The Serpent and The Eagle
“If the avian does not whistle, kill it” – Orilus
“If the avian does not whistle, convince it to whistle” – Odin
“If the avian does not whistle, whistle through it” - Ra
“The three Kings” –
Tollan Haiku
Two hours after the raid.
“I understand it’s your prerogative sir, but I have to insist you remain behind.” Colonel Samuels all but bellowed down the hallway in a tone that was more of a sarcastic “oh no, please don’t” tone that suggested he’d be anything but dismayed if the Admiral walked himself through the gate and right into a firefight.
“You
insist?” Hammond asked not really looking back as he strode towards the elevator. The dismissiveness in the Texan’s tone suggested he cared about as much as Samuel’s input as Samuel’s cared if the man survived or not. “First communication we get from Abydos and it’s that those snakes killed more of my men and abducted two diplomatic envoys under the protection of the USSF and you think I’m going to let anyone under my command go in without my presence?!”
“..Procedure..sir..regs”
“Son we’re in the middle of intergalactic intrigue son, don’t cite terrestrial protocol!” it might have been Samuels’ imagination, but the elevator doors seemed to slam closed as if to emphasize the bald Seals point.
In the Gate Room the blue hum of the vortex illuminated against the back of the wall, yet there was not but the glimmer of shiny over the event horizon of the wormhole. The iris, something Hammond had insisted on after he read the report from the first Abydos mission. Was made up of titanium, steel and some kind of polymer made of materials back engineered by the Groom Lake boys. Closing barely a micrometer from the surface of the event horizon it was said to prevent anything sent through from rematerializing. Initially, his request was met with stonewalling but after a year of fighting well, he finally had his damn Iris. -Not soon enough- Hammond thought bitterly. Around him were several unmanned vehicles that would be remote operated by USSF specialists who were sitting on the ramp or helping move the medical supplies that were being loaded on the tiny trailers attached to the vehicles. Twenty USSF marines and four specialists from the “Air force” arm of the USSF and a group of five survey experts and energy specialists pulled from the army corps of engineers were present.
It had surprised Hammond how little convincing the President needed to give the go ahead to initiate talks about establishing a research facility and a “trade outpost” on Abydos, the engineers were supposed to be brought in to look around and to talk to Kasuf about any assistance he might have needed while Skara and whoever State sent to help Hammond negotiate with Skara did the smooth talking. Instead, they would be part of a show of force, both to calm their allies down and to proceed through the gate on a rescue mission as soon as the dust could be settled.
A mission Hammond had every intention of commanding from a Froward Operating Base and not from the safety of the Mountain. Seals didn’t run, Seals didn’t hide not unless they were taking cover to better kill a target and Admiral George Samuel Hammond wasn’t about to do any running or hiding not to a bunch of varmints. “Colonel Samuels you will head to Washington and join Director Ellis.”
“S..Sir General Landry isn’t that far away, shouldn’t you hold the mission just a little” Samuels really, really didn’t want to have to put up with Hank Landry and his love of birds for the next week or so it would be before the Admiral returned from his insane adventure. -Why is a member of the Stellar Naval division of the Space Force commanding a ground mission? It should be Landry on the field and Hammond here, greedy bastard- Samuels thought, ignoring the fact that the Admiral was a Seal and that most of experience involved similar missions. Nothing was going to get in the way of his desire to rage.
“You can tell Samuels hates his life because he isn’t jumping at the chance to command the SGC for the half hour it’ll take the General to stop saying hi to the guards outside” The sing song voice came from a short woman with tanned skin and earthy brown hair in a pixie cut. She was forty-seven but looked some ten years younger, something she insisted was a miracle given as she put it “I survived Ebola, Polio and getting abducted by aliens and the big foot thing”. It was sometimes hard to tell if Janet Fraser was messing with you or deadly serious, especially given everything they now knew about the stars. Fraser had survived Ebola and Polio though, from her time dealing with bioweaponry in the nineties. Hammond had chosen her as the head of medical for the facility because she was one of the best damn doctors out there and her hobbies made her an expert in all kinds of weirdness that her made useful in the field of dealing with the potential aftermath of interplanetary exploration. Something that, Hammond had been pushing for since SG-0 returned from the original Abydos mission and something that was finally greenlit within hours of the raid. Fraser would be leading a team of ten medics and would be returning with the most severely injured personnel and abydonians.
Pallets of ammunition, guns of all kinds and other gear were also being shipped out and would arrive with the second wave through the Gate. Knowing what they knew about the size of the gate on Abydos compared to theirs Hammond wanted to make sure nothing got wedged on the other side. He stood at top of the Gate Ramp looking over the menagerie of combined forces, civilians and everything else under his command and marveled at how swiftly they were able to up their timetable and cobble everything together. A nod of his head lowered the Iris and after a quick broadcast warning the other side, they were coming through Admiral George Hammond became the first Flag office of the United States Space Force’s Stellar naval division (And the first Earth Born Admiral) to set foot on another world.
Hammond didn’t expect fanfare, but he did wish his arrival on Abydos didn’t precede an assault by a psychotic alien despot. The smell of blood, smoke, antiseptics and sweat filled his nostrils and he gazed around at the blood stains and the people too injured to move, the corpses which were strewn about the room, the brutality of it all and then.
Ferretti.
George Hammond was going to kill whoever did that to Ferretti.
George Hammond was also going to make a scarecrow out of the bastard’s corpse.
Others exited the gate, including Fraser who bolted passed Hammond and immediately grabbed Lahm by the wrist, assaulting her with a barrage of questions over what was needed. Hammond was glad the woman had come, craziness aside she had an aura of matronly authority about her and Lahm and the Abydonian healers seemed to be relieved to have someone who was willing to take the burden of command off them so they could become more involved in triage.
O’Neill and an older man with strong shoulders and robes that looked like they belonged to a king in an old sword and sandal movie approached Hammond, Carter was off to the site leaning on a column covered in dried blood from helping with the wounded. He’d never seen the young woman so angry. Seated on the ground in a heap beside her, head resting on one of her legs was Doctor Jackson. He had the look of a man who’d just lost someone precious to him and then from the look in O’Neill and the older man’s face (Both had a look Hammond had seen in many father’s whose children either went missing or died), he assumed this one was Kasuf.
Hammond bowed his head, unsure what the proper greeting was. “Colonel O’Neill and Kasuf I take it?”
To his surprise the older man spoke English and he nodded. “Admiral Hammond, I regret I cannot offer you the reception a man of your reputation and your station deserves.”. Though it was a dark attempt at humor, Hammond understood it well. He’d spent his fare share of time in missions that required him to meet tribal chiefs and nomadic leaders, he understood the importance such societies often placed on decorum and protocol
especially during a time of crisis and he could see Kasuf partially meant the apology.
“You honor me sir, but there’s no need to be sorry on my account. This, travesty takes precedent over all other concerns, don’t it?” Hammond asked relieved when he saw the look of relief on Kasuf’s face, one that meant he wasn’t completely off base with his read.
“My eldest son and eldest daughter have been taken by a Star God or perhaps one of their champions.” Kasuf’s voice wavered, he didn’t quite know what to call the being who had commanded the raid. Ra was the Great Godhead, the king of kings, the Emperor of all time and space, the other gods were great lords, kings amongst the stars, demons perhaps. Though he no longer believed in the imperial religion, not since he was a child and especially not since Daniel came, it seemed to be the best way to emphasize what they were now dealing with.
“So was one of my men, a marine of mine named Christmas. We aim to bring her home; we’ll bring yours home as well” Hammond assured him grabbing the man by the shoulders. “Lord Kasuf” Hammond said, remembering the proper way of addressing him from the last radio communication. “There was talk of an alliance between our people, in the spirit of that alliance. I bring you medicine, ammunition, and weaponry. I was told that Jackson was helping you rediscover your lost technology, I’ve brought some experts to help you there.”
Kasuf bowed deeply, crossing his hands over his chest. “I thank you Admiral, part of me wishes to advise you to bury the gate, if they come to avenge Ra for all that you have done, we would bear that fight alone if we thought it could spare your people.”
Hammond was touched, the nobility of the thought earned Kasuf his respect and friendship but there was no way Hammond would allow that. “The leader of my people wants us to stand with you and I’m a man of Texas lord. And in Texas we don’t abandon our friends to a nest of vipers. No, this is our fight too and if you’d allow it. I would establish a command center here to conduct the rescue of our people.”
It served a dual purpose, Kasuf guessed. Both to begin establishing what he suspected was a Tau’Ri presence that would become more permanent, and commerce based over time (Not that he was against this, nor the masters but the formality of negotiation seemed moot) and to ensure that they would not face any onslaught that came from the stars alone. Again, not a thing Kasuf or the council of masters would be against.
“I welcome your assistance Admiral Hammond. Abydos, welcomes your protection but we face all enemies together, yes?”
Ah, here it came Hammond realized, the part where Kasuf insisted that a detachment of the militia came along, if only to say they were able to avenge their fallen leader. His units were diverse enough, he didn’t know the Abydonian militia, but it seemed like they were capable, having made an appreciable defense of the Gate Room. Still, it wasn’t something he was entirely comfortable with. He had his orders though and those were to ensure the cooperation and support of the Abydonian people no matter what.
“We can discuss joint operations at a later date, for now Kasuf I believe Colonel O’Neill won’t have any objection to a coalition force on any retrieval mission.”
“Assuming we can figure out where they came from, a lot of the body cams have been fried on our men.” O’Neill put in; finally wading into the conversation. His jaw tightly clenched in his skull as his eyes darted to the body of Louis Ferretti which had finally been removed from its grizzly spot on the floor. He could make out orders from Fraser moving the most easily treated nearer to the exit while Lahm had begun moving the ones who needed emergency care towards the gate.
“Ser permission to dial home?!” Fraser called and Hammond nodded “Make sure they receive your code first” The Admiral reminded her, not particularly wanting his chief medical officer to be a smear on the back of his new iris.
“We have a gate address!” Carter called out, rushing towards Hammond, the look of fury in her eyes mixed with a sense of anticipation. “One of the Marines was able to capture the sequence they used to dial out on cam!”
“Excellent!” Hammond nodded his head then looked to the Colonel “Take your teams back to Cheyenne get cleaned up, get six hours of sleep”
“Sir”
“No, I want you both rested. Take Carter and Jackson as well, I want them with you when we go out and find these bastards.”
“The scientists?” O’Neill asked not that he had any issue with Jackson who had all right to be there, for his wife but Carter? “On a rescue mission?”
Hammond nodded “You’re going to need her big brain out there, besides from what I can see the girl can handle herself in a fight. When she isn’t working in the lab I plan to have her on missions regularly”
“Lab? Missions?” O’Neill blinked what the hell was he talking about? Then it hit him and his eyes narrowed. “So, the President’s agreed with our recommendations then?”
finally.
We’re out there now. O’Neill thought. There was no going back and to pretend otherwise was to simply bury your head in the sand to hope you suffocated before the predator took your ass out. Besides, this was their fault more than anything.
Hammond nodded. “We’ll discuss this later, for now it’s enough to know The Stargate reconnaissance division is reactivated and you’re officially commander of SG-1, I intend Kowalski to be the head of SG-2”
O’Neill nodded in agreement, Charly deserved this, it was about time though he was surprised neither of them were going to be benched to do training and orientation for new teams, then again as of right now they were the only ones with any kind of experience in this unique field and so it made sense.
“Six hours then report back here.”
“Aye Sir” O’Neill turned and walked towards the column where a despondent almost catatonic Jackson sat.
“Alright Dweeb, get up, she isn’t dead yet and you need to help me find Skara” O’Neill said kicking Jackson lightly on the ankle. Jackson who was lost in thought merely looked up squinting as if he couldn’t see the man in front of him and more the shadow of who was. “J-ack?” He asked finally.
“No, the Easter bunny, get up idiot, we got people to rescue!” The order was one O’Neill desperately wished someone could have given him when he’d found his son dead, was enough to snap Daniel out of his stupor. He shot up and grabbed Jack’s wrist “Skara?! Shau’re?! We’re going to get them right? Right?”
“Yea, just said that dork, lets go.”
“Right…Right….Wait before..we go..Shau’re thought she had an idea who it was that attacked us…I think, Kasuf does too” Jackson asked, looking towards the pair of old men.
The crowd grew silent as everyone looked from Jackson to Kasuf quizzically. Kasuf for his part let out a sigh of relief that no one was glaring at him accusatorially, for he said nothing because he couldn’t prove anything except for stories from the old imperial religion. For all he knew, only Sobek, Ra and Hathor were real, and the rest were just fables, personas crafted to enhance the grandeur of their former god and yet.
“the mention of serpents from your men, the description of their armor and what I see here in the dead and from what that grotesque banner suggests…” Kasuf sighed. “In the cult we used to worship, in its doctrine he is painted as a god of…”
Kasuf cleared his throat. “He is the Lord of night, the patron deity of expansion, conquest and war. The Master of victories, the prince of Serpents and King of battle.”
“Son of Tartarus and master of the fleet of a million Ships, Apophis” Everyone turned and looked at Carter who was reciting what she had just seen on video captured by one of the fallen marines. “At least that’s how he announced himself when Ferretti challenged him to a duel.”
O’Neill smiled despite himself. -Of course, you did, you glorious psychopathic greaseball-.
“So that’s it, we need to go fuck up a war god to get our men back huh?” O’Neill aske, his tone casual. “And here I thought this was going to be difficult.”
“Try to be discrete about this Colonel, the last thing I want is for us to leave fingerprints and another intergalactic incident arises from it.” Hammond cautioned, he wasn’t about to abandon the mission now but he had a sinking feeling in his chest like he’d just ordered his men to storm the enemy equivalent of the Pentagon and he had a firm notion of just what sort of response that would warrant.
He’d have to ask himself, when the dust settled if potentially starting a war with an alien superpower was worth the retrieval of one soldier and two allied leaders, then he’d promptly remind himself that any superpower that conducted itself like a bunch of gangsters wasn’t worth respecting.
No, to hell with this.
They were going to send a message of their own.
Loud and clear.
Run your kingdom how you like, but set foot on any soil, anywhere that was claimed by the United States or one of its allies and you will spend the rest of your eternal life ruing the damn day.
