(More of "Darkest Before Dawn," see previous post for beginning and next post for conclusion.)
Spoiler:
Everyone on the bridge cheers triumphantly, and the Ori formation dissolves in the wake of such a stunning upset. Seizing the momentum, Carter motions to Teal’c and says that they can proceed with the next part of the plan. He nods in reply and tells a nearby officer to scan one of the Free Jaffa motherships for a group tagged with locator beacons. When the crewman has the individuals locked in the sensors, Teal’c says to beam him down with them to a precise set of coordinates in the middle of Chulak’s capital city. With any luck, the people will see their old hero return with an army to free them and rise up against their oppressors. Col. Davidson offers to send a group of marines down with them, but Teal’c refuses on principle; Jaffa are too stubborn and proud to accept anyone but fellow Jaffa leading the charge. Up here where the citizens can’t see is one thing, but on the ground is quite another. He and his people will do this themselves or not at all. And with that, he disappears in the flash of a transport beam.
Inside the landed enemy mothership, the commanding Prior looks out at the Free Jaffa death gliders beginning to make attack runs on Ori surface fortifications. He demands that someone contact another conquered planet to call for assistance, but a worshipper manning the communications terminal replies that they’re long-range transmitter has been jammed. He glares angrily as two gliders pelt the shields directly in front of him, then watches in shock when hundreds of individual transport beams materialized a ways away in the city square. Teal’c has brought some of the finest warriors from around the Milky Way, clad in traditional Jaffa armor supplemented with Tau’ri advances such as anti-staff weapon polymers (“Heroes, Part 1”). They easily defeat the few guards in the immediate vicinity, then advance in the direction of the mothership, taking cover as necessary to engage reinforcing crusaders. From his vantage point, the Prior begins to show signs of fear, and flinches noticeably when a single staff blast hits the shields in front of him. Down in the square, Teal’c lowers his weapon, smiling, before rejoining his forces.
Meanwhile, Mitchell and the F-302s have succeeded in repelling the Ori fighters, chasing them as far as possible toward their berths before being turned back by intense enemy fire. Launching a missile after one of them, Cameron radios the Odyssey and reports in, saying that they’ve taken far fewer losses than they anticipated. The early loss of a mothership seems to have thrown the crusaders into complete disarray, suggesting that the Priors chose not to inform the worshippers about Earth’s new weapons system. After such a humiliation over a heavily populated world, however, he expects that the news will spread like wildfire through the believers’ ranks. Whether that will cause panic or renewed resolve, no one can know.
Moving in behind the fighters, the Free Jaffa vessels concentrate their barrage on the opposing ha’tak, knowing well enough to leave the Ori ships to the Tau’ri. They hold enough of an advantage of blow them away with relative ease, and their al’kesh move in to finish off what tries to make an escape. Still out in the thick of things, the Odyssey has moved on to a second enemy mothership, ducking a plasma beam and returning one of its own. The blue ray punches through the weakened shields and pierces the hull, venting atmosphere and crusaders into space. Vala looks away, inadvertently thinking that Tomin could be among those now sucked into cold vacuum. She does her best to put the thought from her mind, then returns to her task of coordinating firing arcs between the Earth ship and the Jaffa. The last thing they need in all of this is friendly fire.
Down in the settlement, Teal’c leans out from a column and fires up at a crusader hiding behind an abandoned cart. He scores a direct hit, and the man tumbles down the marble stairs with his weapon clattering behind. The Free Jaffa army has retaken the central city and set up a forward command center inside the Palace of Apophis, the place where the rebellion against the Goa’uld began when Teal’c refused to execute Jack O’Neill and SG-1. They’ve gone so far as to mount staff cannons on the roof and begin shelling enemy positions nearby, driving entrenched crusaders into the streets or into the outskirts. Up above, death gliders have gained total air superiority and are circling the skies alert for potential targets. They’ve had to abandon runs on the landed Ori mothership, though, as its array of secondary plasma turrets are rapid fire cannons capable of bringing a whole squadron down in seconds. Now the major focus is on the advance up the hill to the flagship vessel, and they’ve made good time thus far.
A civilian runs up behind him, grabs a zat gun out of a weapons supply pile, and quickly piles in with dozens of others to join the fight. Now that the Jaffa have shown that they have a chance to retake the planet, the people are flocking to them by the dozens to assist. It won’t be long before they can simply overrun the Ori, though Teal’c is keenly aware that the mothership could fire its main gun down into the city at any time to kill them all in a single blast. For a moment, he pauses and wonders why that hasn’t happened yet, then shouts to his men to watch out. He remembered a moment too late that Ori vessels require the Prior to be present to use their most delicate systems, then watches helplessly as a group of Jaffa are hurled into the air and tossed against an adjourning building.
Coming down the steps, the Prior holds his staff ahead of him and lets dozens of plasma blasts fly at him, smirking as they scatter harmlessly into the steps, walls, and columns nearby. Then he raises the rod and shoves it forward, sending out a wave of telekinetic energy that sends the nearest two dozen warriors flying. Unable to watch his men be slaughtered, Teal’c drops his own weapon and grabs something out of the munitions pile, putting his hands in the folds of the robes under his armor. Shouting that he’s the one in charge, he slowly makes his way past his wounded men until he’s standing only a few meters from the Ori leader. Teal’c insists that if this is only going to end in the death and torture of his army, then it should start with their commander. He will not stand by and watch like a coward while his people suffer, noting that he’s no follower of Origin. Fire leaps into the Prior’s eyes, and he says that he will gladly send this heretic to burn in the fires of damnation, raising his staff to summon some ungodly power... but nothing happens.
Staring in shock, the Prior swings his staff at Teal’c, a move the Jaffa warrior dodges easily. Still keeping his hands inside his robes, he ducks under a second swing of the rod and delivers a swift roundhouse to his foe’s midsection, doubling him over. A knee to the face sends the Prior stumbling backwards, and a spinning kick to the head finally brings him to the ground. The closest crusaders, doubtless terrified to see their invulnerable leader felled, quickly drop their weapons, but the ones further out aren’t about to give up. They retreat up the steps to better cover and prepare for the renewed fight. Teal’c returns to the weapons pile and grabs a staff of his own, dropping the anti-Prior device he borrowed from Stargate Command just for this purpose. As he returns to the thick of fighting, though, he puts a killing shot into the unconscious Prior’s chest, oblivious to the fact that it’s not the one previously seen up on the mothership.
The orbital battle is likewise going exceedingly well, with the crusaders and their convert allies losing ships at a breakneck pace. Two enemy ha’tak come apart at the seams and explode, wiping out a whole squadron of interceptors in the process. The second mothership that the Odyssey was attacking is also finally going down, one final blast from the Earth vessel breaching its bow and sparking a chain reaction. Unfortunately, the 304 can’t quite get away fast enough this time, and the explosion slams into the shields. Everyone on the bridge is briefly thrown into consoles or to the floor, but no one appears to be seriously injured. Helping Vala to her feet, Daniel comments that the shields are down over 70% and still falling. So far their speed as enabled them to keep out of too much harm, but their show of force has made them a massive target. Interceptors are coming at them from every angle so thick that the railguns can’t be sure if they’re hitting the same craft with each burst, and as if to prove his point, one slams into the forward shields just in front of the bridge.
Carter admits that they may have underestimated the Ori forces when they decided to start drawing their combined fire, but she’s confident they can hold out long enough. The Free Jaffa are keeping most of the other ha’tak busy, but there are a few that just won’t quit hitting them. She radios Mitchell to see if he and the F-302s can do anything about it, but Cameron shouts back that things have gotten somewhat complicated. The crusader pilots seem to have learned that the 302s are far more deadly adversaries than the death gliders, and they're practically ignoring the Jaffa squadrons to target the humans ones. He and his men can't disengage, else they'll be ripped to shreds from behind. There's really no choice for them but to keep where they are and try to hold on for as long as they can.
Listening in, Col. Davidson says he could bring the Odyssey in toward the fighters and use their railguns to clear a path for the F-302s to break free. But Mitchell says that it would only leave them exposed to the full firing arc of the surviving Ori mothership, and with their shields as low as they are, that can't happen. He and his men will be alright, and every minute they keep the interceptors preoccupied is another minute that they're not going after Earth or Jaffa forces. With that said, he switches off his radio and turns his sights on the enemy fighters again. Watching the dogfighting on a display, Davidson notes that they’re starting to bleed people left and right out there, something he can’t sit by and watch. Sam sympathizes with how he feels, but sides with Mitchell on this one; their defenses are too low to put themselves in the crosshairs of every opposing ship at once. As long as they stay inside one of the two formations, they’re okay, but venturing into the empty space between would just get them killed. Before they can continue their argument, a transmission comes through from the surface, and Daniel informs the others that Teal’c is asking for them.
Inside the landed enemy mothership, the commanding Prior looks out at the Free Jaffa death gliders beginning to make attack runs on Ori surface fortifications. He demands that someone contact another conquered planet to call for assistance, but a worshipper manning the communications terminal replies that they’re long-range transmitter has been jammed. He glares angrily as two gliders pelt the shields directly in front of him, then watches in shock when hundreds of individual transport beams materialized a ways away in the city square. Teal’c has brought some of the finest warriors from around the Milky Way, clad in traditional Jaffa armor supplemented with Tau’ri advances such as anti-staff weapon polymers (“Heroes, Part 1”). They easily defeat the few guards in the immediate vicinity, then advance in the direction of the mothership, taking cover as necessary to engage reinforcing crusaders. From his vantage point, the Prior begins to show signs of fear, and flinches noticeably when a single staff blast hits the shields in front of him. Down in the square, Teal’c lowers his weapon, smiling, before rejoining his forces.
Meanwhile, Mitchell and the F-302s have succeeded in repelling the Ori fighters, chasing them as far as possible toward their berths before being turned back by intense enemy fire. Launching a missile after one of them, Cameron radios the Odyssey and reports in, saying that they’ve taken far fewer losses than they anticipated. The early loss of a mothership seems to have thrown the crusaders into complete disarray, suggesting that the Priors chose not to inform the worshippers about Earth’s new weapons system. After such a humiliation over a heavily populated world, however, he expects that the news will spread like wildfire through the believers’ ranks. Whether that will cause panic or renewed resolve, no one can know.
Moving in behind the fighters, the Free Jaffa vessels concentrate their barrage on the opposing ha’tak, knowing well enough to leave the Ori ships to the Tau’ri. They hold enough of an advantage of blow them away with relative ease, and their al’kesh move in to finish off what tries to make an escape. Still out in the thick of things, the Odyssey has moved on to a second enemy mothership, ducking a plasma beam and returning one of its own. The blue ray punches through the weakened shields and pierces the hull, venting atmosphere and crusaders into space. Vala looks away, inadvertently thinking that Tomin could be among those now sucked into cold vacuum. She does her best to put the thought from her mind, then returns to her task of coordinating firing arcs between the Earth ship and the Jaffa. The last thing they need in all of this is friendly fire.
Down in the settlement, Teal’c leans out from a column and fires up at a crusader hiding behind an abandoned cart. He scores a direct hit, and the man tumbles down the marble stairs with his weapon clattering behind. The Free Jaffa army has retaken the central city and set up a forward command center inside the Palace of Apophis, the place where the rebellion against the Goa’uld began when Teal’c refused to execute Jack O’Neill and SG-1. They’ve gone so far as to mount staff cannons on the roof and begin shelling enemy positions nearby, driving entrenched crusaders into the streets or into the outskirts. Up above, death gliders have gained total air superiority and are circling the skies alert for potential targets. They’ve had to abandon runs on the landed Ori mothership, though, as its array of secondary plasma turrets are rapid fire cannons capable of bringing a whole squadron down in seconds. Now the major focus is on the advance up the hill to the flagship vessel, and they’ve made good time thus far.
A civilian runs up behind him, grabs a zat gun out of a weapons supply pile, and quickly piles in with dozens of others to join the fight. Now that the Jaffa have shown that they have a chance to retake the planet, the people are flocking to them by the dozens to assist. It won’t be long before they can simply overrun the Ori, though Teal’c is keenly aware that the mothership could fire its main gun down into the city at any time to kill them all in a single blast. For a moment, he pauses and wonders why that hasn’t happened yet, then shouts to his men to watch out. He remembered a moment too late that Ori vessels require the Prior to be present to use their most delicate systems, then watches helplessly as a group of Jaffa are hurled into the air and tossed against an adjourning building.
Coming down the steps, the Prior holds his staff ahead of him and lets dozens of plasma blasts fly at him, smirking as they scatter harmlessly into the steps, walls, and columns nearby. Then he raises the rod and shoves it forward, sending out a wave of telekinetic energy that sends the nearest two dozen warriors flying. Unable to watch his men be slaughtered, Teal’c drops his own weapon and grabs something out of the munitions pile, putting his hands in the folds of the robes under his armor. Shouting that he’s the one in charge, he slowly makes his way past his wounded men until he’s standing only a few meters from the Ori leader. Teal’c insists that if this is only going to end in the death and torture of his army, then it should start with their commander. He will not stand by and watch like a coward while his people suffer, noting that he’s no follower of Origin. Fire leaps into the Prior’s eyes, and he says that he will gladly send this heretic to burn in the fires of damnation, raising his staff to summon some ungodly power... but nothing happens.
Staring in shock, the Prior swings his staff at Teal’c, a move the Jaffa warrior dodges easily. Still keeping his hands inside his robes, he ducks under a second swing of the rod and delivers a swift roundhouse to his foe’s midsection, doubling him over. A knee to the face sends the Prior stumbling backwards, and a spinning kick to the head finally brings him to the ground. The closest crusaders, doubtless terrified to see their invulnerable leader felled, quickly drop their weapons, but the ones further out aren’t about to give up. They retreat up the steps to better cover and prepare for the renewed fight. Teal’c returns to the weapons pile and grabs a staff of his own, dropping the anti-Prior device he borrowed from Stargate Command just for this purpose. As he returns to the thick of fighting, though, he puts a killing shot into the unconscious Prior’s chest, oblivious to the fact that it’s not the one previously seen up on the mothership.
The orbital battle is likewise going exceedingly well, with the crusaders and their convert allies losing ships at a breakneck pace. Two enemy ha’tak come apart at the seams and explode, wiping out a whole squadron of interceptors in the process. The second mothership that the Odyssey was attacking is also finally going down, one final blast from the Earth vessel breaching its bow and sparking a chain reaction. Unfortunately, the 304 can’t quite get away fast enough this time, and the explosion slams into the shields. Everyone on the bridge is briefly thrown into consoles or to the floor, but no one appears to be seriously injured. Helping Vala to her feet, Daniel comments that the shields are down over 70% and still falling. So far their speed as enabled them to keep out of too much harm, but their show of force has made them a massive target. Interceptors are coming at them from every angle so thick that the railguns can’t be sure if they’re hitting the same craft with each burst, and as if to prove his point, one slams into the forward shields just in front of the bridge.
Carter admits that they may have underestimated the Ori forces when they decided to start drawing their combined fire, but she’s confident they can hold out long enough. The Free Jaffa are keeping most of the other ha’tak busy, but there are a few that just won’t quit hitting them. She radios Mitchell to see if he and the F-302s can do anything about it, but Cameron shouts back that things have gotten somewhat complicated. The crusader pilots seem to have learned that the 302s are far more deadly adversaries than the death gliders, and they're practically ignoring the Jaffa squadrons to target the humans ones. He and his men can't disengage, else they'll be ripped to shreds from behind. There's really no choice for them but to keep where they are and try to hold on for as long as they can.
Listening in, Col. Davidson says he could bring the Odyssey in toward the fighters and use their railguns to clear a path for the F-302s to break free. But Mitchell says that it would only leave them exposed to the full firing arc of the surviving Ori mothership, and with their shields as low as they are, that can't happen. He and his men will be alright, and every minute they keep the interceptors preoccupied is another minute that they're not going after Earth or Jaffa forces. With that said, he switches off his radio and turns his sights on the enemy fighters again. Watching the dogfighting on a display, Davidson notes that they’re starting to bleed people left and right out there, something he can’t sit by and watch. Sam sympathizes with how he feels, but sides with Mitchell on this one; their defenses are too low to put themselves in the crosshairs of every opposing ship at once. As long as they stay inside one of the two formations, they’re okay, but venturing into the empty space between would just get them killed. Before they can continue their argument, a transmission comes through from the surface, and Daniel informs the others that Teal’c is asking for them.
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