Fanfic, Stargate SG-1, Trouble with Timelines, PG-13, 20/24
20.
Martouf|Lantash and Jacob|Selmak found SG-1 hiding in a small alcove not far from the flight deck.
"What is the status?" Selmak asked.
"All of the deathgliders have launched. There's very few people on the hangar deck," O'Neill said.
"Good, then we should be able to get to the teltac," Selmak adjusted the hand device on her hand.
Lantash did the same, and nodded. "I am ready."
They walked inside at a leisurely speed, hoping they could fool any guards into thinking they had permission to be there. That hope did not last long.
"Halt!" the nearest guard informed them, walking towards them.
"I am Lord Lantash, and this is Lord Selmak." Lantash indicated his fellow Tok'ra. "You dare stop us?"
"I apologize, my Lord, but I will have to contact Bastet to get her acceptance of your presence here."
Lantash looked towards Selmak and nodded at her. She nodded back. They each raised the hand with the hand device on at the same time and sent out a powerful blast. Lantash took out the nearest guard and two more guards further in, and Selmak took out two guards that were standing on the other side.
"Five down," O'Neill said, looking at the unconscious or dead Jaffa. "Looks like no others in the room. " He looked around. "Good job, guys!"
They ran to the teltac and boarded it before any of the Jaffa had time to regain consciousness and challenge them.
Selmak had run to the fore section, and as soon as all were onboard and the door closed, she took off, pushing the remote control to open the exit gates of the hangar deck at the last moment.
"There is a fire fight going on just outside. The ride might get a little bumpy," she warned.
The teltac was grazed by fire from a death glider the second she had spoken, and everyone was thrown either out of their chair or against the nearest wall. Smoke came from somewhere in the back, and an alarm went off.
"A 'little' bumpy is an understatement!" O'Neill exclaimed. "Can't we get out of their crossfire?"
"I doubt it," Selmak said, looking with trepidation at the screen. There were several ha'taks, a couple alkesh's, and too many death gliders to count.
"Crap," O'Neill said. "Anyone got an idea, now is the time!"
"We're doomed!" Daniel groaned.
"How much did you manage to recharge the Furling device?" Lantash asked.
"Right, the bubble of change is big enough to include the hole cargo ship," Daniel mumbled to himself.
"Some. Not very much. We can change the timeline, but only the tiniest bit," Sam said.
"Anything is better than this!" O'Neill exclaimed, as another shot hit dem. "Do it! Before we're toast!"
Sam nodded. "Yes, sir." She tweaked the controls on the device and activated it.
"How did it go?" O'Neill wondered, almost afraid to ask. "I've noticed the lack of any further pot shots against us."
Selmak checked the readings. The ship was sitting in space, with no other vessels nearby. "We are no longer under attack. In fact, this is the only ship in the area."
"Fantastic! Awesome!" O'Neill laughed. "We're safe!"
"For now, at least. For all we know, this version of the timeline is worse," Sam warned.
"I don't care! At least we're not being shot at right now!" O'Neill insisted. "Carter - get started on charging the cube. We don't want the timeline to stay like this for long, in case another nasty surprise shows up."
"Wait. You should know that we will not be able to enter hyperspace while the engines are being used to charge the device," Selmak said. "Perhaps it would be sensible to find a safer place before we do so."
"Isn't this in the middle of nowhere? There only reason there was a battle here was a because this is where Ba'al caught up with Bastet - because of sabotage. That's not likely to happen again here, is it?" O'Neill said.
"No," Martouf said. "However, we are almost on the border between Ba'al and Bastet - at least it was the border in the timeline before we just changed it It is not unlikely someone will notice us, and if that happens while we are unable to escape, it may be quite unfortunate."
"He is correct," Selmak said. "We cannot know if this timeline has changed enough to move the border."
"It was a pretty small change. At least I think it was." Sam sighed. "I agree. We shouldn't charge the device here."
"Well, unless someone has a better idea, I suggest setting course towards Earth. If we have to hide somewhere, that's as good a place as any," O'Neill suggested.
"We are approaching Earth," Jacob said. "We should be there in half an hour. Any special place you want to go?"
"Carter, you said the timeline was almost the same as what we just experienced. That should mean the Stargate is probably in Egypt, right?" O'Neill asked.
"Yes, probably," Sam said, with some hesitation.
"All right, so let's find a place to land not too far from it - in case something happens with the teltac when you charge the thingie and it can't take off."
"I'll try to find a place to land where we can hide the teltac." Jacob said. "It doesn't have cloak."
"Well, that sucks!" O'Neill exclaimed.
"It's night down there, and no electric light outside the area around the palaces. That should help." Jacob looked at his instruments. "There is a mountainous area with an oasis a little to the southwest of where I am detecting the Stargate. I will set down the teltac there and see if we can hide it."
"Okay, do it," O'Neill decided.
"All right, I don't think anyone is going to spot it unless they are looking for it," Jacob said, looking at the well hidden cargo vessel.
"I agree," O'Neill said, cleaning off his hands on the back of his pants. "Teal'c, keep guard while Jacob and I check on Carter, Marty, and Daniel. Hopefully they've figured out how to hook up the cube to the engines by now."
Teal'c inclined his head. "Yes, O'Neill." He picked up the zat'nik'tel - their only weapon aside from the two hand devices Jacob|Selmak and Martouf|Lantash had brought from their little stint as underlings for Bastet.
"It's a completely alien device. I don't think it's strange that it takes a while to figure out how to connect it to our tech," Jacob said.
"Goa'uld tech is alien too. At least to us." O'Neill smiled. "But I get what you mean."
"Hello, sir. Hi, Dad!" Sam said, seeing them. "We've just finished connecting the device, and I think we were successful this time!"
Martouf scanned the device and the engines with a small hand-held scanner. He nodded slowly. "We were. The solution was to limit the transference of power."
"So we're good?" O'Neill asked. "How long is it going to take?"
Sam sent him an apologetic look. "The device kept draining the engines so fast that we had to disconnect it to avoid a cascade effect. We've solved that problem, meaning the recharge speed is kept under the..."
"No techno-babble, Carter! Just give me a number!"
"At least three days," Sam said, looking a little offended.
"Three days! Oy." O'Neill shook his head.
"There is a town not far from here, about mid-way between us and the Stargate. We could go there and see if we can find a place to stay and maybe get some food," Jacob suggested. "It's not long before the Sun rises."
O'Neill nodded, unhappily. "All right. Let's do that."