Seaworld
Harry stepped through the event horizon of the Seaword Stargate and felt the calm and relaxation of the pristine environment settle on him like a comfortable blanket. It momentarily drew away his thoughts of worry about Daniel's fate. The Stargate snapped off and he decided to take a circuitous walk on the beaches, he ordered his chromesuit to pull away from his feet to leave them bare and stepped out of the foliage and onto the beach. The combination of sound from the crashing waves, the beach sand between his toes, the beautiful scenery all helped when he was in a contemplative mood.
Thoughts of Daniel returned and with them came the paradox of what was learned about Anubis. The Goa'uld had apparently learned to ascend…somehow, but obviously the Ascended Alterans didn't want someone like Anubis among them with the power of an Ascended. So they sent him back…but for some reason didn't go through with it all the way, he was still a being of pure energy, but confined to the material plane. But the conundrum and paradox was…that it required a purity of heart, an acknowledgement of the truth to achieve the highly elusive mental state to Ascend…so how in all of God's Creation did a Goa'uld as evil as Anubis achieve that?
It was a puzzle that had to be solved if Anubis was ever to be stopped permanently. That brought up the little matter if Harry was to ever fight Anubis…what would be required, could he even kill an Ascended Being? It was a matter that bore further research.
He stopped on the beach and Apparated himself to the stilted cabins on the atoll lagoon. He was pleasantly surprised and delighted at the sight that greeted him on the beach near the cabins.
Hermione was there. He had long ago received word of her recovery, but seeing it for himself brought warmth back to his heart. She was dressed in a two-piece bikini with a thin sarong tied over her hips and she was seated on the beach sand, entertaining Alexandra and Jason. Aiyana was also there in a similar bikini and also involved in amusing the Alteran twins (now two years old)…who were clearly in a world of fun as they ran about splashing each other in the shallow surf.
He wondered where his wife was though. A look at the position of the sun answered the question; at the Temple going through the morning ritual no doubt. He felt a fit of mischief coming over him and willed an Invisibility field over his form and carefully moved forward silently, until he was just a few feet from the surf. He reached out with his mind and summoned a reasonable mass of water to suddenly rise out and splash into the four unsuspecting prank victims.
Hermione and the twins squealed in surprise, whilst Aiyana merely took the drenching and glared in his general direction. Damn, forgot she's not fooled with Invisibility, he inwardly chuckled.
"What the…pffttt?" spluttered Hermione and spat some water out.
"Patris!" moaned the twins indignantly. He knew that the two little sprites couldn't see him, but they knew what their father was capable of…and he filled with parental pride at their cleverness in deducing that it was he. It was enough to distract him and be surprised by another torrent of water that blindsided him; it was enough to knock him to his knees.
"Ooompph!" he grunted and abruptly re-appeared as his focus was disrupted. "You didn't have to shoot the water so hard!" He glared balefully at Aiyana, who merely grinned smugly at him.
His two sopping wet children decided it was the perfect time to attack their father and dived for his midsection. He laughed and caught both easily, but pretended to get knocked back for their benefit.
"Naughty Patris!" declared Alexandra triumphantly.
"Cool!" said Jason. "You make biggest splash Patris!"
"Oh dear, you seem to have caught me," said Harry in mock-concern, his mouth twitching in mirth. "Have you two been good? Your lessons?"
"Auntie Heimdall says we do well!" declared Alexandra.
"Does she?" said Harry, feeling the truth in the words. "Good, now let your poor father up. I have to speak to Hermione and Aiyana." The twins clambered off him and returned into their playfulness. He stood only to be nearly bowled over again when Hermione rounded him in a hug.
"Harry Potter, do not ever do that again!" she declared.
"It's only a little water," he grinned and held her at arm's length. "Are you well?"
"Well? I'm wonderful thanks in no small part to you," she said stepping away from him with reluctance clear on her features.
"Aiyana did the hard work of healing you, I merely got you out of there," said Harry shaking his head.
"Still modest as ever I see," she said ruefully. "You're truly lucky to be blessed with such children Harry."
"I know and give thanks every day for it," said Harry, his heart swelling slightly at the statement. "And what do you think of their mother? I assume they've met?" he asked of Aiyana, who nodded.
"She's beautiful, amazingly open minded and a talented Metaphysicist," said Hermione, her eyes wide and impressed. "Though a bit too open minded…she asked me…well…" Hermione blushed.
Harry chuckled in appreciation; instantly deducing what his wife had asked.
"She came from a society that descended from the Classical Greek era, and largely kept those morals and beliefs …one of which was polyamorous relationships. Sex was also a much more open topic for discussion than it is in contemporary Terran culture."
"Ah," she said, still blushing. "Well…umm…what do you think I should do? She was most…"
"You already know where I stand," said Harry seriously. "If my wife asked, then all that's left is your decision…and that's something I don't want to influence. Contrary to Terran and even Old Greek standards, Apollonia is ruler of the house, since I am too often away."
"Ok," said Hermione, still blushing.
"We can catch up more later, but I've come on business," said Harry, steering the subject away. He sat down on the beach to watch his frolicking children and the two women sat down to his left. He reached to the upper leg of his chromesuit, which liquefied partially on command and the obsidian tablet discovered on Abydos appeared in its cloth wrapping, he carefully took it and handed it over to Aiyana. "See what you can make of that."
Aiyana nodded and unfolded the wrapping carefully in her lap. The instant she saw it she gasped in astonishment.
"Where did you find this?" said Aiyana breathlessly.
He explained the events of Abydos, which took slightly longer than normal since Hermione occasionally asked for clarification of something. Their reaction to Anubis' Ascended nature was almost a mirror of his own.
"Can you read it?" asked Harry.
"Yes," she nodded, staring transfixed at the writing. "It refers to the Capital of our Civilization. It speaks of the Great Plague, their journey into the unknown beyond this Galaxy, and later how the Alterans hid the city from others who might try to find it, and removed all reference to it in their written history."
"How on Earth would they hide an entire city?" said Hermione in astonishment. Aiyana gave a questioning glance to Harry, who nodded.
"It's rather easy actually," grinned Aiyana, "when you consider that it's actually a gigantic starship as well."
"A ship the size of a city?" said Hermione, shaking her head in trying to comprehend that. "But if that's the case…it could literally be anywhere…not just on the millions of planets but also anywhere in the void of the Galaxy."
"It might not even be in this Galaxy," said Aiyana dismally. "How I wish they could've told me where they were going," she mumbled.
"I've tried to use the Legacy," said Harry with a wince. "The knowledge is…there, but inaccessible. It's almost like a limited Fidelius was placed on it."
"Our Ascended brethren clearly does not want to make it too easy for us," grumbled Aiyana. "The way I see it, there is only one approach if we want to find the Lost City; we need to find the Alteran Outpost on Earth. It should have the coordinates of the City encrypted and logged in its databanks. There would have been no way for them to remove it when they returned ten thousand years ago."
"Yes, there's just the same little obstacle of five million years of ice and tectonic shift standing in our way," agreed Harry.
"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.
"It most likely somewhere in Antarctica, because that's where we found the oldest Stargate in the network, and where we dug up Aiyana out of hibernation," explained Harry nonchalantly.
"You can hibernate?" said Hermione in confusion.
"I'll explain later, it's an Alteran thing," said Aiyana.
"Can you run a regressive geological analysis on the computer and estimate where the Outpost is now?" asked Harry. "If you can remember precisely where it was five million years ago," he qualified.
"I'll try," promised Aiyana. "I also think that finding an active Alteran Knowledge Repository would be useful in our search as well."
"Earth has one it discovered and retrieved but it's already been fully discharged once into Jack O'Neill," said Harry.
"Then that one's useless, they were designed to be used as needed by a trained mind, O'Neill's undisciplined use of it caused it to dump everything into his brain. Draining the Zero Point power source permanently."
"When do you wish to start?"
"Tomorrow," said Aiyana firmly, handing back the tablet. "Today is for us, friends and family."
"Couldn't agree more," said Harry pulling Hermione into a hug.
Briefing Room, SGC, Earth
"I've finally received some Tok'ra intelligence to relay on Anubis' activities since he obtained the Eyes a few weeks ago, and he's been busy," said Jonas, looking disgruntled. Harry seated next to him understood the emotion Jonas and by extention Kanan the Tok'ra, was feeling. Even though Jonas was the Tok'ra liaison for Earth, the frequency of Intelligence reports that came through the Gate for him left a lot to be desired.
Cooperation and accepting help is unfortunately not something that my descendants are used to doing, said Egeria.
Yeah, I suppose we can't blame them considering the history of their struggle against the Goa'uld, mused Harry internally.
"By all means, Mr Quinn," said Hammond, inviting Jonas to take the floor.
"To put it succinctly he's going after the System Lords and decimating their forces systematically with the Caesim superweapon," said Jonas. "Now ordinarily this would be a good thing in the short run, but once Anubis finishes with them…"
"He's gonna come for us," said Sam grimly.
"I would think we would be able to stop any incursion by Anubis' Command ship into our space, considering the forces we have in system, even with the superweapon against us," said Harry thoughtfully. "But that is only if he strikes at us with that single ship, but if he arrays a fleet of Ha'tak around it, which I'm sure he will, then we could be in trouble."
"Which means we need a plan to remove Anubis' advantage," mused Hammond. "Level the playing field."
"I anticipated your request…and I've, um, already thought of one, General," said Jonas with an uncomfortable grin.
"Let's hear it, son," said Hammond seriously. Jonas nodded and brought out a folder and handed out three glossy sheets with a high-resolution image of the Abydos Alteran tablet to them.
"The tablet?" asked Harry.
"Yes, now while Aiyana has the original and working on finding the Lost City, I've thought of a way we could use it or more accurately, an altered forgery of it, in the meantime," said Jonas. "Now, what I propose is that we use it lure Anubis and his Command ship to a place where we want him to be; since I'm most certain that Anubis would want something like the Lost City for himself."
"But instead we ambush him?" asked Sam.
"Exactly," nodded Jonas. "Now I've studied enough military tactics and with Kanan's knowledge to know that the terrain and ground you ambush somebody on is critical. Therefore we need a perfect spot that might look like the Lost City at first glance. Enough to keep Anubis there for a while."
"You've found something that might fit the bill?" said Harry with a raised eyebrow.
"I have," Jonas picked up the remote for the wallscreen and zoomed in on its default image of the Galaxy to a point fifteen thousand light-years along the Orion Arm from Earth. An image of a tiny Stargate and its relevant address appeared there. "There's a reference in some partial translations that Doctor Jackson was working on from the Library of the Four Allied Races. It talks about a city of the Alterans called Vis Uban as being a place where the plague began. This was going to be the crown jewel in the entire Alteran domain. Only it was still under construction when the plague broke out."
"Then how did you match Vis Uban to that Gate address?" said Sam curiously.
"It's not a certain match, but four years ago, when Colonel O'Neill had the Alteran repository of knowledge downloaded into his mind, one of the things that he did was to put a ton of new Gate addresses into the SGC computer. Now, I know we've only sent probes and explored maybe a quarter of those…but do you think the Colonel came up with these gate adresses randomly? Or is there some sort of order?"
"Yeah, I suppose…" said Sam uncertainly.
"If Vis Uban wasn't finished being built at the time the entire Alteran civilization fell…"
"You're saying Vis Uban is the last one on the list then?"
"Well, we've been going in order from first to last, right?" countered Jonas.
"It makes sense," nodded Harry eventually. "The way in which the Alteran's named planets was that each of the thirty nine Stargate symbols had a corresponding syllable …the six coordinates relevant syllables would be strung together to form a word…naming the planet and allowing those with the proper knowledge its address in the same instance. Vis-u-ban Au-ri-ga. It matches."
"Send a probe," said Hammond eventually to Sam. "Let's see if we can bait this trap."
Visuban Auriga
Since they were going into the relative unknown, SG1, SG3 led by Colonel Reynolds and Harry arrived on Visuban Auriga in full PR8 battle suits. The Stargate shut down behind them and allowed them to behold a fairly barren landscape with a distant forest to the West, mountains far in the distance all around them, but to the North the view was dominated with the visible ruins of a half finished city clearly built by the Alterans.
"Your suit get any sign of the Plague?" asked Jack, with a slight nervous inflection in his voice.
"No, thankfully," said Harry with a grin, after consulting the chromesuit AI.
"Ok, just checking. SG3 standard perimeter, watch our backs."
SG1 and Harry set off for the main section of the ruins; a journey of close to half an hour of walking. So far, things were looking good for using this place as an ambush.
However, their sensors soon picked up a mass of lifesigns concentrated in a central city square of sorts. They eventually also began to hear the bustle of what had to be a village of people, encamped in colorful large tents within the shelter of the ruins. Harry noticed they were of Middle Eastern Terran origin; wearing brightly colored robes and animatedly talking to each other, doing business and so forth.
They emerged onto the main staircase leading down into the city square without challenge. The villagers who did spot them looked at them strangely and warily, but kept their distance.
"Well, these folks are colorful," said Jack wryly.
"They look like some sort of nomadic tribe that's just taken up residence," said Jonas thoughtfully.
A slightly nervous looking handsome young man, with blue robes and a slight brown skin finally approached the Terrans.
"Greetings, I am Khordib."
"Greetings, we're travelers from a planet called Terra," said Jonas, taking on the role of spokesperson.
"You came through the Chappa'ai?" asked Khordib.
"The Stargate, chappa'ai," clarified the Kelownan.
"He is Jaffa," frowned the young man, pointing to Teal'C…who in response merely raised a stoic eyebrow.
"No, but he plays one on TV," kidded Jack.
"This is Teal'C," said Jonas earnestly, "he's no longer allied with the Goa'uld. We come in peace and so does he, we wish to be friends."
Khordib let out a slight sigh of relief. "We too are travelers. This place is not our original home, but…we have been here for some time now. If you wish to lay claim…"
"No, no, nothing like that, we just want to get to learn more about your people and take good look around these ruins. We also have a proposal for your people…nothing nefarious, but we might need your help…is there a leader of your…tribe?
"Shamda is eldest, he speaks for all, I shall fetch him," said Khordib, and disappeared back into the throng of the tent village. It wasn't long before the young nomad returned but this time with a stern looking old man in light blue robes…he had a gimlet eye on the Terrans whilst simultaneously berating Khordib for so easily trusting strangers.
"They are travelers like us," objected Khordib as the two drew near, "they say that they are friends."
"No one can be a friend if you know not whether to trust them," said Shamda sternly, appraising the SG1 and Harry.
"Don't judge a book by its cover," retorted Jack, a grin forming on his lips.
"Enemies promises were made to be broken," said the old man, his stern visage softening somewhat.
"And yet, honesty is the best policy," countered Jack with another proverb.
"He that has too many friends has none," said Shamda, his mouth twitching.
"Ah, but birds of a feather…" said Jack, looking smug when he saw that Shamda had no immediate retort. The old man got a curious look on his face.
"I'm unfamiliar with that story. What lesson does it teach?"
"It has to do with flocking…and togetherness…and…to be honest, I'm not that familiar with the particulars myself. The point is, we're not your enemy. Give us a chance to prove it."
"Colonel."
It was Reynolds, he and his SG unit were approaching from round the corner.
"We found something you all might want to see."
Harry noticed the robed figure trailing behind the SG unit, and the instant they reached the bottom of the stairs he got a good look. Harry gave a slight gasp of astonishment and felt relief.
He was safe. And he had seemingly been Descended.
"Daniel?" said Jack, his voice uncharacteristcally breaking at the sight of their old friend.
"Mohsen," greeted Khordib in contrary.
"Mohsen?" questioned Jack.
"It means 'one who does good'," said Shamda.
"We found him naked in the forest twenty five suns ago, he can do amazing things…" said Khordib eagerly.
"We don't doubt that," said Harry.
"Seems he doesn't remember who he is," said Reynolds softly.
Daniel with his hair more unruly than they were used to seeing and again with no glasses, had stood at the foot of the stairs during all this…looking at them with a stranger's eyes. Harry saw immediately that Reynolds spoke the truth.
'Damn those stuck up Ascended fatuus,' groused Harry internally, furious at what the Alterans had done.
'They do seem to have a chip on their shoulders…then again they have good reason for it,' pointed out Egeria.
'I don't care, they descended him and erased his memories…Descension is valid punishment…but not this!'
"Daniel?" said Sam kindly, approaching him slowly, and reached out to place a hand on his shoulder, "It's okay. It's me…Sa…" Daniel abruptly raised his hand to stop her and she was surprised by the small telekinetic shove that pushed her away from him. Sam looked shocked and devestated by this.
"Do you not recognize us, Daniel Jackson?" asked Teal'C, with near astonishment on his face.
"I'm sorry," said Daniel finally, with a wooden expression and walked off among the tents.
"Not even me?" shouted Jack indignantly.
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Harry and Jack entered the darkened interior of the tent to which Daniel had retreated. It was quite cozy; with thick rugs, pillows strewn everywhere, thin silk veils divided certain parts of it and not a single piece of hard furniture in it. Daniel was seated on the floor with his back to the tent entrance. Harry could feel the emotions of despair and fear rolling off the man in waves.
"Please leave me alone," said Daniel softly.
"I'm Jack O'Neill, this is Harry Potter…and bar some freakish similarity, you are Dr. Daniel Jackson," said the Colonel.
Daniel turned to face them both and Harry had to deflect a Legillimency probe from entering his mind.
"Don't do that Daniel, it's rude to play in other people's heads," said Harry with a soft rebuking tone.
"The fact that you can stop me probably means that we are of the same people," reasoned Daniel, "but it doesn't matter. This tent is all I know. These abilities that let me heal, move things, and see others thoughts are all I know…these people are all I know, but I help them. Before I woke up in the forest, I don't remember anything. I've tried. I've tried to remember who I was before. I can do all these amazing things yet I can't do such a simple thing as remembering who I was. Sometimes I think it's right there, floating in front of me…I try to grab it, and it's gone."
"You were a member of my team, SG-1. You're a friend of mine. Last year, you died," said Jack seriously.
"I'm dead?" said Daniel in confusion.
"Obviously not. You just sort of died. Actually…you Ascended to higher plane of existence. Last time we saw you, you were helping us fight Anubis."
"Anubis?" asked Daniel cluelessly.
"Yeah, kind of over-the-top, cliché bad guy. Black cloak, oily skin, kind of spooky. Anyway, since then you've obviously retaken human form. I…well, I can see how this might sound a bit unusual…"
"A bit?" said Daniel incredulously. "Why am I here?"
"I don't think we can sugarcoat this…" said Harry with a sigh. "But you are probably here as a punishment."
"For doing what?" said Daniel in exasperation.
"When you Ascend…there are certain rules you must follow, in fighting Anubis…helping us, your friends, you broke them."
"How can this be punishment when I don't even remember what I did wrong? Doesn't a criminal have to acknowledge his crime to be punished for it…hey, how did I remember that?" said Daniel in confusion, his eyes crossing.
"Hmmm, the game's afoot," said Harry, walking closer.
"Sherlock Holmes…what?" said Daniel, shaking his head.
"Is that a good thing?" asked Jack.
"Well, it seems that your memory hasn't been blocked completely from you…it's been Obscured only," murmured Harry in thought. He reached out with his hand towards Daniel's head. "If you will permit me, I can just glance at your mind…see if this is indeed the case." Daniel leaned backward wearily. "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you…"
The truth in the words must have registered to Daniel's senses and he leaned forward. Harry rested his hand on the amnesiac's head and stood dead still for a few moments.
"Oma, you are a sneaky woman," said Harry eventually, pulling his hand away and stepping back.
"Oma?"
"She is an Ascended being and your friend and mentor…I believe she's responsible for your rather swiss cheesed memory."
"Why would she do that if she was my friend?" asked Daniel with a frown.
"She may not have had any choice in the matter…she herself is bound to the same non-interference rule you were, and she helped you Ascend. When you violated the rules, she was most likely forced to do this as punishment under orders from the majority of the Ascended. Yet, there is hope…she saw a loophole I believe…instead of blocking your memory and leaving you with a permanent loss of identity…she only obscured it; meaning that with a proper stimulus your individual memories would restore themselves."
"I see," said Daniel, with a slight hint of uncertainty.
"Think about it, Daniel, look to your heart," said Harry with grin. "We will leave you to consider."
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Harry and Jack approached Sam who was talking to Khordib about anything they had discovered or found in the ruins. The young man replied in the negative, shrugging his shoulders.
"Thanks anyway," said Sam.
"You're welcome," said the young nomad and walked off.
"Jonas and Teal'C are helping SG three and five begin the preliminary sweep," she reported to them.
"Well, I think it's your turn to encourage our wayward amnesiac space monkey," said Jack wryly.
"What did you find out?" asked Sam.
"I telepathically scanned his mind, his memory is still there, but inaccessible," said Harry astutely. "The Obscuring can be removed if we prompt him with reminders of his past…as Jack suggested."
"I'll give it my best shot," she nodded and headed into the tent.
Shamda returned and once again wanted to engage Jack on any moral stories that he knew. What followed was an amusing fifteen minutes of storytelling…Jack's stunted stories didn't really compare to Shamda's…as it was obvious the man was an accomplished orator, clearly this unique nomadic culture thrived on them.
Finally Sam returned from the tent and rejoined them with a slight hopeful expression on her face. Clearly whatever she had said had encouraged Daniel to return with them.
"Carter, Shamda here was just telling us a story about…a dog and some dancing monkeys," said Jack in delight.
"The moral of which: appearances can be deceptive," said the pleased nomad leader.
"I got that," said Jack, putting his hand on the older man's shoulder friendily, "very good story. Wonderful! Full of nuances. I like that."
Jonas and Teal'C approached from the main stairs into the square.
"We sent up a UAV," reported the Kelownan.
"The ruins are quite extensive," rumbled Teal'C with a hint that he was impressed.
"It's going to take us weeks to scour the place properly for anything Shamda's people might've missed," said Jonas further.
"Khordib tells me you have a request to make," said Shamda raising a hand.
"We are currently fighting against a powerful Goa'uld called Anubis," said Harry. "He has a ship of great power that has put him in dominance over other Goa'uld and he is destroying them easily. We need to destroy the ship."
"You speak of a war between great powers, what can my people hope to contribute to that?" asked Shamda gravely.
"Never sell yourself short," retorted Harry and grinned. "For its but a small pebble that can begin the avalanche."
"Truly," said Shamda, looking delighted at hearing a new metaphor.
"We need to use this place to lure Anubis and his ship here," said Jonas. "A trap where our own ships will be waiting for him."
"And we cannot be here for that," said Shamda in comprehension.
"We would aid you in relocating to any world of your choosing through the Chappa'ai, and perhaps there are things we can trade with you in the future," explained Harry.
"I will speak to my people, I can see the benefits it would bring…but tell me, what would you do if my answer had been no?"
"We would've been disappointed and tried to find another planet with these types of ruins," answered Harry easily and truthfully.
"Very well," said Shamda, bowing to them.
"What of Daniel Jackson?" asked Teal'C next.
"He's going home," said the man in question, stepping out of the tent…a look of resolve on his face.
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SGC, Earth
General Hammond watched with inward astonishment from the foot of the embarkation ramp as SG1 and Ambassador Potter returned, escorting Daniel Jackson through the event horizon of the Stargate. The man looked a picture of health, a complete contrast from the last time he had been on the Base, dying from radiation poisoning. Now Hammond felt something that he did not expect…a measure of joy at seeing the return of Daniel. He had to admit that he was slightly more attached to the members of his command than an ordinary General would allow himself to get. It was mainly due to the first few years of the SGCs operation…when all that had stood between them and disaster and death was the people on this base…it had forged bonds of near family and shared experience. There was nothing that they wouldn't do for each other within reason.
"Welcome back, Dr Jackson," said Hammond with a smile.
"Thank you, thank you very much," said Daniel, looking around him curiousity and amazement at the spartan and high tech environment of the Base.
"You have no memory of who I am?" asked Hammond, he had been a bit leery of believing the report sent through the Gate, mostly for Daniel's sake.
"None whatsover," confirmed Daniel steadily.
"Neither do I, sir," quipped Jack. Hammond immediately sent his best reproving General expression that quelled his second in command's usual hijinks very effectively. It didn't fail as expected, and Jack sent him an apologetic look.
He beckoned Daniel towards the main blast door, "That way."
A few hours later and one medical checkup confirmed that it was indeed Daniel, that he was in prime health, no diseases, no nothing…he didn't even need his customary glasses anymore.
"I guess the Ascended were kind enough to rid him of that little flaw when they sent him back," said Dr Frasier, after reviewing the results with a patiently waiting SG1 and Ambassador Potter.
"More like returned him to our level of evolution…the Great Leap hadn't happened until after he Ascended," reasoned Major Carter.
"Colonel, I trust you can arrange some suitable quarters for Dr Jackson's…recovery?" said Hammond.
"Right away, Sir. C'Mon space monkey…" the Colonel grabbed Daniel and exited the infirmary.
"What's your preliminary opinion on the viability of the planet?" asked Hammond to everyone present.
"It's suitable for our purposes, General," said the Ambassador.
"I agree, Sir," nodded Major Carter.
"Very well, Mr Quinn, you may proceed with your plan, contact anyone you feel may be necessary to achieve its goal," said Hammond firmly.
"Yes, General," nodded Jonas and left the Infirmary.
"You think we can pull this off?" said Hammond.
"We must succeed," said Harry simply.
SGC, Briefing Room 1
"At this point we believe we've mapped the full extent of the ruins," said Jonas, standing infront of the wallscreen with a topographical analysis of the ruins projected for those in attendance to see.
"No fancy guns or anything cool?" smirked Jack.
"Well we've only begun a preliminary investigation, Colonel, it took us two days to just scout it…"
"I doubt we'd find anything of value here," said Harry steadily, "the Alterans of the time would've taken any powerful technologies with them, Plague or not, they would've seen to it."
They were interupted at that point by Daniel and his SF escort walking up the stairs from the control room. The former Ascended had already made a few notable strides in regaining his memory…according to Teal'C he had already remembered his late wife Sha're and few events from his childhood on Earth.
"I'm sorry I'm late I uh…" he glanced at his watch, "forgot what time the meeting was." Daniel smiled initially but it faded when he saw the expression of SG1 and Hammond. Harry merely nodded in welcome.
"It's a little joke there…memory thing."
"Dr Jackson this Briefing is classified," said Hammond earnestly.
"Yeah, Jonas mentioned that but, uh, you all said that I used to be a part of this, so…"
"It would help him regain his memory, General, and he could contribute again when we least expect it," said Harry helpfully.
"Good enough," nodded Hammond after a conferring glance at Jack. Daniel walked over and took a seat next to Sam at the table, who shared her briefing notes with him, whilst the SF was dismissed to his usual duties.
"Besides, who am I going to tell? I mean, I don't remember anybody, right?" said Daniel wryly with a grin. This caused everyone at the table to smother the grins that broke out.
"Good one," said Jack smiling faintly.
"Thanks, Jim," mumbled Daniel distractedly staring at the briefing notes distractedly. Harry had to stifle a snort of laughter that threatened to bubble out of him when he saw Jack's taken aback expression. Clearly Daniel's memory still left a lot to be desired.
"Oh, so, uh…There are extensive writings. All of them are in the oldest known Ancient dialects. All of them have yet to be translated but, uh, so far, as the Ambassador indicated, we haven't found any signs of any advanced weapons or power sources," reported Jonas. "Now, our next task is to get the Tok'ra on board with any intel on the Command ship that they have…I transmitted a request to that end through the Gate and they told me that they would send an operative with the relevant data tomorrow."
"In the meantime, I request that Daniel, if he's feeling up to it, and the Ambassador, work with me on constructing a convincing forgery of the Alteran tablet…we would then ask the Tok'ra to stage a series of events which would allow the tablet to fall into Anubis' hands…leading him to Visuban Auriga."
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The Tok'ra operative sent was a big surprise, at least to Harry. The host was a woman with rich dark brown hair and an attractive face, dressed in the newest dark brown leather Tok'ra uniforms that they had recently begun to use. Harry was all to familiar with this woman and more specifically the Tok'ra within.
"Jamilla," said Harry, his voice breaking slightly as he met her at the base of the embarkation ramp.
"It does my heart good to see you again," said Jamilla, her eyes flashing and embracing her former host abruptly.
"As it does mine," said Harry with a fond smile. "And how is your new host treating you?"
"Well, Anna is a rather prolific fine artist, her mind works in fascinating ways…even more so than yours in some respects," said Jamilla, stepping back from him.
"I don't doubt that…I'm hardly artistic," said Harry, gesturing the way out of the Gate room.
"I've heard from Kanan what you are planning," said Jamilla as they reached the elevator and waited for the car. "It seems most…unwise. The System Lords have tried everything to destroy Anubis' Command ship…and failed."
"And you're wondering how we Terrans are going to handle a ship that formidable?" asked Harry rhetorically with a smile. "Well, we've got a good idea already…it's just that we need more data on the ship if we want it to work."
"Hence the reason for this," she patted her pocket, where no doubt there was the data in question.
"Exactly," grinned Harry.
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SGC, Briefing Room 2 – a week later…
The large cavernous room was filled to the brim with F-302 pilots representing every commissioned squadron in the STO Space Force. A total of four squadrons; the old hands, the Mongooses and Flying Tigers, and the rookies, the Diamondbacks and Wolverines. Along the sides were miscellaneous officers from the Deadalus and Prometheus.
Sam began the briefing.
"As you've all heard from the latest scuttlebut no doubt…our mission is this…" she pressed a button on the podium and the massive screen behind her showed a wire diagram of the massive Command ship of Anubis, which resolved to a full resolution sensor image. Harry saw that it looked like a massive octagon when viewed from the top, with thick spike sections jutting out of each side, it seemed to be a uniform two hundred meters in height, whilst in the centre a thick tower superstructure emerged on top of which was mounted eight triangles which seemed to blossom out of the ship like a flower. The overall effect when added to the fact that it had a purely black hull meant that the ship was also built for its intimidation factor.
"…this is Anubis' Command Ship, one point five kilometers in diameter, mounting over a hundred ship-to-ship Phased Plasma cannons, fifty point defense cannons, and finally the Caesim Superweapon," she gestured with a laser pointer to the tower superstructure in the centre of the ship. "Its powered by an extremely powerful Zero Point Energy source and with standard auxilary fusion reactors, meaning its shields will be extremely difficult to penetrate…simulations suggest we would need to fire every AHM 1C we have in our inventory to drain the shields. Not to mention we can't risk our Destroyers in a ship to ship engagement with that Superweapon. So we have come up with an alternative."
She altered the screen again to show a sideways diagram of the Command ship within its shield bubble – represented as an orange line. Then a F-302 appeared.
"We use the Hyperspace engines on the F-302 and use a specifically calculated pre-programmed course to send the craft into subspace just long enough to bypass the shields altogether."
The F302 on the screen winked out to emerge within the shield perimeter.
"And if those calculations are incorrect?" said Jack loudly, from his front row seat.
"The 302 would bypass the command ship all together, or worse, re-emerge inside it. But let's not go there right now," said Sam. The pilots in the room mumbled to each other in worry. "Now of course, we cant fire any AHMs into the ship at that point because…well that would make this a one way mission. So we are going old school, your F302 in addition to standard anti-fighter ordnance will be loaded with a Mark 5 tactical nuke housed inside the body of an AHM."
She pushed another button and a cross section diagram of the AHM appeared with the standard nuke inside, however the nose cone of the AHM was also altered.
"As you can see the shape of the nose cone has been modified, and the material changed to an experimental trinium carbon alloy which should allow the missile to breach the hull of the ship," explained Sam. "The main target will be the superweapon, Mongooses that's your job, Tiger Squadron will seed nukes into main superstructure of the ship, whilst Diamondback and Wolverine will engage Death Gliders. Now, once we've finished planting our nukes, we will exit using Hyperspace engines again. Colonel O'Neill and myself who will be joinging Diamondback squadron, will then send a signal which will trigger all the nukes at once…if the signal is blocked then the nukes revert to a five minute timer."
"Boom, the ship is destroyed and we all live to save another day," said Jack with a grin.
"Also for this plan to work we need to have the element of surprise," said Sam, giving an irritated look to Jack. "To that end, the Prometheus and Deadalus will ferry the 302s to Visuban Auriga. Once there, we will land on a makeshift runway that is being constructed as we speak and then both ships will leave to a point five hundred light years away. In the meantime, Ambassador Potter, will be a lightminute Z-plus Visuban in a Cloaked MEV providing sensor overwatch, giving us warning of Anubis' arrival."
"Okay," said Jack, turning in his seat to speak to the room, "everyone who thinks this is an absolutely insane idea, raise your hand…come on, be honest…" And slowly everyone raised their hands.
"Keep your hands up, people," said Hammond in satisfaction, moving to stand next to Sam. "Because as of this moment you are all going to train your butts off for this mission. Please consult your Squadron leaders for your individual assignments. Dismissed."
The lights come on and all the pilots in the room stood and began to file out.
Harry and Jack approached Sam at the podium who was busy gathering her notes.
"Look, I'm sorry for not being the most positive voice here…it's just this subspace maneuver…"
"It's a long shot, sir, I know," said Sam tiredly.
"There's no reason theoretically why it shouldn't work," said Harry with a raised eyebrow.
"This is our only chance to take Anubis completely out of the picture," she said.
"Not completely," objected Harry. "Anubis will have an escape plan from that ship…and even if he doesn't' make it off in time before the nukes activate…he's essentially a cast down Ascended being with 'manacles' on his figurative wrists. His physical shell would be destroyed but his essence would still survive."
"So we'll just have to settle for restoring the balance of power in the Galaxy," said Sam now looking disgruntled.
"I want to say in conclusion to all this…" said Jack mock seriously, "that for the record, this is the wackiest plan we've ever come up with."
"Wackier than carrying an active Stargate with a Destroyer?"
"Oh yeah," said Jack, beginning to walk away.
"Wackier than…blowing up a sun?"
"Yep!" said Jack and exited the room.
"He's probably right," she said to an amused Harry.
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SGC – MEV Garage.
Harry, Daniel and Jonas in full kit entered the large room on level ten that adjoined the old missile-testing silo; it had been designated for Harry to park the Alteran craft when not in use.
"Prospec Meton," said Daniel in a daze, as he saw the cylindrical craft again…or was it the first time?
Harry laughed as the craft opened its rear hatch for them. "Congrats, Daniel…you've stumbled upon the name the Alterans gave these babies." Harry patted the craft in mock affection. They dumped their supplies and gear in the rear compartment and proceed forward. Harry took the pilot's seat on the left and gestured a hesitant Daniel into the co-pilot seat whilst Jonas took the Science Officer seat behind the pilot.
"So you think I'll be able to work this thing?" said Daniel faintly.
"Certainly," said Harry, placing his hands on the interface pads, which lit up obediently. The rear hatch closed and the craft's engines began their high-pitched hum. The craft lifted smoothly off the ground a few feet. Harry nodded to the technician standing next to garage doors, which the tech triggered.
The MEV inched forward into the silo and began the descent to level 28. All the old girders and catwalks that had been in the way on previous occasions had finally been cut away or removed completely, as such Harry's dive into the mountain went much faster than over previous occasions. He gave a signal to the control room and the Embarkation room's upper roof split below them exposing the waiting Stargate.
Harry hovered the MEV in front of the Stargate and gestured to Daniel. "The honor is yours Daniel." The archeologist nodded and hesitantly began to tap on the central Dialing Device. A few moments after he had finished the Stargate exploded to life.
"Hang on," said Harry and the MEV surged forward. The roller coaster ride through subspace was as exhilarating as ever and a few moments later the craft squirted out of the Visuban Stargate and hurriedly extended its nacelles and angled powerfully upward.
"Cool," said Daniel with a grin, seeing the landscape tear past them at just under the speed of sound. The next sight was just as 'cool'. Fast approaching was the flat area west of the ruins where forty-eight F-302s sat in perfect spacing next to a short runway (since the 302s didn't really need much of one to take off).
"Basecamp this is Eyeball, we are go for overwatch," said Harry, mentally triggering the communications.
"Roger that Eyeball, good luck," said the familiar voice of Walter.
"I heard that Hammond himself is coming offworld for this," said Jonas shaking his head in amazement. It would be the second time the General's had done it in seven years of Gate travel, the first being to negotiate the release of SG1 from a prison planet before Harry had joined the SGC.
"This is not your average operation," said Harry. "This is the largest deployment of forces Earth has ever taken off world and out of Sol."
The MEV shot out of the atmosphere and once out of orbit turned 'upward' on a positive Z-axis course relative to the Galactic plane. If there was one thing Harry had made sure of when helping in training the 302 pilots it was emphasizing that they were not fighting in an atmosphere but in 3 dimensions where you could be killed from above or below, conversely that they could also do the same to their enemies.
Finally after twenty minutes Harry was satisfied with their positioning and the MEV cloaked, coming to a relative stop. He then spun the craft on its axis so that the forward viewport showed the blue sphere of Visuban Auriga. It was no bigger than a thumb at eighteen million kilometers from their perspective. He shut down the engines but kept the nacelles extended
"Now we wait," said Harry, focusing on the passive sensors and commanding them to stay online and display a constant feed to the holographic overlay on the viewport and removing his hands from the interface pads.
"For how long?" asked Daniel
"A Tok'ra operative in Thoth's ranks will bring our forgery to our favorite Goa'uld scientist's attention today, and like the arrogant Goa'uld he is, he will barely check for its authenticity once he reads the partial translation of what's on it," smirked Harry.
"Yeah, but we used a blank obsidian tablet older than ten thousand years to make the forgery, so it won't matter," grinned Jonas.
"Thoth won't hesitate to bring it personally to Anubis' attention, so he will get in a Ha'tak and fly out to Anubis on the Command ship…so we have factor that time, plus the time it will take for Anubis to get here…which considering the power of his ship won't be long…maybe two days to a week at most."
"I brought Scrabble…in Alteran," grinned Jonas.
"I brought something called Poker cards, Jack suggested it," said Daniel with a thoughtful frown.
"Indeed," said Harry shaking his head, and why did he have a feeling that that this calm before the battle was going to be unusually hard to tolerate?
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In the end it took seventy-two hours.
Harry didn't want to know what condition they would've been in had he not used Metaphysics to clean up the interior of the MEV. He was also glad that the Alterans had built these little ships with long duration missions in mind, at least in terms of Life support systems.
The singing like chime of warning reverberated through the MEV, waking Daniel from his nap in the rear compartment, and startling Jonas so badly that he knocked over the Alteran Scrabble board, upsetting all of the pieces and sending them flying all over the deck.
Harry rushed over to the pilot's seat and consulted the passive sensors.
"Saddle up guys, we've got an incoming Hyperspace conduit, ETA ten minutes," said Harry intently, and sent the alert signal to the Basecamp on the planet.
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F-302 Diamondback 1 on Visuban Auriga
Jack hurriedly strapped into the cockpit with Sam not a moment behind him in the SO (Sensor Officer) position inside their fighter. They didn't have to do many pre-flight checks due to the fact that they had been on constant standby the past few days and ground crews had constantly tended to the fighters.
"Engines?" said Jack donning his helmet.
"Online," said Sam and the loud hum of the Gravitic drives began to resound within the cabin.
"Weapons and shields?"
"Charged and ready."
Jack triggered the canopy of the cockpit module, which slid smoothly into an airtight seal. He shifted the engines into 5 percent power and moved the fighter into a slow trundle on its gear, turning to face the runway.
"Strike Leader, this is command base, you are go for take off," said Sergeant Davis over the radio.
"Yeah, I thought we were going on Red Leader for this one," grinned Jack into the mic on his breathing mask.
"All systems go, Sir," said Sam pointedly.
"Uh, command, there is one more thing…" said Jack expectantly.
"All squadrons," said Hammond's voice. "Godspeed."
"All right, that's better," said Jack, dropping the integrated HUD in the helmet over his eyes.
The long line of forty-nine F302s each took their turn to blast their Gravitic engines to max and soared into the sky with less than a hundred meters of runway. When all craft were in the air they angled into exit vectors and broke through the atmosphere and into space.
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A massive hyperspace window burst into existence in the orbit of Visuban Auriga…and from it sped the massive behemoth of Anubis' Command ship. The tower superstructure split itself and secured from Hyperspace mode and blossomed the Caesim Superweapon much like a blooming flower.
The Terran fighters were by now on the opposite side of the planet, using it to shield themselves from detection for as long as possible, already they were angling to slingshot themselves using Visuban gravity to aid in their speed.
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Central Square of the Ruins on Visuban.
The Ring transporter that had been discovered by the SGC search teams flared to life and deposited five of Anubis' Jaffa onto the planet's surface. Their staff weapons immediately trained outwards in case of an attack, but nothing happened. They stood clear of the Rings to make way for the next group that would come and scout the ruins.
They didn't see the SpecOps Sniper team in camouflaged positions all around them.
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The F-302s closed on Anubis' ship at over a thousand kilometers per second. This allowed the pilots and their SO's their first glimpse of the ship in the flesh as it grew in their viewports.
"Holy crap! Look at that thing. It's huge!" said Jack. He was impressed…it must've been a bitch to build the thing…it was almost too bad that they had to blow it up; it would've made a nice trophy to capture and bring to the Alpha Site.
"They know we're coming, Sir," reported Sam. "They're basically emptying their bays…I'm reading…thirty…correction…fifty…eighty…ninety Death Gliders launched and on an intercept course."
"Two to one odds, not bad," said Jack seriously. He engaged the common F302 frequency. "All Strike elements, enter Attack formation Charlie One and launch Phoenix at max range."
"Roger Strike Leader." "Copy that."
The Diamondbacks and Wolverines angled their courses upward and downward respectively until they were over a kilometer Z-axis apart and forming two long parallel lines, whilst the Mongooses and Tigers maneuvered into a wedge formation in the center.
On the opposite side twenty thousand kilometers away and closing the mass of ninety Death Gliders approached to intercept in a standard staggered formation.
"I've got tone and locked," reported Sam, staring at her subspace sensor screen. "Distance…fifteen thousand…twelve five…ten thousand…nine thousand…we're in range…"
"Fox four, two!" snapped Jack, tapping the fire control with his thumb twice.
Two Phoenix missiles dropped from the open missile bays of each F302 in Diamondback and Wolverine squadrons followed a second later by a similar launch from Mongoose and Tiger. Ninety-eight Phoenix missiles already traveling at their launching fighter's velocity accelerated to nine times that and angled towards their targets.
The AIM-54 Phoenix Missile, initially used by the Navy for the F-14 Tomcat in the late Seventies, had like its cousins the Sidewinder and Skipper missiles, been given the 'Space combat' makeover for use on the F-302. It answered the need for a long-range anti-fighter stand off weapon. The old active homing radar was replaced with a small computer that would adjust flight path according to the SO's subspace sensors using a small on board thruster system. The SO could even take manual control of the missile from the launching F302 and guide it visually using a missile camera feed. The sixty-kilogram BF8 explosive enhanced with weapons grade naquadah replaced the old chemical tritonal warhead. The finishing touch on the Phoenix was its matt black paint finish…there would be no way to see the thing coming…and since there was no oxygen in space, no exhaust trail to spot.
The missiles began to weave and bank erratically as they followed preprogrammed evasion courses…since Death Gliders also had limited forward facing subspace sensors and would undoubtedly detect the incoming weapons.
Immediately the Gliders began to fire their plasma cannons in a desperate bid to shoot down the rapidly approaching weapons. Sixteen missiles were destroyed as they came into the five hundred kilometer range of the Glider cannons…the rest evaded the barrage successfully and activated terminal guidance and detonated in the formation of Gliders.
Thirty-eight Death Gliders were vaporized in brief flares of explosions that reacted with the oxygen that escaped the cockpits. Fourteen were heavily damaged and spun off out of control, being pulled towards fiery deaths by the gravity of Visuban.
"Tally ho, Bandits destroyed, Diamondback, Wolverine, Max Burn Knife, Mongoose, Tiger, break and begin your attack run." Ordered Jack.
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Ruins on Visuban Auriga
The Terran Snipers settled in their nests and picked their targets. Their spotters called range and wind…the M82A1M Sniper rifle roared as it sent a .50 caliber anti-personnel slug over the nine hundred meters distance to its target.
The Jaffa in question was there one moment…and the next was literally torn apart by the slug, which had enough velocity to move through two more men in the column, also killing them; the surviving column was absolutely stunned at the sight.
All over the ruins, other Jaffa teams met with similar fates…and the survivors knew terror.
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Diamondback 1
"You're headed right for them, Sir," said Sam in concern, referring to the looming forms of the Death Gliders closing into dogfight range.
"I wanna see what this thing is made of," said Jack.
"I could tell you exactly, Sir," smirked Sam.
"Another time, maybe. Forward shields to full."
"Shields up."
Jack frowned in concentration as he picked a target and engaged his main cannon. He turned his head and the helmet HUD began to lock on…a second later it flashed green as the distance reached six hundred kilometers and he let off two blue energy blasts which raced towards his targeted Death Glider and scored direct hits…he instantly had to bank away as a plasma blast impacted his forward shield, reducing it to sixty percent.
Space abruptly filled with blue and orange plasma between the two fighter groups and swiftly turned into a melee.
The first Terran casualties occurred when three Death Gliders opened fire on a single F302 from Wolverine squadron, overwhelming its shield and hitting its reactor…the large explosion took the Jaffa pilots by surprise and the shockwave turned their crafts into molten slag.
The superior teamwork of the Terran pilots was immediately evident as they managed to divide into their combat pairs and began to impose a bit of order onto the chaos of the large dogfight.
Their Sidewinder short range missiles entered the fray next, and kept Jaffa pilots busy dodging whilst their opponents maneuvered through Z-axis turns for cannon kills.
Mongoose and Tiger squadron weaved through the melee, firing as they went scoring kills and engaged max burn and closed on the orbiting Command ship.
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Mongoose 1
Lieutenant Colonel Cameron 'Shaft' Mitchell considered the fast approaching Command ship and wondered why it's point defenses hadn't yet opened up on them. If he had been Captain on that behemoth he would've ordered it the instant they had broken through the Death Glider screen, or at the very least, launched another squadron of Death Gliders to intercept. He caught himself though and remembered Goa'uld psychology…Anubis would think the small F302s were mounting a pathetic attempt to somehow stop him by flinging their primitive missiles against his extremely overpowered shields…he didn't believe them worthy the energy to power those point defenses.
Had Anubis been a Terran, he would've ordered a scan of the incoming F302s to determine their weapon payload…and even if he had scanned and detected the AHM nukes…nukes were primitive and wouldn't even dent his shields.
But Anubis was not a Terran.
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Throne Room, Command Ship
Herak, First Prime of Anubis, bowed and then kneeled before the towering dark visage of his Master, who stood observing the battle on the main screen.
"Speak," said Anubis; his voice had a deep distorted cadence to it that echoed eerily through the ornate room.
"My Lord, our ground troops have confirmed that there is a human base on the planet, they are encountering resistance from Tau'ri secreted among the ruins."
"The search of the city?" said Anubis, totally unconcerned about any casualties his Jaffa suffered.
"No energy signatures."
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Mongoose 1
"OK, Anubis, let's see what you make of this," muttered Cameron, and keyed his squadron frequency. "Ok boys and girls, go to your assigned positions and wait for my mark to begin your hyper jump."
"Roger Leader."
Mongoose squadron abruptly split into separate courses and began to surround the Command ship on its upper surface at a distance of five kilometers…whilst Tiger did the same but on a negative Z-axis to the underside of the behemoth.
Cameron focused on his helmet HUD tracking the positions of the two squads and hovered his finger over the special button programmed into the touch sensitive Multi Function Display.
"MARK!" He touched the button marked 'JUMP' and sent a quick prayer for success.
Twenty-four small Hyperspace windows swallowed the F302s and just as quickly a few microseconds later, the craft emerged within the shield perimeter of the Command Ship.
The Command Ship was rocked violently though when two explosions erupted along its superstructure.
"Fuck!" snapped Cameron, as he pulled up hard to avoid the looming hull of the vessel, which was suddenly a massive artificial horizon from his perspective.
"We lost Nine, Sir," said Tanya 'Angel' Chernikova, his Russian Squadron XO. "The Tiger's lost Six."
"Proceed to targets and Fire!" ordered Cameron, putting the death of his comrades behind him, they obviously hadn't been able to pull up in time or their vectors had drifted to much for the computer to compensate when forming the Hyperspace windows.
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Throne Room, Command Ship
"My Lord, the human attack vessels have breached our shields!" said Herak steadily, fighting to keep the astonishment from his voice, as he stood at the weapon interface station.
"Shoot them down!" snapped Anubis.
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Mongoose 1
"I've got lock on our assigned target coordinates," said his SO.
"Fox one!" said Cameron, triggering the AHM nuke.
From the central missile bay the AHM dropped and flared red as its sublight engine fired, from the other F302s more AHM streaked towards their targets…just as the Point defenses opened fire at last.
Cameron pulled up hard in evasion and felt his rear shield absorb a plasma bolt from a nearby turret and he didn't hesitate to order his squads to bug out. They pressed their 'JUMP' buttons a second time and vanished into subspace.
The twenty-four AHMs crashed one after the other into the Command ship at a velocity that allowed their hardened armor penetrating nose cones to shear through the thick hull as if it was paper. Six AHMs nose cones failed to penetrate all the way though and remained lodged in the hull, whilst eighteen penetrated into the interior of the ship and into the Caesim weapon core.
"Strike Leader," said Harry hurriedly staring at his sensor readout, "trigger the nukes they're in place!"
"Negative detonation, our com is damaged, Eyeball," broadcasted Jack.
"Blast it!" cussed Harry and slammed his hands down on the interface pads. He mentally engaged the com system and sent the appropriate signal codes.
"Uh, nothing's happening," said Daniel hastily.
"The nukes unfortunately only respond to radio transmission, and since such signals only travel at the speed of light and…"
"…we're a light minute away," finished the amnesiac. "Can't the other fighters who are closer send it?"
"Only Jack and I had the damn detonation codes, I knew we overlooked something!"
"That would mean Anubis has just under fifty seconds to escape," said Jonas, staring intently at the sensor readout of the Command ship.
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Throne Room, Command Ship
"We've been hit, numerous atomic devices are lodged inside the ship," said Herak as the ship rocked under his feet.
"Come," said Anubis simply, turning around and speeding away from the Throne room, his First Prime following close on his heels.
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MEV
They watched in frustration and anger as a black saucer shaped vessel burst out of the superstructure of the Command ship and disappeared into a hastily formed Hyperspace window…just in time.
Detonation flash after flash lit space as numerous new artificial suns engulfed the Command Ship…vaporizing whole sections of it, when finally the power core went critical and added a shockwave radiating outward.
"Eyeball to all Strike units, get your buts into Hyperspace now, that shockwave is not survivable at your range!"
"Got it!" called Jack's voice.
Harry pulled their small ship in a sharp turn on a positive Z-axis angling further back, and engaged the engines into flank speed, pushing the ship to an abrupt fifteen thousand kilometers per second. Jonas abruptly found himself getting acquainted with the floor of the MEV, as he hadn't been in his seat.
"Sorry, about that," said Harry with a wince.
"Can we outrun that?" said Daniel worriedly.
"It's a Level-3 Shockwave produced by the interaction of the Zero Point core and the nukes," said Harry, mentally ordering power from the Cloak system and all other non-essential systems, towards the engines…the whine of the engines reverberated painfully now in their ears as their speed exceeded the recommended fifteen thousand and climbed to twenty five thousand. "The 302s can escape with hyperspace engines but we're not so lucky."
"The planet?" asked Jonas with a groan, getting up and falling into his seat.
"The atmosphere and magnetic field of the planet will sublimate the wave, the winds will be horrendous but as long as the people down there take cover they'll be fine…Shockwave contact in twelve seconds…"
"Can't you go faster?"
"I've got everything routed to engines, only Life support is left," said Harry grimly.
"Life support's not going to do us much good if this ship is pulled apart," countered Jonas.
"Very well," said Harry, the engines were literally screaming now and the three occupants of the MEV winced, they also had to grab hold of their seats, as artificial gravity went offline. "Thirty eight thousand kilometers per second, our inertial field is nearing critical stress overload. Contact in fourteen seconds."
"Ten…nine…eight…seven…" Harry closed his eyes screaming mentally at the ship and then "…if we don't make it gentlemen, it's been fun!"
The world around them screamed and abruptly faded into white…
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