Hello Everyone, I am back; sorry for not updating soon but work in the real world and Halo 4, along with Assassin Creed have kept me from my writting, so I apologies. I am happy that my story got so much attention. To you reviewers know that I have read your comments and I have taken notes.

This chapter is kind of an interlude and will be part 1 of 2 in introducing some of the major factions that will be featuring in this story.

PS: I don't own any Stargate series but my alternate reality puddle jumper is almost ready...AHAHAHAHAHAH!

...

February 15th 2185

Terra, Capital of the Terran Alliance,

Sol System, Geneva

Switzerland had ceased to exist a long time ago; its various cities and towns were now linked in one giant megalopolis that stretched across thousands of kilometers at the center of Western Europe, mixing a beautiful blend between nature and man-made buildings. At the center of the massive mega city stood an equally massive tower that stretched four hundred kilometers high in the sky, housing hundreds of thousands of people who were dedicated in the maintenance of the Terran Alliance administration and its policies. At the top of the tower, Terran Alliance 78th President, Abdul Novar was admiring the majestic view granted to a select few who had gained the right to sit in this office as the leader of humanity. It always raised his spirits, knowing that all of those people below him were the reason he was standing in such particular place, that they trusted him to do what was right and that they could sleep soundly without a care in the world.

Unfortunately the emergency briefing from the Department of Defense had started to make him rethink such thoughts and he now wondered if he was indeed the right man for the job. For the last sixteen hours, Novar was busy dealing with the fallout of a failed first contact with a sentient space faring race and the destruction of a scientific outpost at the edge of the border, along with the loss of several Alliance warships. So far news of the alien contact and the destruction of the outpost were kept private, however Novar knew it was only a matter of time before it spread. Once it reaches the Senate hears, his political opponents will do everything to crucify him in the eyes of the public. He had after all ordered a First Contact without notifying them first, it wasn't protocol but a serious breach of trust and principles. However Novar didn't regret his actions, as the Supreme Commander of all Terran military forces it was his duty to ensure the security of the Alliance first and foremost; now he was just hoping it wouldn't bite him hard in the ass that it was already.

"How bad is it?" he asked to Admiral Carl Davis, Chief of Staff of the Terran Alliance Navy. While he was 73 years old, Davis looked as if he was still in his forties. A career officer, he had risen in ranks during the Chaos War, leading strike groups against Cultists and insurrectionists bases.

Currently the President, Admiral Davis, along with the secretary of Defense Patrick Gulman, Secretary of State Elisabeth Harley and Intelligence Director Harris Melbourne were present in his office.

"TBG 23 lost a dozen ships mister President. However the aliens lost all of their ships and fighters, except for the flagship who fled into hyperspace"

"Do we know where it is headed?" asked the President, Davis nodded

"One of our monitoring stations, Echo 615 is currently tracking it. The ship which we have codename Bad Star 1 has already left the limits of Epsilon Secondus and is heading deep inside the Orion upper arm which is uncharted. We estimate that it will disappear from our sensors in about ten hours."

"What about the two prisoners that had been detected onboard?" Secretary of Defense, Patrick Gulman asks

"Commander Ivanova dispatched a team of Titans Shocktroopers. Before the ship exited into hyperspace, Colonel O'Neil leading the team informed us they had made contact with the hostages and were on their way to the escape shuttle when it was destroyed. They then attempted to reach the hangar bay and steal a ship but it was too late."

"Are they alive?"

"We don't know yet" spoke this time, Intelligence Director Harris Maybourn. Unlike the rest of the occupants, Melbourne was extremely old, although his face and body showed a man in his forties. Melbourne was prior to his present posting, a former US AIR FORCE Colonel and leader of several black ops projects that even to this day are classified. He participated in the shadows to the formation and stability of the Terran Alliance. Despite his advance age, medical technologies and cybernetic were what kept him alive.

"Echo Base 615, registered several spikes consistent with subspace beacons but was unable to get a proper confirmation due to cosmic anomalies and background radiations." explains Melbourne

"What do we know about those aliens then?" asks the President

"Not much Mr. President, to be honest we had detected their approach roughly around the same time as the Sigma outpost began broadcasting their distress signal." explains Davis "From the reports of Taskforce 23 it is safe to assume that they are distantly related to us and use ancient Egyptian language which is surprisingly familiar with the one used by the Seth Cult to encrypt their communications."

"So they are humans?"

"Not really, autopsy reports have already shown that these people have been genetically modified and their survival is totally dependent of some kind of alien worm which forms a symbiotic relationship with its host. If the worm is removed it will cause the host immune system to fail and shut down all of its organs." explains Melbourne, he used his neural interface to activate a holo screen displaying images of the dead alien soldiers and the worm like creature that resided inside their bellies.

"My god" mumbles the Secretary of States in shock

"Do you have any explanation about why they use ancient Egyptian language?"

"No but from the recording of the conversation between Commander Ivanova and the man call Apophis we can safely surmise that we are dealing with some kind of totalitarian regime centered around a leadership that is being worshipped by the mass. Basically the same way the Seth Brotherhood wanted to rule humanity." says Melbourne

"What led you to that conclusion?" asked the President, granted he had watched the recording of the conversation as well, it wasn't enough to compare the man with the former leader of Seth but Novar knew when he saw a tyrant.

"Apophis was in ancient Egyptian mythology one of Ra's greatest enemies and perhaps the closest to the god of war in their pantheon. Seth on the other hand was the god of trickery and darkness, something every citizen in the alliance can attest." replied Melbourne, and he was right, the Seth Brotherhood had gone a long way to prove that they would commit any form of atrocities just to satisfy their god.

"You think it is not a coincidence?" asked the President

"In my line of work Mister President, nothing is coincidence" replies the Terran Intelligence Director "We have long suspected as to why did the Sethists demonstrated such advance technologies during the war. Their abilities to create plasma based energy shields, including portable ones, gravity based weapons, healing devices and even anti-matter weaponry. Thirty years ago those technologies were in a theoretical stage, while the Order of Seth and Hathor Industries suddenly possessed them. At first we suspected they had found another Alterans cache, but the technological curve was drastically different at some point and while there are some similarities with Alterans technology, theirs was completely different. However it would be interesting to note that the Sethists, Hathor Industries and these aliens used the same power source for their technologies."

This revelation drew shocked stares

"Are you saying that the Sethists, Hathor Industries actions may have been caused by those aliens?" asked Davis, he had fought both organizations many times during his long career and after observing the battle data from the Frontier taskforce he had to admit that Melbourne hypothesis made sense. They had advanced shielding, energy weapons and were fanatically insane to attempt kamikaze runs.

"We know this Apophis fellow is not human, just looking at him proves it. We also know that like Margaret Hathor and Adrian Seth he perceives himself as a god and will not tolerate to be spoken as an equal. Finally they have demonstrated the possession of advance technologies that are decades ahead of us and furthermore they tend to favor and enforce a language that is supposed to be extinct for millennia's. Which can only bring us to one conclusion, these aliens or maybe their ancestors may have visited Earth at one time, influencing our religions and taken many of our ancestors with them thousands of years ago."

"If that's the case" begins the President "Why now? Why not centuries before, they could have easily wiped us out?"

"I don't know sir, but one thing for certain they are dead set in conquering us"

...

TAS Darkness of Solace, 23rd Naval Special Operation Recon Fleet

143 light years from Epsilon Secondus

February 21st 2185

If one took a careful look at the endless void, a slight chimer akin to one caused by photo reflective panels would be noticeable, then again you had to know what to look for and even then, detecting a Terran Stealth Corvette without its cloaking device was no easy fit, the Trident shape 120 meter vessel was made of heat absorbent materials and kinetic buffers capable of storing thousands of pettawats worth of energy, making it literally a cold box. In case the ship's presence was discovered by hostile, the Corvette was fast enough to outrun anything either at sublight or hyperspace, assuming it was detected of course which was much not likely.

Captain George Ming sighed again for the hundredth time as he read the reports from the many stealth drones and Stealth Corvettes that had been deployed in the past few days across the unknown regions. The monitoring stations had tracked Bad Star, Apophis ship to a location 400 light years from Terran borders. Although, the Terrans could easily cover that distance in the span of a few days, High Command did not want to go into war blind, nor upset any cranky neighbours, thus Terran Naval Intelligence had began a careful survey of the unknown region by deploying two squadrons of Stealth Corvettes assigned to the Special Naval Reconnaissance Group (SNRG). So far the Corvettes had charted twenty star systems, eight of them had planets suitable for human life, and the remaining ones were barren but filled with resources that would certainly attract a lot of potential colonists and mining companies. None so far had shown any trace of intelligent life but careful scans of two star systems revealed that some had housed a civilization, a space faring one or two but had disappeared roughly six thousands of years ago.

Ming wondered if they had been wiped out by war or by nature, he hoped for the later. As a veteran of the Chaos War, he had seen enough bloodshed to last him a lifetime.

"Captain" spoke the sensor officer "Sensors are detecting subspace communications, roughly thirty light years from our position."

Ming frowned, subspace communication was the best way to communicate across large distances, it was near instantaneous. It also meant that there was a civilization nearby, probably a space faring one. It couldn't be from other allied ships because, the Corvettes were to maintain temporary radio silence and the time had yet to elapse.

"Can you tap into it?" asks Ming

"Negative sir; the frequency seems heavily encrypted, decoders are working on it but it will take some time."

Now Ming was worried, encrypted communications meant there was probably a military base or a few warships; there was no sense in encrypting civilian frequencies.

"Orders sir?" asks Ming XO

The Chinese descent Captain pondered on his next course of action, it was clear that they needed to investigate the area but it might also reveal their position and if these unknowns were hostile; things could turn dicey.

"Captain, I am detecting another set of encrypted subspace communication, it is on a different frequency but it is not interacting with the other." said the sensor officer

"Two different set of encrypted frequencies; why?" asks Ming

"I don't know but there is something else, sir." says the officer "Our sensors are detecting a lot of interferences in that area and it seems to directly affect both signals."

"A jamming field"

"Maybe but we are too far to get accurate readings."

"Either there is some kind of battle taking place there, it's the only explanation" guesses the Captain, he turns to the communication officer "Prep a messenger drone and upload all of the data. I want two daggers to be deployed in five minutes and head to the designated area for reconnaissance, notify the other Corvettes that we have a potential First Contact situation."

His orders relayed, Ming was now deep in thought, wondering who these aliens could be. A small part of him was hoping it would be the bastards that killed some of his comrades in the Frontier Battlegroup, while the other was hoping it wouldn't turn like their last First Contact.

...

Colony of Metaron, Hebridan Republic

HRS Mogart Heavy Cruiser

"Shields are down to 50%!" yells the weapon officer

"The Ballanche has lost its shields!" says the sensor officer

Star Commander Gento Warrick muttered a curse for the hundredth time as he watched another frigate of the Hebridan Republican Navy explode into a fireball at the hands of the Aschen invasion fleet orbiting high above the colony.

"Tell our fighters to plug that gap" ordered the Serrakin, his voice was smooth and calm despite the turmoil inside his mind, and he needed to be so in order to keep his crew calm.

"Weapons; target that Aschen War Cruiser; aim at its anti-gravity drive tails, that's its weakness!"

As ordered the bird shape heavy cruiser main weapons aimed at the enemy warship, unleashing bolts of green plasma energy. The elegant squid shape Aschen war cruiser flared it's shields as it tried to withstand the assault, for a moment it's seems as if the energy shield held but only for a few seconds before it collapse and additional bolts hit the two large tails fin underneath it at the rear, with viciousness.

The tails broke into pieces, cancelling the anti-gravity field of the warship which caused it to be taken by inertia and flip on itself. The sudden movement and pressure caused secondary explosions and hull breaches, which the Hebridan fighters immediately exploited by launching salvos of plasma and missiles at the breaches. It was then followed by another salvo of plasma bolts from the Mogart Heavy Cruiser. In less than twenty seconds, the Aschen warship was reduced into atom dust.

The mix crew of human and Serrakin onboard the Mogart cheered in victory but their commander was quick to bring them back into order and remind them that the battle was not over yet. Exploiting the quick breach in the Aschen lines, Koram gave his orders.

"Frigate Tupali and Neker move forward to grid 11 Epsilon. Second and Third fighter wings are to provide support. Heavy Cruiser Voltron and Uker are to follow us. Helms take us toward their central line, ECM to full power. Gunners target their drive tails as soon as we are in range." Ordered the Hebridan commander, his orders were quickly carried out by the motivated crewmen, eager to inflict pain on the invader. He had noticed a critical flaw in the Aschen warships; while they had strong shields it was weak at areas surrounding the anti-gravity drive tails. In addition the Aschen shields were never able to sustain long rate of firepower.

The Aschen fleet of six War Cruisers and twelve Strike Frigates were quickly overwhelmed by the Hebridan defenders. Earlier the Aschen had the advantage due to their weapons longer range and accuracy but the Hebridan vessels while weaker in terms of shields were very fast and had more firepower. Despite being outnumbered, the Hebridans quickly closed the distance with the Aschen who outnumbered them. In addition the Hebridans had lots of fighters; a single Heavy Cruiser carried a total of sixty fighters and forty bombers, while a frigate carried ten fighters. Although they were weak individually; their small size and numbers were more than enough to overwhelm the Aschen warships.

"Incoming hyperspace wormholes" warns the Hebridan sensor officer "Above us!"

Warrick heart almost missed a few heartbeat when hearing the news, for a moment he feared the Aschen had brought more reinforcements but his worries quickly turned into joy when he recognize the shape of several Hebridan Heavy Cruisers and Battlecruisers, all bearing the marking of the 4th Republican Fleet. The old commander felt like screaming in joy when the last vessel exiting the wormhole revealed itself to be a Demetrius Dreadnaught, the latest and most powerful warship built by the Techkon Group. Measuring two thousand meters, the massive vessel easily outgunned anything the Aschen could throw at it and its shields were on par with even the latest Hatak built by the Goauld.

Unnoticed by the Hebridans or the Aschen, the battle for the colony of Metaron was being observed by two dagger shape vessels.

These small spacecraft were Tactical Reconnaissance Ships or TRS-267 Daggers, design specifically for stealth reconnaissance missions in hostile territories; they were outfitted with the same materials as the one used on the Stealth Corvettes and possessed advance optical and electronic sensors.

Three hours ago the two vessels had been deployed from the Darkness of Solace hanger bay to investigate the subspace traffic. They had arrived just in time to witness a space battle above the fourth planet of the uncharted star system. For three hours, the four man crew of the Daggers gathered as much data as their sensors could without gathering attention. One of the Daggers stealthily approached the planet other side and began extensive scanning of its surface. After an hour of scanning the crew of the stealth craft was stunned to discover the planet was inhabited by two sentient species but the greatest shock was to find out that one of the species was human like them. Satellite photos of the surface were taken in great numbers, revealing the two races living in perfect harmony, laughing, crying, and children of both races playing together. It was surreal, something right out of a sci-fi movie.

All of the data taken by the Daggers was immediately forwarded to the Darkness of Solace who then immediately sent it back to Terran space.

...

Confederation Ministry of War

Aschen Prime

February 24th 2185

"Minister Jakod" spoke a human dress in a red uniform with black trims on his shoulders

"Yes, Major" answers the Minister, his uniform was similar to the Major but his uniform was purple and he had gold trims on his shoulders

"The invasion of Metaron has failed" says the Major "The taskforce was wiped out"

Such news should've caused a normal person to be prone to anger or sadness but for the Aschen people such emotions were useless and unproductive. Besides the ships were unmanned and controlled remotely.

"Troublesome but expected" spoke Jakod "Metaron is one of their largest colonies after all. Were we able to gather enough data?"

"Yes, Minister" nods the Major as he handed to the Minister a data pad "There was no abnormalities with the subspace link of our drone ships. Our analysts believe that the data will be enough to draw new tactics and countermeasures against the Hebridans in the next campaign. However we will require building dedicated anti-fighter measures, the current escort vessels seems unsuited to the task."

"Indeed" agrees Jakod as he read the data "I have received news from the shipyards, six Drone Carriers have been completed and another ten will be operational in three months. However they will require combat trials to assert their effectiveness."

"Simulations have already proven that they are superior to the Hebridan fighters" replies the Major "Will we use it for the next offensive on Metaron?"

Jakod seems pensive for a moment at the thought of employing the new weapon "No, not yet. I have another target in mind?"

The Major face was blank, not letting any emotion transpiring on his face but from the look in his eyes it was clear he was curious.

"Our long range sensors have detected in the Omega quadrant, anomalies consistent with hyperspace travel" explains Jakod, making the Major raised an eyebrow slightly, the Omega Quadrant was a vast expanse of unknown space, the Aschen Confederacy and the Hebridan Republic shared one of their borders in that area, but none of the two powers had made significant moves to explore it for fear of attracting the Goauld.

"Could it be the Hebridans are trying to use the area to launch an offensive in our territories?" asks the Major

"We don't think they are Hebridans" answers the Minister "Their power signatures are different, nor are they Goauld ships. We need to ascertain if they are a threat to us, either way they will need to be removed. The Supreme Council has many plans for this part of space."

The Major nodded, he too was privy to those plans. "Who shall I assign to this task?"

"General Oran will be most suitable for this mission, he has good insight onto the use of the Drone Carriers but you will second him."

The Major saluted and left the room

Jakod rose up from his seat and approached the large window glass, giving a splendid view of Aschen Prime capital city. Tall rising skyscrapers, factories, research facilities, schools, and so much more, all devoted to the glory of the Confederation. The Aschen had come a long way since they discovered interstellar travel. They had colonized dozens of worlds in the vicinity of their home system. Many harbored other human civilizations or alien cultures but the Aschen weren't interested in them, thus they were removed accordingly and their worlds adjusted for the needs of the Aschen. The Confederation had prospered in such way until the fateful meeting with the Goauld three hundred years ago. The Aschen had suffered terribly, many of their colonies and their homeworld were devastated, causing a death toll in the billions; but they had quickly recovered and with the help of the Hebridans, both civilizations had defeated the invaders and force them to retreat. The Hebridans had been ecstatic to meet a fellow space faring race and hoped to strengthen their relationships. The Aschen were not interested but played along so as to lower the guard of their neighbor and deal them a fatal blow that would allow the Confederation to expand even more. Unfortunately the Hebridans soon became distrustful as it uncovers some of the Aschen methods of expansions and took measures to stay away from them.

Diplomatic relations were still maintained but contact was limited. Ten years ago the Aschen got a breakthrough when a solar flare in the Hebridan home system disrupted all electronic systems and massive power failures, bypassing their shields and causing their entire defenses to shut down. The Aschen through their spies learned of it and quickly exploited the weakness, launching a surprise attack. Biological weapons were used to quickly remove the populations on the planet. However the Hebridans had not been idle in the centuries after knowing the Aschen nefarious schemes, the Techkon group had developed a series of medical implants preventing Aschen biological weapons from affecting them, although millions had died before the cure could be enacted. After a two week siege, the Hebridans were able to rout off the Aschen fleet, starting the ten year long war between the two civilizations. Both civilizations had yet to engage in full scale conflicts since the siege of Hebrida, instead it consisted of skirmishes alongside their borders and incursions. The attack on Metaron was the largest battle since the beginning of the war. The planet in question was strategic to the Aschen future offensive, while for the Hebridan it was a vital supply base for their warships patrolling near the area.

Jakod wasn't worry about the prospect of defeat; the battle had served its purpose in probing the Hebridan defenses and studies their responses. Besides none of their ships were manned, instead they were controlled remotely from command ships safely hidden at the edge of the systems. The Aschen had manned ships but they did not intend to commit them until they had a clear advantage and had exhausted the Hebridans. Unlike their neighbor the Aschen did not place any values about morals, compassion or honor. They cared only for the sake of their advancements and the establishment of a perfect order runs by them and them only.

...

Like I said earlier, this chapter is kind of short. Here we are introduced to the Hebridans and the deadly nerdy Aschen. I don't know what type of government the Hebridans had in the series since it was never mentioned so I decided to make it a Republic. The Aschen are more of a meritocracy than an actual Confederation. They are not xenophobic, rather they think of other races as a waste of their time and space, even if they have technological values. Think of them as a mix between German Nazi and the Nara clan from Naruto (creepy I know). About Melbourne, yes he is the same same lovable Melbourne from the SG-1 series and yes he is old. He is basically a Stargate version of the Illusive man but a more laid back kinda of guy.

Next chapter will feature some old friends but you guys will have to be patient. Thank you for reading and plz review!