Continuing Stargate

[s09119]

Like mine?

...which I am still waiting for, btw.

And okay ladies and gentlemen, the hour has arrived! At 11:00 AM, EST (that's in 10 minutes), I will begin posting "Star By Star." I only ask that at said time, everyone refrain from posting until the movie/episode is up completely so as not to interrupt things. Thank you for your patience, happy New Year, and I hope you enjoy!

[s09119]

14x20 "Star By Star" (Feature-length film)
Synopsis: Humanity is brought to the brink when the Der'kal launch a merciless assault on an Earth cut off from its allies and weakened by political divisions. While Carter and Mitchell prepare their world for war, Daniel and Vala depart in search of an eleventh hour weapon to turn the tide of battle.

Spoiler:

((Five-minute recap of Seasons 12-14, narrated by the members of SG-1))

In the swirling tunnels of hyperspace, a massive Der'kal fleet makes its way through the galaxy. Boasting dozens of cruisers, corvettes, frigates, and other warships, and doubtless carrying thousands upon thousands of fighters, bombers, and gunships, this is the very image of death incarnate, an unstoppable war machine capable of flattening any and all resistance. There are quite possibly millions of warriors within the hulks, and all of them are preparing for the most-glorious battle of their lives. The ships seem to stream back forever, going and going as far as the eye can see, and they're all on their way to a single, helpless objective; Earth.

On the bridge of the fleet's flagship, the newly made leader Lor'al stands looking out at the tunnel as her armada draws ever-closer to the impenetrable homeworld of the Tau'ri. Several attendants move silently around her, continuing in the daily operations of keeping such a massive ship fully functional, but there's a distinct strangeness in the air. These males are clearly unused to having a female in so prominent a position, and having one now command the entire armada must be a shocking prospect indeed.

As she stares out into the abyss, Lor'al suddenly stiffens, turning to see a te'kal making his way through the doorway of the bridge toward her. Inclining her head in reverence, she asks the Exarch's emissary what he wants, in a tone that suggests she does not approve of the position this male before her holds. With a veiled and guarded look, the attendant informs her that their forces at Dakara continue to keep the Alliance penned in, unable to withdraw to chase after them. And their ships on the border of Free Jaffa space are ensuring that a constant Der'kal presence will prevent any ships from abandoning their posts in other regions for fear of a second attack. For the moment, it looks as though they have a clear road to Earth, with nothing standing in their way whatsoever.

However, he has a second message to deliver; the Exarch is concerned about the strength of weapons given to the humans by a race known as the "Asgard." Apparently, a satellite-based defense grid was installed for Earth just after the race's destruction ("Shore Leave"), and it is thought to be fully capable of repelling any sort of assault. That said, the corvette they sent to annihilate the Ancient defenses on the southern continent was able to bypass them by exiting hyperspace in the atmosphere and speeding directly to the surface ("Divided We Fall"), but there's no way their entire fleet can replicate that action. They'll have to take it full-on, and they could lose a great deal of smaller craft in the process. Lor'al, though, is not concerned in the least, waving her hand dismissively at his counsel. She says that the loss of a few thousand warriors to ensure the successful defeat of Earth may be necessary, after all. Even a mere ten- or twenty-thousand would not be that hampering.

Outraged, the te'kal asks how she can treat that many lives so callously, to which Lor'al calmly replies that she is treating the warriors the same way they have been taught to treat the infidels; as though they are merely pawns paving the road to the greatness. The Exarch has made her commander, she says, not any mere attendant, and she will direct this war as she sees fit. And she will make certain that anything in her way... is destroyed.

Light-years away, high above Earth, over two dozen DSC-304s are aligning above the European continent, with many more BC-303s spreading out on patrol duty, and even a few Tau'ri-owned al'kesh moving about. Suddenly a hyperspace window opens, and two more ships glide out to meet the human fleet being assembled; the Daedalus and Apollo, freshly-arrived from the Pegasus Galaxy. Luckily, both were making a supply run to the Milky Way when the call went out for all ships to pull back, and therefore they will be able to participate in the planet's defense. On the bridge of the first ship, Col. Steven Caldwell mutters how uneasy he is with leaving Atlantis completely undefended, particularly with the growing Wraith threat to them, but he recognizes that they have no choice; Earth is the priority.

On the planet itself, at the United Nations, Gen. Jack O'Neill is stepping off a helicopter that brought him from JFK International Airport. As he buttons up his dress uniform, Col. Carter and Col. Mitchell disembark in similar clothes behind him, with Vala and Daniel coming up the rear in formal attire. A pair of UN soldiers escorts the group up past the security checkpoint and into the building, which itself is swarming with military personnel. As they make their way down a long hallway, Vala asks why they're bothering to put so much into defending the building when a single plasma bolt from orbit would wipe it off the map. Whispering back, Mitchell explains that it's really just to give people peace of mind, and the military is well-aware that the complex is impossible to defend from a space-based attack. The ion cannon grid may have been able to do it once... but it seems the Der'kal managed to upload a virus to the network via the Chinese before they were caught ("Divided We Fall"). Without that, their defensive operations have taken a serious hit.

As they round a corner, a group of journalists and newscasters appears, all demanding answers as to the unconfirmed reports that the Der'kal are on their way to Earth. Jack grabs Sam's hand and leads her and SG-1 through the throng as the UN soldiers push the media men back, saying that everything will be explained shortly (notably, reporter Julia Donovan is among the group, the woman who was given exclusive coverage of the X-303 ("Prometheus")). Then the double-doors to the hallway beyond close, and SG-1 is seen no more.

Approaching the entry to the General Assembly hall, Carter straightens her blouse and mutters that there's no way they're going to be able to get a consensus from the entire constituency on anything. Even with the threat of alien annihilation hanging over them, she doubts all the squabbling nations can put aside their differences to fight the Der'kal effectively. But Daniel reminds her that they've seen such things before; the Wraith and Travelers agreed to help the Atlantis Expedition fight the Asurans in Pegasus ("Be All Me Sins Remember'd"), and the Alliance itself is proof that greatly-differing peoples can join as one. There's always a chance, and now that it's come down to the wire, they have to believe it will all work out.

Two soldiers lean in and pull open the set of grand doors so the team can enter, and the General Assembly is revealed, packed to the brim with delegates. In the booths above the floor itself, hundreds of translators and journalists are at work taking down every note they can, watching SG-1 and O'Neill make their way down the aisle toward the speaker's podium, where the Secretary General is standing (the former one seen in "Manifest Destiny" seems to have moved on; this is a new one). It is of particular note that the seat of the People's Republic of China is vacant, with no ambassador present and two UN guards watching the area like hawks.

The Secretary shakes Jack's hand with a worried look in his eye, then steps aside, allowing the General to take the stand. A hush falls over the room and the cameras zoom in as SG-1 steps off to the side to give their former leader the full attention. Looking slightly awkward, O'Neill begins by getting right to the point; he knows the media has heard scattered reports that the Der'kal fleet engaging the Alliance over Dakara has vanished, and that it is at present moving on Earth. Taking a deep breath, Jack goes on to confirm said reports, leading the delegates to burst into whispered frenzy. Continuing anyway, O'Neill explains that the alien fleet is expected to arrive in just under five hours, skirting around the Free Jaffa at Dar Eshkalon and sweeping in at them via Mars. Due to the intense preparation that was obviously put into this, the Alliance forces are largely quarantined, which will force Earth to defend itself. That said, every effort is being made to contact offworld allies and pull them in for a last-minute defense... but in all honesty, that will probably fail and they'll be in this alone.

Raising his hands, O'Neill admits that they will probably suffer extreme losses in the coming battle. The Der'kal are expected to outnumber them several dozen to one in terms of ships, and without the Ancient defense platform, they've lost their ace-in-the-hole. Glancing at the foursome behind him, he does on to say that Dr. Danielle Talbot, commander of the International Stargate Command, is already using every SG team available to scout out alternate means of defense, visiting every planet in the database that has a chance of something useful. And the world famous SG-1 will, of course, be joining in the effort as soon as this conference is over and they've been returned to Cheyenne Mountain. In closing, Jack addresses the issue that is no doubt on everyone's mind; China. Staring straight into the camera, he begs the world to put aside the hatred they must feel right now. The Chinese have done a horrible, despicable thing, but if they allow their internal issues to take precedence now, they will all lose together. When the crisis has passed, the offenders will be dealt with... but for now, there are more important matters to attend to. With that, he steps down, and he and SG-1 walk out of the hall as the delegates rise to begin their deliberations.

Once in the hallway again, Jack turns and leans into the wall, shaking. When Sam goes to ask what's wrong, though, Mitchell grabs her arm and pulls her a few inches away. They all know what he's thinking because they're all thinking it too... it's not sadness or disappointment or anything they've ever really experienced in the line of duty. It's raw fear, and even SG-1 isn't immune to the knowledge that of all their trials, this may be the one they are unable to pass.

At the ISGC, Dr. Talbot is watching SG-12 depart through the stargate for one of the worlds Jack entered into the database when he was filled with Ancient knowledge ("The Fifth Race"). They're desperate for any kind of weapon that might be left lying around from the times of the first Alliance, and no planet is being ruled out as a possibility. Coming up the stairs from the hallway outside, Lt. Col. Davis (formerly known as the perpetually-Major-ranked Davis) asks Danielle how the situation is going, to which the Doctor can only shake her head. She has all thirty-six teams offworld now with the exception of SG-1, and they have yet to find a single scrap of technology to help them.

As the stargate shuts off, Davis asks if the Atlantis team has had any luck in Pegasus, but apparently they're equally-strapped with a crisis of their own. Richard Woolsey sends his regards but says there's nothing he can do to help with the planet's defense, something the President was somewhat irked to hear. Sighing, Talbot runs a hand through her hair and mutters that at the rate things are going, they're going to need a miracle to pull this operation off.

("Star By Star," part 1/8)

[s09119]

Spoiler:

Luckily, Davis has just received word that Area 51 may have found a miracle, or at least, part of one; they think they've finally figured out how to work an interdiction field generator they salvaged from one of the Der'kal ships destroyed by the Free Jaffa over Ankgor ("Total War"). They were only able to snag two of the devices before they had to abandon the planet to the enemy, but one was sent to Earth for study, with the other being kept on Heliopolis for cross-species specialists to look at. For months, the scientists in Nevada have been trying to figure out how the thing works, and to be hoenst they still have no clue, but now at least they know how to modulate the frequency of the interdiction field it produces. When Talbot asks what that means, Davis explains that they can use the captured generator to yank Der'kal ships out of hyperspace, whereas before the field emitted only affected Milky Way hyperdrives. Her eyes suddenly lighting up, Talbot asks to be patched into numerous radios, saying she has an idea.

On a jumper just leaving New York for the ISGC itself, SG-1 and O'Neill listen in via radio as Danielle explains a plan she's come up with to Davis and the ship captains in orbit; since they have a scavenged interdictor, they now have a piece of technology at their disposal that the enemy is completely unaware of. And better yet, they think it is impossible for them to duplicate it (which, under other circumstances, they'd be right). What she's proposing is that they fit a ship with the device and position it right in the path between Dakara and Earth where the Der'kal need to travel. Then they can activate it and pull the incoming fleet out of hyperspace, allowing the ship they send to scan the armada, determine what they'll be facing, and then retreat, giving them a few hours to set up their defenses according to the enemy disposition.

Carter likes the idea, but thinks that a it just wouldn't buy them the time Talbot thinks it would; the ship they send would still have to come back, after all, and their hyperdrives aren't any faster than the Der'kal's. They'd only get a few extra minutes to prepare, not hours. But then Mitchell says he has an idea for a variation of that plan, one which could, conceivably, wreck the enemy invasion fleet before it even arrives. Interested, Talbot and Davis glance at one another at the ISGC, telling him to continue. Cameron agrees that pulling the fleet out to scan them wouldn't achieve much, but the basic plan itself is brilliant. And since they need some way to tip the odds of battle in their favor, he would suggest using the interdictor to force the Der'kal out of hyperspace farther out in the solar system, preferably between Mars and Jupiter.

For a moment, no one understands. But then Daniel realizes what is within that area; the asteroid belt. Mitchell is suggesting they use the interdiction field to yank the Der'kal right into a field of asteroids, causing their ships to accelerate back into realspace only to find themselves surrounded by speeding chunks of rock. If they time things right, the results could be catastrophic for the enemy... and it could save Earth. Without much time to spare, Talbot says she'll contact the Joint Chiefs at once and have the device prepped for beam-up to orbit. They might just have a shot.

Some time later, while the team is disembarking up in the old NORAD section of Cheyenne Mountain, SG-15 returns from an offworld mission with a piece of startling information; they've located a colonnade inscribed with Ancient symbols matching those left by Janus on Arkhan's planet ("It's Good to Be King"). And, most interestingly, there's even a set of hyperspace coordinates in the jumble. The gate technician on-duty tells them to have it brought up to the briefing room at once, then turns to the radio as a subspace communication comes in from Dar Eshkalon. The message isn't any godsend, but it does make clear that the Free Jaffa have scraped together a small group of seven ha'tak and a few al'kesh, and they're departing at top speed to aid in Earth's defense. They should arrive within the next hour or two, just ahead of the Der'kal fleet. Sighing in relief, the technician mumbles that SG-1 will be glad to hear that and prepares a reply.

Several floors up, the team and O'Neill are in an elevator heading down to Sublevel 27. As they wait to arrive, Daniel watches the news on a small portable device (presumably an iPhone or BlackBerry-type thing), passing along what's happening around the world; rail guns are being set up atop the spires of many major cities such as New York, London, Paris, and Beijing in preparation for the atmospheric fighting that is sure to come. The military is trying to evacuate people from the major population centers to the outskirts, but moving millions of people in only a few hours is nearly impossible. Rioting has broken out in some areas, but for the most part the world is responding rather well to this... that said, it is fully expected that mass panic will ensue when the battle itself arrives.

When the lift reaches 27, the doors open to reveal Talbot and Davis, both looking frazzled. The base commander leads the others down the hall toward the briefing room, explaining SG-15's discovery offworld. They've had Dr. Lee take a look at the Ancient text (which she hands a copy of to Daniel), and he seems to think it's something of a record of one of Janus' experiments. Remembering the disaster that occurred the last time they went after something even remotely-related to this particular Ancient ("Pandora's Box"), Carter asks if they should really be paying this any heed right now, but Lt. Col. Davis holds up a hand. He points out that right now they need any and all leads they can find in terms of defensive technology and strategies, and this was an Ancient well-known for weapons and techniques of immense power.

As they come into the briefing room, where several small Ancient trinkets have been piled on the table, Davis goes on to say that the Pentagon wants someone to look into the coordinates on the colonnade. For all they know, it could be a superweapon floating in space, or another lost fleet of Alliance-era ships. Whatever the case, someone needs to check it out. Carter and Mitchell volunteer to take a 304 out to look, but Talbot nixes that idea instantly; they're two of the highest-respected and valuable officers on the planet right now, and they're going to be needed here when the Der'kal arrive. Not seeing any military application for their own talents then, Daniel and Vala suggest that they be the ones to go. They can take out one of the cargo ships they've bought from the Tok'ra over the years, latch on a naquadah generator to speed things up, and be on their way. Frowning, Sam says they'll still need someone who understand alien tech in case they do run into some kind of superweapon and need a way to drag it back to Earth... and then she smiles and pulls out her cell phone.

About an hour later, as the military pushes its plans for defense into full-swing, a jumper lands outside Cheyenne Mountain, depositing Jason Carter at the entrance, a backpack in hand and laptop case swung over his shoulder. Sam is there at the surface to meet him, explaining that they need to get him prepped for offworld duty and over to the nearby Air Force base to board the tel'tak. Not looking all that worried, Jason glances skyward in time to see a squadron of F-22s racing past. Turning to his aunt, he asks what, realistically, their chances of repelling this assault are. Biting her lip, Carter admits she has no idea, and right now the ball's in the Der'kal's court. It's their move.

Far, far away above Dakara, the Alliance forces are finally destroying the last of the Der'kal interdictor ships. Debris is scattered in every direction, and a mass of twisted metal and dead bodies floats in a sickening halo around the planet. On the surface, the sprawling city surrounding the Temple complex is still smoking, with fires from downed ships burning brightly in the night. Inside the mountain, though, is where the real crisis lay; Jaffa medics are working tirelessly to stabilize Teal'c's condition, knowing that the loss of their leader right now could fracture the Nation irreparably. The female Der'kal responsible for killing Bra'tac and causing this mess was finally cornered and killed, but that is only fueling the hatred now spreading like wildfire throughout the Jaffa-controlled sections of the galaxy. News that the great Teal'c fell in battle, followed immediately by Bra'tac, are turning frustration to bloodlust, and civil authority is rapidly breaking down on some worlds.

In the stargate plaza, Kal'el of the Hak'tyl is preparing to depart of Heliopolis to speak with representatives of the Nox and Tok'ra there. Leadership of the Jaffa has fallen to her now, and she plans on doing what she can to help defend the Tau'ri. Her honor guard dials the portal for the Alliance headquarters world and goes ahead to announce her arrival, and Kal'el herself steps forward for travel only to pause just before the event horizon. Just before she steps through, she takes one last look at the burning city all around, listening to the cries and sirens and glancing at the bright room of the Temple where Teal'c's life hangs in the balance. Shaking her head in sadness, she departs.

Meanwhile, the Der'kal fleet continues its inexorable march toward Earth, flying through hyperspace unheeded. On one of the ships, Vur'naa sits in his quarters alone, watching the vessel's progress on a holographic display. Snarling in frustration, he snaps it off and begins to pace, cursing his fortunes. Ever since he failed to capture the Aurora and kill SG-1 ("Lost and Found"), he has apparently found himself falling out of favor with the te'kal. They have stripped him of his ship command and stuck him with leading warriors on missions to overtake pitifully-unadvanced human worlds. It is an insult!

As he rants, the door to his quarters slides open, and a pair of warriors step inside, asking for Vur'naa to come with them. Annoyed, the disgraced-commander asks what it is they want, and they reply that Lor'al herself has requested his presence on her flagship. In fact, her vessel and their own are dropping out of hyperspace momentarily so he can shuttle over; she's leaving herself out of the first wave just to talk to him. Shocked, Vur'naa is silenced, grabs a few things off a table, and follows the warriors out into the hallway.

("Star By Star," part 2/8)

[s09119]

Spoiler:

Back on Earth, Mitchell is giving a talk to all the F-302 pilots from the ships in orbit and garrisons on the planet, as they'll be the ones dogfighting with the enemy in orbit. Sam looks on as he outlines strategies the aliens will try to use and how to use the strength of human fightercraft against the enemy's when she sees Jack motioning for her to join him in the hallway. Excusing herself, she walks outside and asks what's going on.

Pulling her farther away from the room and easing the door shut, Jack says that a group of BC-303s have been designated to begin ferrying VIPs and civilians to Chulak to escape the attack. But before he can get to this point (judging by the look on his face, he wants Sam to leave the planet before the Der'kal arrive), Carter sighs and pulls away, saying she's staying to the end. She didn't fight for fourteen years just to run when things got bad, and she's shocked Jack would think that she'd even consider leaving. As they stand alone in the hall, O'Neill admits he didn't think she would agree, but he had to try nonetheless. Sighing again, Sam rubs her hand over his and goes to rejoin Mitchell, but Jack pulls her close.

Pulling her down the hallway into another room, he says there's something he'd like to do... just in case they don't make it out of this. When she asks what he means, he pushes the door to the room open to reveal a minister of the peace. With tears in her eyes, Sam nods wordlessly and they enter, closing the door behind them.

In deep space, a hyperspace window opens to allow a larger-than-normal Der'kal cruiser to drop out. This is Lor'al's flagship, and it is followed a moment later by an alien frigate. A transmission beam appears between the two ships at once, and a ring transmission shoots from the smaller ship to the larger one. That complete, another window opens and the two vessels jump back into hyperspace, rejoining the rest of the fleet on its course to Earth.

On the flagship, Vur'naa is quickly escorted from the ring room to the bridge, which is abuzz with activity now that they're scarcely an hour or so from the human homeworld. Weapons systems are being charged and shields are being recalibrated for battle. Still standing by the forward window, Lor'al asks the new arrival to approach without so much as turning, speaking in the flanged voice of a symbiote. Slightly put off by the sound, Vur'naa asks if the one called "Anise" is causing any issues, but Lor'al assures him the Tok'ra's ability to overtake her has been suppressed. She can access its memories and thoughts at will, but the exchange is one-sided; their scientists believe something about Der'kal physiology prevents the opposite from taking place.

But regardless, that's not why she asked for him to join her. No, she is actually promoting him back to commander and giving him command of an elite battalion of troops for a special mission she has in mind to break the morale of the Tau'ri once and for all. Amazed, Vur'naa asks why he is being entrusted with such a task, to which his superior reminds him of the connection he has with SG-1; he is the face of the enemy to them, the individual they associate the Der'kal with. If anyone can draw them out into the open, it will be him. And besides, she promises, once he is done she will personally turn over a battle group to his personal command... for the sole purpose of hunting down and destroying the Aurora and its captain, a pleasure that has so long evaded Vur'naa. Snarling with renewed vigor, the commander thanks Lor'al for her trust and turns to a nearby sensor console, ready to get his vengeance for the humiliation he suffered.

In the atmosphere above Earth, the tel'tak carrying half of SG-1 is entering low orbit just in time to see the ha'tak sent by the Jaffa exiting hyperspace and joining the 303s and 304s there already. In the pilots seat, Vala mutters that she doesn't feel right leaving when things are so close to boiling over, but as Daniel reminds her, they could be coming home with something capable of ending the war in its tracks. Janus was no slouch, and whatever's waiting at the end of this trek will be worth something, he's sure.

Coming in from the rear compartment, Jason pulls off a pair of gloves, saying he's successfully modified the hyperdrive has best he can. He estimates he squeezed twenty minutes off their travel time each way, which is good, because the coordinates they received are an hour or two out at best speed. Leaning at the console just behind the pilot's chair, the younger Carter asks if Daniel can give him a run-down on exactly who this guy whose information they're working on was. Jackson, knowing they have time to kill, proceeds to begin the story of how Janus lived on Atlantis during the Lantean-Wraith War, how he helped the city to rise for humanity, and how he and his prodigy, Pandora, have helped shaped their current circumstances... while he talks, Vala powers up the drive and opens a hyperspace window, taking the trio away on their journey.

Down at the White House, President Henry Hayes is preparing to give a televised speech to the American people, though it will doubtless be broadcasted around the world and up into orbit. Sitting in a chair nearby, General Hank Landry assures the commander-in-chief that he'll do fine, but Hayes isn't so sure. After all, the last two times they went through this he didn't need to address the nation before an alien attack, as the last two times the Stargate Program was still secret ("Lost City" and "Sol, Part 1"). Now he has to go before three-hundred million or more and try to tell them it will be alright, when he knows damn well that it won't be. How does he do that? After reflecting for a moment, Landry leans in and suggests just going with what the heart tells him to, and then pulls off as the cameras prepare to film.

As the lights focus on him, President Hayes gives an impassioned speech far beyond the normal caliber of a State of the Union address. As he moves from attempting to reassure the people to admitting that this is probably a fight they cannot win, he becomes more and more involved in his words, seeming to transcend the setting and speak directly into peoples' hearts and minds. He says that the Der'kal are coming, and that Earth will be facing them within the hour, but no matter what happens... they will fight to the last. With that, he wishes everyone the best of luck in the hours ahead, and nods for the cameras to stop rolling.

In the ISGC mess hall, Carter, Mitchell, and Lt. Col. Davis stand watching the television has Hayes' speech finishes, all moved by what he said. The three old acquaintances share a private moment of well-wishing before they go their separate ways; Mitchell needs to go suit up for combat, as he'll be in command of the lead F-302 squadron in orbit, Carter is going to be beamed up to the fleet to head up defensive operations, and Davis needs to be in the control room to coordinate with the Pentagon. Just before they all move out, though, Cameron grabs Davis and Cater's shoulders, telling them that if they don't make it back, it's been a pleasure. The other two reply much the same before continuing on their way.

A few minutes later, Carter materializes onto the bridge of one of the ships... though this bridge looks slightly different. It's wider and deeper, and there are extra sensory terminals and computer banks lining the walls. Also, the long neck of the ship sticks out from underneath them, not like the accustomed view from a Daedalus-class vessel. As she slides into the commander's chair, one of the bridge officers smiles at Sam and bids her welcome... as the first official captain of the MBP-305 Jupiter. The ship, which itself should not be in existence for another two or three years, was made possible by Jonas Quinn traveling back in time with the plans ("The Time Traveler"), and it is packed with technology created and fine-tuned a few years in the future. It's several times the size of a DSC-304, and packs far more firepower, and it should be more than capable of engaging multiple Der'kal cruisers. After all, it was designed specifically to combat this enemy.

Almost at once, a pair of transmissions come on; one from General O'Neill, who is now at the Pentagon, and one from Col. Via Sanders aboard the Aurora, the appointed head of the 304 captains. Jack would just like to pass along her standing orders from... well... himself, which are in this case to arrange the ships she has as she sees fit and to prepare for combat at any time. After his video link cuts out, Carter turns to the image of Sanders and tells her to move her 304 into position alongside the Jupiter. As for the other ships, she wants a staggered formation of 303s and 304s facing out away from the planet. They know the Der'kal are confident of victory, and their strategy is to hammer at the point of greatest enemy concentration to ensure they cannot be flanked. The enemy will come straight for the formation, no doubt about it. Glancing out the window, Carter calls out for Mitchell, who is readying the hundreds of F-302 pilots for battle. When Cameron responds, Sam reminds him to watch for friendly fire; the Asgard satellites will make sure to recalibrate to avoid them, but the same can't be said for stray rail gun fire. Thanking her for the tip, the SG-1 second-in-command returns to his work.

At the Pentagon, Jack and a few other high-ranking officers are standing inside a high-tech room that seems to be the nerve center for planetary defense, with all sorts of flashing gizmos all around. Suddenly, a female technician's console beeps and turns red, and she shouts out that they have a contact.

Far from Earth, in the middle of the asteroid belt, dozens of massive rocks float in deep space. As one rolls by, its interior is revealed by dim sunlight... allowing the scavenged hyperspace interdictor placed inside to gleam momentarily, obviously active. Suddenly, a hyperspace window opens deeper in the field, and a Der'kal corvette shoots out, exploding brilliantly as it slams into an asteroid fractions of a second later, its shields given no time to raise. A similar thing happens again as another window opens, then another, and another. Soon, dozens of windows are forming, with Der'kal frigates, corvettes, gunboats, and other craft exiting and being shredded on the asteroids. Slowly, though, the successive impacts break up the rocks enough that the ships are no longer being ripped apart right away, and their shields are gaining time to come up before they hit something large enough to cause harm. As more and more of the fleet is yanked out, a cruiser finally plows out of hyperspace directly into a particularly-large asteroid, crushing its forward section and causing a fireball to rip up its side.

With more than two dozen ships of varying sizes and classes destroyed or disabled, the flagship is now pulled into normal space, avoiding all damage thanks to its farther-back position in the fleet. On the bridge, a furious Lor'al roars out in frustration upon seeing the wreckage of so many ships. She turns to her crew and demands to know how this happened and how many vessels were lost. The humans are behind this, she is sure, and they will pay for this grave insult.

Back at the Pentagon, confirmation is coming in that twenty-seven enemy ships were destroyed in the ambush that they can get readings for, mostly smaller ships, prompting everyone in the room to cheer. That said, it looks like three of those were cruisers, and that is really going to make a difference when it comes time to fight over the planet itself. They just took out tens of thousands of warriors and hundreds of fighters without firing a single shot or wasting a single life. Not a bad start to the fight.

("Star By Star," part 3/8)

[s09119]

Spoiler:

Jack turns to the technician who first reported the enemy and asks what they're doing now. As far as the long-range sensors can tell, the alien fleet is still exiting hyperspace, but she's not reading any damage being inflicted on them at all at this point, the asteroids being too broken up. It doesn't look like they're advancing, which doesn't really surprise anyone; it's going to take them time to figure out exactly what happened... and then they're going to have to locate and destroy their own interdictor if they want to enter hyperspace and make the final jump to Earth. Radioing the people in orbit to tell them the good news, Jack says they've bought an hour or so. From her command chair, Carter says they'll definitely need that to finish readying the surface installations, then cuts the link and goes back to prepping.

At the ISGC, Talbot has finished recalling all SG teams from offworld duty; with the enemy in the solar system, there's not much point in searching for alien technology anymore. Now she's keeping a constant wormhole open to Chulak, allowing any VIPs that haven't been taken via BC-303 transit to get to the safe haven. So far, they've managed to evacuate just over five-thousand people in all, making sure that the best and brightest in every field are taken and made safe. Looking out the control room window, Talbot watches another group about to disembark, then excuses herself and heads upstairs to her office. Once inside, she sits down at her desk and picks up the telephone, dialing a number and waiting as it rings. When someone picks up at the other end, Danielle smiles warmly, greeting her mother and asking how soon she and her father can be in Colorado Springs. If they're interested, she'd like to get them out of here.

Meanwhile, several thousand light-years from Earth, a hyperspace window ejects a tel'tak into space. The small Goa'uld cargo ship glides out, slowing and stopping before an endless array of stars. Inside, Vala announces that they've arrived at the coordinates left by Janus on P7X-109. Glancing out the window, Daniel doesn't see anything, but Jason calls out that he's picking something up on the scanners... directly behind them. As the camera pulls out of the cockpit, it slowly edges behind the tel'tak itself, revealing a truly astonishing sight; a Pegasus-class Lantean ship ("Lifeline"/"This Mortal Coil": click here for image). It seems to be sitting here all alone, not a single light active on the entire thing.

In the cargo ship, Vala asks what in the world it is, and Daniel explains that it was a secondary type of warship the Ancients used in the Pegasus Galaxy, hence its name. Originally commissioned as a science vessel, they were refitted for war when the Wraith attacked... though what it's doing here in the Milky Way is anyone's guess. Going over to the sensor panel, Jason does a quick scan of the vessel and reports that he's not reading any life signs, nor substantial energy emissions of any kind. The only systems that seem to be active are minimal levels of life support and the shields, with the latter being only strong enough to deflect space debris and little else. Jackson and Vala glance at one another, not sure how what to make of this but deciding it's just too much of a coincidence for the coordinates left by an Ancient to lead to an Ancient ship. And given the magnitude of Earth's need, a Lantean cruiser (hopefully) full of drones would be a great help. Grabbing gear from a nearby bin, Daniel tells the other two to get ready to ring over. They're going exploring.

In the asteroid belt, Lor'al is growing tired of waiting for her fleet to ready itself to jump back into hyperspace. They need to maneuver every ship into a lane of travel where they won't clip an asteroid entering the jump window, and until they do that, they're stuck. Furious that the humans were able to trick her like this, she demands to know what the progress is on determining what caused them to exit hyperspace so abruptly. One of the technicians on the bridge reports that they're detecting an energy curtain identical to the ones emitted by their interdiction devices... but on a frequency more akin to their own hyperdrives than those used by the infidels.

For a moment Lor'al is confused, unable to comprehend what this means. But then she closes her eyes and whispers, "Explain this." The view shifts to a dark room, in which Anise (who was forced to blend with her in "Pandora's Box") stands alone with the Der'kal female, staring one another down. The latter demands that the Tok'ra tell her how the humans were able to do this to them, but Anise resists, saying she's not going to give her the satisfaction of an answer. For a few seconds, she is able to fight, but finally it's no good; she simply isn't strong enough. As if it is being torn out of her, Anise admits that the Alliance recovered a pair of interdictors from the battle over Ankgor, and that the humans are more than capable of figuring out how to reprogram them. Now in possession of what she needs, Lor'al walks over to Anise and smiles, mockingly thanking her for the assistance, then moves into the darkness, leaving the Tok'ra trapped alone again in her mind.

Opening her eyes, Lor'al informs her crew that the Tau'ri have placed one of their interdictors in the asteroid field nearby to do this to them. To counter this, she orders her entire fleet to target the closest rocks and open fire. They will continue in this fashion until their hyperdrives are able to engage... and then they will move on to their prize. As green light starts to flash through the window, the Der'kal high commander looks out at the Sun, shining in the distance, no doubt contemplating how soon this will all be hers.

At the Pentagon, Jack is watching a readout of the planet's defensive readiness; the fleet is prepared, the Asgard defense grid is primed and active, and ground-based troops and emplacements are ready to assist. They can't do much more, and this is as good as things are going to get. Suddenly, there's a beep at the primary sensory console, and O'Neill asks the technician what's going on. Grimacing, the young woman informs him that the Der'kal scored a direct hit on their interdictor, and it's been taken out. The enemy fleet is jumping into hyperspace now, and they'll be here in just five minutes or so.

Shocked, O'Neill asks her to verify, which she does. No one expected the aliens to disable the field this fast, and they were expecting another half an hour, at least. Grabbing a radio, Jack contacts Sam and tells her to prepare for imminent combat, and that the aliens will be here any minute now. On the bridge of the Jupiter, Carter calls for general quarters, and the lights are dimmed as tactical displays light up in their place.

Across the globe, the lights of cities are going out, fading one by one until the entire Earth is dark, save for the areas facing the Sun. In New York (the streets are still clogged with people trying to evacuate), the dozens of rail guns that have been put atop skyscrapers rotate to face the skies, and at the United Nations, several tanks roll into position around the entrance, with US Navy ships patrolling the harbor around the facility. Inside the complex, the General Assembly has quieted, though the ambassadors themselves remain, watching a giant hologram that has been set up at the front of the chamber that details the situation around the planet, with blue symbols for the Earth ships, satellites, and other defenses. Many of the dignitaries are saying prayers, and the soldiers that are here to guard them fidget nervously.

At the ISGC, Lt. Col. Davis has joined Dr. Talbot in the control room, overseeing more VIP evacuations. The two of them stand in silence along with the technicians in the room, hardly breathing. The active stargate shuts down as the 38 minute window expires, and the man on-duty immediately redials, not wanting to waste a single second. Then, over the radio, the voice of Col. Caldwell is heard shouting, "Here they come!"

("Star By Star," part 4/8)

[s09119]

Spoiler:

In orbit, the camera pans from the Earth-Jaffa fleet to empty space, which is quickly becoming filled with dozens of hyperspace windows. Carter gives the weapons-free command, ordering all ships to open fire now in the hopes of catching some of the Der'kal without their shields. As they open fire with varying forms of plasma, bullets, and missiles, the alien armada begins shooting out into orbit, some of the lead ships taking direct hits before their defensive screens can come online. Several of the smaller ships are destroyed in this manner, but so far all that's arrived are corvettes and frigates, nothing large enough that it's destruction would shift things.

Then the cruisers begin dropping out, first one, then three, then nine... and more keep coming. The massive hulks easily bring up their shields in time to avoid any damage and return fire, turning space green with the sheer amount of plasma. As the Earth vessels start to be targeted, Carter orders them all to scatter and keep moving, to ensure that they're not sitting ducks. That said, they need to stay between the enemy fleet and Earth, so they can't move too far out of formation. Firing as they can, the Asgard defense satellites join the fight now, too, pelting the Der'kal with blobs of blue plasma. It's getting hard to make sense of things now, with so many energy blasts flying back and forth, but either way more and more enemy vessels keep appearing, vastly outnumbering the forty or so ships Earth has scraped together for defense.

Mercifully away from the opening shots, Daniel Jackson, Vala, and Jason Carter are in the process of ringing onto the derelict Lantean ship, turning on their flashlights to see in the pitch blackness of the interior. From what they can see, it looks very similar to the inside of an Aurora-class ship, with red and dark gold hues on the walls and Lantean-style architecture. Intrigued, Daniel mutters that it's all completely preserved too, so the hull must be air-tight even after all these years.

As they move from the ring room into the hallway, Jason notices a wide bank of windows and goes over, looking down at the hull of the ship. Now that they're closer up, inspection reveals that it is potmarked with scorches and dings, far too obvious to be accidental; this ship has seen combat, and bad combat at that, considering the weaponsfire penetrated the shields. Vala points out that it was built during the war with the Wraith, that's most-likely how it was damaged, but Daniel isn't so sure. Janus was a scientist, an explorer, and there's no way the High Council would have authorized such a valuable asset to go rushing into battle in such a small ship.

Just then, the hallway brightens, the overhead lights flashing to life and leading down the corridor. Interestingly, only the panels ahead of them have lit, and all the ones behind them are dark. Glancing around and still seeing no one, Jason guesses the ship has some sort of subroutine left in place to guide visitors, and it wants them to use the indicated route. Not seeing anything else to do, Daniel agrees and the three of them make their way around the bend deeper into the vessel.

Above Earth, the battle is heating up. The four-or-so-dozen Earth and Jaffa ships are outnumbered by more than three-to-one, with dozens and dozens of alien corvettes and gunboats swarming in, attempting to blow past the defenders and race to the planet's surface. Many of them do manage to slip through the net, but the Asgard satellites are continuing to do an incredible job at targeting and eliminating them before they can make it down the gravity well... for now.

On the bridge of the Aurora, Col. Sanders shouts for more power to be redirected to the forward shields as she makes a run on one of the closer Der'kal cruisers. Being fired upon by six enemy ships, their defenses aren't doing that great, but she's determined to stay in the fight. Turning to her weapons officer, she orders a naquadriah-enhanced nuke barrage on the alien warship, and seconds later eight missiles fire out of the 304 and slam into the cruiser's shields, bringing the energy field down. As the Aurora itself pulls away, a pair of BC-303s dart in and use their Asgard beam weapons to rip the cruiser in half, then pull out before it explodes in a fireball.

Several ships over, on the Phoenix, Col. Sobol congratulates Sanders on her kill, a sentiment echoed by Caldwell on the Daedalus. So far they have yet to lose a single ship, and they've inflicted severe damage on the enemy thanks to their opening barrage. At the rate this is going, they might just be able to force a withdrawal. And with recent news that the Alliance fleet from Dakara is already on its way to assist them, that can only be a good thing. But then one of the Free Jaffa ha'tak is blown apart, lighting up the battle as the first casualty of the defenders. And to add to the hurt, a BC-303 is shredded a moment later when it comes between two cruisers, who pummel it from both sides until its shields fail and it explodes.

Sitting in her command chair on the Jupiter, which is by far pumping out the most damage of any Earth ship, Col. Carter radios Mitchell and asks how the dogfighting is going. In his own F-302, Cameron says they're doing pretty good, though their losses are much more pronounced than the capital ships'; he estimates a total seventeen 302s and three 302bs, and that number is only going to climb as more of the Der'kal ships launch their fightercraft. Weaving in and out between the two sides, the hundreds of human starfighters are engaged in a deadly dance of bullets and missile trails with the enemy, with thousands upon thousands of Der'kal fighters swarming everywhere. Mitchell's own fighter is chasing down a gunship trying to make a run on the Apollo, and just before it gets within firing range, he brings it down with a pair of missiles. So far, so good.

Equally-busy, but on the opposite side of the conflict, Vur'naa is looking over his new command; a sleek new Der'kal cruiser just off the assembly line. Thanks to the shipyards they've been building all over conquered worlds since the invasion began, the alien armada can now replenish its losses against the Alliance, and this newest line of cruisers have been modified specially to fight the infidel ships, with more weapons turrets and shields better adapted to spreading out the firepower of beam weapons. Striding forward to the forward window, out of which the line of Earth and Jaffa ships can be seen, the commander turns to his helmsman and orders the cruiser to be moved around the battle. They have a mission to fulfill, and they need to get into the atmosphere if they're to finish it. As the engines roar and their escort ships open up on the human warships, Vur'naa smiles, anticipating the bloodbath to come.

Back on the Lantean cruiser, Jason, Daniel, and Vala have reached the end of their trail; the lights stop glowing at a door off to the right, which clearly does not lead to the bridge. Shrugging, Jackson waves his hand over the control panel and the door slides open, revealing another darkened room. As the three of them walk inside, though, it slowly brightens... it's a lab of some kind, with computer banks and sensory terminals all over the place, and a small circle cut into the wall at one end. But the circle has paneling all over it, and the interior cannot be seen. Frowning, Daniel asks what the purpose of bringing them here was. Walking to the most-prominent console, Jason powers up the computer systems and tries to access its files, but it's all encrypted. Reaching into his bag and pulling out his laptop, he says he can probably use Sam's hacking program to get it open, but it could take some time.

While they talk, Vala has gone over to the circular cut at the far end of the lab, running her hand over it. Then she notices a small crystal inserted next to it, and, curious, tugs on the end of it. It comes out easily, and a whir is heard from within the wall. At once, Jason and Daniel turn in unison and demand to know what she did; the computers are all lighting up like the Fourth of July. Vala shrugs, having no idea, then jumps back as the wall opens up and a stasis pod juts out. Now utterly confused, the three humans look on, not knowing what to do.

At the ISGC, Dr. Talbot asks the gate technician on-duty if any of their other advanced alien contacts ever responded to their pleas for help, and unfortunately, the answer is no. Sighing, she affirms that they really are in this alone then, and turns to head back upstairs. But then the long-range sensor panel beeps, and she turns to look at it, her eyes widening; a group of Der'kal ships are attempting to run the defensive blockade!

In orbit, Vur'naa's cruiser and several smaller alien ships are blowing past the group of defenders, taking the Asgard satellite fire full to their forward shields. Concentrating their fire, the enemy battle group manages to blow enough of the shielded satellites away to make a gap large enough to squeeze the cruiser through, and it slips past on its way toward the eastern seaboard of the United States, headed directly for Manhattan. The ships that were protecting it on its run then turn to flank the human defenders, though many are destroyed by the combined fire of the defense grid before they can inflict much damage.

On the Jupiter, Carter receives a message from O'Neill, who demands to know what just happened. Sam, trying to balance talking to him and issuing orders to the fleet, admits they didn't see the enemy moving toward the planet until it was too late, they were just too busy. They've lost five BC-303s and a DSC-304 now, and the Sun Tzu (the sole surviving Chinese ship from the skirmish in orbit the day before) is about to lose its shields. Her hand hovering over the comm. button, Carter tells Jack that she has to go, she needs to get back to what she's doing, and cuts the link.

("Star By Star," part 5/8)

[s09119]

Spoiler:

At the Pentagon, things have gone from bad to worse. As O'Neill turns away from the video screen, he sees various military personnel coordinating with global military forces to strike at the incoming cruiser before it can devastate any major urban centers. But it's not speeding up as if to ram anything, and its primary weapons aren't being charged. If anything, it's slowing down...

And indeed, in New York, civilians are stopping their cars in the streets and looking up to see the clouds part, revealing the massive hulk of a Der'kal cruiser making its way toward the city. Dozens of tanks around the area are firing up at it, but its shields just absorb the blows. Even the Navy ships in the harbor are useless, and they're quickly dispatched by precise plasma blasts from the cruiser's secondary turrets. Fighters and gunships are being launched from the hangers, moving down to engage the F-22s and other atmospheric craft racing in from nearby to take them out.

As the alien and human fighters collide in midair, the rail guns atop the buildings fire as well, lacing the dark skies with yellow and gold superheated metal. The once-peaceful scene turns chaotic, with a maze of death weaving high above the metropolis. As for the cruiser, it comes to a near-stop and hovers over the harbor, just adjacent to the United Nations building, dwarfing most of the nearby structures with ease. A docking ramp extends from the bottom, touching down on the grass next to the entrance, and hovertanks and warriors begin to pour out, going up against the UN soldiers and treaded tanks deployed to defend the complex.

At the ISGC, Talbot and Davis watch the latest information on this move by the Der'kal, with a live video feed from New York showing the battle outside the United Nations going quite badly for the humans; they're simply being overrun. Snickering coldly, Davis remarks that they got what was coming to them in the end, and for all the pain they caused the Stargate Program, perhaps they deserved it. But then he remembers that Talbot herself was once employed as a diplomat for the organization, and he immediately apologizes, saying he didn't mean it. Danielle, though, just shakes her head in agreement. The United Nations was always a symbol of the power of humanity when it worked as one... perhaps it is poetic justice that it is the first to fall now, especially in light of how the Der'kal could only come this far due to human (Chinese, in this case) greed. Turning back to the video, the two continue watching in silence.

Meanwhile, Daniel and Vala are bickering over the latter's activation of this stasis pod on the Lantean ship. Rolling his eyes, Jason pulls up the relevant data for it on the computer bank (now that the pod's out, it seems the database has been unlocked and decrypted) and scans over what it says there. Whatever it is, it's shocking, as he gasps and shouts for Daniel and Vala to come take a look. Unfortunately, all the text is in Ancient, and Vala has no idea what it says. As Jason starts to explain, though, the pod suddenly hisses and cracks open, sliding back to reveal a man who appears to be in his late 60s, though quite healthy-looking for his age. He's dressed in Lantean-era clothing, and has a crop of grey-tingled black, curly hair. Rubbing his eyes and sitting up, the man looks over at the three humans and smiles, thanking them for waking him after all that time. The face is unmistakable, of course; it's Janus.

Above Earth, another DSC-304 is destroyed when it attempts to attack the Der'kal flagship; it gets close enough to lance out with an Asgard beam or two, but the combined fire of the alien fleet brings down its shields and cracks it in half before it can do anything more serious. Thicker in things, two squadrons of F-302s stab deep into the heart of the enemy formation, driving past the main line and launching naquadriah-enhanced nukes into a pair of cruisers at the rear. One loses its shields and the second's position is slightly altered by the concussive force, but otherwise they are fine. The Earth fighters are destroyed seconds later by a group of Der'kal fighters that dart out of a nearby hanger.

On the surface, New York has been turned into a horror show, with disabled fighters on both sides spiraling out of control and slamming into skyscrapers, causing brilliant fireballs and spectacular explosions of glass and steel. As the small ships chase one another through the maze of buildings, the last of the human tanks defending the United Nations explodes, overwhelmed by the enemy. At the head of hundreds of warriors, Vur'naa (having come off his ship) blasts open the front doors of the international conclave and leads his men inside, taking down soldiers left and right as they try to impede his progress.

In the General Assembly hall, panic has set in. The dignitaries are all mulling around, desperate to flee but with nowhere to run. The two or three dozen UN soldiers inside the chamber surround the door, weapons at the ready and prepared to throw down their lives for Earth. As the sound of their comrades outside being killed grows louder, many of them turn to one another, terror in their eyes, but they don't back down.

Then the doors to this most-protected of places are blown open too, and green plasma shoots into the room. The UN soldiers try to fire back, and do inflict several casualties, but there are just too many aliens. One by one, they're killed, until finally none remain. Petrified, the ambassadors in the hall itself cower behind their podiums, and the people in the translation booths go down in the name of journalism, making sure every second is recorded and broadcast. Walking out ahead of the warriors, Vur'naa strides purposefully down the long aisle to the speaker's podium at the front of the hall and climbs the stairs. Once at the top, he looks out at the very core of the United Nations and does nothing but smile as his men begin rounding up the humans left alive.

On the derelict Lantean ship, Daniel, Vala, and Jason stare across the room at Janus, who is now up and stretching his arms and legs as he examines them curiously. Still shocked, Daniel says it was no trouble at all bringing him out of stasis, though to be honest, they weren't quite expecting. When the Ancient asks why, Jackson explains how they found the coordinates of this ship on a colonnade offworld and hoped it would lead to some weapon to help defend Earth, and instead they found him. Interested, Janus leaves the lab, motioning for the humans to follow him, and walks down the hallway, which lights up in his presence. He explains that it's a good thing someone found him, as there was a good chance he was going to be stuck there for a good, long while.

When Vala asks what he means, he outlines that after he returned to Earth, he snuck back to Atlantis now and then to visit his old friend Pandora (herself still living there alongside the sleeping Elizabeth Weir), who had made sure that a mothballed science vessel survived the war with the Wraith. Since Pegasus was now at peace, with the Wraith ruling over it with an iron fist, he was free to do as he pleased. He carried out extensive modifications on his new ship, giving it a state-of-the-art intergalactic hyperdrive, stronger shields of his own design, and new point-defense weapons systems. He also installed various other upgrades, ranging from a more-reliable cloaking device to a hanger bay capable of holding a single gateship.

Turning a corner, he goes on to say that he then rebuilt his time-traveling device, obviously against the wishes of the former High Council, planning to map out time and see what he could do to help the children of the Ancients in the future. He traveled across the Milky Way through various time periods, seeing Earth's rise to power as the System Lords fell, and its inevitable defeat at the hands of the Der'kal. At that, Jason holds up a hand, demanding to know why he didn't do anything for them if he knew Earth was going to be conquered. But Janus just waves a hand, saying that, as far as he's aware, they win the war quite handily anyway, and he had no idea what might happen if he tweaked the battle for Earth.

As Daniel points out, though, they changed the timeline when Jonas Quinn alerted them to certain parts of the future, so whatever Janus saw won't be the same anymore. In fact, they've changed time so many times over the years, it may have been different well before that anyway. That causes the Lantean to pause, and he admits he hadn't considered that. But regardless, he had been watching them put together their new Alliance a few years before when it occurred to him that there were no records of how the original organization had been brought into being. So, curious as ever, he traveled back in time millions of years to when the Ancients made first-contact with the Nox and Furlings, setting up a base on a nearby planet to scout from. That's why the colonnade had these coordinates on it; this was where the planet was, and he was hoping that, one day, his descendants could come to his facility and learn.

Unfortunately, that was where it all went wrong. The Furlings were an incredibly warlike people before the Alliance, and with Janus' ship looking nothing like the Ancient ones of the time, they attacked him. He took severe damage but managed to jump into hyperspace in time to escape destruction. But there was the other problem; his hyperdrive was failing. When he dropped out at his base planet, itself lacking a stargate (to preserve the timeline since they had yet to be spread in the Milky Way), he discovered that the time device was also damaged, and it would require a supply of neutronium to repair it. But there wouldn't be any major deposits in the Milky Way for millennia, and Ida was simply too far away. Not seeing any choice, Janus put his ship into standby mode and entered stasis, hoping that, one day, someone would find him.

After listening, Vala points out that there is no planet here... but Jason reminds her that stellar drift probably moved Janus' base far, far away by now. Janus nods, agreeing, then turns and waves a nearby door open, revealing the bridge. As the small room lights up, he slides into the pilot's seat and swivels to face his rescuers, asking if, now that he's up and about, they'd like to do something about helping that planet of theirs. Nodding vigorously, they all agree, and Janus begins punching in Earth's coordinates. He may not be able to save the day, but he can certainly be one Hell of a pain for the bad guys.

And in orbit above the besieged world, things have only gotten worse. Over half the Earth ships have been destroyed now, and only a single ha'tak remains. The Apollo has lost its sublight engines and is being pummeled without the ability to evade enemy fire, and one of the BC-303s explodes too close to a cluster of F-302s, destroying several of them with the blast. They can't do this much longer, they're just not inflicting enough damage on the Der'kal fleet, and it won't be long before they won't be capable of stopping them from just moving past them to attack Earth. As it is, hundreds of Der'kal fighters are slipping by the defenses and spiraling down to the surface, and they have been reported attacking major targets in Europe, Asia, and the upper Americas. Atmospheric craft are doing what they can to counter it, but the enemy starfighters are just too fast for many of them.

("Star By Star," part 6/8)

[s09119]

Spoiler:

In hyperspace, Janus' ship is approaching Earth, and the long-range sensors are now picking up the battle raging there. Coming over to the display, Daniel and Vala are stunned by the sheer number of Der'kal ships... and the sheer lack of many Earth ones. As they watch, the last Free Jaffa ha'tak is destroyed, and the remaining defenders are becoming encircled by the enemy. Glancing over, Janus says that this reminds him of the final hours of the siege of Atlantis, just before their last warships were finally destroyed. It wasn't so much that the Ancients had feared death... it was that they had become obsolete. They had been beaten so badly that they could never recover. That was what broke them, not any loss in battle. And as he looks at the carnage above Earth, he imagines the Tau'ri might soon feel the same. Laughing coldly, Jason mutters that perhaps it just runs in the family.

At the Pentagon, still the nerve center of defensive operations, the focus has shifted from the battle in orbit, largely lost now, to the one on the ground; the Der'kal have slipped dozens of troop transports to the planet, and are offloading warriors by the thousands in major cities. Military forces are doing their best to hem them in, but there just doesn't seem to be an end to the incoming drop ships, and what's worse, every now and then a plasma bolt from orbit slams down into a city, just causing more chaos. Fighting has broken out in over twenty major cities, and even now a few ships are approaching Washington. President Hayes has already been evacuated to the ISGC to transit offworld, but the numerous other important figures still need to get out.

Moving to grab a file folder to hand to someone else, Jack glances down at the tactical display just in time to see a new ship pop into existence on the edge of the battle, behind the Der'kal formation. Frowning, he shouts out what he sees, but no one seems to know what it is... until Daniel Jackson radios that he's arrived with a little help.

High above, Janus arms his ship's drone launches and lets fly. Though his craft only holds 300 of the energy missiles, that's 300 more they didn't have before, and they're like a godsend to the beleaguered fighters on the Earth side. Watching which parts of the enemy ships he's targeting, Janus asks what would be most effective, the hyperdrives, shield generators, or weapons modules. Looking over the battle, Jason guesses the shields and weapons, since the enemy escaping isn't that big of a concern right now. Nodding, Janus inputs the command and he and the humans watch as hundreds of drones pour out of the ship and slam into the enemy, slicing through their shields as though they weren't even there. He doesn't have enough to wipe out the alien fleet, but he can sure do a number on each ship.

On her flagship, Lor'al is shocked by the sudden arrival of this strange vessel capable of bypassing her fleet's shields. Enraged, she orders two of the nearest cruisers to take it out, then diverts several hundred fighters to attack it as well. The humans cannot be allowed to possess warships such as these, they defy logic in their power. She watches as Janus begins to take fire, though his shields don't seem to mind the bombardment whatsoever. Amazed, she orders her men to begin scanning this craft and download whatever they can... this is something she wants for herself.

Across the battle lines, Carter thanks Daniel for the timely assist, though she does ask where, exactly, they managed to find an Ancient ship so readily. That's when Janus takes over the radio, saying that it's a long story and that he'd be happy to explain after this is all taken care of. Suffice it to say they're going to have a little Lantean power added to their arsenal is all, then he cuts the connection and maneuvers his ship out of the line of fire, saying he's expended all his drones. Everyone looks out to see a full half of he surviving Der'kal ships alight with internal fires wrought by the powerful missiles, and many of them have lost shields or primary weapons. Darting down to avoid being hit, Janus activates the cloaking device and begins to fly toward the Earth line of ships. He promises to uncloak and switch to energy weapons as soon as he's in position, but he can't afford to try and fly right through the enemy fleet... even Lantean shields have their limits, after all.

Watching as the wounded enemy fleet tries to reorganize itself, and feeling slightly rejuvenated, Col. Sanders asks what the Aurora's shield status is. And thanks to her pulling back a while before to let the generators recharge, they're actually at 25%, not too bad at all. That said, there is a cluster of alien warships that just seem to be bent on taking her out, as they've fired at her ship and nothing but for the past 10 minutes. Just as she's starting to wonder why, a transmission comes in for her and she has it put onscreen; it's Vur'naa, bringing her greetings and promising that this time, he will finish what he started two years above P9X-335 ("Shatterpoint") and turn her pathetic little ship into scrap metal. Sighing, Sanders replies that he's said that several times now, but waves her hand and tells him to bring it on before cutting the link and ordering all batteries to target whatever ship that message came from. If Vur'naa wants to dance, she's ready to join in.

Just as it seems like Earth may be able to pull off a stalemate, though, something catastrophic happens; the Sun Tzu and another DSC-304 explode at once, finally giving way to the combined firepower of the Der'kal fleet. That leaves just four 304s, three 303s, the Jupiter and Janus' ship left to defend the planet, and most of the Asgard defense grid facing the battle has been taken out as well. Nine ships simply aren't going to be enough to repel the dozens of ships the enemy still has to field, and most of the human vessel are on the verge of losing their shields or other critical systems.

Carter doesn't know what to do, and a communication from Jack doesn't help; he says the Joint Chiefs are abandoning Washington, which itself has now fallen under siege, and boarding an emergency jumper for the ISGC. The decision as to what to do next falls to Sam, and it's her call. Looking around at her weary crew, Carter knows that they will all fight and die here if she asked them too, but it's obvious that they've lost. Earth cannot be saved, not now, and it's time to accept that. Flipping on her radio (and casting a terrified look at Jack), she orders all fleet ships to break formation and jump to the rendezvous point, but tells her own pilot to hold up a second. As the remaining ships leave (including Janus', though it pauses a moment before finally moving off), Sam patches herself into the channel being used by the ground-based military, hoping to give them one final word before they are abandoned. She tells them never to surrender their hope, that one day, they will return to Earth and liberate it from the enemy. That one day, humanity will take back their home from the Der'kal, and when that day comes, they will stand united against the new day, forever and for always. But for now... to all the billions of people that will be trapped under the heel of the alien menace, she tells them to remember her promise, and that one day, they will return.

And with that, the Jupiter follows what remains of Earth's fleet, darting past the Der'kal ships (which themselves have now largely stopped firing on them) and opening a hyperspace window to escape. One of the DSC-304s arcs past Vur'naa's cruiser on the way to escape, firing down at it with Asgard weapons as it goes, and just before it can flee into hyperspace... the human vessel's shields are pierced, and it explodes brilliantly against the darkness. Ultimately, it's impossible to tell which ship is which at this point, but the other human craft are able to escape without incident.

Unfortunately, that leaves the F-302 pilots stranded without anywhere to go. Colonel Mitchell, now essentially the commander of the orbital defense, tells all surviving pilots to head for the surface. They need to get down there and either keep fighting or find some place to hide. The Der'kal may have won the battle, but there's no way that Earth is just going to give up. There'll be one Hell of a resistance, and it starts here. Spinning his fighter toward the atmosphere, Mitchell and some fifty human fighters dart away, evading blasts from the incoming alien forces and hoping they make it down alive. Even so, Der'kal fighters are already on their tails, blowing up 302 after 302 in an attempt to wipe out the last remnants of the defenders.

Rocketing down over Paris, the city now in flames and obvious fighting having broken out, the 302s attempt to evade their perusers, with Mitchell giving orders as he can. But before he can give anything more, his fighter is hit squarely in the engines by an enemy, and he goes spiraling down into the city. As the other F-302s flash by, still trying to run, a small burst of flame can be seen from a Parisian alleyway as Cameron's ship comes down for good.

With the battle lost, everyone is finally pulling out of the Pentagon. The entire building is shaking with the rage of battle outside, and the lights are constantly flickering. Even so, Jack O'Neill is watching a monitor showing the surviving starfighters over Paris as they race toward the safety of a nearby military base, shaking his head in sadness. Then someone calls his name, saying that they need to get out of here before the whole complex comes down, and he rushes off. Jack and several others come out a side entrance of the building, running toward a jumper parked nearby that is waiting to ferry them to the ISGC for evacuation. O'Neill, though, sees one of the women (the female technician who first reported the Der'kal's arrival, in fact) trip and fall, and he runs back to help her up. Ironically, this ends up saving his life, as a moment later the puddle jumper is destroyed, blown to bits by enemy gunships making a run on the area.

With nowhere to go and the sound of more incoming ships growing louder, Jack grabs the woman's arm and pulls her toward the highway just a few hundred meters away. They may not be able to get offworld, but they an at least get out of the open. Then the camera pulls out, farther and father, until all of Washington is seen... just as bright blobs of green plasma begin to rain down from orbit. The bombardment has begun, all across the globe, and there's no chance of stopping it. There's no way to know if Jack ever made it out of the open, but there's little chance he can survive the carpet bombing of the city, either. As the screen fades out, the Pentagon is hit by a blast and explodes, the last light in the darkness.

("Star By Star," part 7/8)

[s09119]

Spoiler:

At the ISGC, the time has come to leave. Reports coming in via subspace confirm that the Der'kal sent an additional battle group to attack the Nueva colony, and the planet is being evacuated to Heliopolis right now. Meanwhile, people are still pouring through the Earth stargate to Chulak, and the Free Jaffa government is promising to do everything it can for the displaced humans. In the gate room, Lt. Col. Davis grabs Dr. Talbot by the arm and tells her they need to get out of here, that Cheyenne Mountain is being targeted from orbit. But Danielle won't go, refusing to abandon her command until everyone else is out. Unfortunately for her decision, Davis has no intention of letting her die, and he bends down and picks her up, forcibly carrying her up the ramp and depositing her at the top of it. When Talbot demands she be left to stay and see this through, Davis tells her that humanity is going to need a leader now... and she needs to be that leader. With tears in her eyes but knowing that he has a point, Talbot makes him promise to follow as soon as he can, then steps through the wormhole.

A moment later, as the mountain begins to shake with plasma impact, Davis turns to the technician on-duty and orders the iris closed; they can't let any explosion here follow the refugees through the gate to Chulak. He steps back and joins the mass of frightened people at the bottom of the gate ramp, then closes his eyes as the screen turns white... outside, the entire mountain collapses in on itself, leveled by the power of the enemy fleet.

All over the globe, what remains of human military forces are valiantly trying to hold out against the tide of Der'kal. But it's just no good... the aliens are landing troops by the tens of thousands; warriors march in columns down the Champs-Elysees, as wide-eyed Parisians look on from their windows. In Hong Kong, a city thoroughly devastated by bombardment, alien gunships patrol the skies, and Chinese citizens rush from house to house in fear. Across the Pacific, San Francisco has been toppled, and the twisted wrecks that were once tanks line the streets leading to the ruined Golden Gate Bridge. And in New York City, the complex that once housed the United Nations has become the nerve center of the enemy occupation force, with a modified corvette having touched down on its roof and latching on, creating a hybrid structure from which Lor'al can oversee her peoples' newest acquisition. Before turning away from the window, she smiles happily.

And far away, in the darkness of hyperspace, Colonel Carter sits in the mess hall of the Jupiter, sobbing out only the name "Jack" over and over and over... on Janus' ship, Daniel and Vala hold onto one another, staring out the window as Jason sits in the co-pilot's chair, a blank look on his face as he watches Janus work the controls. In Paris, the wreckage of Colonel Mitchell's F-302 burns brightly, still smoldering, as a gunship appears in the rooftops overhead, its light swiveling to examine the downed craft... and in Washington, deep craters pocket the city, now forever scared by the devastating bombardment.

Now the members of SG-1, Jack O'Neill, Dr. Talbot, and Teal'c take over narration (all of them, even those that may or may not be dead), telling the tale of what happened over the next few days; the scattered survivors from Earth would eventually be grouped together on Chulak, pulled from various worlds and bases to be together in these dark times. Danielle Talbot became something of an icon to the refugees, as the woman who had to be forced to abandon her post, and, given her former position, the recognized face of humankind to the galaxy. Colonel Carter and the ragtag fleet of Earth ships that made it out alive eventually converged at the Jaffa capital, as well, with many ships needing emergency repairs.

Teal'c, finally recovered from his near-death experience, even visited the refugee camp that had been set up, giving an impassioned speech to the humans and encouraging them not to lose hope, that the Free Jaffa would fight to retake Earth for as long as it could. But even so, the Der'kal continued to move against the galaxy, never slowing, never stopping, and the chances of that promise coming to fruition seemed slim indeed. As the days passed, Colonel Carter decided to move the survivors off of Chulak, if only to give them a sense of self-reliance, and set up a makeshift colony at the Beta Site, itself deep in Alliance space and safe from harm. The original military outpost (built, as always, inside a mountain) became the heart of the Tau'ri, and a city of tents and prefab houses became their capital city. They would not surrender.

Janus departed soon after, vowing to figure out how this all went wrong and how to fix it. Just before his ship took off, though, Jason Carter decided to accompany him, and the two of them set off for parts unknown. The pair had struck up an unlikely friendship, but at least it was something of happiness in a time when no one remembered what the word meant.

As for Earth... the death toll in orbit was put at six-thousand, with another several hundred million perishing in bombardment across the globe. The Der'kal losses are impossible to determine, but it is estimated that some one-hundred thousand died in the siege of the planet, mostly warriors and workers in cruisers that never made it out of the conflict alive. The billions of survivors lived in constant fear, their world being turned into a slave-pen by the day. The hope that Colonel Carter had ordered them to hold onto withered more and more, as the promised rescue never came.

And so the galaxy continued its slide toward darkness, chaos, and despair... world by world... star by star.

((The End))

("Star By Star," part 8/8)

[Crazy Tom]

Finaly, a movie that donesn't end with sunshine and flowers!

Ace.

Throught that tactic with the asteroid belt would never have worked in real life, the rocks are just too far apart, they woud have had to bee towed. And they should have seeded the place with stealthed Naq warheads for a finishing touch.

[s09119]

Finaly, a movie that donesn't end with sunshine and flowers!

Ace.

Throught that tactic with the asteroid belt would never have worked in real life, the rocks are just too far apart, they woud have had to bee towed. And they should have seeded the place with stealthed Naq warheads for a finishing touch.

The asteroid thing is a staple in science fiction by now, it's just assumed that it really happens

[Crazy Tom]

The asteroid thing is a staple in science fiction by now, it's just assumed that it really happens

You assume incorectly. And my nuke theory still stands.

Actually, one more thing I'd like to know is why there was artilery suport for ground forces from the ships in orbit, even a single railgun slug can take out loads of Der'Kal warriors at those speeds.
I know they were buisy, but still, a single slug.

[Itzan]

Holy ****! Epic enough? Would be quite interesting to see how the next season goes. Though at this point, how can the Der'kal be defeated?

[s09119]

You assume incorectly. And my nuke theory still stands.

Actually, one more thing I'd like to know is why there was artilery suport for ground forces from the ships in orbit, even a single railgun slug can take out loads of Der'Kal warriors at those speeds.
I know they were buisy, but still, a single slug.

...because a single slug going from orbit to the surface at those speeds would damage a Hell of a lot more than just a few warriors...?

[Crazy Tom]

...because a single slug going from orbit to the surface at those speeds would damage a Hell of a lot more than just a few warriors...?

Actually, no, look at The Game, when the Daedalus was shooting the surface.