Stargate: 1939

[CaptainChewbacca]

Table of Contents

American military train, southern Nevada. June 10th, 1939

Rail was a dismal way to travel. The passenger on the train shifted uncomfortably, and sighed. There was no question that ever since railroad travel had been developed over a hundred years ago, nobody had enjoyed it. Certainly nations prospered from their mastery of the rails, and it had opened the American west and the Russian east alike, but sitting in a small wooden room for five days was nobody's idea of comfort. He couldn't even walk around to stretch his legs, because if he did he would simply fall over.

He looked at the newspaper again and sighed. The Nazis seemed to be growing restless again, and he had a feeling war was about to erupt all over again. Having fled his home some seven years ago, he had tried to stay out of things, but his increasing demands that something be done had attracted some attention, and just one week ago some government gentlemen in military uniforms had shown up at his house and asked him if he wouldn't mind consulting on a project of some special importance. Project: Solomon was the name, though he couldn't see any particular abundance of reason in te leadership of it. From the brief notes they had given him, it was all very sketchy as to what they even wanted him to do.

A screech of the breaks and a not-so-gentle jolt brought him out of his reflection, and the door opened. "We are here, sir. I'll meet you on the platform with your bags." He stretched and moaned, his joints creaking in his old age. He felt all of his seventy years, he had seen quite a bit in his time. He stepped out onto the platform, squinting in the early morning desert light. There was a tall, distinguished looking man on the platform, undoubtedly the project director he was supposed to meet. "Doctor Langford, sir!" He called out over the engine noise. "I'm pleased to meet you."

Langford held out his hand and grinned. "And you too, Doctor Einstein. Welcome to Project Solomon."

***
Hawthorne Naval Ammunition Depot, western Nevada

"And you say you found it in Giza in 1928? I've never heard anything about this!" The doctors Einstein and Langford were going back and forth during Langford's personal tour of the installation.

"That's because we kept it quiet, Doctor Einstein."

"Please, call me Albert."

"Only if you call me John."

"Fair enough." They laughed, as they walked down the hallways. "What I don't understand, John, is why I'm here. I'm no archaeologist, I'm a physicist, and I'm not a military man, either."

"No, no, that's not right!" Came an angry voice from an open door. As they peaked in, they saw a team of academics furiously leafing through books and peering at a large slateboard covered in egyptian Heiroglyphs, while a man in his late thirties wearing a tweed coat furiously crossed out translations. The board read "YEAR 10 OF KING ?, SKY, RA, THE SUN DISK, COFFIN, DOOR TO HEAVEN."

"This is Doctor Henry Jones, another consultant the Army contracted for project Solomon. He's an expert in ancient languages and matters of antiquity." Langford nodded at Jones' direction.

"Pleased to meet you, Doctor Jones." Einstein didn't know why, but he felt an instant like for the man.

"Hey, hang on, I'm onto something here." Henry Jones barely turned around. "This is practically backwards! It’s all wrong. What did you use, Budge? Why do they keep reprinting his books?" He started scribbling on the board. "That’s a curious word to use 'qebeh.' Then an adverbial sedjem-en-ef with a cleft subject 'sealed and buried'," He looked over at the men "NOT coffin." He continued working "Not 'Forever to eternity – for all time'," he crossed out and rewrote a section. "You really should have gotten that one." he smirked at the other schollars." He stepped back "This should read, A MILLION YEARS INTO THE SKY IS RA, SUN GOD. SEALED AND BURIED FOR ALL TIME HIS…" He crossed out the last few symbols "It’s not DOOR to HEAVEN. The proper translation is…STARGATE."

Einstein and Jones looked at Langford, and at the same time asked "What's a Stargate?"

***
Neu Schwabia, Antarctica

The Third German Antarctic expedition was proceeding very well. Already the reconnassance flights were gathering more data about he continent than any other expedition in history. As one of the Dornier Wal craft landed, the pilot waved wildly at the expedition leader. "Herr Richter! Herr Richter!" The pilot was grinning as he climbed out of his plane. "During my flight over grid I-14, I spotted a large fissure with what appeared to be metal inside. A large piece, maybe another aircraft."

"Are you sure, son? There's alot of ice down there to dazzle you."

The pilot shook his head. "No sir, I recommend we take the seaplane too McMurdo sound, land, and take a look. If there's someone else flying planes at the bottom of the world, we ought to find out."

"Very well, we'll go after the next storm." Alfred Richter looked at the sky "Its sure to be a big one."

[CaptainChewbacca]

Hawthorne NAD

Professor Langford strode quickly through the halls, the seriousness of his walk seemed to draw underlings into his wake like minnows after a shark. It had been three weeks since the doctors Einstein and Jones, or the powerful pair as the other researchers called them, had started working on Project Solomon, and according to their dispatch, they had had a breakthrough. He stepped into a room marked SECONDARY COLD STORAGE LOWER LEVEL, which had been completely annexed by the doctors in the name of "proper working space" as Einstein called it. And indeed, the entire room was covered in papers, charts, graphs, and in a few places projector screens displayed images on the walls.

The two doctors had been so forceful in their insistence and personalities that they simply commendeered people from other parts of the project. As alike as they were in temperament, though, Professor Langford marveled at their different styles. When Doctor Jones (Indiana to his friends) worked on a problem he was like a dog with a bone, gnawing and wearing away at it until he had it solved, riffling through papers and scribbling notes, as if he could beat the problem by force of will. Einstein would simply stare into space. He would pace and smoke his pipe, with a far-off look in his eyes, simply letting his mind turn on its own until it gave him what he wanted. Right now, though, both men were smiling and looking towards the door.

"Well, gentlemen, what do you have for me?" Langford walked in and started studying the pile of doccuments on the tables. "And why is it so cold in here?"

"That was Henry's idea, John," the old man chuckled. "I kept dozing off in my chair, so he set the heat to fifty farenheit. It certainly makes one stay active."

"It sure does." Indiana walked over to one of the projections on the wall. "This, is the main script on the capstone of the well you recovered in 1938. I am confident that these six symbols, here, are not from any language or alphabet on earth. And that was the key to it all."

"Not understanding them is the key, Doctor Jones?"

"It is indeed, John." Einstein turned another projector on, and a starfield appeared next to the first projection. "This, here, is Orion." He drew on the wall, connecting several of the stars. "Simple, and unmistakable." He nodded, and another researcher turned off the projector. "It is also, identical to the first symbol in the column. The symbols on the tablets were not words. They were constellations. Put together in a specific and unique order, forming an address."

Langford was skeptical "An 'address'? You mean coordinates?"

"Exactly." Indiana walked back to the table. "The centerpiece of the tablets holds the key." He started to draw out the cartouche "This cartouche is a map. What we have here are the seven points to outline a course to a destination."

"Seven?"

"Yes, seven." Indiana drew six points and began to connect them, placing each by a constellation. "In order to find a destination in any three dimensional space we need to find two points to determine exact height, two points for width, and two points for depth. Those points are indicated here…"

"You said you needed seven points? You've only got six." Langford could feel where it was going, but skepticism was always necessary.

"Yes." He drew a seventh point and connected it to the center of the intersections. "While these symbols give us our destination, in order to chart our course we must have a point of origin." He looked at Langford and smiled. "X marks the spot."

"That seventh symbol isn't anywhere on the device, Doctor Jones." A voice echoed into the room, and the sound of heads whipping around was practically audible.

"Major Hanneken, this is a surprise." Langford shook his hand. "The good doctors here were just telling me that they seem to have figured the device out."

"I heard." Major Hanneken nodded to the two doctors. "Its all very impressive work, but I'm afraid that it doesn't quite wash."

"You know, sir," Indiana scratched his head. "I've been working with photographs and rubbings for three weeks. If I could get a look at this Stargate, maybe we could figure this out."

"You make a good point." Hanneken took a step towards the door. "Grab your notes, they're trying to turn it on again, and I'm here to invite you." As the scientists all scrambled to pick up the most important notes, the major caught Einstein's eye "Great minds seem to think alike."

*Blast Bunker 3, Hawthorne NAD

The ring was huge. Of course, Indy had expected it to be, given the size of the capstones. Still, a large silver rink twenty feet wide that was rumbling and spewing steam was downright hellacious. Four strong men were spinning the inner ring around its track, locking the symbols into place and causing more of the chevrons around the circle to glow. There's nine of them, but only seven symbols. I wonder what the other two are for... maybe time travel. He laughed at his own joke, though there was nothing much sillier about time travel than a door to heaven.

The noise was deafening, and Professor Langford had to shout to be heard. "We've only ever gotten the device up to five symbols. Last time we blew out the generators and killed two men, but Doctor Einstein seems to think that using direct current will keep that in check."

They turned to watch as a senior technician called out. "Fifth Chevron locked." The shaking was getting more and more violent. "Sixth Chevron locked!" the wheel spun smoother now, as it surged with power. "Seventh Chev-" Before he could finish, a massive torrent of water surged from the stargate. Everyone in the room ducked, but the water only swirled out, and then back in the opposite direction, carving a four-foot hole in the stone wall behind it. "Everyone was silent, but two of the men who had been spinning the inner ring were on the ground, holding the smouldering wounds where arms and legs had once been.

"Great scott..." Albert Einstein's eyes went wide, and he prayed that his heart would stay strong. He studdied the ring of shimmering water, not water but some form of energy. It gave off no heat, no radiation any of the machines could detect, and he would just bet that what he was looking at was one of John Wheeler's "wormholes".

Indiana was similarly awestruck. Though he had seen quite a few wonders, this might even be better than a certain box he had last seen in the mediterranean.

"Recon team, go!" Langford shouted. They had prepared for this, for opening the door, and now his young protege was rushed in, bodily carried by two marines in his bulky diving suit. They set him at the foot of the ramp, and then they and four others began to spool out a heavy rope which was tied to him. Two more manned a pump which supplied air to his helmet, and everyone watched silently as another of America's great explorers walked up to, and through, the portal.

After a few seconds, there were three tugs on the rope. He was alive, and there was air on the other side. "Doctor Einstein, we're losing power!" A technician called out as a shower of sparks erupted from one of the generators. The portal flickered, but the rope and hose stayed fixed in nothing,hanging a few feet off the ground.

"Blast, not now!" Einstein went to the back with more speed than many expected. "Its that damn feedback, we're losing the generators. Tap into the base mainline, spool the cable by hand if you have to! If we loose this connection, we may not get it back." There was a mad scramble and flurry of fiber-coated cable, and just when the portal looked like it was about to shut off, it emerged strong. A radio console crackled.

"-thorne NAD, this is Lieutenant Littlefield, over. Can you hear me?" Littlefield wasn't a strictly military man, in fact Langford had pulled some strings to get him an academic commission so he could accompany him, but he had a sharp head on his shoulders. A technician at the board flipped a switch. "We can hear you, Lieutenant. Are you alright?"

Silence hung in the air for long moments. "-ts amazing, sir! Professor Langford, I'm standing inside something that looks alot like Khufu's pyramid. There's a big cylindrical device in here with a red crystal and symbols on it, it looks like a big radio knob for tuning the stargate. There's air here, too, and also-" but they wouldn't find out what was also there, because at that moment a massive surge blew out several more generators and the entire room plunged into darkness as the gate shut off.

"Lights! Get some lanterns in here!" Major Hanneken hollered "Just what the hell did you do to my lights, Professor Einstein?" The old man shrugged, sheepishly in the dim light.

"Major, sir!" A young private stuck his head in. "Its bad! We tapped into the state power grid, everything is out from Salt Lake to Vegas. We're trying our best."

Langford grabbed a lantern and walked over to the gate. He picked up the rope and hose, the ends as smooth as if cut by a glass knife. "We need that power back." He stood and looked back at the men. "And we're going to do it again."

***
Casablana, Morrocco

Two men sat at a cafe, drinking strong Moroccan coffee. They didn't trust each other, like each other, or necessarily respect each other, but things were difficult enough without at least TRYING to work together. "So you say my government found something in Antarctica, James?"

"Yes, Gunther." The man sipped his coffee and tried not to make a face. They didn't even put milk in it. "What's more, it seems to be very similar to something else you found in Egypt in 1930."

"That sounds like quite a coincidence. Truly, the world is a marvelous place." The second man kept an even tone, betraying nothing.

"In fact, someone else noticed that, and has ordered the Giza device to be pulled out of storage and shipped to Hamburg for further study. My organization would be willing to pay quite handsomely if it were to be mistakenly shipped to Bremen instead, and transferred to some relaible cargo handlers."

"That sounds to be workable, my friend, though some considerations would have to be taken." The german raised an eyebrow. He was no patriot, nor were his friends, but they all were aspiring powers, and power necessitated wealth to back it up.

James reached into a pocket and pulled out a small pouch, tossing it casually. Gunther looked inside, and chewed on the inside of his mouth. Diamonds from South Africa, all of excellent quality. "The cargo handlers will have three times that many for you when they get the device."

Gunther nodded, and stood. "One week." He left quickly, pressing some coins into the waiter's palm. James relaxed slightly and took another sip of coffee. God save the king.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Chapter 3 (part 1)

Hawthorne NAD, 15 hours after first activation

Since the power had gone out, the base had been a highly directed storm of barked orders and moving crates, and now Major Hanneken was reaping the whirlwind. Almost the entire base had needed to be rewired following the energy pulse when the gate deactivated, and the telegraph and wireless were still down, which was in some ways a blessing. Assembled in what was now known as the ‘Gate Room’ was perhaps the most heavily armed marine platoon in history, which the men had dubbed ‘Stargate Marine Force One”. The lack of communications was a blessing in that Hanneken was able to use his discretionary authority to send a force through, but that also meant he couldn’t in good conscience risk too much men and equipment on a mission they might not return from. Still, what Hanneken had put together would pack quite a punch.

Standing in front of the gate were three automatic rifle squads, with M1903s and M1918A2 browning automatic rifles shining lethally in the dim light. For a heavier hit, the force also included a machine gun squad with a .30caliber M1919. And, just to make sure they could smash whatever they met, Major Lewis ‘Chesty’ Puller, the commander of the base’s marine contingent and the military leader of the force, had cajoled Hanneken into adding a single 61mm mortar squad. The force also had a single M3 scout car with a gun mounted on it, but the most powerful (and strangest) part of the force were the pair of prototype Tucker Armored Cars, each of which sported a quad-mounted .50 caliber machine gun, which could be operated remotely from inside. Small and incredibly fast, they had been set for field trials nearby in the next few weeks. When Doctor Einstein had asked them why it was SMF-1, a young private matter-of-factly said “In case the first one gets killed, Sir.”

Indiana Jones was standing in the doorway, watching Doctor Einstein and the technicians making some final adjustments to the power systems to make sure there were no accidents. Some engineer had even cobbled together a mechanical dialer to make sure that they didn’t have to sacrifice two lives every time they turned on the infernal machine. “Doctor Jones?” A soft, female voice spoke from behind. He turned and exclaimed “Katherine!” He was surprised to see Katherine Langford, the Professor’s daughter and only nineteen years old. Since he joined Project Solomon there had been more than a few long dinner meetings at the Langford home, and Katherine had shown herself to be a proper hostess, as well as a keen intellect on matters of antiquity. She was also hopelessly smitten by Lieutenant Littlefield. “What are you doing here?”

She looked to be on the verge of tears. “Since the blackout, father didn’t see any point in lying to me. I came down to watch the rescue mission depart, and to be honest nobody has noticed me enough to realize I’m not supposed to be here.” She stared into his eyes, trembling “Do you think he’s still alive?”

Indy put a hand on her shoulder. “Sure I do. We know he was ok when we lost contact, and he’s in a safe enough place. He didn’t mention anything alive over there; he’s probably bored and taking a nap right now. Besides, Ernie’s the bravest kid I ever met, to go through like that. We’ll bring him back.”

Katherine reached for her neck. “I want you to give this to him.” She took off a golden necklace, and fastened it around his neck. Indy turned it over in his hand; it was a stylized Egyptian sun with the eye of Ra in the middle. “It brought me luck, and maybe it will bring you luck until you bring him back to me.” He nodded, and slowly walked to stand with the marines. The stargate was beginning to shake as it dialed; the proposed shock absorbers wouldn’t be ready for another week or so.

The seventh chevron locked into place, and the swirling vortex reappeared, bathing the room in a blue-white glow. “Wait, wait a minute please!” Doctor Einstein pushed his way through the marines holding a bulky piece of equipment. “I need to check the stabilization field!” He trotted up to the ramp and bent low, twisting some dials on the meter. Then he straightened, and tossed the device aside. He flashed a smile at the men in the room, and to a dozen shouts of “NO!” he hopped through the gate.

“SONOFA BITCH!” Major Puller yelled. “Alright, Marines! Let’s get through that gate before a motherloving brass band sneaks through! Squad A, double time march! Squad B, go!” He sent his men through one group at a time before following them in. The next to go were the vehicles, rumbling up the ramp one at a time. Professor Langford made as if to follow, but Indiana stopped him “Sorry, Professor. With Einstein on the other side, you’re the only expert on this thing left on the planet.”

“You’re goddamn right!” Major Hanneken yelled over the shaking. “Remember, Jones! You’ve got two radios. We’ll dial in twenty-four hours, and every twenty-four hours after that. If we don’t hear from you for three days, I’m going to stick that thing in a block of cement.” Indiana nodded, and walked up the ramp. He stopped at the event horizon, and played his hand along the field. It felt like sunlight across his hand, and then he stepped through.

For a moment, Indy thought he had ceased to exist, and then his universe exploded with sensation. He felt like he was simultaneously shredded, spun, compressed, and stretched across the universe. His body was flash-frozen and broiled, and he felt like a baseball bat had struck him firmly across his stomach while a larger implement struck him lower. He emerged from the other side, stumbling in the darkness. It was, he decided, worse than having a priest of Kali try and rip your heart out of your chest.

He moaned as the room spun. “Here, sir.” Strong arms lifted him to a sitting position, and he was handed a heavy container. “Most of us lost it coming in, nothing to be ashamed of.” Indiana obliged him by vomiting heavily into Ernest Littlefield’s abandoned helmet.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Chapter 3, part 2.

Alien Planet

He tried to focus his eyes as he looked around. He was in a large stone chamber filled with columns. The stonework was reminiscent of the fourth and fifth dynasties, but some accents derived from the twelfth. The walls were clean and smooth, virtually untouched by time. “Is Doctor Einstein alright?” He swallowed some water from a canteen the private handed him.

“I’m fine, Henry.” A voice echoed through the chamber. “You must come out and see this.”

Unsteadily, Indiana wobbled to his feet and brushed frost crystals from the brim of his hat. He walked slowly to the source of the voice, and then threw up his hands as bright sunlight assaulted his eyes. He bowed his head, letting his hat protect him, as he walked out. As his eyes adjusted, he looked out and was dumbfounded. They were in the middle of an endless sea of dunes, beneath a crystal blue sky in which three moons could be plainly seen. Turning around, his mind swam again as he saw two massive obelisks jutting over a hundred feet into the air, and directly behind him the building he had just come out of was a massive pyramid, bigger than the Great Pyramid at Giza. What’s more, with the pyramid was still covered in white limestone and its golden cap was in place, it could have been finished yesterday.

And wonder, the two doctors began to walk down the ramp. At the top, one of the rifle squads was setting up a watch post, to secure the entrance and scan the horizon for ‘Martians.’ As they walked down, they saw Major Puller and the rest of SMF-1 setting up a base camp in the lee of the ramp, protected on three sides with some crude earthworks and the light machine gun guarding the only open approach. Puller was in rare form, calling out orders as he lent a hand in setting up the tent. “Freeman, you and Brown keep sweeping the perimeter- see if you can find any sign of Littlefield.” He nodded at the doctors “And you, Doctor Jones, take one of the radiomen and get back to the gate. I want us to re-establish contact within the hour, let them know we’re ok.”

“I need more time,” Indy insisted “There’s bound to be more structures here, traces of civilization…”

Puller raised an eyebrow “What are you trying to say?”

Indy pointed at the pyramid “Look at it! It’s an exact replica of the great pyramid of Giza. We’re not going to find any hieroglyphic or pictorial displays. We’ve got to expand our search…”

Major Puller exchanged a glance with Corporal Wethers, one of the armoured car drivers. He stepped closer to Indiana. “Your job is to re-align the star gate and get us back home. Can you do it or not?”

He shook his head. “I can’t.”

“Can’t… or won’t?” The anger in Puller’s voice was almost visible.

“If they marked the co-ordinates on tablets back on Earth, there must be something like that here. I just have to find it.” Jones looked around. “Gotta be somewhere.”

“Find it!? That wasn’t the deal!” Lieutenant Wethers couldn’t contain his silence.

“Lieutenant, stow that lip.” Major Puller held up a hand.

“You lying son of a bitch!” Wethers shoved Jones hard and took another step, but stopped short as he found himself staring down the barrel of a Webley Mark IV that Jones had seemingly produced from nowhere.

“Lieutenant!” Puller shouted. “We’ll continue to make camp here and conduct sweeps of the surrounding area.

“But sir!”

“You have your orders.” The lieutenant glared at Jones, then turned and left. After a heavy pause, Puller returned to work as well.

***
Base Camp, unknown planet, two hours later

A hammer sailed through the air, and connected solidly with a tent spike. Lieutenant Wethers was stripped to his shirtsleeves under the hot sun, as the camp went up. Another marine, a private, shrugged. “I don’t see how it’s a big deal. If we don’t return soon, they’ll just turn the gate back on from the other side, won’t they?”

“Not a chance, Brown.” Wethers shook his head. “Hawthorne is locked down tight, and that contraption is a one-way door. A radio is one thing, but unless we turn it on here, we’re stuck.”

Indy came walking into the base camp, ignoring the hostile looks the marines were sending at him. He grabbed a chair and sat in the shade, pouring some water into a rag and wiping his brow.

“Excuse me, Doctor Jones?” Wethers walked over to him. Indy fixed him with a wary look. “Don’t you think you should be doing something?” The angry lieutenant picked up Indy’s duffel. “Like getting us the hell out of here?” He heaved the duffel, and Indy deflected it, sending it spilling over the edge of the next dune.

Indy sighed, and looked at him. Sometimes it was better not to rise to the baiting, but he had a feeling there was a mighty punch in Lieutenant Wethers’ future. He made his way down the back of the dune, and started scrambling for his books. They were scattered all over, and papers were blowing freely in the wind. He gathered them quickly, cursing both the U.S. Marine Corps and mysterious alien deserts. As he picked up the last book, he saw something in the sand that made his heart skip a beat. Deep set prints, walking around the next dune. He couldn’t believe it, and for a moment he considered going back and telling the others. That flight of sensibility soon left, and Indiana Jones followed the tracks.

Back at the camp, Major Puller came upon the men. “Where’s Doctor Jones?”

They exchanges smirks, and Wethers spoke “He dropped his stuff over the dune, sir, I think he went to go pick it up, Sir.” The smile soon vanished as Puller glowered at him. “We’ll go help him, Sir.” The men rose and saluted, scrambling over the top of the dune. The tumbled down to the slope, and saw loose papers blowing in the breeze, along with two sets of footprints, only one of which was human. Major Puller frowned at them, and turned back to the camp. “Squad B, on my position!”

Meanwhile, two dunes over, Indy reached another crest. He immediately dropped low, to avoid being seen. Below him, chewing on a patch of purplish desert scrub, was a large creature that looked like a cross between a buffalo and a mammoth. Slowly, and cautiously, Indy moved closer to the creature. Halfway down, the creature turned and saw him, and both of them froze. After a long moment, Indy took another step towards it, and the creature took a step back. They both froze again. Then, the creature took a step forward and Indy took a step back. They froze again.

Indy noticed something on the head of the creature; a harness. Laughing nervously, he reached inside his satchel and pulled out a Heshey bar. He peeled it, and held it out. “Hungry?”

With its great nostrils, the creature sniffed the air. Indy inched closer as the beast lowered its head. Slowly it moved closer to him, cautiously. Carefully, Indy lifted the bar, closer to the animal’s mouth.

Suddenly Major Puller and Squad B came over the top of the next dune, spotting Indy. Wethers and Swift lifed their weapons. “Don’t feed it!” Puller shouted.

Indy saw him, but ignored. The creature stuck out its massive tongue and licked the candy bar, and then Indy dropped it on the ground. It leaned down to pick it up with its teeth. Indy smiled, and moved closer, reaching out to pet it. A purring sound rumbled, and he smiled. It was as cute as hell. It nuzzled his arm. Indy turned back, yelling. “Its got a harness. Its domesticated, see?” He shook one of the reigns. Puller nodded, and signalled to the men to put down their weapons. “You’re a good boy, aren’t you?” Indy continued to scratch it, but when he touched the creature’s ear, all hell broke loose.

The creature bellowed and reared up on its hind legs, kicking out the reins and knocking Indy to the ground. He rolled over and grabbed his hat, but as he did so the creature took off running, and the reins tangled around his leg stretched tight. Puller and the men lifted their weapons, but the creature was too fast, and both it and the Doctor were out of sight in an instant. Puller grabbed Wethers’ collar “Get one of the cars, and let’s go after it!”

Squad B raced over the sand to the top of the next dune, only in time to see it disappear over another hump of sand. The creature was FAST. They ran their hardest, chasing their wayward Doctor across the landscape. Indiana, meanwhile, was in a flaming blizzard of sand. He bounced and bumped across the coarse sand, abrading his whole body. He kept his eyes shut tightly, to keep the grit out, and prayed the thing wasn’t a marathoner.

Fifteen minutes later, coming over yet another dune, the squad found Doctor Jones lying in a heap, with the creature standing over him. They kept their weapons trained on it as they approached from a distance. Indy spat out a mouthful of sand as the creature began to lick his face. “Yeeesh! Get your stinking breath away from me.” Another lick. “Someone help me!”

Finally, the men arrived, but to his surprise they passed right by him, lowering their guns. Private Brown, still breathing hard from the run, gasped. “Holy Jesus!” Indy finished spitting out sand and stood, walking to the top and finally seeing what they saw.

It was a scene out of hell. Thousands of dark skinned people filled the dune valleys below. Humans, like on Earth, but seemingly out of place and time. At the base of the huge dunes he saw gigantic mining pits; dark cavities in the sand. Dozens of ladders protruded out of the dark pits up the sides of the dunes. Covered with thick mud, their faces barely recognizable as human, dozens of workers climbed the ladders carrying heavy loads on their backs. At the top of the sand craters were women and younger workers, small children, sifting through the piles of dirt carried out of the pit. More of those large creatures were harnessed to huge carts, to carry the worker’s cargo.

As they watched, a tucker car rolled up and Doctor Einstein and Lieutenant Wethers got out. They, too, were captivated by the sight of a massive slave mine. Major Puller surveyed the scene through his binoculars, and suddenly one of the workers turned and looked directly AT him. He pointed and shouted, and others started to look. “Ah hell.” Cries went up, and the workers put aside their tools to gather at the hillsides.

Reacting, Private Brown began to lift his rifle, but Puller grabbed the barrel and shook his head. He signalled for the others to follow him, as he walked slowly down the hill. As they came down, the people grew quiet, almost reverent. The team cautiously made their way down the sloping hillside in the tense silence. Wind whistling through the hollow pits. The creature followed Indiana closely as they headed down the hill.

Thousands of workers stood as one, all staring over at the squad as they arrived just a few yards in front of the assembled crowd. Nervously the marines smiled out at the workers who stared at them with a mixture of awe and fear. Major Puller elbowed Indy, and spoke under his breath. “Okay, Jones. It’s your turn.”

Indy looked at Puller. “Me?”

“Sure, you’re the expert, Try and talk to them.”

Indiana had no idea what to do. Slowly he walked over, wearing a forced smile for the crowd. He stepped up close to a muddy worker. “Ah… hello.” The worker looked at him with curiosity. Suddenly a flash of reflected light glinted off of the necklace around his neck. The worker’s eyes widened, and he screamed something out, frightening our squad. All at once, the entire assembly in a wave-like chain reaction bowed down, flat, on the ground.

Lieutenant Wethers whispered to Puller. “What did he say?”

Puller shook his head. “I don’t know.”

They take a few steps closer to Indy “What the hell did you tell them, Jones?”

Indy turns back to Puller, nervous and confused. “Nothing.”

“Well, try to communicate.”

“HOW?!” Indy threw his hands up. He spoke a dozen languages, but alien gibberish wasn’t one of them.

Frustrated Puller stepped forward. He singled out one of the workers, a young boy that looked about sixteen. The boy was absolutely terrified, and averted his eyes. Puller extended his hand, but the boy only looked at it with mounting fright. Finally, Puller grabbed the boy’s hand, shaking it.

The boy screamed out in fear and bolted, faster than the creature had, until he disappeared from view. Puller turned to Jones, confused. “So much for communication.” Indy shrugged.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Chapter 4

*Unknown Planet*

A horn blared in the distance, and another beast like the one that had brought them there came riding towards them. It had a well-appointed litter on it, and the curtains were thrown back to show an old man in burgundy robes, with a kafia wrapped around his head. His eyes were wide, and Puller worried he might be about to have a heart-attck, as the man looked to be at least sixty. When the beast stopped, he scrambled out and knelt, looking at them. He began talking quickly, in seemingly reverent tones that pulled at the edges of Indy’s memory.

“Is it berber?” he mused to himself. “Or maybe Chadic or Omotic? It sounds familiar, somehow…” He was brought out of his reflection when the Headman stood and motioned. “He wants us to follow him.” Indy said to Major Puller.

“How can you tell?”

“Because,” Indy mimicked the calling gesture. “he wants us to follow him.”

“We have no idea what they want, Doctor Jones. They could be cannibals.” One of the soldiers called over to him.

Indy shook his head. “I doubt it, given the numbers here. Besides, where there’s civilization there’s big stone tablets, and where there’s big stone tablets I can find the address home. Major,” He looked at Puller emploringly “if you want to get off this planet, this is gonna be our best chance.”

*One Hour Later*

After a flurry of radio and logistical wrangling, Indiana Jones, Albert Einstein, and many of the fine men of SMF-1 found themselves in the middle of the strangest military procession since Hannibal crossed the Alps. Thousands of the natives surrounded them, talking and laughing and pointing at the newcomers, whos’ presence apparently warranted an unscheduled holiday. Major Puller had called for support from base camp, and now the M3 car and Squad C were with them. Lieutenant Anders had been left in charge of the base camp, with the rest of the men and the other wireless, to hold the gate and be ready if Major Puller arrived “Suddenly in need of a position from which to mount a counterattack.”

The Headman’s entourage kept even with the M3, which now held both doctors, Major Puller, and a gunner standing in back who kept his hands near the trigger. Of course, the effectiveness of a single automatic machine gun while surrounded by over ten thousand primitive humans with lead hammers was marginal at best. The wind whistled over the dunes, getting stronger, and the men had had to stuff handkerchiefs in their gun barrels to keep them clear. Indy was trying to listen to the various conversations, and at times he could almost convince himself he recognized some of the words.

Suddenly, the convoy stopped, and the Headman motioned to Indy to come, pointing to the horizon. “Nagada” he said. Indy stood in the car, craning his neck, and over the next ridge he saw something out of the ancient world. A massive enceinte, a walled city that hugged the base of the mountains in the valley below, it was every ancient city he had ever dreamed of. He had been to Mesa Verde, Petra, Masada, and many more, but Nagada, home to over fifty thousand people, put them all to shame.

As they approached the city’s massive doors (which towered forty feet high) the procession melted into the bustling throng filling the streets. Shouts of greeting and cries of celebration filled the air, and the convoy stopped in some sort of market square. The headman stepped down, and his riding creature was herded into a corral where handlers clicked soothingly to it and removed its harnesses.

It was obvious to Major Puller the rest of their journey would be on foot. “Alright men, we’re on foot from here. Gage, Ricks, Johnson” he pointed at a lieutenant from squad C and two corporals with BARS, “you watch the cars. Let ‘em touch them all they want, but nobody sets a foot inside either. Warning shots are shooting to wound.” The men saluted, and stood alert. “Let’s keep walking, men. Doctor Jones,” Puller half bowed like a majordomo “after you.”

Indy followed the Headman, one hand resting on his pistol. The city was impressive, stone houses on the lower levels had been built to three and even four stories with mud brick as the population grew over the years, with rickety skyways of wicker and branches connecting buildings dozens of feet off the ground. The procession moved down a narrow street and into an even larger market. There was a raised stone platform, and above it a large object hung, shrouded in coarse blankets. The old man waved his hands, and the blanket fell. “RA!” A thousand voices shouted at the sight of the gleaming, golden disk.

He was astonished. It was a two-meter golden disk, polished to an almost mirrored shine. “It’s the sign of Ra, the Egyptian sun-god.” He said to Puller. “They must think he sent us.”

“I wonder what gave him that idea, Henry.” Einstein chuckled and tugged on the medallion around Indy’s neck.

A figure came running out from the crowd, relatively clean and short-haired. “Ernie!” Indy shouted. The young man was in native garb, but he still stood out like an elephant in an anthill.

“Doctor Jones!” He embraced the man. “Major Puller, Sir!” he saluted his superior “Its damn good to see you, sir. After I came through I looked around a bit, and some mastadge-herders found me and brought me here.”

“Mastadge?” Puller raised an eyebrow.

“Yes sir, those ugly bastards they use for pack animals.” Ernest pointed back to the corral.

“So you figured out how to speak their language? Excellent work, Lad.” Einstein clapped him on the shoulder.

“No sir, Doctor Einstein, not really.” He shook his head. “I can say yes, and no, but I spent a day helping drive a dozen back here from the pyramid, and they’re a pretty good visual aid.”

“Speaking of visual aids, this belongs to you.” Indy moved to take off the medallion, but Ernest grabbed his wrist.

“Better not, Sir.” Ernest looked around. “They seem to think you’re the emissary of Ra, it wouldn’t necessarily look good for you to cast off the seal of your office on your first day.”

Indy looked around at the cheering throng. “Right. Well, what do you suppose they have in mind? Does the voice of Ra have to do much paperwork?”

*Three hours later*

Crude fireworks and flashpots exploded over Nagada, while below the city rocked in celebration. The men of SMF-1 sat in places of honor beneath the sign of Ra in the meeting square while trays of food snaked their way through the crowd. Succulent fruits, flatbreads, and something that smelled and hopefully tasted like cheese were put in front of the men. Lieutenant Wethers called to Indiana “Do you figure its safe to eat? I once ran into a bad batch of gumbo down in Baton Rouge that laid me out for three days.”

Indy shrugged. “They’d probably be insulted if we didn’t try everything, maybe cut off our hands.” As he spoke, a large cooked lizard was set in front of him, steaming juice running down its back. It was so hideous, Indy doubted its own mother would love it. Doctor Einstein elbowed him in the ribs, and winked, the unspoken We wouldn’t want to insult them ringing in Indy’s ears. He shot Einstein and the rest of the men a withering glance as he pulled a piece out and chewed on it carefully, rolling it over on his tongue. “Tastes sorta like… chicken.”

“Doctor Jones,” Major Puller called out as a serving girl filled his ceramic mug with wine. “You said that that big disk was the sign of Ra?” Indy nodded. “Then doesn’t it stand to reason that if they know one Egyptian symbol they might know more?”

“Right.” Indy slid over next to where the Headman, Yasha, was sitting, and smoothed out the dust on the stone. He began to draw with one finger, sketching a quick hieroglyph. Yasha and the elders stared at it, as if it was a coiled snake. They began to talk quickly among themselves, and Indy feared he had done something wrong. He started to draw a second symbol, but Yasha waved him off, and rubbed out the writing with his hand.

“What’s going on, Jones?” Major Puller was now standing.

“It looks like writing is forbidden to them.” Indy sighed, and Einstein held the bridge of his nose and shook his head. At that moment, from several high towers in the city, horns began to blow. “What now?” He looked around. The men jumped to their feet and formed a ring, holding the platform as high ground.

“Back to the gate, men!” Puller started to head for the vehicles as the banquet dispersed. People ducked into homes and tables and blankets vanished from the square. They darted through the alley to the vehicles, where Lieutenant Gage and his men had been eating. “Start ‘em up, Gage! We’re leaving if we have to shoot a hole in that gate.” Faster than many would consider possible, the vehicles were humming and turned around, heading for the city’s gate.

Too slowly, as they approached they saw the massive timbers slam shut, and thick beams were thrown across it. Puller charged over to one of the gatekeepers and shook him “OPEN IT UP!” The man was terrified, almost frantic, but he didn’t move. Puller felt a tug on his sleeve, and shrugged it off, but a more insistent tug brought his attention to the young man from the mine, the one who had run off. He pointed to a wide ladder near the door, and began to scramble up, motioning for Puller to follow. “What the hell.” Puller followed after him. At the top they stared out across the valley, but the view was cut short by a wall of swirling blackness that was only a few miles away and approaching steadily. “It’s a sandstorm. At ease, men.”

“Well, I’m certainly glad we didn’t shoot them.” Einstein chuckled. “It would appear we are here for the night.”

Puller dropped down next to the men. “Can you reach Squad A?” He asked his signal man.

“Trying, sir. Its hard to make out.” The man held an earphone to his head. He flipped a switch on the set that rested on a young private’s back, and the static-filled message assaulted their ears. “-jor Puller, this is Squad Leader O’Dell.” The voice was barely audible over the screaming winds. “We have been forced to abandon base camp. We **** ing to the pyr*** storm lost *** will rebro***orm. Over.”

The signalman practically shouted into the pickup. “We hear you, O’Dell. We’ve got our own shelter, and we’ll call you in the morning. Watch out for aliens.” The radio switched off, and the men looked around at each other, and the crowd of natives and elders that surrounded them.

“Alright, Marines, it looks like we’re bunking here tonight.” Puller looked over at Yasha “I just hope they’ve got rooms.” He looked at the headman and waved at his men, as if to say ‘We’re all yours.’

Yasha called to the back of the crowd, and a gaggle of women came out, laughing amongst themselves. They grabbed Indiana and dragged him away from the marines. “Hey, watch it, I need that!” Indy tried to protest, but there were too many. “Hey Puller, a little help?” He stopped the group and looked to the Major emploringly.

Puller reached into a nearby soldier’s pack and removed a box of rubber condoms. “We don’t want to insult them, Doc!” He tossed them to Indy, who flashed a lopsided smile before he was whisked away. “Lucky bastard.”

[CaptainChewbacca]

Chapter 5

*SMF-1 Base Camp, Unknown Planet*

The winds howled outside the massive pyramid, and inside their wails echoed like distant coyotes circling a wounded animal. Two lanterns lit up most of the room, and a sterno flame boiled a pot of water for coffee. They were on canned rations and water from home, so there was no NEED to boil, but it was better to be safe than to shit your lungs out.

Inside a massive stone pyramid older than human history, eighteen men of SMF-1 took their ease, laughing about the places they were still finding sand. “Ai, I just took a crap and it came back dusty!” A private Green returned from the far corner they were using to relieve themselves, until the weather cleared. Nobody wanted sandblasted parts, either. Private Green walked over to the .30 caliber mount and took his seat; in their new position, the remaining Tucker car faced the open door with its guns ready, and the M1919 was now set behind their gear packs with its field of fire covering most of the room, including the Stargate. He picked up his tray and started to finish off his meal.

“Hey Green! Pass the TP!” a call came from the cooking stove. Corporal Sean ‘Skyman’ Anders, one of the gunners for the Tucker car stood up and dusted the crumbs off his butternut pants.

“Why don’t you use your girlie mag, Skyman?” One of the men joked, as Green pitched him the bag with the roll in it. Skyman laughed too; they gave him a hard time for having brought the latest issue of ‘Astounding’ instead of some more relaxing reading material. “Laugh all you want, you bastards!” Skyman showed them the cover with the title story Lost Pyramids of Mars. “It seems maybe these might be good for something after all.”

They all settled a bit as Skyman left for the corner, except another pair of privates who were sent to patrol the perimeter of the room. It was practically a forest, and even in weather like this, something could sneak in and they’d never see it until it sucked out their brains or… something. A quarter of the way through the patrol, the room began to shake. The marines all jumped up and grabbed their guns, except Skyman who hastily pulled up his pants while leaning on his gun with his free hand. Near the base of the stargate, the men looked around, unsure of what to do. “Earthquake!” one San Francisco native shouted. Their commander, however, shook his head, and pointed toward the ceiling, which was now raining dust. Over the howl of the storm they could hear a throbbing, rumbling roar which rattled their teeth and bones as it got louder. “What in God’s name is that?!” Private Green shouted.

“Sounds like it might be God!” a panicked corporal shot back.

In the middle of the ceiling, directly above their cooking fire, a hole over three meters across opened up, casting down a sinister blue light. Eight rings, similar to the stargate, but smaller, dropped down quickly, scattering the men who formed a rough horseshoe around the rings, weapons ready. The rings pulsed with a white light, and suddenly the marines weren’t alone.

Each creature was vaguely man-shaped, wearing some sort of banded plate armour that shimmered with a purplish hue. In their hands they held double-headed spears with rounded knobs on each end. Their heads, though, were straight from man’s collective nightmare. Each face was a cobra, spreading its hood and preparing to strike. The rings vanished as quickly as they had appeared, and the snake-men spun into a circle, backs to each-other, with their spears pointed out.

“Drop your weapons!” the commander shouted.

Without command, the spears of the snake-men seemed to split open, crackling with golden energy. “Jaffa, KREE!”

Private Green dropped to one knee and worked the action on his rifle. “Oh... FU-” was all that was heard before the room exploded in thunder and flame. Eight model 1903 Springfield rifles, two model 1918 Browning Automatic Rifles, and a .30 caliber model 1918 air-cooled machine gun opened fire, even as superheated balls of plasma rocketed towards them. The armor of the snake-men withstood some of the fire, but the sheer volume and punch of the bullets meant that inevitably some shots would get through.

The staff weapons were taking their toll, though, in the currency of missing limbs and holed torsos. In thirty short seconds, half the snake-men fell, but so did five marines. Under the heavy volume of fire, the snake-men shrank back, to the base of the gate, and the Marines thought for a moment they had them. Then, the rings fell again from the ceiling, and in a flash another twenty snake-men were there. The fighting was furious and chaotic, but soon the marines were being forced away from the gate. There were six left.

“Grenades!” The commander shouted, and each man tossed a grenade towards their enemy, to buy a few seconds. “Anders! Get in the gun mount!” He barked. “You three, get in and go, head west and pray to God that you find Puller, warn them about what happened.” He slapped Private Green, who had dragged the .30 caliber with him, on the shoulder. “Green and I will slow the fuckers down.” The men nodded, and crammed themselves into the car. Driving through a sandstorm might be suicide, but ten-to-one odds against space monsters with ray guns WAS suicide.

The commander lay on his belly, a pistol in each hand. He was wounded and bleeding out, but that couldn’t be helped. He wondered if maybe the eyes were weak. Couldn’t hurt. He peered through the smoke as Green fed a new belt into the gun. The eyes glowed, and if he could just… BLAM he saw an eye go dark. BLAM another spun away. Again, and again, while Green raked the gun back and forth, both of them were screaming.

They had felt the gravel kick up as the Tucker Tiger Tank sped away, and the whistle of bullets as Skyman fired the quad .50 over their heads. Slowly, the marine realized he was hitting empty chambers, and that Private Green was missing his head. He looked up, and through the smoke another snake monster strode, slowly. It levelled its staff at him and said something he didn’t understand. The lieutenant sneered. “The name’s Lieutenant Tony Evans. Remember it.” A flash of light and heat and he saw nothing more.

Temple of Ra, Abydos

He surveyed the battle, picking over the carnage for details that his mind needed. It was a mystery. “And you say fewer than twenty were here?” He bent down and picked up a bullet casing, turning it over in his fingers. “And none are Jaffa?”

“No, First Prime.” The Jaffa held up a colored patch, with a world bound by some sort of weapon and a bird with its wings spread. “All the Tau’ri bore this mark.” The first prime dropped the casing and held the insignia. He couldn’t make out the writing, and it didn’t seem to be the symbol of any of the System Lords. He frowned, he didn’t like not knowing, it would displease his god.

“We will search them out in the morning, hopefully we can catch them before they reach the city. If not, it will make our job much harder, but not impossible. We WILL be ready for Ra’s army when it arrives.” He looked to the two Jaffa. “Check for survivors or those near death, perhaps our Lord will show one mercy to gain answers. And gather all their belongings.”

“Yes, Master Bra’tac!”

He watched them run, and shook his head. Such a waste, to send good men to die in an ambush that never should have existed. One day, perhaps, Jaffa would be free of false gods, but until then he would serve his god, Apophis, to the best of his ability. Perhaps even one day Bra’tac could forgive himself for serving such a monster.

*Ahernabe Research Facility, Hamburg, Germany*

Alfred Rosenberg was going to die. There was no question about it, they were going to put him up against a wall and shoot him. They had just begun to study the strange device brought back from Antarctica when disaster struck. Certainly the thing was fascinating. It was over seven meters across, covered in strange and unknown writings, and made of a metal previously unknown to mankind. Well, nearly unknown, because they HAD had another device, which had vanished like a whore’s looks in good lighting. Rosenberg nervously paced in front of the device, wringing his hands. It had been his responsibility, never mind that it was the goddamn ARMY that had lost it. He hadn’t been there.

“Herr Doctor Rosenberg, it is good to see you!” The jovial voice of the Reichsfuhrer-SS boomed across the room. He strode confidently, followed by a man in the uniform of an SS Obersturmannfuhrer. Both men exuded energy, but while Himmler’s was forced humor and masked a deadly lethality, the other man fairly glared panzers.

Rosenberg saluted. “It is an unexpected honor to have you here, sir, we have only begun to study the device-”

“Chappa-Ai.” Rosenberg was startled by the dangerous man’s outburst. “Or ‘stargate’ if you prefer.” The other man spoke in a rich tenor, with a trace of an English accent.

Himmler grinned. “Doctor Rosenberg, I don’t want you to worry about the loss of the other device. Think nothing of it, your project is back on schedule.” He stepped aside, and the other man stepped forward. “I want you to meet a new associate of the SS, Obersturmannfuhrer Temmel.”

“Please the title is purely for show,” the man stepped forward and shook Rosenberg’s trembling hand, and his eyes glowed. “Call me Herr Seth.”

[CaptainChewbacca]

Chapter 6

Hawthorne NAD, Gateroom
20 Hours after second activation

Major Hanneken was quite convinced that Hawthorne was the fastest growing town in Nevada. In the last 36 hours over a thousand extra personnel had poured into the base, from engineers and electricians trying to repair the power systems to carpenters to build barracks for them. The motor-pool had tripled inside, and dozens more jeeps were parked on still-soft asphalt. Scientists and experts from around the world (physicists and Egyptologists alike) now called Hawthorne their home away from home. It was one of these scientists who was now seated in Major Hanneken’s spartan office.

“So you see, Major, my system should solve all of your power transmission problems, and prevent the sort of hazardous feedback you have been experiencing.” Seated on a wooden folding chair was a thin, elderly man who only two days ago had been sitting alone in a hotel room in New York City. Some of the men on the project had called him crazy, and had urged Hanneken not to bring him, but General Leslie Groves himself had called him, and a phone call from on high tended to motivate a man.

“I’m sorry Doctor Tesla, but I’m a military man, I’m no wizard of technology like you are. I still don’t understand how you’re going to get the power to the Stargate.” Hanneken rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I need to be sure your procedure is safe.”

Tesla laughed slightly. “Its not at all dangerous, Major, though I must confess I’m no wizard.” He cleared his throat three times. “Its really very simple. Imagine that the earth is a smooth, usable conductor for electricity. Now, I have a power plant here,” he placed a fingertip on a piece of paper on the desk. “And I need to get the power to here.” He placed another finger at the opposite end. “Now, to get the electricity from one end to the other, you could build wires.” He placed a pen on the paper and then moved it back and forth with the fingertips. “Or, you could simply send the power through the wave structure inherent in the earth.” He pushed aside the pencil, and simply slid the paper back and forth with his fingers.”

“And your devices send the power through the earth?” The Major was starting to grasp the idea.

The old man nodded “Exactly correct, Major. My self-regenerative wave transformer sends power safely anywhere, but you need another transformer to retrieve it. I developed it over thirty years ago after my research in Colorado.”

“But if its such a good and safe way to move power around, why do we need power lines or the TVA?”

Tesla sighed. “Because if power is freely available through the air and soil, Major, then there’s no way to appropriately tax people for it. Besides, would you believe the word of a man who built a shack in the desert and set up a lightning machine?”

Major Hanneken frowned. “Maybe not, Doctor.”

“At any rate, that is in the past.” Tesla stood and smoothed his coat. “Now, let’s see about turning on that Stargate of yours. Its marvellous, really, the way it transmits energy. I only wish I had more of whatever its made of.”

***

*Nagada, Unknown Planet

Indy had travelled the world, and met more primitive peoples than he could count. He was an honorary Massai warrior, a full member of the Garifuna council of chiefs, and among the Wagiman of northern Australia he was known as “Far-Running Champion”. In Nagada, however, he was the emissary of Ra, and as he was forcibly attended to by a number of old women he had a feeling that he had a ceremonial ‘duty’ to perform. They’d taken his hat, whip, and gun, though he made sure he could see them from where he was. When they tried to take his pants, he almost hit one of them, but with their chatter and clucking of tongues he slowly found himself put in robes very similar to ancient Hittite wedding robes.

They filed out one by one, laughing to themselves. As soon as they left, he let out a sigh and picked up his gun, tucking it into the folds of the robe. “Better safe than sorry.” He muttered. A rustling behind him caused him to spin around, reaching for the gun, but he stopped short. Standing before him was a vision of loveliness, like one of the goddesses of the ancient world come to life. She wore a purple dress, draped around her in loose folds, with a gauzy veil adorned with polished jewels covering her face. Her feet were bare, and even at a distance Indy could smell her perfumed body. She looked afraid, though not necessarily of him.

Indy vaguely remembered seeing her at dinner, as one of the attendants serving Yasha. A daughter, most likely, which would make her something of a princess in her small world. Indy was pretty sure that in this society she was being offered to him, hopefully to produce a demi-god offspring as a blessing for her people. She started to undress, slowly, under Indy’s gaze, when he suddenly realized himself. “Not…” he grabbed her hand and looked into her eyes “Just a minute.” He went to the door and raised the flap. Sure enough, the village elders were waiting outside, hoping that everything went well and Ra was pleased.

“Right. Can’t refuse a sincere gift.” Indy remembered the story of a colleague who had refused to take a shaman’s gift of horses in outer Mongolia, and who had paid for the affront with the loss of his left hand. Sure, they might not kill Ra, but they could kill the marines. He sat down on one of the blankets, and motioned for the girl to sit next to him. He pointed to himself. “Indy.”

She mimicked him, pointing to herself. “Indy.”

Nobody gets it on the first try. He thumped his chest with his palm “Indy.”

A light of realization dawned in her eyes. She tapped her chest “Lishai.”

There was an awkward pause. She was very beautiful, but Indy wasn’t sure what would happen in the minds of these people if a god took one of their women to his bed. It could complicate things. “I… came from the Pyramid,” he mimed a sloping roof over his head. “Wait, let’s try this.” He drew a pyramid on the dirt next to them, with a ramp and walking feet coming out. Lishai reached out, and smoothed away the feet and ramp, and from one of the corners she drew a line coming out with a circle at the end.

“Earth!” Indy almost shouted, recognizing the symbol. He laughed, and looked at her. “You’ve seen this?” He pointed to his eyes, and to the symbol. “You’ve seen this? Take me.” He grabbed her hand and pointed away. Lishai shook her head, and pointed to the door, saying something he couldn’t understand. “Damn, forgot.” The thought of finding a way home had lifted his spirits, though, and he smiled at her, and she laughed. She leaned into him, and kissed him gently. Indy broke away, and shrugged. “What the hell, so it gets complicated. I only need one arm.”

***
*Nagada, Mastadge Corral

Major Puller looked out at the dark, angry sky. Even in the night, he could hear and see the storm swirling overhead, scouring the rooftops of the taller buildings. He let the flap close, and turned back to the common room. Here, the marines were laughing and gesturing with Kasuf and his friends over some gambling game that involved stones that were red on one side and white on the other, and copious amounts of alcohol. The men didn’t know if they were winning or loosing, but they were all enjoying themselves, save Corporal Wethers and another unlucky private, who were on ‘sober duty’ and had their guns ready. At this point, nobody really expected a fight, but they were marines and were always on alert.

Private Brown gathered all the stones in a wooden box, and shook it. From his pocket, he pulled out a slightly deformed Hershey bar, warped from the heat. The boys whooped and laughed, a few had already won chocolate bars, and they were fast developing a taste. Brown spoke one of the few words he’d learned; “Koneda.” Which, as far as the marines could tell meant “Ante up.” Kasuf placed a leather pouch, two knives, and a jar of something that could almost certainly be deemed ‘contraband’ back at Hawthorne on the table. Brown nodded, and together they chanted “Wiyaw, sinway, hamtaw, REAKHET!” Together they overturned the box on the table, and then lifted it up.

The youths howled as they studied the ‘battle’ which had taken place, and apparently Brown’s red stones had sufficiently outflanked and outmaneuvered Kasuf’s white stones, carrying the field. They slapped Brown on the back, congratulating him, and drinks and flatbread with some sort of vegetable paste were passed around. Kasuf made a show of being upset, but it was all in good fun. Brown tossed the candy bar to him; he didn’t really care for chocolate, and Kasuf tried to give it back, but his own desire for sugar won out.

It had been several hours since Indiana had been taken by the women, and the marines could only joke about what sort of ‘hell’ he must be going through. By the suggestive laughs and gestures from the youths, Indy was in for an interesting (and exhausting) night. As the evening wore on, the men stretched out on mats and blankets, with two new marines relieving the two guards.

As the room settled down, one of the marines looked out the tent flap. In the dim light, he thought he could see two figures, a man and a woman, climb out of a window across the square and dart down a side-street. What they could be doing in weather like this was no concern of his, though he figured people must cheat on their wives or husbands no matter what side of the galaxy you were in.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Chapter 7

*Temple of Ra, Abydos*

Bra’tac was worried. According to the intelligence they had received from their spies in Ra’s army, the Supreme Lord of the Goa’uld would be coming to Abydos in a matter of days. He had been given only a small task force by Apophis to set this trap, and he feared with half his men gone he would fail his god. Goa’uld sensors would detect any explosive devices in the ring system, so he and his men were supposed to conceal explosives within the walls of the temple and then he would detonate it when they landed. Unfortunately, the work was slow going. “Del’nor!” he called to one of the Jaffa “How is the work progressing!”

“It is difficult, Master Bra’tac.” The Jaffa put down a cutting implement and sighed. “We must hide hundreds of small devices, and we simply do not have the time. We could try to concentrate them in one part of the temple…” He suggested hopefully.

“No,” Bra’tac shook his head. “Unless we have total coverage, there is no way to guarantee the total destruction of Lord Ra’s Ha’tak.”

“Then, with respect, perhaps it is best to continue to work and get as much coverage as possible.”

A grim determination settled on the men. They would spend their lives trying to fulfil an impossible task. One of the jaffa ad an inspiration. “How close is the city, Master Bra’tac? Ra placed a large human settlement here for mining naquadah.”

Bra’tac smiled as he followed the warrior’s reasoning. “Yes, thousands of skilled stoneworkers. And if they are caught, he will believe the people are disloyal and discipline them, which may MAKE them disloyal.”

“But Master Bra’tac,” another jaffa spoke “we are not Horus guards, we would appear different.”

Bra’tac activated his helmet and the armor deployed around him. “Do you think it matters to humans which god is commanding them?”

*Nagada, Unknown Planet*

Major Puller was up with the dawn, but some of the youths had still beaten him to rising. Already they were laying out plates of bread and dried meat, and clay pans of water were set to one side. He moved quickly to get to the pans, they were communal and God help the man who was the last of twenty to wash. He nodded to the marines on guard duty, who were both alert and enjoying their breakfast. The sky was an odd color of gold, the traces of the sandstorm still in the upper atmosphere.

“Any word from base camp, Littlefield?” He asked Ernest, who was working with the radio.

“No Sir.” He shook his head. “It’s damn spooky; There’s no interference from weather, they just aren’t radioing back.”

Puller frowned. “Maybe their set got caught in the storm and shot to hell. At any rate, we’ll get Jones and hoof it back to the pyramid.” He checked his watch, still on Mountain Time. “We’ve got another four hours until they dial us, and I don’t want to miss it.”

“Oh… Mein GOTT but my back is sore.” A cacophony of creaks and pops echoed through the room, all originating in the joints of a very stiff Albert Einstein. Clearly, a thin matt on a stone floor did not agree with him. One of the youths said something to Kasuf and mimed breaking a stick, which made Kasuf laugh loudly and then look embarrassed. “I don’t suppose there’s any coffee?” The bleary-eyed Austrian shuffled towards the clay pan rubbing his stubbly jaw.

“I’m afraid not, Professor.” Puller smirked. Compared to some of his other deployments, this was almost as good as a stateside barracks. “But eat up, we’ve got to find Doctor Jones. I’m guessing he didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“Kasuf!” He called. The young man came in quickly, appreciating the honor that having hosted Ra’s servants in his home would bring. “We need to find Doctor Jones.” The boy stared at him blankly. “Right, no English. Ok, he’s the guy who was with us.” He motioned to all of them. “He had a weird hat,” he mimed a fedora on his head. “And a whip on his belt.” He watched as Kasuf and his friends imitated him. He looked to Einstein, pleadingly. “Any ideas, Professor?”

“Ah… hmmm…” Einstein frowned, and then got an idea. He picked up a length of leather cord, and hung it around his neck. With one hand he made a circle with his thumb and middle finger, and let the tip of his index finger sit in the middle, imitating an eye, and then rested his hand against the cord. The boys laughed and nodded, and motioned for them to follow him.

“Good work, Professor.” Puller patted him on the back as the marines gathered their gear.

He shrugged. “It was easier than explaining wormholes to Major Hanneken.”

Outside one of the boys was opening the Mastadge corral, and another was urging one out. Kasuf produced Indiana’s shirt from some pouch, and held it under the beast’s nose.

Puller laughed, disbelieving. “You’ve gotta be shi-” The creature bellowed and took off like a shot, with Kasuf and his friends chasing after it and waving for them to follow him.

*Hidden Cave, Nagada*

As Kasuf led the marines down a narrow maze of twisting passages, even Major Puller was impressed by the antiquity of them. They were covered with ancient pictures and writings, seemingly telling a story. As they rounded a corner, they found Indy and Yasha’s daughter, Lishai. They were talking back and forth in halting sentences, in the local language.

“I thought you couldn’t speak their language, Doctor Jones.” Puller raised an eyebrow.

Indy shrugged. “I couldn’t. I had to hear it spoken; it hasn’t been a living language on earth in two thousand years, and with the writing here, Lishai-” he gestured to the woman, who bowed at hearing her name “taught me how to pronounce it.”

Ernest stepped forward, awestruck by the room. “So you understand all of this, Doctor?” His wave encompassed all the pictographs.

“Yeah, I think so.” Indy stood up and dusted his hands. He pointed to a section of the wall. “Now, thousands of years ago, some alien jerk named Ra, from ‘beyond the stars’ took a human boy from Earth and ‘joined’ with him, somehow.” He pointed to a picture of a figure on a throne. “He then ruled over earth for a few thousand years, forcing the people to worship and serve him. He had the secret of eternal life and taught us how to build the pyramids at Giza, and he took people from earth to here to work as slaves.”

“Everything we know about history will have to be changed.” Ernest shook his head, eyes shining as he studied the images.

“Probably.” Indy walked further down and gestured to another part. “Now it looks like here there was an uprising on Earth, and Ra couldn’t hang on or it wasn’t worth it, but they kicked him out and buried the stargate. Here, though, Ra kept ahold of things by outlawing reading and writing.”

“Hey Doc, look at this!” Corporal Wethers called. He was holding a torch and pointing to one of the alcoves that was secluded off the main room. Indy and the other marines crowded in, looking at what the torchlight revealed. Laying there was a stone tablet with symbols that Indy recognized immediately from the stargate in the pyramid.

“The people must’ve hid this here, in the hopes that one day the gate would be re-opened.” He inspected the tablet. The seventh symbol was worn almost completely off, but there was a faint imagine on a fragment there that should help him narrow it down to a handful of possibilities. “You know what this means? It means we can go home!”

Cheers (and a few rebel yells) went up from the men, but quickly more shouting could be heard back at the tunnel entrance. “Ah hell.” Indy sighed. “They say that more of my ‘servants’ are here, seriously injured and in a silver chariot.” He pushed his way through the marines and started trotting back through the corridors.

Puller sprinted to keep up with him, his rifle swaying rhythmically on his back. “You know, I was beginning to worry that this was going to be too easy.” He laughed easily, but he was worried about his men.

Back in the open, they emerged on the edge of a plaza that was filled with people milling around a badly battered Tucker car. Corporal Anders was attending to another marine, a Private Weylan, who was laying on the ground covered in the bloody remains of a field jacket while the other two marines stood numbly holding their rifles, their eyes looking haunted.

“Medic!” Puller called to his man, their one field medic who, thank God, had his gear with him. He reached Weylan at the same time as several healers from the city did. They began to work to stop the bleeding. “Corporal Anders, what the hell happened to you?” Puller was concerned. He had a sinking feeling that half of his force was now dead. Anders didn’t respond. “SKYMAN!”

“SIR!” His voice quavered. He hadn’t been deployed overseas, and his first taste of combat had been almost more than he could bear. “Sir, we were in the Pyramid, waiting out the storm, when it sounded like God Almighty came down on the building. Something in the ceiling opened, and it started dropping down these snake-men who had these ray guns and started shooting. We killed some of ‘em, Sir, but more kept coming. When most of the men were killed, Lieutenant Evans ordered us to retreat and try to contact you. He and Private Green held the Snakes off until we got out of there.” He ran a grubby hand across his forehead, pushing his helmet back. “It was a nightmare, sir. We had to run buttoned up, using a compass and blind luck until the storm cleared. Then we found our way here.”

“Good work, Corporal.” Puller put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a fatherly squeeze. The kid would be fine, a sharp blade tempered by fire. “Get washed up and then we’ll have someone take you guys to get some rest.” Skyman nodded weakly, and accepted a bowl of water handed to him.

“Dear God, what do we do now?” Einstein had joined the group and had heard the story. The medic and the women had finished cleaning Weylan’s wounds, but he was going to need a field transfusion. Fortunately, two marines were a match for him, and so they all retired to Kasuf’s home.

“What do we do?” Puller laughed. “We get our men in shape, head for that pyramid, kill a helluva lot of snake-martians, and go home. THAT’S what we do.”

“But we’re probably outnumbered!”

“Then there’ll be enough for us all to shoot at.”

Suddenly the horn in the high tower sounded again, and the people suddenly began to scatter. Yasha spoke to Indy, who answered back quickly and turned to Puller. “He says that soldiers of the god Apophis approach the city. He wants to know if we intend to battle them or simply destroy them with our power.”

Major Puller thought for a moment, then smiled. “Well, let’s hear what they have to say.”

*Nagada, Abydos*

Bra’tac led his men confidently through the city. He walked ahead of eight Jaffa, all armed with staff weapons and in armor, which was more than a match for anything on this planet. The people gave way in deference to the ‘gods’ walking among them, in reality it was the terrible power of his Lord that these people feared. In the city square, the elders of Nagada waited to greet him. “We of Nagada are humbled to serve you, great one, in the hopes that you might show mercy.” Yasha bowed low.

“The Lord Apophis has sent me to gather workers for a great task in the temple. For the labor of thirty of your best stone-workers, you will be shown mercy.” Bra’tac was slightly troubled by the elders. They didn’t quite show the level of fear he was used to.

“I’ve got a better idea.” A strange voice called out behind him. Bra’tac whirled and opened his staff, then paused as he saw a strangely-dressed man holding what looked like half of a zat’nik’itel. “Why don’t you drop your weapons before you get shot?”

“I think not, human.” Bra’tac laughed. “Your men in the temple could not defeat us, and you will not harm me with your weapon.”

“You’re probably right, but those guys,” Indy pointed, and what had been a pile of baskets suddenly revealed itself to be the strange vehicle from last night, its unmistakable cannons pointing at him. “And those guys,” Indy gestured to the light machine gun squads who now stepped out of doorways. “They’ll harm the shit out of you.”

Bra’tac, First Prime of Apophis, knew when he was outmanoeuvred. “You have a point, human.” He saw the pendant around Indy’s neck. “I imagine Ra will be pleased with your service.”

Indy walked up to him and took the staff. “I hate to break it to you, but I’d just as soon kill you, Apophis, and Ra, and go home.”

“Then we have much to talk about, Human.” The First Prime sized up the human and his men.

“The name’s Indiana Jones.” Indy smiled back.

*Elizabeth, New Jersey*

Steve Badami had had a long day. As the head of the DeCavalcante family, he was an important man, even if the Five Families called them ‘The Farmers’. He owned half of Atlantic City, and half the judges in Jersey. They did ok bootlegging, running numbers, and protection, but lately he had been pushing his business interests into shipping and salvage. There was bread to be made doing honest work, and if that honest work got them to and from the rum line without the Feds spotting them, well so much the better.

He said goodnight to Guiseppe, his consigliere, and stepped into his private suite. He poured himself a drink, and sat down, flipping through the paper.

“Hey there, Big Man.” A sultry voice called from an open doorway. Christina Tortiona, a bombshell of a woman from one of Atlantic City’s speakeasies, had been better known as Misses Badami for almost eight years, but she still caught the eye as much as she had the day they laid eyes on each-other. She wore a barely covering silk robe, and crossed the room slowly, sitting in his lap. “How was work?”

“Ah… it was alright.” Steve waved a hand, and then settled it on her hip. “Its looking like the new setup we’ve got will get a crew down to four hundred feet.” He watched her smile broaden, it was what they’d been working towards for so long. “How about you, anything interesting happen?”

“Well, as a matter of fact,” She gracefully leaned over and grabbed a large envelope off the table. “I was down getting my nails done, and talking with some of the girls,” which was what she called her information contacts. “And guess what some spook was having smuggled to his superiors.”

Steve opened the envelope and pulled out the pictures. He did a double-take and dropped his drink. The glass shattered, but he didn’t care; he had people to clean that up. “Holy Toledo! They found it.”

“Don’t get too excited yet, darling.” She patted his face and climbed out of his lap. “Its also the only thing they found. Nobody’s talking about the big one.”

“Well, its something, and if we find that, we won’t need the salvage.” Steve stood up and pulled her close, kissing her passionately. “Now, my queen, what’s say we celebrate?” They headed for the bedroom, with Christina close behind. She took a moment to set the envelope on a bookshelf, next to two jars. They were Egyptian funerary jars, and quite out of place in a mobster’s house, unless you knew that Steve Badami was no ordinary made man.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Chapter 8

*Nagada, Abydos*

The meeting hall of the Elders was crowded, even more so than during last night’s feast, filled with marines, Jaffa, and nervous humans. The Jaffa had surrendered their staff weapons, but Puller didn’t think they were any less deadly without them. Part of him wanted to hate this Master Bra’tac for what had happened to his marines, but he felt a connection to the alien, the man, a ‘soldier’s bond’. It was obvious the alien commander had nothing but contempt for the native Nagadans, but that wasn’t too strange. Put him in a different uniform and he might have been a colonel in His Majesty’s Colonial Forces, or even the French Foreign Legion.

The twelve surviving members of SMF-1, less than half the number they left earth with, and Bra’tac’s Jaffa eyed each-other nervously as Bra’tac spoke explained his mission to Puller. “And, once we had secreted the naquada bombs in the frame of the pyramid, we would only have to wait until Ra’s personal ship landed to remotely detonate them. A great victory for Lord Apophis, and a remarkable chance to throw the System Lords into disarray.”

“Yeah, about that…” Puller frowned “Exactly who are these Martians you keep talking about?”

“They are Goa’uld, human, and the rulers of this galaxy.” The Jaffa master looked around. “Even the minor lords command a handful of worlds, but the Great Lords like Apophis, Cronus, and Yu command-“

“Me?” Major Puller asked.

“No, Lord Yu. The Golden Emperor.” Bra’tac sighed.

“Sounds like the first emperor of China, Major.” Indy chimed in. The Major shrugged.

“As I said, human, the great system lords command dozens or hundreds of worlds, armies of Jaffa and fleets of ships. They battle for position, but Ra presides above all others.”

“That’s good news for us.” All eyes turned to Indy. “Well, it’s a semi-feudal society, like the old Italian states. If we kill the space-pope, it’s every ah… Goa’uld for himself.” He pronounced the word carefully.

“So why does that help us Doctor Jones? We’ve never even heard of these bastards.” Weathers waved a hand.

“But they’ve heard of us.” Anders spoke up. “If they’ve been to earth before, they can come back anytime.”

“You are correct, human.” Bra’tac nodded. “It is not the way of the System Lords to allow worlds to advance enough to become a threat. Word of the deaths of my men at unkown hands will no doubt reach Apophis soon and then, unless distracted, a search for your world will begin.”

“Well, shit.” Puller kicked the dirt at his feet. “I guess we’ve got a space-pope to kill, then. We need a different plan, though.”

“Why is that, human?”

Puller took out a cigarette and lit it. “Because I want to be able to get home after this is done, and dropping a spaceship on the only way out of here is a bad idea. Besides, a great honking metal pyramid coming down on top of us? Only a crazy person would attack it, so they’ll never expect us.”

“Human,” Bra’tac smiled. “I think I may like you. Please don’t force me to kill you.” He stuck out his hand.

“Same here, Bra’tac.” Puller shook the alien hand. “And call me Major.”


*Ten Hours Later*

Supreme Lord Ra, Sovereign of a Thousand Worlds, Master of Life and Death, and First Among the System Lords was bored. He sat gloomily on his throne as he watched his servants writhe in an elaborate display of movement and lust, performing every possible permutation of the human form. They’d been at it all day, and it was tedious. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, really. He had found earth millennia ago, and had cast aside his Unas host in favour of a more adaptable, easily repairable form. The human body, combined with the sarcophagus, had granted him immortality.

The other Goa’uld lords had been envious of Ra’s discovery, and had pledged loyalty and obedience (as well as hefty economic concessions) in exchange for human slaves with which to seed the galaxy. Those pledges had left him unquestionably in control of the system lords. Though he no longer had a monopoly on humans, he had held it long enough to get extremely good at holding on to his power. Ra hadn’t even had a decent opponent to battle in centuries, and the last spacefaring power he’d battled had been the Oannes. Marduk’s betrayal had nearly spelled the end of the System Lords, but that was past. Ra felt one of the up-and-coming lords, either Apophis or Baal, might make a play in a century or two, but there was still plenty of time to deal with them.

Until then, however, Ra amused himself by overseeing his vast holdings. Currently he was on an expedition of pleasure to several of his supply worlds. They were mildly entertaining, showing his power and having cities of humans cry his name. He might even pick up a few new slaves for his personal retinue.

“Lord Ra.” His first prime, Horus, entered the chamber, studiously ignoring the display. He bowed low before his god. “We have begun our descent to Abydos.”

“Excellent.” Ra stood and beckoned for his attendants to dress him. He relished the rumbling in the floor as the hull of the ship grazed the atmosphere of a world that belonged to him.

The rumble subsided, and the top of the ship split, allowing the golden light of Abydos to flood the room. Ra affixed his headpiece, preparing to show his slaves the face of their god. Suddenly a great crash echoed through the ship, and a dull, repetitive rapping sound.

“What is going on?!” Ra thundered through his helmet.

“MY LORD! A Jaffa ran into the throne room, scattering the children. “We sent an honor detail down to secure the platform, but enemies were waiting. Jaffa and human slaves with strange weapons were suddenly in the cargo bay, and took the guards by surprise. We locked the section but-“ Another crash echoed.

“But what,” Ra lifted the Jaffa by the throat.

The Jaffa was frightened, looking into the unfeeling face of his god. “They have brought an iron chariot, Lord. It spews fire and iron and thunder.”

[CaptainChewbacca]

(Chapter 8 cont.)

*Four Decks Down*

Bullets cracked off armor as bolts of raging hellfire streaked through the cramped corridor. It was hell on earth, though Private Brown mused from inside the turret of the Tiger they weren’t actually ON earth. Hunched over in the middle of the seating compartment, with a helmet fitting loosely over his frizzy hair, Albert Einstein was decidedly less thoughtful. He had been a pacifist all his life, but the chance to observe the inside of an otherworldly ship had been too tempting to pass up. He covered his ears, as the quad-mounted .50 caliber gun on the roof roared, mowing down the defending Jaffa.

Outside, Major Puller was in his element. From the moment they materialized in the cargo hold, the battle had been joined. The marines and Bra’tac’s jaffa advanced slowly down the corridors, using the armoured car for cover while laying down a withering fire at their rear. As they came to a corridor junction, suddenly they began taking fire from their flanks. Cursing, he started tossing grenades.

“Sir, they’ve got us pinned down on all sides!” Lieutenant Wethers called out over the din.

“Swell! Then we’ll kill them no matter which way we shoot!” He continued to pick off enemy jaffa, his bullets finding weak spots in the joints of their armor. Slowly but surely, the numbers of people shooting at the strike team diminished.

“JAFFA KREE!” Bra’tac and his men surged forward against the final position, engaging in a brutal hand-to-hand brawl. Skulls and bone shattered audibly as the not-quite-human warriors dealt each-other blows that would have floored an earthman. As quickly as it began, suddenly the air was calm. The humans and Jaffa looked around, in disbelief. The trail of bodies they had left outnumbered their own casualties by at least eight to one.

“Which way, Bra’tac?” Major Puller took a moment to light a cigarette. The near-identical nature of the golden corridors was confusing to him. Before Bra’tac could speak, a heavy bulkhead slammed down with a clang, sealing one of the corridors.

“I’m gonna guess that one.” Indy smirked as he reloaded his pistol.

“Indeed.” Bra’tac sighed. “Beyond that door is access to the engine room as well as the only path to the command level. We do not have the tools or the time to overcome this door. We must abandon your chariot and move quickly, down to the second under-level and across the ship.”

“Forgive me.” Albert’s head poked out of the door of the Tiger, and he gingerly stepped to the deck. “But I have found that when presented with a problem…” He gestured to the 61 mm mortar they had recovered from the remains of their camp in the temple, ‘it is best to look at it from a different angle.”

“Doc,” Puller took a puff on his cigarette. “I think you might be my favourite person on this planet.”

***

Ra’s personal bodyguard were nervous. Handpicked from his best forces, these were warriors who had been in the service of their god for over a century. And yet, in all that time, nothing so terrible had ever been on their god’s ship. Not even the deadly Ashrak were as implacable as the iron monster they now faced. “You will hold here.” Horus ordered them. “The bulkhead will stop them, and if they come around they will still have to come through you to get to our lord Ra. Your god demands your utmost this day.” He turned and raced up the corridor to heed his god.

“We live to serve!” The Jaffa bellowed. “Jaffa Kree!” They readied themselves, eyeing the corridors leading from the under-level. The silent minutes ticked by, and the Jaffa shifted nervously.

One Jaffa spoke up. “Perhaps we-” but nobody would ever continue his hypothesis, because at that moment the bulkhead splintered into a shower of firey splinters. Immediately following it, a hail of bullets and plasma whizzed through the smoke, cutting them down. The marines charged into the room, a few finishing off the still-moving with a quick bayonet thrust.

“Here we must divide our forces.” Bra’tac turned to Major Puller. “Your chariot will be able to navigate the route to engineering. My pupil, Teal’c, will guide you. He is trained in the control systems of the Goa’uld, and will be able to direct you.” He gestured to a hulking, dark-skinned Jaffa who merely inclined his head slightly.

“I will be honoured to lead your men, Major Puller.” Teal’c tightened his grip on his staff.

“Great.” Puller called out to his men. “Gage! You take the Tiger and your men with him. And Doctor?” He eyed Albert. “Please don’t get killed. I’m pretty sure I’ll catch hell if you do.”

The Tiger rumbled, turning down the ramp which would take them to the heart of the ship. “Come.” Teal’c and half the Jaffa tromped after it.

Corporal Johnson shook his head. “Taking orders from an alien, and a nigger too.”

“Hey.” Gage grabbed his arm. “From here on you take orders from me, not anyone else. And I take orders from whoever I like, I don’t care if its Charlie goddamn Chaplain, you’ll follow MY orders or I’ll shoot you myself, got that?” Then they rounded a corner and were out of site.

Major Puller smiled. He was going to have to write something good about Gage when they got back. A man was entitled to his opinions, he didn’t fault Johnson for that, but in life or death situations it was best to shut the hell up. “All right, Bra’tac, let’s go kill this bastard.”

***

*Command Deck*

“My Lord!” Horus shouted. “The intruders continue to advance. Some bear the mark of Apophis, but many wear strange emblems and have weapons I have never seen.”

Ra was furious. In a single hour his ship had been ruined and half his honour guard slain. The gall of a System Lord to attack him directly, and to send human slaves to do it. “This world is no longer safe for us.” He went to a table and picked up a disk with a glowing gem in the centre. “Take this to the surface, use my personal transporter. Abydos will know ultimate suffering for this betrayal.”

Horus took the bomb and bowed low. “I will return with honour, Lord.” He ran to a ring transporter and activated the controls.

Ignoring the flash of light, Ra opened a second case and removed a small piece of jewellery. Beautiful and deadly, he ran a finger over it’s red gem. He would deal with the intruders personally, as a god should.

Smoke and gunfire soon reached Ra, and he watched as his jackal guards were driven back into the room. Bullets and staff blasts criss-crossed the open space of the room, but Ra didn’t flinch. He strode to the end of the dais. “Hold!” He held out his hand, and the Jaffa suddenly stayed their weapons.

“Your time is at an end, false god!” Bra’tac shouted.

“And you, first prime, would kill me in service of your own god?” Ra laughed.

“I will kill you for myself, and for all Jaffa that we may be free of false gods!” Bra’tac brought up his staff and fired. Thunder and smoke bellowed, but the bolt simply glanced off a shield that shimmered around Ra. Ra’s bodyguard stood silently, in awe of their god’s power.

“Foolish Jaffa, to challenge your god’s authority is folly.” Ra raised a hand and the air in front of him shimmered as a bolt of rippling force shot from his hand. Bra’tac was lifted off his feet and slammed backward into the wall. Walking to a control panel, Ra worked the controls and the ship began to rumble. “We will leave this world, and you mortals will be tortured for my amusement for centuries.

“The hell we will! You ain’t my god, you sissy boy!” Major Puller raised his BAR and began spraying bullets. The rest of SMF-1 did as well, and for a few heartbeats Ra was hidden behind his shimmering shield. But then another shimmering wave flashed out, and the marines were struck down.

“You, human.” Ra pointed at Indy. At the edge of the blast, Indy was still conscious and on his knees. “You bear my mark.” Cloak billowing, Ra made his way towards him as the ship continued to shake and rise.

Indiana’s head was ringing, and his teeth felt like they were electric. His gun was useless, with only a single round left against the shield. He watched the alien ruler coming, and saw the cloak waver and brush a decorative column. A flash of inspiration, and his hand dropped to his waist, gripping the handle at his belt. Slowly, unsteadily, he rose to his feet. “Wait, my lord… I wish to give you a gift.” He said in the language of the Nagadans.

Ra was taken aback. “Me? What could you offer me that I would spare your life, human?”

“Kangaroo-hide.” With a rustling crack, the whip flashed out and struck Ra’s eye. The demigod cried out in pain and raised his hands to his face. Indy rushed in, putting his shoulder into Ra’s chest and bowling him back. He grabbed his wrist, and raising his M1917 revolver his fired it through the glowing bracelet at point blank range.

“What…” Ra crumpled on the floor in pain, delirious and in shock.

“It’s called a reformation. Get used to it.” Indy muttered as he ran over to Major Puller and his men who were slowly recovering, along with the Jaffa. “How you feeling, Major?”

“I feel like hell, Jones. Nice bit of work there.” Puller got to his feet. “Guess he wasn’t god after all.”

“They never are, Major. Trust me.” Indy looked around. “Am I crazy, or are we flying?”

“Yes, we are.” Bra’tac was conscious once more. “But Teal’c and the rest should have successfully taken the engine room right now, and we can land the ship without incident.”

“H…hardly…” Ra gasped. “You have defied your god, and for this you shall suffer.” He pressed a control on his waist.

“NO!” Bra’tac cried, and a flurry of staff blasts and bullets struck Ra, but it was too late. Alarms began blaring through the ship as the rumbling stopped.

“What happened? What was that?” Puller looked around.

“He has shut off the engines, Major. Every system on the ship is now dead, and we are falling back to the surface.”

“How long?”

“Mere minutes, I think. We are in high orbit.” Bra’tac studied the turning-horizon of Abydos through the window.

“Can we get out of here with those rings?” Indy picked up his hat and dusted it off.

“No human, we must get to the engine room and try to regain control of the ship.” The men all swayed as inertia and gravity began to re-align themselves as the ship’s ascent shifted to an arcing curve. Bra’tac looked at them. “And we must do it quickly.”

*Engineering Level*

Blaring alarms were the least of Teal’c’s concerns now. The hulk of the Tiger Tank stood smoking outside the doorway, its’ axels had finally been melted by the gunfire of the defending Jaffa. But, somehow the Jaffa and marines had battled their way into the engine room and secured it. Teal’c had been patiently explaining what he knew of the systems to Doctor Einstein, but the elderly human was flighty, flitting about from system to system.

“Mein gott, you can counteract inertia? Astounding! Artificial Gravity? I’ll have to re-check my cosmology.” Teal’c had been working his way through re-arranging the ship’s control crystals when suddenly the system went dark.

“What was that?” Einstein looked up from the now-dark display.

“Drive systems are offline, Albert Einstein.” Teal’c looked at his readouts. “It appears a master signal his disabled the engines. We are crashing.”

“Well we should stop that from happening, then.” The older man’s oddly detached reasoning mirrored the Jaffa’s.

“Indeed.” Teal’c opened a tray of dark control crystals. “There must be some way to re-engage the engines.” He began frantically swapping crystals around.

“Hmmm…” Einstein looked at the various panels. “If shutting down the engines was the intent, then it stands to reason that turning them back on would be the most difficult thing to do…”

“Perhaps, human. I must concentrate.” Teal’c tried to ignore the man.

“And if the engines are off, that means there is power which is not being used, yes?”

“Indeed.”

“Well why not use it?” Einstein opened another tray of crystals.

“What are you doing?!” Teal’c snapped.

“Gravity, my boy. Gravity and intertia. If we can adjust the ship’s effective mass and speed, we will have a much softer landing.” The older man motioned to the crystals.

“That is foolish, the impact would still destroy the hull.” Teal’c bent back over the engine systems and paused. “But if we divert power to the shields as well…”

“Yes, my boy!” Einstein clapped Teal’c on the shoulder. “See the idea in your mind and run with it!”

A clatter of booted feet stopped outside. “Doctor Einstein!” Major Puller shouted as he came in. “We’re crashing.”

“Ya, we know.” He handed Teal’c a crystal.

“Do you know what you are doing, Teal’c?” Bra’tac asked.

“We will find out shortly, Master Bra’tac.”

[CaptainChewbacca]

Chapter 9

*Pyramid of Abydos*

The blue glow faded as Horus materialized on the ring platform. Above he could hear the low roar of the ship’s engines as it rose into the sky. His fury raged, how could any human or system lord have the gall to ambush his god so openly? Baal or perhaps Sokar might be brazen enough to openly attack Ra, but the enemies on his ship were unlike any he had ever seen.

It was no matter, whoever they were they had doomed themselves and the people of Abyds to the full fury of Ra’s wrath. He held an ark bomb in his hands, a powerful explosive device which he would attach to the stargate. The naquadah would act as a massive amplifier for the blast, and the resulting shockwave would obliterate the nearby city and shroud the planet in years of dusky night.

He stepped down the ramp as his eyes adjusted to the dim light of the temple, but after only a handful of steps he realized he was not alone. Hundreds of eyes stared at him, angry Nagadans. In front of the stargate stood Private Weylan, with Yasha and Kasuf on either side of him. All three brandished rifles, and the hate in their eyes was reflected again and again around the room. Horus looked around, shocked. “Apostates and traitors!” he cried, and his right hand dropped to his side to grab the handle of his zatnikitel.

A sharp crack sent blinding pain through his shoulder, as Weylan’s rifle barked once. Horus’ hand twitched, tossing the weapon away undeployed. “You’re on the wrong fucking planet, spaceman.” Weylan worked the action on his rifle and the casing pinged musically off the floor. “Put down the box. Or don’t. I really want to shoot you.”

Horus looked around the room at the people who only two weeks ago would have fled at the sight of him, but they had seen men from beyond their understanding take battle to their one-time-god and he was fleeing. “You will all suffer! The vengeance of Ra is eternal!”

Kasuf brought up his rifle, as one of the marines had showed him, and sighted Horus’ chest. “You… FUBAR.” The body dropped with a dull thud, and the people cheered, falling upon the corpse and ripping the armor off of it. They cheered and smiled and clapped Weylan on his back.

“Good day, Weylan! Good day!” Lishai hugged him.

“Yeah, good day alright.” He smiled at her, but it was short-lived. Above, the fading roar of the engines shifted, becoming a higher-pitch, and one that he recognized from the artillery range near where he’d done his basic. That wasn’t all that concerned Weylan, though. It was getting louder. “Aw hell!” he hobbled as quickly as he could, shoving the crowd of confused Nagadans out of his way. From the door to the Pyramid, he could see smoke and vapor trailing at the horizon from a massive object. “It’s coming down…” His stomach sank as it slammed into the distant sands, sending a massive plume into the air. “…hard.”


*Ra’s mothership,
Nagadan Desert*

Major Chesty Puller groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. The good news was, he wasn’t dead. Unfortunately, as he found out when he began to move, every square inch of his body hurt like a son of a bitch. Dim light filtered through the dust and haze, and as his eyes adjusted he could begin to make out the bodies of his men. They were tossed about the engineering compartment, though most appeared to be breathing. A few had even hastily lashed themselves to bulkheads or support beams with belts and strips from their uniforms. A glance to the door caused Puller to do a double-take, as the Tucker was wedged upside down in the top-half of the doorway, with only about four feet of clearance beneath it. He mentally thanked his stars that the machine hadn’t tumbled THROUGH the doorway and flattened him and his men.

He sat up and took a deep breath. No broken ribs, and that was something. He heard a groan and a muttering of german invective. “Doctor Einstein, you ok?” He called out.

“Ya, I think I’ll live. But I may have a bone or two to pick with a certain Englishman and his notions of gravity.” He dusted himself off, wincing as he favored his left arm. “It would appear we are alive and once again on the ground.”

“Great, let’s get the hell out of here.” The two men began waking the others and tending to their wounds. Around a corner, nearly out of sight, they found Bra’tac.

A beam had come loose, and was pinning the Jaffa to the wall. “Ah hell!” Indy dashed over to him. “Bra’tac! You ok pal?”

The old Jaffa coughed, and flecks of blood splashed on his beard. “I have been through worse, Indiana. Ra’s ship is quite sturdy, they do not make them as they once did.”

“I’ve seen that before,” Puller eyed him “Punctured lung, he doesn’t have long left.”

“Not so, human.” Bra’tac winked. “I merely need to meditate, for a time it may appear I am dead, but my Jaffa will tend to me.” He passed Indiana a metal circlet. “This trophy is yours.” And then he passed out.

The other Jaffa had all survived as had, miraculously, the remainder of SMF-1. They were carefully making their way towards an access hatch when Indy stopped. “Shh!” He held up a hand.

“What is it?” Teal’c raised an eyebrow.

“Do you hear that?” A rolling roar was getting louder and louder.

“I believe I do. We must be cautious.” Teal’c reached the access hatch and activated the release, popping the door open. They had to be careful, because the way the ship had crashed the floor was nearly a thirty-degree slope. The roar became deafening as the door thudded, and Indy looked out.

He looked, a half-smirk on his face in disbelief, as tens of thousands of Nagadans surrounded the wreck of the ship, cheering and waving. Indy climbed onto the rim of the hatch and gingerly stepped onto the hull. He looked down at the circlet in his hand, and pressed a small gem on it. Instantly, Ra’s helmet expanded from the metal band, like a living thing. It was surprisingly light as Indy held it aloft, the setting sun of Nagada gleaming red and gold for all to see.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Epilogue

Hawthorne NAD,
July 4, 1939

Even walking with an escort of four US Marines, Secretary Woodring was nervous, and disliked the fact that the desert heat meant he couldn’t stop sweating and therefore appeared MORE nervous. He had only been briefed eight days ago on what had happened out here in a distant corner of General Groves’ little empire that was the Manhattan Project, and he didn’t like it one bit. A secret door to another world? Battles with alien gods, and flying pyramids? When Woodring had read the report the first time, he almost fired his aide for taking part in such an outlandish joke. It had taken the word of both Roosevelt AND Hull before he would believe it. In fact, Secretary of State Cordell Hull was already on Abydos, putting the final touches on the treaty.

His escort led him into a building which looked quite haphazard, having been dramatically increased in size in the past three weeks. At the far end of the building, carpenters and masons from the Corps of Engineers worked busily away to extend another wing of laboratories and workshops.

Inside the building was no less chaotic. Large carts of materials went whizzing by while men and women scurried to and fro with stacks of papers. The marines guiding Woodring turned left, then right, and then left again before arriving at an open door. “General Groves.”

“Mister Secretary.” General Leslie Groves saluted. “Good of you to come, sir. Have you met Doctor Tesla?” He motioned to the elderly Slav bent over the worktable.

“Yes, I believe we met at a state function a few years ago.” Woodring grimaced. “Trying to sell the government on your death ray-“

“PEACE BEAMS, Mister Woodring.” Tesla snapped, annoyed. “Death ray is a term the papers made up, but they are all about peace.” He turned, and smiled at the men. “And thanks to this new mineral your marines found, perhaps I shall see them before I die.”

Secretary Woodridge gulped and realized the device Tesla was working on was shaped very much like a gatling gun with bits of wire and tubes sticking out of the barrel. “Wait, is that-“ Tesla threw a massive switch on the wall and the lights flickered in the room. A low hum sounded, and a dull red beam shot out of the barrel and lit up the far wall. A small red circle the size of a pencil shone steadily, but nothing else.

“Looks like your peace beam still needs work, Doctor.” Woodring sighed, relieved.

“Peace beam? Hardly.” Tesla smiled. “This is a recreation of an experiment I conducted almost half a century ago. It is the amplification of light by the stimulated emission of radiation. The mineral from the planet can be used in such a way to provide an inexhaustible source of illumination. No more lightbulbs! No more rural electrification. And, if two grams of the material can do this…” He smiled and turned back to his notes and researchers as they began to gauge the properties of the beam.

“Well, at least it’s never dull around here.” General Groves smiled. “Please, Sir, let me show you the stargate.” They headed toward the gate room. “I read the President’s dispatches, sir. Is he quite serious about all of this?”

“The man is rarely anything but, General. I think we may be overreaching a bit here, but if Tesla can re-invent the light bulb after just three weeks, then we’ll need Abydos more than ever.” He stopped, and looked General Groves in the eye. “War is coming, and soon.”

Groves nodded. “Germany. They seem to be cozying up to Russia.”

Woodring gave a brief sigh. “Yes, it’s keeping Hull up burning the midnight oil.” They arrived at a set of heavy doors, currently open as track was laid down through this part of the facility. Two armed marines saluted.

“Well sir, this is it.” Groves ushered him in.

“Son of a bitch…” Woodring hadn’t FULLY believed, not until this minute. He’d seen pictures, read the reports, and even spoken with Professor Langford. It still didn’t come close to the huge ring in front of him.

“Don’t worry Sir, everyone says that the first time.” He nodded to the engineers. “We’re ready.” One by one, the symbols were locked as the gate spun, the new machinery attached to it hissing and clanking in an awful racket. Behind the two men, a full company of marines as well as several trucks were preparing. They could only open the gate every few days, such was the power demands, so there was no such thing as a frivolous trip. The gate would stay open as long as they could keep it, sometimes half an hour, as men and materiel went through.

Groves and Woodring climbed into a jeep; it was better to go through the gate while sitting than to collapse on the other side. Woodring steeled himself as they approached the shimmering pool, he refused to let his expression change.

Fort O’Dell, Nagada
July 4, 1939

The road was new, that much was clear. Coming out of the pyramid, their little convoy had rolled down the stone ramp and onto a meandering path of cut stone grounded firmly in the dunes. Twenty-two feet wide, it was enough for trucks to pass each-other, or for a large tank to get where it needed to go. A quarter-mile from the pyramid, the road split, with a sign in stencilled English. “Nagada, 8 miles” pointed to the southwest, while “Fort James O’Dell 12 miles” pointed to the north. They had turned and continued on, and Woodring was overwhelmed. Three moons hung over the alien sky, one of them just peeking over the too-close horizon that meant this world was smaller than Earth.

“This is incredible, General. How did your men build this road so fast?”

“Wasn’t us, Mister Secretary. It was the Nagadans. One of their many thank-you presents they’ve given us since we freed them.” Groves smiled to himself. Normally he wasn’t much for going out into the world and dealing with the lower nations, but the people of Nagada were just so enthusiastically HELPFUL to the Americans that his men hadn’t even had the inclination to come up with a derogatory nickname.

“Nagadans? I thought this planet was called ‘Abydos’.” Woodring raised an eyebrow.

“It is, sir. Nagada is their city. We’re humans from Earth and we call ourselves Americans. It’s the same thing here.” As they rounded over another sand dune a huge hulking shape loomed into view.

“Dear… God…” Again, the reports didn’t do it justice. A shining, angular metal mountain cast askew in the sand almost as if tossed by a giant. Woodring stood up in the jeep and shielded his eyes. He could make out shapes clambering all over the ship, swinging hammers and saws, like an army of ants. In the shadow of the mighty ship, on a scoured-out gash almost as wide as a football field and almost a mile long lay Fort O’Dell.

Major Puller had insisted on honouring the fallen lieutenant for his heroic stand that had allowed some of SMF-1 to escape that first ambush and get the word out, and so the War Department had authorized the name. Fort O’Dell was now home to several hundred marines, scientists, engineers, and a host of metalworkers as they carefully, thoroughly, dismantled Ra’s mothership under the careful guidance of Bra’tac and his Jaffa.

As they pulled into the parade ground, the base personnel all ran to assemble. The military men formed ranks almost instantly, while the civilians stood to one side. A delegation from Nagada was also there, Yasha in his official robes, and Kasuf standing with his new wife Lishai by his side. Indy stood with them also, to translate, still slightly relieved and saddened that Lishai had been promised to Kasuf all along, and had never been intended to be a wife for him.

Major Puller shouted out. “COMPANY! ATTEN-SHUN!” As one, they snapped into place. Bra’tac’s jaffa, almost eighty of them including some defectors from Ra’s warriors. They all saluted, and Groves and Woodring returned the salute.

“Thank you, men.” Woodridge took his place at a podium which had been set up for this occasion. “I convey to you my own admiration for your service, as well as the praise of a greatful president. I will now read a statement from President Roosevelt:

Truly, no greater soldiers have ever been born than those of the United States Stargate Marine Force. Unflinching, you walked into the unknown to retrieve a lost comrade, and yet as you went from danger to danger at all times you have conducted yourselves not only as soldiers, but as warriors and gentlemen, to the great honor of your nation. On this day, one hundred seventy-three years after America’s battle for liberty began in Independence Hall, you gallant heroes have done great service in the cause of liberty for your fellow man without regard for personal safety. It is therefore my great joy to award you men the Navy Cross. In addition, for extreme gallantry and heroism above and beyond the call of duty, I am pleased to award the Congressional Medal of Honor to Lieutenant James O’Dell and Lieutenant Anthony Evans for their actions against the forces of Ra. Truly, these men have set a precedent and legacy for which the United States Stargate Marine Force can be proud.”

The civilians and the Nagadans clapped, the latter a few moments later as Indy finished translating. He and Doctor Einstein had already received their own honors privately, but this was military and political ceremony with very political ends.

Secretary Hull then took the podium. “I want to again express my admiration and respect for all of you, for prevailing against such serious odds. Truly, the United States is lucky to have envoys as courageous as our marines, or allies as formidable as the Jaffa. I have received word from our government that the Treaty of Abydos has been ratified. The Commonwealth of Nagada is now declared to be a sovereign military protectorate of the United States of America. Furthermore, the United States has recognized Master Bra’tac and his ‘Free Jaffa Alliance’ to be a formal ally of the United States. As such, I have given Secretary Woodring word to commission you, Master Bra’tac, and your men, as the First Heavy Infantry Platoon (Jaffa) of the Stargate Marine Force. It is an honor for you to have joined us in our mission of freedom.” He saluted Bra’tac and his men, who returned the salute.

“Furthermore, it is my pleasure to name Colonel Lewis Burwell Puller to be the Military Governor of Nagada, and the director of off-world operations for the Stargate Marine Force.” Secretary Woodring walked over to Puller and handed him a new set of bars. Puller grinned.

“Now gentlemen, it’s the Fourth of July. I hereby order you to stand down and relax, we’ve brought plenty of steaks and beer.” With that, the parade ground degenerated into a cacophony of whoops and howls as the marines congratulated their new CO.

Nagadan women and children took care of most of the day-to-day life at Fort O’Dell, and they had already dug fire pits and filled them with dried dung for fuel. There was music and laughing as the celebration began. Bra’tac shook hands with Secretary Woodring. “Woodring of Kansas, I am honoured to meet you. As one First Prime to another, you have done me and my men a great service to treat us so.”

Woodring winced at the term, but wasn’t about to tell Bra’tac he hadn’t commanded troops in the field since the Great War. “It is you that does us a great service, Master Bra’tac. You left everything behind, and you managed to keep this wreck for America to study.”

“Yes, my pupil Teal’c has done much.” Bra’tac smiled, proudly. “He delivered Ra’s body to our lord, along with the remaining Jaffa who I would not let remain here with me. We have told Apophis that Ra released a plague upon this world which has made it dangerous for all life. There will be no visitors here for some time.”

“And he believed that?” Woodring raised an eyebrow.

Bra’tac shrugged. “It is not an unknown practice. I have myself rendered four worlds uninhabitable at the word of my false god.”

“Well great, I just hope Telk doesn’t run into any trouble.”

“Woodring of Kansas, hear me.” Bra’tac put a firm hand on the man’s shoulder. “To not trust Teal’c,” he emphasized the name “is to not trust my right hand will not strike you down against my will.” He turned to a serving girl. “Ah, this meat is delicious. Secretary, you must have some.” Woodring sighed, and downed the rest of his beer.

Across the grounds, Puller sat at a table with Indy and Doctor Einstein.

“Well, Doctors, I guess your adventuring is over.” He took a bite of steak.

“What do you mean, Colonel?” Indy smiled and tapped on the new rank insignia.

Puller looked at them and shrugged “Well, we’re here, and we can get home, and that spaceship isn’t flying anywhere anytime soon. And the Nagadans said themselves this is the only settlement on the planet.”

“Oh, he doesn’t know!” Einstein fairly beamed.

“What’s that?” Puller grew wary. “What don’t I know?”

Indy smiled. “Kasuf and his friends showed me this morning, apparently when the ship came down, a piece of debris came off and punched a hole through a cavern near the city. I looked, and it’s got hundreds of sets of tablets, just like the one with earth’s symbols on it. All of them lead to different worlds, I’d bet anything.”

“Ya, indeed.” Einstein broke in. “And I have been discussing the gate’s processes with Doctor Tesla, and I believe I have determined how to make the transitions more safe. No more stomach upsets.”

“Hundreds…” Puller’s mind swam.

“Yep.” Indy took a swallow of beer. “You’ll have a report soon Governor, but if these other worlds are all settled with people from ancient earth and lousy with martian gadgets, you’re gonna be needing both of us for quite some time.”

Puller sat back and thought about that as he let his eyes drift skyward. There were three flagpoles at the end of the parade ground. Six rows of eight stars flapped in the breeze, but below that were two new flags. One was a red pyramid on a gold field with three white stars over it for Abydos, and the other was more of an old-style military pennant, with a clenched fist surrounded by a ring of stars. All new, and yet somehow familiar and somehow, quite right. He pondered what would have happened if Jones and Einstein had declined the invitations to assist on the project. The Nagadans certainly would have been worse-off, and Bra’tac would still be working for a monster.

No, thought Puller. Things were just bully.


*Ahernabe Research Facility, Hamburg, Germany*

Seth was furious. “I told you under no circumstances to connect the dialling device to the gate!” He slapped one of the engineers.

“We were only trying to get a baseline for-” all of a sudden the gate began to spin, and hum.

“TO ARMS!” Klaxons began to blare as men of the Waffen SS Germania poured into the room, levelling their guns at the stargate. A shimmering sheet of light flashed into being, and a swirling vortex spun through the room. “Mein gott…” one of the technicians crossed himself.

For a handful of seconds there was nothing. Then, a tall, fit figure clad in grey stepped through the light onto the platform. Forty rifles worked their actions at once, but he held up his hands. “Peace! Peace!” The stargate behind him turned off. “I am glad to have arrived here. Truly, it does me honor to bring word to the ancestral home of my people.” He looked at Seth. “I am Tolvar, of Euronda. I have come for your help.”


*TO BE CONTINUED*