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.
Great Pyramid – Abydos – April 2003
Lieutenant-Colonel Louis Ferretti was grateful to be on this mission, it meant that his team as well as SG-1 were spared the chaos back home. When they headed out through the stargate the SGC was almost falling apart as the X-COM personnel went universally apeshit and only a direct order from Commander Sharp to the non US Military personnel to obey General Hammond had prevented a major crisis in the command structure.
Sharp had seriously overstepped his authority and jurisdiction, that was pretty clear to anyone with a basic understanding of the compromise agreements governing X-COM and the USAF’s shared control of the SGC and how the still nationally controlled Area 51 fitted into that sometimes less than clear-cut arrangement. Although the UN member states had given X-COM great leeway to ignore national sovereignty when pursuing alien spacecraft over borders, or to deploy troops anywhere in the world under alien attack or occupation, they had not given the organisation complete carte-blanche to do whatever the hell they wanted at whim and the politicians and bureaucrats would want to make an example of someone that did so, at least in part so as to make sure that other X-COM Senior Officers thought before they acted next time.
As he stepped out of the pyramid and looked around, putting on his sunglasses to protect his eyes from the blazing sunshine, Ferretti couldn’t help but wonder what was going on behind the scenes right now. Sharp would not be helped by the fact that XSGCOM was considerably more bound by red tape than the typical, almost autonomous, X-COM bases elsewhere in the world that mainly dealt with the politically uncomplicated threat from Loki’s forces. With the SGC diplomatic considerations were much higher up the agenda and the International Oversight Advisory had far greater real direct power and influence than the UN Security Council did over the main X-COM facility in Poland for example. Elizabeth Weir couldn’t strip Russell Sharp of his rank, he was still an X-COM Commander, but if the IOA gave her the authority she could under the terms of the international agreements governing the base relieve him of his command of the SGC just as she had done so. Ferretti had got the impression that Weir had expected far more resistance from Sharp but in reality he had accepted the situation like a good professional soldier and obeyed the lawful commands of his designated superiors and the chain of command as laid down with the regulations he worked under.
‘So I guess the place has changed since you were here before Sir?’ one of SG-2, an Airforce Captain, asked Ferretti, breaking him out of his thoughts.
Ferretti nodded and pointed to the railway tracks that started by the base of the pyramid and headed off into the distance towards the naquada mines and the city. ‘I remember when this was nothing but sand’ he said. ‘Of course it still mostly is’ he added.
‘A couple of the Abydonians recognised you when we came through didn’t they?’ the Captain asked.
‘Yeah, they helped us fight Ra and his Jaffa on the first ever Stargate mission’ Ferretti confirmed, ‘met them again when I came here a second time and got shot at by Apophis and his boys instead’ he told him. ‘They’re better dressed now than they used to be, better fed too’ he observed. ‘Back before we got that big asteroid full of the stuff we sent engineers here to modernise the mining techniques they used and hired locals to work the jackhammers’ Ferretti continued. ‘They’re probably mining ten times the ore for half the work these days and trading it through the gate, we aren’t buying much these days but there’s plenty of other worlds that are.’
‘The Goa’uld?’ the Captain queried.
‘Nah, I hear their major customer is some group of traders and merchants that calls itself the Lucian Cartel’ Ferretti told him. ‘Harry Maybourne introduced the Abydonians to them before he retired’ he said. ‘I’ll bet he claimed a fee from both of them’ Ferretti guessed, accurately in fact. ‘With our mining gear and the railroad we put in to haul the ore to the gate saving on time and labour the locals can sell it cheaper than anyone else and still make a profit.’
‘SG-3 and the heavy weapons should be starting to come through any minute Sir’ the Captain noted, checking his watch. ‘Want me to go back inside and point them in the right direction?’ he asked.
‘Just don’t get run over by a FRED or a MALP that comes rolling out from the gate too fast’ Ferretti warned. ‘And tell the jarheads that they had better enjoy filling sandbags because Colonel O’Neill wants this place fortified in case Anubis shows up looking for the Eye of Ra’ he said.
‘Well at least we’ve got plenty of sand Sir’ the Captain noted with a chuckle.
‘That won’t seem half as good news after you’ve filled the first hundred bags yourself’ Ferretti told him earnestly, it must have been at least a hundred and ten degrees in the shade. ‘I’ll try and find some volunteers to help’ he said. ‘They’re usually eager to sign up’ he recalled.
Inside the pyramid SG-1 was inside a chamber Skara had led them to once they arrived. He had been expecting them, saying Daniel had appeared and told them that both O’Neill and a Goa’uld would be coming seeking the Eye of Ra. The chamber was at the very end of the network of catacombs dug out of the rock by slaves thousands of years before but it showed signs of far more recent activity, Skara said that when he lived on Abydos with Share Jackson had spent much time exploring the place and deciphering the hieroglyphics that covered nearly every surface.
They had been there less than half an hour and O’Neill was already bored rigid, Jonas and Teal’c were trying to translate the myriad symbols painted on the chamber walls, Carter was trying to detect any power signals that might be coming from hidden technology and Andianov was sat on the floor leaning back against a column and quietly seething about events back at the SGC.
‘So are you seeing anyone?’ O’Neill asked Skara.
‘Maybe’ Skara replied coyly.
‘Really? Is it serious?’ O’Neill asked the young Abydonian.
Skara smiled. ‘We are betrothed’ he told his friend.
‘Trust me, that’s serious’ O’Neill told him with a grin. ‘Congratulations’ he said.
‘Thank you’ Skara replied. ‘I wanted to ask you to sha’loki’ he said. ‘To stand beside me at the ceremony’ he explained.
‘Best Man you mean’ O’Neill reasoned. ‘I’d be honoured’ he told him honestly.
‘Will you be coming to my wedding alone?’ Skara asked. ‘My future wife will wish to know if we need an extra place at the table for our most important guests’ he said.
Carter gave up playing with her scanning device and wandered over. ‘Nothing Sir’ she said apologetically.
‘Is Carter invited to your wedding too?’ O’Neill asked.
‘Of course’ Skara confirmed. ‘Will you be coming together O’Neill?’ he asked.
O’Neill and Carter looked at each other for a brief moment. ‘Through the stargate as friends attending a wedding together sure’ Carter said.
‘Yeah sure’ O’Neill affirmed, nodding much more vigorously than was required.
Skara smiled. ‘What is wrong with your companion?’ he asked curiously, indicating Andianov who was now sullenly consuming a ration bar.
‘She’s just pissed, she’ll get over it’ O’Neill replied. ‘Probably best to leave her alone and under no circumstances say the words Elizabeth or Weir’ he advised quietly. ‘How are you doing Jonas?’ he asked loudly.
‘The boy is right, there are plenty of references to the Eye of Ra but nothing that conveniently says “press here to open secret chamber” or anything so useful’ Jonas replied. ‘Lots of stuff about how amazing and cool The Supreme System Lord Ra is though’ he noted.
‘Cool?’ O’Neill queried. ‘I guess that’s not a literal translation.’
‘More or less’ Jonas replied, pointing to one set of hieroglyphs. ‘What does this say Teal’c?’ he asked for confirmation.
The Jaffa looked at the writing. ‘It says Chel’nok in ancient goa’uld Jonas Quinn as you very well know’ Teal’c replied.
‘Which means?’ Jonas asked.
‘Very cool’ Teal’c translated.
‘See’ Jonas said to O’Neill. ‘There’s a passage over there which says Ra is a righteous dude and Anubis is bogus’ he declared, pointing to the far wall.
‘Now I know you’re making this up’ O’Neill responded disbelievingly.
‘No that really is about the closest translation’ a familiar voice interrupted. ‘Hi again Jack’ it said.
Andianov nearly jumped out of her skin, screeched something in Russian and as the remains of her ration bar went one way she grabbed hold of her laser-rifle propped against the column beside her.
‘Congratulations Daniel I never thought I’d see that kind of reaction from the Sergeant’ O’Neill told the apparition which had now joined them.
‘Sorry Lyudmila’ Daniel apologised to the Russian who had now clambered to her feet and was pointing her L2-A2 Rifle at him, wide-eyed. ‘If you fire that it’ll just go right through and damage the wall behind me’ he told her. ‘Sam, Teal’c’ he greeted his other friends with a smile. ‘Nice to see you too Jonas’ he told the Kelownan.
‘So I hope you’re here to tell us where the Eye is’ O’Neill asked Daniel. ‘We haven’t had much luck finding it yet’ he said.
Jonas nodded. ‘There's nothing here. Just a lot of talk about the power of Ra, the size of his domain...’
‘How awesomely groovy he is’ O’Neill interrupted. ‘Time for you to shine ascension-boy’ he told Daniel, ‘where’s the Eye?’ he asked.
‘I know it’s here’ Daniel replied, ‘just not in the specifics’ he admitted.
Andianov stepped forward gingerly and waved the end of her rifle through Daniel. ‘Hologram or some kind of psionics?’ she asked.
‘Sort of both really plus something else’ Daniel told her. ‘I know all that paranoia and suspicion you’ve got means it hard for you to believe it’s me but it really is’ he said. ‘If being ascended made you all-knowing I could prove it, unfortunately it doesn’t which is why I can’t just point you all in the direction of the Eye even if I thought the others would let me interfere that much’ he said.
‘Aren’t you interfering by talking to us right now?’ Carter asked him.
‘Yes but we’re given some leeway, I just won’t get invited to the good parties for a couple of hundred years for doing this’ Daniel told her.
‘They throw a decent shindig in the higher planes do they?’ O’Neill asked wryly.
‘I wouldn’t know, too many people are still pissed at Oma Desala for ascending me so I’m persona-non-grata among the in-crowd’ Daniel replied. ‘At the current rate I’ll probably be the black sheep for eons’ he told them with a shrug.
‘It is good to see you so well Daniel Jackson’ Teal’c told him.
‘Thanks Teal’c’ Daniel replied with a smile. ‘Sam I’d give you a hug but I’m not very good at making myself corporeal yet’ he told her. ‘It’s trickier than you might think he said. ‘Okay here’s the bad news’ he continued, directly to O’Neill. ‘Anubis is heading for Abydos in his flagship and is meeting one of Loki’s ships on the way so Loki can hand over the Eye of Tiamat.’
‘Great, so he managed to get it off Earth then?’ O’Neill replied. ‘Oh you got Sharp canned by the way’ he told him. ‘When he found out the Eye was gone he took over Area 51 without permission and annoyed the politicians mightily.’
‘I know’ Daniel replied. ‘I’ve been keeping an eye on you all’ he said. ‘That didn’t really surprise me, he’s not one to consider the political ramifications of his actions’ he continued, ‘him asking Janet out and her saying yes was the one which caught me totally off-guard’ he told them.
‘What?’ Carter exclaimed.
‘Ask her when you get back’ Daniel advised, ‘it could have just been her getting caught off-guard too’ he suggested. ‘I think he’s held a torch for her for a while but couldn’t do anything about it before because of all those military regulations.’
O’Neill and Carter momentarily found themselves looking at each other and then instantly broke away from the glance when Daniel coughed and they realised Teal’c, Andiandov and Jonas were looking at them too. Being less stoic than the other two Jonas was the one that had to fight much harder not to grin.
Andianov had lowered her rifle. ‘The Commander was always good at quickly taking advantage of changed circumstances’ she observed.
‘I’ve heard that the Chinese use the same word for crisis as they do opportunity’ O’Neill commented. ‘Crisitunity’ he said.
‘I don’t think crisitunity is a real word Sir’ Carter told him.
‘It’s a perfectly cromulent word Carter’ O’Neill responded, ‘you need to embiggen your vocabulary’ he said. ‘Hey I’ve read the dictionary cover to cover’ he told Jonas who was looking at him doubtfully. ‘The zebra did it’ he confided. ‘So when can we expect Anubis?’ he asked Daniel.
‘It won’t be long’ Daniel replied.
‘Well at least he can’t just blow us all to hell from orbit if he wants to retrieve the Eye’ O’Neill reasoned. ‘He’ll have to land troops and fight his way in.’
‘I’ve warned the Abydonians in the city to take shelter in the deep mines’ Daniel told him. Using the mining equipment from Earth the inhabitants had been tunnelling, looking for richer deposits of higher-quality ore than could be obtained from the surface.
‘You should join them Skara’ O’Neill told him.
‘No O’Neill, I will fight beside you’ Skara responded.
O’Neill shook his head. ‘You should be at the side of your family and your girl’ he replied.
‘If I abandoned my friend before a battle then I would not be fit to face them’ Skara declared forcefully. ‘This is our world, we will fight to keep it free of the Goa’uld’ he said. ‘I carried one within me’ he reminded O’Neill, ‘I know their evil all too well and know it must be fought by anyone that can do so.’
‘Can’t argue with that’ O’Neill responded. ‘Alright Jonas, find the damn Eye’ he told him. ‘Carter stay with him, Teal’c, Andianov we’re joining SG-2 and 3 up there’ he said, pointing upwards. ‘We should be able to hold a position with our weapons and stone walls this thick a good long while’ he decided. ‘Daniel if you feel like being more helpful stick you head through some walls and try and find the Eye’ he requested.
‘There’s a line I can’t cross in terms of how much I can help you Jack’ Daniel replied. ‘I’m not sure exactly where it is but I’m sure I’m already pretty close to it’ he said.
‘Just keep edging nearer, test out those boundaries’ O’Neill told him then frowned. ‘You know I was hoping for you to be a lot more omniscient and omnipotent’ he told him.
‘I’ve come to realise that the whole ascension thing is sold with a lot of false advertising’ Daniel replied apologetically.
High Orbit – Abydos – April 2003
The flagship of Anubis emerged from hyperspace and took station directly above the pyramid Ra had built there long ago as a landing platform for the early model Ha’tak he had often liked to travel in. Anubis had occasionally wondered why Ra had kept such an archaic craft in service so long after most others had scrapped them, thinking it was perhaps for the sake of nostalgia since it was the craft with which he had once conquered the Tau’ri, but regardless of his reasons Ra was dead, killed by the same human-made thermonuclear device which had blown his venerable mothership to tiny pieces, and he wasn’t available for comment.
Later model Ha’tak ships, even the newer distinctive ones used by Apophis, had always retained the basic pyramidal shape to some degree, even if they surrounded it with additional superstructure. That could not however be said of the flagship of Anubis which was very different in appearance and used several design features of Ancient origin, it was also the largest ship ever built by a Goa’uld, even the flagship of Sokar, now in the hands of Apophis was only just over three kilometres across pylon-to-pylon, it dwarfed a regular Ha’tak but paled by comparison with the five kilometre wide leviathan now above Abydos.
‘We stand ready to take this world for your glory My Lord’ Her’ak the First Prime of Anubis declared from his vantage point at a window on the ships pel’tak looking down at Abydos. He turned to his master sitting on his throne command chair and bowed. ‘Shall I lead the assault myself?’ he asked.
‘No, let those who are disposable lead the first wave in case resistance is heavy’ Anubis replied. Her’ak had proven himself a more than adequate First Prime and was loyal as well as skilled. He had once served a minor goa’uld named Khonso but when he learned his master was in reality a Tok’ra Her’ak slew the traitor and pledged himself to a true god instead, one worthy of devotion.
‘As you wish My Lord’ Her’ak replied, inwardly smiling that his master thought him too valuable to waste. ‘I have ordered the crews of our Deathgliders and Al’Kesh not to fire their weapons directly at the pyramid for fear of collapsing the passageways within and burying the Eye of Ra’ he said.
‘If any disobey have them put to death’ Anubis responded, ‘and their families’ he added.
‘Just their parents, wives and children or their cousins too?’ Her’ak checked.
Anubis thought about that. ‘Not the cousins, we’re too short on manpower’ he replied. Even if he managed to obtain the last Eye and bring his super-weapon on-line he would still need many Jaffa to occupy his expanding empire and as yet he still had far too few.
‘I’ll let everyone know’ Her’ak told him with a deferential bow.
‘On second thoughts I would not want to be thought of as going too soft’ Anubis decided, he had a reputation to uphold after all. ‘Have their First Cousins scourged’ he ordered.
Her’ak nodded. ‘Very wise’ he concurred, taking out a tablet recording device from his armour and making a note.
The sheer size of the flagship meant that as well as a full complement of deathgliders it also carried dozens of Al’kesh in oversized internal bays plus a number of the even larger troop transports only Anubis employed to carry whole companies of Jaffa at a time into battle. With multiple squadrons of deathgliders leading off a whole fleet of craft was soon launched which dove into the atmosphere heading towards the surface, thousands of troops being landed in a show of overwhelming force designed to both demonstrate the might of Anubis and hopefully ensure a quick and easy victory.
Jack O’Neill pulled the peak of his cap lower to shield his eyes as he squinted into the sky. It was so bright here even the sunglasses he was wearing didn’t block out enough light for comfort. ‘Dots’ he said.
‘Deathgliders O’Neill’ Teal’c responded.
‘Good eyes T’ O’Neill told him as they stood side-by side near the entrance to the pyramid at the top of the stone steps that led down to the twin obelisks and the small rail-yard before them. ‘Ferretti, how many MANPADS have we got?’ he called out to the commander of SG-2 who was still helping pile up sandbags to the right of the doorway.
‘Twelve Stingers’ Ferretti replied.
‘Not so great’ O’Neill responded with a frown.
‘Four of them are X-COM specials’ Ferretti told him, ‘naquada/potassium warheads with quarter-kiloton yields’ he said. ‘I’ve got them ready to go at your order Colonel’ he reported.
‘I take back what I said before’ O’Neill responded more enthusiastically.
‘They’re experimental’ Ferretti noted. ‘If they don’t blow us all to hell on launch they might enter the standard inventory’ he said. Someone had apparently commented in an after-action report that the grunts needed something with more punch to take out an Al’kesh or similar and a few weeks later a crate of nuclear MANPADS had arrived at the SGC, you had to admire their ability to get things done fast.
O’Neill and Teal’c looked at each other then at the approaching multitude of craft getting larger and larger as they approach. ‘Screw it’ O’Neill declared. ‘I’m game let’s nuke the bastards’ he said. ‘You do think X-COM actually tests this stuff properly at the range before they issue it for field trials right?’ he asked Teal’c quietly.
‘I’m sure that at least the majority of test-launches would have been successful before they issued the weapon O’Neill’ Teal’c replied.
‘That’s reassuring’ O’Neill responded sardonically.
The leading deathglider squadron swept in at relatively low speed, subsonic so they could be sure of their aim. It was known the Tau’ri had strong links with this world, perhaps it was under their rule with the former slaves of Ra now labouring in the mines for other humans rather than the gods, but for whatever reason they were there the likely presence of the warriors of the First World meant facing the advanced weaponry they utilised including missiles that were rumoured to seek and follow airborne targets using Tau’ri magics.
When the deathgliders got within a handful of kilometres of the pyramid a fast-moving object leaving a trail of smoke in its wake shot up to meet them. The pilots knew what to expect and began manoeuvring wildly to avoid it as they had been warned to do, it might have helped if it had needed to be anywhere near them when it exploded.
A normal shoulder-launched Stinger Missile carried less than half a kilo of explosives as its warhead, an explosion proven adequate to destroy a deathglider on contact. The potassium/naquada warhead on this one however exploded with a force of two-hundred and fifty tonnes of TNT which made for a rather more spectacular explosion when the proximity fuse it carried triggered its detonation.
‘Wow’ O’Neill declared as the blinding flash and short-lived fireball died away to reveal a squadron’s worth of broken deathgliders in varying conditions and numbers of pieces falling from the skies, the fragile airframes smashed by the blastwave sending them and their pilots spiralling to the ground.
‘Hell yeah!’ the SG-3 Marine who had fired it exclaimed, holding up his launcher in triumph. The handful of awestruck Abydonians with them including Skara eventually collected their wits enough to start whooping and they now all realised why O’Neill had told them to close their eyes for the explosion.
‘Your turn Ferretti’ O’Neill called out just before the grinning head of SG-2 launched his own souped-up Stinger having chosen to try one himself, the missile hurtling away at supersonic speed and veering left through the sky towards the next wave of deathgliders which was already starting to scatter after witnessing what the last Tau’ri missile had done. They were successful enough that the second explosion only took out two more Goa’uld fighters but even that was enough to ensure that the armada which had been heading straight towards the pyramid complex was now reconsidering the wisdom of getting anywhere near it.
‘They will now likely land some distance away and approach by foot O’Neill’ Teal’c told him. ‘The Deathgliders and Al’kesh will circle and come in low for a safer high-speed attack run to support the Jaffa footsoldiers when they launch their assault’ he said.
‘Probably best not use the special warheads on anything much closer than a klick even if I did put on plenty of sun-screen before I came here’ O’Neill decided. ‘We’ve probably got a few more minutes until we’re up to our necks in Jaffa so finish piling up those sandbags and someone check that the Mighty Malps are ready and the motors still spin’ he ordered, ‘damn sand here gets into everything’ he complained, somehow it had already made it into his shorts.
‘Shall I check on the progress of Jonas Quinn and Daniel Jackson?’ Teal’c asked, they couldn’t get decent radio reception to the catacombs from outside the pyramid, they had already tried.
‘No you stay here, I’ll go, I’m probably better at lighting a rocket up their ass’ O’Neill replied.
‘You intend to threaten them with one of the missiles O’Neill?’ Teal’c queried.
O’Neill looked at him. ‘I would if I thought it would get results’ he replied.
Deep within the catacombs Daniel was wandering around the room where he thought the Eye might be concealed. ‘I always thought there might be a secret chamber here’ he said, indicating one of the walls.
‘And you didn’t mention this earlier because....?’ Jonas asked.
‘I was hoping you’d start looking there without being prompted’ Daniel told him, ‘I’m not sure how many clues I can give you before the others shut me down’ he said.
Jonas looked around. ‘Could you be a little more explicit on the rules’ he requested loudly of nobody in sight. ‘It’s very annoying for us mortals’ he declared before walking over to the wall Daniel had indicated.
Carter joined him and looked over the wall, it showed an image of Ra with sunbeams and a jewel embedded in the wall. They had inspected it earlier but it was far too small to be the Eye itself. ‘Daniel couldn’t you just stick you head through the wall here and look?’ she asked.
‘No’ Daniel replied, ‘don’t ask why it’s complicated’ he told her.
‘Well if you do know anything more and we get near it could you maybe start saying hotter or colder?’ Carter suggested.
‘No I asked Oma Desala if I could get away with that earlier’ Daniel replied, ‘she said no, it’s been done before’ he told them. ‘You know I’m not the first ascended being who’s been known to interfere a little’ he said. ‘Oh and I was supposed to tell you Orlin says Hi’ he added, remembering he had promised to. ‘He might have dropped in too but they keep him on an even shorter leash than they do me.’
Carter raised her eyebrows. ‘Is there like some club for wayward ascended beings you hang out in?’ she asked.
‘It’s more like a Diner, or an imagined one given pseudo-physical form as a manifestation of ascended power’ Daniel replied. ‘Don’t look at me like that’ he continued, noting the dubious expression on her face, ‘I’m serious’ he told her. ‘Hey is that my stuff?’ Daniel asked Jonas recognising the archaeology tools and implements Jonas had been using.
‘You weren’t using it’ Jonas told him. ‘I’ve got your office too.’
‘It’s tidier now’ Carter noted. Jonas was far more of a neat-freak than Daniel had ever been.
‘Hey enough socialising, we’re already throwing nukes around up there you know’ O’Neill’s voice interrupted loudly. ‘Just find the damn Eye before it all gets nasty and ill-tempered’ he ordered.
Carter turned to O’Neill who was standing at the bottom of the steps leading up. ‘Nukes?’ she asked.
‘Only dinky little ones’ O’Neill explained, holding his thumb and forefinger slightly apart. ‘Once we’ve got the damn Eye we can leave, Anubis will get lost and everything will be peachy’ he said. ‘Just remember we’re on the clock here’ he said seriously, ‘we saw enough ships coming in to land to carry a regiments worth of Jaffa at least, maybe a lot more if all those Al’kesh were standing room only.’
‘I think we’re onto something here Colonel’ Jonas told him.
‘Good’ O’Neill replied, ‘you’ll know where I’ll be’ he said, turning around and heading back up the steps several at a time. He had double-timed through the torch-lit catacombs to get there but that had been mainly downhill and the return journey would leave him out of breath he knew.
Jonas looked at the rays painted on the wall that were focused on the crystal there. ‘Here’s hoping’ he said, getting out a magnifying glass so he could focus some light on it, thinking it might be the opening mechanism to a secret door.
Outside at the entrance Jaffa horns could be heard to sound as the enemy approached, they had landed out-of-sight beyond the sand dunes and would almost certainly soon appear. ‘Skara, tell your people to hold their fire until I give the word’ Ferretti ordered. The locals had a mixture of M16A2 assault rifles which had been issued to them plus a few MP5 sub-machineguns left over from the very first visit of Earth soldiers to Abydos but their marksmanship wasn’t exactly great.
As well as the usual L2-A2 Laser rifles each member of SG-1, 2 and 3 carried they also had a pair of old M60 belt-fed machineguns set up that someone must have dug out of the back of the SGC armoury. Those should perforate a few Jaffa nicely Ferretti thought as the horns got louder and he hunkered down behind his sandbags. It was only a pity the entrance was too narrow to bring through some hovertanks or they could have really kicked some ass he thought regretfully, you could just about scrape through a FRED though and after they had been unloaded the robot trucks had been added as part of the barricade.
‘Here we go!’ Ferretti called out as the first Jaffa cleared the top of the sand dunes followed by dozens more in a mass wave.
‘Here they come to save the day, Mighty MALP is on the way’ one of SG-2 sang out, grinning broadly as he switched on the semi-autonomous combat machines.
Two gatling-staff weapons span up as the turrets of the tracked robots resting in the sand nearby turned and began blasting a continual stream of plasma bolts into the charging Jaffa, mowing them down. Hundreds of shots per minute scythed back and forth as the machines devastated the enemy ranks, the two M60 machineguns then joined in, stitching visible lines as the bullets sent up sprays of either sand or blood, their large calibre 7.62mm rounds barely slowed down by Jaffa armour.
Some of the Jaffa tried shooting back but they were hundreds of yards away, a hopeless range for a staff-weapon and as they stopped moving to aim they were picked off by far more accurate laser fire from those among the defenders using their rifles. Breytenbach in SG-3 and Andianov in SG-1 were quietly efficient, clinically gunning the Jaffa down one after another, their demeanour clashing the most fiercely with the excitable Abydonians who were yelling improvised battle-cries and abuse at the Jaffa.
More Anubis Jaffa started to appear from another direction and one of the armed robots switched targeting priorities to engage that group instead. ‘Deathgliders’ someone cried out as the first of the fighters came screaming in overhead firing its staff-cannon. Teal’c snatched up one of the regular Stinger Launchers and took aim as it screamed past, firing once the infra-red seeker had a lock. The missile chased it down and blew the back off the deathglider the machine plummeting into the ground and exploding as three more of the craft appeared, firing randomly and yet another group of Jaffa arrived over a third dune.
Jaffa bodies already littered the desert but the problem was increasingly becoming that the defenders couldn’t kill them fast enough and as they managed to get closer and closer some of the staff blasts got nearer and nearer.
‘Staff-Cannon’ Andianov exclaimed as a larger blast bloomed in the desert near one of the Mighty-MALP robots. She spotted the weapon and its crew but before she could gun them down a rocket hurtled off towards it and blew both the cannon and its crew apart.
O’Neill put down the expended Javelin anti-tank missile launcher he had grabbed as soon as he spotted the staff-cannon being set up and took up his laser-rifle again. ‘I need to get into better shape’ he said, breathing heavily from sprinting to join the battle when he heard the sounds of fighting echoing back through the stone passageways.
One of the M60’s jammed. ‘Get that fucker firing again!’ Ferretti screamed at the man using it before bellowing at Skara instead. ‘Now’ he said and the Aydonians joined in, blazing away with their weaponry at the invaders.
A large goa’uld Troop-Transport appeared off to the far right, coming into land to drop off hundreds more Jaffa into the fighting from a forth direction. ‘Nuke that son-of-a-bitch’ O’Neill exclaimed as one of the SG-3 Marines put down his rifle and took up one of the specially marked Stinger launchers instead. ‘Close your eyes, open your mouths and duck’ O’Neill yelled at the top of his lungs as the missile streaked off. ‘This should be interesting’ he thought as a naquada warhead detonated rather too close for comfort.
The explosion was titanic, the blast rocked the desert as the Troop Transport practically ceased to be, the remaining small pieces of hull raining down over a massive area. It was deafeningly loud and blindingly bright, some of the sand right underneath the explosion fused to glass.
O’Neill had sheltered behind some sandbags and realised that there was blood running from his nose and he was deaf. ‘Christ’ he said and looking around saw that one of the Mighty-MALPS had fallen over and was no longer firing although the other was still going, cutting down disorientated blinded Jaffa. O’Neill reached over and gently thumped the nearest soldier to him, a USAF Captain from SG-2. ‘Keep fighting’ he ordered, and taking advantage of the situation he started to take out more of the Jaffa before they could recover. The Captain soon got his head straight again and joined in as did the others, it was simply slaughter but this was no time to act civilised.
Inside the catacombs they had managed to open the secret chamber and found various valuable relics but still no Eye of Ra. Jonas had been looking for another hiding place within the secret chamber where it might be when the whole place trembled from the explosion outside and once the dust settled and he was reasonably confident of the roof not caving in he resumed his search as Daniel continued to pour over a stone tablet inscribed in Ancient he had found. ‘I’m glad I took out some added insurance on this mission’ he told Carter.
Carter had been examining the artefacts herself but now turned to him. ‘What do you mean Daniel?’ she asked.
‘After I went to the SGC I visited Apophis’ he said. ‘With the speed of his hyperdrives he should be arriving right about now’ he told her.
High above Anubis watched as the flagship of Apophis and a half dozen of his Ha’tak ships emerged from Hyperspace. ‘Raise shields’ he ordered as the two immense motherships faced off above Abydos.
Great Pyramid – Abydos – April 2003
As far as O’Neill was concerned the situation had become utterly ridiculous around about the time he realised there were now two entirely different sets of deathgliders in the skies above fighting each other for air-superiority. The armies of Anubis had eventually rallied and reorganised enough to resume their assault on the pyramid complex in earnest when a second large wave of goa’uld fighters came storming out of the skies only for the leading group to be struck by the last of the naquada/potassium MANPADS. After that all hell broke loose as gliders and Al’kesh belonging to Anubis stopped trying to support their infantry and started fighting the larger number of aerospace fighters which had just arrived on the scene instead.
‘What the crap is going on Colonel?’ Ferretti asked nonplussed as what must have been well over a hundred goa’uld fighters and bombers duelled with staff-cannon above in a confused weaving dogfight of epic proportions.
‘Damned if I know but if they’re shooting at each other they’re not shooting at us’ O’Neill replied brightly as he watched for a few more seconds before resuming firing at Jaffa infantry.
High above the flagships of Apophis and Anubis had still not fired at each other though they had closed to point-blank range with the other Ha’tak of Apophis having surrounded the enemy mothership. They had now launched perhaps a quarter of their combined deathgliders towards the surface, enough to badly outnumber those of Anubis already in the atmosphere, but the rest were kept back to add their firepower to the fleet.
A shimmering and smugly confident image of Apophis appeared projected before Anubis. ‘You are outnumbered and outgunned’ he declared. ‘It is a pity your fleet is too overstretched for you to have bought more ships’ he added disingenuously.
Anubis rose from his throne. ‘You think your pathetic tiny vessels and primitive technology can match my own power?’ he asked with derision dripping from his voice.
‘If I had as few ships as you in my service I would not have wasted so many resources on one vessel’ Apophis replied with a smirk. ‘How many Ha’tak could you have built for the same expense as that ugly monstrosity you are flying?’ he asked rhetorically. ‘From its scale I can only assume you are compensating for something’ he said, re-using a joke he had heard a lesser System-Lord use about his own flagship though he wasn’t about to admit it.
‘How did you know to come here?’ Anubis demanded to know.
‘I told him’ Daniel replied, appearing from nowhere on the bridge nearby. Her’ak instantly fired a shot from his Staff-Weapon which passed through the ascended being harmlessly but one of the walls behind him was not so fortunate. ‘Tell him to stop that’ Daniel told Anubis, indicating Her’ak, ‘it’s annoying and hard on the decor’ he said.
‘Stand down’ Anubis told his First Prime. ‘So the others allowed you to interfere?’ he asked Daniel.
‘Well they haven’t stopped me yet’ Daniel replied. ‘I know what you are’ he said. ‘I’ve told my people too’ he added.
‘Very perceptive of you but irrelevant’ Anubis replied.
‘I couldn’t let all the Eyes fall into the hands of someone who also knew how to use them to their maximum potential’ Daniel told him. ‘We’re close enough to the domain of Apophis that with his faster hyperdrives there was time enough to warn him.’
‘And he trusted you, I am surprised’ Anubis responded, looking at the image of the other goa’uld.
‘It would be truer to say that Apophis is smart enough to fear you gaining any more power’ Daniel replied. ‘Plus he was still seething about aliens rampaging through his palace and hates your guts which helps’ he said.
‘Give the Eyes to me and I will let you live’ Apophis declared.
‘Personally I wouldn’t trust his word any more than I would trust him with the Eyes’ Daniel remarked to Anubis. ‘I’m personally hoping that you’re going to blow each other straight to hell’ he said happily.
‘Surrender or I will target the pyramid below and destroy it, better to destroy the Eye of Ra than let it fall into your hands’ Apophis stated.
‘That wasn’t part of the agreement’ Daniel told Apophis curtly.
Anubis looked at Daniel. ‘Did the intelligence of ascended beings drop while I was away?’ he asked. ‘One of my people going back on his word, how unprecedented’ he said sarcastically.
‘Once Anubis is destroyed I will defeat the rest of the System Lords and reign supreme’ Apophis declared. ‘And then I will crush the Tau’ri, the Tollan, the Asgard and all others’ he vowed. ‘But first since I am here I will hunt down the traitors below who rose in rebellion against their god, my brother Ra, and have them exterminated as an example to all slaves.’
Daniel blinked. ‘Oh this isn’t turning out well’ he said to himself.
‘Personally I hated his brother so once I had the Eye I would have just left’ Anubis told Daniel, less than honestly except the part about hating Ra anyway. ‘You led him here’ he pointed out.
‘Sire, one of the Ha’tak vessels of Apophis is changing position to target the planet below’ Her’ak reported, looking at a console display.
‘You got us into this’ Anubis told Daniel, calmly returning to his throne. ‘My ship isn’t powerful enough to win this fight without the Eyes’ he stated flatly, he couldn’t even run away, Apophis had faster hyperdrives than he did.
‘Plan C’ Daniel said and vanished again.
‘Target the enemy flagship with all guns that can be bought to bear’ Anubis ordered. Although the superweapon required the Eyes to work he still had firepower equivalent to many regular Ha’tak ships at his disposal and extremely strong shields with modifications based on Ancient designs. The problem was that he was not facing regular Ha’tak, Anubis knew that the mothership Apophis was flying mounted the largest capital-ship staff-cannon ever made, weaponry that could even pound down the shields of his own massive ship in time. One on one it might have been close to an even match, more powerful guns versus better shields, but they weren’t one-on-one here, his best bet was to hope to disable the flagship and then destroy the smaller motherships but that would require a great deal of luck.
Daniel reappeared standing next to O’Neill down on the planet. ‘Change of plan Jack’ he said. ‘We need to give Anubis the Eye of Ra’ he said sheepishly.
O’Neill had been looking down the sights of his L2-A2 and turned his head slightly. ‘You have got to be shitting me!’ he exclaimed. ‘Look at that’ he declared, indicating the hundreds upon hundreds of corpses that covered the sands of Abydos and the wreckage of dozens of broken Deathgliders and Al’kesh that joined them.
‘Apophis is here with part of his fleet, after he’s destroyed Anubis he’s going to kill everyone on Abydos’ Daniel told him. ‘And he’s targeting this pyramid with a Ha’tak’ he added.
‘Oh that’s just fucking great’ O’Neill moaned.
‘Anubis has his flagship, and you wouldn’t believe the size of the thing, but without the Eyes he’s outgunned’ Daniel told O’Neill as the fighting continued around and above them. ‘If we give him the Eyes he can destroy Apophis.’
‘You don’t make my life very easy Danny, I hope you know that’ O’Neill replied. ‘If Anubis has the eyes then what?’ he asked.
‘He’ll destroy Apophis... and then with him gone he’ll easily conquer the galaxy’ Daniel replied.
‘So the short-term solution isn’t all that great long-term then?’ O’Neill queried wryly.
‘Not so much’ Daniel had to agree.
‘Anubis definitely can’t win the fight without it?’ O’Neill checked.
‘Not a chance’ Daniel confirmed.
O’Neill looked to heavens. ‘Why me?’ he asked, not expecting a reply. ‘Okay if Jonas has found the damn Eye we’ll give it to Anubis but after that I expect you to do whatever it takes to stop him’ he said.
‘I’ll do my best’ Daniel promised.
‘Whatever it takes’ O’Neill repeated seriously, ‘I don’t give a shit above the rules they’ve got you working under’ he said. ‘If you want us to give him the Eye then it’s your responsibility to deal with the consequences.’
‘Agreed’ Daniel replied, ‘we can use the rings in the pyramid to get it up to Anubis.’
‘Carter disabled them, tell her to activate the things again’ O’Neill replied, hoping he wasn’t making the worst mistake of his life. ‘And get up there and tell Anubis to stop his damn men attacking us, we’re killing the poor bastards for no reason’ he declared. ‘It’s murder, nothing more nothing less’ he said sadly as more and more Jaffa fell to Tau’ri weapons.
Apophis had meanwhile opened fire, the main guns on his flagship could have blasted through the fully charged shields of an older model Ha’tak in one salvo and it said much for both the size of the ship Anubis was on, and the sophistication of its shields, that it could shrug off such a battering, at least initially anyway. Repeated strikes were however draining the shields of the great ship quickly, and although the return fire was shaking Apophis’s flagship it was obvious who was doing worse from the exchange.
Blast after blast of oversized staff-cannon with multi-megaton yields crashed into shields, and hundreds of deathgliders added to the weight of fire, their collective contribution still almost negligible but not quite. ‘It is a pity my brother Ra was not here to see this’ Apophis observed, together with Lord Yu they had defeated Anubis the last time he had tried to conquer the galaxy and even the senile old fool Yu clearly remembered what a twisted evil creature Anubis truly was.
Daniel Jackson appeared before him. ‘You should be running’ he said.
‘What?’ Apophis responded in confusion.
‘We just gave Anubis the Eye of Ra’ Daniel explained. ‘You stay and you’re dead’ he stated flatly. ‘If you can rally your entire fleet you might be able to overwhelm him but right now you’re screwed’ he said. ‘Contact Lord Yu and tell him to bring every ship he can to defend Delmak alongside you because that’ll be where Anubis will be heading next’ he told him.
‘You’re lying’ Apophis responded, it was clearly a bluff.
‘Am I?’ Daniel asked rhetorically as the centre section of the mothership of Anubis started to open up, almost like a flower opening, and sensors indicated power-levels aboard were spiking to near astronomical levels. ‘I couldn’t let you wipe out the people of Abydos’ he said simply. ‘Bye’ he added, disappearing again.
Apophis stared at the enemy warship. ‘Charge the hyperdrive’ he ordered. ‘NOW!’ he screamed.
Waves of lightning-like energy shot out from the mothership of Anubis and crackled around the Ha’tak vessels surrounding it, overloading their shields in an instant then rending them apart. Some of the energy washed over the flagship of Apophis dropping her own shields by half in seconds before it opened a hyperspace window and escaped into subspace leaving the other ships to their doom.
‘Chel’nok’ Her’ak said in awe as his master’s great warship destroyed its foes, the power provided by the combined Eyes overwhelming. ‘I can see why you were willing to trade a Ha’tak for the Eye of Tiamat My Lord’ he remarked to Anubis.
Anubis leaned back in his throne. ‘That rogue Asgard will prove to be a valuable ally’ he said with satisfaction.
‘We are still surrounded by many deathgliders’ Her’ak noted.
‘Order them to surrender and if they do not destroy them’ Anubis ordered. ‘Recall our ships from the surface there is nothing there of value now’ he said. ‘Once we have recovered them, target Abydos with the Eye Weapon.’
‘Why?’ Daniel asked, appearing again. ‘Why would you do that?’ he wanted to know. ‘You hated Ra, you said so, why punish the Abydonians?’
‘I am not punishing them for their revolt’ Anubis replied. ‘I’m just doing it because I can’ he said simply.
‘You’re letting Apophis get away’ Daniel reminded him.
‘His ship is faster, there is no point chasing him’ Anubis replied. ‘His time will come soon’ he said. ‘There should be witnesses’ he decided. ‘Allow the Tau’ri to leave through the chappa’ai in peace before executing my orders’ he ordered Her’ak. ‘O’Neill will live with his failure to defend the first world he took from the Goa’uld.’
‘I won’t let you do this’ Daniel declared.
‘Strike me down’ Anubis replied, ‘do it now or I will destroy Abydos’ he declared.
Daniel raised his hands and began to summon power, Anubis might be half-ascended still but he was willing to bet he couldn’t survive this. He fired the intense swirling cloud of energy at Anubis but it was repulsed by an invisible force and swept back towards him. ‘No don’t do this!’ he implored as he vanished.
Her’ak stared in wonder. ‘You are indeed all-powerful my Lord’ he told Anubis in awe.
‘What you just saw was not my doing’ Anubis responded. He had known the others would not allow Oma Desala off so lightly as to allow one being who she had ascended to destroy another and end her punishment for repeated interference.
Far below Jack O’Neill surveyed the battlefield. ‘What a waste of brave men’ he said sadly as Teal’c made a silent prayer for his brothers laid dead and dying in the sands of Abydos. ‘What was the damn point?’ he asked himself quietly as Jonas stepped out from the pyramid and looked around in shock at the carnage. He was carrying two pieces of a stone tablet in his hands but any thoughts he had of explaining how important they might be and what they might mean had been stripped by the sight of so many dead and wounded.
Lyudmila Andianov wandered over to Breytenbach the other X-COM soldier present. ‘We’ll still be throwing Staff-Weapons through the gate next Tuesday’ she complained. ‘And I’m not burying that lot’ she stated with finality before the shimmering vision of Oma Desala appeared and saved them the trouble by telling O’Neill he and his people needed to leave right that second promising she would look after everything once he left.
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XSGCOM: Mirror Image
by HotpointKapitel Bemerkung:
Anubis arrives over Abydos and Daniel... interferes.
Kapitel Abschlussbemerkung:
Note from the Author:
There is a lot more happening behind the scenes with the Sharp situation, more to follow on that later in the chapter. In the show SG-1 went to Abydos alone. Here they have bought along SG-2, SG-3 and plenty of additional firepower too (which makes more sense).
It's mentioned way back in the Fic that Earth had re-opened and modernised the Abydos mines as their primary source of naquada (before the asteroid came along). With Earth no longer buying and all the infrastructure in place I could see them selling elsewhere, Harry Maybourne as a middle-man between them and the Lucian Cartel (they're still not the Alliance yet, just an underground criminal organisation of smugglers and mercenaries) seemed like his sort of thing. The Lucians used naquada as a major trade good in the show. The words crisatunity, cromulent and embiggen come from the Simpsons in case you didn't know. Jack O'Neill was a major fan of course.
The scalings for the Flagships come from gateworld forums and seem pretty reliable and thought-out, the Anubis Flagship is actually larger than Atlantis! The Troop Transports were only ever seen used by Anubis, they're a lot larger than an Al'kesh but don't have a visible shield so even a sub-kiloton warhead should be sufficient to take them out fairly spectacularly.
Yep, pretty big battle to come over Delmak...
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