Earth, when war calls
Two great ships belonging to the United forces of Earth floated in the void of space a little beyond the halfway point between the blue-green planet and it's Moon. The USS Hammond, now a little older but well proven and the Dreadnought, one of Earth's larger and more capable battleship platform, not long out of work up trials from a major refit, the BB310 was a magnificent sight. Fighters flew CAP's around both ships, it was almost as if they were waiting for something to happen. A transport beam exchanged between the two ships, someone from the Dreadnought had found their way over to the smaller ship.
Sam walked along the long passage from the hangar deck to the first elevator that would take her above to one deck and the bridge. It was Cassandra's birthday and she and Jack were supposed to be there, to celebrate a special day with family. Cassie herself had to cancel as she was doing surgery at the Air Force academy hospital not far from Cheyenne mountain. The young woman, now in her middle thirties had taken over where her first 'Earth' mother had begun, as CMO of Stargate Command. Sam looked at her watch, touching the face twice, gave her not only the time, but the day, date, year and ambient temperature. Friday, December the sixth 2024. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach and Sam always trusted her instincts.
The soft soles her boots tapped out a hushed cadence on the deck, Sam counted the lines of the separate panels as she moved forward. It was good to be back on the Hammond, once her old command, but this was just a routine visit during work up exercises, nothing more, but as much as she loved the old girl it was no longer hers and hadn't been hers for a number of years. That fell to another and Sam's home ship for this rotation was aboard the Dreadnought.
Minutes later she emerged on the bridge to see her old protégé Jennifer Hailey as Captain of the Hammond sitting contemplatively in her command seat. The Colonel swung around when she heard the elevator door open. She stood and met Sam face to face, a brief hug was exchanged and Jennifer as usual got straight to the point. "General," She said respectfully, "…we have intel from our perimeter stations, the Alliance are attacking several stations in our sector, reports indicate they are attempting data mining and theft of heavy equipment."
"Hello Sam how are you, I'm fine Jen, how are you?" Sam said with a little friendly sarcasm, then stepped back and looked at the younger woman's eyes, there was a hint of desperation there, her words were not in jest. "Why weren't we informed earlier Jen?" Sam said as her brow creased into worried lines.
"Sector stations have been bombed, we've lost four already, coms are not coming through. We only received this moments before the last one shut down." The Hammond's commander reported. "I've since notified Admiral MacGregor, he's giving you fleet command as of now, he'll be trying to coordinate a response from our allies.
"Fat chance of that." Sam replied. "Alright, give me a fleet wide broadcast."
One of Hailey's tech staff adjusted his subspace communication array, in less than a heartbeat, he nodded to his Captain and Fleet Commander simultaneously.
Sam made doubly sure her voice was clear and calm, all emotion stripped from her voice, even though she positively wanted to scream. "All ships, this is General Samantha Carter. Make ready for full deployment, this is not a drill. I repeat, make ready for full deployment. Deadly force is authorised. Once you receive your assignments, make best speed. Prioritise ships attempting to escape, they may be carrying information vital to the defence of Earth." That was not a message she wanted to send on her first inspection tour, Sam had a very bad feeling about today.
The next forty minutes were nerve wracking. Nearly a fifth of the fleet had delayed departure, a 'feeling' of Sam's being the only justification given or needed.
"Captain…," a systems officer called to Hailey.
"Yes lieutenant?" Jen was now in her command chair, Sam had taken a position behind her arms behind her back, standing, ready to lend a hand where necessary.
"Ma'am, we're getting a high hyper-space activity off to our starboard beam, fifty thousand metres."
"Our own ships? Back already?"
"I don't believe so Captain, they read like Ha'tak."
"Ha'tak? But the Jaffa wouldn't..."
Jennifer swung around and looked at Sam, her eyes were hard and focused. "General, I think while there is time, you should rejoin the Dreadnought."
"No, Jen. Crichton is a fine officer and Captain, I'll only be in his way. Besides our systems allow me to patch in broadcasts fleet-wide. " Sam lifted her long plait off her shoulder and flung it back. She had a serious thought of cutting it off again. A fleeting thought, she erased it as quickly as it came to her. "I can coordinate from here." Silently she prayed they would prevail.
Not more than five minutes passed when the general alarm sounded throughout Earth's home fleet. Only good fortune and Sam's suspicion had kept any capital ships back.
Earth, the Blue Marble; on the ground it is easy to think the planet is endless and invulnerably large. From space the true is apparent; Earth is a tiny speck of dust easily lost in the endless expanse of stars and galaxies. Looking down on it in these last moments of peace Sam was filled with a sudden and powerful urge to protect the planet, as if she could take the whole world in her arms and keep it safe from harm.
The situation did not make that an easy proposition. Five Ha'tak, still at extreme range began to open fire on Earth. At that range they shouldn't have been able to hit anything accurately. Their Staff Cannons, inaccurate even in the hands of an experienced gunner were simply not able to target with any kind of accuracy at a range of four light seconds.
So far away, past the moons orbit, the Ha'tak were invisible. Sam watched the sensor readouts, her heart tight with fear. While they may not have any kind of accuracy each shoot had the potential to kill hundreds, no thousands of people. Time seemed to slow as each bolt of fire became visible.
She knew she gave the order to intercept the shots. She was certain she said it. But for some reason she couldn't hear herself. The sound of her beating heart drowned it out. She knew, the part of her that was still completely rational and calculating, that they couldn't reach them in time, not all of them.
The first of the enemy blasts reached the atmosphere, leaving a glowing trail in its wake. "The atmosphere attenuating the plasma." That rational part of her mind interrupted. It gave her no comfort; even with some lose each shot was the equivalent of a nuclear warhead.
When the first blast hit there was a universal in drawing of breath on the bridge. When the expected bright, piercing flash of explosion was replaced by the shimmering of shields the strange time distortion abruptly ended Sam was aware of someone speaking.
"...All confirmed hits were on military installations and vital structures. Shields are holding for all facilities."
Jen was the first to speak as the bridge shook from collision with the first intercepted Staff Cannon blast. "Order the defence platforms to engage. Why isn't the drone chair firing? Move us to engage with the enemy."
"The Hatak are out of drone range, orbital platforms all reply inability to establish a lock at this distance. We are..."
Sam interrupted, "Tell the platforms to prepare to receive targeting information. Begin transmitting the fleet's CBM (Composite Battle space Map) on an encrypted subspace channel."
Weapons and Sensor control both looked at her questioningly. It hit her that this kind of thing had never come up before. Both snapped back to their duty as they realized who it was giving the order.
"Sometimes I wonder why you didn't take that job as head of Area 51." Jen said as both women continued to watch out the bridge window at the unerringly accurate stream of blasts and the first glimpse of the Ha'tak.
"Jen, take command for a sec, something's not right." Sam said quickly.
Jennifer was about to speak up but the Ha'tak were in weapons range. She was all action and gave her orders like the Fleet commander she would one day be, "Launch fighters, break the fleet into two groups and concentrate fire on their engines. Are we receiving confirmation from the orbital platforms of weapon's lock?"
"Aye ma'am, missiles are away and rail-gun batteries have opened fire. We have their targeting solutions and so will be able to avoid them friendly fire."
While Jen gave her orders, which had been transmitted to the rest of the fleet, Sam watched the battle grasping for what she was missing. Blue and Red squadrons launched anti-ship missiles and the Ha'tak shields flared up as the hits scored.
"Order the 340's back to Earth," she yelled, "...have the orbital platforms re-target their sensors to the planet. Tell them to look for cloaked ships. Have the chair begin destroying targets as soon as they are identified." Hope, hope was all they had right now, sweat beaded down Jennifer's face, creases of worry furrowed her brow.
The 340s were at first a little sluggish to break away from the battle. While they accelerated at full speed the Ha'tak firing pattern changed. Sam, still in full command mode called for a status report.
"They are targeting our orbital platforms Jen. Shields are holding, but thrusters are unable to keep them in a stable orbit. Thirteen cloaked cargo ships have been destroyed and four Alkesh. However, the Alkesh have started bombing runs and pulling out." The reports were coming in as fast as the action played out before them. Sam read each transcript as it flowed across the screen in front of her.
"Damn them. What about the Ha'tak, are their shields weakening?" Jennifer was now soaked to her underwear. She never felt so much adrenalin in her entire life and she had been in some very bad situation before this. This was just so wrong she felt.
"We can't be sure Colonel, but they are down at least..." One voice reached her ears.
As if to insult to the Tau'ri defenders the Ha'tak all released a few more full power salvoes and hyper-spaced out.
Several on the bridge exhaled. Sam was too wound up to relax just yet. "What's the damage?"
"Reports are still coming in General Carter. Several dams have been destroyed; Hoover, Three Gorges, and several dozen others. UCET, the US East Coast, China Southern Power Grid, and more than a dozen other major power grids are down. Extensive flooding in the Murray river, they've hit a major dam there. Damage in urban areas is remarkably light. And... Oh my God..."
Both Jen and Sam replied at once, "What!"
"UNE headquarters was destroyed. As was the bunker underneath. Three orbital stations fell on it, the shields just couldn't take it."
A palpable silence descended on the bridge. With the finality of death the list went on.
"Reports from Scoria, Lyria, Velon, Antlia... all of them report Lucian Alliance attacks. Most of our major shipyards have received moderate damage and will be out of commission for a month at least. Civilian casualties are slightly more than fifty thousand across all planets. Property damage in excess of five trillion. Seven ships lost, three with all hands..."
"Stop," That was Sam, "please, just stop right there. This is a bad situation and it could have been a lot worse. What's important is that we are still here. We are still alive and we will keep fighting. We will..."
Sam was interrupted by a priority transmission from Earth. It was being relayed, but the people of high command had had deemed it important enough to pass along.
"Citizens of the Tau'ri heed my words.
For ten thousand years the Goa'uld ruled these stars. For ten thousand years the humans of this galaxy suffered under their lash. While your planet has lain free of them we endured slavery and oppression on a scale you cannot imagine.
While we lived consigned to misery and toil you were blessed. The Asgard named your planet protected. Yet where was our protector. The Ancestors left you their legacy, but where is our inheritance.
Like children fresh from the cradle you blundered about this galaxy certain of your superiority and your right to do so. With weapons beyond your understanding and against forces beyond your ken you have us brought time and again to the edge of a knife.
We say Enough! We deserve to live free of the Goa'uld and we deserve to live free of you!
We will stand by no longer while work to fill the vacuum of power you yourselves created. We will not trade one tyrant for another and we will yield to you no longer.
Find some other place to carry out your conquest and to fight your petty wars. We are not your playthings to be favoured at your whim and thrown away when it suites you.
Citizens of the Tau'ri heed me,
We are the Lucian Alliance. We are the rightful government of the free worlds. We are the rightful heirs of this galaxy. And we will take what is ours."
The briefing room was silent. It brought back a lot of memories for Sam; the mission debriefings, the mission proposals, those wonder years of her life when SG-1 went boldly into the unknown trying to find whatever was out there. Logically, those years had been horrible, the constant threat of the Goa'uld, or Anubis, or the Ori and the constant struggle against the IOA would have drive some insane. It had driven some insane...
The furniture and the people may have changed, but in some sense, the room hadn't. Steeling herself she stood and began her grisly presentation.
"I won't get into the thousands dead or billions in damage. Those logs in front of you report it much more concisely then I could. Bad as all that is, that is not our biggest problem."
No one said anything at that. Later, when she gave much the same presentation to the newly designated UNE Security Council she couldn't expect that luxury.
"The Lucian Alliance has changed a lot from the crime syndicate it used to be. Major changes in the make-up of the leading members have combined with a change in focus. The LA now styles itself a sovereign governing entity. They haven't begun to do many of the things we would expect a government to do, mostly stockpiling ships and weapons. Compared to the previous situation though, some of the unaligned planets find the thought of security to appealing to pass up."
She took another calming breath and carried on. The gist of her speech was nearly over.
"What the LA has done, besides temporarily cripple almost every major utility on our colonies, is buy themselves time. They know they couldn't win a war with us, not now at least. With our fleets pulled back to defend our main colonies our remote outposts are abandoned.
While it might originally have been a pretext; reports have confirmed that the LA is going out of their way to steal everything possible from these outposts. Additionally, the Tokra have been able to provide data on several Goa'uld shipyards which have been slowly brought up to full production over the last few years.
We don't know how they did it, but the LA is involved in a massive modernization and expansion program. If we do nothing we may very well find ourselves dragged into a full scale war."
One of the Admirals, one of the new batch of leaders who had gone out for the space-fleet instead of starting in the Air Force, spoke up. "So what do you propose we do General?"
Sam's reply was powerful in its simplicity, "We take the fight to them."
One week later, Sam arrived at Admiral William MacGregor's office in the new UNE headquarters, deep underground. Jack O'Niell, her husband was there as well. Both men wore more than grim faces.
"Sam?" Jack said, his age etched face showed just how much anxiety had crept in.
She almost shed a tear as she explained. "We've another lost seven ships, forty fighters and five Scorpions." Sam paused, the memory carved into her brain. "Two thousand people Jack, two thousand..." Her eyes filled as she asked the inevitable. "... is there any news of the civilian casualties?"
Jack placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. But couldn't answer her, Will MacGregor stood near on the other side. "You really don't need to know Sam, but I can say it's a damned lot, and millions left homeless as well. This has been bad for us and our allies. The Alliance have hit us hard this time." He sat back down and read a few vid files, his brow creased into worry lines.
"We've heard from the other colonies as well, while they defeated the Lucian Alliance in some quarters, our damned fleet was almost reduced by half. Jack swallowed hard, this was getting to him as he slammed his fist on the table "Sam, Will, that makes the total losses for the fleets are eight 340's, six 304's, plus the auxillary craft and over four thousand personnel. I am more than pissed Sam, this should never have happened." He looked tired and haggard, he shot a look over at the Admiral. "Will you got nothin' to say?"
"They cracked us hard Jack, very hard."
"You said that."
"I know, I'm thinking. Sam, have you spoken to Ben or Joe Ikagura?"
Sam brightened a little "Ben no, he's taken the Avalon out to Heliopolis with half a squadron of 401's. Joe Ilkagura recommends we send the Dreadnought armed with a Mark nine to one of their bases that Hayden scouted a week ago."
Jack sat up straight. "Ben MacGregor did what? Christ he's worse than you Will. What does he think he'll achieve out there? The Alliance haven't been in that sector have they?"
"Not quite Jack, but while Ben was there Ishta turned up. I intercepted a message meant for Sam. It seems the LA are not the only player in the mix. But more of that later. I do think Joe's plan has merit though." He drummed a beat on the table. "Get the Dreadnought prepped Sam, launch in twenty minutes if possible. It might take about six hours or so to arrive."
Jack added "Drop out above their planet, target their power core, deploy the missile and jump out. So we should know the result in maybe twelve hours."
Sam stood and crossed her arms " So.." She began. "...the batle with the Lucian Alliance has begun in earnest. If and when you hear of my success, you both should announce the declaration of war to the media."
"Agreed. Oh and Sam, that other player I mentioned. Be bloody careful. According to Ishta, they have started on the outer rim relay stations and one of the Free Jaffa worlds. The sketchy detail Ben sent, only mentions their fleet…it is more than the LA could ever muster in a very long time." Will said as he stood to bid her farewell.
"Great, that's all we need, more enemies!" Jack left his chair and held his wife close. "Be careful Sam, that's all I ask of you."
"I will be." She hugged and shook hands with William and clicked on her coms "Carter here, I'm ready." In a white flash of the Asgard beam she was gone. Jack and Will stood there looking at that vacant spot for a few moments until Will spoke at last.
"I hope to god we're doing the right thing Jack."
"You and me both Will…."