[satnamboll]

The gate had deactivated behind them, and they finally stopped to rest. Three straight gate trips to unused addresses. And no sign of pursuit. The infirm were grateful, at the rest. They had been moving for almost thirty minutes. The sentry devices had been carrying some vital equipment, and this was used to help the wounded. The rest created a perimeter around the gate and the team.
Carter was sitting down, drinking some water. She had checked everybody else out, made sure all injuries had been attended to, and spoke to some of the troops. Afterwards, she had checked out the sentries, and surprisingly, they were working out okay. Some scratches, hiccups in their systems, but nothing that couldn’t be repaired.
She was wondering what had happened to the sergeant. She figured she would find out later. As she put her bottle of water down, the tablet began to vibrate. She took it out, and checked the screen, which indicated that a message had been sent to her. She checked it out; “Look to the skies”.
At once, she got up, and prepared to flick the devices into sentry mode again. The other marines took note of her hasty rise, and prepared their weapons, just in case. As carter looked above, she could see the clouds change formation, colour and the light levels decreased. She knew of only one race who did this; the Asgard. She figured it was Forseti, and it was at that moment, that an Asgard warship dropped from the heavens. Such drama queens!
She smiled as she told the others to lower their weapons. As she moved forward, a number of beam outs took place. The marines who had been there to protect Forseti had been beamed down, in a circle formation, and the last one to beam in was Forseti himself. As the Asgard ship hung in the air, the atmosphere went back to the way it was before manipulation.
She walked over to Forseti, and as she did so, the marines moved away. “Is all that drama really necessary?” she pointed to the lingering clouds.
“When making an entrance, it is always best to do so properly.” He moved another stone on the chair, and the Asgard ship disappeared.
“You’ve installed a cloak?” she queried.
“The ship has been phased. It will not trouble anybody. Now, I must debrief you.”
“Technically you have to be a member of the SGC chain of command to do so, and my superior officer.”
“Well, I confess that I do not know the full intricacies of the USAF chain of command, but I am sure that by proposing this mission, and general Landry having accepted the mission, I was in charge. Could I be wrong?” he looked at her, with his large, black eyes.
She smirked. “Alright, I’ll bite. Let’s get this over with.”
“The transport network was in remarkable condition. There were no signs of deterioration at all, and no failures that I could detect. It was in perfect working order.”
“Okay. Keep going.”
“The device you connected was able to determine the complete status of the network. It was planet wide.”
“The power requirements must be immense. Were you able to get any readings on the power generators?”
“No. I did, however, manage to download the reactor specifications and designs. They are smaller versions of the naquadah generators that the SGC has, though they had a much larger number of them, inserted at key points throughout the network. This removed the need for a central reactor base, and improved resilience. This is ring transportation taken to the next level. Far more efficient, more powerful and a greater range than anything else, including Asgard beaming technology. It has all been downloaded to the device itself. You may access it whenever you have time.”
“Thanks. Anything on Sergeant Matthew's? I just want to make sure that he is okay.”
Forseti stood quietly for a moment, before responding. “It is with sincere regret and deep sadness, that I must report that the sergeant is dead.”
Carter closed her eyes and lowered her head.
“For what it is worth, he destroyed the Ori encampment, along with everybody else. Though I doubt that Adria was harmed.”
Carter looked up quickly. “Adria was there? How did you know?”
“The sensors picked up an unusual energy reading. I believe it is from the necklace of Celestis that she wears around her neck. But aside from that, I do not have any other proof.”
There was an uncomfortable silence between the two.
“I’ll make sure that the SGC knows. Thanks Forseti.” Carter moved away.
“Colonel. I can offer far better medical assistance, far faster, if you were to travel with me. Please, join me.”
Before carter could say anything, the Asgard ship reappeared and they were all back on it. She turned around, and noticed that they were in a different part of the ship, that she had not seen before. She could see some of the wounded being raised in some kind of force field, and then being released again. One of them removed his bandages, showing a completely healed wound.
She walked over to Forseti. “Thanks for this. We were going to the alpha site anyway, to deliver the sentry devices and to finish my report on their effectiveness.”
“Colonel, I have already set a course for the SGC.”
“Fair enough. We can always check them out later. If you could please also give me the details of how you know that Sergeant Matthew's died, I would be grateful. If he has family, we will tend to the matter.”
“I feel somewhat responsible for this. If I can be of any assistance, please do not hesitate to inform me colonel.”
“I will thanks.” She walked over to a display, to watch how fast they were going. She wasn’t there for very long when the ship shuddered. She turned to Forseti.
“We have arrived at earth.” Forseti spoke out aloud.
Carter wasn’t surprised. She had hoped for another minute perhaps, but alas, it was not meant to be. As she walked over to Forseti, her surroundings disappeared, and she found herself in the SGC.
“Carter?”
She turned around and saw General O'Neill.
“Aren’t you supposed to be on that mission? The one that I didn’t sign off on? Where you went, without my permission, with Forseti? How did it go?”
“We got into it pretty deep sir. I’ll make a full report when everybody reports in.”
There was a flash of light, and on the general’s desk, a large, paperbound folder, labelled “Sodan mission report and full debriefing” appeared.
“I guess that means that the report is pretty much covered carter. Disarm, check your weapons in and get changed. Then, go home, have something to eat, unwind, and be back here in two days.”
“Two days? What’s happening in two days?”
Jack picked up a file on his left, opened it up and began reading it. “A large, multinational force of armed forces personnel, from all nations signatory to the gate treaty, will converge on the planet that the Ori tend to claim, and engage them in a ground war.”
Carter was really surprised. She had no idea that things had moved ahead so quickly. “Don’t we have like twelve days left or something sir?”
O'Neill read the report again, and thought about it for a second. “Okay, you’re right. We still have time. It still just surprises me, that’s all. Well, go on home then. I’ll talk to Landry, and see what we can do with regards to perhaps resting a little more than usual. Okay, dismissed.”
Carter saluted and walked out of the office. She could have sworn that Landry was still in charge of the base, but then again, jack loved to come in and take over things for a while.
She made her way to the changing rooms, and got out of her military uniform. She was pretty beat, and yawned. As she finished up, she picked up her keys, and began walking out of the complex.
She actually managed to walk to the car park, with no disturbances, nor any interruptions, which was a feat in itself. She started up the truck, and waited for a few minutes, for the engine to warm up. She thought about the mission, and couldn’t stop thinking about the sergeant, and what he did. She made a mental note to deal with it when she came back. She changed gears, and drove home.