13: The Line
by chaos_eternus
"This is a move I did not anticipate,"
"Neither did I, nevertheless, it may serve our needs perfectly if the enemy ends up in the right place."
"I have seen no signs that they have made any moves at all in the direction of the primaries."
"Because such reports are being lost in the mass of data that they have to oversee at the moment."
"Ahh… would I be correct in assuming that even if the enemy doesn't make it that far, they will make it that far?"
"Indeed so."
"Then the time to move…"
"Comes swiftly, but it not yet here. I would suggest readiness and an open eye for opportunity."
"So be it."
The words were like a punch to the gut, they had known the Goa'uld were coming but their two prime suspicions had always been an assault through the Stargate or a naval assault supporting the landing of ground troops… maybe even both.
What had to be the landing of troops by stealth in preparation for a ground attack had never been a major concern, not form the Goa'uld. That was a human tactic; it was too subtle for most Goa'uld.
But Maktenos and Ba'al, both had more brains then most of their ilk and both were willing to be sneaky. She doubted Maktenos, for all he was an arsehole he had a good sense of what was in his own best interests and he was taking far too much advantage of the cease fire to want to risk it.
Ba'al… it would be up his alleyway but the Free Jaffa were still pursuing him and his forces were in full retreat several months of flight time by Ha'tak away. It was possible but not likely.
Anubis wasn't really one for the subtle, it could be an unknown Goa'uld or even one of the pirate or mercenary bands but her gut told her it wasn't.
But now wasn't the time for woolgathering, now was the time to react.
"What do we have on the ground at Manston right now?"
"Four squadrons, 17, 20, 194 and 889."
Two support squadrons and two combatant… weren't Number 1 squadron patrolcraft usually based there as well? Yes, but they were deployed with the Battlegroup, no need to worry about them being caught on the ground with their pants down at least.
The Lancer squadron could assist the ground troops, the rest…
"Signal 17, 20 and 889 Squadrons to disperse to orbit and 194 to support ground troops… modify that, 889 to launch and be prepared to transport reinforcements to Manston… and find some reinforcements for them to deploy!"
Of course, there was another worry…
"Signal all home defence assets to General Quarters. This could still be the prelude to a Naval assault!"
A two pronged assault… if this fucker, whoever it was was smart enough to be sneaky then he may be smart enough to take full advantage of that. If it wasn't for the reports of Jaffa , she would almost think it was the Cylons.
Murielle was not amused.
"Fuck!"
"I know,"
Her binoculars didn't leave the Jaffa troops… as they calmly trooped into a trio of transports. Troop transports that looked to be based on the Cylon design but definitely included Goa'uld technology.
Well, it pretty much confirmed they were Anubis's troops. Son of a bitch was actually bothering to retrieve the bastards!
And here she was without the moxie to do anything about it.
"Raise Manston," she barked, "maybe we can get some fighters out here before they jump out again."
Ignoring the soldier as he slipped backwards on the ground behind her, she kept her eyes firmly on the transports except for a swift circuit of the area every few seconds. The tone on the radio behind her changed and she frowned, but didn't cease her vigil.
Then she felt more then heard a form slithering up beside her once more.
"Couldn't get Manston… they're frequencies are flooded. St Athens is just a black hole right now… from the transmissions we can pick up it looks like Manston is under attack. Trying to get a hold of Thundersdawn now."
"Forget it," she noted, "if there is an attack underway getting through to the Big Top will be a bastard. Try those Territorial's two villages over."
"They won't get here before those transports lift off."
"That's what the LAWs are for… disable the transports then fighting retreat to the Terrors."
"Two laws… grenades?"
"Have to be,"
There was a pause, a quietly muttered 'if you can't take a joke…' then the form behind her started to slid backwards to pass the instructions to the other two members of the team.
She hid a grin; Four against Thirty… should be fun, her kind of fun.
Still, she noted to herself, if this was a retrieval it confirmed one thing; Anubis was desperately short of Jaffa if he was bothering to try retrieving these scraps.
"Admiral!"
There was a tone that could cut through the babble of a Command Centre in the middle of a crisis like a hot-knife through butter... warm butter. It was a tone that spoke louder then any words that 'I think there may be something wrong, I'm not sure but if it is, its bad, real bad.'
She hated hearing that tone, but it seemed she heard it a minimum of once a month, usually more.
"Yes Petty-Officer?"
"St Athens appears to be off the Air… I am having difficulties raising El Toro as well."
It was hard to bit back a response that could best be described as unladylike but she did it.
"Get me Satellite recon or an overflight now. "
A new certainty filled her mind, once this was over; heads were going to roll again. Given her prime responsibility was preventing exactly this; she rather suspected her career not survive it this time.
Pity, but the crisis had to be dealt with first before she could worry about that.
"Priority signal from the Battlegroup,"
They were on their way home and their initial report stated damage and casualties were relatively light. What could they need that would be so important right now… Wait….
What could they need to report that could be so important?
She thought, not for the first time, that the most evil being in existence was an Irish devil by the name of Murphy.
"Yes?" Peters barked, mildly annoyed as the pause continued and no report.
"Sorry Ma'am… Admiral Gregori reports engaging a Goa'uld convoy on a straight line course for Bernard's Star."
Bernard's Star?
After Alpha Centauri, that was the closest system to Earth… and what did he mean by a convoy? That wasn't exactly standard Goa'uld procedure.
She raised an eyebrow as the comm. Officer glanced away from his console with a puzzled frown, "states it includes two Ha'taks, ten Al-kesh, six Tel'tacs, two large troop transports and six large vessels of unknown type."
"That is a convoy,"
The implications were frightening, they knew there was no Goa'uld outpost at Bernard's Star requiring supplies, or at least they hadn't been as of the last fly-by and those were done weekly. In fact…
"When's the next recon to hit Bernard's?"
There was a pause, then "Potemkin should have arrived in Bernard's Star an hour ago. Hasn't yet responded to the recall but isn't due to check in for another hour."
Potemkin… A Dauntless I funded by Russia . Solid crew, disciplined, they would not have ignored a recall.
"Try and raise the Potemkin, make it a priority signal. Also alert the 7th Patrol squadron, I want an Al-kesh C prepared for an immediate in-and-out sweep of Bernard's Star."
"Admiral?"
She glanced behind and nodded tightly at Captain Marks Junior, "O'Neill may have been right. The Battlegroup discovered what appears to be a supply convoy heading towards Bernard's Star and a destroyer we had patrolling the system, the Potemkin… "
"Still no response Ma'am."
Peters nodded acknowledgement of the comment but her eyes didn't leave the Captains, "Is Thundersdawn ready to fight?"
"Always," came the dry reply, "you wouldn't let it be any other way."
"True," Peters nodded, "but the station isn't my Command any more and hasn't been for a long time. Still… we have little physical evidence but it is my belief that a major assault on this or the Alpha Centauri system is now imminent."
"I see," she hid a grateful smile as the American, new to his post, just considered her statement for a moment then accepted it, "then I shall retire to the bridge and leave the Command Centre to you. Try not to get my new toy too bent up will you?"
"I shall try," she doubted that the smile was reaching her eyes but he would understand the sentiment, "but the enemy might not co-operate."
"That," came the reply as he strode away, "is why they're called the enemy."
