do and not enough time to accomplish it. I have shut down the cameras and remote turrets in the facility and delayed the deployment of the robotic soldiers, but Ra will activate them soon. He will suspect my betrayal and will not hesitate to move his plans forward more rapidly." He tossed the soldiers, Daniel, and Teal'c Zats, and began to walk to the end of the hallway towards a circular annex that Eric guessed transport rings came out of. Thoth stood in the center and told everyone to stand close around him. Eric closed his eyes as the bright light and the familiar energy sound signaled the transporting process. When he opened them, he was in a room full of weaponry. On one wall several nasty-looking swords we sheathed. Next to them were a form of the staff weapons, albeit they seemed to be able to be attached to the arms and duel-wielded (since they were half the size), and also had several blades at the end of the staves. Then there were crates and crates of what looked like grenades, for one was open already, allowing for a glimpse of the contents.
"Well holy shit..." Barr muttered, but not at what Eric was looking at. Eric spun around and saw the unthinkable. This was only a small room of the "armory." The whole armory took up five floors in a circular pattern, and held thirty rooms per floor. The room they were in at the moment was the main room, which was located in the middle floor, and took up two of the normal rooms. Each room was open to the "core," which was, in effect, a view to the hangar below. Eric saw a large vessel at the bottom, which he correctly guessed to be the Ha'tak. The Al'kesh and death gliders were out of sight, which un-nerved Eric to the nth degree. Moving to the handrails of the room to look up, Eric could see several circular structures jutting out every fifty feet along each level. Those structures were ring platforms, allowing for easy access to the weapons and armor. Thoth motioned at the Israeli Kevlar armor and custom weapons.
"I found your armor and weaponry to be most fascinating, but I made a few adjustments to improve their effectiveness..." Thoth said as he began to pass out staff weapons and Jaffa armor to Daniel and Teal'c. A few adjustments indeed, thought Eric. Barr's shotgun now held a Zat modification on either side, but the modifications were virtually weightless. Eric's SR-99 rifle's scope now could had a heat sight modification and its night-vision was improved a hundred-fold. Also, the bullets placed in the clips were tipped with trinium and an explosive head, allowing for devastating results. The rest of Eric's squad had similar adjustments: one man's P-90 now had a naquadah "clip" and fired out blasts much like the Super Soldiers', but with more accuracy, another's M16 could fire out trinium rounds like Eric's, and another soldier's H&K SSMG had "bouncing" rounds to hit targets at odd angles...supplemented by a new sight scope to see through walls. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. Each man was ecstatic when they viewed their new battle armor. Even though it consisted of a full helmet, chest plate, leg armor, boots, biceps and bracers, the suit weighed only thirty pounds total. The helms were angled down in front and ended in a vertical black mask, while the rest of it consisted of tiny "scales" that molded to the user's head, allowing for greater deflection power. The chest plate was reminiscent of the Super Soldier armor, yet it also utilized the same scale armoring, just with a larger scale. The leggings utilized four large plates--two on either side of the thigh, one "joint" for the knee, and a full wrap-around plate for the shin. The boots and gloves themselves were only leather synthetics, with the same scale technology to absorb energy blasts. The bracers and biceps were built much like the shin armor was. Designed primarily to absorb staff and electrical blasts, the suits could also deflect a few physical rounds before breaking. To top it all off, each suit had an in-board radio and could instantly show the location of all team members, even a map schematic if one was downloaded via satellite or computer. One by one each Special Forces member checked and rechecked his armor and weaponry and joined Thoth, Daniel and Teal'c at the rings. But, leave it up to Barr to ask the question...
"Does this suit make my butt look big?" While everyone was obviously thrilled with the concept of freedom, Eric still held his suspicions in reserve.
"Why help us escape?" He asked Thoth at the rings.
"My dear boy, I have come to my senses, although not of any true help on your part. Even though you and the good doctor here tried your hardest, it was ultimately the journal I found in the other dimension. Apparently one of the ancient-ones died during their stay on the world and whose words were recorded by another. It said that he was truly proud of his expedition, no matter what the results were. He never gave an explanation, but now I know why he was so proud of a failed `experiment.' The scientific spirit and that of an adventurer are one and the same. While one may brave the treacherous wilds of the worlds and the other prefers the safe environment of the lab, they both must face evil at some point. By facing possible evil the scientist was able to achieve peace and, from the journal itself, ascension."
"So you hope that this good deed will absolve you of your guilt by helping Ra?" Thoth gave a small laugh.
"No, nothing of the sort...but it is a start, would you not agree?" With that he made sure everyone was around him and beamed them into the computer floor.
**Lebanon, Fortress Throne Chamber, Same Time**
Ra could not contain his anger. He flung a nearby Horus guard into a wall, another through a spear. His rage subsiding, he focused once more on the came4ra image....the one camera Thoth forgot about. It was placed on the upper-most floor of the armory section, and could view into most every room. While it was on a stand-by mode, like it was before Thoth and the prisoners entered, would lock onto any and all movement in the chamber. Ra had a perfect view of the arming of the Tau'ri, even of Thoth himself. Ra turned to his First Prime, Sho'Lea. Although this was the first First Prime to be a woman, she came from a world whose genetic structure allowed for the females to grow bigger than the males. A staggering 6'10" and weighing in at 280 pounds, she was a force to be reckoned with.
"Assemble the troops at the computer level, and kill the Tau'ri when they attempt to destroy the mainframe. But keep five of your best men here to protect my throne."
"You are coming with us, my Lord?" Ra's eyes glowed fiercely.
"I killed them once, and I shall slaughter them again."
**Lebanon, Fortress Computer Level, Same Time**
Eric quietly crept towards a corner, his K-Bar held backwards and at the ready. A lone Horus guard was watching one of the computer terminals that needed destroying before the shield protecting the main room was powered down. Quickly he spun around the corner, grabbed the guard's head, and jammed the knife through the man's second and third vertebrae. Within seconds the man had died, though Eric had already moved on to plant explosive on the terminal. Barr and Teal'c watched his back, as well as one of Eric's squad mates named Ehoud Ben-Garrin. Ehoud favored the M16 rifle for its durability, even though at the moment he was using one of the dual staff weapon systems. The charges were set.
"Alpha ready. Teams check in."
"Delta team ready."
"Gamma ready."
"Seraphim at the ready, no movement on the level." Eric had placed two of his best shooters at the ring room in case of a breach--both men were armed with stun grenades and several devastating weapons.
"Teams, breach in three, two, one...mark!" The explosions reverberated throughout the level. Eric could see the shield to the main room begin to flicker once, then twice, then it was gone. Thoth came over the radio.
"Colonel, I will need one of your men to place the charges, but I must deactivate the defenses to the room before we attempt to destroy the level."
"I thought we destroyed the defenses!"
"I am afraid Colonel that there are several more sub shields to minimize a blast from destroying the entire floor. I must deactivate those, for they are too well armored to destroy with conventional explosives."
"Ok then. All teams fall back to the ring room." Just then he saw flashes of light coming from the Seraphim position and then the dreaded communication.
"All teams, Seraphim team has lost our position in the room. Falling back to checkpoint Alpha." The watch team was caught off guard with several stun grenades, and had to retreat to the first annex room. The entire level was set up as one long corridor, then spread out to a half-circle to surround the computer room. Reaching the corridor entrance, Eric then yelled for covering fire as he knelt down and fired off three quick rounds. All three found their unfortunate target: the man's head jerked back violently as the three round tore through his neck and forehead. Barr, Ehoud, and Eric then began to "leap-frog" towards the rest of teams, who had fallen back to a desk that was aptly placed in the exact middle of the corridor.
"Fire in the hole!" yelled out Barr as he expended an entire grenade launcher "clip" at the ring room. Silence followed the attack. Eric slowly moved towards the rest of the teams, being covered by Ehoud, Barr, and Teal'c. When he reached the group huddling behind the plasma-blasted structure, he found a mix of battle-hardened soldiers checking equipment and frightened civilians. He ordered the group back to the entrance of the computer room from the corridor just as the rings activated again, but this time unleashing a horde of robotic warriors. Not something out of a Terminator film, these robots had six legs and supported a platform of utter destruction: two staff weapons on the underbelly, four "grenade" launchers placed on the back, and a "tail" that could lob two explosive rounds that were simply miniature versions of the Al'kesh bombs. Four feet across and ten feet long, they had to line up in pairs to move down the corridor.
"Shit, one of your creations Thoth?" Eric angrily spat into his radio. Thoth looked into a view screen, showing him what Eric was watching.
"Unfortunately yes Colonel. Aim for their center and they will eventually die."
"Eventually?!" Barr screamed into his com-link, having to yell over the gunfire spewing forth around him. Two Israeli soldiers caught staff blasts in their throats and Eric almost yelled out in anger of his loss, but saw them get back up, their armor absorbing the heat.
"This armor is fucking awesome!" laughed Ehoud, one of the soldiers shot in the throat. He promptly aimed and let off a volley of staff fire, leaving four robots inactive.
Wave after wave came. The narrow hallway was littered with melting metal corpses and its walls scorched. Finally after the eleventh wave was obliterated the ring room stopped transporting. The soldiers thought they were safe and that they had beaten Ra's forces, but their moment of glory was swiftly ended. Six soldiers armed in the same type of armor beamed down and began to fire with dual staff weapon systems, which Ehoud had nicknamed the Hydra system. Not the most inventive, but they al began to call the weapon system by that name. Eric had been wondering why Ra kept sending down robot forces despite their ineffectiveness versus the Israeli troops, and now he understood Ra's thinking. Each robot had created a make-shift barrier for Ra's human forces to hide behind, and after eleven waves a large barrier had been set up.
"How much longer Thoth?" Eric asked.
"I had just deactivated the last sub shield system. Now I must deactivate the turret system inside before we may enter."
"Ok doc, but make it fast!" With that the rings activated again, this time delivering ten troops to fight. The Israeli commandos were trained to handle the very worst, but the situation was quickly tiring them. Trying to give Thoth enough time, Eric ordered his teams to split into two fire squads to give them some rest and conserve ammo.
"Aim for the head with projectile rounds, then aim for the debris with plasma weapons to melt their cover!" ordered Eric as he lobbed another fragmentation grenade at the attackers. Two of the Jaffa went flying through the air, but quickly got back up.
"How the hell are we supposed to kill these guys?" Ehoud yelled at anyone after emptying and entire clip of his M16 into an attacker--the Hydra system had overloaded on him and now sat smoking beside him. Just then Isaac, a tall sniper who was easily the best shot in the squad, aimed and fired a single trinium round into an attacker's neck. Actually, it hit the attacker underneath his chin, but the result was the same--one dead soldier. Eric laughed, patted his friend on the shoulder, and then fired the same way with his sniper rifle into another attacker. One by one the defenders found the soft spots in the armor and exploited them. But this was not done without the attacker's resistance. Realizing their flaws, they adapted by changing their body positions and fired into the unarmored parts of the defenders' armor. Luckily Thoth had provided them with the "newer model," and as such their neck was protected. Yet several of Eric's friends were slammed against the walls after being shot in the side of the ribs, putting them out of commission, but not dead.
"All teams, fall back to split their forces!" Eric ordered into his com-link, drawing back to the eastern hallway, while Teal'c and a few Israeli commandos took the western hall. The scientists--excluding Dr. Jackson, who was with Eric's squad--were all huddled now with Thoth, who was frenzied in his attempts to shut down the remaining core defenses. "Okay now--blow the C4!" Salter had ordered four C4 charges to be placed to cover their backs and give the defenders time to set up positions. Five Jaffa were blown back and did not get up--the sheer force of the blast had effectively crushed all of the bones in their bodies, even if their suits of armor were still intact.
Both sides were fighting with unnatural tenacity. The Jaffa remained confident of their coming victory but were still afraid of Ra's might, while the rag-tag group of defenders clung desperately to hope and the thought of saving over 6 billion people on Earth, regardless of nationality. Grenades were lobbed, soldiers shot back against walls, mean dropping like dolls to the floor. Eric had not lost a single member of his team...yet. Out of the original twelve commandos in the helicopter--the pilot and copilot died on impact--only five were able to able to hold a weapon straight and fire, let alone try to fight for their survival. A cry of success resounded through the defenders' ears.
"Colonel, quickly--I have the defenses down and I can now raise the shields to our advantage! Gather your forces and meet me inside the structure!" Cheers rang out among the battered defenders, and Eric ordered a full retreat back, accompanied by the lobbing of numerous grenades and the expending of all current clips. Being the final man to set through the shield, Eric decided to show the Jaffa they had lost. He aimed at one Jaffa's neck and fired, the man instantly dropping. Three more Jaffa were downed before Eric lowered his weapon, stepped back past the shield's border, and saluted as the now-welcome blue hue of the shield materialized in front of him. Several shots were fired at him, but all hit the shield. They were safe for now.
**Cheyenne Mountain, 0700 Hours**
It was time for the President's hourly briefing.
"Good to hear from you again Jack," President Hayes spoke through the phone. "What other hell has broken loose since we last surveyed the chaos?" Jack could have sworn the man was wearing a slim grin, but seeing as this was only a teleconference he would never know.
"Well Mr. President, thankfully not much. The Syrians have pulled a little bit back from the Turkish border and Iran seems to be cooling down. Luckily no terrorist bombings have happened in Israel, or else they'd have an excuse to blow the living hell out of half the Middle East. Right now they are refusing to bow to the U.N. to calm down and lower their security level first as an act of good faith, but Israel is giving them the finger. Iraq has been quiet too for some reason--the CIA spooks think that this crisis might trigger some global surge in terrorist attacks, especially there. Yup, I'd say we've hit the lull before the storm hits, sir....no offense to any optimistic out there."
"Any other word from Israel though? I know one of their choppers went down in Lebanon, but I haven't heard anything else."
"I'm not too up to date with the details either sir, but I can tell you that if those commandos survived they would be raising hell out there--a possible explanation for that firefight witnessed by one of our satellites."
"Who was leading the force?"
"A Colonel in the Israeli Special Forces named Eric Salter. He was originally from the United States but immigrated to Israel after receiving a double major Bachelor's from the University of Oregon. He lived in Israel long enough and got recognized for his proactive nature, and quickly rose through the Army ranks until Colonel. At only 32 years old, that's quite a feat."
"I'd say so...any other news from Dr. Jackson's team?" Jack sighed.
"No sir, but I'm fairly positive they can survive anything."
"Well that's good news to hear Jack. I'll let you back to your paperwork, because I seem to have several unexpected visitors..." Jack was about to hang up the phone when he noticed the President had not clicked his phone line off. Going against what his common sense told him, he tried to pick up some parts of the conversation:
"We know.....nuclear.....inoperable.....satell....malfunctioning....Prometheus.....unident ....ship...en route..." Just then Jack heard a familiar beaming sound and then yelling. If Jack was right in what he heard, then the President had just been beamed aboard a ship. Friendly or not, was up to fate...
**Somewhere Above Earth, That Same Time**
The President was shocked. He was startled when the Joint Chief Liaison told him the nuclear arsenal, as well as the global satellite network, were not responding. The nukes themselves were fine, but some computer code had found itself into the nuclear football and scrambled the codes. Even the submarines had encountered malfunctions of a similar sort, except it was for the launching doors--they wouldn't open. Now he was in some room, probably a ship by the look of the interior. He heard footsteps coming from behind and odd-looking door. Four triangular pieces slip back, revealing the figure behind the door.
"My God," gasped the President, recognizing the man in the doorway.
"Your God is right," said Robert Kinsey, eyes glowing and walking towards the President.
**Lebanon, Fortress, 0710 Hours**
"Well hey there ugly," Barr jeered at a monstrous Jaffa on the other side of the shield. Eric sighed.
"Chris, stop that..." Barr stopped smirking at the Jaffa and sat down, not trying to start a confrontation at this point in time....he would give Eric crap about it over beer later. But He and Salter had been in this type of situation before. Well, not this exact situation, but the odds were always against the Israeli commando force led by Colonel Salter. Recruited by the Israeli government after he had dropped out of the Norwegian armed forces, Barr quickly rose to the rank of Major and was now Eric's SIC. They had in fact met in Basic Training, even though the training was specifically designed to create the fighting force they were now. The hand-picked squad only consisted of four Israeli-born citizens--including Ehoud--, but with the exception of two the rest were devoted to Israel through their religion.
Call it a cult, but the men were fervently devoted to their "motherland," a symbol that would never be destroyed while they were living. One of the squad was another American called David Eisman, the heavy weapons expert, was a gruff man of 280 pounds and stood at a proud 6'4". Isaac Rosen, the sniper, hailed from Germany, his mohawk always the talk of the ladies. Jacob Smith and his cousin Raphael Lebow--the two with the oddest names in the group, decided by the squad--were from Italy and had just began to start their own home security business when they were recruited. Yet the two most distinctive members were Joburo Katusimoto and Helena Spinsky. A Japanese and Russian national, respectively, were currently "on-loan" as consultants to Israel...they would receive the best in counter-terrorist techniques while sharing tactics with the Israeli military. Helena was a techno-whiz, and Joburo was a stealth expert. Joburo, or "Job," had daily morning sword fights with Eric to hone their respective combat training and senses, and was the deadliest squadmate when it came to close-quarters fighting. The rest of the motley bunch was from Israel and England, and were basically all expert marksmen, chosen for their leadership qualities and the knack for getting things done on time and without a fuss. The squad had a record of 22 successes and one failure--the helicopter crash. They had delivered tactical strikes deep into Syrian, Lebanese, Jordanian, Palestinian, Iraqi, and Iranian territory, all without enough evidence to even point to Israel.
"Colonel, I am sorry we could not have been more discreet--we will not be able to escape now, and if I cut power to the base the shields will fall." Eric walked over to Thoth with a knowing look.
"I know you did the best you could, and I'm thankful for all you have done." He took off his helmet and allowed for it to clank loudly on the metal floor. He sank down onto a nearby workstation chair, and rethought their position. It was easy: sit here and wait for Earth to go to war, or shut down the shield and show the world what was here...which would accomplish nothing but their deaths. "We need divine intervention," he finally said.
"Amen," was the answer from Isaac.
"There can't be only two options to take here!" Daniel angrily said out loud. "I mean we have control of the entire mainframe here and you can't do a thing, Thoth? I though you were the brains behind Ra...how did he pull off this?" Thoth raised a finger to silence Jackson.
"Ra has a superior military mind. He designed this base; I merely made it a reality. While this computer can shut down the base or take it over, the rest of the world will still destroy itself. This base cannot be destroyed by conventional means--I made damn sure of it. Ra simply has to shoot down the Prometheus and the fleet of X-302s and then his position is secure. The world cannot retaliate with nuclear weapons due to my virus."
"Wait a second, why is Ra even afraid of Prometheus and the X-302s in the first place?" Salter asked. "I thought that Prometheus barely amounted to a mother ship, even though the X-302s were superior to the death gliders." Thoth nodded.
"Indeed Prometheus cannot win, but it can prevent a large-scale war. Once the President allows for its deployment to become public knowledge, the world will bow down until they can figure out how to destroy it. Call it assured destruction, but without nuclear warheads. And the X-302s possess short-term hyper-drives, which can get beyond this base's shields without any destruction caused to the Earth by the space-time window. But alone the X-302s cannot defeat this base. The defensive turrets number in the hundreds, and the air support that accompanies this base is not your ordinary setup. The gliders have advanced-AI ships I programmed myself to be reckless to destroy anything. The Al'kesh are deadly with their payload--they do not try to create fear by random bombing. And the Ha'tak has double the armor, weapons, speed, and range of ordinary motherships. It can fire and destroy Prometheus from this range without a problem...in a single salvo."
"I wonder if there isn't anything you've made that isn't perfect in your eyes Thoth..." Barr muttered, the anger seething in him. Thoth ignored the tone and responded.
"I never said that it was invincible Major, just that it would take finesse and stealth to leave this station vulnerable. I have laid out a plan, even as simple as it may seem, and this station will soon be crippled." Thoth began to smile widely, almost scaring Jackson--he had never seen a joyous smile like this on a Goa'uld.
"What in God's name did you do, Thoth..." trailed off Jackson.
**Lebanon, Fortress Command Center, 0715 Hours**
"Why in the hell can't I control the defenses?!" roared Ra to his commanders. "I ordered the core to be shutoff from the main system so he couldn't do this exact thing! Anyone care to explain?" The room fell silent. None of his Jaffa wanted to face Ra's wrath, especially when they were to have already at least killed some of the prisoners. One tall Middle Eastern man stepped forward. He quickly bowed and explained.
"My lord, an unidentified ship has entered the atmosphere. It is not the Prometheus, and is heading right towards us. Judging by the shape and weight of the ship, we would place it as an Al'kesh bomber."
"And what of the defenses?" hissed Ra.
"There is a strange signal coming from the ship. So far we have determined that it is an altered form of the virus lord Thoth implanted world-wide to control the world's systems. However, lord Thoth overlooked the source code that was inadvertently attached to the virus, which is what the Al'kesh has used to attack this base's systems. We have full control over the engines and cloaking system, but not the shields, turrets, or robotic forces."
"He did not overlook it....and how many soldiers are left to serve their god?"
"My lord, you have over 50 strong and loyal soldiers ready to die for you, for your cause. It is an honor to serve." Ra came over to the man's bowing form, put is hand under the man's chin, and gently raised it. His eyes glowed.
"Yes...yes it is...."
**Lebanon, Fortress Core Room, 0720 Hours**
Thoth laughed heartily. For the past five minutes he had laid out his intricate plan to the prisoners. He had attached a part of the virus' source code to the actual virus, allowing any non-affected computer to hack into the ship covertly--until a more thorough scan was used to find any trace of a hack. Thoth was originally counting on having the world figure this out after they had already disabled the hangar bay and powered down the main systems to be sure, but alas the plan was flawed in that it did not take into account Ra's calculating military mind.
"I still don't see why we went here instead of the hangar and simply blew this place up," said Barr.
"The turret system would have destroyed us before we even lifted off," replied Thoth.
"What about hacking the system from here?" asked Daniel.
"That was out of the question, for any in-base hackings are directly alerted to the command center. I had to allow for your world to save itself. This place however is safe for the moment--at least compared to that cell or my lab quarters."
"So what happens now? We still try to break out of this place and blow it up, or sit here and hope for the best?" sighed Eric. Thoth shook his head.
"We cannot blow up this base for obvious reasons. You see, the base is divided into several sections: the command center, the barracks, armory, hangar, the core and engine areas, and finally the supplies subsections. The supplies sections are then divided into power, metals, foodstuffs, and water. Now can any of you guess what is used for power?"
"Naquadah..." Teal'c trailed off.
"Close. I found some research on a form of naquadah called naquadria. While extremely unstable it let loose vast amounts of energy, and once I was able to regulate it properly it made for an excellent power source...short-term that is. The power section consists of two parts itself: the storage and production parts. The storage stores naquadah in its raw form, and the production facilities put on vast amounts of pressure and heat to transform it. A base of this size would consume around ten metric tons of naquadah per year, and can store up to twenty times that amount. Now before our little trip to the other dimension, the storage facilities were filled to the brim. And if an explosion were to go off..."
"Good-bye world," Jackson finished. Thoth nodded in sober agreement. Suddenly a light blinked on a display map of the world and kept blinking, with several statistics appearing beside a blown-up image of the intruding object. Thoth went over to a nearby workstation.
"What is it?" asked Natalie as she got off a table she was sitting on.
"It appears to be an Al'kesh bomber...a more advanced design than the ones I made, but not by much apparently. It seems to be heading here, but also sending out a signal to disrupt the base's defensive systems. The shields and engines are still under control of Ra, but the rest have been deactivated by the Al'kesh. Hold on, there is a communication coming through..." A deep voice came from the ceiling.
"Greetings future subjects. This is Quetzalcoatl, your true god. Pledge your allegiance to me and I promise you riches beyond your wildest dreams!"
"Is there an image coming through with the voice Thoth?" asked Jackson.
"Yes, let me try to clear up the image." The voice continued to claim its own importance and infallibility--the norm for Goa'uld speeches. After a few seconds Thoth was sure he had it cleared up enough. With the touch of a button, he acquired a signal to the image being displayed to the ship.
"You've got to be kidding me..." said Jackson. He simply gawked at the scowling form of former Vice President Kinsey, as surprised as every one of them were.
"Hey, didn't that guy like die or something a few years ago....?" Trailed off Barr.
**Cheyenne Mountain, That Same Time**
"General O'Neill! Prometheus is tracking an object heading straight for Lebanon, makes it out as an Al'Kesh!" Walter breathlessly exclaimed as he barged into Jack's office, where he was finishing up yet another transfer paper for those heading to the Beta site. Jack immediately shot out of his seat and motioned for Walter to follow him downstairs to the gate dialing room. Once there several technicians had stopped the gate procedures to show what Prometheus saw--an Al'Kesh at top speed shooting through the atmosphere towards the last known location of Daniel Jackson.
"Do we know who is on it?" Jack asked to everyone in the room. A veteran technician spoke up.
"Sir, we are receiving audio via Prometheus....it appears to be sending a message to a certain location, as well as an odd signal that we can't decipher as of yet. Prometheus is sending us the full track now..." He hit a key and suddenly his monitor was filled with Kinsey's angry face, dictating Ra's terms for surrender and claiming his own infallibility--the same old Goa'uld crap. Although it has been scientifically proven that one's blood cannot turn to ice, Jack could have sworn every blood vessel in his body froze upon sight of Kinsey.
"Tell Prometheus to continue to monitor the motions of the Al'Kesh, and get the Russians to help us track this--I want to know within the centimeter of where that bastard lands. Also, get a team to crack that signal, I want to know what is being broadcasted besides that message. Keep me posted." Jack, face still white as a ghost, left the room and went upstairs to his office. He closed every door in his office and opened up a drawer containing the best whiskey Hammond could find to give to his friend. Pouring himself a glass, Jack sat back and stared into nothingness. "Oy gavelte..."
**Mubarrak Air Force Base, Israel, That Same Time**
Isaiah Ben-Garrin strapped himself into his pride and joy, the Lockheed F-16I "Fighting Falcon" fighter, nicknamed the Sufa, meaning Storm. Ignoring some cheap jokes being spouted by his copilot Yasser Ibn Benoq, he began the pre-flight check-off. His mission was simple: he and two F-15I fighters carrying tactical nuclear warheads were to fly a routine patrol mission, except push into Lebanon to around twenty miles away from the crashed Israeli H-60 Blackhawk. He was nervous as it was: Syria was just itching to blow several fighters already scrambled into the sky, and Jordan's recent border activity showed ever-increasing signs to activity. While he had infinite confidenc in his abilities, his copilot's abilities, and the capabilities of his fighter, he knew that if things got crazy, there was a good chance he would have to bail. The only thing that kept him steady was the knowledge that his brother Ehoud was out there, and if still alive he would be giving those Syrian's hell. He finally gave the thumbs-up to the take-off crews, and he was good to go.
His body was instantly pushed back into his seat, feeling the G-forces press his body farther and farther back until he swore he felt the metal backing to the seats. Not actually such a feat, he mused...these seats had only a centimeter of padding at the moment. Half of the entire Israeli Air Force had actually been under-going refurbishing and upgrades when the entire world crisis went into effect. So now pilots had to cope with what they had--and Isaiah wasn't worried about being uncomfortable. He rechecked the ready status of his four AMRAM missiles, and also reflected on the fact that he was missing his 20mm cannons from his usual F-15I fighter.
"You okay back there Yasser?" He only received a simple grunt of a reply as his copilot kept checking the little blips on the radar and identifying them--even though the computer did it for him, the computer tracking system was usually a second slow, and Yasser used identifying the blips before the computer did as a game to pass the time. "Glad one of us is having a good time," He muttered before leveling off at 35,000 feet. He made radio and visual contact with his two wingmen, and set his watch. Just three hours until I'm back on the ground eating breakfast, he thought.
**Fortress Command Center, 0730 Hours**
Ra's First Prime rushed into the room, bleeding in several places and looking as fierce as ever.
"What is it?" demanded Ra.
"My lord, Quetzalcoatl's forces have taken control of two more levels--two more and they will have control over half the ship and one full armory floor."
"Gah!" Ra yelled out in rage, and sent a nearby vase of flowers flying across the room, crashing into the wall. "How many soldiers have betrayed their true god?" He asked, eyes glowing.
"Fifty strong, my lord...but we have received reinforcements from the new Tau'ri recruits--their weapons are most effective. But we still have over 200 soldiers now my lord." Ra's anger seemed to subside when a Syrian Jaffa rushed into the room. He knelt in front of Ra and spoke reverently, in awe of Ra's presence.
"My lord, there are three Israeli jets approaching the base. I have already sent out three men in gliders to destroy them." He seemed proud of himself for taking the initiative, but it went against Ra's plans. Unable to cope with the failure of his subordinate, Ra threw the poor man to the location of the flower pot, except a few feet to the right, landing on a spear. Still breathing heavily in rage, Ra calmly said:
"Recall those fighters, and I want that traitor Quetzalcoatl's head on a platter in two hours!" He retreated back to his throne, and with a second's pause, added: "And get that body out of the room before he ruins the floors."
**Southern Lebanon, 0733 Hours**
"How ya fairin' so far Goliath?" Isaiah called to one of his wingmen.
"Not too bad Tyrael, how `bout you?"
"Just itchin' for a fight hehe...you know me." Ben-Garrrin replied, grinning to himself.
"Well, I for one will be glad to not have this burden when we land in a few hours..." Goliath trailed off.
"Amen to that, brotha--I'll buy you a beer when we get back as a congrats for your first nuclear patrol."
"And don't back out this time, you Jewish mongrel you." That got a hearty laugh out of everyone on the com channel, and then they fell silent, all lost in their own thoughts. Isaiah checked in on Yasser.
"Anything of interest?"
"Kinda...there are three blips coming towards us, but the computer can't make out their make. They're small enough to be a small civie plane, but who'd be crazy enough to fly out here?"
"They heading for us?"
"Well, that's the strange thing. It's like they have orders not to go after us, but they still are doing some sort of a zig-zag course towards us."
"Well, keep and eye on them...I don't like surprises." Yasser had been right however. While Ra had indeed given the order for the glider pilots to turn back, their hatred for Israelis drove them towards a confrontation nonetheless.
"Ahh, shit--they're coming right at us now, full speed!" Yasser suddenly yelled into his mask.
"Ok gents, this is what we've been training for--you guys fire off a few missiles from range, but with those nukes under your bellies you won't be agile enough to get in close for a cannon shot. So fire those missiles off and run like hell. I'll try to keep off your backs for as long as possible."
"Roger that Tyrael, acquiring locks now..." Eight missiles slowly made their way from the safety of their fighter carriage and screamed towards their targets. Yasser counted off the distance until contact in a slightly raspy, panicked voice. Isaiah only waited for a blight flash of light signifying a kill. Yet when they should have hit home, Yasser only counted one downed pilot--two were still left to kill.
"Crap...looks like I'll have to earn my wage tonight boys. These fighters seem faster than ours, so do whatever is necessary to get you and those nukes back safely."
"Good hunting Tyrael...Goliath out." And with that Yasser and Isaiah watched their wingmen turn back towards their home base.
"Just keep me in the air buddy, and I'll shoot `em down," was all Isaiah spoke to Yasser before he took a steep dive down. The gliders followed in suit, but not able to match the sheer velocity that the Falcon could reach. Almost down to under 2,000 feet he quickly pulled up and tried to climb again. One of the gliders only made it down to 5,000 feet before chickening out and leveling off to catch the Falcon on it's climb up, but the second glider stayed right on Isaiah's tail. "Shit!" was all he yelled as he pulled several high-G banks to try and lose one or get one in his sights. After the misses by the sidewinders from the F-15s, he didn't want to take any chances.
He pulled a classic half-loop corkscrew, which caught one of the gliders off-guard and allowed Isaiah to gently move in behind him. The glider pilot panicked and tried to go into a steep climb. Isaiah expected him to stall out--he was going at a ninety-degree angle--but the glider never did. Considering it now or never, He pulled into a similar climb and fired off a missile. It quickly found it's target and left the glider's ashes to slowly drift back to earth. The second glider was not so foolish or clumsy of a pilot. Not wanting to miss an opportunity, he trailed behind Isaiah and fired off several rounds.
"What in God's name is that?" Isaiah screamed as the plasma rounds hissed by his cockpit frame, it's heat scorching the glass even though it missed by several feet. Isaiah dove straight down, finding a nice canyon to dip into. Weaving through the canyon at mach I was no feat, but it was all he could to do keep the glider off of his back. After a few more seconds of weaving he found a nice end to the canyon and fired off one missile. The round hit the canyon in a blinding flash of light and sent up thousands of pounds of rock and dust. Using this as cover, Isaiah swept out of the canyon and gained altitude, running to the clouds for visual cover. "How we doing Yasser?"
"He seems to be trying to find us, but the clouds are blocking his view....but that won't last much longer." He was right: the clouds only extended another mile or so, and at their speed that equaled in the seconds-worth.
"Then I guess it's now or never," muttered Isaiah, as he gained some altitude, flipped the aircraft over, and sped towards the glider, firing off one AMRAM missile, keeping one in reserve. The glider pilot saw the F-16 too late, and the missile even later. Unable to react quickly enough, the missile slammed straight through the right wing, sending the glider spiraling out of control and subsequently into a canyon wall thousands of feet below.
"Well that's something you don't get to do everyday..." sighed Yasser. He suddenly snapped up in his seat and gasped.
"What is it Yasser?" Isaiah wished he could see what Yasser saw, but then he could--his tactical screen went blank, but the plane was still functioning. Then popped up several boxes of text, saying names...then he spotted his bother's name, and his face went as white as a ghost. "You seeing this Yasser?"
"Yeah..." The text kept scrolling with more and more text, and eventually it went too fast for him to read. Finally it stated that the information was to be sent to Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado, and could be retrieved via the hard drive in the plane. After a second or two the screens went blank again and his usual display was there.
"I hope to God I'm not going insane..." was all Isaiah said before banking his plane back towards Mubarrak.
**Cheyenne Mountain, 0745 Hours**
"Are you sure this is the real thing?" Walter asked a technician reading off the latest communication relays to the mountain. The technician nodded his head. "And this came from Israel?" Upon hearing multiple answers of yes, he printed off a copy of the communication and ran up to O'Neill's office.
"Come in." Walter burst through the door when he heard the tired response to his knocking from the resident general.
"Sir, I think you'll want to read this..." O'Neill took the copy tentatively from his aide and read it. He was just taking a swig of his coffee as he read the report, and promptly spat it all out.
"Are you sure this is the real thing?" Jack asked Walter, reaching for a napkin from his desk.
"Yes sir."
"Then get me everyone able to do something on the line right now....I need a direct video-conference call set up, and for God's sake get the Vice President and the highest Congress members in here ASAP."
"Yes sir!" With that Walter ran out of the room as fast as he had left it, almost mowing over Carter as she came to check in on Jack with a cup of blue Jell-O. Puzzled by the whole buzz in the gate dial-up room and now Walter's ten second 40-yard dash, she was about to ask Jack what was going on. He got up while holding a finger to his lips, and traded her the report for a cup of Jell-O. She read it once, then twice.
"Oh my God...." The report slipped from her fingers as she dropped down into a chair, repeating over and over what she had just said. She took one final glance at the final few words of the report:
...Ra lives...
**Fortress Core Room, 0800 Hours**
"There guards haven't come back in over twenty minutes, I think it's safe to say that Ra needs all the help he can get to repel Kinsey's attack," noted Daniel.
"Indeed, Dr. Jackson. I believe now is the best time to attack," commented Teal'c. He tightened his gear and nodded toward Thoth to disarm the shields. Eric got up and felt as if he were in a dream. Amazingly enough, Ehoud's brother was involved in a dogfight with two other gliders and won, allowing Thoth to relay a short message to him. The shields protecting the core room prevented any long-range communications, but Isaiah was just within reach. Thoth downloaded the entire base schematics, the frequency of the shields for any missiles to pass through, the key to crack the virus implanted into the global nuclear stockpile, and a message telling who was alive. Plus, Thoth added that the message was to be directly forwarded to Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado, and that Ra was the man behind the planned attack. But that was over thirty minutes ago, and all anyone could do was to hope that the message got out.
"I must warn you, however, that once we make it up to the fifth floor we must take the rings up one floor at a time. It was designed that way to prevent such an assassination attempt." Thoth warned.
"Well that news sucks.....okay guys, let's lock and load." Eric shrugged off the warning, reloaded his SA-99, and patted down his helmet. Slowly the commandos moved in groups of two along the walls, ready for any sign of hostilities. The civilians were protected by Daniel and Eric, while Thoth simply activated his personal shield system, ready to deflect any incoming blows. They made it up several floors before any contact was made with enemy Jaffa.
The sight was one to behold. They were on the top floor of the armory, looking down on Ra's Jaffa firing on Kinsey's rebel group, neither giving any ground. Jaffa on the high ground fired down with almost sniper accuracy, but the tide of rebels held strong. Trying not to attract attention to themselves, the Israeli commandos and company held tight to the walls, away from prying eyes. Upon reaching the first armory storage room, they all ducked inside.
"Ammo guys?" Eric asked hurriedly while re-checking his own.
"Down to a few shotgun rounds, but nothing big," Barr said, holding up a staff weapon. "I think I'll learn to like this puppy." The room went around with replies of sayings like "out," or "good." Eventually they stocked up on a few stun grenades and recharged their armor suits before moving on. Barr took point with Teal'c when exiting, searching for any enemy activity, both with a trigger finger ready. Eric approached Thoth as they all left.
"So where exactly are we going?" Eric asked.
"We must make our way up to Ra's quarters while he is distracted. He can still launch the nuclear warheads if he feels threatened, then simply set the base to self-destruct and exit via the hangar. Trust me, I designed this place for a quick getaway." Eric nodded, and swiftly jogged over to Natalie to see how she was doing.
"I can't wait to have a long, hot shower," she muttered, running a hand through her greasy hair. "You have to admit I'm a far cry from looking like the prom queen," she joked to Salter. He grinned.
"Well then what do you say to dinner for two on the Mediterranean after this is all done and over with? I know the perfect restaurant to go to." She only smiled, her face turning bright red, which was quite a feat considering her tan. "Aww, c'mon...I know I can't look that bad. Heck, you can't even see my face at the moment." With that he lifted the visor of the helmet and gave her his best sad face. She laughed and cried at the same time.
"Yes, consider it a date Mr. Commando..." And with that he grinned, dropped down his visor, and trotted over to see how Ehoud was doing.
Jackson came over to Natalie.
"My, he works fast...." Was all he said, and left Natalie with her still smiling bright.
*** "Ehoud, ya see him?"
"Roger, moving in to take him out." They had been stopped by a large platoon of Jaffa rushing towards the armory levels to fight, and one of the Jaffa had stayed behind to stand guard. The commandos had been trying to find a way around him, and final found an opportunity to take the guard out. Going for a stealth kill, Ehoud slowly slid out a Jaffa knife he has taken from the armory, shouldered his weapon, and slowly snuck towards the unsuspecting guard. Quickly he grabbed the man's head and jabbed the knife between his third and fourth vertebrae, not puncturing the skin on the other side. The man died seconds later. Gently Ehoud let the man drop lifeless to the ground, then motioned for the others to come out of hiding.
"Well that was by far your best work yet, Ehoud," Barr said, clapping a hand on Ehoud's shoulder. Ehoud simply cleaned his knife on the Jaffa's corpse and sheathed his knife before taking point with Teal'c and Barr. They were now on the fifth floor, just a hop, skip, and a jump away from Ra and ending his plans for good.
*Cheyenne Mountain, 0845 Hours*
"So what do ya have for me now Carter?" Jack said without looking up at his beautiful former 2nd In Command.
"Well, we have deciphered most of the virus with the help of the Tollans, and within the hour should be able to sort of turn off the virus. However, we will need to come up with an effective deliver method because we don't have the technology that implanted them in the first place..." She trailed off into science-land, and Jack had to snap her out of it with a well-timed question.
"How's Pete?" She looked stunned, then her eyes narrowed.
"If I was rambling, just cut me off, ok?" He only grinned at her. Damn I hate it when that man does this, she thought, and looked at the ground to hide her sudden flush in her cheeks.
"Yes m'am. By the way, the Vice President has just been sworn into office, and the meeting I had went rather well, if I do say so myself. Three carriers are being moved into position to launch a full fighter attack against the base if it proves necessary, but first we need to hear from Daniel first....that's what he said at least in the message."
"Sir, what do you think happened to Ra all these years? I'm positive you killed him years ago."
"I did....at least I think I did. We won't have all of the facts until Daniel and company get back, so let's just get the champagne ready. Oh, and the Israelis are now demanding to know about the Stargate program," he added the last bit of information as she was leaving, causing her to stop.
"How do they know about the Stargate program?"
"Well, apparently the pilot who got the report didn't send it directly to us...which is understandable really. So now they know some information, but now they are angry for more. They think that we have technology that can help them--which we do, actually. I suggested giving the Israelis full information and the partner deal we gave the rest of the coalition. Also, they'll be getting several teams, since they have had the most experience basically in dealing with guerilla warfare. They could help us a lot with fighting the Goa'uld."
"I see...well, lunch begins in four hours, so you then sir."
"Roger that Carter. But you never said how Pete--" he stopped talking since Cater had slammed the door behind her when he said Pete's name. He just reclined in his chair, put his hands behind his head, and smiled.
*Fortress Level 3, 1000 Hours*
They were now only two levels beneath Ra, and the fighting had gone from sparse and light to heavy and constant. Every corner held another turret or platoon of Jaffa itching to blow the prisoners away. Currently they were blocked off from the ring room by two machinegun-esque weapons manned by two Jaffa, as well as four other Jaffa, armed to the teeth. Eric peeked out to figure out their numbers once more, and once again his position was quickly lit up with plasma fire.
"Say Teal'c--can they eventually blow their way through this wall?" Eric yelled across the corridor to Teal'c, who was doing the same thing as Eric.
"It is highly unlikely."
"Well that's the first bit of good news I've heard in a long time big guy....what's the count of grenades by now?" A quick count cam up with four smoke grenades, one fragmentation, and two stun grenades. Forming a plan in his head, he activated his com-link. "Olivera! Ehoud! Barr! Ready for some demolition work?" All three men simply grinned and readied their weapons, ready for anything. When Eric gave the signal, all four of them released the last of the smoke grenades, and waited for the Jaffa to quit firing blindly into the smoke. They then put on their thermal imaging sights and head-shotted the Jaffa, one after another. Within seconds the ring room was cleared and they beamed up a stun grenade to make sure that no one could surprise them upon teleporting in. They were soon up in the room after the recon team reported in.
"Clear."
"Clear."
"Clear."
"Alpha Team move out, we'll cover ya." Barr, Teal'c, Ehoud, and Olivera formed the Alpha Team, responsible for recon and quick enemy suppression. The rest of the group was divided into two other groups, the civilian side protected by two Israeli commandos and Daniel Jackson, while Eric commanded the bulk of the commando force. Most of the floors so far had been a simple T-shaped floor-plan with a mini armory, security station, a few labs and quarters, and finally a ring room at one end. However, the ring rooms that went up and down were separated always by a contingent of two turrets and at least four Jaffa, although the earlier floors had had much more. Now Ra's Jaffa were being spread thin, and could not keep up with the losses. The group made its way quickly past the floor's defenses and teleported to the second level, where Thoth's lab was.
The entire floor was made up of giant banks of computers, beakers, bubbling gasses and liquids, and even a few ancient artifacts were laid out for all to see. A giant view-screen was the most impressive fight, showing a level-by-level 3D layout of the base and all those in it by little red dots.
"Nice pad ya got here, doc," Barr muttered.
"It suits my pursuits well," replied Thoth, ignoring Barr's sarcasm. "Come, we do not have much time."
"Indeed you do not have much time, my dear brother," said Ra, stepping out of the far corner of the room, an evil grin on his face. Eric quickly raised his rifle and fired off a round into Ra's forehead, but the round never made it. Instead, it dissipated into an orange energy field protecting Ra. The Goa'uld's deep laughter shook Eric to the bones. "Silly human. Don't you know I am a god? You cannot hope to defeat me."
"I'm a stubborn son of a bitch," responded Eric icily. Daniel, recognizing the technology, threw his knife at Ra, but Ra simply caught the knife.
"Now now doctor. I chose my hosts for their incredible military knowledge, as well as their physical skills. Over the centuries I have become an expert fighter, unable to be beaten by the sword. But what about you?" With that Ra threw the knife back at Daniel, catching him right below his left pectoral muscle, luckily missing his heart. Jackson crumpled to the ground, gasping for breath. "Now if any of you would wish to fight me, if you win I shall let you all free and leave this world....it interests me no more, and I wish to rise once more to my rightful throne as king of the Goa'uld. Any takers?" With that Ra tossed out a single small glowing stone onto the ground, and before teleporting up via the rings, said: "That stone is the only way to get up to the top level, and I have made sure that Thoth cannot tamper with the system. Only one of you are allowed up here, but I'm sure Thoth can give you all a front-row seat with that computer of his...." His cackle was cut short but the bright light that transported his away.
"Let me be the first to say this sucks ass...." Olivera said.
"So who of us is going?" Daniel spoke through gritted teeth.
"Not you doc, first of all. I'd say one of the best and-to-hand fighters here, and preferably the largest. Teal'c, whaddya say?" Eric said. The large man nodded, and stepped up to use the stone. But when he tried to activate it, it wouldn't work.
"I am sorry to say that your Jaffa friend here cannot use the stone...it would be heresy," Ra's deep voice claimed.
"Yeah, I'm sure you get off on this, don't ya you sick fucker!" Barr yelled into the air.
"Now now underling...calm down or I will be forced to kill you."
"I'd love to see you try, you--"
"Chris! That's enough! He's not worth the air, so let's focus on who gets to go fight this ass-hole, okay?"
"This entire situation sucks, and you know that Eric!"
"But that isn't going to change anything Chris. So keep your mouth shut and someone find a way to play straws." Eventually they used cut metal zinc strips in Thoth's lab to choose who would go up to face Ra in combat.
Barr drew. He got the longest one.
Olivera's was slightly smaller, but still not the "winner."
Ehoud drew. He didn't win. One by one the best hand-to-hand combat commandos drew, until it was only Eric left. His heart raced, and sweat flowed like a river from his body. He gulped, and grabbed the remaining "straw."
He won.
"Shit." His helmet let out a resounding thud as he let it fall off his head and onto the metal ground, and he sank down into a nearby seat. "Yeah, this blows...but it's the only way to get us out of here in one piece, and hell--maybe even save the day eh? So pucker guys n' gals...and wish me luck." He said good-byes to everyone before he set off to the rings, but was stopped short by Natalie, looking as good as ever, despite having numerous bruises and hadn't showered or slept decently in over two days.
"You still owe me dinner, remember that," she said, tears welling up in her eyes. Eric leaned in and kissed her on the cheek before responding:
"I never break a promise to a beautiful girl," he said, giving a trademark smirk. He squeezed her hand, then waved and became swept up in the bright light that followed his stone activation.
"I'm glad it is you who has come to feel the might of your true god, Colonel...it will be all the sweeter crushing the life from the biggest non-believer," Ra snarled, unsheathing his swords and kicking over a rusty broadsword.
"So much for being a gentleman for dueling..." Eric muttered as Ra rushed at him. Eric spun down to grab and unsheathe the broadsword, and countered Ra's first swing, then second. The fight to save the world had begun, but it was far from over.
*Cheyenne Mountain, 1030 Hours*
"Well that was fast..." said Jack as Carter burst through his office door. "I take it you solved the problem at hand, and maybe world hunger?" Carter ignored the sarcasm in the general's voice and began her report.
"Yes, sir, we have cracked most of the code that makes up the virus infecting the world nuclear stockpile, but we have yet to figure out how it was delivered. Some of the theories out there include an virus like the one that came through the gate and infected me, while others think that it could `jump' from one electric conductor to another." O'Neill waved her off before she babbled on too much.
"So is that all? Any more transmissions from the ship?"
"No sir, we haven't received any more communications since the first one." Jack's phone rang.
"O'Neill." Jack dismissed Carter and listened intently. "Well sir, with the schematics we got from the transmission, I'd say any frontal assault is out of the question. Yes, I suggest waiting until we have our nuclear stockpile back online, and until maybe we get another transmission from the ship. I agree sir. Okay, sir, I'll make the preparations on my end." Leaning back in his chair, he poured himself another glass of scotch. "What a day..."
*Fortress Throne Room, 1031 Hours*
Swing from the right. Block. Parry, parry, counter-attack. Side-step, parry, side-step, slice. The battle between the "god" and the soldier continued, neither giving any ground. Ra had now lost one sword due to a particular heavy blow from Eric's sword. They pushed back from a sword lock and breathed deeply, trying to recover from the strenuous battle.
"You are more skilled with a sword than I thought, Colonel."
"I practice every once in a while," Eric said, shrugging his shoulders. "But enough of the small talk--let's go."
"Indeed."
With that the battle continued on with parries, blocks, and the occasional heavy blow leading into a lock flooded the sword fight, like flourishes in a dance. But both contenders began to feel the strength in them sap away, even more so for Eric. Without a decent night's sleep in over two days, the adrenaline that had fueled him for so long was almost depleted. Ra, however, was suffering from another sort of loss--the sarcophagus. He was about to take a daily trip into the sarcophagus when Kinsey arrived, and since then had been directing the defense against them. He had relied on the sarcophagus for too long for his strength, and his now-feeble body was now slowing him down.
The blows got lighter, the attacks less swift. Eventually, after several more minutes of fighting, both men again pushed back after a long sword lock to recover.
"I guess neither man is the better here," mentioned Ra. Eric laughed and shook his head.
"Probably, but nevertheless, I'm going to kill you." Pushing himself upright with the help of his sword, he balanced himself upright and motioned for Ra to come to him.
"Then so be it." Ra replied, eyes glowing and rushing at Eric.
*** Down in the armory, the fight still raged on, but was getting closer and closer to the explosives stored in the upper-most levels. Normally this would not be a cause for concern since staff weapons would normally glaze over the area they burned, but with the mixing of human grenades from the Syrians into the fight, the danger of a massive explosion was almost inevitable. One Jaffa had picked up a fragmentation grenade from a fallen attacker, and in his rage pulled the pin and threw it back at his enemy...only he threw it too far, and it landed onto a conveyor belt that would unload the explosive naquadah from the storage compartment. The grenade was faulty, and it failed to go off within the ten second time limit. Thus, the belt had moved it far into the storage room by the time the grenade had a chance to explode.
The result was catastrophic. The room was instantly vaporized, as well as anything within twenty meters of the storage room. The heat from the explosion melted weapons from across the empty chasm in the middle of the armory floors, and Jaffa and Syrians alike cried out in agony as their faces suffered massive burns and died several seconds later. Staff weapons in the immediate area also exploded, as they were run off of naquadah, thus sparking a chain reaction that looked like the armory rooms were trying to the "wave," but instead of cheers all that could be heard was the screeching of metal and cries of pain.
As a testament to Thoth's planning, the base did not lose the entire level and then begin to fall on top of itself, but rather the force of the explosion was forced outwards, creating a massive gap in the side of the fortress. Several turrets were destroyed, and once could see for a split second the shields fail from such a massive blow. The life-support systems then kicked in, sealing off the levels affected by the blast, and sending out its robotic slaves to repair most of the damage. But it had already been done...although not in the structural sense.
*** Ra was thrown from his feet as the explosion rocked the fortress, allowing Eric, who had used the throne to stabilize himself, to get in a blow at Ra. Ra tried to slash at Eric whilst getting to his feet, but Eric quickly sidestepped and avoided the blow. Seeing his last opportunity, Eric stabbed at Ra's unprotected side, slicing straight through Ra's lungs, heart, and stomach. Ra's eyes widened in surprise, glowed in anger, then slowly closed as death took the man for the last time...or at least that's what Eric hoped after learning about the sarcophagus.
Collapsing in exhaustion, Eric dropped his sword and crawled to the rings to transport him down. He hit the button and the last thing he saw were the rings coming up to him in a wave of bright white light. He had done it.
*** Eric awoke some time after to the touch of a wet cloth to his forehead. He opened up his eyes to see Natalie hovering over him, and she seemed to have a halo around her head due to a perfectly-positioned light over her.
"Well this is a welcome sight..." he moaned, sitting up and realizing he had several large and painful bruises on his torso, arms--everywhere. "So, we ready to go? Ra is dead, and I think our work here is done."
"Almost done, my boy. I've deactivated the ship's turrets and shields, but have kept the holo-projector on so as not to alarm the world any further. The virus would take more time to deactivate due to the immense size of the nuclear stockpile, but without the use of the main computer crystals, no one can launch the nukes at all." Thoth said this while tinkering with his computer, seeming to download information into large colored crystals.
"What are you doing?" asked Eric.
"He's been doing this since you left," Barr replied. "Apparently he's copying all of his research data onto those crystals in preparation of wiping all data from the computer terminals...just in case ya know."
"Good, great, grand, wonderful...let's go, shall we?"
"One more second, Colonel...done!" Thoth yelled excitedly from his computer terminal. He pressed a button that would wipe all information and then disable the ship's systems once they left. "Ok, ready to leave."
"Thoth, you realize that if you come with us, you'll be held prisoner by our military? You are, after all, a Goa'uld." Said Daniel as they walked together to the ring transporter. Thoth pressed the coordinates to the hangar bay to escape and replied:
"Then I guess I will have to earn their trust, as I hopefully have done with you."
*** Sho'lea approached the lifeless form of her master, her god. Displaying classic feminine gentleness--almost contrary to her training and attitude--she picked up the body and placed it in the sarcophagus, and ordered the remaining ten soldiers to guard the entry-ways into the command level. Moving over towards the throne, she pressed a button on the right armrest, causing a terminal in the center of the room come up.
In the event of a mutiny or loss of support systems, the command level could function as a ship in itself, even detaching from the base. It had over ten dual turrets on it and even a mini glider bay with six gliders, and was nothing to laugh at in battle. Sho'lea moved into position to detach the command level from the rest of the fortress. Within a minute the ship had lifted off and gone into hyperspace. She sensed another presence in the room, and recognized it as Ra.
"My lord, you should be resting."
"I cannot rest as I have plans to make...for my grand return!"
*Cheyenne Mountain, 1330 Hours*
"Mr. President, it's good to see you alive," Jack said, greeting the group in briefing room. It was a tight fit, but they managed.
"Good to be back, Jack--I've heard that everything is back to normal now in the world."
"Yeah, seems like we gave enough `support' to get the UN moving, and now they had the power of force to deliver and edict to all those countries who had land-grabbed."
"Which was..."
"Get out or you'll wake up with one helluva headache, sir," replied Jack, grinning. The President laughed.
"So I guess things might have changed--politically speaking, of course. We soon might be able to make the Stargate public knowledge, seeing as how close we came in the last few days."
"Sir, I still don't know how you all got out of the fortress." Carter said, speaking up at last.
"Colonel, I think the best person here would be this fine Colonel here," the President said, pointing to Eric.
"Thank-you sir. We managed to get down to the hangar bay, and found an Al'Kesh that was not one of Thoth's. Upon further investigation, we found a bunch of computer equipment and the president. Realizing what we had, we all got in it and blasted off. With the turrets disabled, none could fire on us, and we simply contacted the Prometheus and got landing permission for here."
"So where is this Thoth? No one said who or what he was," commented Jack.
"I am right here, General." Spoke up Thoth, coming to the forefront. He had changed into regular military drab, and looked much like anyone else standing there.
"A Goa'uld!" exclaimed Jack, not understanding how this had happened.
"Yes, that is what my species calls itself. However, I am sure you will find me much more...polite...than my brethren." Thoth bowed as he said this.
"Well, well, well...now I think I've seen everything," muttered Jack as he fell back into a chair, taking a swig of water as he landed.
*Haifa, Israel, Three Days Later*
Natalie and Daniel were packing up the last of the crates that had arrived from the fortress into a plane. Among the crates were various small artifacts, plus a decent arsenal of weaponry for study. They had been dispatched to the area to oversee the study of the large artifacts, and the transportation of the smaller ones. The entire Israeli commando team, after a day's worth of "interrogation," they had been released back to their commanders to do the exact same thing. Thoth was still being interrogated, although he was plentiful in both knowledge and wanting to share it. The fortress, with Thoth's knowledge, had been powered back up and placed on the moon to prevent any major prying eyes.
No trace of the former Vice President was found, although one Ha'tak and several gliders were missing from the fortress hangar bay. The command center was now situated in the third floor, since Ra left with the previous one. The nuclear weapons worldwide were now under complete control of their respective country, and most of the countries whose borders had been violated were now back under self-government and under the process of being repaid for damages dealt.
"Daniel, if I don't leave now I'll miss my date," Natalie said, making her best sad face. Daniel laughed.
"Fine, go on--but I won't be telling you if I make any earth-shattering discoveries!" He joked, and proceeded to pack up another crate. "By the way, good luck!" He added.
"Thanks!" she yelled back, running to her car.
*** "Have I mentioned you look amazing tonight?" Eric said to Natalie from across the table. They were at his favorite restaurant--Italian of course--situated right on the Mediterranean.
"Yes, and I must say you know how to flatter a girl," Natalie replied, blushing. He grinned.
"That ain't the only thing I know how to do well..." She gaped at him playfully as he took a swig of wine from his daring comment.
"Too bad we can't do this again anytime soon," she muttered, looking down into her pasta.
"I wouldn't say that," he said playfully, "Well, at least not in this restaurant."
"What do you mean?" He slid her a piece of paper he was keeping in his jacket's breast pocket. As she read it, her eyes widened in excitement and surprise.
"You're coming back!" she squealed, making half the restaurant turn and look at them. Blushing even further, she whispered excitedly to him, "How is this possible?" Eric smiled and explained:
"Since O'Neill was impressed with my squad's abilities, he proposed a plan to the Pentagon. Israel was already going to be included into the alliance due to our involvement in the incident, so he thought why not just go ahead and make way for another SG team. So now I get command of a Special Forces detail in the SGC, responsible for hostage recoveries, enemy incursions, and all that fun stuff. I also get to keep most of the men from my old squad, including a Japanese national--it just so happens that the U.S. and Japan were in close negotiations about cooperation with the Stargate program. I formally end my tour of duty tomorrow, and then I'll be in Colorado picking out a house."
"So the only real decision here now is..." she said playfully.
"Check please!"
If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to Litus Darkheart
Heliopolis Main Archive
A Stargate: SG-1 Fanfiction Site
New Beginnings
by Litus DarkheartSite Navigation
Support Heliopolis