SGC Briefing Room...
General Hammond, SG-1 minus Daniel, and the various heads of department who would be affected by the upcoming briefing took their seats around the table upon which on many occasions the fate of Earth was decided. This briefing would be nearly just as important.
Harry stood, his gleaming chromesuit rippling in the lighting coming from the roof. He thumbed a small remote control and the room was plunged into relative darkness, which was broken a few moments later when the light of a projector pierced the gloom. A top down map of the Milky Way Galaxy was displayed down to the last star, the sheer detail of it was enough to make the one or two astronomers in the room give whistles of appreciation.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, this briefing I am giving today is two fold in purpose," said Harry. "The first is to adress the problem I have noticed with regards to one of the most critical factors in any conflict, that this facility and Earth is lacking. And that is simply, Strategic Intelligence." This brought many raised eyebrows from the assembled group. "The second purpose is to outline a proposal to increase the Naquadah flow to Earth significantly." Harry looked around the the gloomily illuminated faces and saw a bit of confusion. "How are the two related, you ask?"
Harry thumbed another button on the remote and the picture of the Galaxy was suddenly colored in by dark red transparent blobs of various sizes and shapes encompassing multiple sectors and regions of the Galaxy. "This is the most up to date strategic picture of the Galaxy that the Asgard possesses. Each red area represents the holdings of the System Lord Collective." This brought forth rather alarmed muttering, and Harry understood why, as the Goa'uld easily had the vast majority of the Galaxy under their thumbs. Harry pressed the remote again and now a few tiny grey blobs were scattered about the Galaxy. "The grey blobs are what holdings the Asgard maintain, including Earth down here on the Orion arm of the Milky Way," a single star flashed red where Harry pointed. "The rest of the Galaxy, for the moment, is of no interest to the Goa'uld as they are quite close to reaching a point where further expanding their domain of influence would be unsustainable due to the sheer economics of it. They would need much more raw materiel, ships and Jaffa to expand further, however, their constant feuding and battles between each other is another factor which keeps them from overrunning our Galaxy." Harry paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts.
"The Asgard has, as the first part of their promise to help, delivered the information and means to construct subspace FTL communications technology to Earth's scientists," explained Harry, "what you see here," he gestured to the digital image of the Galaxy, "is the result. We are at the moment linked to a distant automated monitoring satellite system that has been placed at strategic positions outside of our Galaxy. With this, we will hardly ever be surprised by any significant shift in Goa'uld ship deployment."
"I don't like the 'hardly ever' part in that sentence," said Jack sarcastically.
"No technology is foolproof," said Harry with a sigh. "Due to the sheer distance these satellites are outside our Galaxy, they could not have the power to see...a cloaked vessel, for instance."
"So Apophis can still throw his fleet against Earth and we would not know it until he entered the atmosphere and started attacking," concluded General Hammond.
"Essentially, yes," affirmed Harry. "But my estimates are that he would need another two weeks to repair his fleet that was damaged in the Tobin System. And even then, Earth is not his top priority, he is more worried about asserting his dominance over the System Lords and eliminating the Tok'ra. We're at best a stinging bee to him, an irritation."
"Anyway," continued Harry, " a few weeks ago I managed to decrypt a Tok'ra communique detailing a mission report around the time when Colonel O'Neill and Teal'C was stranded in the X-301."
"You do Sig-Int on the Tok'ra?" said Jack, looking impressed.
"Indeed, I do," said Harry with a smirk on his face. "I remember their communication protocols from my time as one of them, and even though they have changed since then, it's not hard to guess how they will change them and so forth...I know how they think. The mission was one involving Selmak," Harry cast a significant eye towards Sam who perked up at the mention of the name of the symbiote her father was blended with, "he had detonated a weapons grade shipment of Naquadah near a rather rich Naquadah mine on this Goa'uld world." Harry pressed a button, and the Galaxy was wiped clean of its red and grey colorings and a single star was highlighted, quite close in relative terms to Earth, in fact, it was the closest Goa'uld territory. "The results, as anyone can imagine, was cataclysmic. A large chunk was ripped out of the planet, exposing the core and giving rise to a large asteroid belt that now surrounds the planet," the projecter changed to show a scan done of the severly damaged planet.
"The local Stargate was vaporized and of course the planet has become uninhabitable. This would normally render it unusable for anyone, but..." a smirk grew on Harry's face. "...on my request, the Asgard delivered a spare Stargate to the more stable side of the planet that I had specially reprogrammed."
"In what way was it changed?" asked Sam curiously.
"I isolated the DHD from the galactic Stargate network and programmed it to dial and receive from only one address...Earth," announced Harry.
"Are you telling me you've handed us an extremely Naquadah rich world on a figurative platter?" asked the General, looking astonished.
"Would you rather it be in the hands of the Goa'uld, fueling their war machine, General?" asked Harry rhetorically. "Now, obviously, you can't just stroll through the gate and start picking up Naquadah rocks. The mining team working the planet would have to be trained to work in pressurized suits and would need a lot of support on an ongoing basis from the SGC, but the concentration of Naquadah there makes it well worth it."
"Very well," nodded the General, as Harry switched off the projector and the lights came back on. The General turned to the assembled personnel, "Mining team leaders, I want training proposals on my desk by 1800, dismissed."
As everyone filed out, Sam approached Harry curiously. "I didn't know it was possible to reprogram a gate like that."
"The Stargate is a very versatile device, Sam," said Harry solemnly.
"Why haven't the Goa'uld done something like this?"
"The DHDs are programmed in Ancient machine code, they have no way to understand that," said Harry with a lopsided grin. Any further conversation was interupted when the base alarms went off and an incoming subspace path was announced. The General came rushing out of his office and hurried down the twisting metal staircase leading directly into the control room. Harry and Sam followed in his wake as the Iris was closed. Jack and Teal'C was already there.
The gate technician sitting behind the dailing computer was tapping at his keyboard and sure enough Harry saw an IDC signal coming through.
"Receiving IDC," announced the dark skinned Air Force tech, "Sir, we're receiving the IDC frequency, but this is not an authorized SGC code."
Harry stared at the screen as the decryption software worked on the signal and finally displayed a single word 'Comtraya'.
"It says Comtraya," said Sam in recognition.
"What does that mean?" asked General Hammond.
"Ahhh," moaned Jack in comprehension, "it means shalome, or aloha, or that stuff."
"It was the greeting used by the artificial lifeform Harlan on PX3989," explained Teal'C stoically.
"The one who duplicated you?" asked Hammond.
Harry was dying to ask, but remained silent, as he was sure he would learn more by just observing. Artificial life form? That made similar copies of SG1?
"Yes, sir," said Jack with a grimace, "please, don't open the Gate, please."
"I admit, he was annoying, but he wasn't a serious threat," said Sam reasonably.
Hammond frowned for a few moments in consideration and then turned to the tech, "Open the iris."
The assembled group headed for the gate room as the iris slid open and waited at the base of the embarkation ramp with defense teams ready and aiming their PR-7s, just in case.
A rather portly figure emerged from the ripply blue event horizon, holding his arms up to shield his own face...as if it would help when being crushed against an Iris.
"Ohhh, ohhh," moaned the figure Harry assumed was Harlan, "I have no weapons!" he announced frantically as he dropped the arms shielding his face. The 'artificial life form' had a chubby face, worried looking grey eyes and a bald head with dark grey hair on the sides. He wore a rather elegantly looking black outfit with a large thick belt on which the buckle had strange patterns.
"Stand down," ordered Hammond to the defense teams, who lowered their weapons.
"Oh, thank you for opening the doorway device that you call iris," said Harlan with sheer gratitude written on his face. Harry had to admit, for an artificial life form, they did a first rate job of imitating a real person. But as Harry opened his senses to Harlan he was even more surprised...he sensed a definite consciousness seated in the intricate systems of the life form...somehow his people must have figured out a way to transfer consciousness into an artificial matrix of sorts. Harry's ancestors had never dabbled in it, as they preffered to let nature run its course to eventual ascencion.
"Just for the record," retorted Jack, looking displeased, "I was opposed."
Harlan's face fell, looking like an adorable puppy that had been kicked.
"Welcome to Earth," said General Hammond, skipping to the formalities, "I'm General Hammond, leader of this facility."
"Comtraya, yes, I have heard so much about you."
"What's wrong Harlan?" said Sam, looking concerned.
"Oh please, yes, its a very big emergency. You must help...you."
"Briefing room," said Hammond at once, and Harry could tell just by looking at the face of the General, that it was going to be one of those days.
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When everyone was seated around the briefing table, Harlan began his explanation of the fate of the artificial duplicates of Jack, Sam, Teal'C and Daniel that Harlan had created to help him maintain his own planet.
"I told them not to go. I begged them. Going through the Stargate is dangerous, very very dangerous. You told me about the Goa'uld, you did. You must help, yes, no?" Harlan was blabbing on, thankfully, Jack interupted his tirade.
"Harlan!"
"Yes?" asked Harlan looking sheepish.
"From the beginning, please."
"The beginning, yes," Harlan paused, "They were not happy, they could not stop being you. The portable power pack you invented..."
"The robot me?" asked Sam.
"Oh, it was ingenious. Even Hubald would have been impressed. I have one in my chest now, would you like to see it?"
"Yes," said Sam eagerly.
"No!" exclaimed Jack with a frown. "You can show her later."
"Later yes. Help first," conceded Harlan looking sheepish again.
"What type of help do you require?" asked Teal'C.
"Oh, not me. You," he waved his hands in frustration, "I mean the others."
"What exactly has happened?" asked General Hammond.
"Well, they have not returned," explained Harlan.
"Where are they?" asked Sam.
"Away, they go away," said Harlan. Harry thought that Harlan seemed to have a few screws loose, he couldn't seem to make sense of inferences and underlying meaning.
"Are you saying our robot selves are going through the Stargate on missions?" said Sam incredulously.
"Missions, yes," said Harlan, pointing at Sam.
"What for?" asked Jack curiously.
"I do not really know," said Harlan perplexed. "What is it, that you do?" he pointed to SG1 in turn.
"Colonel O'Neill," said General Hammond sternly, "it was my understanding that the robots agreed to bury their Stargate and never leave their planet."
"Yes, sir," said Jack uncomfortably.
"Then it would seem that your robot counterpart is as equally good at following orders as you," said the General sarcastically.
"They have always returned after 24 hours. For safety. The power packs only last for 48 hours and they must be recharged."
"How overdue are they?" asked Sam.
"Sixteen hours. They do not have much time left. Ohhh," moaned Harlan in anxiousness.
"General," said Jack after a moment's consideration, "I don't think we're responsible for retrieving these robots."
"But you must. They are you," implored Harlan.
"Not me they're not," argued Jack insistently.
"Where is Doctor Jackson? He will help," said Harlan, looking around.
"He's on a mission at the moment," said Sam.
"Ohhh, you do that so much," said Harlan with a smile.
"The fact is," said Hammond eventually, "I don't want to risk any of my people for the sake of some androids you created without authorization. However..."
"However, yes?" said Harlan eagerly.
"...I am worried that information on this facility could potentially fall into the wrong hands."
"Ah...an excellent point," said the android.
"Sirs if I may," said Sam thoughtfully, "our robots are really so much like us they probably couldn't resist the chance to use the Gate to explore. I think then we can also assume that they would guard any top-secret information as closely as we would. Besides they don't have our IDC codes so they can't give those away."
"Colonel O'Neill, if you don't want to take this on, I'm not going to make it an order," said Hammond.
"Thank you, sir," said Jack gratefully.
"But I have grown accustomed, I cannot go on without them," said Harlan, looking desperate.
"Sorry," said Sam, looking resigned.
"Then I shall just have to help myself," said Harlan with a frown.
In the control room, Harlan was displayed a chart of the glyph co-ordinate system, and he selected the seven symbol address to where the android SG1 had gated to and was now missing.
"Hmmm," murmured Sam, staring at the address sequence.
"What is it, Sam?" asked Harry.
"We've visited this planet before," declared Sam, cross- referencing the address with the dailing computer. "P2X-729."
"We did engage in battle with the Jaffa of Heru'er. And liberated the people of Juna," explained Teal'C to Harry, as he had not been involved in the effort.
"That's right," said Sam looking thoughtful, "we told them to bury their gate after we were gone. Are you sure you've got the right address?"
"I could do a full diagnostic of my systems," said Harlan with a smile, "but it would be faster to simply dial the address."
"Proceed," ordered Hammond.
"Yes, sir," nodded Sam and she and the gate technician began to input a dailing sequence, causing the base to raise a warning alarm to all personnel.
The inner wheel of the Stargate groaned for a moment and began to spin smoothly, locking in place each glyph co-ordinate, slowly but surely. The final seventh chevron, locked and the 'kawoosh' of energy roared out of the mouth of the Stargate and settled into a smooth event horizon.
"The Gate isn't buried," said Sam with worry.
"It is possible the Goa'uld travelled to the planet by ship in order to reinstate command," said Teal'C
"Heru'er is dead, the Naquadah mine was dry, those people didn't pose any threat," argued Sam. Harry sat down at the nearest workstation and brought up the Galaxy map and found the position of Juna.
"Juna is nevertheless, in a strategic military position for basing troops though," said Harry, staring at the sector that Juna occupied.
"We told them they'd be ok," said Sam, allowing guilt to creep into her voice.
"Send a probe, let's find out," ordered Hammond.
The MALP probe was wheeled out a few minutes later and trundled up the embarkation ramp and slipped through the event horizon with a wet shlurping sound.
"Receiving MALP telemetry," reported Sam as the screen in front of her changed to show what the MALP was seeing through its on board camera. Harry saw that the area around the Juna Stargate was surrounded by a rather dense forest and allowed for covert approaches to the Gate, which was rather odd. Most System Lords cleared any vegetation for a few miles around the Stargate on their worlds to prevent the enemy gaining cover when attacking through the Gate, then again, Heru'er was Ra's offspring, and was known for his arrogance and pride. At first, no one was visible, the MALP camera panned and abruptly a rather worse for the wear Jack O'Neill came into view. Harry looked to his left to see Jack's reaction to seeing his robot clone.
"Woah," winced Jack, "I'll never get used to that."
"This is General Hammond of the SGC," spoke Hammond through the microphone, which broadcasted his voice through a tiny speaker on board the MALP.
The robot Jack kneeled in front of the MALP to look directly into camera, "Hey George, how you doing?" said robot Jack cheerfully. "Who you got there with you?"
"Major Carter, Teal'C, Colonel O'Neill, Ambassador Harry, a new addition to the team, and Harlan."
"Harlan!" snapped robot Jack into the camera, looking angry. "I told you to stay away from Earth!"
"Yeah, well, I told you to bury your Gate!" snapped real Jack into the microphone.
"Well, you seem to think that solves a lot of problems, dontcha?" drawled robot Jack sarcastically.
"SG1 was following my orders," said Hammond stridently.
"I'm sorry," moaned Harlan in distress, "I didn't know what else to do. Please return to our planet."
"I can't do that, just yet," said robot Jack, shaking his head. In that same moment, robot Jack was seen smoothly spinning around and drawing a Zat gun and aiming it at a figure that had appeared out of the nearby foliage. It was a young man with blonde hair dressed in leathers and fur and carrying a crossbow. Seeing that robot Jack had him covered, the young man raised his crossbow over his head in a gesture of surrender.
"Do not shoot, I wish to help you," said the young man.
"Why?" asked robot Jack sucpiciously.
"I now believe you spoke the truth about everything. Including the gods," said the young man confidently.
"Why should I believe you?"
"You must trust me, as I trust you. I am sorry about the one called Daniel." That did not bode well, thought Harry. Robot Jack was seemingly convinced and lowered the Zat gun and gestured to come closer. "To whom are you speaking?" asked the young man, when he stood in front of the camera looking confused.
"That's Darian," said Sam when the face became recognizable, "he was the one who led his people with us in battling Heru'er."
"Earth," answered robot Jack to Darian, "George Hammond and the other SG1."
"Hey!" said real Jack angrily, "you're the other, pal!"
"Do we really have time for semantics here?" asked robot Jack with exasperation.
"What exactly is the current situation?" asked General Hammond, getting the situation back to business.
"My Carter and Teal'C have been captured by Chronus," reported robot Jack. Harry stiffened instantly at the mention of the hated System Lord and leaned forward his eyes hard with intent. The real Teal'C's jaw instantly began flexing in anger. "He's got a ship in orbit and his Jaffa are everywhere. So it's just Darian and me."
"Please, help us," said Darian into the camera.
"You have a go. SG1 is on its way..." the General considered Harry for a moment, "...and some extra backup."
"Thanks George," nodded robot Jack. "Harlan! You stay there!" Harlan folded his hands and nodded.
Harry, real Jack, Teal'C and Sam rematerialized and stepped as one through the Juna Stargate, fully geared and kitted out for combat; their PR7s sweeping the area as a precaution. At first there was no one in sight, but Darian soon stepped out of the treeline nearby.
"This way," he beckoned. The group of five walked along through the woods and Jack felt compelled to offer his apologies.
"Listen, for what it's worth, I'm sorry about what happened here."
"Oh, I'm sure that makes him feel so much better," said robot Jack sarcastically, who was sitting patiently waiting on a felled tree.
"Hey!" snapped real Jack, striding over to robot Jack, looking incensed. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Same thing you do," said robot Jack smugly, "only better."
"What's that supposed to mean?" said real Jack, looking outraged.
"Better?" said robot Jack condescendingly. "It means bet-ter, stronger, faster."
"You're not me," snapped real Jack, "and you don't work for the Air Force."
"No," conceded robot Jack, "but that doesn't mean I can't do the job."
"What job?"
"Explore the Universe, fight the Goa'uld," said robot Jack non-chalantly.
"Oh what, like now?" said real Jack sarcastically.
"Oh, you made this mess."
"What we did was help these people," retorted real Jack.
"Oh come on," said robot Jack in exasperation, "I know you better than that. You screwed up and now you're embarrased."
"Well that's not the point!"
"And like I'm gonna spend my eternity on that lame ass planet?" said robot Jack with raised eyebrows, "sheesh."
"You gave me your word!"
"Oh is this the first time you've lied to yourself?" asked robot Jack with a sigh. "I told you what you wanted to hear. Besides, what were you gonna do? Destroy me?"
"I might have," said real Jack with narrowed eyes.
"Alright, come on, bring it on flyboy," said robot Jack provokingly, jumping off the tree and making a come hither gesture, "Let's go. Come on."
"Why you little!" said real Jack, and they grabbed at each other and began to wrestle. Harry rather wished he had a camera to immortalize this moment and circulate it via e-mail around the SGC...it would certainly provide for a few hilarious moments around the base; but time was precious.
"Jacks!" shouted Harry. Both robot and real Jack paused in their struggle and looked at Harry. "While I'm sure this is a truly unique moment for the both of you," said Harry stridently, "how about we get down to business and work out how to kill a System Lord and save the people of this planet."
"What can so few of us do?" asked Darian hopelessly, as robot and real Jack pushed off each other.
"Couldn't get Hammond to spring for more troops?" asked robot Jack.
"I didn't ask. This is our problem," said real Jack, "besides...the Ambassador here is really all the back-up we'll need."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Jack," said Harry wryly.
"So you've got some new fancy toys," said robot Jack, looking at the PR7s, "big deal."
"My bona fides will become apparent as we liberate the people of Juna, tin man," said Harry bitingly, staring at robot Jack.
"Oooh, that's clever," said robot Jack sarcastically.
"I guess we can't expect any help from the people of Juna?" asked Sam, looking at Darian.
"No," said Darian, looking grim.
"We convinced your people to oppose the Goa'uld before," reasoned Teal'C.
"Most, including myself, had never seen an actual god before. Heru'er had not come to Juna for many generations. And when Chronus arrived and displayed his great power he instilled much fear. The people are terrified."
"Then we must demonstrate once and for all that Chronus is not a god," said Harry simply.
"I suppose you have a plan to back up that rather bold and cryptic statement?" said robot Jack.
"Yes. Yes we do," said real Jack indignantly.
The forest was pierced then with the sound of a Jaffa horn call, signalling for a patrol to begin.
"It is not safe to stay here, the forests are heavily patrolled," said Darian, and rushed off, Harry, Teal'C and Sam following, while real and robot Jack couldn't resist a last parting shot.
"We're not done pal!"
"I so own you!"
The impromptu group of six liberation fighters gathered in Darian's house which was a rather modest wooden cottage with at best, medieval era conveniences. The chairs were rough, hard and rickety while the cottage itself had a rather homely cosy atmosphere. Trophies from hunts adorned the walls and the occasional basic decoration in terms of Junan culture also hung from them.
"The only rings I've ever seen were in the main pyramid," said robot Jack.
"There is a way into the main chamber," said Teal'C.
"Yeah, by putting the robot at risk," snorted robot Jack.
"Well fine, I'll do it," said real Jack with a sigh.
"No, neither of you will," said Harry with a shake of his head, "whoever attacks the main chamber will be assaulted from several directions by the various Jaffa guards stationed around the rings. Since I have a personal shield I'm the best person for the job."
"Fine," said real Jack, nodding at Harry.
"So how many Jaffa are we going to have to deal with on that ship?" asked robot Jack.
"As many as one thousand," said Teal'C, "but that is not the problem."
"What is the problem?" asked real Jack.
"The rings must be activated from within the ship itself," said Harry, staring at robot Jack pointedly.
"Now see, you didn't mention that before," said real Jack delicately.
"We had very little time to formulate this plan, O'Neill."
"It's all right," said robot Jack, looking strangely at Harry. "Carter and Teal'C might be able to help. The other ones."
"How are they gonna know what to do and when?" asked real Jack pointedly.
"I can communicate with them," said robot Jack nonchalantly, "I've been maintaining radio silence to protect my location."
"I don't see a radio?"
"They're internal," said robot Jack in a tone that said it should have been obvious.
"So you can actually send a signal?" asked Sam.
"Wait," said robot Jack, and tapped his chest, his eyes had a faraway look to them as he apparently communicated with robot Teal'C and Sam. "There's a bit of static..." he tapped his chest again a few moments later he announced, "They said they'd do what they can."
"What about the Jaffa on the ship?"
"Once we have reached the Pel'tak(bridge), the other levels can be sealed off. Chronus will have very few Jaffa remaining for support," explained Teal'C.
"What do we do with the other Jaffa once we've dealt with Chronus and taken over the ship?" asked Sam.
"Offer them freedom," said Teal'C with relish.
Cindar, the First Prime Jaffa of Chronus, sat on the throne in the inner chamber of the Junan Pyramid in seemingly pensive thought. Whatever goes through the mind of a First Prime when seated on his god's throne was interuppted however, when a lower ranked Jaffa entered and bowed his head in respect for his First Prime.
"Report?" ordered Cindar, his frown wrinkling underneath the Gold encrusted tattoo on his forehead, marking him as a servant of Chronus.
"The intruder has been captured," said the Jaffa.
What looked like robot Jack was brought in, his arms bound behind his back and being escorted by a rather pleased looking Darian pointing his crossbow into Jack's back. The pair came to a stop in the middle of the room before Cindar.
"Chronus will be pleased," smirked the First Prime.
"Truth be told," said Darian, "I don't think Chronus will be pleased at all." And without hesitating, let loose a crossbow bolt that lodged itself right into the vulnerable gap in Cindar's armor, piercing deep into his chest and causing the First Prime to sink to the floor in pain. Meanwhile, robot Jack had freed his hands and PR7s had seemingly appeared from thin air in either hand. Two Jaffa were felled on either side of robot Jack as Darian fell to the floor to wait out the firefight. Robot Jack stood over Darien and shifted his aim and started to fire a stream of blue lines of energy from either PR7, killing surprised Jaffa after Jaffa. Staff blasts started to lance into robot Jack but were stopped cold by an emerald green shield that conformed to his body. Robot Jack, shifted one PR7 to fire forward and another behind him and killed two more Jaffa, he followed it up by ducking low and pirouetting in a circle, tracing his PR7 fire to kill the last four Jaffa in the inner chamber.
"Clear!" called robot Jack towards the entrance of the chamber, helping Darian up.
Real Jack and another robot Jack entered, with Sam and Teal'C bring up the rear.
"This is most strange," said Darian, staring at the three Jack O'Neill's in confusion.
"Stuff like this happens to us all the time," said Sam with a grin.
The robot Jack that had assaulted the inner chamber seemed to flicker and now standing in his place was a grim looking Harry, his green tinted chromesuit shifting in the firelight of the room.
"Nice work," sniffed robot Jack, who was despite himself, looking slightly impressed. Harry merely bowed his head in acceptance.
"Those who're looking for a ride, better get on the rings," said real Jack.
Harry, Teal'C, Sam, real and robot Jack stood cramped within the circle of the rings on the floor, waiting for either robot Sam or Teal'C to ring them up.
"Will you be OK down here?" asked Sam to Darian.
"I'll be fine," said Darian, grabbing a staff weapon from a dead Jaffa. The whooshing sound of the transporter rings abruptly filled the air as the group within the rings were surrounded by four thick obsidian cirlces and with a flash of light were dematerialized and whisked up into the Goa'uld Ha'tak mothership in orbit.
When Harry could make out his surroundings again, they were in a Ring room, and the feel of artificial gravity pervaded his senses. Robot Sam was in the room, holding a Zat gun, and her efforts were apparent as the floor was littered with dead or unconscious Jaffa.
"Nice work," said real Jack.
"Teal'C's in trouble," said robot Sam, without wasting a moment.
"Where?" said real Teal'C.
"He's on the Pel'tac with Chronus," said robot Sam. Harry and Teal'C left immediately and without a word. As the vengeful duo walked down the corridor, Teal'C spoke up.
"I understand you wish vengeance on Chronus for your wife's family and her entire civilization," said Teal'C, training his staff weapon down corridors as they passed. "But he killed my father...allow me the satisfaction of the killing blow."
"Very well," said Harry after a moment's consideration, also scanning the area with dual PR7s. "I suppose it will be enough that I support you and back you up." Harry would allow Teal'C this, as he himself would most definitely want the killing blow on Tom Riddle for his own parent's deaths.
When real Teal'C and Harry emerged onto the Pel'tac, it was to find Chronus himself aiming a staff weapon onto a damaged and prone robot Teal'C. Harry stopped next to the throne of Chronus, while real Teal'C zatted and grabbed the lone remaining Jaffa Chronus had from behind. Using the unconscious Jaffa as a shield, real Teal'C fired a zat blast at Chronus. Since the Goa'uld had his hands occupied carrying a staff weapon, he couldn't engage his own personal shield, but Chronus was far from defeated.
The System Lord looked up and smirked. He merely raised his left hand and the Ribbon device attached to it pulsed with a restrained shockwave that almost acted as a shield and harmlessly absorbed the zat blast. Despite himself, Harry was impressed, the level of thought and emotional control needed to wield a Ribbon device in that fashion was extreme.
Chronus brought the staff weapon in his right hand to bear and fired. The blast hit the Jaffa shielding real Teal'C, but the concussive shock of it knocked both to the floor anyway. The System Lord turned the staff weapon on Harry with a sneer and fired. Harry simply dodged and the blast shot a chunk out of the wall behind him.
"Ambassador," said Chronus, with a sneer, "aiding the Tau'ri in their foolish resistance now, are we?"
"Indeed," said Harry and dodged another blast.
"You are a representative of the Asgard," said Chronus in his distorted voice, "you would risk open war?"
"You don't have the stomach for a fight with the Asgard, pathetic snake," sneered Harry in turn. "Apophis is breathing down your collective necks..." Harry shot a few bursts of blue plasma energy at Chronus, but the System Lord merely absorbed the shots as he did with Teal'C.
"How dare you..."
Chronus would have finished his sentence. But his face turned ashen and his eyes glowed white as the symbiote inside the body writhed in pain. The sound of a staff weapon blast reached Harry's ears and the System Lord's body rippled from the shock as he was hit from behind. Chronus sank to his knees and another shot lanced into his back, forcing the now dead System Lord's body to fall face forward onto the hard floor of the Pel'tac. It revealed a critically wounded robot Teal'C; silver android blood dripping from his mouth, who had managed to gather a staff weapon and shoot the distracted Chronus from behind.
Robot Teal'C turned his head to look at a recovering real Teal'C getting up from under the body of the dead Jaffa.
"For our father," said robot Teal'C with a satisfied smile, and fell to the ground...dead.
Harry and Teal'C walked over to the dead form of Chronus and for a long time, just stood over the body. Harry felt rather ambivalent about this event, but he relished the idea of finally being able to tell Apollonia that Chronus was dead.
"The people of Juna need to see this," said Harry eventually. Teal'C nodded, but first knelt next to the dead robot Teal'C.
"I will bury you in a place of honor Teal'C," murmured Teal'C to the dead robot version of himself, and closed the sightless eyes of his counterpart. The former First Prime of Apophis now turned to the body of Chronus and lifted it over his shoulders and headed back towards the Ring room. Harry sighed at the mess in the Pel'tac and after holstering both his PR7s gestured with his hands outward. The bodies of all the dead Jaffa vanished into oblivion with a swirling sound of power, leaving only Harry and the dead robot Teal'C in the Pel'tac.
Harry walked over to the pilot's console for the mothership and placed his hands into the purple control slots and stared out of the forward viewscreen into the starfield. His pensive mood was interupted when real Sam walked onto the Pel'tac. She looked sad to see the dead robot Teal'C.
"All of them are gone," she murmured.
"How?" asked Harry, as he inputted descent co-ordinates to land on top of the Juna pyramid.
"My double died from overload, she had to stick her hands through a force shield to pull out the door control crystals to isolate this level," said Sam sadly, "the other Jack died when his power ran out."
"A pity," said Harry with a sigh, as the ship began to rock slightly from descending into the atmosphere, "it would've been invaluable to study them. And it seems that Harlan will need new androids to help him out."
"Maybe you can allow him to make some copies of you, if you're that interested in the androids," reasoned Sam.
"Perhaps," said Harry, as the Ha'tak landed with a lurch on its pyramid.
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It was later that day, that Chronus' body was displayed to all the Junans and the over eight hundred Jaffa that had remained on the Ha'tak mothership. It made a strong impact on the Jaffa, and after an impassioned speech by Teal'C, all but fifty Jaffa accepted that the Goa'uld were false gods and vowed to join the rebellion. The fifty who still refused to renounce and merely claimed it was a Tau'ri trick were killed...to prevent word from reaching the Goa'uld about what had happened on Juna, lest it invite the collective wrath of the System Lords.
The seven hundred and fifty Jaffa then decided to split up. A contingent of two hundred would stay behind on Juna as guests and protection. Three hundred decided to go to Chulak and report secretly to Master Bra'tac, while the remainder would split up into even smaller groups and head to their respective homeworlds in Chronus' domain to spread the seeds of rebellion.
Teal'C was given the honor of disintegrating Chronus' body with a Zat gun before over two thousand witnesses.
Late in the evening SG1 and Harry gathered on the Pel'tac to debate on what to do with Chronus' state of the art mothership.
"I take it we can't just park this thing in the Nevada desert and let the folks of Area 51 take her apart?" said Jack wryly.
"That would be a bad idea, sir," said Sam with a grin. "This ship is over five hundred meters in width, and unlike Apophis's ships, it can't cloak. Meaning we would be visible to NASA deep space radar the moment we pass Jupiter and dozens of privately funded satellites if we ever came close to Earth with it. We're lucky Apophis maintained a extremely high orbit when he attacked Earth the first time."
"So we can't take this thing home," concluded Jack.
"There's also the matter of the time it would take," said Harry, gesturing to the forward view screen as a hologram screen appeared. It showed the Galaxy, with a course from Juna to Earth plotted with a red line. "Juna is about eighteen thousand lightyears from Earth, at the top speed this ship is capable of...a week's journey, not to mention we would have to traverse through Lord Yu's territory which is between us and Earth."
"Couldn't we just plot a course up and out of the galactic plane and go over Yu's territory?" asked Sam.
"That is an option yes," conceded Harry, "it shortens the journey as well, but if anything was to go wrong with this ship we would be stranded with no nearby planets with a functioning Stargate,"
"The Alpha site?" questioned Teal'C.
Harry considered it and plotted a new course.
"That looks better," stated Sam. "Only three days and we could avoid most of Yu's territory by just hopping out of the Galaxy at it's narrowest width."
"There is another thing you should consider," said Harry with a weary sigh.
"And that is?" asked Jack with a narrowed eyes, as he apparently sensed the sound of the other shoe dropping.
"The consequences when it becomes known that the Tau'ri have captured and commandeered a Ha'tak," said Harry looking Jack straight in the eye.
"And what consequences would there be?" asked Jack suspiciously.
"For one, the System Lords and Apophis would no longer consider us a bug to be swatted at their leisure, but rather a snake whose head needs chopping off," said Harry grimly.
"The Ambassador raises a good point," said Teal'C.
"How are the Goa'uld ever going to find out?" asked Jack in exasperation.
"If any of the liberated Jaffa are captured, for one," explained Harry.
"I have instructed them to state that the ship lost control and was destroyed in Juna's atmosphere, should they ever be interrogated on the subject," said Teal'C.
"That will buy some time, yes. But when the remaining Goa'uld claim Chronus's territory they will notice his flagship is missing, and correctly deduce what happened to it."
"So we move up on their hit list," said Jack in exasperation, "it's been a long time coming, and we've still got you and the Asgard in our deck of cards."
"Very well, I hope you have all said your goodbyes," said Harry with a frown. "The sooner we leave for the Alpha site, the better."
"We're good," said Jack cheerfully as he hopped onto Chronus' throne childishly. "Full speed ahead, Mr Ambassador. To the Alpha site!"
"Aye, aye Captain," said Harry sarcastically, as the Ha'tak rumbled with power and rose high into the atmosphere leaving Juna behind and a few moments later jumping into the swirling vortex that was Hyperspace.
Three and a half days later...
Earth's Alpha site, a planet derived from the Ancient map of Stargates which was unknown to the Goa'uld, and was the card of last resort in the Tau'ri game of survival against the Goa'uld. If a planetary invasion was imminent, a select group of scientists, artists, engineers, soldiers and anyone else critical to the continuance of Earth's way of life would be evacuated to this world through the Stargate. However, most of the time it served the role as a secondary SGC to which SG teams could travel if for any reason the primary SGC was cut off for some or other emergency. A single reduced company of SGC troops served here to maintain security and even do the odd mission when Earth's Stargate was too busy.
The Alpha site was situated in a picturesque valley with trees and bird wildlife remarkably similar but yet different to Earth and was made up of numerous prefab buildings. Normally, it was quite still during any normal day of operations and very little would disturb the tranquility of the place; except when the troops did drills, or shooting practice. Many in the SGC considered Alpha site duty a vacation to an extent when compared to the frenetic pace of duty at the primary SGC on Earth. Today was different however, and would forever mark the day when the Alpha site would lose that 'vacation' moniker.
A full company of Force Recon Marines had come through the Stargate, soon followed by a veritable slew of scientists and engineers from Area 51. The Commander of the Alpha Site was hard pressed to maintain order; it was easy to send the Force Recon Marines to beef up security and hand out duties and assignments, but the scientists were a whole different ballgame. Their luggage and equipment was enormous and judging by the portly looks on some of them, the Commander knew his food budget for this month would need to be doubled if not tripled. They were like hyperactive kids who couldn't wait for their next candy fix. They all huddled in groups and chattered about in their scientific jargon and would occasionally look up at the sky.
Finally, the reason for the sudden influx of personnel appeared.
The massive form of a Goa'uld mothership descending to land a few kilometers away from the base made for an impressive sight.
Harry stood next to the active Alpha Site Stargate a few hours later and spoke to a visibly excited looking Dr Lee, who would be in charge of the scientists and engineers going over the Ha'tak.
"Now, I've disabled the command overrides and the self-destruct, so you won't have a problem with system access or the thing deciding to blow up because it doesn't like the fact that you're taking it apart," said Harry sarcastically. "Be careful when examining the Shield generators and Hyperdrive, there's a lot of energy going through that, so don't just randomly start taking out control crystals, make sure you reference my program to determine what does what, ok?"
"Ok, got it!" said Dr Lee, and skipped off towards a waiting HUMVEE that would take him back to the grounded Ha'tak.
Harry stepped through the active Stargate and the familiar disembodied rollercoaster feeling fell over his senses and abruptly he walked out of the Earth Stargate and back into the SGC. Jack was waiting at the bottom of the ramp looking supremely disgruntled as the Gate shut down behind Harry.
"What's the matter?" asked Harry with narrowed eyes.
"Tok'ra are here," said Jack with an almost sneer to his face.
"That didn't take long, they had to have an agent keeping close tabs on Chronus," said Harry, looking unconcerned as they walked out of the Gate room and into the hallways of the SGC. "What do they want?"
"They're oh-so kindly asking for the use of 'our' new ship, in relocating their base on Vorash to a world off the Goa'uld map," said Jack unhappily.
"Not an unreasonable request in the terms of our treaty with them," said Harry airily.
"Ah come on," said Jack exasperated. "I know what's going to happen, we lend them the ship, then they're going to do some foolhardy mission while they're relocating and in the process it gets blown up or damaged. They're doing this on purpose to get their greedy little mittens on it, when we did all the hard work."
"Rather cynical of you Jack," said Harry with a frown.
"Not cynical, it's called Murphy's law."
"Relax Jack," said Harry with a smile, patting the irate Colonel on the arm, "I've got it covered."
"What?" asked Jack in confusion as they entered the briefing room.
General Hammond was in his seat, next to him, in the dull brown tones of a Tok'ra uniform sat Jacob Carter ie. Selmak and the two men were talking in low tones. Sam was sitting across from her father scribbling in a notebook, while Daniel and Teal'C were conversing over a sheet of Goa'uld writing. The five looked up as Jack and Harry entered and sat down.
"How is everything at the Alpha Site, Ambassador?" asked General Hammond.
"Things are proceeding smoothly, Dr Lee and his team is examining the vessel as we speak," said Harry.
"Has Colonel O'Neill filled you in on the request from the Tok'ra?"
"He has," confirmed Harry. "However, it's not necessary for the Tok'ra to use the Chronus' Ha'tak."
"I don't understand," said Hammond with a frown.
"Are you saying the Asgard is willing to do this for us?" asked Jacob Carter.
"No," said Harry shaking his head, "they don't have the ships to spare. I, however, do." This brought everyone's astonished attention to Harry.
"Beyond the MEV," said Daniel, "you never mentioned any other...ships. I certainly didn't see any other on Seaworld."
"How much of Seaworld did you actually see, Daniel?" asked Harry with a grin.
"Very little, now that you mention it."
"I've never wanted to stay reliant on the Asgard for every little thing I wanted to do," explained Harry. "As such, the moment the means became available to me, I undertook ship building projects on Seaworld. Two concurrently built ships were finally completed a month ago."
"Is it big enough for our needs?" said Jacob, looking hesitant and slightly unhappy.
"One is more than enough to accomodate all the Tok'ra and their equipment on Vorash, I will ask my wife to fly you wherever you wish to go," said Harry with a grin, "while I fly the sister ship and provide escort."
"Jacob?" prompted General Hammond when he saw the older General was hesitating.
"Very well," said Jacob with a nod.
"When do you want to evacuate?" asked Harry, tenting his fingers under his chin.
"As soon as possible," answered Jacob, whose head dipped and then rose to speak with the voice of a blended host, "we need to remove the double agent Tanith from our midst, he has served his purpose. Ideally, you would arrive just as this is taking place."
"My ships can reach Vorash in twelve hours, if SG1 wishes they can join me for the trip?" asked Harry lightly.
"Sir?" asked Jack of General Hammond, looking much more happier.
"You have a go."
Harry and SG1 stepped through the Seaworld Stargate not ten minutes later. It was early morning at this time on Seaworld.
"Ok everyone, stand still," said Harry, as everyone was enveloped in a column of white light and disappeared from the idyllic island on which the Stargate was situated.
They reappeared on a catwalk suspended over a huge square shaped cavern that seemingly fell hundreds of meters below them and stretched nearly three kilometers in front them.
"Wow," said Daniel, cleaning his glasses and putting them on again.
"Oh boy," said Jack, looking extremely impressed.
"Indeed," said Teal'C stoically.
Sam was speechless.
"Lady and Gentlemen, may I present the Achilles and the Briseus," gestured Harry with a satisfied flourish.
Below them, partially berthed on anti-gravity platforms, were two massive ships. Both were shaped as an oval saucer, that easily measured nine hundred meters as their largest diameter and stood in height measured from the central lowest to highest point nearly two hundred and fifty meters. The hull was an almost grey-black color and around the perimeter of the oval saucer a thick near transparent strip glowed a dull blue. The hull was tapered and almost seamless, and grooves ran along it, reminiscent of the MEVs hull. There were strips and rows of windows that pockmarked the hull in concentric circles from the centre. (A/N: To get a visual idea of this ship, think of the saucer section from the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-J as seen in Star Trek: Enterprise: Azati Prime)
A column of light descended from the ceiling to land next to Harry and when the light faded, it revealed Apollonia. She wore near diaphanous emerald green robes that was only opaque in the right places to allow her to appear amongst company. But it did little to hide the bulge of her pregnant abdomen. Harry was suffused with the warmth of her presence and he hugged her from behind, as they mentally communicated a myriad of things too numerous to mention in words.
"Sam, Teal'C, you have not met my wife yet," said Harry with a happy grin, his eyes twinkling. "Apollonia, meet Teal'C and Major Samantha Carter."
"Master Teal'C," bowed Apollonia, "you have my profound gratitude for ridding the Galaxy of Chronus. It's been a long time coming."
"It is an honor to meet you," said Teal'C, "and may I offer congratulations on your being with child."
"A pleasure," nodded Sam, and managed an friendly hug with Apollonia, despite the bulge of her abdomen in the way.
"So the Tok'ra want a lift, do they?" asked Apollonia rhetorically. "Which ship do you want to go on? You can go with my husband or me."
"What's the difference?" asked Daniel.
"There's no essential difference between them," said Harry. "The Briseus is my wife's ship, the Achilles is mine."
"I'm sticking with you," said Sam, sidling up next to Apollonia.
"OK guys, I guess, that means you're coming with me," said Harry, "have to allow the girls some time for girl talk." Sam and Apollonia grinned at each other.
On board the Achilles four columns of light flashed and Harry, Jack, Teal'C and Daniel appeared. They were in a corridor that had an octagonal cross section, that was lit with soft blue lighting and near obsidian black floors. The shapes of doors, buttons and everything else had a precise geometric shape and was placed in with a clear mathematical relationship to everything else. Harry had designed it along the same principles as the Alterans, in honor of his ancestors.
"Welcome aboard," said Harry and gestured to the others to follow him. They walked for along the corridor that curved slowly to the right, until Harry came to a stop next to a door. He waved his hand over a panel that glowed with three blue lights. The door swished open near silently and they entered a comfortable sitting room with plush soft furniture and what looked like a small self serve kitchennete, two doors branched off from the room. "This is a VIP guest room to while away the hours of our journey," explained Harry, "the large screens on the wall can offer any entertainment current to Earth, Tollan, and Hebridia, there's Asgard as well, but I would stay away from that."
"Sweet," said Jack, looking at the hi-tech yet comfortable surroundings, and plopping himself down on a lazyboy chair.
"Before you get settled I suppose you want to watch the ship taking off from the bridge?" asked Harry lightly.
"Yes," said Jack eagerly, vaulting himself up instantly, and straightening his combat BDUs. Daniel rolled his eyes at Jack's antics and they followed Harry out into the corridor.
"If you need to get back here on your own, simply ask the computer to guide you," said Harry with a grin as they walked.
"How? What do you mean?" asked Daniel.
"Computer?" spoke Harry in answer.
"Hello Harry," came a rather familiar but slightly distorted voice from all around them. "It's nine o' clock in the morning here on Seaworld. I've already taken the liberty of warming up the engines and all systems are go."
"Is that..." said Jack uncertainly.
"Apollonia's voice, yes," confirmed Harry airily. They finally approached the end of the corridor, where a set of double doors were waiting for them. They opened automatically and the four men entered what three of them assumed was an elevator. There were no buttons next to the doors and no visible means of controlling the elevator. They saw Harry turn to a screen along the back wall of the elevator which displayed a diagram of the ship. He tapped his finger on a dot near the central core of the ship. The doors closed and abruptly they were all blinded with white light that filled the small room, which dissipated just as fast. When the doors opened they realized that they had actually stepped into a Ring platform...without the rings.
Harry led the way out into a darkened room; so dark that no walls or ceiling was visible. The only feature of the bridge was a very prominent thick chair that almost seemed to be made out of marble, and was rather artfully decorated in a Romanesque style.
"Is this the bridge?" asked Jack in confusion, looking around for anything that resembled a control panel or even a window.
"It is," confirmed Harry and approached the thick chair.
"Well that chair certainly seems like something the Ancients would build," commented Daniel.
"Very good eye, Daniel," praised Harry, "the Control chair is near symbolic in my ancestors' culture as a reflection of their power and abilities." Harry sat down in the chair and instantly the transparent portions of it lit up with blue light, including the immediate area on the floor.
"Ah, so it works like the MEV," surmised Daniel. Harry nodded and concentrated. The black void around them instantly disappeared and was replaced with a 360 degree view around the Achilles of the cavern in which it was berthed.
"Ok, don't be alarmed by the transition, the ship is about to be transported into orbit around Seaworld," warned Harry, and closed his eyes. Jack, Daniel and Teal'C saw their world consumed with bright white light and the next moment it faded and it took them every bit of discipline they had not to cry out in shock; because it suddenly felt as if they were standing in the void of space above Seaworld. The only anchor they had to the fact that they were on a bridge in a ship was the glowing Control Chair on which Harry was seated.
"Whoah," said Daniel, shaking his head and hurrying towards the Control Chair to stand next to it, Teal'C and Jack following soon after. There was a massive bloom of white light to the Achilles' starboard side and its sister ship materialized next to it. Harry hands fell to the front armrests where a gelatin like pad was situated; his fingers burrowed into it and began to move in intricate patterns. A hologram appeared a few meters in front of Harry and the others quickly deduced that Harry was programming a course for the ship with his mind. The hologram disappeared soon after.
"Hyperspace in 3..2..1..," said Harry and in front of the ship a massive twisting purple vortex of Hyperspace opened...from the aft section of the emmitter that lined the perimeter of the ship a blue flash was seen as the ship was hurtled into Hyperspace...the Briseus following not a moment later.
Vorash...
Harry, Jack, Teal'C and Daniel emerged from one of the many Armory's on the Achilles fully equipped in the desert camouflage BDUs of the SGC and PR7s. Harry raised an arm to signal them to hold still and the next moment all four men were engulfed in the white light of the transporter. They were deposited at the foot of the Vorash Stargate and immediately the dry and hot air of the desert pervaded their senses.
"Why on earth did you put us down here?" asked Jack with an askance frown.
"Because..." began Harry, but was interupted when a single column of light appeared next to them and revealed Sam.
"Hey guys," waved Sam nonchalantly.
"Have fun, Sam?" asked Harry wryly.
"Yeah," said Sam with twinkling eyes and a wide smile on her face.
"Ok..." said Jack uncertainly with a frown on his face, looking at the expression on his 2ICs face. "You were going to say..."
"...because it's rude to just appear in the Tok'ra's 'top secret' base," said Harry in an obvious tone, "how would you feel if any race allied with Earth could just appear in the middle of the briefing room when they felt like it?"
"Ahh," said Jack with an air of enlightenment.
The group of five walked the now familiar path towards where the Tok'ra would meet them and sure enough they were 'mock ambushed' by a Tok'ra party that had concealed themselves under the sand. Their identities ascertained, they were escorted to the set of concealed rings. Jacob Carter was waiting for them.
"Harry," nodded Selmak/Jacob.
"Greetings Selmak, is everything ready for your departure?"
"All is ready," confirmed the Tok'ra Leader.
"You merely need send the co'ordinates of your cargo to my wife in the ship marked Briseus, there is no need for Rings," instructed Harry.
"Very well," nodded Selmak and his head dipped. "Tanith is ready to be apprehended, we have finished with him," said Jacob, nodding to Teal'C. The group stood in the ring perimeter and a few moments later they appeared within the underground Tok'ra base, with the characteristic crystalline tunnel structure. It was either careful planning on the Tok'ra's part or sheer luck, that Tanith himself was waiting near the ring platform. And Harry got his first look at the Goa'uld double-agent; his host was a young man about Harry's age named Hebron, with an angular almost regal face and short brown hair. And while Harry could see that the Goa'uld was trying to project a veneer of fairness on Hebron's features, that it just couldn't conceal that slight gleam of malice in the eyes.
When Jack noticed the Goa'uld double agent, he of course, couldn't resist a gloating quip.
"Hey kids! We're not parked in the red zone are we?"
Harry, Jack, Teal'C and Jacob walked down a tunnel towards the conference room that contained Tanith, where he was being 'subtly' contained and monitered for the moment.
"Tanith was surprised to see us," commented Teal'C.
"Uh huh, we didn't want to give him any warning," said Jacob stridently.
"Doesn't suspect you're on to him?" asked Jack in concern.
"Not that we know of. We'll see soon enough when we apprise him of our exodus," said Jacob. "As useful as he's been, we can't take him with us to the new Tok'ra base."
"What will become of him?" asked Teal'C almost eagerly. Harry looked with a little concern at Teal'C. Not a few days ago he had gotten revenge on Chronus for the death of his father, now he was surely looking for revenge for the murder of his best female friend turned mistress, the Jaffa Priestess Shau'nac, whom Tanith had murdered in cold blood. Jaffa did have a rather martialistic warrior society of course, and revenge vendetta's were commonplace, but Teal'C's eagerness was worrying...Harry resolved to keep an extra eye on the stoic warrior.
"We have a little surprise planned," said Jacob in answer, as they arrived at the conference room, "shall we?" The group walked into the room and remained standing. Tanith was seated next to a female Tok'ra Harry recongnized as being the aide to the High Counsellor Persus. Persus' bodyguards were standing behind her...seemingly for her protection, but everyone knew it was to keep Tanith in check...except for Tanith, of course.
"Ambassador Harry, Colonel O'Neill, Teal'C," said the aide, "allow me to welcome you and SG1 back to Vorash. High Counsellor Persus sends his greetings."
"Always a pleasure," smirked Jack, while Teal'C and Harry merely bowed in answer.
"I must say, Colonel, I was most intrigued by your means of arrival," said Tanith expectantly. "I was not aware the Tau'ri had the capability to build such ships."
"As much as I wish we could take credit for those babies," said Jack, mock tragically, "they are the Ambassador's ships, but he kindly offered their use to us. It's a sweet ride, smooth as silk."
"Now that we have access to a mothership-class vessel," interrupted Selmak stoically, "we will be able to move our people and our Stargate as well and thereby establish a completely new and secure base."
"I don't understand," said Tanith with a genuine confused frown, "why have I been excluded from such important information?"
"The Tok'ra did not wish Apophis to be informed," said Teal'C with relish.
"We've been aware of your duplicity from the beginning," said Selmak coldly, "you deceived and then murdered the Jaffa Shau'nac. You took the host Hebron and you've been acting as a spy amongst us ever since."
"You have been used to channel disinformation to Apophis. He will be most displeased when he learns the truth," said Teal'C with a smirk.
"This is absurd," said Tanith, with a sigh and stood to leave, clearly not believing that he could have been deceived so thoroughly. Harry inwardly smirked...the Goa'uld and their ego. He was instantly surrounded by the Tok'ra who had been posing as the aide's bodyguards and zat guns were drawn. Tanith, seeing clearly that the game was up, turned to look at Teal'C and the Goa'uld's eyes glowed in anger.
"You will never escape," snarled Tanith, "the System Lords will hunt you to the ends of the Galaxy." With that he was escorted from the room by the two Tok'ra bodyguards.
"That guy is a living clichè," said Jack, shaking his head.
On board the Briseus
Jack O'Neill was walking with Jacob Carter along a corridor and couldn't help but try to compare this ship with the Achilles or find the reason why Sam looked so...happy...after her time here and after a few moments gave up, they were seemingly identical. Jacob was sidetracked instructing a Tok'ra to move some equipment to another location on the ship.
"You'll have to take that to this secondary cargo hold," he pointed on a interactive map of the ship that the Tok'ra had with them, graciously provided by Apollonia. "We need room for the Stargate."
"Hey! Don't scuff the walls!" called Jack to the Tok'ra as they walked away, he turned to Jacob, "you guys better not be mucking around this ship."
"We're not mucking about, Jack," said Jacob dryly. "I still don't think it's really necessary for you to be here."
"Apollonia is a pregnant woman, and while her husband is on the surface coordinating the supply transfer, she can't exactly be keeping an eye on all you spies, now can she?" Jacob looked at Jack with an amused smile.
"Why thank you, Colonel," said a seductive voice from behind the two men, "I'm sure my husband appreciates your efforts." A beautifully radiant Apollonia stood behind them, this time wearing a royal blue version of her diaphonus robes. Jack was rather stupified for a moment by a combination of her beauty and the thought of her telling Harry that he was looking after her. Jacob, of course, was rather more mature about the near naked woman standing next to them.
"Apollonia, it is agreeable to see you again," said Selmak with a bow.
"I'm sure it is," said Apollonia knowingly. "I'm here to discuss a certain matter with you...I'm sure my husband did not offer the use of our ships lightly, so why then did I have to remove a hidden subspace transponder from one of the living quarters?" Jacob's eyes widened momentarily, and Jack smirked smugly at the former General turned Tok'ra.
"We make no apology for the action," said Selmak with a frown.
"Keep your friends close, heh?" said Jack shrewdly. Selmak's head dipped and turned control over to Jacob.
"I'll be blunt Jack, the Tok'ra High Council is very concerned," said the former General with a sigh, "Earth is in possession of a Ha'tak with its technologies being dissected, and now Harry shows up with these..." he gestured to the ship around them, "...which is clearly of Asgard technology or even beyond, and it's also at Earth's beck-and-call. A level of power...that I believe, Earth isn't ready for."
"Oh, and the Tok'ra and the Goa'uld gained their technology...how exactly?" asked Jack with raised eyebrows. He was referring to the fact that the majority of the technology the Goa'uld and Tok'ra has...were knowledge taken from other races.
"Yeah, but the Tok'ra were flying around space when most people on Earth still thought the planet was flat," retorted Jacob.
"In an ideal Universe," interjected Apollonia, "a race could be allowed to evolve naturally, as it was meant to be. But it's not an ideal Universe, Jacob Carter. Do you really think that Earth can just sit back a few thousand years and develop the technology naturally?" Jacob couldn't find much to counter that argument.
"I can't convince you to at least give up the Ha'tak once you're done examining it?" asked Jacob with a sigh.
"Not a chance," said Jack with a frown. "At that point, we'll still need time to build our own ships. It'll be the stopgap."
"This is me talking Jack, Jacob, not Selmak, you have no idea how dangerous that thing is."
"Hey!" said Jack growing irritated, "We were smart enough to steal it in the first place, which is more than the Tok'ra have been able to do."
"We don't operate that way," said Jacob.
"Well maybe it's time you took a more direct approach. The Tok'ra have been around for what, two thousand years? In all that time, how many System Lords have you taken down?" asked Jack archly.
"Oh yeah," said Jacob with a snort, "things have certainly gotten better out here since you started killing Goa'uld's one by one. Let's examine the results, in each case, more warlike Goa'ulds have stepped in to fill their place, there's more chaos than ever before. With the power Apophis now has we are on the brink of losing any chance of ever defeating the Goa'uld."
"That's rather hypocritical Jacob," said Apollonia, "since the Tau'ri have made their entrance into the Galaxy; Ra, Hathor, Anuk-su-namun, Seth, Sokar, Heru'er and Chronus have perished. Of those, only Ra, Hathor and Chronus have been killed solely by the Tau'ri, for Anuk-su-namun my husband claims responsibility. The rest have all been through Tok'ra involvement."
"Yeah, but our hand in them went undetected," retorted Jacob. "Our plan is more long term."
"What plan is this?" asked Jack in askance.
"Undermine the individual Goa'uld's power and keep them fighting amonst themselves until we have a way of eliminating them. Once and for all."
"Go on," said Jack expectantly.
"We're working on it Jack," said Jacob vaguely.
Vorash...Tok'ra Base...
Harry, Sam and the Tok'ra responsible for the evacuation stood in a supply room in the base. They watched as the last of the cargo containers were consumed in a flash of white light and transported to the Briseus.
"We've finished the loading of supplies," said Sam, "it's time to start transporting your people up."
"We will begin immediately," nodded the Tok'ra. It was at that moment that an alarm went off throughout the base.
"What the..." said Sam with a frown.
"That means an intruder is on base," said Harry with a frown. "But that would mean..." A barely winded Jacob came running towards them at full speed.
"Tanith's escaped."
"How?" asked Harry with a weary sigh rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"He threatened to kill the host Hebron then and there, before we would even get a chance at the extraction process," explained Jacob, "Tanith stopped Hebron's heart for a few moments and faked death, the Tok'ra entered and Tanith jumped them."
"Note to self: ask General Hammond to send some MPs along to train the Tok'ra in prisoner handling," said Harry with sarcasm.
A few minutes later, Teal'C, Harry, Jack and a pair of Tok'ra ringed out of the base to the Vorash surface, PR7s and zats and a staff weapon held ready. One of the two Tok'ra spoke into a communicator in Goa'uld as soon as the obsidian rings vanished into the ground.
"What's happening?" asked Jack, pointing to the angrily gesticulating Tok'ra, who was all but snarling commands into the small device.
"The snarky Tok'ra is the one responsible for base security, and he's rightly pissed off at his subordinates at the moment," said Harry, wincing at some of the language he was hearing.
The angry Tok'ra turned to Harry and in a more respectful tone spoke a few lines in Goa'uld.
"And now?" asked Jack.
"He is saying that Tanith could not have escaped through the Stargate," translated Teal'C this time, who was also looking furious and his jaw was flexing. "It has been heavily guarded the entire time."
"By the same guys who were guarding him in the first place?" asked Jack with a raised eyebrow, but turned quickly to the angry Tok'ra, "no offence." The Tok'ra merely nodded and began to bark more orders.
"He is out here somewhere," said Teal'C intensely, scanning the horizon of dunes and sand.
"Well he's boned without water," said Jack indifferently.
"The symbiote will sustain him for a considerable time," argued Teal'C.
"Big desert," retorted Jack.
"Allow me to end this," said Harry with a shake of the head. He raised his hand and an Asgard jewel device appeared...
"Oh, I like this part," said Jack rubbing his hands together, "get those zats ready boys," he instructed to the Tok'ra.
...Harry closed his eyes and the device started to glow in a near ethereal fashion...he instructed the Achilles to look for any blended life sign on its own...there...Harry opened his eyes. "Here he comes."
There was a flash of white light and it resolved to show a startled Tanith, and most worryingly, holding a Goa'uld communication ball. Before the treacherous Goa'uld could even think of fleeing he was struck down by a zat blast from the Tok'ra Security Chief. Harry sighed and picked up the comm ball from the desert floor, after a few moments of examining it he turned grimly to the others.
"It seems Tanith was able to get a message off," revealed Harry, handing the ball to the Tok'ra Chief. "What it said, I don't know, but we can assume Vorash is no longer safe. Take that to Selmak, we need to think of a new plan." The Tok'ra Chief nodded and he grabbed Tanith's limp arm while his partner grabbed the other and headed to the Rings.
Tok'ra Conference Room...
Harry, Daniel and Jack walked into the room where Jacob and Sam were sitting across from each other, discussing something rather intently. When they saw the others enter the room they abruptly stopped and waited for the others to take their seats.
"It seems Harry's assumption has been proven correct," said Jacob solemnly, "we've received word from our operatives that Apophis has been given our location."
"Guess Tanith wanted to make up for all those months," said Daniel wryly.
"An attack fleet is being assembled as we speak."
"How many Ha'tak?" asked Harry with a frown.
"Our operatives estimate as many fourteen Ha'tak, and more than likely Apophis himself will show up in his Shalk'ra class flagship," said Jacob.
"Shalk...what?" asked Jack in confusion.
"Put three or four Ha'tak end to end and you've got an idea of its size," explained Jacob simply. "And we estimate the fleet will reach Vorash in less than a day."
"Ouch," winced Jack.
"Despite the Achilles' superior technology, there's no way I can defeat a fleet that size," stated Harry, shaking his head, but then his eyes narrowed. "And there's no way my wife is taking the Briseus into combat."
"Don't worry," said Jacob disarmingly, "I wasn't going to ask. Sam and I have come up with a new plan. We will be sending our people through the Stargate instead to speed up the pace of the evacuation. The Briseus can go to the new secure base as planned to deliver the supplies."
"If this plan works we may be able to wipe out a significant portion of Apophis' fleet in one shot," continued Sam, "Vorash is orbiting a regular main sequence star with a core temperature of about fifteen million degrees and enough hydrogen to burn for another five billion years."
"Yeah, so?" said Jack.
"We wanna blow it up," said Jacob. Harry's eyes widened in astonishment. The Ancients had also dabbled in celestial engineering, reigniting dead stars, building energy collector grids around suns, terraforming planets, even shifting a planet's orbit further away from their companion stars to allow for the right conditions for life to flourish. The sheer technological and logistical might required was staggering...but the Tok'ra, not to mention Earth was eons away from achieving that. But clearly Sam had thought of some way to achieve it.
"Wow," said Jack, blinking.
"That's..err.." said Daniel, stuttering.
"Ambitious," chorused the two men.
"Every star is a delicate balance between the explosive force of the fusion going on in it's core which tends to want to blow it apart and the gravitational force of it's mass which tends to want to crush it into a little ball. Now if we could disrupt that balance by suddenly removing some of the star's mass we could create an artificial supernova. The blast wave would expand at nearly the speed of light. It would destroy everything in this system within a matter of minutes."
"How do you propose to remove some of the star's mass?" asked Harry with a curious frown. "There's no way you could reach in with a transporter beam, the radiation density would make achieving a lock on anything within the star's corona impossible."
"I wasn't thinking of the transporter," said Sam, beginning to look sheepish. "Well, this is going to sound a little crazy but we dial P3W 451, its the planet where we encountered the black hole."
Harry blinked at hearing that, his mind whirring through mental calculations.
"The energy from a black hole would sustain a subspace path indefinitely, and the gravitational attraction would be translated through the wormhole...you're going to fling a Stargate from the Achilles' into a sun?" asked Harry, surmising Sam's plan. It was simplistic genius at its best. And something the Ancients nor the Asgard would ever think of.
"Yeah," said Sam, looking nervous.
"The gate would have to enclosed in a force field to partially shield the relativistic effects of the black hole, and fitted with a small guidance rocket," added Jacob.
"The sun's gravity should pull it in, the force field will disintergrate and stellar matter will be sucked through that wormhole like water through a firehouse," explained Sam.
"The Gate will last for about twenty minutes in those conditions," stated Harry factually, having recalled some Ancient knowledge from the Inifinite Universe on Stargate durability.
"Excuse me," piped up Daniel,"but wasn't the Gate on P3W 451 sucked into the black hole a long time ago."
"Not necessarily," said Sam in deep thought, "that planet was probably ripped to pieces but it could take years for that matter to spiral into the event horizon, especially given the time distortion."
"Either way, we'll know as soon as we try to dial out, if we can't establish a connection, we abort the plan and get the hell out of there," said Jacob. "It's your ship, Harry, and your decision whether we try this. The Tok'ra High Council has already given its approval."
"Are there any other planets in this system?" asked Harry.
"No," said Jacob shaking his head, "there's only Vorash, and it's a dead desert planet that's wandered out of the zone of life. There's no chance we are destroying the chance for a species to evolve naturally in the future by doing this."
"Very well, let's do it."
Achilles...
Daniel, Teal'C and Jacob walked gingerly onto the Bridge of the Achilles. Teal'C was carrying a circular stasis jar under his arm and within was the Goa'uld Tanith; Harry had used the same Transporter extraction process as he did with Osiris, and the last person to walk through the Vorash Stargate was a newly freed Hebron, giving his undying thanks to Harry and SG1 for freeing him.
Harry was already seated on the Control Chair.
"Fascinating," said Jacob, looking around him and at the Control Chair with slight awe.
"The Stargate has been beamed into the port side cargo bay, Sam is already busy equipping it," reported Harry with a faraway look in his eyes, as his mind received data and reports from the ship AI.
They looked to their starboard side where the Briseus was keeping station...Harry seemed to nod at it...and the next moment the huge ship banked in a high speed turn and vanished into the purple swirl of Hyperspace.
"Setting course for the sun," stated Harry, and the Achilles, banked into its own turn and accellerated to maximum sublight thrust...0.6 of light speed. "My long range sensors are picking up the Goa'uld attack fleet...they'll be here in 68 minutes."
A holographic screen appeared a few meters in front of the Control Chair, showing a sideview of Sam and Jack in the cargo bay control room. The controls of the cargo bay were standard touchpad keys and as such, could be changed to display buttons in English as well as Ancient...so Sam had no problems.
"The timing has to be precise," said Sam towards the visual sensor that was picking up her image, "Harry, once we're close enough to the sun, slow to five percent light speed, then I'll release the Gate. That should give us more than enough time to get away."
"How much advanced warning will Apophis have?" asked Jack.
"They won't be able to detect the Gate on their screens," said Jacob in answer, "and they won't know the planet is deserted until they're in orbit. By then it will be too late."
Anxious minutes passed as the sun grew in size on the omnidirectional view from the Bridge...the computer had automatically place a filter over the image to prevent the bright light from blinding everyone. Twenty minutes ticked by.
"Ok, Sam, I've slowed to five percent light speed, we're in position," said Harry.
"Cargo bay's gravity generators at maximum," reported Sam, "initiating remote dailout sequence." Another visual sensor feed came on this time showing the Naquadah Black Stargate as its inner wheel spun and locked in coordinates, and as such an anxious twenty seconds passed as the Gate tried to establish a wormhole directly to a black hole. Sam then visibly let out a relieved breath as the kawoosh effect was seen and a subspace path was established. "It worked. The Gate on P3W 451 is still active. Engaging force field." The Gate was then encased in a blue haze that emerged around it like a fog. Sam exhaled and shook herself.
"Something wrong?" said Jack nonchalantly.
"No," said Sam stridently, "I've just never blown up a star before."
"Well they say the first ones always the hardest," said Jack in an enigmatic tone. She looked at him strangely. "They say that."
"Opening cargo bay doors," said Sam. Those on the bridge watched as the curved doors smoothly opened to reveal the bright sun beyond dominating the view. "Releasing clamps," the clamps at the base of the Stargate retracted and gate was suspended within the gravity field inside the cargo bay. The small retro rocket on the one side fired giving the Gate momentum and it began spinning like a very slowly flicked coin and navigated itself out of the cargo bay, "the Gate is away." The Stargate fired another rocket to arrest its spinning motion and that was when the sun's gravity started to draw the freely floating object toward it like a lion grabbing its meal.
"Gate trajectory is on course," said Harry with narrowed eyes, watching the Gate drifting towards the sun. "Alright time to go." The Achilles was about to bank away from the sun to jump into Hyperspace when his AI screamed a warning in his mind. The shields were raised just in time to stop the energy torpedo attack from an Alkesh bomber that had decloaked.
"What the hell?" said Jack as the ship had a slight jolt from the attack.
"We are under attack," said Harry simply as the Alkesh continued its strafing run over the main length of the ship. The shields absorbed it rather easily and it merely caused a few shudders to run through the ship. "Stupid," said Harry with a sigh. With hardly any warning the Achilles retaliated. The emitter ring around the ship glowed a bright yellow for a moment and it seemed to condence onto a point...and a beam of yellow energy lanced out towards the frantically rolling and diving Alkesh. Its manuevering was futile as the beam hit with deadly precision, going through the shields of the Alkesh like they werent ever there...a relatively small explosion punctuated its death as it was scattered into its constituent atoms.
"Cool," said Jack, who had apparently watched a visual feed that Sam displayed for him.
"Apophis can't be here already can he?" asked Daniel.
"It's too early," said Jacob shaking his head. "I think that might have been Tanith's ride we just destroyed. He probably had it waiting in a nearby system and contacted it before he could be apprehended again."
"So, are we leaving now?" asked Jack.
"Yes, but I first want to release a stealth drone," said Harry in thought, "so we can get confirmation on the results of the supernova."
"Good idea," said Sam with a grin. Their attention was drawn to movement as from the upper part of the saucer section a small tube opened and what looked like a yellow star streaked out at high speed...a few moments later the drone changed color to mimick the void of space and vanished.
"Jumping to Hyperspace," said Harry with a satisfied grin. The world around the bridge swirled with purple and blue energy and a few moments later they were cruising down the long tunnel of blue subspace that rolled passed them with rapid waves of energy.
Half an hour later, with Jack and Sam, now also on the bridge, they watched the sensor and visual feed from the Vorash System. The fleet of Goa'uld attack vessels appeared a few lightminutes away from Vorash itself, including the large Shalk'ra class vessel.
"Apophis is there," said Jacob with relief.
"Predicted supernova event in...three...two...one...now..." said Harry expectantly, looking at the sensor feeds. For a moment...there was nothing, then...
"Supernova is forming!" exclaimed Sam. The drone was in a perfect position to capture the advancing wall of plasma and stellar matter that obliterated Ha'tak after Ha'tak.
"Come on!" said Jack in encouragement. "Toast that snakehead's ass!"
However, that was were good fortune and surprise was lost. Apophis was furthest away from the advancing Supernova...and as such had time to react...the Shalk'ra turned to point past the drone and it zipped into Hyperspace window that had formed just a few thousand kilometers away from the drone. Jack let out a string of curses that would have made a sailor blush. Teal'C merely dropped his head in disappointment.
"Damn!" said Jacob in anger.
"So close," muttered Sam
None of them understood though why Harry suddenly began to laugh. And laugh he did, until tears were coming out of his eyes.
"Hey, what's the joke?" asked Jack angrily. "Let us in on it too, so that we can laugh."
"Hahahahaha, Oh, I'm sorry, wheee, I should explain myself," chuckled Harry and snorted and had another bout of histerics.
"Hey!" shouted Jack.
"Oh, right, sorry, it's just that," Harry shook his head with a wide smile on his face, "Apophis clearly forgot to read his Hyperdrive safety manual."
"They have manuals?" asked Jack.
"No, it's just that, Apophis opened a Hyperspace window within the direct vicinity of an expanding Supernova," said Harry looking with twinkling mirth filled eyes at Sam, who also seemed to get it but apparently didn't find whatever it was funny enough.
"Explain it please for those of us not versed in astrophysics," said Daniel wryly.
"Well, a ship opening a Hyperspace window has to a use an energy reserve to do it," explained Sam, "conceivably, the larger this reserve, the faster and further you can go."
"So?" said Jack looking clueless.
"So, Apophis opened a Hyperspace window with not only his own ship's energy, but also that of the supernova, that's a near immeasurable amount of energy," said Harry with a grin. "My AI estimates that his ship just travelled nearly four million light years...on a trajectory..." he stared towards one side of the bridge where a holographic screen came up. "That places him within the Ida Galaxy...I guess I'll have to give Thor a call and tell him to pay a little visit to Apophis."
"What will the Asgard do with him?" asked Teal'C.
"He's in a very big mothership," said Harry with a lopsided grin, "the Asgard will view it as an accidental invasion...and deal with it."
"Goodbye Apophis," said Jack, with a big grin on his face.
A week later, Harry came with the confirmation...Apophis had been killed.