A/N I made a minor change in cahpter 1, A reviewer pointed out that it would be unlike the military to ignore the civilians. And that Federation history showed only six hundred million dead, right? When I went back and re-read what I had written, I realized a had a couple of run on sentences in the dialogue that completely changed my original intent of that initial reaction, making Jack and Landry and the NORAD general Bart look like heartless bastards. The intent was to make Woolsey look like that, not the military characters. By adding a couple of periods and a couple minor changes to the flow, things now look better for the military, and really bad for the IOA.
Chapter 1
Pegasus Galaxy
Lantean System
Lantea 2
Thorstown City
The city known as Thorstown had been established in those heady days after the Wraith had finally been exterminated, and the Iratus bug removed from existence. The Tau'ri had honored their long fallen allies, the Asgard, by naming various cities in the Pegasus Galaxy after them. Thorstown. Freyrville. Even Loki had a system named for him. It. Whatever.
Peace had settled on to the Pegasus Galaxy with the demise of the Wraith, and those planets that had lived in fear rejoiced in new-found peace. Governments that had been at odds with the Wraith found new leases on life, and with the assistance from the City of the Ancestors, and the Tau'ri living within the city, many found the right incentives to expand. The Genii opened peaceful contact with the worlds that had once been a part of their confederation and found many willing to re-join for the sake of their memories. Some of their worlds had been completely culled, with no survivors found, and onto these worlds, bold and daring Genii made the transit to start over.
There would never be a Sateda again, but Ronon Dex, with the help of Sheppard and others of the Lantean citadel, had found many of the survivors. Again, the help from Lantea, he and the other survivors, were attempting to rebuild what they had lost. Sateda would be recorded in their history books, and Weir's World joined the alliance of systems that was forming in Pegasus. With the influx of the surviving Free Jaffa led by Teal'c, who found much honor in the plight of Ronon Dex, the planet named for the Lantea Expeditionary leader who had been among the first to trust Ronon, became a strong one in short order. The people of Weir's World would also be Satedans, but they honored Dex when he chose the name, and their cities grew great and strong, built on the ashes of the dead and destroyed. Their infantry fighters were well known in the Lantean Alliance, and their Specialist units became the most sought after for everything from peacekeeping duty to exploration.
Asura was no more. It had been destroyed utterly by the FRAN replicator, when the mass of nanites it drew into itself reached critical mass, and the planet collapsed in on itself. As McKay and Ronon Dex were in the power room, attempting to steal the critical ZPMs that Atlantis needed, McKay's laptop was downloading as much of the Asuran database as he could. It wouldn't be until later, after the explosion that destroyed the planet, that McKay would have a chance to review the stolen data, and then discover exactly what it was he had; the location of a remote Asuran outpost where the ZPMs themselves were constructed and filled with energy. It also happened to be an outpost with a small shipyard, that while still capable of creating the Aurora class star ships, was capable of creating them only one at a time, and even then took more than six months to complete the construction of said ship.
The Travelers, with the Wraith gone, settled onto a number of worlds that had been thoroughly culled by the Wraith. They retained their ships, and with help from Lantea, refitted and repaired their ships. The Travelers fleet of ships would eventually form the core of the Lantean Fleet.
When word of the Asuran outpost reached StarGate Command on Earth, the orders were quickly given. Atlantis was to send an expedition to determine the viability of the outpost. Earth sent three Deep Space Carriers to the outpost; the Apollo, the Agamemnon, and the Leonidas. The outpost turned out to be a small version of the Lantean city-ship, perhaps half-again as big. But where Atlantis was all spires and six distinctive arms in a snowflake like pattern, the outpost was only four arms. Each arm, they determined, housed a different manufacturing center, with the central part of the city housing the ore processing stations that sent the refined metals to the various manufacturing arms. One arm produced ships of the Aurora class. Another arm produced Lantean Jumpers. The third arm produced satellites of various types, along with the smaller hand-held devices and would best be described as infantry and squad sized weapons. It was the fourth arm where they found a production and recharging station for ZPMs.
The best part, was that the outpost had fully charged ZPMs in its engine room, and that the ship was made to move from one planet to another, in search of the vital ores it needed to function. It could even settle in close orbit over a large asteroid or land on a moon and carry out its directives. The decision was made quickly, and the first crew on the outpost was led by John Sheppard, who'd been promoted to full bird colonel in the wake of the end of the Wraith Campaign. John Sheppard and his crews spent the next fifty years of their lives on the outpost, moving from moon to moon, asteroid to asteroid and saw more than one uninhabitable planet in the Pegasus Galaxy before at long last, landing the outpost next to Atlantis and shutting down its manufacturing center.
Along the way, they had built every ship in the Lantean Alliance Fleet, contributing four Aurora class ships to each and every member government of the Alliance as local defenses, and two more Aurora class ships built from materials harvested from the member worlds to serve in the Fleet. They had built scores of Jumpers, and hundreds of thousands of weapons for the growing Alliance ground forces.
And then came the news that none of them expected, and that none of them wanted to hear. Earth had gone to war with itself. Nuclear weapons, from an earlier age, had been lofted into the skies and had come down on various nations, obliterating entire cities, and killing six hundred million in the blink of an eye. Cheyenne Mountain had been targeted by no less than six missiles. Two had been near misses; faulty chips or faulty programming, whatever the reason was, and Colorado Springs ceased to exist. Two had been intercepted by Goa'uld plasma cannons that had served as a layer of defense for the mountain since the Goa'uld war. Two had gone all the way, striking within inches of their pre-programmed targets, and obliterating the mountain base. The twenty-five levels above the Embarkation room were an impassable maze of collapsed tunnels, fallen rock, and lethal radiation. If it hadn't been for the emergency shelters the Tok'ra had constructed beneath StarGate Command during George Hammond's tenure as leader, none would have survived at all.
The emergency escape systems, put into place when the Ori had been waging war in their galaxy, had been utilized by the NORAD staff, just minutes before the missiles impacted the mountain. They had been transported down into the inner part of the mountain, directly into the shelters; shelters with at least five decades worth of stored food, water, and various other necessities. That the shelters also had their own gate room, was something every commander of the SGC had known since Hammond. All they had to do was activate the transporter, and the Gate in the Embarkation room would appear in the shelter. As soon as Landry realized that life in the Mountain had come to an end, he ordered the Gate retrieved, and Atlantis dialed.
"Atlantis Command, how copy, over?"
"We read you loud and clear, General Landry. It's a little early for the scheduled reports, though."
"I know. Woolsey, pick up the comms, and cut everyone else off."
Everyone heard the order on the over head speakers, they just didn't expect it. But Woolsey dutifully picked up the headphone and switched everyone else off.
"What is the problem, General?"
"World War III. Someone else started it, but it doesn't matter. We're in the emergency shelters beneath the SGC. We evacuated the SGC, NORAD, Peterson, and the Air Force Academy while we could. Everything at ground level will be uninhabitable for a few centuries."
"How bad is it?"
"Two near misses that took out the Springs, two intercepts, and two direct hits. Everything above level twenty-five is gone; either collapsed or vaporized. And twenty-six through thirty are flooded with lethal amounts of radiation."
"Not good. General, at this time, and on my authority, I'm activating plan Exodus-Four."
"Confirmed."
"How long do you need?"
"Thirty minutes, then we'll start the evacuation."
"Affirmative. We'll be waiting."
The Gate shut down, and Landry looked at his most trusted aide, and Walter knew just what to do.
Both men were well past retirement age, but both men had been among the first to receive the Asgardian Life Extension treatments, giving them additional years to watch their children, grand-children, and great grand children be born, and grow up some.
Close to a decade before, General Jack O'Neill had retired to Pegasus and to a uninhabited and out of the way planet, that was mostly trees and small lakes. It was such a nice place, so unspoiled, that SGC personnel were given the option of retiring there. And quite a few took the offer. Once per year, O'Neill went to Atlantis to receive his ALE treatment. It was pure happenstance that had him in the infirmary of Atlantis when Landry and the SGC dialed in.
"General O'Neill? May I have a moment?"
"Mr. Woolsey? Something wrong?"
"We've just gotten contacted by General Landry."
"I thought the scheduled contacts were around the middle of the month? Or did you change the schedule?"
"No. General Landry is preparing to execute Exodus Four."
"Crap. What happened?"
"World War Three."
"Shit. Tell me you're kidding, please?"
"I'm afraid not. Landry informs me that Levels thirty to twenty-six are heavily radiated. Lethally radiated. Everything above twenty-six is rubble. Unofficial estimates are six hundred million dead. They hit infrastructure targets as well as purely military ones."
"Damn. That sounds like a variation on DropShot."
"I'm not familiar with that term."
"It was a plan; a SIOP. From the really bad days of the Cold War, before ICBMs made plans like it obsolete. I need to speak to Landry."
"Command center. We can dial Earth."
"Yes. Now. Now would be good."
Atlantis
Command Center
It took less than a minute to dial Earth. And only seconds for Landry and O'Neill to pick up their respective microphones.
"Kinda busy here Jack. What can I do for you?"
"Did the comm gear survive?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"What about the leadership? Any word from any of the bunkers?"
"Negative. They did a Hen House on us."
"Damn. What about the NORAD command staff?"
"General Littman is here with me."
"Bart?"
"Yeah Jack?"
"NMCC or ANMCC. Any response?"
"Negative. Satellite imagery shows nuclear blooms over both sites."
"Can you put out an Emergency Action Message using my codes and your codes?"
"I'll need your codes, Jack."
"Sending them on a sub-channel. Hank should have them by now."
"Got them Jack."
"What do you want in the message, Jack?"
"Any and all surviving commands are to send vital stats to your console. Location and personnel surviving, along with assets available. Can you send that?"
"Hank?"
"We need your codes, Bart. So Walter can send the messages."
"Then what Jack?"
"Then we show up with every ship in the Lantean Fleet, and rescue as many survivors as we can. Surface contaminated?"
"They hit almost all of the birds before the main strike. Only the IOA birds are still transmitting, and they show some pretty high radiation counts all over. They're on their own, Jack."
"Damn it! It's not supposed to be this way, Bart."
"I know Jack. I know."
"Hank, get all the info you can, then commence Exodus Four in fifteen minutes. Confirm."
"Confirmed, Jack. See you soon. Tell Woolsey to prepare for incoming refugees. The shelters are full Jack. We got NORAD in full. Peterson at about eighty percent. The Academy at about sixty percent. Every able bodied person will be carrying some gear or other supply crate. Walter will route full power to the Gate for an extended call."
"Right. See you in fifteen."
Fifteen minutes later, the population of Atlantis increased by something shy of twenty-five thousand personnel, some with families, some without. Three weeks later, when the fleet returned from Earth, the population went up by a similar amount. Pegasus, the Tau'ri contingent within, and the Lantean Alliance was on its own.
Sol System
The Present (2402)
The first warning that Starbase One had of any intruders in the system, was of the alarm blaring as automated warp interception systems, a gift from a 'future' Admiral Janeway to Starfleet command, pulled the vessels out of warp. Vessels quickly identified as unknown variants of the standard Breen warship class. There were always some Starfleet vessels in the home system, and these moved quickly to intercept. Two Akira class ships and a Defiant class vessel gave challenge to the Breen ship, which answered with a single immensely powerful beam that cut the three Starfleet vessel in two, lengthwise, along their longest axis, ejecting hundreds of personnel into the cold void of space.
Starbase One immediately pressed the button that triggered a system wide Red Alert. Seconds later, as the Breen warships entered his immediate area of concern, and weapons range, he pushed a second button, one that had been built into every Starfleet facility since the Admiral Kirk, but never used. Double Red Alert. It was used only when the situation was most dire and it immediately caused Red Alert signals to be sent to every ship in the Federation.
Even with full power to the shields, Starbase One stood little chance. Admiral Fitzgibbons ordered the immediate evacuation of the facility after the first Breen shot slipped through the shields as if they weren't there, and sliced deeply into his command. A Steamrunner class ship, undergoing a minor upgrade in the vast internal space dock, was speared and immolated in less than a second, and the beam that had hit it, continued on through the station and out the other side. In a space of less than thirty seconds, the three Breen warships had carved the immense Starbase One into sections, leaving them in orbit, and turning to challenge other ships in the area. The only ships responding were small runabouts, and even smaller shuttles. The Breen commander laughed at their pitiful attempts to save lives, and ordered his small fleet to jump to warp. Their destination was unknown, for the moment.
Ships far and wide began receiving the Double Alert signal. Some were tied up in negotiations or other pressing Federation matters. But enough weren't and they immediately changed their headings to return to Earth.
Pegasus
Lantea
Command Center
It was a long forgotten system that was flashing an alarm, and it took the technicians on watch duty several minutes to trace the source of the alarm. And then it took only seconds to route the information to the correct desk in the correct section. A bureaucrat who had been in this particular office since his graduation from university took one long look at the message and immediately asked for his supervisor's assistance. And that was how it went, up the line, until Brigadier General Jonathan Carter had a message flimsy in his hand.
"Have we confirmed the Ori Weapon's signature?"
"Yes sir. It's been confirmed."
"Damn. They're supposed to be dead!"
"Yes sir. We don't know what to make of it sir."
"Get me Fleet Command."
"Yes sir!"
After that, it was only a matter of saying 'Ori' and 'Earth' in the same sentence. The Fleet was immediately put on a wartime footing, something that hadn't happened since the Wraith Wars had ended close to four centuries ago, and certainly not since General Jack O'Neill had engineered the military evacuation of Earth, all those years ago. Jack O'Neill had come out of retirement for that one, eventually rising to the newly created position of CINC-PG or Commander In Chief, Pegasus Galaxy. And while he had never married or had any children, his clone, Jon O'Neill, had married and had carried on the O'Neill line, a line that survived mostly intact even today. One of Jon's children had married one of Lieutenant General Sam Carter's daughters, and both genetic lines, with their recessive ATA genetic sequences grew a little stronger. Brigadier Carter was the current head of Lantean operations, but it was a job that was there more out of the sake of continuity than anything else. His was the division that for years had been at the forefront of operations in Pegasus for it was the section charged with explorations in the galaxy. It was a galaxy that had long since been mapped out by the Ancients, and revisited by teams from his section. These days, the office was in charge of assigning colonization missions on worlds where there were no native inhabitants, archaeological missions to worlds where there were ruins of the Ancients, or keeping an eye on the Earth satellite system.
In the immediate aftermath of the war that had ravaged Earth, the Lantean Alliance had sent ships to rescue military personnel trapped in underground bunkers or on ships at sea. They had left behind a series of cloaked observation drones, shifted just out of phase from normal space, and cloaked in a twin field that left nothing to see. For decades, the drones had sent reports on the events on Earth, recording the first flight of a FTL ship, recording the arrival of aliens and First Contact. The drones had been there when Captain Jonathan Archer departed Earth orbit on his first exploration mission. They had been there when the Federation took its first tentative steps towards becoming a galactic power. They had been there in good times and in bad times, watching and recording. And when the Breen came to Earth and laid destruction at its doorstep, the drones had recorded the power signature, and sent an immediate burst transmission across three million light years of space to a monitoring console no one really paid any attention to anymore.
Lantean Alliance
Fleet Holographic Conference
"Do you have any more information for us, Jonathan?"
"A few images of the ships that attacked Earth. I know we agreed amongst ourselves that they weren't ready to learn the truth, but I also doubt that any of us expected this happenstance. Whoever these 'Breen' are, they are messing with technologies that are better left alone. They may have gotten their hands on the Ori Super Cannons, and I'm hoping that's all they got. If they found the Book, I don't know…I just don't know."
"We are in agreement then? To lift the quarantine around the Milky Way and to return their and offer what assistance we can?"
"How much do we tell them?"
"As little as possible until we identify the major players. I think we can safely use the 'long lost earth colony ruse' for this one. Call us the descendants of one of those DY-100 sleepers that got launched during the war."
"Alright. And who will be in charge?"
"An O'Neill led the exodus away from Earth. I think its only fair than an O'Neill leads us back to Earth."
"Which one?"
"Ronon O'Neill. He's on his way back from Sculptor and the new Nox homeworld."
"What ships do we send? How many ships do we send?"
"That is the question isn't it? Too few and we appear, perhaps too weak. Too many and we appear like a invasion force. So, we send in one ship, with the others waiting at Midway?"
"Again, what ships and how many?"
"O'Neill has a Destiny class as his command. He goes in alone, and you General Carter, wait at Midway with a fleet. Repair ships, replenishment ships, battleships, carriers, cruisers, and whatever else we can spare."
"The Satedans pledge their support, Generals. O'Neill and Teal'c helped us to rebuild. We will lend you five divisions of our Elite Guards."
"The Genii will also assist. Three divisions of our Light Shock Troopers, and one division of Field Support."
"The Travelers will assist by transferring one squadron of our Elite Attack Cruisers to your command. We will assist our Lantean brothers in driving off these Ori pretenders!"
And so it went, until every member of the Lantean Alliance had had their say and added to the fleet in terms of ships or personnel. General Carter just sat there, mesmerized. He wouldn't have expected this help, from their allies. Certainly Atlantis had helped them all in the beginning. And Lanteans in general would want to help the world where their own ancestors came from, not too long ago. But to expect this amount of help from the other member worlds was something beyond his understanding. Or maybe he was too much like the realist his long since dead ancestor, Jacob Carter, was supposed to have been.
Colonel Ronon O'Neill got the news of his new assignment when his ship, the Destiny class explorer E. Young, pulled into the space dock facility around Lantea. His ship was named for the first commander of the Destiny, Colonel Everett Young. The Destiny class was based on descriptions the Icarus team made of the ship, along with designs for it found in Sheppard's Outpost. With fueling systems capable of feeding directly from a star, and systems that were designed to last for millions of years, the few Destiny class ships that were a part of the Lantean Alliance were considered a privilege to serve on. Unlike the ship that Col. Everett served on, however, this ship had her full compliment of shuttles, and had all of her systems fully functional. Three hundred crew, plus an exploration team, and a security team called the ship their home.
Colonel Ronon O'Neill took his name from his several generations past ancestor Ronon Dex, one of whose children had married into the O'Neill line at some point. There were traces of both Jack O'Neill and Ronon Dex present in the man, most notably in his size. Ronon O'Neill was by no means a small man, towering over most of his crew at six-foot-six. But he kept his hair short, like Jack O'Neill had done, rather than in the stylish Satedan trend of dreadlocks. Most families in Lantea had passed down certain heirlooms along the generations, and Ronon was no different. He carried the same blaster pistol that his long dead ancestor Ronon Dex had carried all his life, and he carried Jon O'Neill's trademark G36 with its hundred round drum magazine.
Sol System
There were dozens of Federation and allied ships in the system, all conducting either search and rescue or attempting to figure out exactly what had happened. Admiral Kathryn Janeway had transferred her flag to the Intrepid, and was waiting for Voyager and her crew to return from Bajor. The Enterprise had just arrived in the system, and already more of the ship's captains out there were looking to Picard rather than to herself. She was the ranking member of Starfleet on the scene, while Picard was still just a Captain. But he had a larger reputation owing primarily to being the Captain of the Enterprise, perhaps the most storied ship in Federation history.
"Admiral, we are detecting a build up of an unknown particle, just to one side of the Moon."
"Can you describe the particle, Tuvok?"
"Not without more analysis. It displays the characteristics of both neutrinos and tachyon particles, with elements of chronometric ones as well."
"Source?"
"Unknown. The buildup is increasing."
"On screen."
The view screen lit up and showed a section of open space that revealed nothing for a few seconds before blossoming into what could only be described as an event horizon for purples and whites and grays, with what looked like clouds of vapor mixed in.
"Red Alert! Shields and weapons to maximum!"
"Confirmed. The fleet is responding. There is a ship emerging from the anomaly. Configuration unknown."
"Open hailing frequencies, all sub-space channels."
"Channel is open, Admiral."
"This is Admiral Kathryn Janeway aboard the Federation starship Intrepid to unknown vessel. You have intruded on Federation space. Identify."
The threat of 'or be destroyed' was clearly heard, even if this admiral Janeway didn't come right out and say it. But O'Neill had his orders. And so he responded as meekly as he could.
"Admiral Janeway of the Federation starship Intrepid. I am Colonel Ronon O'Neill of the Lantean Alliance vessel Everett Young. And perhaps, if you would allow just a little leeway, I could do what I must do."
"Leeway for what, Colonel?"
"On behalf of the people of Lantea, and the survivors of the USS Pensacola Bay, I bring you greetings."
"Admiral, the USS Pensacola Bay was a DY-100 sleeper ship launched during the war."
"A lost colony returning home, Tuvok?"
"Perhaps they are."
"Colonel O'Neill do you have any proof of what you claim?"
"Sadly, most of our historical records were lost when the Pensacola Bay crashed onto Lantea. The few records that survived indicated that the man responsible for the mission was a General Jack O'Neill of the United States Air Force. O'Neill was a four-star general who was at one time on the list of succession for the Presidency of the United States."
"One moment while we confirm that information."
"Tuvok?"
"As you are aware, records for that time period are fragmented. However, I have been able to confirm the existence of an Air Force General Jack O'Neill, who was a four star upon his retirement. There is no indication that he was a Presidential Successor, however there is a minor entry in the official record about a position with the Department of Homeland Security where he may have been some sort of minor functionary. Again, as with many records from that particular era, we may never know the full truth."
"Open the channel."
"Colonel O'Neill, and if I may, is there any relation to the General you mentioned?"
"An ancestor, several generations before me. Our records tell us he led the exodus from Earth in the aftermath of the nuclear war. He was a Five Star before his death."
"And you've chosen this particular moment to return?"
"This mission has been planned for a number of years, Admiral. It was just time, I'd say, that we returned here to show you who we are, and to ask why no follow up missions were ever sent."
"As to the follow missions, that one is easy. There is no record of your initial colonization mission. How could we send anyone anywhere not knowing that you were already there."
"True. But since we're only three days away at top speed, surely by now you would have accidentally stumbled upon us?"
"Perhaps. But the question is, with your very different form of FTL, what is your top speed compared to ours?"
"Somewhere in the neighborhood of forty-one thousand light years per hour."
"That's impossible!"
"Maybe for you."
"Admiral! A squadron of Breen Raiders have been detected! They have already passed the Martian Defensive Line! Projected trajectory has them hitting Earth inside of five minutes!"
"If you'll excuse me, Colonel O'Neill. It seems we have some uninvited guests inbound."
"We could assist. As a show of good faith?"
"Very well. Here's a picture of our enemy."
"Small, aren't they?"
"Yes. But very deadly. One of their larger ships destroyed our Starbase in Earth Orbit."
"Tell you what, Admiral. We'll intercept them. If they get by us, you can have what's left."
"We'll meet them together."
"Navigator, plot an intercept course, full burn. Weps, stand by. Senso, tell me you've got them on your screens?"
"Affirmative. Picking up low level shielding, and a minute Ori weapons signature trace. Not the things that came here earlier, I'd say, but probably someone coming for a follow-up visit."
"Right then. Stand by all guns. Weps, warm up the launchers."
"Roger that. Drone launchers are ready and available."
"Give me a full spread, across their bow."
The vessel had moved much faster to the intercept point, much to Janeway's shock. She hadn't anticipated that a ship that size could move like a shuttle. It seemed more nimble and certainly was faster at sublight speeds. Orders were passed among the ships in the system, and many of them jumped to warp for the short trip to the intercept point, and emerged from warp in time to see the Everett Young fire a number of high energy weapons at the incoming Breen Raiders. The Breen fired their own weapons in retaliation. Though it was a substantially reduced in power version of what their warships had, it was still capable of doing serious damage, as evidenced by a shot meant for the Young, but impacting on a smaller Defiant class ship that had exited from warp almost on top of the Young. The Defiant class heavy escort was cut into sections by the Breen weapons fire, and automated systems on the Everett Young automatically began transporting survivors to the Infirmary.
Intrepid
To those watching the battle on the main viewer, it was something of a dance, the way the Everett Young moved on the field of combat. Flitting this way and that, it was obvious that the ship had much more control over gravity than even the Federation. For a colonization mission that was launched during the horrors of the atomic war on Earth, these people sure had come a long way. And that was Janeway's first clue about the truth of their story.
The ships under her local command had fired their phasers to no or little effect, and had fired quantum or transphasic torpedoes to no effect. Whatever the shields were on the Breen ships, they prevented the phase shifted torpedoes from penetrating, and that little fact came as an utter slap in the face to the Federation. Their top and most prized weapon was ineffective.
But the Everett Young was having no such problems. Her energy cannons might not work at penetrating the shields either, but they were being used to intercept the incoming fire before it reached the shields. It looked like the vessel was intercepting perhaps eighty percent of the fire aimed at her, and what little did manage to strike the shields, did not penetrate. Whatever they used to power their shields, was certainly different than the Federation. And those torpedoes they fired, while scans did indicate they were smaller than the standard Federation equivalent unit, they certainly packed as much a punch as five of their own units. Whatever they called them, they had no problem penetrating the Breen shields. Six Breen Raiders had come into the system to do as much damage as they could, and six Breen Raiders had been destroyed before they could do much to hurt the Federation yet again. In fact, the battle had been so much of a surprise for the Breen, that they hadn't managed to even get off a single distress signal.
"Open a channel."
"Channel open, sir."
And that was another thing she had a pet peeve about. She was clearly a woman, but she hated the whole tradition of any officer being called 'sir'. It was a long standing tradition, reaching back to the times when all officers were male only. Women had come a long way, especially in the Federation, but some things, just never changed.
"Colonel O'Neill. Any damages to your ship?"
"Negative, Admiral. Be advised, we picked up forty-eight crew members from your destroyed ship. They are in our infirmary and being treated for various injuries."
"Tuvok?"
"There were no discernible transporter signatures during the brief battle, Admiral."
"Colonel. It seems that a number of things you've said are telling me you're being less than factual."
"I see. You're having a difficult time picking the lies from the truth, are you?"
"And you're blunt too. Well I can be blunt. Tell us the truth, or make a new enemy here, right now."
"Very well. I did tell Fleet Command that the 'long lost colony' idea wouldn't work, but they had other concerns. Do you want to come over here, or would you like me to join you?"
"A small measure of trust has been earned for your role in preventing too many deaths on our side. Just myself?"
"Bring up to three others, if you wish."
"Very well."
"Tuvok?"
"I will join you."
"Harry?"
"Wouldn't miss this for the world."
"Tom?"
"B'Elanna would kill me if I went instead of her. She might understand their tech better."
"But she's on Earth and you're here. And you're the closest thing I have to an expert on that era."
"Yes ma'am."
"We're ready, Colonel."
"Good. Identify the others joining you?"
"Commander Tuvok, Lt. Commander Harry Kim, and Lt. Commander Tom Paris."
"Alright. Stand by for transport."
"Stan…"
Before she could finish the phrase, or utter a command to lower shields, she vanished in a flash of white light, and re-appeared on the view screen on the other vessel's bridge. Also in a flash of white light.
"…ding by. Well now, that was different. Your transporters went right through our shields!"
"Yeah. We matched frequencies pretty easily. If you'll follow me, we'll go to the Dome."
"Dome?"
"Our primary conference room. The view is quite nice."
"I see. The ship looks different on the inside. More open. This isn't a new design, is it?"
"What gave it away?"
"The corridors, the walls, the lighting. Every thing tells me the technology is tried and true."
"Very perceptive, Admiral. I think we'll get along just fine. And what species are you Commander?"
"Vulcan."
"Is there anything about Vulcan's that I should know?"
"We prize logic. We reject emotion."
"I see. That's good to know. And here we are. The Dome."
Janeway could see quite a lot from here, namely that they were in motion again and headed towards Earth, with other Federation ships giving them an escort. The problem was that with her long service in the Federation, she could always tell when a ship began to move. Here, she hadn't felt a thing.
"We're moving?"
"Yes. I guessed that you would feel more comfortable closer to Earth. Tell me, Admiral, what do you know of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries on Earth?"
"A time of great unrest."
"True. And to your knowledge, when was First Contact, and with whom?"
"2063, with the Vulcans."
"So all knowledge of the Stargate has been lost. We were afraid of that."
"Stargate?"
"Time for the history lesson, I'd guess. Admiral, a lot of your perceptions about Earth history are about to radically change. Are you prepared to have your world view shattered?"
"How do I know you're telling the truth?"
"You don't, I suppose. But whatever I'm going to lightly cover, is available as a text book in any Lantean Alliance school."
"Very well. Please, shatter my world view, then."
