Stargate SG-1: Steampunk

Chapter 5 - ... and Into the Fire

"You okay, Daniel?"

"Yeah. I got the wind knocked out of me when I landed, but nothing seems to be broken. Where's the ship?"

"It went over the ridge."

"So we're–" Dr. Jackson starts to say.

"Up a creek, yeah."

Jackson stands and looks around the small meadow.

"And we're by ourselves, no weapons, and no idea where we are," Dr. Jackson says. "Should we stay here, hope they come back for us?"

Before O'Neill can respond a shadow passes over them. They look up to see a smaller ship floating overhead. The flag on its side is the same as the one on the airship that had attacked the train. The airship floats on its port side, with most of its gondola blasted away. It floats slowly toward the same ridge that their battleship had scraped over.

They watch as the abandoned airship slowly runs into the ridge. It just sits there, bobbing slightly in the wind as it bumps into the ridge.

"Jack?"

"Yes, Daniel?"

"Didn't they say something about a city being near here? Maybe we could climb up one of the ridges and see if we can see it."

"That's probably our only option."

They start walking toward the ridge where the abandoned airship 'rests'. Before they take a dozen steps they hear an engine. Instead of the Lenoran they see a much smaller airship. The symbols on its side are the same as those on the ship scraping against the ridge. The new ship drops toward the ground and fires a burst near the two men. O'Neill and Dr. Jackson raise their hands, knowing they are to stay put. The ship drops its landing gear and hits the ground rolling. Half a dozen men spill from the gondola's door and run toward them.

The officer in charge speaks to them in something other than Themanu. O'Neill speaks in Themanu back at him, "sorry, don't understand."

The officer switches to a heavily accented Themanu, "Who are you? What is your ship?"

"O'Neill, two ls, and this is Dr. Jackson. We don't really have a ship, we're kind of lost."

"Your uniforms aren't of Urghan or Lepronia. So ...." he doesn't have to complete the sentence for O'Neill and Dr. Jackson to know they are in trouble.

The officer waves at the men surrounding them and barks out an order. They are marched to the ship and into the gondola. A small wire cage sits at the rear of the gondola. Two other men, wearing Sanctuum uniforms, sit on the floor inside the cage. "Inside," one of their captors says. Another captor slams and locks the door behind them. They sit as the engines rev up and the airship quickly rises into the air. The crew ignores their prisoners as the ship turns and speeds away from the area. Though locked in the cage, they can easily see out the windows.

Twenty minutes later one of the captives nudges the other and points ahead. Looking out the bow window they see a large airship that appears to be much larger than the battleship Lenoran. They see several large holes in its side and a plethora of smaller holes and tears. Obviously, it has seen quite a bit of action. Instead of rising above the large airship their ship heads toward an area between the fore and aft gondolas. They can only see a little bit of the area between the gondolas but it looks like some sort of rack hangs from the large airship. The small airship moves under the rack and then slowly rises until the airship bumps into it. They hear noises and the airship bounces a little. The commanding officer barks out an order, causing the engines to stop.

An officer, followed by four armed sailors, approaches the cage and orders the four men to stand. As O'Neill and the others wait two other sailors walk to the middle of the gondola, reach up to grab a large chain in the ceiling, and then pull. A collapsible spiral staircase extends down to the floor and is locked it in place. The guards open the cage door and lead the prisoners out of the cage and up the staircase and into the main part of the airship. They continue up the staircase until they reach an open hatch in the airship's top. As they step out they feel the wind snatching at their clothes. The four prisoners and their guards carefully step onto the platform that had been lowered from the docking rack to rest on top of the airship. A guard leads the prisoners across the platform to a short ladder leading to a metal catwalk. They climb the ladder and then follow the catwalk into the bottom of the large airship. Once inside new guards march the prisoners down a long corridor, passing under gasbags and alongside plenty of weapon emplacements. Sunlight passes through many holes in the side. They soon find themselves being led into a large wire cage, where over a dozen Sanctuum prisoners, officers and enlisted men, sit on the floor.