Chevron 7 Encoded [Private] Initiating wormhole

Explosions rocked the ground, shook the air, roared their displeasure through the forest. Athena, tall as she was, easily set and maintained a swift pace. “Dammit, of all the- Just fucking HAD to be one of Apophis’ main planets of operation didn’t it?!” The woman turned her head and saw her four soldiers swiftly covering the distance between herself and them.

“Move it! Move it soldiers! Keep this direction, head straight to the gate! Alvarez, I don’t care about protocol, I want my team home safe, and all in one piece! You dial that gate as fast as you possibly can, you hear?! And don’t let Simmons give you shit! You’re in charge, Alvarez.”

“Lieutenant! Athena, wait!”

“We’ll talk later!! Make sure that probie goes through first, push her if you have to,” the woman called over her shoulder as she easily hefted her FN-FAL up and over her back, switching to the lighter, faster, standard SGC issue P90 smg. Her previously harsh amber eyes softened at the slightly lost look on her best friend’s face.“I promise we’ll talk later Kevin, now go, I’ll hold them off for a while, buy you time to dial in to base,” she said, she rarely used his first name unless the situation was dire, and that caused the man to pause, allowing her time to disengage her wrist from his hand and give him a good clap on the shoulder. “We’ll make it through this.” Then she turned and began a swift jog away, sticking behind trees and large rocks to avoid being seen.

“JUST ANOTHER DAY, HUH, PROBIE,” came the amused but still frantic shout from Airman 1st class Christopher Patton. He looked fearfully at the treeline, not seeing Athena emerge after Alvarez. “Sergeant,” he carefully questioned. It was no secret that the two were attracted to one another. It was also no secret to anyone but Athena herself, that Sergeant Kevin Alvarez was very much in love with the tall, lithe, dark skinned Lieutenant.

“She’s buying us time…Patton! Chricton! Cover my flanks! Keats, I need you to watch my back, I have to dial the gate, and unfortunately, of the five of us only two are capable of doing this, and the other one is off making sure we’ve got enough time to dial home!”

Both Patton and Chricton gave a sharp salute before doing as they were ordered, and Alvarez immediately started the dialing sequence.

It would take 45 agonizing seconds for all seven chevrons to be registered by the DHD (Dial Home Device), then a further minute for the gate to actually dial all seven and initiate then stabilize the wormhole.

It’s such a shame that they didn’t have that time.

Nine Seconds

Athena came barreling out of the forest, with seven seconds until the wormhole initiated, screaming at the top of her lungs to “GO GO GO DAMMIT! IT’S A FUCKING AMBUSH GO!!”

Six seconds.

So sooner than she appeared did a blanket of staff weapon energy streak out from the surrounding area. It struck down Chricton, killing him instantly with a lucky shot to his chest, frying his heart and lungs.

Four seconds.

Alvarez just barely jumped out of the way of what would have been a lethal shot.

One second.

Patton, enraged by the death of his friend lays down a spray of fire from his own P90, but he too falls to the sudden storm of Jaffa staff weapon fire.

Athena, now crying because she knows they’re dead. She knows she can’t do anything to help. She knows she has to leave their bodies there, even though they are-were good men, amazing soldiers. Patton was just about to accept a scholarship to Yale. Chricton had a small child and a wife. They deserved to live, to experience life, to go home and rest there at least.

A blast from a death glider soaring over head just barely missed her, but did manage to hit the DHD, the Wormhole Stabilized three seconds later.

“KEATS GO!” Athena literally picked up the other woman and threw her through the worm hole, before turning to Alvarez and pulling him up by his arm. “You aren’t fucking leaving me Kevin,” she snarled, grabbing his arm and pulling him up roughly. “Get up soldier, that’s a fucking order!”

Alvarez stood on shaky legs. “Chris and John…they’re,” he couldn’t finish the sentence because he had to push Athena down as they narrowly avoided another round of fire from both death gliders and Jaffa staff weapons.

Athena was first to recover and quickly pulled the two up, trying not to sob as she half dragged half ran with Sgt. Alvarez towards the wormhole. But just before they made it through a single shot struck Alvarez in the back, blowing both violently through the gate, where they landed upon sand, and, it would seem, in the middle of another battle. But at the moment, Athena was ignoring everything else, because two of her best friends had just died before her eyes, and her very best friend lay dying besides her. She quickly scrambled to her knees, ignoring the shouts of other people around her, and picked up the Sgt.’s body. He was breathing so laboriously, she thought he’d induce hyperventilation. “Kevin,” she called in a scared voice. “Kevin, open your eyes.”

“Th…Thena?” Athena couldn’t help but smile, she used to hate that nickname. It was stupid. Her name was short enough as it was. But over time, she had come to accept, and eventually enjoy it, but only when Kevin used it. He strenuously opened his olive green eyes, and winced when he had to take a breath. “It’s okay, Sergeant, I’m right here…”

“Gods that smarts like a bitch…I’m sorry Thena. I wanted…I wanted to tell you. But…hurkgh,” the man lurched forward and gave a round of hacking coughs. Turning his olive eyes to her, he smiled warmly, but she could clearly see the life fleeing from them. “I… love you… Thena.”
And then his body became limp. And despite what all those stupid novels said about death looking peaceful and just like sleep, Athena could only bitterly notice how he looked to be so sad and in so much pain. Her tears freely fell now, and she was openly sobbing over his body. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair. Damn them. She’d kill every single Goa’uld for this. Patton. Chricton. Even Alvarez…It was just her, and the new girl Keats now.

Master Sergeant Erin Keats was no new comer to combat. She had flown an F-35 Lightning II fighter jet for years before being pulled out of the cockpit and stuck in a special forces group. Next thing she knew she was jumping through wormholes and shooting alien parasites. Sure, she had gone through the briefings, seen the videos, heard stories from her new squadmates, but nothing quite prepared you for taking fire from staff weapons wielded by things that looked human but were just about as far from.

The whole situation was a bit much for the young sergeant. She stood with her new squad, waiting fearfully for Alvarez to get the stargate open. She remembered explosions and weapon fire everywhere. She remembered hearing Airman Patton joke "JUST ANOTHER DAY, HUH, PROBEE?" She remembered her squad leader, Lieutenant Jones, running from the tree line, shouting that it was an ambush, a trap, and right on her heals was a barrage of staff energy.

She wasn't sure who died first. In truth, she was still getting a grasp on their names. And now she would never know them. She fired off her gun in the direction of the trees, hoping to catch on of the enemy, or at least provide some cover for her companions.

"KEATS, GO!" she heard her LT yell, however she never got a chance to either obey orders or protest because someone had hoisted her up and thrown her through the wormhole.

She landed hard on sandy ground, tumbling a few feet before coming to a halt. It took her several disorienting seconds before she relized they had just left the pot only to jump into the fire. Around her, Erin heard sounds of combat. As she stood and swiveled her gun around, ensuring there were no immediate contacts, Jones and Alvarez shot out of the stargate, the wormhole closing behind them.

Erin walked up to Jones to give what little sit rep she could give but immediately noticed the situation and instead continued to scan the horizon, looking for any sign that the combat was coming closer.

After a min, Alvarez was gone. Erin could tell there had been something between the two soldiers, weather they realized it or not. She didn't know what to say. She had never lost anyone in her years of flying, and even if she had, she wasn't sure Jones would want to hear it just now anyway.

She settled for crouching just beside her CO. "Ma'am?" she offered, figuring that would allow Jones to respond in whatever way she needed to.

Athena finally realized just what was going on around her after a few agonizing minutes coming to terms with all that she had just lost. Yes, she would be horrifically scarred by their deaths. Yes, she would have nightmares and loose countless hours of sleep to the torturous guilt brought on by Survivor’s Syndrome. But she was a soldier first and foremost, a tool, a weapon to be used by the country she had devoted everything to, and an individual that needed to mourn last. And right now, as the commanding officer (one of two, what a huge difference) she had a responsibility to bring what was left of her squad, herself and Master Sgt. Keats, home safely.

“I’m sorry, please forgive me,” the Lt. whispered guiltily to the cooling body of her best friend, giving him one last fervent hug before releasing him and laying him down before the Stargate. Athena closed her eyes, took a deep, slow breath in, and slowly released it before rising. She secured the safety on the P90 and let it drop back to her hip, shifting it only so that it wouldn’t crash painfully into her body when she moved. Mechanically the tall, dark skinned woman made sure her hair was all up in it’s pony tail, that each thin but curly braid was away from her face, then reached behind her to bring forth her FN-FAL.

“Sgt. Keats. I’d ask you where we were, but from your expectant look, I’d say that you are about as ‘in the know’ as I am.”

Overhead a lone death glider screamed through the air, swiftly arriving at the battle that raged around them. “But there are Goa’uld, and they’re fighting against someone. As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Hopefully they aren’t into eating humans like the race on PX-3485 was… I would like to dial back home, but without the proper address, and knowing which symbol is this planet’s origin symbol, that’s a pipe dream for now. We’ll have to find out from the natives.”

“Stick to my sixes, and whatever you do, don’t run off on your own. I know you’re a big girl now, but I’d still like to have you close by, both for cover and for the sake of knowing you aren’t dead yet. We’ll head due east, slightly behind all the fighting to keep us from popping up in the middle of it all, and, if my spotting is correct, on the opposite side of the snake heads. Always a good thing in my book,” her voice held a sense of forced cheer at the last phrase, but her face was set in stone and her eyes looked everywhere but to Keats and especially not to Alvarez's body.

“Any questions Sergeant?”


"No, Ma'am. I'll have your six," came Erin's reply. Her eyes never left her commander as she gave one last goodbye to Alvarez. "I'm sorry, Ma'am. They were good men," she said, knowing the words would most likely mean little yet feeling like she needed to say them all the same.

Athena nodded, “Yeah, yeah they were. You know, Patton, Chricton, and I, we’ve known each other since ’92. And I attended academy right alongside Ke…Alvarez,” Athena stumbled on the name, then shook her head harshly. “We competed for tops in everything. I always came in second, just by a small fraction mind you, but still second to him, and yet somehow, whenever promotions rolled around, he was passed up, every damn time.”

The tall woman took a short shuddering breath before calming herself once again, the haze of grief that had briefly fluttered in her eyes vanquished by her sense of duty. Onwards she marched silently, glad for her hat that shielded her eyes from the harsh sun of the desert, and glad that, somehow, the sand had yet to find its way into her boots.

The sounds of battle grew ever louder as they closed in on their destination, though you could not see anything due to the large sand dune that obscured everything in view. As they crested the dune, the scene before them became clear. The Goa’uld were advancing on a small unit of human fighters, both sides had aircraft up in the skies, and neither side seemed to be winning, though for the defending team, it was only just barely. Athena spotted something that made her blood boil at that moment. “Serpent Guards,” she hissed angrily. This was part of Apophis’ army, for only Apophis utilized his signature serpentine shaped masks on his invading Jaffa.

A young man down below spotted the two Stargate Command soldiers and waved to the two females. “Hal mek,” he called harshly turning the zat’nik’tel (or Zat gun as they are more affectionately called) he wielded towards the two females as they approached, slowly and with Athena’s palms turned skywards.

Athena turned to Erin slightly. “He said ‘halt’ or ‘advance no further’,” the remaining veteran of SG:17 translated for her less experienced team member. “You pick up some things after a while.”

The man, appeased by the peaceful approach, but still not trusting them gave them both a deep stare. “Kree tal shal mak!!”

Athena thought on the sentence for a few seconds before frowning. “Either he just demanded we identify ourselves, or told us that identification cards are at attention…I’m going with the first…Mak..Athena-” Before Athena could go any further the man raised his zat gun in a threatening manner.

“Gao’uld scum,” he declared in a double voice, eyes blazing golden. By now a woman slightly older than the man appeared at his side, she too holding the weapon in her hand, though a little less sure due to not knowing what had just happened. Athena on the other hand seemed to have frozen; he was accusing HER of being part of those assholes that literally stole away her only friends?! So shocked by the accusation was she that she missed the implications of what a double voice and glowing golden eyes seemed to denote.

“Seiban, shin tel,” the woman asked softly, though her double voice carried surprisingly well over the sounds of battle.

“Goa’uld,” the man hissed, no longer speaking in a double voice.

Athena became angry at that point began to mutter to herself. “what the hell did Jackson say I should say in this situation…crap…kel…kel ma- no…Fuck what was it…kel nok….Oh yes!! KEL NOK SHREE GOA’ULD!”

Athena’s loud declaration caused the two to look at her in surprise. “I am Athena Redfeather Jones; First Lieutenant of the United States Air force, a Tau’ri, from planet earth and this is my subordinate Erin Keats, Master Sergeant of the United States Air force. We are part of Stargate Team 17, I know Daniel Jackson and Colonel Jack O’Neill, not that what I’m saying probably helps but, please, we are not enemies here. I hate the damned snake heads just as much as you probably do.”

The man, Seiban, looked up at her, surprised then he dipped his head and you could just barely see his olive eyes flash golden, and when he spoke it was with a double voice, “You are Tau’ri? Then why do you carry the name of a Goa’uld?”

“It is common in my family, to name children after legends of old. In the hopes that we would grow strong and proud as the names we bear,” she stated strongly, not at all dissuaded by the twin Zat guns aimed at her. “I should be asking you nearly the same question. I saw that tell-tale flash of gold in your eye, even though you bowed your head when it happened. Glowing eyes, double voices, if not Goa’uld as you accuse me to be, then what are you?”

“Seiban, Aevis, we have not the time, the System Lord Apophis draws near, and with him come the other half of this invasion force. Our numbers are far too small to hold off, Anise agrees with me, we must head to the ring transports to meet up with the others and to get our ships immediately, the faster we jump to hyperspace the more a chance we have at loosing fewer Tok’ra to Apophis!” The woman spoke in a double voice, eyes glowing fiercely as she explained the situation.

The man dipped his head once again, hiding the flash of light once more, but this time, when he spoke, there was no double tone to it. “And what of the Tau’ri? We cannot leave them! Already they have destroyed Ra, they can be potentially powerful allies, Lenko, surely Anise does not agree with just leaving them here to die at the hands of that monster!”

“I am guessing that Aevis agrees with you, Seiban,” the woman asked, Lenko was her name?

“Hey,” Athena interjected, “I hate to break up your lover’s spat, but we’ve got company coming up on us hard and fast, I suggest we start moving. Sgt, you and I are to provide cover fire for these two as they escape, we are to follow them closely. They may be the key to getting off this dust ball alive, and with all our facilities to ourselves.”

As she spoke, Athena was already gesturing for Anise (or was it Lenko) and Seiban (Aevis?) to start moving towards their rendezvous point. “Come Tau’ri Athena, Erin, you have shown that you would protect those you do not know, the Tok’ra value such virtues.” The off worlders and their two impromptu guards ran, all four were used to the ever shifting sands underfoot so they made surprising time, with the Jaffa army falling ever further behind them due to the shifting nature of the land.

Soon they were at what Seiban called the Ring transport station, and there was a short line of others waiting to be transported. “These transporters connect with our ships, as soon as the last of the Tok’ra are aboard, all transport lines will be cut off, preventing any Jaffa or Goa’uld from coming aboard.”

Just as the second to last group was transported up (With Seiban, Anise, Erin and Athena being the last group) two of the pursuing Jaffa had caught up with them. “HAL MEK SHOL’VA,” One screamed as he raised his staff weapon and fired, and his partner doing the same only a second after. Athena immediately shot the two Jaffa in the abdomen, and at such a short range, even with superior armor, the large rifle’s powerful bullet was not to be denied. The Jaffa crumpled to the ground in agony, but they had done their job, and both Seiban and Anise fell to the ground, with gaping wounds in their torsos.

“No,” Athena cried, seeing another two people under her watch fall to the Staff weapons crushed what little bravery she had, and she fell to her knees besides Seiban. “No, no, no, not again.”

“Athena, of…the Tau’ri…you must not…cry,” Seiban urged weakly. “You…must conti-nue…to fight…Please…take Aevis…I will not live…but Aevis…must survive.”

“I don’t. I don’t understand. But I will accept.”

Seiban smiled and urged her close, the Lt. obliged and leaned in close to hear his soft words. “You will understand…just please…take Aevis, and live…live to fight.”

Too puzzled was she to fight as Seiban pulled her in for what seemed to be a kiss, but as their lips met, Athena felt something alive jump into her mouth and there was a sharp pain in the back of her throat. She gagged for a few seconds, trying to get whatever had jumped into her out, but it seemed to burrow deeper, causing an agonizing pain. And then the pain was gone. For a moment, just one brief moment, Athena thought that she had imagined the creature and the pain. But then waves of information began to flash before her eyes, and for her it seemed like years passed through her mind, when in reality it was but an instant. Besides her the same scene was playing out, but with Erin and Anise, who beseeched the human woman to take her partner Lenko.

‘Athena Redfeather Jones, well met, I am Aevis, the Tok’ra,’ came a voice in her head, it was like a mirror of her own voice, only just slightly distorted.

“Wh-what?” Athena stuttered out loud, her mind was still a whirl with the sudden influx of information. She tried standing, but her feet refused to stay steady, and it was as though the planet beneath her was rippling, so off was her balance.

'Quickly, there is no time, grab your partner there, we must leave,’ the voice urged. ‘All will be explained soon, but you must first leave this place. I would do so myself, but it is forbidden to forcibly take control of a host, that and I haven’t even properly introduced myself. Now hurry.’

Shaking her head sharply, as though to clear her thoughts, Athena did as she was told, and soon the rings descended upon the two women, and they disappeared in a flash of light. As soon as the light had faded the Lt stumbled away from Erin and tried not to retch. Wherever they were, the ground was cold steel, and the corridors were lit with bright white lights, almost as though to stave off the imposing darkness that Athena somehow knew surrounded them on all sides.

‘Welcome to the Seraph,’ came the voice in her head. ‘and welcome to the Tok’ra. I am officially your new symbiote, Aevis, former symbiote of Seiban, proud member of the Tok'ra.’

Erin kept pace with Athena as best she could both physically and with regards to the conversation with the...what did they call themselves? Tok'ra? Just as she had promised, she had Athena's back the whole way, even following her up the ring transporters to the alien ship after having a slug snake thing burrow through the back of her neck and despite her ardent gag reflex and her spinning head.

After she was "beamed up", Erin faintly heard someone talking to her. It was odd though; it seemed to be coming from inside her head. She couldn't make out the words over the flood of thoughts and memories that were suddenly running rampant in her head. Her mind swam as all the events of the day caught up with her in one crushing blow.

"Ma'am," she said shakily, pausing as she fought against the unconsciousness that was threatening to take her.. "Lieutenant, I think...I think I'm gonna-" and with that she passed out, landing sprawled across the cold floor.

Athena watched as Erin passed out then landed harshly. Normally she’d have helped a comrade but at the moment she was so traumatized. She didn’t even argue when she felt arms, gentle though still firm, guided her to the medical bay and into a bed. “I don’t…Tok’ra? But…”

Aevis gave the equivalent of a mental sigh, ‘That is where you are mistaken, we may share some similarities with the Goa’uld, but we are not. We hold our hosts as equals, though we are capable of controlling their bodies, we only do so when given permission. Our hosts hold the ultimate control of their body, as it is their body. We also do not use the Sarcophagus, as it has side effects that create the personalities that cause the Goa’uld System lords to be as they are.’

Athena listened closely. “As they are? You mean they aren’t born like that?”

‘No, the megalomania, paranoia, and egotistical personalities are all brought about by the healing device. Normal Goa’uld are indeed born with all the menmetic memories (or memories passed through their very genes) of their parents and all the Goa’uld before them, they are capable of compassion and kindness. Such cases can be seen in both Amaterasu and Inari, the newest System Lord to rise, and one of the Oldest respectively. Amaterasu is said to be older than Inari, but has always been seen at the side of Susano’o, but both seem to respect the basic rights of all living beings, though they are still Goa’uld, they do not seem to wish to conquer the known Universe..’

“So that explains the Goa’uld, to a point, but what is as Tok’ra?”

‘Tok’ra, our very name means: Against Ra. And though Ra has been dead for a number of your Tau’ri years, we must still fight against the System lords. Our ideals are vastly different from the Goa’uld. We are not born with the mnemetic memories of our predecessors so we do not have to live up to our race’s past sins.’

A little over an hour later, Erin's eyes blinked open.

'Erin? I'm glad to see your all right. I must apologize for what you suffered earlier. There is no easy way for us to enter a host; in fact that was the less painful option.' Lenko paused.

"Wait, wait," Erin said aloud, rubbing her forehead in an attempt to fight off the incoming headache. "What..."

'There's no need to speak aloud, Master Sergeant Keats. Just as you can hear my thoughts, I can hear yours.'

Erin groggily sat up in her med bay bed and looked around the room. She saw her Lt in her bed, but no others in the room. "Who..." she shut her eyes tight then opened them, looking around the room again.

'Relax, Sergeant,' Lenko said with a smile in her 'voice'. 'Do you remember the events in the desert? My former host, Anise, died and she beseeched me to you. I am a Tok'ra. My name is Lenko. And I am now your symbiote and you are my host.'

"Wait...dammit, wait!" Erin said forcefully. She took a few long deep breaths before continuing. "What the hell! I thought Goa'uld had hosts. But...your a...a Tok'ra? And I'm your...how long is this gonna last?"

'As long as you live. If I were to leave you,' she took a meaningful pause. 'The results would most likely kill you, Erin.'

'Damn, this is ape shit,' Erin thought, aiming to keep the thoughts from the conversation.

'I'm sorry if this is hard for you to handle. I wish there was an easier way.'

"You...did you hear me think?" Erin questioned out loud again.

'Yes, Erin. As I said, there's no need for you to speak aloud. I can hear your thoughts,' Lenko said as patiently as she could. 'Perhapse if you have any more questions you could wait so that Aevis and I may answer them together and you and your commander can both hear the answers.'

Erin nodded and thought 'Ok.' She sat the rest of the way up and swung her legs over the side of the bed so she was facing Athena. Then she looked around the med bay, trying to take in the alien surroundings.

Athena closed her eyes and shook her head. This…this was too much to take in. Aevis had explained all he could without having all of Athena’s attention. Her emotional state was in such a disarray, nothing he said would have caught the full attention of the 1st Lieutenant. ‘If I may…I can explain to your subordinate the situation at hand? Though I do not doubt my old friend Lenko’s capability to explain the situation, I do expect her to accept more if she were to hear it physically and not just mentally. Would you allow me control?’

Athena wasn’t quite sure how to give over control of her body to the Tok’ra but figured that if she just bowed out mentally, and retreated to her inner sanctum, the one place nothing could touch her. The place where her family was still alive. The place where…Where Alvarez had never died. Where Patton and Chricton were still capable of laughing with her.

Aevis felt its host’s mental presence quickly retreat deeper into her psyche and it quickly grabbed control of her body, making sure that she didn’t fall. Dipping her head, Aevis hid the tell tale golden glow of the eyes and spoke. “Athena Redfeather is resting now. I am Aevis, and according to her memories, you are Master Sergeant Erin Keats. I am truly sorry for the loss of your company. From what I saw I could tell that the three you lost were extremely good men. But it is unfortunate that the fact remains that they are but a very small fraction of the casualties of this war. I am sorry for asking this of you, but there is no other option now, will you fight? Will you fight for the freedom of this universe? To save countless others from enslavement at the hands of the Goa’uld. Will you lend us your strength? I already know Athena Redfeather’s answer, she wishes for revenge. And though it is not much, any assistance I may offer is hers to use.”


It took Erin a few seconds to get over Aevis’ dual toned voice. She had heard that the Goa’uld spoke in bitonal voices, but to hear it coming form her CO’s mouth was still disconcerting.

‘You don’t have to Erin. It’s completely up to you,’ came Lenko’s voice from Erin’s head.

“No, Lenko. I do want to help. I may not have known Alvarez and Patton and Chricton for very long but they were my squad.” For the first time since the deaths of her teammates, Erin let her feelings hsow. “Those aliens killed them. All three of them. And they messed up Jones. And I’ll be dammed if I’m gonna let them get away scot free.

“Lenko, my body is yours to use whenever and however you need. If LT wants revenge, I’ll help her get it.”

Feeling her host relinquish control, Lenko followed her partner’s lead in taking control of her host’s body. After hiding the tell-tale eye glow, she brought her head back up to see Aevis. A smile crossed her face. “Glad you are safe, my friend. I’m just sorry about the circumstances surrounding our new hosts, although I must admit, Athena seems to have taken it much worse than Erin.”

Aevis smiled and nodded. "I too am glad to see you safe, old friend. But yes, it is indeed the case. Athena Redfeather is taking the loss of her company incredibly hard. Her emotional state...if left as is, could very well spell her end. I would be stricken with the deepest griefs if I were to loose two exceptional hosts in such a short period. Loosing a host at any time is a sad thing, but the conditions which brought us to where we are now, they are anything if not extreme."

Here the symbiote paused, looking down to Athena's (now his-her..hir?) hands. "She watched her entire family die as a young adult, and then once again just now, she witnessed the slaughter of a group of individuals she had inadvertantly chosen to take the place of her blood family. Not only that, the one person who understood her down to her very core died in her arms shortly after declaring his love for her. I am troubled by this, and I know that Athena is suffering greatly. What do I do Lenko? Never before have I had a host that was being forced to deal with these intense feelings of loss before. Not even Seiban had ever felt this deeply."

Then Aevis looked up, face worn in a mask of confusion. "And yet, even through these feelings, she wishes to fight, to resist against oppression and tyrany. To be of use to her country, her planet. Many other humans would have simply given up all hope and ceased to care about what occured around them."

Silence reigned for a good while before Aevis spoke once more. "Lenko, I..." Shaking hir head the symbiote sighed. "Nevermind. Nothing. It's nothing. We should check in at the bridge while we let our hosts rest and asimilate all of the information and memories we have passed on."

Lenko's brow furrowed. "What is it Aevis?" she asked, sensing that her friend had been hiding something from her for a while now. When her companion didn't answer she dropped the conversation, figuring he would tell her in due time, and picked the previous topic back up.

"I can't say Erin's life has been easy. She never knew her mother or her mother's people. Yet she still wears the bone choker that is customary of many plains Indian tribes," she said as she brought her hand up to her neck were the chocker resided. "It was her mother's."

"Still, it seams her life hasn't been as bad as Athena's. She was raised with her father and while she never made close friends, it prevented her from ever being truly hurt by the loss of friendship. That's how she viewed it. It seems she feels the same about the loss of her new companions, although I feel it is more that she tries to convince herself that this is the truth." Again Lenko paused but then smiled.

"They are both good strong warrior, though. And I sense that their desire to help us is real regardless of their mixed reasons. They are good people, we were lucky." The last sentence was said with more meaning that the rest.

Again Lenko paused, letting her words hover in the air before finally agreeing with Aevis's previous statement. Forcing a smile back onto her face she said, "Yes, we should let them rest. We need to report."

Aevis frowned. It was so different being in a woman's body. Not the world, not the way Aevis percieved him-er..her? self... But. At the same time. Everything was different.

"I hope Selmak isn't too-" Aevis was cut off when the ship gave a sudden shudder as it dropped out of FTL rather suddenly. "What the blazes? We can't have arrived already..."

Aevis ran towards the bridge, noting the sudden frantic feel in the air. "Status," he, er..she..(damn this was going to be hard to get used to) demanded sharply to a Tok'ra sitting at the nearest console.

"We have been forced out of hyper space by an enemy fleet, sir-Ma'am! We are being flagged down by the Goa'uld Ha'atak; Arashiodori," the girl said in a frantic voice.

Aevis growled. "That's Susanoo's flagship! What in the blazes is he doing out here? Damn..."

"Excuse me," an elderly woman's voice demanded softly from behind them. "Just who do you think you are, ordering my Tok'ra around as such?"

Aevis jumped, surprised that the woman's approach hadn't been detected at all. Turning sharply, relief shone in amber eyes upon realizing just who that woman was. "Selmak! Oh good, Susano'o forced us out of HyperSpace, and it's me, Aevis...Seiban...he's..."

Lenko placed a reassuring hand on her friend's shoulder. "We lost both Seiban and Anise on the planet. These are our new hosts, 1st Lieutenant Athena Redfeather Jones and Master Sergeant Erin Keats of the Tau'ri United States Air Force and members of their Stargate core," Lenko said, referencing first Aevis' new host and then her own.

She bowed her head, the death of Anise truly hitting her for the first time. But a moment later she lifted her head, ready to deal with the situation at hand. "So what is Susano'o doing here?"

Susano'o smirked as he watched the display screen. The Tok'ra ship was now in his grasp. In one fell swoop he could eleminate a large portion of the nuisance that were the heretical Tok'ra. And to make things better, he hadn't even planned this. They had just been cruising this portion of the Galaxy when his first prime had alerted him to a large craft traveling FTL. It was of course an easy feat from there to simply bump the craft out of FTL.

No one passed through Susano'os portion of the Galaxy without first paying homage to the great God that was he, nevermind the fact that this wasn't his territory, nevermind the fact that since Ra's death he had been surreptiously claiming more and more planets in his name, slowly building up his base of power by stealing from other System Lords who were not smart enough to post at least a few sentry outposts at their borders.

Imagine his malicious pleasure upon finding that it was not a Goa'uld Hata'ak as he had initially suspected, but rather a sleek Tok'ra battle ship known as the Seraph.

"Heretical Tok'ra scum," he boomed imperiously, "You are in the wonderous presence of Susano'o, the mighty God, and father of all that is good and holy." Here he paused regally, letting the unworthy Tok'ra realize their folly. "It is through my glorious powers that I find you guilty of blasphemy and heracy. Your sentence is Death. However, should you wish to bow now, and vow to serve me for all eternity, you may find mercy by my hand, and I shall mark you only as my servants. Of course, those found worthy to gaze upon my countenance will be allowed to join my harem."



Aevis snorted, glaring visciously at the overly pretty visage of Susano'o. "That asshole really thinks we'll give in? Pfft, a snowball's fucking chance in hell," the Tok'ra snarled, using choice phrases from Athena's vocabulary. "Asshole didn't even make it two way so that I could give him a piece of my mind."

Lenko smirked at her friend. “Picking up a bit of Athena’s vocabulary, Aevis?” she asked with a chuckle before turning her attention back to the matter at hand with a scowl swiftly replacing her previous smile. “But I agree completely. Susano’o truly is as arrogant as I have heard, even for a Goa’uld.” As she spoke the last word, it all but dripped from her mouth like a poison. “How shall we proceed?”

KO LOST THE GAME

Susano'o regally raised his head, "Further more, any Tok'ra inhabiting suitable female bodies will be required to submit to me, as it is common knowledge that any child conceived of two Gods are expressly forbidden, but nothing in the rules say anything about children conceived of a Tok'ra and a god. Therefore, you shall all become my slaves to carry any child I deem you worthy of bearing for my magnificent person."

Aevis snarled at the projected image of Suano'o, fists clenching in anger. Hir nails drawing blood as strength was momentarily forgotten, the soft plip plip of dripping liquid echoed through the suddenly still cabin. "That...that slimy sonnuva swamp leech, how dare he. How dare he."

The anger of the Tok'ra seemed to radiate through the cabin, mostly off of Athena and Aevis' shared body, though Selmak seemed just as outraged as the pair.

~*~

Lenko too bristled at the suggestion of the overconfident goa'uld. She then turned to Selmak, her face set with determination to not become anything to the goa'uld other than a nuisance. "What's our situation? Do we have weapons online? Sub-light engines? Shielding?"

As she finished her inquiry, she noticed the soft dripping sound. Abruptly she turned to Aevis. "Aevis," she said, concern reflecting in Erin's dark brown eyes. "Are you injured?" She moved to the side of her friend, finding the source of the blood and taking Aevis' hand in hers. Her brow furrowed seeing the deep crescent shaped cuts in Aevis' palm.

I have field medic training. Let me treat it, came Erin's voice. Lenko bowed her head as the exchange of consciousness took place.

"Ma'am?" Came Erin's instinctual greeting before she realized she was not dealing with her CO but indeed with Aevis. "I - mean sir? Let me bandage that." She pulled her first aid pack out of her bag and quickly fished out the rubbing alcohol and bandages before beginning the cleaning and wrapping of Aevis' hand, giving a brief warning of "This is gonna sting."


~*~

Hissing sharply, the pain brought Aevis out of hir thoughts, flinching as the alcohol cleaned out the shallow wounds in hir palms. As soon as Erin was done wrapping hir hands, Aevis offered an apologetic look, "Ahh, s-sorry, I did not realize what I was doing. Athena will not be pleased."

Athena, rising to the surface of her mind, gently nudged Aevis, I may have an idea, she offered quietly. Aevis gracefully gave way for his host, The floor is yours Lieutenant.

Bowing her head, Athena closed her eyes as well, speaking softly in her own voice, sounding determined, but still broken. "This ship, according to Aevis' memories, is carrying enough enriched naquadah to decimate Susano'o's entire fleet in one fell blow if we time it right. I am also aware of the ten cargo ships that have cloaking, as well as FTL capabilities. We should evacuate the crew into these ships. I am volunteering myself to remain onboard and place explosives that will cause a chain reaction within the energy core of the ship. If we move half of the available naquadah to surround the reactor, and strategically place the rest in key areas, the explosion that would result would be large enough to feasibly take out most of their forces...."

Taking a breath, "If you cloak then deploy your departure should be completely unnoticed...the activation of the hyper space window should be delayed until the last second possible, if you can manage it, I would suggest waiting until exactly one point seven five seconds prior to the detonation of the explosives....I would also like to request that my Sergeant be taken with you. I have already lost three members of my company, and though I am confident in my and Aevis' combined capabilities to escape, I would rather not take any unnecessary risks."

Without waiting for an answer, Athena turned to Erin and gave her a bitter smile. "Sergeant...You are not to follow me. Under no circumstance. That is an order soldier,"

~*~

Erin had just opened her mouth to protest when the words 'That is an order' left her CO's lips. She locked her jaw, her brow gaining furrows as she did her best to hide her displeasure at the direct order. She wanted to protest, she wanted to argue. The exact same reason Athena wanted Erin safe on a cargo ship was the reason Erin wanted to be beside her CO. They had already lost squad mates. Neither wanted to loose another.

However, an order was an order. "Yes, ma'am," Erin gritted. She bowed her head and when she next spoke, her voice resonated with two tones. "Athena, please reconsider your order. Erin feels she cannot speak out and verbalize her extreme dislike of this plan, but I can speak on her behalf. She does not want you to do this alone, nor do I. If we remain behind with you, we will be able to spread the charges with greater speed to expedite the plan."

~*~

VITANI LOST THE GAME

Athena frowned, eyebrows furrowing. Aevis within her, gave his protestations to the plea. I cannot agree with her. While I do acknowledge that with two, we could place the devices faster than alone, I cannot condone us risking their lives if it can be avoided.

Nodding her head, Athena found herself agreeing with Aevis. "I'm sorry, we are in agreeance. Though I feel Aevis for completely different reasons than my own, we still do not wish to involve you. That besides, with Aevis's guidance I am completely sure that I can quickly accomplish the task at hand."

~*~

Now it was Lenko's turn to frown. "Lt. Johnson, please. I realize in your Earth customs what you are doing is acceptable and, from what Erin knows, rather common. But I must protest. And while you may be well within your rights to order Erin to evacuate, you have no such authority over me and I am not allowing you to go on this suicide mission alone." Lenko crossed her arms as if to give the statement an extra punch.

Just then, a large quake shook the ship. "We're taking fire!" another tok'ra announced. The ship shook again with a second impact.

~*~

Snarling Athena pushed Lenko into the arms of the waiting Tok'ra soldier, not even bothering to hide the golden shine as Aevis was pushed to the front. "Take her to the cargo ship," Aevis growled in command, dual toned voice echoing with a grim sense of finality, before turning on heel, picking up Athena's FN-Fal and hefting it up onto hir shoulder while accepting the cart of charges from another Tok'ra. "If my personal code is not broadcasted five minutes after the blast, assume the worst." Athena's eyes then glowed one more as her conscious came to the front at the urging of her symbiote.

"Keats, don't think too badly of me, but I have nothing left to lose," she said over her shoulder as a parting shot.

The tall figure of Athena disappeared down the corridor as she ran towards the reactor room, lift cart full of charges following obediently behind. Every so often, she would kneel and take a single charge from the cart and place it before arming it, just as directed by Aevis. The reactor room is up ahead, the rest of the charges need to be placed around the room with a maximum of five meters between one another, their blast radius isn't as large as I would like, and so we'll have to rely upon the Naquadah to do the rest.

"Got it," Athena murmured as she laid the last of the charges down before arming it. Then she turned to a chart half full of what looked like pitch black stones before taking the remote for it and running once again down corridors, doing almost the exact same thing as she had done with the charges.

As Lenko was toted away by the tok'ra guards, Erin came to control. She glanced over her shoulder, not offering resistance to her "escorts" but just trying to catch what she thought might be one last glance of her new CO. Seeing nothing she brought her hand up to her radio, clicking it on. "Lt. Johnson? Good luck Ma'am. See you on the other side," she said, doing her best to sound optimistic.

She turned to speak to one of her escorting tok'ra. "What if they don't make it? Is there anything we can do?" She knew the answer. Lenko knew the answer so she knew the answer, yet she asked anyway.

Athena pose = YAY LET'S BLOW OURSELVES THE FUCK UP.

Erin post = HO NOEZ. CAPTAIN JOHNSON! DON'T GO!

Ko: will fix this shit later. k thnx bai.

Athena's head snapped up, her eyes flashing golden as Aevis wisely retreated to the back of her mind.

'Coward,' she called back to him before looking at Lenko, or was it Keats, she wasn't too sure. "Listen, Lenko, I don't care who you are, Keats had her orders. And while we are off planet, I am ultimately responsible for her well being. That being said, the only time my orders are to be disregarded are when they come into direct conflict with the recipient's physical well being. I told you to go ahead for a fucking reason! Do. Not. Make me shoot you."

As though to back up her words, Athena pulled her handgun out of it's holster and placed her finger on the safety. "Keats, go back. Keep in mind that while I am a certified sniper, I was also part of an interrogation squad in the Gulf War. I know what shots will kill and what shots will only cause intense pain....Please, I just lost what little family I had left. Don't make me bear your death upon my shoulders as well."

Aevis cringed, his host was strong, but something so traumatic as what had just happened to her...He was amazed she was still somehow walking, much less functioning.

Inside her head, Erin screamed for control. She knew the cost of disobeying a direct order and furthermore, was not much relishing the thought of her new CO shooting her in the shoulder. However, Lenko knew that Athena couldn't rightfully punish Erin for actions that were not hers. And so, despite how it went against her code to retain control of the host body when the host so badly wanted it, Lenko remained in control of the body she now shared with Erin.

"Athena, please," she said, slowly proceeding to walk forward, her arms held out from her sides. "I know what you just went through. I know, in part the pain you are feeling, I know what you want to do, why you so readily volunteered for this mission, and why you would turn Erin away. But Athena, believe me, it is not the easy way out that it may seem, and you know it. Especially now that you speak for two spirits, two lives," she paused to give her words meaning. "That's why I won't leave. So if you mean to take your own life, then you'll have to do so knowing you're taking the lives of Aevis, myself, and Keats with you."

Frowning Athena brought her pistol up, flicking the safety off in a single, smooth, well practiced motion, and aimed it directly at Erin's shoulder. Her own eyes were staring intently at her subordinate's face, cold brown eyes daring the other into making another move.

Before she could pull the trigger though, previously hidden rings descended and surrounded the two of them, causing Aevis to come forward in surprise as Athena shoved him to the forefront of her mind. This is your problem, deal with her.' Athena snarled mentally at her Tok'ra partner.

Susano'o was annoyed, he had wanted to catch the entire crew but the life signature readings were only showing two tok'ra and their hosts on the ship. With the intent on torturing and then brainwashing the two tok'ra Susano'o had demanded the two be ringed up to the Arashiodori. What Susano'o had forgotten to take into account was the cunning of Tok'ra and the ineptitude of most of his Jaffa force. The two had been ringed up to his ship alright, but not to the brig where he had demanded, instead, they were somewhere on his ship, in one of the 40 different ring platforms that he, in all of his wisdom had installed into one system for ease of movement.

Lenko noticed the subtle dip of the head just as the rings descended upon the pair so that by the time they were beamed onto Susano'o's ship, she knew she stood face to face with her old friend. She cast a quick glance around, scanning the surrounding hallways up and down for Jaffa, and seeing none.

She looked to her friend and raised her eyebrows inquisitively, ages of friendship allowing them to wordlessly communicate. All the while Erin was beginning to regret this new union. More specifically, the effect it would no doubt soon be having on her military career.

Susano'o snarled at his Prime, backhanding the Jaffa with his inhumane strength. "Fools!" He didn't bat an eye when the poor man hit the far wall of the bridge with bone shattering force. "Sweep the entire Ha'tak if you must! I want them found and brought before me." Then turning on his heel, the narcissistic goa'uld stalked over to his former Prime and kicked him in the ribs with not a small deal of force. "Take this incompetent fool to the brig....You," here an elegant finger pointed at a good looking jaffa standing at attention to wait for his Lord's next order. "you are now my Prime. Do not fail me."

"Yes mi'lord," the Prime said with a deep bow then turned to his new subordinates, "You heard Lord Susano'o! Go now!"

The other Jaffa scrambled to do as ordered, not willing to see if their lord Susano'o had his karakesh on today.


The first thing that went through Aevis' mind was 'The hell just happened,' and then of course he realized just where they were. The pistol was immediately brought up as he visually swept the room, finger twitching upon the trigger. When the area was deemed clear the gun was brought down to hir side. "What the fuck just happened? Where the hell are we? Are we really on the Arashiodori? Lenko you okay? Shit am I okay?" At this point he pat hirself down and sighed in relief. "All limbs accounted for," of course then Aevis winced. Except for one of course.

Lenko did a brief mental once over and found no wounds of any kinda on her new body. "No, I'm fine, Aevis." She cast her eyes around, noting that, true to Erin's instincts, her gun was in her hand, at the ready - almost without Lenko noticing. "And as to your previous question, yes. I believe we are on Susano'o's ship. No doubt as less than competent jaffa ringed us to the wrong area. I'm sure he'e been...informed of his mistake," she sneered.

For a moment Lenko seemed introspective, then she turned her attention back to Aevis. "Erin wants out. I feel I owe her that, after confining her while I spoke to Athena." And with a slight bow and a closing of her eyes, Erin came into control.

She spun around, brining her gun to bear as she inspected the area again, not quite trusting Lenko's military prowess as much as she did her own training. "Clear," she announced as she turned to her CO. "Ma'am? That you?"

Aevis shook hir head, "Nope, sorry, she doesn't want to deal with this right now, so you'll have to deal with me." The symbiote sighed. "I'm really not feeling like a symbiote, I'm just supposed to advise and rarely take over in times of need, but with all that's going around, and the constant being shoved forward... Never mind, we have far more pressing matters to attend to right now, such as getting our asses outta this fire and into the long grass." Aevis was silent for a few seconds before pulling a confused face and speaking once more. "What the hell does that mean? Why would the long grass be any better?"

Shaking hir head once again Aevis motioned for Erin to follow, "All Ha'tak ships follow the same basic layout, so if I'm right, we should head down and hopefully their docking bay will have at least ONE FTL capable vessel which we can use to skidadle outta here and to the next base planet. We just have sneak on past the jaffa and-"

"Kree!!!"

As the Jaffa declared that word, an ominous yet innocent beep sounded from a device on Aevis' hip. The primer for the explosives was entering into it's failsafe, incase the button wasn't hit within a specific amount of time.

"Well, fuck, that plan just flew out the primordial window," Aevis growled and brought the pistol up to shoot the Jaffa in the head, not even blinking as the body fell to the floor unmoving as he shot the other one in the neck. "Susano'o knows we're here, the explosives are already counting down, we'll have to get the fuck outta dodge fast."

Erin's eyes moved from the jaffa, to Aevis' hip, back to the jaffa who were both felled before she could even bring her weapon to bear, and finally back to Aevis. "She can hear me though, right?" she asked, continuing before the tok'ra could give an answer. "Ma'am, I jut want to say it was not my intent to follow you. I did /not/ willingly or deliberate disobey your direct order -" her eyes closed and the next moment her voice had two tones to it.

"We do /not/ have time for this now!" Lenko said more to Erin than to Aevis. She then turned her eyes back to her friend. "Quite the new host experience we're having," she jibed before casting a quick look around. "The hangar should be this way," she said gesturing down one of the hallways. "Let's hurry," she added with a glance at the device on Aevis' hip.

Nodding Aevis was quick to pick up the pace into a jog, and belatedly realized that between Athena's jaunt in the forests of Apophis' planet, and hir having shot the two Jaffa guards, there was only nine more shots in this clip of hir pistol. Desperately, though keeping in mind to keep up with Lenko, he reached in towards Athena and roused her. Athena, please tell me that you have another clip or two in your pockets. Aevis thought to his host.

Athena surfaced from happier memories reluctantly, and had to remember where she was, while trying to ignore what had happened in the past few hours. With that thought Athena figured she may as well remind Aevis of what Athena usually considered light equipment for a mission. There are two extra pistol clips on my right upper thigh pocket....the FN-FAL has extra ammo in my hip pouch, and the P-90 has one full clip in the bottom portion of the same hip pouch... my vest pockets have a few ounces of C4 with enough charges for three individual detonations, as well as two ration bars... There is also a small knife on the inside sheath of my right boot....

With her stock said, Athena re-submerged back to her blissful unawareness, not wishing to deal with the world.

"Dammit," Aevis cursed, his voice slipping into dual tone, "Lenko, I hate to reiterate what you just said, but we REALLY have to hurry. Athena is slipping."

Lenko shot a worried and concerned glance toward Aevis.

She's slipping? What does that mean? Hey. Lenko. Lenko! What does he mean: she's slipping? What's happening! Let me back out; I have to make sure she's alright. Lenko! Let me out!

Lenko rolled her eyes. Not. Now. Keats.

"Double time it, Aevis," she said as she put all her effort into running, increasing her pace to as much of a sprint as was possible with the amount of gear carried by the young airmen.

Several minutes, and a handful of jaffa later, the pair, or more appropriately quartet, found themselves in the hangar bay. "I don't see anything bigger than a deathglider. Nothing with FTL capabili-" Lenko's sentence cut short as her eyes panned across the bay and froze on an al'kesh. "That'll work," she deadpanned, moving toward the cargo vessel with as much speed as her aching legs would afford her.

Aevis kept up easily, with Athena's long legs the symbiote found it refreshingly easy to keep pace while throwing a cautious glance over hir shoulder every few seconds. As armed as they were, it would be useless against the personal armor of Susano'o and his elite Jaffa, the Arashi were the vain god's response to Ra's Horus Guard and Apophis' Snake Battalions. Just as Aevis had managed to duck behind another convenient pillar (Jack: Really, who built those ships, they put those pillars in the best places if you are trying to sneak around.) the ship gave a violent shudder, throwing hir off balance and sending hir stumbling forward into clear sight of a small group of Jaffa. "Dammit," was all he managed to growl out before the ship lurched again, throwing the jaffa off their feet.

"What the hell is happening, as much as I love Selmak, she wouldn't risk the Tok'ra on the ship for the two of us," Aevis wondered out loud, bracing hirself against the wall as another violent shudder ripped through the ship.

"I don't - uhf!" Lenko's sentence was cut short as another tremor rocked the ship and sent her tumbling into the same pillar Aevis had previously been braced against. Shaking the cobwebs from her head, Lenko again set her sights on the al'kesh. "Whatever's going on, it's all the more reason for us to get to that al'kesh and get off this ship!" she called over the sound of grinding, tearing metal as yet another, more violent tremor shook the ship.

Keats, Lenko said to her new host, I need your military training. Can you remain collected enough to get us out of here? We can deal with the ramifications of /all/ our actions once we're safely off this ship. She felt Erin's affirmation and bowed her head as the transfer happened.

Erin stumbled to the floor as the ship lurched again, quickly returning to her feet and bringing her P90 to bear as was her habit. She pivoted around the corner of the pillar, aiming at the small group of jaffa, still struggling to return to their feet. She counted four of them before spinning back into cover and bracing herself against the pillar so that the next tremor did not bowl her over. "I count four jaffa between us and the cargo ship. Your one o'clock...ma'am?" she stumbled over the title, knowing she wasn't speaking to her CO but unsure how to address the male tok'ra in her female CO's body.

The airmen ejected her clip, checking to ensure it was still full as she suspected. Popping it back she reported, "I'm good to go. Give the word." Even if she wasn't speaking directly to Athena, it still looked enough like her CO, and technically she was in there somewhere, so Erin figured she could follow Aevis' orders all the same.

The symbiote quickly ran mental simulations of the possibilities of them pulling this off, based upon Athena's knowledge of Erin and her training, as well as his own Tok'ra training. The payoffs were great, but the chances of something going FUBAR on them was undeniably high. "While I would like to deal with this in a more quiet fashion, perhaps see if the opportunity to pick them off one by one would present itself, we simply don't have the luxury of time that something like that would require," Aevis growled softly, wincing as another, slightly less jarring, tremor rocked the ship. "I don't know what is going on out there, but Susano'o managed to piss someone off royally. Hopefully that Al'kesh has cloaking, because if we come out of this ship, chances are we'll be fired upon by whom ever it is that's putting the heat on our vain little friend up top."

Studying the four Jaffa Aevis nodded to hirself. "They aren't Arashi, which means we need to hit them hard and fast before they can raise the alarm, Erin, I'm going to need you right on my right wing, you'll take the two on the right, I get the two on the left. Hopefully we'll manage to get them before they can fight back. Aim for their heads, there's no use in chancing a torso shot, little chance of instant kills there, not with the angle we've been given to work with."

"On my mark then."

Erin nodded, sticking her head and rifle out from behind the pillar just enough to take aim at one of the jaffa. "I've got the one on the far right," she whispered to Aevis who nodded his understanding, taking aim at hir own jaffa.

The Aevis gave the order. The hangar suddenly exploded with the sound of gun fire and two of the jaffa fell dead. The other two were similarly dispatched before even truly comprehending what was going on.

Adrenaline pumping through her veins, Erin swung out from her cover, her eyes and gun sweeping the hangar now open before her. As she panned, she turned just in time to see another group of jaffa coming toward her, and just as the lead jaffa lowered his staff and fired, she managed to duck out of the way - but not completely.

She landed behind the pillar again with a small grunt of pain, her hand letting go of her P90 so that it could grasp her upper arm where there was now a small but angry flesh wound. "Not clear," she hissed. "I counted at least four more. Might have been five." She clenched her jaw as she pulled herself into a sitting position against the pillar, slowly peeling her hand back to examine the wound. "I'm a little new to staff blast wounds. Is this bad?"

Aevis glanced over and chuckled at Erin's face, a rookie mistake, to be sure, but according to Athena's memories, Keats was new to being a ground troop. "It may look bad and hurt like all hell, but Lenko will have it good as new once you can complete a sleep cycle, he only managed to get in a glancing blow, so you'll be okay."

Opening hir mouth to say more, Aevis was cut off by a woman's dual toned voice that echoed through out the entire ship. She spoke in only slightly accented Goa'uld, and at the sound of her voice, most of the Jaffa gave pause to listen.

"Susano'o and the crew of the Arashiodori, you are to stop your advancement and cease fire immediately, you are surrounded and have been found trespassing in MY space. You KNOW I do not like trespassers. Give me one good reason to to render you and all aboard that ship to space dust."

Aevis blinked. "Well, color me blind. Look's like Mr.Vanity fair just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar...Better for us, but we gotta pray that that Al'kesh has some pretty damn good cloaking devices or we'll be blown to atomic little bits and pieces, C'mon Keats, let's move before the Jaffa get their wits back about them and decide to 'deal' with us before dealing with whom ever is out there making demands like that."

With one last glance at her arm, Keats set her jaw and took hold of her gun once more. This time she cautiously poked her head around the pillar to see only two of the previous group of jaffaj still standing, staffs raised at their position. She quickly puller her head back.

"There's still two jaffa out there. Guess the rest ran off to hid in a corner or something." After a pensive moment, Erin reached a hand up to her vest, pulling a grenade off it. SHe held it for a second, keeping the latch held firmly down. Then, poking her head around the corner once more, she aimed the grenade at the feet of the two jaffa and lobbed it. "Get down!" she said quietly to Aevis as she swiveled back around the corner of the pillar, plugging her ears and sinking down as low to the ground as she could.

The jaffa stared for a moment, perplexed at the small device that had been tossed at their feet. The next moment, however, the grenade exploded, sparing them any more concern over what the device may have been. The bodies were blown clear, each landing a fair distance away with a dead thump.

After the blast subsided, Erin stood and, much more cautiously than the first time, moved to check that the hanger was now clear. Much to her relief, it was. "Clear! Let's move!" Erin yelled back to Aevis as she took off for the entrance to the Al'kash, pausing, perplexedly, at the sealed doors.

You've done well, Erin. But this is where my expertise comes back into play. Let me take over from here. You rest.

For a second, Erin was jarred by the voice coming from within her. "Am I ever gonna get used to that?" she asked both to Aevis and to Lenko, but before any answer was offered, her head bowed, and control was transfered.

"Aevis," Lenko greeted in her two toned voice as her long time friend joined her at the entrance to the Al'kesh. The tok'ra keyed in a command on the panel next to the door, opening it and extending an arm for Aevis to enter before her, wincing slightly as she realized it was her wounded arm.

Aevis nodded, rushing up into the Al'kesh and manning the controls almost at once, giving Lenko five seconds to board fully before closing the hatch as fast as it could move. The navigation system had to be completely turned off, but that was okay for now, their only objective at this point was escape while remaining undetected.

"Cloaking device is operational, but we'll have to drop shields to a mere 15 percent to get them at optimal, let's hope that it'll be enough to get by....Lowering shields...Activating cloak....Engines are running, hyperdrive operational... we're lucky Susano'o keeps his bay shields down enough for his units to move in and out freely. Stupid vain asshole."

Aevis' hands were swift as they danced across the control panel, altering things, transferring more power to the cloaking device from the shields, constantly fighting to keep them OFF the radar. "Lenko I'm going to need you to take over monitoring the systems and driving us outta here while I figure out how to get around the Navigation system so we can activate the hyperdrive," the tok'ra called from hir seat, eyes watching the read outs to make sure there were no problems.