I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant.
Karagandy Province – Kazakhstan – January 2003
‘Oh wow, that’s something you don’t see every day’ John Sheppard declared as hugging the ground the Avenger he was piloting cleared a rise and the crash-site came into view. They were just on the edge of the Karkaralinsk National Park but the normally peaceful and serene landscape was currently despoiled by a three-deck Harvester Class UFO partially burning and laying in two roughly equal parts fifty yards apart with debris scattered in every direction. ‘This thing isn’t much more than wreckage’ he called back to the X-COM squad in the hold.
‘It looked like it was heading towards the Baikonur Cosmodrome so I guess the Russians didn’t mess around’ the Colonel commanding the troops replied. A pair of F-302X Squadrons flying out of Yamantau had pounced on the thing loaded for bear as soon as it started heading towards the Russian Federations equivalent of Cape Canaveral.
‘I think they nuked it’ Sheppard stated. Normally they tried to bring the things down mostly intact with Plasma Beam fire so the Retrieval Teams would have something worth retrieving but judging from the state of the craft it had been smashed to the ground by an Avalanche AAM possibly detonating some distance above it. An explosion any closer or with the yield dialled up any higher and the naquada-enhanced warhead likely wouldn’t have even left this much of the thing intact he knew.
‘These suits are radiation-proof right?’ one of the more recently recruited troopers asked nervously as he hoped his powered-armour kept out nasty DNA scrambling particles as well as plasma fire.
‘Well they’re radiation resistant anyway’ a more experienced member of the team replied.
‘Keep your armour sealed airtight’ the Colonel ordered. ‘No reason to open the vents and breath in anything that’ll give your kids an extra couple of fingers.’
‘Jefferson is from Alabama Sir, nobody would notice back home anyway’ someone joked, wearing the armour with helmets on it was sometimes hard to tell who which suited a need for anonymity very well.
‘Hey if it wasn’t for the inbreeding and the extra digits they couldn’t play the banjo so well’ another of the team joined in the fun. ‘Shit, Loki’s clones probably don’t share as many genes as the folks back home ain’t that right Jefferson?’
‘Fuck y’all’ came the inevitable response as they prepared to disembark.
Sheppard grinned, a full platoon in powered-armour and packing P3A1’s plus plenty of shock-grenades should make short work of anything left alive on the wrecked ship. According to the intercepted Hyperwave transponder signal the UFO’s transmitted the alien crew were Sectoids and they likely weren’t physically tough enough to stand that kind of arrival on Earth’s Surface. Mutons might have survived in moderate numbers the way they were built but although physically superior to regular Asgard the Sectoids weren’t.
‘Well getting in shouldn’t be a problem Sir’ a Sergeant opined as he looked at the torn and bisected craft. ‘Getting to the control room on the third deck is going to be a bitch though’ he added, pointing with his rifle at one half of the ship. The way the ship was divided the artificial gravity elevator that carried you to the upper level on a Harvester was on one half and the bridge was on the other unfortunately.
‘Never thought I’d need a damn ladder for this job’ the Colonel complained, looking at the wrecked UFO in annoyance as his platoon spread out and started to move in to board and sweep clear the areas they could access. If the thing had come down near a farm rather than a nature reserve they might have been able to borrow a ladder from a barn or something, assuming the ladder could take the weight of a solder in powered armour which was doubtful. He wouldn’t have wanted to ask for a volunteer to strip off their suit and climb a ladder in their underwear though either, even without the possibility of radiation from the nuke as an issue. ‘Someone pitch a grenade up into the top deck just in case’ he ordered. ‘We’ll let the engineers that take these things away deal with getting up there’ he said.
Several sectoid bodies were scattered around and the troopers carefully shot each one with the zat’nik’tel fitted to their rifles before moving on, the damn things could be faking after all. The sound of a mechanical sliding door opening in one half of the ship had them all dropping for cover as a short burst of heavy-plasma fire struck out, two missing but the third impacting an X-COM Sergeant in the side before he could dodge out of the way. It would have been a lethal hit in the days before the powered armour, in fact if it wasn’t for the addition of trinium to the laminate it might still have been, but as it was the single hit only blasted off a chunk of metal rather than flesh and as the impact knocked the Sergeant off balance a volley of return fire from four directions turned the already wounded Sectoid into a charred and blasted corpse.
‘I’m okay’ the Sergeant reported with clear relief.
‘We just used up out luck’ the Colonel declared. ‘Nobody else get shot, that’s an order’ he told them, resulting in a few chuckles as they resumed their task. At least the suits would survive one of two direct hits from the most powerful Sectoid weaponry, that was a great step forward and had quickly dropped X-COM losses to a level which even normal military units might have accepted. Even hits that penetrated usually had enough of their energy absorbed by the armour that the wounds only required maybe a couple of hours in a Sarcophagus to heal, or even just treatment by a medic with a Goa’uld Healing Device in the Avenger or Skyranger going home. Only a head-shot with a heavy-plasma was a guaranteed kill for the enemy these days and those weren’t as easy to achieve in a firefight as hitting the centre-mass of the body.
Up on the ships bridge a Sectoid Leader had regained consciousness as the sound of weapons fire bought him around. He recalled his ship being struck by a huge explosion and spiralling to ground as as he shook his head clear he saw the broken corpse of his navigator beside him. Although not engineered to be particularly intelligent or inventive unlike most of his brethren the Sectoid Officer had an adequate enough IQ and sense of initiative to command both a ship and its crew and he immediately realised that he must have been out long enough for the humans to arrive and start salvaging his ship. The firing must be other survivors of his crew fighting them off as best they could he decided looking around for a weapon and first spotting a Heavy Plasma Rifle which he initially reached for before seeing something better.
John Sheppard watched from the ramp of his Avenger Transport as the troops did their thing, professional as ever. From his vantage point he had a better angle on the upper deck and was the first to spot another Sectoid appearing, yelling a warning a split second before it could fire some kind of large weapon he hadn’t seen before.
For a second Sheppard thought it was some kind of rocket-launcher but although it launched a projectile the right size to qualify the warhead must have been guided and self-powered because after launch it immediately pulled a sharp turn, headed off in another direction, pulled another impossibly tight turn, then a third before crashing directly into an unfortunate X-COM Trooper and detonating.
The blast was staggeringly powerful, the trooper was blown to fragments, flesh and pieces of armour hurtling in all directions. The pressure wave from the explosion caught another trooper and tossed him aside like a rag-doll despite the heavy armour, smashing him into a bulkhead with the transfer of kinetic energy shattering him internally as soon as he hit the metal wall.
‘Kill it, kill it’ another trooper cried out, firing his rifle at where the Sectoid had been though it had now ducked back presumably to reload. Others quickly joined in and soon blasts of green plasma were riddling the upper deck of the ship around the bridge.
‘Shock-Grenade’ the Colonel ordered at the top of his lungs, ‘we need that fucking weapon intact’ he declared, ‘keep it pinned back there’ he added.
Unfortunately not having line-of-sight on his target did not seem to matter for the Sectoid with the new weapon because another guided-missile, or whatever it was, streaked forth and after pulling only two tight turn in flight this time it landed between a pair of troopers ten yards apart and exploded, the blast sending them both flying as it someone had lit off a crate full of plastic-explosives between them.
A sergeant ran up and threw a goa’uld shock grenade up onto the upper deck three stories above. It exploded hopefully knocking the Sectoid out but another trooper joined him and threw a second. ‘We need to get up there to make sure’ the Colonel said just before the Avenger lifted off and to his surprise glided over, hovering over the ground it’s cockpit at the same height as the UFO’s upper deck so the pilot could look in.
‘All the bugs are down on the ground’ Sheppard reported over the radio from his vantage point. ‘If I land someone can jump up on the ramp and I’ll take off again and manoeuvre so you can jump from the ramp to the bridge’ he said.
‘Good idea Major, good flying and good use of what’s between your ears’ the Colonel responded. ‘You two, get back on the ship when it land and get up into the top level’ he ordered, singling out two of his soldiers. ‘Fuck’ he swore. ‘Every time we catch up those bastards come up with something new’ he said bitterly as he looked over the damage caused by the new weapon.
‘Sir that was a fucking shoulder-launched guided micronuke !’ the Sergeant who had pitched up the first shock-grenade exclaimed with a mixture of awe and dismay. You could bounce weaponry that would stop tanks off the new suits but that thing was in a whole other league.
The Colonel nodded his agreement with the assessment, or rather he nodded as best he could as his now distinctly less impressive seeming powered-armour suit would allow. ‘What the hell will Loki come up with next?’ he growled.
Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – January 2003
The Commander was clearly in a bad mood which was understandable O’Neill thought to himself as they arrived in the armoury to pick up their gear before heading out through the gate. X-COM had lost a lot of good men and expensive hardware in the last week thanks to Loki’s new infantry weapon and with the destruction of a Skyranger full of troops over New Guinea only the day before it wasn’t one of the best times for the organisation. Apparently an Alien had put a round from one of the new man-portable launchers right through the rear hatch into the hold just as the VSTOL Transport landed, blowing it and the entire platoon to pieces in one fell swoop. ‘Sorry about the guys you lost’ he told Sharp awkwardly.
‘The guys we lost Colonel’ Sharp corrected him curtly.
‘Right, sorry, we lost’ O’Neill responded in embarrassment. He still largely thought of himself as working for the USAF and the United States at heart but knew that Sharp and his people had a more internationalist perspective and didn't draw the lines he did mentally.
‘The latest reports from home say that losses for Kelowna and the other nations airforces are rising fast as they start to contest the Sectoids flying over their airspace’ Jonas spoke up just to make sure that everyone remembered his homeland and homeworld were in the fight too, spending the blood of their brightest and best in the defence of their people.
Sharp nodded than half-smiled at him. ‘I hear they retrieved their first UFO?’ he responded.
Jonas smiled back. ‘A Kelownan rocket-plane managed to intercept an Abductor Class ship when it was coming down to land’ he said, ‘it crashed two hundred miles from the capital and a new Special Forces Team which also had Andari and Terranian soldiers on it took down the enemy crew’ he said with definite pride before his voice drifted off. ‘We lost three quarters of the Team doing it’ he said regretfully.
‘Sorry to hear that too Jonas’ O’Neill told him.
‘They died well defending their people Jonas Quinn’ Teal’c observed, ‘a warrior cannot hope for a better end’ he told him.
‘The three governments are well on the way to negotiating a final draft of the binding secret defence treaty between them which the UN insisted upon before supplying additional military aid’ Jonas said, putting on the armour that protected his chest from a staff-weapon blast. ‘Hyperwave decoders are already being constructed across Langara so we can track and detect the stealthy bastards’ he said, swearing uncharacteristically.
‘Langara?’ Teal’c queried.
‘It’s the original name for my planet, and common to languages in all three nations’ Jonas explained, fastening his armour on tight then reaching for the equipment harness worn over it. ‘The new agreement is called the Langaran Defence Pact, it was the only term acceptable to all sides.’
‘So you’re a Langaran now then?’ O’Neill asked.
‘With the Kelownan government and the others acting less like children and uniting to fight the common foe I’m happy to say I am’ Jonas replied then paused. ‘If I wanted to wear the new insignia on my uniform would that be okay?’ he asked.
‘If they pay you instead of us signing your pay-check fine’ Sharp replied.
Jonas thought about that and decided there was no way his own people would pay what he got now. ‘I’ll stick with the good old X with the Tau’ri point of origin superimposed on it’ he said, tapping the badge painted on his armour. ‘It’s bought me luck’ he said.
‘And a huge plasma-screen TV for your quarters’ O’Neill added with a smirk. ‘Teal’c what do you spend your wages on?’ he asked, wondering about it. ‘I mean metal-polish for that thing on your forehead can only run to a couple of bucks’ he reasoned.
‘I have carefully invested my pay in several high-interest savings schemes O’Neill’ the Jaffa replied. ‘I hope to one day purchase a prefabricated home here on Earth and ship it to Chulak in pieces along with many time-saving household appliances which I made the mistake of mentioning to Drey'auc’ he said regretfully. ‘The time-honoured tradition of cleaning clothes by beating them on a rock and leaving them hanging to dry seemed far less acceptable to her once I explained we had a laundry here at the base with washing machines and tumble-driers’ he noted.
‘Chulak you say?’ O’Neill responded as they finished getting ready and heading for the gateroom Carter and Andianov would have been waiting for them already along with teams SG-7 and SG-17 but they had been waylaid leaving the canteen together by Major Davis wanting things signed.
‘Once the false gods are defeated I plan to return home and retire’ Teal’c told him, following on. ‘Or I may go into politics’ he said thoughtfully, earning a groan from O’Neill.
‘So why have we got your company for this mission Commander?’ Jonas asked Sharp as they walked down the corridor. ‘This isn’t your normal thing is it?’ he suggested.
‘Looking at ruins no’ Sharp replied.
‘I think it’s the furling transporter thing that has Carter buzzing not the building it’s in’ O’Neill commented. ‘Trust Maybourne to not tell anyone about the damn thing until he wanted something in return for the information’ he said.
‘We’re still not certain that the device SG-2 found in the initial scouting mission is of Furling origin Colonel’ Jonas pointed out.
‘The writing was Furling so I’m betting the ruins are Furling and the gadget is too’ O’Neill responded. ‘It’s a pretty reasonable assumption’ he said.
‘Unlike your belief that the Furlings are furry in appearance’ Teal’c observed.
‘I’ve still got fifty bucks on that and as soon as I can persuade Thor to dig up an old picture, or maybe a hologram, I expect you to pay up’ O’Neill told him. ‘So why are you coming along Sir?’ he asked Sharp.
‘I just wanted a day off the base without getting shot at’ the Commander replied.
‘Have you ever considered a relaxing vacation by a beach somewhere?’ O’Neill asked.
‘Side-effect of the drugs, can’t relax and do nothing’ Sharp replied, ‘I get stressed and jittery’ he admitted.
‘White water rafting?’ Jonas suggested.
‘I don’t even get a buzz out of skydiving anymore’ Sharp replied sadly, ‘and jumping out of planes was the reason I joined the Canadian Airborne originally because I liked the adrenaline’ he continued. ‘This seemed like an innocuous enough mission to tag along with, you can think of it as me being an observer if you like, you’re still in charge Colonel’ he told him.
They arrived in the gateroom where the other teams, Major Carter and Sergeant Andianov were waiting along with a couple of FRED six-wheel robot trucks laden with cargo. ‘Travelling light I see’ O’Neill remarked.
‘Sir the pictures SG-2 bought back indicate the technology on P5X-777 is completely different to anything we’ve seen before’ Carter replied. ‘We wanted to make sure we had everything I might need to examine it’ she said. ‘And some of the equipment is survey gear for SG-17’ she added, indicating the archaeological team who were stood with the scientific personnel of SG-7.
‘Hey Kershaw’ O’Neill greeted one of the members of SG-7. ‘Still working off your debt to society in the field?’ he said.
‘Better than in a cell Colonel’ the ex NID operative replied. After helping out on P2A-018, Latona to its inhabitants, Kershaw had been judged sufficiently redeemed to serve out her punishment doing something more constructive than being in prison. She did have a gift for understanding alien technology which is why she had been assigned to SG-7 and in part she was the reason SG-7 was on this very mission. ‘Didn’t think I’d ever get another job from Colonel Maybourne though’ she added with amusement, Maybourne had controlled the offworld NID Team she was on directing them via a Goa’uld long-range communication device.
‘That man is full of surprises’ O’Neill replied unable to resist a smile as the gate started to spin up. A couple of days before an embarrassed looking Maybourne had arrived back at the SGC with a clearly pregnant Aikaterina asking if she could be checked out by Doctor Fraser and requesting to retire offworld with his new “family”. Expecting some resistance, as a sweetener he offered to give up some information he had been holding back about an piece of technology made by one of the four great races, plus an artefact needed to activate it. Saying he had too many enemies to return to Earth he asked to be sent to a suitably quiet and out-of-the-way planet to make his new home instead. The Tok’ra suggested a suitable one from their own lists and after considerable teasing from Jack O’Neill regarding his changed circumstances Harry Maybourne and the ex-slave he now called his wife had stepped back through the gate to start a new life.
Aikaterina had apparently stared wide-eyed at the ultrasound image of what showed to be her unborn daughter although she at least had the excuse of thinking it must be magic, Maybourne going very quiet and staring himself was purely down to freaking out inside as the realisation of what was going on sunk in just a little deeper. He wasn’t quite sure if fate was punishing him or else this was a largely undeserved reward, but either way he had to admit it wasn’t the worst way his life could have turned out. He had already wed Aikaterina in a ceremony a village cleric of some weird offworld sun-worshipping denomination carried out in return for a very nice pair of boots and Maybourne earnestly hoped he wouldn’t be too bad a husband or father.
Colonel O’Neill leading the three teams stepped through the gate to P5X-777, SG-17 and Jonas Quinn to look at the ruins and any inscriptions in the walls, SG-7 and Major Carter interested in the Transportation Arch they housed and the remainder of SG-1 there to make sure the nerd patrol weren’t shot up by some random Goa’uld or Jaffa turning up.
‘I think I’ll go for a wander down that way’ Commander Sharp said brightly as they split up, indicating a largely overgrown path leading away from the ruins on the opposite side of the ruins from the stargate.
‘Should he be heading off alone, what if there are dangerous animals here or something?’ Jonas asked O’Neill as Sharp walked off.
‘If they’re stupid enough to attack something that puts out the vibes he does then they deserve everything they get’ O’Neill replied in amusement. ‘Sergeant stay here and keep your eyes open’ he told Andianov, ‘Teal’c take a scout around but don’t go too far out’ he ordered. ‘Don’t shoot at anything furry unless it attacks you’ he added.
‘Once again I must point out we have no reason to believe that Furlings are in any way furry O’Neill’ the Jaffa responded.
‘Care to raise that bet?’ O’Neill asked. ‘Double maybe?’ he suggested.
‘Indeed’ Teal’c confirmed, a few more sucker bets like that and it would be O’Neill that paid for his wife’s desired refrigerator and freezer, plus perhaps even the fireplace over which to hang a staff-weapon or two, assuming he had a say in the decorating.
Carter and Kershaw had already opened up the control panel on the transporter arch to take a look and they were almost cooing about the interesting new device as they looked it over. Maybourne had already told them his theory that with the key he provided locked into place and dialled to the right combination it would transport you to the large moon orbiting the planet, which was massive enough that they were effectively a planetary binary and was more than capable of holding a decent atmosphere itself, but they weren’t there to go on what could be a one-way trip they wanted to see if they could safely dismantle the thing and bring it back home for detailed study. ‘Worth the trip Major?’ O’Neill asked.
‘Oh yes Sir’ Carter enthused. ‘The technology doesn’t resemble Goa’uld, Asgard, Tollan types or the product of any of the other advanced societies we’ve seen before’ she said.
‘Speak for yourself’ Kershaw told her. ‘The design principle is reminiscent of the Madronan Touchstone that the NID found on PX7-941’ she said. ‘You guys just gave it back to them didn’t you?’ she asked rhetorically.
‘Yes, because you didn’t find it you stole it’ O’Neill responded flatly.
‘And because of that I’ve got a much better idea of what I’m doing here than Major Genius here’ Kershaw replied. ‘So it all worked out well in the end’ she said.
‘The ends don’t always justify the means Kershaw’ O’Neill told her. ‘And the means sometimes land you in jail’ he reminded her.
‘Technically last time they landed me with a death sentence for treason which you helped get commuted’ Kershaw corrected him. ‘Which is pretty much why you can depend on me being a good little soldier from now on Sir’ she told him.
‘Out of gratitude or a fear of getting it un-commuted?’ O’Neill asked.
‘A little of column A and a little of column B’ Kershaw replied. ‘And I do enjoy the work’ she said happily, turning back to the device. ‘Come on Major I’ll talk you through this slowly’ she told Carter who scowled at her.
Commander Russell Sharp came to the bank of a stream and took a seat on a rock, picking up a few pebbles to throw into it. ‘Such a green pleasant galaxy we live in’ he observed with a chuckle as he tried skipping a flat stone over the surface. The large alien moon overhead spoiled the illusion he might have been back home in Canada but otherwise it could have been home and it was nice to be away from things for a while.
Spotting a nice-sized fish Sharp idly considered throwing in a grenade and bringing back some fresh food for the troops but it would have spoiled the scene. ‘That’s it’ he said decisively, getting back up, ‘I need a hobby and a girlfriend before I go strange’ he declared. ‘Okay, strange-er’ he admitted to himself honestly, whistling as he continued along down the track which now followed the stream.
Stargate - Tok’ra Homeworld - January 2003
Looking around after she walked through the stargate Sarah Gardner looked up at the crystalline towers which dominated the arid landscape. ‘I thought you people built underground?’ she asked her companions.
‘Normally we do but this world is not known to the goa’uld and does not appear on any records’ the Tok’ra Aldwin told her. ‘If you look at the chappa’ai you will see it is of Tollan rather than Ancient manufacture’ he said.
Sarah turned around and inspected the stargate, it was a great deal slimmer than the one she had departed Earth from via the SGC. ‘Those Tollan are clever people’ she observed, tapping the device on her chest, the light from it glowing blue to indicate that she not the Goa’uld Osiris was currently in control of the body she unwillingly shared with the thing.
‘Yes the Tollan are highly advanced’ Aldwin agreed.
‘So can we hurry up and get this damn parasite out of my head and into a blender’ Sarah requested, ‘no offence’ she quickly told the Tok’ra who was pretty much the same as Osiris really from a physiological if not philosophical perspective.
Aldwin smiled. ‘None taken’ he replied. ‘I’m afraid the ritual itself is quite lengthy’ he apologised.
‘Not a problem after all the time I’ve waited for this’ Sarah replied, ‘just unlock this thing so the Goa’uld has to sit through it, I’ll just gloat from the gallery back here’ she said, tapping the side of her head.
‘Follow me please’ Aldwin told her and they headed down the trail towards the small city the Tok’ra had literally grown there.
This might have all occurred quite some time ago if not for a quirk of fate Sarah Gardner thought to herself regretfully. Osiris had been captured and then detained for months as it was interrogated but eventually everything it apparently knew was known to X-COM and they were more than happy at that point to let the Tok’ra remove the Goa’uld from its host but then Anubis had arrived on the scene seeking the various Eye Crystals and the removal was postponed. One of the Eyes had belonged to Osiris millennia ago and the Goa’uld claimed it knew where it was but wouldn’t say unless it was freed. X-COM was highly unwilling to actually free Osiris but a decision was taken to postpone the extraction procedure much to the chagrin of Sarah of course.
The Tollan had been persuaded by the SGC, and an appeal by the sympathetic Tok’ra, to hand over a so-called “Detachment Device” which she could wear so that Sarah not Osiris was in charge but despite getting control of her body back she still couldn’t control her own destiny, continuing to be kept in a secure X-COM for obvious reasons. With Daniel gone there wasn’t even a friendly face to visit sometimes and she had become increasingly despairing of whether she would ever be totally free of the thing which had hijacked her body when news had arrived recently that Anubis had now located the Eye of Osiris in ruins on one of the worlds the goa’uld used to control. This was bad news as far as X-COM and the SGC was concerned but very good news for Sarah Gardner herself since there was now no reason not to go ahead with the extraction.
‘Does this hurt?’ Sarah asked.
‘Yes’ Aldwin confirmed. ‘Although the host suffers far less than the symbiote’ he told her, ‘for the goa’uld it will be excruciating’ he said.
Sarah thought about that. ‘So can you draw that part out?’ she asked.
‘You would wish to prolong your pain?’ Aldwin asked in confusion.
‘If it’s going to hurt it a lot more than me yes’ Sarah replied vindictively, noting the rising fear and apprehension of the goa’uld within her with considerable satisfaction. She was going to get her life back and Osiris was going to suffer, this was a very good day she decided happily.
‘You were held at Area 51?’ Aldwin asked, making conversation as they walked to the city. ‘I once visited the facility’ he told her.
‘Yes, most of the time I was in a cell about ten stories underground but they’ve given me much more leeway to move around since I got the gadget here’ Sarah replied. ‘They even gave me some work to do, they’re always bringing relics back through the gate and I helped sort and catalogue them before they were put into storage to keep me busy’ she said, it had also bored Osiris stupid which was a plus.
‘Did you converse with Nirrti often?’ Aldwin asked curiously.
Sarah laughed. ‘Just about the only thing Osiris and I ever agreed on was that Nirrti is a total bitch’ she replied. ‘The other goa’uld prisoners like Imhotep were always locked up tight so we never really talked.’
‘We plan to extract Imhotep from his host K’tano very soon’ Aldwin told her. ‘It is highly unusual for a goa’uld to take a Jaffa as host’ he continued, ‘we may have to modify our method and will need a prim’ta immediately available to place in K’tano or he would likely die’ he said. ‘K’tano may in fact be the first Jaffa to carry one of the new generation of Tok’ra now Egeria our Queen has returned’ he added with a broad smile.
‘What does “gonach” mean?’ Sarah asked randomly.
‘It is a deeply insulting term of abuse’ Aldwin replied, surprised by the question.
‘Ah, Osiris just called Egeria one’ Sarah replied, ‘they used to know each other’ she said.
‘Which may explain why our Queen insisted on being present for the extraction’ Aldwin responded. ‘And why she seems to happy about it’ he reasoned.
They continued to walk along the path. ‘Okay so why don’t you people use cars?’ Sarah asked eventually as they neared the buildings.
‘We feel walking is both good exercise and...’ Aldwin began to reply when Sarah disappeared in a flash of light that seemed to streak upwards for a split second. ‘Mai’tac’ he swore, looking at where she had been standing.
Sarah Gardner re-appeared alone on what she assumed was the bridge of a ship, through the window she could see the planet below and then watched as what appeared to be a swirling hole in space opened up and the ship dived into it, thanks to Osiris she knew they had just gone into hyperspace.
Another flash of light behind her caused Sarah to spin around and she saw a throne-like chair appear with a small grey being sat upon it, she recognised the species as Asgard, she had met Heimdall at Area 51. ‘I am Loki’ the alien introduced itself. ‘You won’t be needing that’ he continued and the Detachment Device Sarah was wearing itself vanished in a flash of light.
Osiris took control again, easily forcing Sarah Gardner into the background. ‘I am Osiris, thank you for freeing me’ she said with a smile, waiting to hear exactly why. ‘I have heard of you of course, you are a frequent topic of conversation amongst my former jailers’ the goa’uld noted.
‘Consider it an act of good faith’ Loki replied, ‘we are currently upon my personal vessel which is of modified Asgard design, far faster and less easily detected or tracked than anything the Goa’uld or Tok’ra have themselves’ he said. ‘Unfortunately I could not have liberated you in this manner whilst you were still on Earth, as Thor and the Asgard High Council have sensors in orbit there which would detect both this ship and the use of beaming technology’ he explained.
‘And I assume this welcome though highly unexpected liberation has a price?’ Osiris asked.
‘Of course’ Loki replied, ‘I wish you to work for me’ he said.
Osiris laughed. ‘A Goa’uld work for a rogue Asgard?’ she asked in amusement. ‘Why would you want me and why would I accede to the request?’
Loki looked smug, or at least as smug as Asgard facial expressions would allow. ‘I feel I have a need to infiltrate the governments, intelligence agencies and corporate businesses on Earth’ he replied, ‘unfortunately neither myself nor any of my creations are suitable for the task whereas you both look human and have a host with detailed knowledge of Earth society and culture’ he explained. ‘As for why you will agree if you do not I will beam you outside’ he told the goa’uld, raising an arm to point out into hyperspace.
‘You make a persuasive case as to obtaining my agreement’ Osiris conceded. ‘But why would you want to infiltrate the tau’ri?’ she queried, ‘your technology is far more advanced.’
Loki now looked annoyed. ‘They have proven a quite inexplicable thorn in my side’ he replied, ‘their successes against the System Lords equally perplexing’ he continued, ‘they need watching and curtailing or if left unchecked and unmonitored they could prove a menace to my plans’ he said. ‘They offer too valuable an opportunity to test my forces against to simply annihilate them now but they certainly need a more watchful eye and require more extensive scrutiny’ he stated.
‘And to achieve this you will return me to the Tau’ri homeworld?’ Osiris asked, ‘how if this vessel would be detected?’
‘I have a new type of large attack craft which when fitted with a prototype cloaking device can transport you to Earth undetected by any sensor’ Loki replied. ‘It will have to land as simply beaming you to the surface is unfortunately not an option’ he said. ‘Afterwards the pilot will return the craft to base’ he told her.
‘You plan to drop me off in the middle of nowhere with no means to achieve the objectives you set for me?’ Osiris asked.
‘No you will have these to aid you’ Loki told her, moving a control stone to cause a table to appear before the Goa’uld holding several familiar and unfamiliar objects.
Osiris smiled and first picked up the ribbon device to put it on her hand and wrist. ‘Hello old friend’ she told it warmly. ‘I assume this will not work on you?’ she asked.
‘No’ Loki confirmed. ‘The ring there is a za’tarc weapon, you are familiar with the healing device and other goa’uld items of course.’
‘Of course’ Osiris confirmed, picking up pain stick and inspecting it. ‘Though some items are unfamiliar’ she noted.
‘The silver metal sphere is a Mind Probe of my own design’ Loki told her, ‘the small box merely contains a goa’uld long-range communication device modified for secure contact with myself and the cloth bag contains precious stones of different types in order to help you establish yourself financially’ he said.
‘The Tok’ra carry these’ Osiris noted, picking up the large handgun on the table.
‘Plasma pistol’ Loki explained, ‘elerium-powered and more powerful than a staff-weapon’ he said. ‘The humans of X-COM do not usually use them and so provide any captured examples to the Tok’ra where there smaller size likely makes them more attractive to their methods than the larger plasma weapons’ he said.
‘You are well informed’ Osiris told him.
‘I have my sources’ Loki replied cryptically. ‘Though their unreliability necessitates your recruitment’ he continued. ‘I was notified that you were to be transported to the new Tok’ra world in advance’ he said.
‘Interesting’ Osiris replied, Loki must have an agent within the Tau’ri already she decided as she tested the weight and handling of the pistol. ‘I will require a full crate of these plus ammunition’ she told him, Loki had only given her an unloaded one of course. ‘I will be recruiting my own people once on Earth and prefer them to be well-armed’ she said, looking along the sights of the weapon at the far bulkhead.
‘So you agree to my offer of employment?’ Loki asked.
‘Best offer I’ve had in quite a while and it does give me the opportunity for revenge which is always sweet’ Osiris replied with a smile. ‘I have not had Tau’ri servants or worshippers in too long’ she continued, opening the bag and inspecting the gems, they would be worth millions of dollars she knew.
‘Once this mission is complete with my assistance you could rise to be a great System Lord again’ Loki told Osiris, ‘I would make a powerful ally in your power-struggles with the other goa’uld.’
‘And why would you be interested in our politics?’ Osiris asked, putting the pistol back on the table.
‘Anubis worries me, long-term he could be a threat to the Asgard and I will not countenance that’ Loki replied. ‘You seem far more agreeable and moderate in your desires.’
Osiris laughed. ‘An Asgard traitor with his own private army as a sponsor, this is not how I expected the day to turn out’ she said, meanwhile at the back of her mind Sarah Gardner was screaming which made it all even better.