16x06 "Ashes to Ashes"
Synopsis: SG-1 embarks on a mission to a planet decimated by an Aschen bioweapon, but finds evidence that the population may not have been as innocent as they are being led to believe.
Sitting on a raised platform inside what looks like a large hall, a stargate activates on a distant world. A M.A.L.P. rests nearby, indicating that the ISGC has already verified the planet's relative safety, and SG-1 steps through the event horizon a moment later. Judging by the team's hazmat gear, there must be something less-than-ideal about P6X-344, and as Eaton confirms by scanner a moment later, they have good reason to be suited up; the atmosphere is 100% saturated with a potent retrovirus consistent with the latest type of bioweapon being used by the Aschen ("The Forerunners"). Breathing in unfiltered air here would kill you in less than thirty seconds, and Mitchell nervously jokes that no one better let their suits catch on anything sharp. Unsurprisingly, no one laughs.
The four of them quickly exit the structure, which is revealed to be a large hall in what must have once been a sprawling and thriving metropolis. But all that's left of it today are bombed out husks of buildings as far as the eye can see. Not content to just infect the population with some horrendous disease, the Aschen blasted their cities from orbit, too. Looking around at the ruins of the cityscape, Vala can only remark that this level of devastation is really upping the ante for the Confederation war machine. They generally shy away from utterly destroying all of the existing infrastructure, no doubt to re-purpose it at a later time, but they also don't generally strike neutral targets. P6X-344 was an independent world not aligned with the Alliance or any other major galactic faction, and she can't understand why the Aschen would go so far out of their way to wreak such havoc on a seemingly random people.
Adjusting his grip on his weapon, Mitchell suggests they start collecting the samples the ISGC wants for analysis. If they want to synthesize a countermeasure, they'll need more than just one batch of the virus, after all. Vala looks around and points out a broken fountain across from the stargate hall, remarking that Dr. Lam said to check pools of standing water for high levels of contamination. She and Eaton pull medical kits out of their packs and pull out several glass vials, filling them with infected water for analysis. Telling them to take their time and get all they need, Mitchell grabs Daniel and asks him to come with him up to the roof of a nearby building. He wants to get a better view of the area, and the apartments just around the bend look to stretch above the other closeby structures. Jackson grabs his gun and hurries after him, patting Vala on the back as he goes by and telling her to try not to get into any trouble. Laughing grimly, she reminds him that there's nothing she could possibly screw up when the only other people here are corpses.
Smiling despite their surroundings, Eaton points out that Vala does have a history of creating havoc where logic says it should be impossible, and the former smuggler promises that she'll do her absolute best not to drag the team into some horrible catastrophe this time around. Besides, it's not as if she could outdo herself; she routinely gets all the blame for alerting the Ori to the existence of the Milky Way, after all ("Unending"), so the odds of her topping her own mischievous past are slim to none. Glancing up from her work, she notices that Rebbecca isn't smiling anymore, though, and in fact, she looks quite alarmed. Frowning, Vala asks what's wrong, then turns around to see for herself. With a surprised laugh, she drops the vial she was holding and sighs, apologizing for her apparent lie that she wouldn't attract any trouble today.
Meanwhile, roughly a block away from the drama unfolding at the fountain, Mitchell and Daniel are halfway up the apartment building, hoping to get a grasp on how widespread the damage to the city really is. Thinking on the subject, Cameron guesses that the Aschen used pinpoint strikes from smaller guns to level the city, since firing their main batteries would definitely have flattened everything on impact. That would imply that they didn't want to completely annihilate everyone on the surface, though, and he wants to know why they would bother being careful when they released a virus capable of killing all the inhabitants. Daniel remarks that they may have wanted the remnants of the society to remain as a warning to others not to cross the Confederation, but he agrees that there has to be a larger picture that they're just not getting yet.
After a moment, they come to a door blocked by fallen debris, and Mitchell mutters that, just once, he'd love it if the door they need to get through was wide open with nothing in the way. Laughing, Jackson puts down his gun and starts prying some of the wreckage away, being careful not to rip his suit on anything. Once the entry is cleared of rubble, Cameron pushes it open, eager to get a good look at their surroundings. He and Daniel head over to the edge of the roof and gaze out past the city limits, glad for the settlement's position atop a high rise. They take note that the bombardment seems to drop off a mile or two outside of the city proper, indicating that the Aschen didn't destroy everything planetwide, just the major population centers, but they won't know for sure until an orbital scan can be taken. A surviving Russian BC-303, the Laika, will be arriving within a day to do just that.
As Mitchell turns to head back downstairs, Daniel spies something out of the corner of his eye far off beyond the outskirts of the city. Pulling out his binoculars, he tells his teammate that he'll be right there and tries to get a better look at whatever it is. A few seconds of focusing later, he spots what looks like a massive field of wreckage, but it's too far to really make out what it is. He shouts to Mitchell that they should probably investigate his finding when they have more time, then turns to see that their time may be shorter than he thinks; a group of humans in their own versions of hazmat gear and armed to the teeth with automatic weaponry have SG-1's leader at gunpoint. Jackson puts his binoculars away and drops his gun, muttering that apparently Vala's not the only one that danger follows.
The humans lead Daniel and Mitchell back to the fountain plaza, where Vala and Eaton are likewise being held captive, and where the squad's leader sits on the edge of a shattered statue, looking over SG-1 appraisingly. When all four of them are together, he stands to address them, asking why they have trespassed on his world and picked through the leftovers of the dead. Graverobbers aren't looked on too kindly here, and he was expecting better from the famous frontline team from Earth. Not as surprised as he once may have been at being recognized, Mitchell explains that the Tok'ra tipped them off that the planet had been hit by the Aschen, and they were investigating in an effort to synthesize a countermeasure, nothing more. Despite the ongoing reconstruction of Earth's cities, they have no interest in taking their building materials from a virtual mass grave. They were unaware that anyone had survived the attack, and had they known some people were still around, they would have sought them out first.
Not entirely convinced, the squad leader radios for pickup and tells SG-1 that they can talk more once they're somewhere a little less deadly. Eaton asks if they can at least check in with their superiors before going on this little trip, to make sure they don't worry about them, but their "host" just laughs. He's not a moron, and he's not going to let them slip some codeword to their allies for reinforcements. If he decides they really meant no harm, they will be released, but given the state of his homeworld right now, he's done taking people at their word. Seeing no other option, the team sits tight and watches as a helicopter approaches from the other side of the city, coming to ferry them away.
About an hour later, the helicopter is flying over the bombed-out remnants of another city on P6X-344, this one featuring a massive crater that obliterated half the area entirely. Looking down on it, Mitchell takes back his earlier assertion that the Aschen refrained from using their big guns in their bombardment, at least in areas away from the capital. Turning to one of the nearby soldiers, Vala expresses her extreme sorry for what happened to his people, and promises that they're going to bring the people who did this to justice. The soldier doesn't seem all that interested in her words, however, and only gives her an unimpressed glance before looking back out the window. Thankfully, the transport seems to have reached its destination, and it touches down in a small clearing just outside the previously-seen city. Looking up, Daniel remarks that they're landing next to a small mountain, and one of the soldiers congratulates him on his ability to state the obvious before pushing the team out of the craft and onto the ground.
The native squad prods SG-1 into walking, and they enter a small opening in the side of the peak, revealing a cavern teeming with guards on patrol. Up ahead is a massive blast door, sealing whatever lies behind it from the outside world, and Eaton whispers that this looks like some sort of bunker complex. That would explain why these soldiers survived the spread of the virus; if they were stationed in a complex much like the old SGC at Cheyenne Mountain, they could have gone into lockdown and escaped contamination. They're led through the gargantuan barrier, which is quickly locked behind them, and escorted to a decontamination chamber just inside, confirming Rebbecca's assessment of the situation. Once inside, they're blasted from every side with chemicals and searing heart, completely burning away the outer layer of their hazmat suits and ensuring that any trace of the virus is destroyed. Once everyone is deemed safe, the door on the other end of the chamber clicks open, and the team is brought into the base itself, at length being dumped in a waiting room one level down from the entrance.
On Earth, Dr. Talbot is in her office doing paperwork when she hears a knock at the door. Looking up, she sees one of her staff there with a file folder in hand, waving for him to come on. The staffer apologizes for interrupting, but explains that they just received a new report from the Tok'ra on P6X-344, the planet SG-1 is currently investigating. Handing it over for Talbot to look through, he goes on to say that he took the liberty to highlight the major points of the data, and he found that something doesn't quite add up. According to new intelligence, three planets that had at one point been trading partners of the 344 natives have been nuked via stargate, their major cities completely and utterly demolished, within the past few months. The radioactive residue indicates a weapons technology roughly equivalent to that of Earth itself just prior to the establishment of the Stargate Program. This caught the researchers by surprise, considering the region's traditional dominance by Sokar, who rarely let any of his worlds advance past medieval levels of science.
(Beginning of "Ashes to Ashes," see next two posts for more.)
Synopsis: SG-1 embarks on a mission to a planet decimated by an Aschen bioweapon, but finds evidence that the population may not have been as innocent as they are being led to believe.
Spoiler:
((30 second recap of "The Forerunners"))
Sitting on a raised platform inside what looks like a large hall, a stargate activates on a distant world. A M.A.L.P. rests nearby, indicating that the ISGC has already verified the planet's relative safety, and SG-1 steps through the event horizon a moment later. Judging by the team's hazmat gear, there must be something less-than-ideal about P6X-344, and as Eaton confirms by scanner a moment later, they have good reason to be suited up; the atmosphere is 100% saturated with a potent retrovirus consistent with the latest type of bioweapon being used by the Aschen ("The Forerunners"). Breathing in unfiltered air here would kill you in less than thirty seconds, and Mitchell nervously jokes that no one better let their suits catch on anything sharp. Unsurprisingly, no one laughs.
The four of them quickly exit the structure, which is revealed to be a large hall in what must have once been a sprawling and thriving metropolis. But all that's left of it today are bombed out husks of buildings as far as the eye can see. Not content to just infect the population with some horrendous disease, the Aschen blasted their cities from orbit, too. Looking around at the ruins of the cityscape, Vala can only remark that this level of devastation is really upping the ante for the Confederation war machine. They generally shy away from utterly destroying all of the existing infrastructure, no doubt to re-purpose it at a later time, but they also don't generally strike neutral targets. P6X-344 was an independent world not aligned with the Alliance or any other major galactic faction, and she can't understand why the Aschen would go so far out of their way to wreak such havoc on a seemingly random people.
Adjusting his grip on his weapon, Mitchell suggests they start collecting the samples the ISGC wants for analysis. If they want to synthesize a countermeasure, they'll need more than just one batch of the virus, after all. Vala looks around and points out a broken fountain across from the stargate hall, remarking that Dr. Lam said to check pools of standing water for high levels of contamination. She and Eaton pull medical kits out of their packs and pull out several glass vials, filling them with infected water for analysis. Telling them to take their time and get all they need, Mitchell grabs Daniel and asks him to come with him up to the roof of a nearby building. He wants to get a better view of the area, and the apartments just around the bend look to stretch above the other closeby structures. Jackson grabs his gun and hurries after him, patting Vala on the back as he goes by and telling her to try not to get into any trouble. Laughing grimly, she reminds him that there's nothing she could possibly screw up when the only other people here are corpses.
Smiling despite their surroundings, Eaton points out that Vala does have a history of creating havoc where logic says it should be impossible, and the former smuggler promises that she'll do her absolute best not to drag the team into some horrible catastrophe this time around. Besides, it's not as if she could outdo herself; she routinely gets all the blame for alerting the Ori to the existence of the Milky Way, after all ("Unending"), so the odds of her topping her own mischievous past are slim to none. Glancing up from her work, she notices that Rebbecca isn't smiling anymore, though, and in fact, she looks quite alarmed. Frowning, Vala asks what's wrong, then turns around to see for herself. With a surprised laugh, she drops the vial she was holding and sighs, apologizing for her apparent lie that she wouldn't attract any trouble today.
Meanwhile, roughly a block away from the drama unfolding at the fountain, Mitchell and Daniel are halfway up the apartment building, hoping to get a grasp on how widespread the damage to the city really is. Thinking on the subject, Cameron guesses that the Aschen used pinpoint strikes from smaller guns to level the city, since firing their main batteries would definitely have flattened everything on impact. That would imply that they didn't want to completely annihilate everyone on the surface, though, and he wants to know why they would bother being careful when they released a virus capable of killing all the inhabitants. Daniel remarks that they may have wanted the remnants of the society to remain as a warning to others not to cross the Confederation, but he agrees that there has to be a larger picture that they're just not getting yet.
After a moment, they come to a door blocked by fallen debris, and Mitchell mutters that, just once, he'd love it if the door they need to get through was wide open with nothing in the way. Laughing, Jackson puts down his gun and starts prying some of the wreckage away, being careful not to rip his suit on anything. Once the entry is cleared of rubble, Cameron pushes it open, eager to get a good look at their surroundings. He and Daniel head over to the edge of the roof and gaze out past the city limits, glad for the settlement's position atop a high rise. They take note that the bombardment seems to drop off a mile or two outside of the city proper, indicating that the Aschen didn't destroy everything planetwide, just the major population centers, but they won't know for sure until an orbital scan can be taken. A surviving Russian BC-303, the Laika, will be arriving within a day to do just that.
As Mitchell turns to head back downstairs, Daniel spies something out of the corner of his eye far off beyond the outskirts of the city. Pulling out his binoculars, he tells his teammate that he'll be right there and tries to get a better look at whatever it is. A few seconds of focusing later, he spots what looks like a massive field of wreckage, but it's too far to really make out what it is. He shouts to Mitchell that they should probably investigate his finding when they have more time, then turns to see that their time may be shorter than he thinks; a group of humans in their own versions of hazmat gear and armed to the teeth with automatic weaponry have SG-1's leader at gunpoint. Jackson puts his binoculars away and drops his gun, muttering that apparently Vala's not the only one that danger follows.
The humans lead Daniel and Mitchell back to the fountain plaza, where Vala and Eaton are likewise being held captive, and where the squad's leader sits on the edge of a shattered statue, looking over SG-1 appraisingly. When all four of them are together, he stands to address them, asking why they have trespassed on his world and picked through the leftovers of the dead. Graverobbers aren't looked on too kindly here, and he was expecting better from the famous frontline team from Earth. Not as surprised as he once may have been at being recognized, Mitchell explains that the Tok'ra tipped them off that the planet had been hit by the Aschen, and they were investigating in an effort to synthesize a countermeasure, nothing more. Despite the ongoing reconstruction of Earth's cities, they have no interest in taking their building materials from a virtual mass grave. They were unaware that anyone had survived the attack, and had they known some people were still around, they would have sought them out first.
Not entirely convinced, the squad leader radios for pickup and tells SG-1 that they can talk more once they're somewhere a little less deadly. Eaton asks if they can at least check in with their superiors before going on this little trip, to make sure they don't worry about them, but their "host" just laughs. He's not a moron, and he's not going to let them slip some codeword to their allies for reinforcements. If he decides they really meant no harm, they will be released, but given the state of his homeworld right now, he's done taking people at their word. Seeing no other option, the team sits tight and watches as a helicopter approaches from the other side of the city, coming to ferry them away.
About an hour later, the helicopter is flying over the bombed-out remnants of another city on P6X-344, this one featuring a massive crater that obliterated half the area entirely. Looking down on it, Mitchell takes back his earlier assertion that the Aschen refrained from using their big guns in their bombardment, at least in areas away from the capital. Turning to one of the nearby soldiers, Vala expresses her extreme sorry for what happened to his people, and promises that they're going to bring the people who did this to justice. The soldier doesn't seem all that interested in her words, however, and only gives her an unimpressed glance before looking back out the window. Thankfully, the transport seems to have reached its destination, and it touches down in a small clearing just outside the previously-seen city. Looking up, Daniel remarks that they're landing next to a small mountain, and one of the soldiers congratulates him on his ability to state the obvious before pushing the team out of the craft and onto the ground.
The native squad prods SG-1 into walking, and they enter a small opening in the side of the peak, revealing a cavern teeming with guards on patrol. Up ahead is a massive blast door, sealing whatever lies behind it from the outside world, and Eaton whispers that this looks like some sort of bunker complex. That would explain why these soldiers survived the spread of the virus; if they were stationed in a complex much like the old SGC at Cheyenne Mountain, they could have gone into lockdown and escaped contamination. They're led through the gargantuan barrier, which is quickly locked behind them, and escorted to a decontamination chamber just inside, confirming Rebbecca's assessment of the situation. Once inside, they're blasted from every side with chemicals and searing heart, completely burning away the outer layer of their hazmat suits and ensuring that any trace of the virus is destroyed. Once everyone is deemed safe, the door on the other end of the chamber clicks open, and the team is brought into the base itself, at length being dumped in a waiting room one level down from the entrance.
On Earth, Dr. Talbot is in her office doing paperwork when she hears a knock at the door. Looking up, she sees one of her staff there with a file folder in hand, waving for him to come on. The staffer apologizes for interrupting, but explains that they just received a new report from the Tok'ra on P6X-344, the planet SG-1 is currently investigating. Handing it over for Talbot to look through, he goes on to say that he took the liberty to highlight the major points of the data, and he found that something doesn't quite add up. According to new intelligence, three planets that had at one point been trading partners of the 344 natives have been nuked via stargate, their major cities completely and utterly demolished, within the past few months. The radioactive residue indicates a weapons technology roughly equivalent to that of Earth itself just prior to the establishment of the Stargate Program. This caught the researchers by surprise, considering the region's traditional dominance by Sokar, who rarely let any of his worlds advance past medieval levels of science.
(Beginning of "Ashes to Ashes," see next two posts for more.)
The ending was perfect. Just what those people deserved.
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