Here's the next chapter for you all, questions will be answered and others will be asked. Note: Sergeant Major Richards is the property of DaniWilder, so thanks for letting me borrow him. Echidna however is mine, and so are any of the ships that I proudly create.
I intend to look at all reviews and try to clear up any questions you may have, so if you have any stick them in your reviews and i will try to answer them without giving the game away at the start of each new chapter.
As some of you may have guessed there will eventually be new ships being built. The tricky part is coming up with appropriate names which is very important, so if you have any suggestions send them in and the best will become the names for the new BC - 305 class ships. Of course if you have suggestions for 304's be they American, Russian, etc then send them in.
Yes it is another chapter in the Milky Way galaxy, but what is happening in the Milky Way is far to important to just leave out. After all their is still much to do and lots of shiny new toys that i have created for me to introduce you to.
Review Responses
DaniWilder: The best tricks are those done with ways that people have almost forgotten about but love all the same, like making of Harlan to bring back the Asgard.
Shadow of Realm: Trust me i have plenty more tricks up my slave, after all i have to keep things interesting.
Ruby Pena: I am glad you approve, enjoy the next chapter
Scotius: Your right it did suck that the Asgard had to go just for Earth to get some shiny new space toys, however i think i found a fair way around that problem. An alliance of races may be possible but not the original though, anything done now would be something very different indeed.
ainokea2810: I am sorry you did not find this story sooner. Putting these pieces together is not the problem the issue is balancing them all so that readers such as yourself do not get bored.
Galara - Present
In the past the vibrant world of Galar had prospered under the protection of the protected planets treaty. Free from the threat of Goa'uld attack the people had prospered and reached almost unparalleled heights when compared to most worlds in the galaxy. But still the sheltered life that they had lived had left them with one disadvantage that could lead to their destruction if not for the protection they had received. While in some areas the people of Galar had advanced substantially they had never made many advancements in terms of space travel and defensive technologies. They had never had much need for the ability to travel through space or fight off alien spaceships, not with the Asgard constantly watching over them. But the Asgard had been out of the picture for some time now, and so the responsibilities of protecting the planets had been dumped on the laps of the Tau'ri. If it weren't for the initial gift of weapons technology from the Asgard they would have found this a difficult task even with the wealth of information contained in the Asgard database. It was this knowledge that had been used to create the ship that now sat in orbit around the planet.
She was the latest ship to come off the line, brand new and the first of her kind. The BC-305 known, for reasons that enemies wished they would not have to, as the Achilles-class. She looked remarkably similar in shape to the Daedalus-class, at least from a distance anyway. If you saw the ship up close then you would immediately spot that the hanger pods on either side of the ship had undergone some serious redesigning. If you were to compare a 305 to a 304 then you would say that the hanger doors had been moved forwards slightly and been replaced with a single solid piece of metal and had two ball turrets affixed to each of them. These turrets were identical to the ICT's on the Pegasus-class and featured the same amount of deadly fire power with each shot, and just above them, and resting on the tops of the wings, was an additional turret. Behind this turret, on the roof of the wings, was a large hanger door which allowed access to the much more compact battlecruiser hanger. Since the only ships in the only craft that the Tau'ri had that was capable of manoeuvring like a VTOL were the transport shuttles or puddle jumpers, that is until the first tactical transport got past the prototype stage, one shuttle was placed in each hanger. Of course this presented the issue of not being able to launch fighter craft for support, but then of course the ship was designed to bring overwhelming firepower against any and all opposition. The additional weapons on top of the now standard 304 compliment of weaponry meant the ship was everything the designers had hoped for.
But despite being the next in line after the Daedalus-class the ship had not come into active ship until after the first 306. This was because the 305 had to undergo a certain amount of redesigning as new technologies came to light. Where as the Pegasus-class was designed from the ground up, thus, surprisingly, making the design easier to plan, the 305 had been a modification of the 304's design. The idea was to create a ship that could be built in the same shipyard as a 304 but would boast a greater amount of firepower. The 306 design however had been rushed into production so quickly that it was the only ship that could be built in the Argus shipyards, as the other berths were still under construction. With the recent completion however, and the flood of resources now being directed at the newly completed shipyards, the first 305 had been built and the Achilles had taken flight and immediately been put into action. Her current mission was to deploy a sensor net around each of the protected planets in the treaty, as well the worlds of the allies that the Tau'ri had made over the years, such as Langara. And so the Achilles now sat in orbit around Galar while her two shuttles finished putting the last of the sensor platforms in position.
In the command chair sat one Colonel Cameron Mitchell. His promotion had been the result of his impressive work during his time as leader of SG-1 and, more importantly, so that General O'Neill had as many people that he could trust and count on in important positions as possible. People who knew what it was like out their and had had some experience against the dangers the galaxy had to offer. He himself had a fair amount of experience with the dangers heading their way, as he was about to learn.
"Commander the last of the sensor platforms is in position. Transports are standing by for conformation signal." The shuttles would stand by until they received conformation that the platforms were all transmitting, after all they might need to pick up a defective platform.
"Status of the sensor net?" he responded.
"Subspace link has been established. All platforms are responding and readings are in the green."
Cam nodded. "Okay lets test this thing out, give me a full sensor sweep at maximum range."
"Scanning now sir" The crewman sounded alarmed when he next spoke. "Sir, sensors at detecting ten Ha'tak class vessels in hyperspace and on course to this system."
"Time to arrival?" he asked.
"Three hours."
He sighed and rubbed his eyes, "Good thing we were in the area." He straightened his features straightening into a serious face. "Science, tap into the subspace sensor link and find the nearest available ship in response range. Com, get me Emissary Varta on the line, if we're going to have a fire fight up here it would be a good idea to let them know."
"Sir," said the science crewman. "The only available ship in range is the Enterprise, sensors place them one hour away."
Cam mentally chuckled, of the course the only available ship would be the Milky Way fleets fastest ship. Not to mention being the Generals personal flagship and carrying the original SG-1 to boot.
"Sir," said the com crewman. "I have Emissary Varta online."
"Good work," he replied. "Send a subspace data burst to the Enterprise advising them of our situation and put Varta on."
On the main viewport the latest HUD technology came into play and Varta's image appeared onscreen.
"Commander Mitchell," said Varta. "I understand you wanted to talk to me."
"Yes Emissary," Cam replied diplomatically. "We have installed the sensor net as agreed, and it's operating perfectly. However we have detected a fleet of ships on route to this system, I don't suppose that you have any knowledge of visitors on route."
It was a long shot he knew but he did have to ask, after all it wasn't a good idea to shoot guests. However the Emissaries stern face only confirmed his suspicions.
"No we were not, will you be capable of defending us from this fleet if they turn out to be hostile?"
"We're calling in reinforcements in case they do turn out to be hostile which will be here before the unknowns. With reinforcements we can handle the entirety of the unknown fleet and you should have nothing to worry about. Obviously we'll warn them that this system is under our protection and hopefully you may be looking at diplomatic relations with some new people."
"Hopefully Commander that will be the case," he said calmly before severing the transmission.
Cam sighed, some people never changed. Still ever since that whole memory incident the two of them had not been on the best of terms. It was no secret that Cam didn't like the fact that Varta had seen the expertise that a scientist possessed was worth the lack of justice for the murder of an innocent woman. It didn't help that that same man had decided to frame Cam and implant him with the memories of killing her.
"Com, any response from the Enterprise," he asked a little more vocally than was necessary.
"Transmission is coming through now sir."
"On screen."
Nox Homeworld
The group had just finished guilt tripping the Asgard into rejoining the rest of the galaxy at large and Thor was feeling especially down. He had been under the impression that these talks were being recorded and he was going to be forced to try to convince the entire Asgard council that they should rejoin the people of the galaxy. Only now he found out that they had been listening all along. He strongly suspected that his little episode of torture had been the result of his push to give the Tau'ri the technology and information that the Asgard had always held out from them.
Jack noticed the slightly downtrodden look on his friends face as the general joy of the Asgard's return died down. While the others had formed their own little groups he walked over to his old friend and patted him on the shoulder.
"Cheer up buddy. Now that we're past the administrative problems we can get down to work."
Thor smiled, after all his friend was right. Now that the decision had been made as Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet he would have a large amount of control over the future expedition, as well as any other deployments of ships in this galaxy or another.
"You are right O'Neill, and maybe I will able be able to show you just what this ship can do," he said with a slightly mischievous grin.
Jack raised an eyebrow at that and looked around at the room. "Isn't this one of your Beliskner's or an O'Neill? It doesn't really look much like one of your science vessels."
Thor chuckled. "This ship is called Valhalla, and it is of a kind that you have never before seen."
"So what kind of ship is it?"
Before Thor could utter a reply the unfamiliar voice of an Asgard came over the com system.
"Supreme Commander we are receiving a transmission from the Tau'ri vessel in orbit, it's for General O'Neill."
"Lower the communications block and allow the transmission through," said Thor.
"Acknowledged Supreme Commander," the voice replied.
Appearing in her regular unannounced fashion the image of ISIS, the Enterprise's independent AI, appeared before the pair.
"Commander I have a priority one message for you from Commander Mitchell."
O'Neill frowned; he knew that Mitchell and the Achilles were deploying sensor nets around protected planets, a task that would still be necessary as the Asgard would be too busy re-establishing themselves in their own galaxy to guard those worlds. If he had a priority one message for him then that most likely meant trouble, and it would be trouble that could not be handled alone.
"What is the message ISIS?"
"A fleet of ten Ha'tak class vessels, type unknown, are on route to Galar, eta three hours. The reason for the fleet's presence is unknown but the presence of the Enterprise is requested to guarantee a decisive victory in case of hostile intent," summarized ISIS.
O'Neill nodded. While it was true that the Achilles would probably win in a fight against ten regular Ha'tak's there was always that unknown factor. And of course there was also the chance that if the fighting spilled too close to the planet any stray shots could cause significant damage to the Galaran civilisation. In any case the Enterprise would be needed to make sure that nothing went wrong.
"Stand by to send a reply to the Achilles and have the Enterprise ready to leave," he ordered.
He turned to Thor, "Galar is one of the worlds you tasked us to protect Thor, and I intend to do just that. Care to some along and see the show."
Thor smiled. "I would O'Neill and I think I will bring the Valhalla with me."
O'Neill grinned. He was certainly looking forward to getting a look at a new Asgard vessel.
"Send a message to the Achilles advising them that we will be joining them immediately and that we will have some friends coming with us, message ends," he said to ISIS.
"Aye Commander," said ISIS before vanishing.
O'Neill turned to his team, "Come on kids we've got work to do."
Galar System
The Achilles had moved some distance away from the planet so that it was free to manoeuvre without interference from the planets gravity. The unknown fleet was due to arrive at any moment and Mitchell had a lot of questions for them.
"Sir, unknown fleet is exiting hyperspace."
In front of the Achilles a single massive hyperspace window opened and ten Ha'tak class vessels emerged. While the general shape of a Ha'tak had remained the same during the millennia that the Goa'uld had ruled in recent years the design had undergone several modifications, both in internal and external design. The original and thus most common design were classed as Type A. These ships had no modifications in their design or the technology incorporated to them and as such could only fire 1/3 of their weapons in a single volley due to their power generating limitations. Type B ships were those that had been put into service by Anubis after he used his limited knowledge to upgrade the shields of his vessels. Vessels of this type had shields that were half the power of those on the original Daedalus rather than the typical third, such an upgrade was relatively easy to make and extremely cost effective making the vessels that much more dangerous.
The Type C vessels however could not simply be made through upgrades, rather they had to be built. The idea for the design actually came from those in the Free Jaffa Nation, who were being educated by the Tau'ri about the technology that they were using as part of the alliance between them. The Jaffa had quickly realised that the Tau'ri were not about to simply give them advanced technology, and that such a reliance would not benefit them long term if they then could not advance on their own. As such they had tried to use their knowledge of the technology at their disposal to improve upon the design of their ships and the Type C was what they came up with. The gaps in each of the triangular tips of the superstructure had all been filled and covered with armour. This not only had the effect of strengthening the superstructure itself but gave them a large amount of space to use, and use it they did. In the sizable gaps they placed three secondary generators and power conduits to reach every one of the ships major systems. With these generators feeding power into the whole ship the abilities of the vessel had been greatly improved. The shields, which when combined with the Type B upgrades gave the ship two thirds that of the original Daedalus, which was impressive given the Jaffa's lack of advanced technology. The ship was capable of firing half of its weapons in a single volley, bringing an impressive amount of firepower to bear against an enemy. But the greatest addition were six plasma cannons originally designed and built by the Jaffa, these weapons were placed on the top and bottom of each of the wings of the vessel. The design themselves was quite simple as they were simply the ships main weapons but double the size and power. As the Jaffa's knowledge of their technology improved it was believed the design could be improved further by compressing the size of plasma bolts and thus offering a greater punch for the same amount of power. Of course to operate vessels such as these a redesign of the bridge was needed. As such, while the main systems remained the same, there were now two additional weapon control stations installed as well as a sensor station in support of the standard helms station.
But the ships that had appeared before the Achilles appeared to be of the more common Type A, but it was always possible they were Type B. Unfortunately they wouldn't know until the ships actually raised their shields. The Ha'tak's were manoeuvring into formation, forming a thin curve arcing around the Tau'ri vessel. This didn't really make much difference as the ships were keeping their distance from the Tau'ri vessel and the agile battle cruiser could easily manoeuvre to out flank the ships if necessary.
"Raise shields and power weapons but don't target the unknowns yet," ordered Mitchell. "Hail them. Let's see what they have to say for themselves."
"Communications link established sir," said the com crewman.
"This is Commander Mitchell of the Tau'ri ship Achilles," he said. "This system is a member of the protected planets treaty and is under our protection. State your identity and your intentions."
On the screen in front of him appeared the face of a man with dark slicked back hair.
"I am Kefflin of the Lucian Alliance," he said, although it more like a growl. "I hereby claim this system in the name of the Lucian Alliance. You will leave our space or be destroyed."
"Think again Kefflin," retorted Cameron, his face set in stone. "You have no claim to this system and any attempt at invasion will be met with immediate retaliation. You have two minutes to withdraw."
Kefflin smirked. "You are outmatched here, pitiful Tau'ri. Leave now or I will capture your ship and torture your crew."
"You are wrong Kefflin, you are the one who's outmatched. I repeat you will leave this system within one minute or we have the permission of the Asgard to eliminate any threats to the local populace. That includes you."
"The Asgard have met their end already worm and now all that remains to protect this world is your pathetic little ship." He scowled. "I heard about how you took my name and humiliated my friend. I shall enjoy torturing you personally."
With a final smirk he severed the connection.
"Sir, enemy ships are raising shields and powering weapons."
"Bring us about. Power weapons and raise shields. Tactical what do you make of their ships?"
"Flagship is Type B, all others Type A."
"Proceed as planned."
It was to be expected that the best ship available would be the flagship and the enemy had not disappointed them, besides Type B ships were rare outside the FJN. Either way it didn't alter the plan in the slightest.
As the enemy moved forwards to surround the battle cruiser the Achilles swung to the right and charged forwards. Seeing the attempt to evade their sights the heavy plasma cannons on the Ha'tak let loose their contained fury and sent bolt after bolt of plasma at the little ship. As the battle cruiser charged towards the wing of ships on her right bolts from those very ships impacted her shields while bolts coming the other way missed her completely, unable to hit the agile ship at such a distance. Even as the dozen bolts impacted her shields the Achilles was readying its response. Plasma beams lanced out towards the enemy, four lances tore towards the two closest ships, overwhelming the shields on the vessels with ease. Unabated by the weak shields the beams tore onwards to scorch the hulls of the ships as they scored glancing hits against the vessels. Then the ICT's opened fire on the stricken vessels with low powered precision shots at the hyperdrive, engines and hangers of the two vessels.
The result was both ships stopping dead in the water as the inertia less drives cut out, and without a hyperdrive they couldn't even flee the battlefield. But the worse was when the hanger bay doors were ripped open and crewman boarding gliders and transports were swept into space before the emergency force fields could activate.
Unseen, but clearly acknowledged, orders were given as the Tau'ri tactics were realised. The remainder of the fleet surged towards the planet, in a bid to make the nimble enemy come to them and leave them to exact revenge on the innocent populace, while the Achilles swerved back around towards the withdrawing fleet. The two stricken Ha'tak's suddenly found themselves out of the fight as the enemy moved away from them and out of the range of their weapons. As the Lucian ships moved onwards the Achilles struggled to catch them with their head start, but luckily they didn't have to.
Dropping her cloak, raising her shields and powering weapons the Enterprise appeared right in the path of the oncoming fleet of Ha'tak's who screeched to a stop at the sight of the 1100 metre long ship bristling with weapons, weapons which proceeded to fire. In a single morale breaking move the Enterprise struck out with its main weapon. The white beam of light burst out of the emitter and connected with Kefflin's flagship. The upgraded shields held for a millisecond before succumbing to the force of the weapons white hot power, the beam continuing onwards to strike the hull of the ship that the shields had failed to protect. The wing of the ship was torn through with ease, the force of the impact was so sudden that and so unstoppable that the ship hardly shook as the prong was severed and the ship crippled. Every other Ha'tak scattered desperately trying to get out of the firing arc of the deadly weapon.
But the other Ha'tak's were not spared either as they received the same treatment that the Achilles had dealt to the ships she had faced. Plasma beams lanced out and collapsed shields while ion bolts neutralised engines. The entire fleet was floating dead in space unable to move, unable to defend themselves from another assault and out of range of the planet to fire even a petty revenge shot.
The Lucian fleet was entirely at the mercy of the Tau'ri and they knew it. This was why Kefflin was so quick to contact them.
"I am willing to surrender," he spat out, with visible effort.
"This is Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill, while I would love to accept your surrender the authority to do so falls to the Asgard."
"The Asgard are dead!"
"Wrong, and I suggest you look through the nearest window because they are coming up right behind you."
Behind the crippled fleet a massive hyperspace window tore open and a massive ship emerged from it. The massive 24 km long Asgard ship was the same silver colour as the O'Neill class and general shape was almost identical to an O'Neill, with the same main shaft and curving wings giving the ship a width of 15 km. The head of the ship bore the same smooth flat front as the O'Neill while running along the shaft were three ever rising cylinders connecting to a 5 km high rectangular section connecting to circular disc that supported a series of Asgard designed skyscrapers. Around the edge of the disc were a series of domes while in the centre was a massive circular control tower rising dwarfing all the others. Along the top and bottom of each of the wings was a number of curving fins, each twice the size of the fins on an O'Neill with barrels emerging from them, with eight running along the front and back of the wings. In the middle of each of the back rows of the fins was a single massive fin with a sunken section in the middle of the curve. The ship represented everything that the Asgard was and it oozed raw power and technological superiority. On the screen next to Kefflin's own image appeared the face of Thor.
"This is Supreme Commander Thor of the Asgard ship Valhalla," he said. "You are guilty of hostile actions against a world under both our protection and the protection of the Tau'ri. You were warned of the consequences and still chose to foolish attack our allies and by extension the Asgard themselves."
Kefflin had by now visibly sagged at the arrival of the Asgard ship. He barely had the ability to speak anymore.
"You are a peaceful race. Surely you will not kill us if we promise to leave."
"How do you plan to leave when we have had our allies disable your pirated fleet of ships?" was Thor's stern reply.
"If you give us time to repair our ships we can-" But even as Kefflin tried to splutter a reply Thor raised a finger to silence him.
"Your ships will be towed to the nearest uninhabited planet with a stargate, upon arrival you will be beamed to the surface and your ships will be confiscated," he said, his face a mask of stone. "You will tell every Lucian Alliance member that you encounter that the worlds under our protection are off limits to you all and any trespass will be met will extreme retribution. Also you should consider yourselves lucky that the Tau'ri have asked us to spare your lives, the same courtesy will not be afforded if there is any repeat of these actions."
With those final words tractor beams shot out, grabbing each of the disabled ships which were dragged behind the Valhalla as the ship re-entered hyperspace.
On the bridge of the Enterprise O'Neill smiled, directing a knowing look at his old team. "Well I'd say Thor's definitely back."