1. There But For The Grace Of God

**There But For The Grace Of God**

The Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Base. Once created to withstand nuclear blasts, or fire nuclear missiles at enemy countries, during the Golden Age of Mankind it had been more or less abandoned, given a decently sized compliment of air force soldiers and technicians, but more or less ignored. Afterall, was this not the Golden Age? Who would have cared about a secluded military base, that's original purpose was no longer needed?

That's what one Sentry-32 wished to know.

During an exploration of an Old Russian military complex, the Exo Guardian had come across curious records strewn about through the building.

Well, Ghost had found the most intriguing of them. All Sentry had really done was notice a few papers swirled about, with odd drawings on them. It had almost looked like one of those strange 'gates' the Vex on Venus used, but... Different. She'd noted that to Ghost, asking him to file through the the few remaining databases and see if anything remotely similar came up.

It had been a longshot, an off-handed remark really...

And it quickly became so much more.

_Daedalus_, Atlantis, Antarctica, O'Neill, Ancients, Replicators...

Ghost had stumbled upon some ancient data file that hadn't been tapped into for centuries, having gained digital dust over the eons. Sadly, this dust seemed to have corrupted it, as only a few fragments and words were legible from the garbled text.

But one staid constant, throughout all of these seeming reports:

_Stargate_.

The only other thing of note were coordinates for a military base, and it' name: Cheyenne Mountain.

And here she was, having piloted all the way from Old Russia to what had once been America, all because of one word: _Stargate_. Something about seemed to allure her, like a moth to a lit flame.

She only hoped she didn't end up burnt...

Sentry-32 exited her ship, having landed it on a nearby ledge. She looked down at the path before her, an ancient road, long overgrown by weeds and plants, leading past a rusted barb-wired fence and into a cavernous cave. A small sign stuck lopsidedly on the fence, rusted over except for one sentence.

**STAY OUT, MILITARY PROPERTY. UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL WILL BE **The rest of the metal was too corroded to read out any words.

"Let's hope nobody minds us walking in." Ghost quipped, hovering lightly above her shoulder. Sentry-32 lightly rolled her eyes, putting aside her weapon for the moment. "I doubt there's anyone left to even care." She duly noted, hopping off the ledge and sliding down the towards the path, casually walking past the rusted fence, it's sliding gate long ago moved aside.

"Funny, I remember you saying something along those lines during our little visit to the moon." Her companion quipped drily. Sentry-32 replied by letting out an exasperated sigh. "I told you, that colony had looked abandoned." She argued, knowing it was no use. _Ghost will find something to use against me_, She thought to herself as they entered the tunnel leading into the base, Ghosts luminescent eye providing limited light while he did indeed find something to use against her.

"Oh yes, because when The Hive set up somewhere, they make sure to give a show about it and make it obvious for others to know they're there." Ghost said, his sarcasm biting.

If Sentry-32 has the muscular features to do so, she would have pouted her lip comically. But, as she didn't, she instead opted to cross her arms in a childish fashion. "Yeah, well... Mars." She retorted, making Ghost 'shudder' slightly. "How about we stop discussing times we've entered presumably empty ruins and found it to be crawling with creatures that want to kill us, and instead focus in entering this one." He commented.

"Good idea." Sentry-32 agreed with a nod, looking forwards and seeing the closed door in front of them. She turned and glanced at Ghost, who returned her look. "You could try opening it." He suggested, eliciting an exasperated eye roll from Sentry. "Oh, real funny." She commented, walking up to the door and jiggling it's handle ineffectively. She turned around and gave Ghost a flat stare.

Ghost returned it. "You have magic powers. I think they're considerable enough to open a door." He said. Sentry smirked, or at least as close as one can get to smiling when your face is a non-expressive hunk of metal. "I love it when you say that I can use my powers."

"Yes, and I find it somewhat disturbing you need my permission to use them outside of combat." Ghost noted, floating a few feet away.

Sentry let out another sigh, turning to the door. "Don't worry, nothing bad will happen." Sentry said cockily.

"That's _also_ something you said about the moon." Ghost muttered, but Sentry ignored him. She was more focused on willing the power of the Traveller through her.

How exactly she did so was something the Exo didn't quite understand yet. For the most part, these powers worked rather simply: do a fancy hand gesture or such, and you teleport, or levitate or such. Other times, she would need to express concentration on doing a certain task, such as teleporting high above a group of Cabal Centurions and smashing them with a telekinetic shockwave.

Thankfully, the current act was something much simpler.

With a loud shout, she thrusted her hand upwards, a bloom of violet energy expanding out and hitting the door, making it crumple in on itself and fall over.

A dull clang filled the halls as the door fell to the ground, Ghost whizzing over Sentry's shoulder and looking around, his light exposing any would-be Fallen Dreg or Hive Thralls. Thankfully, there was an utter lack of anything want to stick her with a lot of holes.

"It seem's like nobody has been in this complex for hundreds of years." Ghost noted, shining his light across the curved walls. "Not surprising, as this place was apparently top secret." He noted, slowly floating forwards. Sentry followed Ghost cautiously, her hands going towards her Assault Rifle, the Red Death. Although there was nothing here now, that didn't mean there wouldn't be anything up ahead.

Ghost didn't seem to notice, too bust trying to navigate the labyrinthian complex. "Now if only there was a map somewhere." He joked, looking down a set of corridors, branching off the the left and right. "Let's go this way." He said, floating over to the right. Sentry-32 looked down the left corridor, seeing another door down there and nothing down from the left. "Hey, Ghost, maybe we should go down this way." She commented.

Silence.

"Ghost?" Sentry said, looking over where her floating companion had just been.

He was gone.

"Ah, Traveller damnit." She muttered sourly, letting out an exasperated sigh. "Don't worry Sentry, if he get's lost or in trouble, he'll come floating back to you." She commented, looking over at the door. "Now let's see what's behind this." She said, slowly approaching it. She nudged the door with the bayonet attached to her assault rifle, opening the room. She looked around curiously, seeing a series of computers and a spiral case ladder. Sentry cocked her head in puzzlement, curiously walking towards the stairs. What was up there?

"Sentry!"

Sentry-23 let out a startled yelp, spinning around and seeing Ghost hovering in front of him, his tiny spikes floating around in an agitated manner. "I swear, I turn around for a single moment and I see that you've wandered off, looking around in the opposite corridor. I swear, it's like-"

"Hey, Ghostie." Sentry said, snapping him out of his rant before he could really get started. If given the chance, he could start talking for hours. Literally. She'd counted how long he could go for during a time they'd been in The City, but she'd cut him off before he could fully finish.

"I need you to scan these computers, they might know something about that 'Stargate'." She sad.

"Well of course, what else would I do?" Ghost said, the slightest bit of irritation in his voice as he hovered to a computer and scanned it with a beam of blue light. "Well, I supposed I could hover... Talk... Spin around... Read some data files..." He continued trailing off all the things he could do, while Sentry continued exploring the small room. There wasn't much to it, in all honesty. A stairwell, a series of ancient computers and consoles, a spiral staircase leading to somewhere, and a large window, currently blocked off. By a blast shield? Why would they need that? Was this an area dedicated to testing explosives?

"I think I found something!" Ghost called out, snapping Sentry out of her queries. "What is it?" She asked, turning to face him.

"It appears to be some sort of program. From what I've been able to decrypt, it was a 'dialling' program of sorts, although what exactly it dialled, I don't know." He said, his beam of light running up and down the computer, analyzing more data.

"Well, is there anything you can do with it?" Sentry asked curiously, causing Ghost to go silent for a few moments. Finally, he spoke. "There seems to be a series of 'objects' I can dial here. **PJX-327**, **PJX-179**, **PJX-082**, et cetera, et cetera." Ghost said, seemingly finding it tedious to list off the full number of objects.

"Well, just dial one at random!" Sentry said, exasperated. "I mean, it's better then nothing, right?" She asked, gaining a curious sound from Ghost. "Supposedly..." He said, before turning off his beam and floating away. "Alright, I dialled... Whatever it was I dialled." He said.

Suddenly, a noise filled the air. It almost sounded like something very large and heavy being rolled around, before coming to a sudden halt, followed by a loud 'swish' noise.

"Ghost?" Sentry-32 asked her small floating companion, as the noise continued.

"Yes?" He replied, floating perfectly still.

"What is that noise?" She asked again.

"I don't know." He replied, his spikes floating in his best approximation to a shrug.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Sentry-32 asked, her voice slightly losing it's calm demeanour.

"I mean, I don't know." Ghost said, before the noise stopped, only to be replaced with a very loud **WHOOOOSH** sound. A strange, unearthly blue glow was visible, just underneath a small crack in the window. Sentry looked at the window and then at the nearby flight of stairs leading to a hallway, presumably leading to the room where that light was coming from.

Without taking time to consider this, she ran down the flight of stairs and down the hallway.

"Sentry, wait!" Ghost protested, zooming after her.

The Exo Warlock quickly ram down the hallway, seeing the eerie blue glow light up a wall through an open doorway. She quickly turned, entering the room providing the strange blue glow.

The room was rather spacious in size, likely having been long ago one of the many missile silos that dotted the base. There was a large retractable blast door at both ends of the room, the one she'd just ran through currently open. In the room was only a handful of items of note, those being a large emplaced machine turret, a large metal ramp and what she could only presume was the 'Stargate'.

The Stargate was unlike anything she'd ever seen, a large ring made of an unknown metal with various 'runes' inscribed into it's surface, large triangles pointing inwards to the rings centre, which itself was currently filled with a strange blue 'liquid', suspended within the diameter of the ring. This was nothing like the technology of the Golden Age of Humanity, and it certainly wasn't a device made from the Guardians, nor the Fallen, Vex, Cabal or Hive.

This... This was something else.

"Sentry, why do you keep running off like tha-" Ghost hissed as he flew into the room, his chase and words coming to an abrupt halt as he saw the Stargate.

"... Wow." He said simply, not having much else to say.

"Yeah, wow..." Sentry said, her eyes focused on the glowing blue liquid within the ring. Like moths to a flame, a part of her mind noted. She didn't pay it much note as she began to approach the glowing gate, heading up the ramp.

"Sentry, what are you doing?" Ghost questioned, floating inches behind her.

"I'm gong to go touch it." Sentry said simply, still walking towards it.

"No, you're going to tell this to Cryptarch when we visit the city and then find some Guardians to come investigate this place." Ghost argued. "You are not going to go and touch the object we know nothing about!" He said, his voice holding a mix of concern and anger.

"Nope." Sentry argued, inches away from the ring. "I am not." She said, reaching out a hand to touch the liquid. "And you're not stopping me." She said, touching the liquid.

Odd, it didn't feel wet...

Without thinking much of it, she slid her way through the open wormhole, falling through it in seconds.

"Sentry!" Ghost shouted, dashing in after her, also being absorbed by the portal.

The Stargate remained active for a few more moments before the wormhole flickered out, it's lights inactive once again.

For the first time in centuries, a being had walked through a Stargate on Earth.

Now it would lay here... And wait.


	2. Unto The Breach

**Unto The Breach**

Far, far away from the planet Earth, existed a world known to it's inhabitants as Derlokk. It was a modest world, with gravity not too high nor low, a perfectly breathable atmosphere and vast plains and forests covering its surface, if it didn't have a lake or river. The world was also in a rather curious state of being at the moment, with two rather large galactic powers vying for conquest, of the planet, currently duelling above the planet for the right of conquer, the natives unaware. Also unaware of what was happening was a certain Exo Warlock by the name of Sentry-32.

Travelling through Wormholes is an unpleasant experience, for those who've never done so before. The strange whiplash like feeling, the spots in your eyes, that queazy feeling that one gets after having been thrown through the galaxy at the speed of light.

Thankfully, with Sentry-32 being an Exo, those were of no concern to her carbon-silicon 'organs'. The only thing of concern to her was stumbling through the Stargate, having not expected as little resistance as there had been. "Okay, note to self, listen to Ghost more often." She muttered to herself, quickly overlooking the armoured plates that made up her skin and robes, looking for any signs of damage.

Nope, all good.

Suddenly, she heard a rather familiar humming sound behind her, that of someone floating.

"Sentry, what is the one thing I always ask you?" Ghost said, his voice holding a bitter edge to it, and for good reason too. Ever since they'd arrived at the military base, all she'd done was run around and do things Ghost had told her not to do. It was like a mother overlooking an ecstatic child, always running to and fro with no regard to their own well-being.

On further reflection, Ghost realized that analogy was far too well fitting, especially since Sentry didn't even seem to be listening to him, her eyes focused up on the stars, which she'd obviously seen a thousand ti-

Wait a second, stars? Hadn't it been day time when they'd approached the military base? And more importantly, hadn't they been inside military base?

Ghost spun in a full 360 circle, his eyes analyzing what he saw.

This was not Cheyenne Mountain. This was... A forest? Large pine trees filled the locale, their branches and leaves almost blocking the night sky entirely, except for a small crack. Shining down were stars and constellations not of Earthly origin, some of them shining bright blue, violet and red, with others being the normal specks of white dots.

"Hey, Ghost?" Sentry said, her photoreceptors still locked on the constellations.

"Yeah?" Ghost replied, his computerized mind trying to understand what was happening. Had they entered through a Vex Gate of some sorts? He'd heard they operated on a similar function. But that couldn't be, the Vex had only arrived after the Collapse, and on Venus and Mars, certainly not Earth. And that still wouldn't explain why they had found the device in a human military complex, or why it led to a normal world as opposed to some strange, foreign universe/dimension.

"What was the name of that dial?" Sentry asked curiously, knocking Ghost out of his Calculative trance. He quickly checked his memory, and found the name of the set of coordinates entry. "**PXJ-277.**" He replied.

"Eh, boring name." Sentry joked, looking down from the stars and turning her gaze around the forest. "I think I'll call this planet 'Bob'." She said, gaining a short silence from Ghost. "No." He replied.

"Ah come on, why not?" Sentry whined, giving Ghost a puppy dog face... Or at least, as close as one can get to doing so when your face is entirely metal.

"Do I seriously need to tell you why you are not doing that?" He questioned, looking around the forest as well. "Personally, I think the planet should be named Joyeuse." He said, eliciting a tired sigh from Sentry. "One, I don't know how to even spell that, and two, no. You didn't want to come here, so you don't get to name it." She said, looking away from Ghost and muttered lightly, "Plus, it's a stupid name."

"Oh, and Bob is so much better?" Ghost questioned.

"Ah, shut up." Sentry said, overlooking the forest. "So, what do you think we should do? Head back home, or do some exploring?" She asked, not waiting long to hear Ghosts' pessimistic answer. "We are going home. Who knows what kind of wildlife may be on this planet? I'd rather not deal with something like a Venusian Acid-Toad." He said, shuddering at the memory.

"Hey, those things were cute!" Sentry argued.

"They are the size of a Cabal Centurion, have 6 short stubby legs, a mouth as large as you and vomit out acid potent enough to make a Vex Minotaur into a pile of melted brass." Ghost replied in a tired monotone. "How is any of that 'cute'?" He questioned.

"They have big, adorable eyes." Sentry replied.

"Yeah, let's go." Ghost said, turning around in the direction of the Stargat-Wait, where is the portal?

The Stargate stood there, this one looking the same as the one from the Planet Earth. However, whereas the one from Earth had been active and alive, this one was... Dead. Oh sure, it was in excellent condition, but the lights were off and the strange blue 'liquid' was nowhere to be seen, not a drop.

Ghost looked down at a small stone(?) tablet next to it, a series of buttons centred around a large red gemstone.

"Uh..." Ghost said, at a loss.

"What is it?" Sentry asked, spinning around and seeing the inactive gate. "Oh." She said simply, also looking down at the tablet.

A short silence played between them.

"Welp, guess we should go exploring!" Sentry said cheerfully, turning around and marching off.

"Wait, no, stop!" Ghost said, looking at Sentry. "I know how to do this!" He said, making Sentry stop and turn around, piercing him with an untrusting gaze. "Really?" She said skeptically. "You know how to operate the device we've never seen?" She said. "Well, of course!" Ghost lied, floating closer to the tablet. "First you just got to..." He trailed off, quickly facing the tablet and giving it a cursory scan. "You got to, erm..." He said, annoyed at the fact that the scan had given him nothing. This technology was unlike anything utilized by other alien races. "You just gotta poke this," He said, one of his spikes touching a button. "Then this," He said, touching another one. "Do that a few more times." He said, his spikes touching the other buttons in a slightly erratic fashion, making Sentry restrain a laugh.

"And Vóila! Portal!" Ghost said, looking up at the Stargate, expecting something.

Empty ring.

"Yeah, nice try Ghost." Sentry said, a laugh in her voice. "Now, come on, let's go." She said, spinning around and sauntering off into the woods. Ghost stared down at the bare tablet for a few moments before letting out a tired sigh, following her. "Why didn't it work?" Ghost murmured, unaware of what was most likely a universal rule when it came to handling alien devices:

Always hit the big, red button.

* * *

Sentry walked through the woods, whistling out the cheerful tune of a song she's heard Fallen Captains singing... At least, she assumed it was a song they sung, and that they were singing, although it came off as more of a choked howling sound. Still, the tune was rather catchy and pleasant to her ears anyways.

"Hey, how long have we been walking for?" She asked Ghost, floating behind her dutifully. "Exactly 2 hours, 18 minutes and 4 seconds." Ghost said. "Earth time." He quickly added in. "You know, the planet we should be on." He said, somewhat bitter.

"Ah come on, stop being so whiney! It's not that bad! Heck, Planet Bob-"

"Joyeuse." Ghost interrupted, although Sentry ignored him there.

"Planet Bob," She said, as if he didn't say anything. "Is a rather nice place. Nice air, beautiful stars, somewhat suspicious people, I'll admit, but still."

"Yes yes, Planet Bob is so lovely, but don't you find Earth bett-" He trailed off for a moment, fully processing what she said. "What do you mean, 'people'?" He asked, the slightest bit of unease flavouring his artificial voice.

"Hm? Oh, you didn't notice?" She asked, her artificial voice tinged with humour. "Those people hiding behind the trees, looking at us every now and then." She said, as if that were perfectly normal.

Ghost twirled around to stare at the treeline, and sure enough, he saw a dark something hide behind a tree. It had appeared to be humanoid, but that could mean any number of things. Fallen Dreg or Vandal, Hive Acolyte or Thrall, Cabal Psion, all of them sharing something in common: They don't like humans.

Well, there was that one Fallen Vandal in the city that swore he wasn't a menace and sometimes offered tales of great bounties to any Guardian that would listen, but he didn't count.

"Sentry?" Ghost asked.

"Hm?" Said Exo Warlock said, stopping.

"Why have you not done anything about this, or told me earlier?" Ghost asked, somewhat unnerved.

"Well, to answer your questions, One, they haven't shot first or anything, and two, you didn't ask." She replied. If she had the facial expression to do so, she would have gave him an amused grin. A shirt silence passed between the two of them for a moment.

"Sentry?" Ghost said.

"Yeah?" The Exo asked in return.

"I hate you." Ghost said, his voice utterly without emotion.

"Love you too." She said, giving a mock-affectionate wink at the small sharpened sphere.

Suddenly, the forest was filled with whooping and shouting, the would-be trackers having decided enough was enough and ran forwards to them, shouting some strange language.

From what Sentry and Ghost could tell, they were all humans or a species with a remarkable resemblance to humans and wore animal furs in makeshift rags, as well as woven thread tunics and moccasins. This primitive attire was matched with their primitive weapons, simply bows and arrows or spears.

Sentry gave a quick sound that was half laugh and half snort, raising her rifle to the sky and firing off a single shot. The attackers quickly stalled their advance, eyes and mouths wide. Sentry looked around the group, slinging away her rifle. "Alright then, who here knows where the nearest village is?" She asked in English.

The people continued staring at her.

So she repeated the question in French, Cantonese, Rather poor German, a smidgen of Russian and a single word of whatever language the Fallen used, before turning to Ghost. "Could you help me out here?" She asked.

"And do what? Scan them and speak flawlessly in their own language?" Ghost said in biting sarcasm.

"Well, it's better then anything I got." Sentry replied with a shrug. She turned and looked at the natives, now less shocked and more confused. "I surrender?" She offered, taking on the universal 'surrender' pose.

That seemed to be something they understood, triumphant whooping and shouting filling the forest.

"Yeah, yeah, lovely." She murmured. "Now can someone lead me to some civilization, please?" She asked as one of the tribesmen came up behind her and bound her hands with thick rope, not that it would do much. "This seem's like a bad idea." Ghost said, hovering above the grasping hands of the natives and silently floating behind Sentry-32 as the natives lead her away.

"Ah come on, it's not too bad! At least their friendly!" She argued.

Far above the planet, sat a trio of ships, currently firing massive bolts of plasma and physical ammunition at each other, belonging to two different races. One of the ships, the one using physical ammunition, had a rather crude appearance to it. All it was were giant slabs of metal placed upon each other, with massive gun emplacements and engines being the only true distinguishing features of it. The ship was over 3 mile in total length, and in a word, flew like how a concrete slab wouldn't.

The other two ships, much smaller in comparison, were large golden pyramids placed upon angular 'rings' of a sort and firing bolt after bolt of plasma at the Cabal warship, scoring large gashes through the armoured plating but due to the sheer size of the ship, it was more cosmetic damage then anything. The Cabal warship replied in turn with massive rockets, exploding against the shields of the two Ha'Taks. The shields on one of the Ha'Tak fell entirely from the barrage, being destroyed by the rest of the explosive ordnance. The remaining Ha'Tak quickly drew away from the Cabal warship, exiting it's weapon range and entered orbit around the planet, Al'kesh and Death Gliders released from it's cargo bays and swarming to the planet below.

The Cabal didn't even deal to fight against the cowardly foe, seeing no use in it. If they would not die a warriors death, why should they provide them one? The Cabal ship also entered in orbit around Derlokk, releasing heavy gunships unto the planet surface.

The battle for Derlokk had begun.


	3. Fragile Balance

The trek to the natives village was a rather dull one, what with nobody able to understand a word Sentry-32 said, except for Ghost. Aforementioned robot currently floated above Sentry, and he didn't seem in a conversational mood... Although he _was _talking.

"... And then there was the time you asked those Future War Cultists what the big deal about humanity was and almost got us kicked out of The City. And then the time you caused the deaths of five fellow Guardians, because you threw a _pebble_ at the Fallen Archon you'd been silently tracking for a few hours, a record time I might add." Ghost said, listing off all Sentry's blunders over the weeks he'd known her.

Yes, _weeks_. Sentry got around a lot.

"Hey, Ghost?" Sentry quickly asked, trying to cut off his rant before it could go on any longer. Although nobody here understood him, it was still embarrassing to have him speak of every single mistake she'd made. If he kept going, he might start whining about trivial things, such as reloading when there was still a quarter of a magazine, missing fire by an inch, accidentally shooting friendlies, et cetera, et cetera.

"What?" Ghost asked bitterly, looking down at her.

"Hi." She said jokingly, hoping some humour would make him less grouchy.

Ghost gave her a glare, or at least as close as one can get to giving a glare when your a set of spikes with a single glowing eye.

"Bad timing?" She guessed.

Before Ghost could speak, the leader(?) of the group of hunters let out a shout, pointing forwards. Some distance from them was a series of tents and huts made from wood and animals skins, centred around a large bonfire. Spread out across the makeshift village were various women and children, either waving affectionately at the returning hunters or staring wide-eyed at their capture. Most of the hunters spread out to their families, hugging children and kissing wives, while a handful of the hunters lead Sentry forwards at spearpoint.

_Yeah, like a spear will do anything to me. _Sentry thought to herself with a mental smirk, walking forwards. She overlooked the people here, who returned her curious looks with wide-eyed fear or suspicion. They obviously hadn't seen anything quite like her before. She looked forwards, seeing the hunters were leading her to a rather large hut, the skull of some antlered and fanged creature fitted above the entrance.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Ghost murmured, eliciting an annoyed glance from Sentry. "_You've _got a bad feeling!? I'm the one being lead at spearpoint!" She argued, making Ghost give her a puzzled stare. "What? No, not about these people, they couldn't hurt a Thrall." He said, looking upwards. "I feel like something big is about to happen..." He said ominously. Before Sentry could think that over or question what he meant by that, she was lead into the hut. Ghost noticed and whizzed in behind her, floating up at the ceiling. "I wonder what the big deal i-" Ghosts words were cut off as he saw the sight before him. "Oh my...'

"Oh my is right." Sentry said, wondering what exactly she was looking at.

It seemed this hut had been built around some sort of structure of a far more advanced alien race, perhaps the beings that made the Stargate. It certainly had the aesthetic to it, a silver/grey metal and with a curiously curvy appearance to it. Centred around it was a group of humans covered in animal rags, skeletal pieces and body paint, kneeling before the device like a faithful before a preacher, that wasn't what shocked Sentry and Ghost however, they saw strange alien artifacts and strange religious practices all the time. There was practically an entire section of The City dedicated to such a thing!

What surprised them was the occupants of the alien device.

It appeared to be a group of humans, six in total. The occupants were;

A somewhat bookish looking man, with brown hair and wore wireframe glasses, and wore a green military jumpsuit.

A lithe woman, somewhere in her 30s(?), with long black hair and somewhat angular features. She also wore the same uniform, although she also seemed to have some jewellery with her as well.

A large, muscular dark-skinned man, with short black hair with a white stripe going through it. He also seemed to have some sort of strange symbol engraved into his head with golden metal, vaguely resembling a curled snake. He wore a much heavier black military uniform.

A man with short brown hair, although he looked to be in surprisingly good shape. He wore a black cap and green military uniform.

Finally, there was a woman with short blonde hair and soft features. She was at the moment wearing a blue military uniform, almost like something of an old ship captain.

"Ghost?" Sentry asked her floating companion, who was utterly focused on the strange pods and their occupants. "Yes?" Ghost replied, moving somewhat to the left to see to from a different angle. "What is that thing, and why is their people in it?" She asked, her own eyes overlooking the figures. They almost appeared to be asleep...

"Well, I can't exactly scan this without getting someone angry." Ghost said, gesturing to the knelt priest. "But, if I were to guess, I'd say it was a cryogenic storage of some sorts." He said, looking it over. "Which is rather fascinating, to say the least, although I wonder these people are in them." He said.

The priest finally stood up and turned to the Exo Warlock. His pale eyes looked her over judgingly, his lip curled in derision. He barked a question to one of the hunters, most likely demanding to know what she was. The man explained with what sounded like eagerness, pointing at her and saying some strange word she didn't understand. What was a Tau'ri, if that's what he said.

The priest hissed out something in an angered voice, glaring at Sentry as if she were a war criminal. He repeated the word the hunter said but in a derivative tone, spitting on her foot. _Well that's rude. _Sentry thought to herself, while the man strode towards her, his eyes filled with a holy hatred.

"_Goa'uld!_" The priest snarled to Sentry, flexing his hand into a fist, the hunters letting out shocked gasps and turning to face her, their spears in a combative stance.

What?

Sentry looked around confused, seeing the angered stares. "Ghost, any clue why they're pissed at me?" She quipped.

"And I would know because...?" Ghost asked curiously, slowly floating to the cryogenic pods. It seemed like he was going to scan the pods while everyone picked on her for being a Goold or Goald or whatever the priest said. Sentry looked the priest, still staring daggers at her. "Listen, buddy, I think there's been a bit of a mistake here." She said, stepping forward a step. "I'm not a-" She didn't get to say much more, for the Priest backhanded her there.

Although she did fall back from the sheer force of the blow, she did get a small tinge of dark humour hearing the snap of his wrist and his pained shout afterwards as he clutched his hand. "Buddy, if there's one thing you don't do, it's bitchslap a robot." Sentry said annoyed, staring him down, while Ghost let out an annoyed sigh, thankful that the natives were ignoring him for whatever reason. "You should have just said sorry." Ghost murmured, scanning the pods with a blue light.

The priest glared defiantly at Sentry, his lips curled back in an ugly frown. He opened his mouth to say something, most likely something along the lines of "_Kill this demon_" or something, when a near deafening boom filled the air, followed by horrified screams. Sentry's eyes went wide and she turned around, tearing apart her pathetic binding and running out the open entrance way, her first instinct to help.

Her running halted to a stop as she saw the source of the boom, seeing a sight she had not expected to see on a planet far away from Earth. Floating right in front of her, dropping off large bulky soldiers, was a Cabal Harvester dropship. And this wasn't a case of some distant alien culture coincidentally creating a similar machine. The Cabal Centurion in brick-red armour firing his Slug Rifles at the tents and huts, only barely missing the screaming children and wives, were most definitely of the Cabal Empire, as we're his subordinate Legionnaires.

What was the Cabal doing here, how was the Cabal here, why the Cabal? All of these questions and similar were ignored by her furious mind, as she pulled out her assault rifle, the Red Death. "Hey, ya friggin' Turtles!" Sentry shouted at the alien warmongers, one of the creatures turning to face her. It stared at her for a moment, as if it too was confused on why was here.

Sentry lined up her rifle and entered a firing stance. "Go back to wherever ya came from!" She shouted, firing off a burst of shots at the Centurion, knocking off it's helmet, a few shots hitting it in the eye. The Centurion roared in a mix of rage and pain, looking down at the impudent wretch who'd dared fired on him in such a dishonourable fashion. He rose his Slug Launcher, firing off heavy metal bolts towards Sentry.

She saw that coming however and weaved to the left, just barely avoiding the explosive ammunition, firing off a series of shots in return. The Legionnaires took notice of the conflict and turned on Sentry as well, firing off a barrage of shots.

"Ah shit." Sentry muttered, backpedaling futilely, the ground around her exploding. Sentry let out a pained cry as she felt a servo in one of her arms clamp up. The arm was near useless now, hanging at her side limply. "Shit!" Sentry cursed again, throwing aside her rifle. That wasn't going to do anything here against a group of Cabal soldiers.

She was going to need to do something _bigger_.

She focused on what she wanted to do, her artificial musculature and servos tightening up. A violet energy began spreading around her, growing in intensity and size. The priest who had called her a Goa'uld exited his tent, staring at her slack jawed. Sentry let out a roar of pent up rage, raising her remaining arm and pointing it as the Cabal Centurion and his Legionnaire cronies.

A series orb of violet energy was sent out towards the group of Rhinocerian aliens, scattering forth violet rays of violet light. One of Legionnaires was throw back by the blast, his body and armour disintegrating into motes of light before he could hit something. His fellow Legionnaires paid no mind, still firing a concentrated barrage at her. Each slug whizzed by Sentry, although whether that was just incredible luck or her subconscious mind influencing her powers, she didn't know or care.

She looked at another Legionnaire and 'dashed' towards it in a flash of light, her palm outstretched a few inches away from the Cabal soldier. Although she didn't touch him, he was sent flying back dozens of metres, tumbling over himself and breaking armour and bone.

She paid that no mind, turning to face another Legionnaire, firing another orb of light at him, sticking to his armour. The Legionnaire had enough time to let out a confused grunt before he was vaporized in a flash of light.

She turned around, seeing the other Cabal soldiers having backed away from her, the Centurion raising a wrist to his mouth and shouting something in his guttural tongue. Suddenly, the Harvester returned (or perhaps it was simply a different Harvester) and dropped off more Legionnaires, doubling the size of his squad.

Sentry-32 let out a bloodlusted laugh, her eyes burning with fury. "You think that'll stop me, a _Warlock_!? Wielder of the Arcane?! Oh buddies, you are so wrong!" She hissed, raising her active hand and powering it with energy. A violet orb was sent flying from her hand, landing a few feet short of the squadron and exploding with considerably less force than before.

Sentry blinked in shock. What?

So, she tried again. Another orb of violet light, landing even a shorter distance away, and exploding with even less power.

Sentry felt her 'heart' clench up in fear, showering away the bloodlust that had been within her and reminding her how tired her body was, her servos and mutters letting out small pained whines at the slightest of movements.

She had overextended herself with that display of power, by a _lot._

She _really _felt stupid for throwing away the Red Death when she could have just fired a few more shots.

The Centurions looked at each other and let out guttural guffaws once they realized her formerly mighty powers were considerably weakened, and aimed their Slug rifles, clearly intending to finish her off.

**_BZAP! BZAP!_**

A duo of blue bolts of energy rang out from behind the powerless warlock, striking against the Centurion and shorting out his power armour, his weapon falling out of his grasp while his face fell forward in unconsciousness.

"What the!?" Sentry said, spinning around. Exiting from the tent was Ghost, an elated air around him. "You'll never guess what I just did." He said, while the Centurions roared in anger. "Learned how to shoot lasers?" Sentry hoped, her mind trying to figure out what just happened.

"Nope." Ghost said, his voice filled with satisfaction. "I woke _them_ up."

Wait... What?

Exiting from the tent was the older man with grey hair, a strange weapon held in his grasp, vaguely resembling a coiled snake fashioned from blackened stone. He gave an odd glance at Ghost before turning his gaze to Sentry-32 and finally looking at the furious Cabal soldiers, readying their weapons for another salvo.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" General Jack O'Neill questioned.


	4. Into The Fire

**Into The Fire **

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" The man with graying hair and the coiled snake gun asked, his voice filled with exasperated annoyance. He looked over at the furious Legionnaires, their weapons aimed forwards at the older man. "Huh, haven't seen that before." He admitted, looking them over.

"You mean you shot out the door, not knowing what you were hitting?" Sentry said in shock, before shaking her head. "Oh, never mind, we can talk about how you're more reckless then me ("Traveler save us." Ghost muttered in the background, shaking his small body. "What have I wrought?") some other time." She said before looking at the very furious, and confused, Legionnaires. "They're not gonna wait long for their buddy to wake up before they start shooting again."

As if responding to her, one of the Legionnaires snarled behind his helm and stepped forward, Slug Rifle at the ready. With a furious snarl, he held down on the trigger and unleashed a stream of microrockets towards her.

"Ah shit." Sentry-32, hopefully soon to be 33, said before getting sent back dozens of meters, her frail and heavy body smashing through a hut, eliciting frightened screams from it's occupants.

"Sentry!" Ghost shouted in horror, while O'Neill glared at the rhino-turtle that had shot her. "Alright buddy, time out!" He said, raising the Zat'nik'tel (otherwise known as Zat Gun) and fired a series of bursts. Like the Centurion before it, the Legionnaires armor systems short-circuited, leaving it stiff and still.

The other Legionnaires roared in anger and began striding forwards, Slug Rifles at the ready.

"Hey, guys?" O'Neill called to the fellow members of SG-1, still waking up from the comatose slumber.

"May want to wake up here, we got company!" O'Neill said, backing up and raising the Zat gun, firing a few more shots off at the Legionnaires, shorting out their armor. The Legionnaires replied by angered roars and fired their Slug Rifles again, their aim broken by the close knit groups Cabal Command beat into their soldiers doing in every given combat situation and their angered state. A good Cabal soldier tended not to be an angry one.

The clear leader of the Legionnaires raised his Slug Rifle at Jack O'Neill, an ugly sneer underneath his helmet. "Huh, never thought I'd die like this." O'Neill said dryly, raising the Zat gun in a last sign of defiance.

And then the Cabal soldiers exploded in a cloud of fire and burnt dirt.

O'Neill stepped back in surprise, quickly looking down at the Zat Gun as if that had been the cause of it.

"Sorry for the delays, just woke up and all." Cameron Mitchell said with a smirk as he exited the hut, a C4 Detonator in his hand. He gave O'Neill a cocky smirk, idly tossing the remote in the air. "And you said I was crazy for setting up C4 charges underground before we went to sleep." He said.

"One, you still are, and two, I think we got bigger problems then you being right about something." O'Neill said, scanning the surrounding area.

"Such as?" Cameron questioned.

Before O'Neill could answer, the little robot that had awoken them hovered over their shoulder, it's iris shifting slightly. "Well, a few things, the largest one being a Cabal Invasion force attacking this planet, and us having no true way of getting off this planet." Ghost answered, before shifting in the direction of his fallen Guardian. "Just keep your eyes on the skies. If you see something big, blocky and shooting, don't bother yelling, it'll make it quicker for the Cabal to find you." He said before darting off in the direction of Sentry.

A shOrt silence passed between the two leaders of SG-1, former and current.

"What was that?" Cameron questioned, O'Neill shrugging. "Hell if I know, all I know is that it woke us up." He said, looking around the burning village and it's horrified occupants. "Yeah, well here's hoping he's friendly." Cameron muttered, looking back at the tent. "I'll make sure everyone is up and ready, and make sure our supplies are good." He said, O'Neill giving an encouraging nod. As Cameron ran back into the hut/tent, O'Neill turned around and looked at the head 'priest', who was staring at him with an expression similar to how the Pope would look like if Jesus had descended from the Heavens.

"Erm, hi?" Jack said with some confusion, having not remembered there being humans on this planet before he and the rest of SG-1 fell asleep.

The head priest let out a shocked gasp, quickly getting unto his knees and performing a Kowtow, hands laid out on the ground and eyes staring at the ground. The rest of the villagers, at least the ones not stuck in a catatonic-shocked state, did the same.

A short silence came over the village.

"Daniel, I think you may wanna see this!" O'Neill called out.

* * *

Ghost hurried over to where the still body of his Guardian was, horrified thoughts racing through his mind. Was she dead, could she be repaired, would she still be herself when she came back? A small part of his mind laughed at the nature of what was happening. This sort of thing had happened with Sentry many a time, 33 now. He'd almost lost track on how she'd died, although a small part of his memory storage was dedicated to keeping track.

He'd installed that after the Seventh death, which had occurred within seconds of the last 6.

Why she'd thought she could beat that Archon was still beyond him, and why she insisted on doing so even after her 7th death. Thankfully, cooler heads had prevailed, by means of another Warlock shooting 'grenades' at the ceiling and crushing the Archon.

Ghost zipped into the broken hut holding her form, her onyx colored frame appearing alright. Whatever Golden Age Humanity had made the Exo's out of, it had been certainly durable. Ghost slowly floated over her still form, his eye flashing a bright blue, and a bright light connected him to her. For a fraction of a second, they were one and the same.

Two Bodies, One Soul.

And then it it was over, and Sentry's golden eyes snapped open.

A short silence filled between the pair of them and Sentry let out a disgruntled sigh, resting her head against the ground. "Damnit, now I owe that damn Vandal 20 Glimmer." Sentry-33 said in a surprisingly calm voice, given that she'd just died and came back to life. Ghost stared down at her incredulously, his mind unable to grasp what she said. "I... You... The Vandal... _What!?_"

Sentry looked up at him with surprise, as if only now noticing him. "Huh? Oh yeah, remember that Vandal in The City? Yeah, a couple of days ago, he bet me that I would die within the week and come back." She said with a small shrug. "We were a bit drunk."

"You're a **ROBOT! _HOW DO YOU GET DRUNK!?_**" Ghost demanded before letting out a suffering sigh. "Actually ya know, I seriously don't want to know. Right now, we should check up on those people we woke up." He said, floating above the revived Sentry, rotating her shoulders to warm up her servos. "Oh yeah, almost forgot about them." She admitted, rubbing a stiff joint in her neck. "Wonder how they're dealing with the new times?"

* * *

Daniel Jackson was not a happy person at the moment. A small part of his mind wondered why these types of torments seemed to drop themselves onto SG-1 so many times. Having ascended himself, he knew he could rule out 'Divine' intervention, but still, he wondered to himself sometimes. At the moment, he was oddly reminded of the **P4M-328**, when SG-1 had been mistaken for Terrorists on a planet with many similarities to Earth.

However, on that planet, they'd been seen as vile figures and almost killed as a result. Here, quite the opposite was happening...

"For the last time, we!" Daniel said, pointing to himself and making a wide gesture to fellow members of SG-1, most of which were exiting the hut trailing behind footlockers outfitted with ammunition and weaponry. Another idea that had came from the current leader of SG-1's mind. Given what O'Neill had said had happened mere moments ago, Daniel felt somewhat happy that they had this weaponry. Whatever these creatures were, they sounded aggressive and very angry...

"Are not!" He said, continuing in his game of charades with the tribal priest. From what he'd been able to gather, they believed SG-1 were Gods, called the "Tau'ri", and were to be protected from the False Gods, the "Goa'uld". The fact these humans even knew those words had been dumbfounding to Daniel, but he needed to make some things clear.

"Gods!" Daniel said, miming a person bowing before another, crossing his arms. "Do you understand?" He said in a slightly pleading tone. The priest looked at him with obvious confusion, not quite grasping the words being said. Daniel let out a frustrated sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Why me?" He murmured.

"Have you tried saying 'I surrender'? Worked well for me!" A feminine voice said, catching the attention of SG-1. They all turned and saw a strange figure approaching them. The slight curves of her body revealed gender to them, although her choice of attire was a curious one: Armoured boots, gloves and a small bandoleer outfitted entirely in pockets, as well as dark blue and violet... Robes?

She also seemed to be wearing some sort of onyx mask, a pair of golden eyes poking out from the eye holes. She noticed a red machine gun laying on the ground and grabbed it, putting it into an oversized holster on her back. "So, how's everyone feeling? Good, I hope?" She asked, and that's when Daniel Jackson realized it wasn't a mask she was wearing, but her real face.

The villagers noticed the coming robot and hissed, some of them pulling out spears and stone axes, while the lead priest gave an accusatory point at her and cried "Goa'uld!".

Daniel Jackson noticed her bright golden eyes and let out an annoyed groan, seeing how they could mistake her for such a thing. "Wait, no, don't!" He said, holding out a hand to the crowd. They turned to face Daniel, confusion evident on their faces. He sighed, looking over at Teal'c, Vala and Sam. "Do we have all our stuff?"

"Indeed, Daniel." Teal'c confirmed, hoisting up a P90. "We have plenty of weaponry, as well as the needed ammunition for them." He said, before Samantha spoke up. "But all of the food and medicine is either long expired or rotten away." She said, obviously troubled by that. "We're going to have to hope the Stargate is still up and running and get to Earth."

Ghost and Sentry-33 shared a glance before looking at Samantha Carter. "Hold on, did you say Stargate?" Ghost asked. Samantha Carter jerked back in surprise at the sight of the Ghost but quickly collected herself. She'd seen much stranger before. "Yes, it's a ring-shaped device that can allow instantaneous transport between worlds." She said, looking at them curiously. "Did you use one to get here?"

Sentry-33 nodded quickly, her voice a mix between pride and embarrassment. "Yeah, although we have no clue how it works. We just explored an old, abandoned military base, hacked a computer and... Poof, here we are."

O'Neill, who was holding a P90 and currently scanning the skies, looked over at the group with confused expressions. "I'm sorry, what?" He said, walking over to the group. "What do you mean, abandoned military base?" He questioned.

Sentry-33 and Ghost shared another glance, this one more pitying then before. "Maybe we should explain it on the way." Sentry said, feeling bad to have to explain to them everyone they knew was likely dead and the galaxy was broken.

"Yeah, but how are we going to get away from them?" Vala said, jerking a thumb at the natives. "I've dealt with the 'worshiped as a god' routine once before, I'm not going through that again."

Ghost puzzled over what that she meant by that while SG-1 and Sentry-33 silently thought to consider that option. Finally, Teal'c spoke up. "I believe I have an idea."

* * *

Next chapter: Fighting the forces of the Goa'uld, Going Home and explaining to SG-1 the current state of the Solar System.


	5. Inauguration

"I find it kinda funny that my to and from travels with this damn 'Gate have involved me being tied up." Sentry-33 said aloud, gaining a small look from Ghost. "Ya know, the look suites you. That way, you can't run around and run something." He said with good-natured humor, getting a tired laugh in response.

At the moment, Sentry-33, Ghost and the forces of SG-1 were trekking through the forest, SG-1 equipped with almost laughably out of date weaponry (minus the Zat'nik'tel), while Sentry-33 was currently binded with heavy and thick ropes, thick and large enough to actually make it a difficult task for her to even attempt to break them.

"Hey, quick question?" Sentry-33 said. "I get why you guys gt me tied up, ya know, make the villagers think that I'm being wheeled away to be deal with and everything, but why am I still tied up?" She questioned, gaining a look from O'Neill. "Listen, we don't know a single thing about you, we don't even know if you're _that _friendly. So, until we can make it back to Earth, in the ropes you stay."

"Well that's rude." Sentry replied, getting another blank stare from Ghost. "Knowing you Sentry, I think their caution is a stroke of genius." The floating A.I said dryly, gaining another tired laugh. "Yeah yeah, whatever, _Little Light_." She teased.

"Stop that." He said without a beat, gaining a shared chuckle from the pair of them, making SG-1 have a quick look of confusion at them. A short silence filled the forest as they continued trekking forwards, before Daniel spoke up. "So, uh, 'Sentry'," He said, still somewhat odd on calling an individual by that. "If you don't exactly mind me asking, erm.. What _are_you?" He asked cautiously. Sentry cocked her head in puzzlement. "What do you mean?" She inquired.

"Well, you're not exactly a human, and we've never seen anything quite like you, so.." He trailed off, hoping his honest approach wouldn't be taken as offensive. Thankfully, Sentry saw no offence with the honest question. "Oh, I see. Alright, well, I'm an Exo, an artificially made 'machine' created sometime during the Golden Age by humanity for... some reason." She said with a shrug. "What do you mean?" Samantha Carter asked in confusion, her eyes still focused on the woods around them. Sentry replied with another shrug. "Simple, we Exo's don't know _why_we were made. Maybe combat, maybe as artificial humans, who knows?" She said with a shrug. "All I know is that quite some time ago, this body was being used for _some_purpose, definitely not the one now..." She said, before trailing off.

"Then came the Collapse, when the Darkness fought against the Traveler." She said, getting a series of puzzled glances. "Wait, the Traveler?" Cameron questioned. "Something thought the giant bowling ball?" He said, getting a shocked laugh from Sentry-33 and an equally shocked gasp from Ghost. "Did you just call the Traveler a _Bowling Ball!?_" He fumed, causing Sentry to give another laugh. "Yeah, when we get to the City, you may not want to refer the Traveler as a 'bowling ball'. It's the reason humans even still exist on Earth." She said, gaining a few shocked looks from SG-1, and one upraised eyebrow. "Hold on, what?" Vala said in confusion, making Sentry sigh. "I know someone who can explain _much _better when we get to the City." She explained.

"Alrigh-" O'Neill said, before seeing something he didn't think he would have to see again. "Get down!" He cried out. Before Sentry could question what was going on, Teal'c tackled her to the ground, elicting a startled gasp. "Hey, what's the big deal!?" She said, before getting a silencing gesture from Daniel, who was taking cover behind a tree. In the distance, a group of humans were marching rank-and-file in between the cover of trees, while a large pyramidical shaped ship floated away. The soldiers wore thick padded armor with metal highlights, and were grasping large staffs of some sort. The apparent leader of this group had an overly elaborate and bulky helmet coverung his head and shoulders, resembling a type of Crocodile or similar reptile. Lizard-head turned around to his subordinate soldiers and barked out a series of orders. They spread out into smaller groups, staffs ready.

SG-1 was watching the group of Jaffa, while Ghost's eye zoomed in, seeing the finer details of the soldiers. "Are their staffs supposed to be glowing orange at the end?" He questioned, getting a quick nod from O'Neill. "Yup. That mean's their ready to fire..." He murmured, fingering the trigger. "Jaffa, what are they doing here?" He murmured.

"It is a rather curious development, and given the helmed one, they are certainly _not _of the Free Jaffa Nations." Teal'c said, an angry expression on his face. "This is most troubling." He said in one of his infamous understatements.

"Yeah, no kidding." Cameron muttered, giving another peek at them. A short distance behind them, the Stargate stood there, flanked by a few Jaffa. "And of course they're guarding the Gate!" He moaned in anger.

"I'm sorry, who are these guys?" Sentry-33 asked questioningly, getting an answer from Daniel Jackson. "Jaffa, genetically mutated humans and supposed to be former foot soldiers of the Goa'uld." He said, giving the Jaffa another confused look. "So why there wearing Goa'uld uniforms and using those tactics is a bit confusing, to say the least."

"So, baddies?" Sentry-33 asked.

"Yeah, real baddies." Cameron muttered, keeping his eyes on the Jaffa.

Ghost looked down at Sentry, seeing the mischievous glint that usually showed in her eyes when she wanted to do something. He let out a tired sigh, turning to Teal'c. "I think you should untie her before she breaks something." He said dryly. Teal'c rose an eyebrow, followed by a small sigh of O'Neill. "Will it be able to get us to the gate quicker?" He questioned, as the Al'kesh finally soared farther away, the crocodile headed Jaffa calling a larger detachment of his men to attention and marched away into the depths of the forest.

"Definitely." Sentry-33 said, her willpower having came back up.

A short silence fell over SG-1 and co, before O'Neill let out a tired sigh. "Okay, let's do this." He muttered, as Teal'c undid her bindings.

The sun was beating down hard on the pair of Jaffa standing by the holy gate. Their master, Sobek, had made quite clear to all of his Jaffa before they left that they would be getting no reinforcements through it, so the moment they arrived they were to make sure nobody came through it. Wise words. The world was already contested for by one enemy, another was not needed to appear.

One of the Jaffa, a soldier by the name of Chlak, looked around curiously with a bored expression on his face. "Why did we have to be placed upon this duty?" He murmured, getting a derisive snort from his comrade, Vaert. "Ah yes, I envy the men who must face against these savage beasts our God has made us fight. Why can't we be fighting them as well?" He said, his sarcasm biting. Chlak bit down a curse at the cowardly Jaffa. "We are soldiers, is it not our duty to face against the enemy and kill them?" He argued, getting another derisive snort as a reply. "Try telling that to Celdru when he returns. He'll likely be more focused on wanting to escape this world then sticking around and sending more warriors to their deaths." He said, gaining a more angered growl from the Jaffa. "You dare imply him for a coward?" Chlak questioned, gaining a contemptuous laugh from his comrade. "No, I imply him for a man with half a brain to use, unlike you!"

Before the argument could begin in earnest, an explosion echoed throughout the forest, followed by the sound of staffs discharging. "What the-!?" Chlak said in shock, before getting straight in the chest by the paralyzing blast of a Zat gun. Vaert's eyes went wide and he dropped his staff. "Every Jaffa for himsel-" He didn't get to finish his statement, a blast from a Zat gun hitting him in the chest as well, knocking him against the Stargate and sliding to the ground, unconscious.

The other Jaffa fired their plasma bolts at Sentry-33 and SG1, missing by mere inches or smashing uselessly against a large field of energy around the group. "How are you doing this, again?" Samantha questioned, firing a burst of her P90 at one of the Jaffa, making him fall over and give off a 'death shot', lighting a tree on fire.

"Magic, now come on, turn on the Gate!" Sentry-33 cried out, willing a burst of energy at a Jaffa and sending him doubling over, his neck snapping.

They slowly made their way to the Gate, Sentry's field weakening. "Can we hurry up and dial already!?" She shouted, a bolt of plasma washing over the field, its light dimming. "We're moving!" Daniel called out, rushing over to the dialling device. He mashed out the combination for Earth and hit the red button, turning on the gate and activating the wormhole, a wave of plasma rushing out before getting sucked back in.

Sentry-33 gave a quick glance at Ghost, who glared at her in return. "How did I know I was supposed to hit the button!?" He questioned before giving a quick sigh. "Never mind, let's go!" Ghost said as O'Neill already dashed through the Gate. The rest of SG-1 followed in suite, just as the helmed Jaffa returned with his soldiers, firing defiantly at a group of Cabal soldiers.

One of which was a _Colossus._

"Yeah, good-bye!" Sentry-33 said, dropping her field and throwing a grenade spell, vaporizing 3 Jaffa in a burst of violet light before she threw herself through the open portal. Shortly after, it closed itself as the battle between Jaffa and Cabal raged on.

While Sentry-33 and SG-1 escaped, the fighting continued on Derlokk, particularly centred around the Stargate. The Jaffa had been able to stand against the force of the Cabal for a shirt time, their air support and plasma weaponry making short work of the Cabal. Then the Cabal had started pouring in their armour units, and the _Al'kesh_ had only lasted a few moments before the tanks guns. Now, the clearing around the 'Gate was nothing but burnt woods and soil, Cabal heavy vehicles laying in wait while they questioned the only surviving Jaffa.

Although they questioned him in typical Cabal ways.

Celdru jaw had broken long ago, as well as a few other skeletal structures based around his face. Also broken was an arm, legs and almost all of his ribs. The Cabal were strong creatures, and the less he gave them, the angrier they became. He noticed one of the Cabal soldiers practically fuming at him, getting closer to his discarded weapon.

He gave a small smile to the creature, spitting out a globule of blood. "Do it. Anger your superiors and fail again at learning the ways of the Holy Gate." He said with a sneer, uncaring for the ways his body hurt. His master, Sobek, had long taught all of his Jaffa to be mightier then the weak stalks of the other Goa'uld.

The Cabal roared in anger, reaching for his Slug Rifle. He grasped his meaty, armoured hand around the gun and turned to face it at Celdru. The second he pulled on the trigger, a purple glow resonated around the device. The resulting explosion vaporized the soldiers arm and scarred his face, making it roar in pain. A smaller, more lithe figure made it's way through the crowd, a purple glow emanating around one it's taloned hands. This creature was coated in head to toe to sleek armour, seeming so out of place amongst its thicker comrades.

The Psion walked by the larger Legionnaire, uncaring for its pain. It seemed this creature was going to be overtaking interrogation now.

Celdru readied the muscles in his jaw to spit at the psychic abomination in defiance, but those muscles soon stretched out to form his mouth in a silent scream as the Psion violated his mind, rummaging through it like an enraged bull in a tightly corned spot. The Psion pulled away from the braindead Jaffa after getting the information it's commanders had wanted to discover, uncaring for what became of the Jaffa itself.

The Psion quickly turned around to face the Legionnaires and rose an arm in the salute of the Cabal Empire, quickly followed by a horrifying shriek. If humanity had any grasping of the Cabal language, they would know what words it had said were:

_"Hail the Empire, and it's newest prize! The ways of the Grand Ring!"_

The triumphant roar that echoed through the forests of Derlokk seemed to match the final thundering salvo from the Cabal ship that cut through the final ship in Sobek's fleet.


End file.
