Chapter Thirty-Three: Threading the Needle

Damaged and pilotless, Earth One was spinning out of control, hurtling through space with five Goa'uld death gliders in pursuit to finish off their helpless prey.

For them it was an easy kill until a missile impacted one of their numbers from behind. It destroyed the death glider, transforming it into a fireball and sending the remaining four scattering for safety.

Firing off her last missile, Aeryn viper swooped in to protect Earth One even with two death gliders hot on her tail, firing as they gave chase.

From above, Sheba's viper limped onward on an intercept course to reach the battle. Colonial Captain watched the death gliders pursuing Aeryn's viper. The former Peacekeeper was performing perfect evasive maneuvers, avoiding from flying in a straight line to make her a harder target but strangely the death gliders shots were almost deliberately wide. As if they didn't want to hit her.

"What is going on?" Sheba muttered as she finally came into weapons range. She decided to save that question for later before firing on the two death gliders tailing Aeryn. She struck one dead centre with her viper's pulse laser fire and the second one turned away.

"This is Blue Squadron to Goa'uld forces," Starbuck's threatening voice filled the comm. systems as he and forty-two vipers charged into the combat area. "I hope you truly believe in an afterlife because that's all you are going to have left after we're done!"

Facing superior numbers now, the remaining five death gliders and turned tail and ran for deep space.

"Blue Squadron, pursue and destroy!" Starbuck ordered.

"Negative on that, Starbuck!" Sheba counter ordered.

"Sheba?"

"We got bigger problems, Starbuck." Sheba said as she helplessly watched Earth One continued its' out of control flight.

x-o-x

Rose felt like she was on a rollercoaster rider from hell as the X-302 continued its death spiral through space. Thankful, since they were in space, Rose didn't have to worry about hitting anything… yet.

The g-forces pressing against her were still increasing, making it harder to move or to breathe. Her hands were down at her sides when they brushed against the ejection handles situated on either side of her seat. At that moment, she thought of pulling them and ejecting the entire cockpit section with her and O'Neill to safety. Then she thought of their chances of being inside that cockpit section drifting in the middle of a battle. They might have a better chance in a moving X-302 than a stationary target.

Rose's eyes settled on the yellow Aux Control button which could be their best hope. It felt like her arms was glued to her seat as she lifted them to reach for it. All she had to do was push a little button just two feet from her but it was taking all her strength just to do it.

Little by little, inch by inch, feeling like she was moving through sand. Rose trembling hand slid across the console and her finger found the button before pressing it.

The auxiliary controls quickly deployed on either side of Rose's chair. When she looked at the control stick to her right, Rose blinked. Something was wrong with her eyes. It appeared that she was looking down a dark tunnel color was fading. She then realized if was the first signs of blacking out as blood flowed from her head and was pushed down to her feet. Desperate, she tried to reach for the control stick but stopped.

If she tried to regain control of the fighter, could she make things worse? She wasn't a pilot and the closest thing she had to any flight experience was playing Ace Combat on her friend's PlayStation 2 and at best, Rose always managed to find the ground in that game.

Becoming more light headed and with her sight failing, Rose had no choice. As she reached for the flight stick, her eyes spotted a glowing green button that stuck out on the small auxiliary controls just left of the control stick: AUTOPILOT.

Rose stared at it like a welcoming beacon. Why not?

She pressed it and three things happened within the two seconds it took for the system to initialize.

One: The X-302 flight computer was initialized and it went into failsafe monitor mode awaiting instructions.

Two: As it waited in monitor mode, the systems sensors detected the deadly situation the craft was in; It queried the damage control subsystem and detected the damage and that the inertial dampers were offline. More importantly, it did not detect its crew operating its flight systems. It determined that the fighter was out of control

Three: The computer immediately went into auto-recovery mode and took measures to stabilize the X-302.

Slowly, Rose felt the violent spinning easing before she knew with a gentle jerking motion they were now flying straight as an arrow. She smiled and had to urge to kiss that little green button but then she remembered the man seated in front of her.

"Colonel sir?" Rose tried to reach forward to check on O'Neill. "Colonel? Jack? Can you hear me?"

The man in the forward seat remained slumped forward when just off their left wing a viper pulled along side of them.

"Earth One, this is Silver Two. Can you read me?"

Rose looked and with great relief recognized Aeryn's voice. "Aeryn, I read you. O'Neill is hurt."

"Earth One, can you read me?"

"Yes I can. Can you hear me?"

"Earth One, if you can hear me give me a sign."

Frustrated, Rose waved at her before point forward to O'Neill's position.

Aeryn edged her viper closer. "I see you Earth One. Hold on, the enemy fighters are gone and reinforcements are here. Do you have control of your fighter?"

Rose shook her head vigorously before looking at the control console, trying to find the button for communications. There has to be one to let her talk to the outside world she thought. In an instant she found a button labeled, COMM. Upon pressing it, up on the touch screen she saw a list appear and right at the top of it was, SILVER TWO which was flashing.

Rose touched the screen and spoke again into her helmet mike. "Aeryn, can you hear me now?"

For a brief moment there was uncomfortable silence before Aeryn's stunned voice replied sharply. "Rose?"

Grateful to communicate with the viper next to her the British woman answered. "Yes, it's me, Aeryn."

"What the frell are you doing over there?"

"Uh…trying to rescue you?"

"That's want you call it? What is your status?"

"O'Neill is…" Rose looked forward and the slumped body in the forward seat and started to breathe harder. "He's isn't moving and I don't know his condition. He might be dead."

"Rose," Aeryn kept her voice level and soothing. "Can you pilot the fighter home?"

"It's on autopilot now, I'm a little afraid to try anything else at the moment."

"Just hold on Rose, we'll get you and O'Neill back." Aeryn said before switching frequency to the viper flying just below the X-302. "How does she look Starbuck?"

"Looks like the armor stopped most of the blast but I still see a hole the size of a cubit in the belly, along the left wing and close to the fuselage. I see no flames, smoke or sparks. If O'Neill is okay, I think they got off lucky."

"We need someone to talk Rose in." Sheba said, just trailing behind Starbuck with the rest of Blue squadron covering the rear.

"Speaking of which, Sheba you better RTB." Starbuck suggested.

"Thanks Starbuck but I rather stay." Sheba politely turned him down.

"From one captain to another did you look at your viper lately?" Starbuck said eyeing Sheba's badly battered fighter, which was running on two engines with a third venting smoke and a missing a tail fin. "Look around, all of Blue squadron is here to help."

"Starbuck is right," Aeryn quietly added. "Please look after yourself, captain. None of us wants to lose you and we won't hesitated to get you father to order you in."

"I don't know what I hate more, when you two start ganging up or starting to make some sense," Sheba relented in frustration. "Just get her and O'Neill back."

"We will and that's a promise." Starbuck assured her.

With a slow turn, Sheba eased her damaged viper to the nearest battlestar, the Galactica. As she left, Starbuck radioed Aeryn. "Okay, how do we get our two Earth people home?"

x-o-x

On the Galactica, there was some relief in the saving of what was left of the Silver Spar patrol but it was quickly replaced with the dire situation with Earth One. It was also complicated farther when Aeryn radioed in the details.

The information left Apollo pacing the bridge in disbelief saying aloud. "Rose Tyler is in the back of the cockpit, what was O'Neill thinking?" Then he turned to Omega. "Where is their position and current heading?"

"10.2 light sectors out and on a heading of 218 by 108, moving away from the fleet."

"We need someone to talk her in." Apollo said.

"Isn't the entire cockpit one big escape pod, could she simply eject and then we could launch a recovery shuttle?"

Apollo shook his head at the idea. "Not with the possibility of more hostiles in the area. We need to get her closer within the protection of the fleet first."

"Get who closer to fleet?"

Apollo and Omega looked to see the Doctor strolling into the bridge and walking up to join them on the command deck. The Time Lord was all smiles but upon seeing the gloomy looks on the Colonials faces, he became concern.

"Oh dear, did someone died?"

x-o-x

"How are you doing Rose?"

"I feel the need to do something, Aeryn. O'Neill still isn't moving. I was thinking if I unbuckle my retrains I could reach and check him."

"Bad idea Rose," Aeryn cautioned. "Just stay where you are. The Galactica is trying to find someone to talk you in, just be patient."

x-o-x

"Let me understand this correctly," The Doctor gestured with on hand. "O'Neill took Rose with him in the X-302 and into battle. And now he's unconscious and you need someone who's capable of talking Rose back."

Apollo and Omega glanced at each other, surprised in how well the Time Lord was taking the news.

"I'm sorry about this Doctor but I promise we'll do all we can and Blue squadron won't leave her side." Apollo assured him.

"I can talk her down." The Doctor suddenly said.

"What?"

"I know much about the X-302 or at least the F-302B version."

Apollo was confused. "How is that possible?"

"I'm a time traveler and trust me, I love traveling."

"Can you do it?"

"Of course, I seen and read much about it on New Earth."

"New Earth?" Apollo and Omega said together.

"It's a new place created after the old Earth gets destroyed by its dying sun," Upon seeing the stunned looks on the two men's face, the Doctor explained farther. "It was done purely for sentimental reasons and they rebuild several cities including 'New New York'. They even constructed a huge museum containing the human race greatest achievements including a recreated working model of F-302 which is situated between a model of the Russian satellite Sputnik and the Apollo moon rocket, a full size version mind you. They spared no expense."

There were some moments that Apollo wondered if the Doctor was making some of this stuff up. Most of what he heard from the Time Lord sounded too far fetch to be believable but again Apollo saw some pretty strange things too.

"I'll take your word for it but we're running out of time," Apollo gestured to communication station. "If you will be so kind, Doctor."

x-o-x

Rose was getting nervous. They were still flying in the wrong direction with the fleet far behind them. Even though she was surrounding by Blue squadron, she was worry that the Goa'uld might return but most of all she didn't know the condition of O'Neill just a few feet in front of her.

A familiar and comforting came over the comm. system. "Rose, can you hear me?"

"Doctor, is that you?" Rose sighed in relief.

On the Galactica, the Doctor was seated at the comm. station with Apollo standing next to him, whispering quietly.

"It is important to keep her calm and relax, so talk normal to her."

The Doctor nodded before speaking again. "Yes it is Rose. How's the view out there?"

Apollo shook his head, that was not his idea of keeping the young woman relaxed but amazingly Rose voice answered back in the most cheerful tone.

"Most splendid, Doctor but the stars are losing their charm and I rather be seeing the grey interior of a battlestar instead."

The Doctor smiled. "That's what I'm here to do Rose. Do you have the autopilot engaged?"

In the cockpit of the X-302 Rose checked the tiny flight console next to the flight stick. "Yes, Doctor it is still on."

"Find the button next to it that says Coordinates."The Doctor instructed.

"I got it."

"We're going to use the autopilot to turn you back to the Galactica. Now enter this into the flight console. Select Coordinates and key in these numbers, 38 and Enter then 288 and Enter and press Command."

Rose entered the numbers and pressed the last button. "Done!"

From her viper, Aeryn watched as the X-302 performed a lazy left turn until it was heading back in the opposite direction with Blue squadron right behind her.

"She did it Galactica, we're heading back toward you." Aeryn informed them.

On the bridge of the Galactica Apollo turned to Omega. "Have a recovery shuttle standing by. Once Rose gets in range we'll have her eject herself and O'Neill from the X-302."

"Eject?" Rose overhead Apollo over the comm. system. "You want me to eject? Why not land?"

Apollo leaned in next to the Doctor and spoke into the open mike. "It's too risky Rose for you and O'Neill. Even at reduced speeds it will be like, well, coining a phrase from your world, threading the eye of a needle."

"O'Neill is injured and he needs medical attention quickly."

"Rose, ejecting and letting the recovery shuttle pick you up is the best and safest way."

"Maybe for me but not for O'Neill," Rose argued. "Landing on Galactica will get him to your doctors the quickest."

Apollo wasn't going to have it. "Rose, do you even know what half the systems on that fighter do?"

At that moment Rose stopped and looked at the cockpit surrounding her. Eyeing the various instruments, the computer console, the engineering panel, flight instruments, and endless switches and buttons which all looked so overwhelming to the girl from Britain. It would be easier to do as Apollo ask and let the recovery shuttle come and rescue them. However, O'Neill needs help now and she has been in worse positions. She reached over to the auxiliary flight controls and grabbed a lever with a tiny wheel on it and pulled it back. Below the X-302, three doors opened up as its landing gear wheels extended out into locking positions.

"I'm a quick learner!"

From her viper, Aeryn watched and admired Rose determination. "Galactica, she wants to land. I say we let her."

Apollo was still very doubtful and he looked at the Doctor. "Can she actually land that fighter?"

The Time Lord turned in his seat to face the Battlestar Commander. "If Rose says she can then I believe her."

"If she fails she could scattered herself and O'Neill on the landing deck or against the hull of this ship."

The Doctor stared at Apollo, looking him right in the eye. "I believe in her. Let Rose land the fighter."

It was his ship and his command but something told Apollo to trust the man before him and the young woman in that tiny craft approaching the Galactica.

"Omega," Apollo ordered. "Alert beta bay that they have another damaged fighter and is coming in for an emergency landing. I want everything in position one centon ago."

"Yes commander!"

Meanwhile, the Doctor was giving Rose some quick flying lessons. "Rose, the X-302 is far different than flying the TARDIS. For one it can't stop on a dime or change it appearance."

"You forgot about the cramped cockpit." Rose joked back over the comm. system.

The Doctor smiled. "No vehicle is perfect but the TARDIS comes very close. Now Rose, its time to disengage the Autopilot. The X-302 will remain locked on its current course until you steer it in a new direction. If you get into trouble just activate it again and let go of the controls. Got it?"

"Understood Doctor."

In the X-302 cockpit, Rose took a breath and deactivated the Autopilot and as the Doctor said, there no jolt in the controls. They were still flying straight and level.

"Autopilot is off," Rose informed everyone. "I'm ready to try some maneuvers."

Behind her, Blue squadron and Aeryn pulled back to a safe distance.

"Rose, just try pulling the flight stick gently to right." The Doctor said. "We have ten minutes before you are in range with us."

x-o-x

Sheba landed her damaged viper in Alpha bay of the Galactica. The landing was smooth as she brought her fighter to a stop. Before she could open the canopy to her cockpit, emergency and fire crews surrounded her damage craft.

A small truck with fire hose mount on top like a turret was spraying the rear engines with foam to prevent any flames from starting now that the her Viper was in an oxygen atmosphere in the landing bay.

Sheba immediately jumped out to the solid deck below. She landed and even before she could stand, a crewman in fire suit was at her side, leading her to safety. Moving away, Sheba removed her helmet while glancing back at her battered viper, and after seeing the full extent of the damage, shrugged.

"I flown in much worse," She muttered to herself.

"I'm sorry," The damage control tech beside her said as they reached a safe distance. "I didn't catch what you said lieutenant?"

"Never mind," Sheba shook her head. "What is happening with the X-302?"

"We have Beta bay all set for it. It's coming in for a landing."

Sheba was taken by surprise by the news. "What? Has O'Neill regained consciousness?"

"I don't know. The Apollo ordered Beta bay for an incoming emergency landing."

"They wouldn't try it." Sheba whispered in fear before breaking into a run for the nearest elevator.

x-o-x

For the last ten minutes as they close in the Galactica, Rose experimented with the controls and found the X-302 surprisingly responsive to every little input she made to the control stick.

"How are we doing Rose?"

"I think I'm going a hang of this Doctor and its much more fun than a Playstation."

"That's good to hear Rose, but remember that unlike a Playstation there is no reset button or extra lives for that matter."

"Is this your way to boasting my confidence Doctor?" Rose commented as she gentle swung the X-302's nose left and right.

"I'm all for confidence building but a healthy dose for reality never hurts either."

Directly ahead, Rose spotted the Galactica and the fleet. "I see the ship."

"Good Rose," The Doctor said. "Apollo has maneuvered the ship completely about so you'll have a direct line to Beta bay."

"Understood Doctor… Ugh, is Beta bay the pod on the left or the one on the right?"

"Right one, it's the right one." The Doctor said, refreshing her memory. Behind him, Apollo was having second thoughts about this. He stepped forward and leaned in close to the Doctor saying into the comm. system.

"Rose, we still can have a recovery shuttle pick you up."

"I can do this, sir."

"Can you at least reduce your speed more?"

"I have the throttle right back. I can't reduce speed anymore."

Apollo looked to the Doctor and he nodded. "The Humans on Earth designed that fighter for speed and not for crawling."

Apollo cut off the mike so he can talk to the Time Lord without Rose hearing them. "You can talk her out of this. She'll listen to you."

"Then you don't know Rose. Once she minds up her mind, there is rarely no going back. She can do this. I believe in her."

Apollo stared at him and shook his head. "I hope you are right." Then he stood and turned to his bridge crew. "Helmsman, increase speed to one quarter and hold her steady."

Looking back down at the Doctor, Apollo said. "That should help Rose with her speed problem."

Closing in the Galactica beta bay, Aeryn stayed just off Rose's left wing as she tried to help and guide her in. The rest of blue squadron was now far behind them, giving Rose all the space she needed.

"Your approach looks good Rose. Just remember to keep the nose up and let your rear landing gear touch the deck first. Then cut your engines. Also, don't forget the Galactica's artificial gravity, it'll grab and pull down on the X-302 as soon as it enters through the bay's opening."

The Galactica grew larger, slowly filling the cockpit's forward canopy. Rose held the X-302 straight and level with Aeryn's viper. To say she was nervous would be an understatement. Her heart was racing and her hands were shaking, which could be a bad thing in flying a craft with sensitive controls like the X-302.

"Got it," Rose replied to Aeryn. "Anything else?"

"Be mindful of your landing gear. If you fly too low you'll shear them off as you enter the bay."

"Anything else?"

"Just fly the fighter," The former Peacekeeper added. "I have to drop back now but I'll be trailing you in until you land."

Rose glanced over to the woman in the cockpit of the viper next to her. "Thank you Aeryn."

The Colonial Lieutenant nodded and said encouragingly. "Galactica landing control will be taking over. Just remember to fly and I'll be seeing you shortly."

With that, Aeryn viper reduced speed and fell back behind her, leaving Rose feeling alone, except with the huge mass of the Galactica looming ahead and its beta bay.

"Fly the fighter." She whispered to herself. "Fly the fighter."

Then Rose heard a very calming female voice on her comm. system now.

"This is Galactica landing control. We are tracking you and your approach looks good."

Rose was focused on the opening to beta bay and height wise it looked very tight for any craft trying to land in there. Who the in the bloody hell designed this ship??! Rose thought to herself

Up in forward seat of the cockpit on the left side of Col. O'Neill, a thin trail of smoke drifted up from the computer console. That single blast from the Goa'uld death glider did more damage than anyone thought.

On the bridge, Apollo watched and thought more than once to call this off. He looked over to the Doctor and the man didn't look worried at all. What did this man knew that he didn't? He claimed he doesn't know or have the answer to everything despite being a time traveler. Perhaps some sort of instinct or 6th sense?

"You are looking good," Galactica landing control spoke. "You are on final approach."

"Thank you Galactica," Rose breathed her voice tight. The Battlestar was now filling her vision. So, this is what a bug must feel like when coming to face to face of a windshield to a speeding car.

He heard voices, both of them female.

"You are looking good. You are on final approach."

He didn't know that one.

"Thank you Galactica."

Hey! That sounded like Rose Tyler. O'Neill stirred as he tried to move. He felt pain in his right side and leg and his head felt like her was about to explode. What happened? He groaned inwardly.

Slowly he opened his eyes and found himself staring down at his feet. Head still pounding, O'Neill lifting his eyes a bit and noticed he was in the cockpit of the X-302. Then he remembered he was in battle with Rose riding shotgun in the back. Slowly he lifted his head some more to see where they were. Much to his shock, all that O'Neill saw was the ass end of the Galactica mighty glowing engines they were just passing and its beta bay they were aimed straight at.

They were coming in for a landing and Rose is flying! He should say something, or anything but he felt so tired. Her approached looked good and she might be able to do this… Then he noticed the thin traces of smoke coming from the computer panel.

Even in his injured state, O'Neill stared at it and thought. That can't be good.

"Your approach is good and you are ten microns out," O'Neill heard the female voice of Galactica landing control. "Emergency equipment is in place."

O'Neill started to open his mouth when he heard Rose replying. "Thank you Galactica…"

Several lights on the engineering board beside Rose went red followed by a shrilling computer failure alert warning. In that moment, the fly by wire controls froze and the X-302 drifted off course. Their left wing dipped and they were now on a collision course for the lower edge of the landing bay opening. They would be cut in half, one part tossed back in space and the rest scattered over the landing bay.

"Abort landing X-302! Abort!"

"Nothing is working!" O'Neill heard Rose yelled. Fear gripping her voice.

X-302 was built around the framework of the F-22 which included multiple computers cross checking each other. If one should fail, the other one would take over. For some reason the second computer wasn't taking over much to O'Neill's chagrin and concern. Ignoring the aches and pains, O'Neill grabbed the flight stick to try and do something when the secondary computer finally kicked in and the controls started to respond again. They were so close to the Galactica that if the X-302 was a viper, the long nose would be impacting on the Battlestar right now.

Heaving firmly on the stick, the X-302 responded and lifted up just in time to clear the landing bay opening. Easing the stick forward, O'Neill felt the rear landing gear touched the deck followed by the welcome sensation of the nose gear making contact too.

Almost home, he thought as he felt the Galactica's arresting fields already trying to slow them down.

He then tried to work his right leg to press the brake pedal but the pain stopped him. O'Neill was about to make another desperate attempt but behind him, Rose slammed her foot down and stood on the auxiliary brake pedal and cut the engines to bring the craft to an eventually stop.

Then there was silence. O'Neill was slumped forward in his seat, held in place only by his restraints; Tired and in pain but he was only concerned about Rose and was about to try to ask if she was okay.

"I don't believe it," He heard Rose shaky voice which grew more confident as he listened to it before she cheered. "I did it!"

"Good work X-302," A very relieved Galactica landing control answered. "Emergency teams are responding."

"I see them, thank you!" Rose replied before finding the switch to open the canopy and started to unbuckle her restrains and discarding her helmet and breathing mask.

Rose now stood up and tried to reach forward to check on O'Neill as an army of emergency teams and deck crews with short ladders raced towards them.

With his head still down, O'Neill felt Rose touching him lightly on his right shoulder. "Colonel sir?"

Head still throbbing, O'Neill lifted his head and managed to look back at her, saying quietly to help avoid aggravating his headache further. "Enough with the Colonel sir, okay? You're not military, Jack will do."

He saw instantly relief washed over Rose as she realized he was okay. "Help is almost here, just hold on."

O'Neill heard a ladder being placed against the craft, a second or two later, Cassiopeia climbed up into view. "Colonel O'Neill, can you hear me?" She said.

He nodded and reached up and unclipped his breathing mask. "I can hear you just fine doc."

Cassiopeia climbed up a bit more in order to lean in. "Can you tell me where you are hurt?"

"My right leg and my head."

Cassiopeia looked over to Rose. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," Rose answered quickly. "Please look after him."

"I will," Cassiopeia promised. "Climb down so can focus on giving him out of here."

Another ladder was brought over for Rose as the deck crew prepared to wheel a small vehicle over with a retractable platform extended to reach over to the cockpit of the X-302.

As Rose climbed down the ladder and into the swarm of people waiting below, she found a familiar and friendly face.

"Sheba!"

The Colonial captain raced over and gave the Earth woman a tight hugged and pulled her to safety to let the emergency crews work. Under Cassiopeia's direction, O'Neill was carefully lifted out of the X-302 and placed on the platform which lowered itself to the deck.

Rose moved forward a bit to see what was going on and saw that two medics were carrying a stretcher with Cassiopeia walking next to it obviously heading to the ship's infirmary.

"Is he going to be all right?" Rose said intensely as her hurried to catch up with Sheba two steps behind her.

"He's got some serious burns on his leg and a possible concussion but he'll recover in no time," Cassiopeia said.

"Stop for a sec," O'Neill said and he looked at Rose as the medics carrying the stretcher halted. "You did really good out there. Thanks for bringing me to the best hospital in the universe."

O'Neil extended his hand to her and Rose took it. "Don't mention it, Colonel sir, err I mean Jack."

x-o-x

Not far off in deep space, lurking just out of range of the allied fleets sensors, a single Goa'uld mothership waited as the surviving death glider returned from their failed mission.

On the bridge, Osiris was pacing when her First Prime approached and bowed his head in respect before announcing.

"My Lord, our death gliders have returned."

Osiris looked at the towering Jaffa and only wanted to know one thing. "Have they succeeded in capturing Crichton's female?"

"They have failed my Lord."

Osiris eyes darkened in quiet fury. "And they dared to return?"

The First Prime almost flinched from her stare. "Yes my Lord."

"I want them punished for their failure, IMMEDIATELY," The Goa'uld commanded. "And set a course for home. We won't be getting to Crichton this way."

As the five death gliders continued to approach the Goa'uld mothership, they were targeting by the giant ships pulse cannons. Three were instantly destroyed before the last remaining two could react. They turned to flee, performing wild evasive maneuvers to escape but they lasted another four seconds before both were destroyed.

Once the space about the mothership was cleared, it silently entered hyperspace.