thanks to Rudy Pena and just a crazy man for the beta, enjoy and R&R

A gateroom

September 4 2024

The old stargate opened up and spewed out dozens of heavily armed soldiers.

The commanding officer, a Colonel started issuing orders. "First Squad take the left corridor, second squad take the right corridor. Third squad, go up those stairs and check out the top floors. Fourth squad with me, let's go find somewhere we can plug those ZPM's in."

"Command, this is Telford, we have arrived but have found no sign of the crew yet, we'll investigate and install the ZPM's now. We'll dial back in about thirty minutes."

Soon after the gate shut down. All squads fanned out to secure the place.

Telford and his team made their way forwards finding nothing but emptiness. Eventually they reached the control room and they were surprised to say the least.

"Eli." Telford said.

"Telford? How did you get aboard?"

"Stargate. What's happening?"

"Destiny is about to enter a star to recharge, the trip across the void took a bit longer than expected, I guess we drifted the last part. The system woke me up to pilot the ship into the sun on a safe course before the main navigational systems can be reactivated." Eli said in a rush while programming the course for Destiny. "What the hell happened to you guys, what took you so long? What date is it anyways?"

"September 4, 2024, we tried to dial in dozens of time but couldn't get a lock."

"Oh, I guess Destiny concluded it would drain too much power." Eli said after thinking about it.

"Which was exactly our conclusion as well, so we brought something to help with that."

"Such as?"

"ZPM's, three of them and we've got a couple more back home, just in case."

"Wait, you dialed Destiny from Earth?"

"No, the Kelownans finally let us use their gate since it's tied into all that naquadah and naquadriah they got." Sensing that Eli had some more questions he just skipped ahead. "Earth, in fact the entire galaxy is in dire straits, we're under attack by a powerful enemy and we could use any advantage we can get. I'll tell you about it later but first I need your help to get these three ZPM's started so we can wake the rest of the crew; I need to have a talk with the Colonel."

"You're gonna have to wait till we've finished refueling, it's not like I can leave this station right now and I doubt you brought the geniuses with you to install them yourself." Eli said as some sweat trickled down his forehead.

"Sure, do your thing Wallace."

As they neared the star the ship began to heat up, not something deadly, but sure as hell uncomfortable.

Once Destiny entered the star other systems came back online as power was restored and reserves were built up.

"Okay Eli, how about we install the ZPM's and wake the crew now?"

"First I want to wake Rush, he'll help you install the ZPM's while I pull the rest out of stasis. Besides I have never ever seen a ZPM, Rush has."

So it came to be that twenty minutes later, Rush was busy installing the second ZPM, Eli and a couple of soldiers were waking the crew and Telford just talked to the people back home who had dialed in after the delay.

"David." Telford heard someone say behind him after the gate went out.

"Everett." Telford replied. "Good to see you in person again."

"You too." Young said. "Eli said you wanted to see me. What's up?"

"You've been away for a while."

"I heard, Eli told me its 2024, I personally was expecting it to be 2014, but I guess Destiny had some engine trouble again."

"We figured that. But we're here to stay and to fix Destiny. We've got a lot to do. But first things first." Telford said as he reached for one of his pockets. He pulled something out but due to the low lighting Young couldn't see what it was. "The president seas Destiny as the third main theatre of war, and we can't have a Colonel commanding an entire theatre, therefore, you've been promoted. Congratulations General, it might just be a single star but it's not like we're gonna be moving divisions out here." Telford said as he showed Young the stars before he put them on his shoulders. "Now, I think you need to assemble your senior crew."

Destiny Conference Room

Newly promoted General Young, Colonel Telford, Lieutenants Scott and Johansen, Sergeant Greer, Doctor Rush, Eli, Wray and Chloe were gathered in the make shift conference room aboard Destiny. They were among the first to be awakened and once Brody and James were woken up they were left to awake the rest while the others went to receive a briefing from Telford and Young.

"Okay people, it now is September 4 2024, about 6:26 PM." Young started.

"FYI we all need to reset our watches, they were put in stasis as well." Eli commented before shutting up after he got several glares from Young and Telford.

"Yes Eli, thank you." Young said.

"If none of you would mind I'd like to inform you about the current state of affairs and your new mission." Telford said.

"Sure thing, go ahead." Wray said.

"Okay, this is just a general overview of the last ten years." Telford warned. "After you left, Earth was attacked again by the Wraith, this time massive damage was done. Fortunately earlier we made contact with a civilization known as the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. Though technologically inferior they had possession of a FTL drive, not unlike that of Destiny. The Wraith sent a dozen super hives, thanks to this technology we were able to take out the super hives and free Earth. Ever since Earth has been dealing with the Wraith and the Aschen, both have been taken out since. We have also encountered the much more powerful Dominion. We are now in a state of war with the Dominion, together with the Milky Way alliance we are fighting an empire that stretches for dozens, if not hundreds of galaxies." Telford said shocking the people.

"Now, we're fighting them, as we speak the Dominion are laying siege to the Colonies and we have a large fleet fighting there, but in the long run it won't be enough. And that's where you come in. In the previous galaxy you discovered this enemy, these drones. What we are thinking about is that if we introduce these drones behind the Dominion lines, say one or two galactic clusters behind their lines, with enough safeguards against them fighting us, they might be able to disrupt Dominion supply lines enough for us to drive the Dominion out of the galaxy."

"Eh, one problem with that, we're extremely far away from Earth and while the Drone fighters might fit through the stargate, their mother ships wont." Eli commented.

"Not to mention that this ship can't be turned around. It's set in its course and we can only make so much adjusting before Destiny shuts us out." Rush said.

"We've thought about that as well. We'll be sending in equipment to pinpoint the exact location of Destiny, and once that's done we'll use what we call a jump gate to send a squadron of Battle cruisers and other vessels to Destiny for your support. Their job is to find and capture one of these Drone Mother Ships intact and send it to a predetermined place in Dominion controlled space."

"This all sounds very farfetched to me, how much progress did Earth made since we left?" Chloe asked.

"In about an hour a second group is to arrive, they will bring a lot of supplies and manpower, we are here to stay. They will also bring several laptops with files on the advancements we've made and you can study those for more information." Telford said. "In the meanwhile I'd like Rush and Eli to prepare Destiny's batteries for upgrade, we know that the batteries are corroded and we have the materials to not only repair them, but also to upgrade them. We've found a lot of useful stuff in the Atlantis Databanks, also about Destiny. The relieve ships will also bring additional gear for the ship, advanced hyperdrive, shields, Asgard Energy Weapons and a lot more cool stuff for Destiny to use."

"I thought you searched the Atlantis database once we got aboard, you said there wasn't a connection?" Eli said.

"Yeah we did, Doctor Jackson actually used every word vaguely related to Destiny in his search. But after we met a real ancient we realized it was a typo." Telford explained.

"For real?" Cloe asked.

"Figures." Eli commented.

"Good to know that for all his knowledge and perfection he isn't infallible." Rush said a bit sarcastic.

"Depends on how you look at it, he ascended. Again." Telford said. "Does anyone have any other pressing questions?"

"Will there be a chance for us to return home?" Wray asked eagerly.

"In time, once we've upgraded the batteries and charged them we'll try to establish a connection. If we are successful you will all be allowed to visit your friends and family home. But since there won't be a problem with resupply shipments they may also come aboard Destiny, if they chose of course." Telford said.

"When will the IOA begin interviews?" Wray asked.

"The IOA are gone. In the initial bombardment of Earth the IOA HQ was destroyed, all but two were killed. Considering the amount of damage done by the IOA it was decided not to recreate the IOA."

"I see."

TFS Mars

Colonial Defense fleet

September 9

General Chekov was in command of one of the battleship squadrons the Tau'ri had sent to aid the Colonials. As it was, the fleet was under attack by Dominion forces. Only a couple of hours ago a dozen or so transport ships had slipped past the defenses and tried to invade Caprica, needless to say they were cut down by old Viper Mk. 2's patrolling at high altitude.

"General, the Normandy has had to retreat, her dorsal shields reached the five percent minimum." A lieutenant reported.

"Has her position been filled?"

"Yes sir, the Indefatigable took her position."

"A new Dominion wave is coming in fifteen minutes ahead of schedule." Another lieutenant reported. The Dominion seemed to maintain a pretty tight schedule for their attacks, something which only served in their disadvantage."

"Well that doesn't matter, we've taken this group out anyways." Chekov said as the last cruiser was blown apart by four nuclear missiles launched by the Eurilades, an older Colonial Fleet Battlestar.

"Scratch one for the Eurilades!" the Colonial wireless reported in ecstasy. The wireless was reporting the entire battle 24/7. Most ships had it running in the background since it improved morale a bit.

The next wave was already approaching the defensive fleet. For some reason there always seemed to be one ship that ran into the minefield on purpose, leading to its destruction.

At extreme weapons range the MBDP's were the first to open fire, their range was by far the greatest and their combined fire usually took out a tenth of the enemy fleet in the opening salvo. Unfortunately, the closer the enemy fleet would get the more chance they would have of hitting their own ships so their fire slackened. The Dominion had learnt as much and did their best to close the distance with the alliance fleet. This however gave them another problem, their fighter screens had trouble establishing itself and therefore was unable to protect the capital ships from missile attacks and strafing runs by Alliance fighters. Among the Alliance fighters aces were plentiful, but so were death and exhaustion.

By the time the Dominion warships reached firing range of the Alliance warships their fighters had been eliminated by aggressive fighter squadrons, nearly fifteen percent had been eliminated by long range fire and bombers, and now they were getting into a whole new world of pain. They were met by energy weapons, both nuclear and conventional missiles and railgun rounds. Because of the destruction of their fighter squadrons the Battlestars did not need to create a FLAK barrier, it wouldn't do any good against energy weapons and the Dominion had very few ballistic weapons, and this allowed them to use their large caliber rail guns to fire offensive rounds.

In all fairness, the battles were always an Alliance win, they had made it that way by designing the bottleneck. The only way this bottleneck could be destroyed was by grinding the alliance down, destroying more ships then they could replace, or by doing a massive assault through the minefields, which in the end might give them a victory, but their fleet would be so depleted that it would more or less be a pyrrhic victory. Only a third but also equally destructive way was left, sending in all mother ships at the same time, several would be lost for sure, and most others would sustain heavy damage and it left all other Dominion lines open for counter attacks by Alliance forces.

"Sir, we've got one struggler coming in." A sergeant reported. "Wait, we're getting an energy reading from it, its charging something."

"Take it out, don't let it discharge whatever its charging!" Chekov said.

"Yes sir."

As one and az half a dozen Tau'ri warships surged forwards to intercept the cruiser. Just as the Tau'ri fired the cruiser detonated in a brilliant flash. The shockwave fanned out and as it reached the mines they were temporarily disabled. The effect on the six advanced Tau'ri warships was more dramatic, their power went offline and therefore the ships were left adrift. The rest of the fleet lost most of their sensors, only a couple short range sensors left working.

Because of their speed the six warships drifted forwards quite a bit. The 4 battle cruisers, one battleship and a LCS(306-class) threatened to drift into each other as people were working valiantly to restore power. Colonial tug boats moved to stabilize their course before damage was done but it wouldn't matter. Two 304's collided with each other and the LCS rammed the 305 near the left ventral plasma turret, ironically, if there had been power the resulting explosion would most likely have destroyed half the ship, now only the 306 was lost as it broke apart. A 304 that had regained its Asgard beaming capabilities evacuated the two 304's that collided before they were destroyed.

All the time they were unable to see what was forming up ahead of them. The residual radiation made it hard for sensors to see anything past the mine fields. As the 305 and the remaining 304 made a hyperspace jump towards Ragnar anchorage, the rest of the fleet prepared for whatever was about to come. Ragnar was transformed into a major fleet repair base. Its location made it perfect as a hiding place for the fleet. There was only one access to the anchorage and it was heavily guarded. It actually looked a lot like the Cau system, but smaller.

The first indication for the rest of the fleet to come was when the minefields activated. These minefields weren't your traditional mines but were controlled by a centralized control center that made sure no mine would go to waste; it would reposition mines on an as needed basis and focus on the most dangerous Dominion attacks first. The mines would only reposition when their perimeter was breached and the enemy was moving in more ships then the already present mines would be able to handle. So when more mines were redirected to the outer parts of the bottleneck where normally large numbers of mines were present, people got interested. For their control systems to respond in such a way a large fleet had to be incoming.

Eventually Vipers and F-302's got out to use their Mark 1 eyeballs, to have a look with their own eyes on what was happening. One such pilot was Louanne 'Kat' Katraine, the current CAG of the battlestar Tjolver.

"Actual, this is Kat. I'm nearing the halfway point of the minefield, DRADIS is clearing up a bit, but is still to deformed to make anything out." She reported to the Tjolver. She looked out into the space ahead; she saw dozens of large flashes which made it difficult to see what exactly was coming. Though suddenly a lull in flashes presented itself, what she saw was frightening. She saw no stars, and once a nearby explosion lit up the area she saw the fears of the Admiralty come true. She didn't waste any more time and turned her Viper around and kicked in their version of an afterburner to clear all the interference.

Once she was able to hail the fleet she sent out the message. "This is Tjolver CAG to all units, mark one eyeball confirmation on a Dominion mother ship incoming, several battle groups following suit."

Colonial Presidential command bunker

The president, her staff, the admiralty and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were all assembled to follow the events happening after the shockwave.

"Did I just hear that correct?" Roslin asked mortified.

"Cat, are you sure?" Tjolver Actual asked. Tjolver Actual was Commander Kara Thrace. Roslin looked up to the speakers overhead as if Thrace was there. She knew that Thrace was the Protégé of Admiral Adama, her lover/boyfriend/soulmate.

"You bet your ass Starbuck, biggest mother fracking ship I've ever seen, the fracker blocked out the stars."

"This is Negala to all units, you know what to do, everybody, get ready." Negala said.

"Admiral, we will deploy the Tau'ri's ancient defense systems correct?" Roslin asked.

"Yes, the Aurora Fleet will get into an ambush position and the Drone Chair at Caprica will fire the first drone. The plan is to target the Dominion power plants and hope that a chain reaction will form blowing the ship up from the inside."

"What are our chances?" Roslin asked.

"We'll survive one, if the drones wouldn't work we still have enough 305's to take down one mother ship, though the casualties will be high." Nagala said.

"The chance our ancient drones won't work is small." O'Neill said. He had taken a stargate and a beam transport to the presidential bunker the moment the Dominion mother ship was sighted. "Our own designed and produced drones may be weaker, but those aren't in circulation yet, even so, they won't be deployed to this battle."

"And you are sure about the drones?" Roslin asked.

"They did a great job against the Wraith. We haven't been able to field test it against Dominion ships but all simulations show a successful defense."

"Well, the time is now. Let's hope they work." Negala said.

'Yes, talking about the chair, I have somewhere else to be." O'Neill said. He wanted to control the drones.

In orbit all preparations were made. Instead of being spread out, the Tau'ri battleships came together, preparing to start their coordinated attacks on the Dominion mother ship. For as long as the battleships were preoccupied by the mother ship the rest of the fleet had to take care of themselves when it came to dealing with the rest of the Dominion ships. The battleships would be helped by the Aurora fleet and ground launched drones.

Aboard Galactica, Admiral Adama led his fourth fleet in battle. Miraculously none of the battlestars had been seriously damaged and they were all still in the fight.

"Lieutenant Gaeta, plot positions that will keep the fleet out of the mother ship's firing arches, we won't be handling those hit very well. The Admiralty wants us to cover quadrant nine, the mother ship will move through quadrants three to eight so we'll pass right by them. At least one Dominion battle group will pass through quadrant nine so we'll have a large fight on our hands all right."

As the mother ship approached the Dominion fighters came out from their hiding places behind the mother ship. This time their formations were organized and as they were engaged by Alliance fighters they killed much more fighters. As fighters from both sides collided into deadly dogfights, the mother ship plowed on through the minefield seemingly ignoring the naquadriah enhanced nukes going off all over the place. As the mother ship got three quarters through the minefield the first of the defenses opened fire. Back at Picon Fleet HQ a powerful computer composed of mostly Asgard tech calculated the best hit points for the defenses and battleships. This was done to get the most out of the firepower they could bring to bear. Likely targets were shield generators, weapon mounts and main power conduits; these had the tendency to cause chain reactions if hit.

Once the mother ship finally cleared the minefield stuff really started to heat up. While the battleships made their attack runs and the first drones were launched from Caprica, the colonial battlestars and the 304's advanced to engage the Dominion battle groups coming out from behind the mother ship. All ships were weaving in and out like hell to avoid weapons fire from the mother ship.

Aboard Picon Fleet HQ the Colonial Fleet News Service broadcasted the battle live across the Alpha system and back to Earth from where the channel service was spread throughout most of the galaxy. Their studio was small, but did give them a great view of the battle. In addition they were fed images from the ships itself, though usually with a delay as to not give the Dominion to much info and give the Colonial Fleet some time to censor classified data.

"Oh my gods!" the reporter said in shock. "The TFS Renown just got shredded like it was nothing, the latest and most advanced Tau'ri battleship got destroyed, seemingly with all hands in just a couple of seconds. This ship was just delivered four months ago. Sporting several advances over the first batch of battleships it was thought to be more resistant against Dominion weapons fire, I guess they were wrong." The reporter said.

A second reporter joined in. "Some stats on the TFS Renown, as said she was delivered just four months ago and despite all the secrecy around her construction it was clear that a lot of hope was put into her. A crew of 982 enlisted men and officers, not including the air wing and commanded by commander McKinney; a rising star in the Tau'ri fleet. May their souls be with their Lords and may they rest in peace."

"So say we all, so say we all." The first reporter said.

TFS Tria

The TFS Tria was the flagship of the Aurora fleet. General Ellis had his flag set up on that ship. His fleet was waiting for the go form General O'Neill to phase back and launch their drones against the Dominion Mothership.

"Sir, all ships report combat ready, power output is in the green. All ships are in position and we've got a positive lock on the target."

"Very well. Acknowledge to O'Neill and be ready to start."

As they watched the battle unfold before them they listened to the broadcast of the Colonial Fleet News Service and were shocked at the destruction of the Renown. As they watched, they could indeed see the remains of the Renown float harmlessly in space. A small positive thing was that a couple of white beams were evacuating survivors from the wreckage.

"Sir, General O'Neill is on the line."

"Push him through to all aurora's."

"General Ellis, you have permission to engage the enemy, lets waste some of these motherfuckers."

"Copy that sir." Ellis said before putting himself on the tactical net of the aurora fleet. "All units, engage according to plan, fire at will."

As one the five Aurora's phased back to normal space and opened fire. Five large bright yellow columns sped forwards to the mother ship. From Caprica a much larger column, dwarfing the others sped forwards to the mother ship. This was just an opening salvo as seconds later the Aurora's unleashed their plasma weapons on the mother ship.

The drones were the first to reach their targets, they were aimed at the points where the shield strength was the least. What happened surprised everyone. The first drones got through without opposition. The following drones however bounced of the shields harmlessly, fortunately these could be reused again, though with less strength.

As about a years' worth of Drone production was deployed against the mother ship the Aurora's started to take fire.

"One Dominion battle group is bearing down on us sir."

"How are our shield doing?"

"They are holding, the eight cruiser task force is moving in to assist."

"Good." Ellis said. "Fire control, I want you to try something else. Target what we think are the strongest parts of the Dominion shields, basically what we've been avoiding right now."

"Yes sir." Immediately the orders were relayed. "You know something we don't sir?"

"No, just a hunch."

A couple thousand drones were redirected from their paths to target the center of the main dorsal shields. Where so many weapons had failed, the drones succeeded. The drones passed through the shields without much resistance. Once through they went on a rampage, the armor was passed by the drones and compartment after compartment was shredded. Unfortunately the drones ran out of power before they could reach anything worthwhile blowing up.

Nevertheless, more drones were redirected and soon thousands upon thousands of drones were ravaging the outer hull of the mother ship. The outer hull was quite easy for the drones to penetrate. The inner hull however proved to be more of a challenge. It took more drones to break through the tough interior armor. But against the might of thousands of Ancient drones no physical barrier was resistant for very long. Eventually holes started to appear in the interior armor. Work stations, sleep compartments and anything else was ripped apart and exposed to space as drones passed through. The more vital areas were, of course, protected by additional armor and even force fields.

After a while of pounding some of the vital areas were completely surrounded by nothing, everything around them being wrecked. Eventually the ever vital power lines to and from these areas were severed and they became useless. This way, one by one, shield emitters, fire control stations and secondary power generators were taken out allowing for more damage to be done. Eventually drones were gutting the mother ship form the inside while the 305's were cutting through the hull from the outside aiming for primary power generators, the Achilles heel of about every space ship.

Colonial Presidential command bunker

"The Tau'ri are destroying that mother ship, they report about four more minutes until it is gone."

"Telemetry reports that twelve battle groups are forming up to attack."

"They are going to overwhelm us while we are still coping with that mother ship." Nagala said.

"What can we do about it?" Roslin asked.

"Tell O'Neill to pick up the pace and re-task the defense platforms." Negala said.

"I think he heard that sir, more drones are launching." A major reported.

A 3D map indicated the additional streams of drones coming up from Caprica. The five Aurora's in orbit indicated that they were out of drones already despite their large storages.

"Sir, the fourth fleet is moving in to block the Dominion reinforcements from entering the fight." A colonel reported.

"That's suicide." Nagala said as he looked up at the 3D map in horror. "Get me Adama on the line now."

Just a few seconds later Adama was on the line. "Galactica Actual here."

"Bill, what the frack are you doing?"

"I'm buying you some time, once you have destroyed that mother ship you can get the fleet back in line and come back us up."

The mother ship, which by now was getting pretty beat up floated motionless in space, its engines long gone. Nearby Galactica and the other eight battlestars of the fourth fleet got into position to block the incoming Dominion battle groups. Fire raged between the Dominion ships and the colonial battlestars as vipers engaged Dominion fighters, bombers and any other ship that dared to advance to far beyond the protection of the main fleet. Occasionally the lone transport ship got caught in some viper pilot's sights and was quickly destroyed.

The nine battlestars were formed up in three rows of three. As they reached their position they all turned 90 degrees upwards towards the dominion fleet. This allowed their bow weapons to fire as well as the flight pods turrets from both sides of the ship. This was about as much firepower a battlestar could throw at one target at once.

Once the Dominion warships got in range of the battlestars both sides opened fire. This time the Dominion ships seemed to be stronger. Their shields and weapons were both stronger and they were also quite a bit faster. Nevertheless the battlestars dished out a large amount of damage to the Dominion ships. One by one ships started to fall out of formation and explode. First the lighter types, mostly destroyers and frigates, but soon heavier classes like cruisers and even a battle cruiser or two were destroyed. Because of the formation the battlestars used only a relatively small part of the ship was exposed to enemy weapons fire, and power could be redirected to support the shields taking the brunt of the incoming firepower.

Inside the Galactica, Admiral Adama stood watch in the flag bridge. The most things he did was coordinate targets for multiple battlestars but even that wasn't so hard. His officers were well trained and knew what to do. In front of him a holographic representation showed the immediate area and basically what the fourth fleet's area of operations was. Above the holographic table an antiquated but still used DRADIS console hung, it showed real time positions of ships and fighter squadrons for the entire battlefield.

"Admiral, Dominion troop transports are heading for the planets, they are traveling along the outskirts of the minefields. Do you want me to redirect viper squadrons to intercept?" a Colonel asked.

"Negative, we've got ground forces to handle those troops. Our task right now is to maintain orbital supremacy, we can always help out the ground pounders once we're done here."

"Fleet HQ says that the mother ship is breaking up, they've done it!" someone reported. At once people started shouting and yelling and soon enough they could hear the same from the crew in the CIC and surrounding areas.

"Okay, calm down people, we're not there yet." Adama said to quiet them. "What is the status of the fourth fleet?"

"Sir, the Andara and Remembrance are both in big trouble, their shields are down to less than 25 percent and they are starting to take damage to their outer hull. Other ships including Galactica have already lost over half their shield strength. Viper and Raptor squadrons have sustained moderate casualties but are still combat effective."

Adama had a look at the holographic field and what he saw didn't make him feel any better about his situation. "They are trying to get through on our left side. Both the Andara and Remembrance haven't had the overhauls the rest of the fleet has." Adama looked at the screen a bit more before deciding what to do. "Tell the Tjolver to take over the positions of both the Andara and Remembrance once they have jumped to Ragnar. Also retask three squadrons from our central screen to reinforce the left flank." Adama ordered.

Mere seconds went by before the Tjolver started to move towards her new position. The Andara jumped out but the Remembrance didn't.

"What the frack is wrong with the Remembrance?" Adama inquired.

"Commander Sorcyntus is reporting FTL problems."

"Get him on the line." Adam said. A few seconds later an ensign nodded to tell him that he could speak with the commander. "Sorcyntus get your shit in order and get the hell out of there, you'll be dead if you won't." Adama said.

"Sorry sir, but the Dominion managed to hit the plasma fold heat sink in engineering, our FTL won't be coming back online anytime soon. Considering the situation it might not come back online at all."

"Then make some room for the Tjolver and keep fighting 'till you can't. When that happens, abandon ship."

"Aye sir, Remembrance out."

Adama turned to one of his subordinates. "How long will they last?"

"Not long, they are already taking hull damage and the shields are failing. There are also isolated hull breaches occurring across the bow." The subordinate reported.

"Very well."

"ETA of friendly forces approximately three minutes."

"We might just not make it that long." Adama mumbled as the ship around him shook violently while in the distance claxons alerted the DC teams of damage.

"The Remembrance is evacuating sir, she's suffering from structural damage to the alligator head."

"She's also charging forwards and arming all remaining nuclear weapons."

"And commander Sorcyntus?"

"He's going down with the ship."

"Well, it's his funeral." Adama said. He didn't like it that he'd lose an experienced commander, throughout the fleet there was a shortage of personnel, losses were higher than the replacements.

The battle started to turn in their favour, the first squadrons of vipers and 302's started to appear on the battlefield. In the background a couple of 305's and a battlestar group were busy destroying the remnants of the mother ship. The 305's would blow up the largest chunks while the battlestars would reduce the rest to bits that wouldn't damage the planets. Eventually the reinforcements arrived in full force and Adama was able to jump what remained of his fleet to Ragnar for repairs and resupply.

An hour and a half after the destruction of the mother ship.

Tamasio, Caprica, twelve colonies

1st armored division 'Old Ironsides'

Lieutenant Lane, CO of 2nd platoon, 2nd tank troop, 1st battalion, 35th armored regiment, 2nd heavy brigade combat team stood in the turret of her M1A5 Schwarzkopf tank. She commanded hers and four other tanks that made up the platoon. Her tank was of a new design, though based on the American M1 abrams tank it was extensively modified and upgraded to warrant giving it a new name. among one of the greatest improvements was the small shield generator allowing the tank to withstand numerous hits by enemy medium caliber rounds. Because of the naquadah power cells the tank could last a lot longer before returning for a refuel. It also allowed the use of more armor on an all-around base, the most vulnerable areas were upgraded to the standard of the front armor, while all armor was upgraded with new alloys making them lighter and more durable. Another improvement that was just filtering through in other designs was the storage of munitions, food and water. Each of these were held in databanks digitally. They were stored there by using a combination of Wraith and Asgard tech. Popular believe had it that a Schwarzkopf tank was as close to a RV as was possible, even basic toilet facilities were present, although not recommended when on the move or under fire. While already in production for over a year only the armored units on the colonies had been equipped with the tank since their demand was the most urgent.

Since the landing of Dominion forces about an hour and twenty minutes ago the 1st armored, together with the second and third armored divisions and a number of Colonial mechanized divisions was en route to face the enemy forces on Caprica. They had performed a fast march to the city of Tamasio and were now only about twenty-five kilometers away from the town of Karditsa where raptor recon units had spotted the advance of Dominion forces twenty minutes ago. Their job was to perform a first strike against the Dominion forces before they could consolidate their positions and to eliminate the entire ground force of about four hundred thousand soldiers. What would work in their advantage was the dominion's lack of armored and fast moving units, instead they relied on heavy artillery and infantry attacks to do the job.

Initially space forces would have bombarded the Dominion forces from space but small shield generators had prevented this. Therefore ground forces would attack and destroy the enemies forces. Fortunately all civilians had been evacuated long before the Dominion arrived and were now safe somewhere in one of the large city fortresses. The first armored division would lead the spearhead through the Dominion lines. The second and third would cover their flanks while the Colonial units would mop up any remaining units that would be bypassed by the armored divisions. The final destination of the advance would be Faloreia over seventy kilometers from their current position and the center of the Dominion forces.

"All Hitman two victors, the Battalion is Oscar Mike in five minutes." The voice of the company CO came in over the radio.

"Hitman 2-2 copies." Lieutenant Lane replied after 2-1 had copied the message. The third platoon's CO also copied. She turned her comms to platoon wide. "All Hitman 2-2 victors take five, take a leak and grab a bite to eat, we're gonna be in combat for the foreseeable future." She said. The four other tanks copied her message and she herself called down to the loader to get her something to eat.

Five minutes later after her platoon had gotten something to eat and had relieved themselves they were all ready.

"All Hitman victors, we're Oscar mike to waypoint Bravo, maintain speed at 55 KPH."

As one the Schwarzkopfs started moving. The Bradleys that were the mechanized part of the battalion were a bit ahead of the tanks but not by much.

For the first fifteen minutes nothing happened and the units advanced unopposed.

"All Hitman victors, slow down to 15KPH, hostile foot mobiles spotted at about five clicks, prepare for combat."

"Hitman 2-2 copies." Lane replied. She had a look at the position of her tanks and found the need to correct one. "Hitman 2-2 to Victor 3. Martinez, get your fucking ass back in line, your lagging behind."

The response of Martinez was quick as the tank moved up a bit to get back in line with the rest of the armor.

"Victor 3 to Hitman 2-2, I've got foot mobiles in the open at my twelve, range 3300, permission to open fire?"

"Negative, orders are to close in to machine gun range and take out any foot mobiles that way." She took her binoculars and got a quick look on the contact to confirm it. She switched to battalion coms. "Godfather this is Hitman 2-2, I have a confirmed contact with hostile foot mobiles. Closing in to machine gun range."

"Copy Hitman 2-2, continue on your way. Godfather out." Godfather was the callsign of the battalion CO.

Lane switched to her internal comms and told the loader, a sergeant with the nickname Sunny to get up top and man the second machine gun. She herself had a .50 machine gun in front of her, many upgrades were made to it and it was able to hit a target at about 2500 meters.

As the distance was reduced more and more weapons were readied and more and more targets were spotted. It seemed that the Dominion were caught in a bad spot, they were out in the open and had nowhere to go for cover. About five hundred of them were walking through a field until they noticed the dustclouds of the approaching vehicles. Instead of turning around to find some cover they ran towards the vehicles trying to close the distance.

"Godfather to all Hitman victors, open fire at will." The word came down on the battalion net.

As one nearly a hundred guns opened fire, within a minute the Dominion soldiers were cut down and the battalion moved on. No casualties nor any fire was taken.

A couple minutes later they reached the outskirts of a small village. It only consisted of a few houses and a gas station. The village was right in the path of Hitman 2-2 and Lane and the other commanders were already searching the village for signs of Dominion forces.

"Godfather, this is Hitman 2-2, request permission to level gas station in our path."

"Hitman 2-2, request granted, fire when ready."

"Copy, thanks."

"Gunner, target gas station, 3400 meters, twelve o clock." She said over the internal coms.

The 120 mm railgun was aimed at the gas station, a round was already in the barrel and the railgun coils were already charged.

"Gas station targeted, ready to fire." The gunner replied.

She prepared herself for the soon to come shock of the launch of the projectile. Though not as violent as with previous models it still gave quite a bang. "Fire."

The tank jumped back a bit when the round left the barrel on target for the gas station. Once it hit the gas station the gas station exploded violently, apparently the Colonial engineers tasked with evacuating the area had forgotten to pump out all the fuels and especially the Tylium stored there. Nearly a quarter of the village was wiped out while fire and debris showered down on the rest of the village. Soon enough Dominion soldiers came out of the remaining building to engage their attackers. The tanks laid down suppressive fire while bradleys closed in to engage the Dominion forces and to drop off their infantry. While the bradleys were far ahead the five tanks of hitman 2-2 advanced using leapfrog tactics, first Lane's tank and that of Martinez advanced two hundred meters while being covered by the other three and when they were in position the other three tanks advanced and the process was repeated until they were about 500 meters away from the village. The infantry was having a hard time driving out the Dominion and some help of the armor was required. The five tanks quickly dispatched of every position the infantry fed them and within ten minutes the village was clear. The damage to the village itself was extensive and little would remain of it once the fires were out. The infantry had two fatalities and about a dozen injuries which had to be evacuated by space hawk. Twenty minutes after Lane's tank had fired the first shot her unit was already on the move again to get back into position, leaving a large column of smoke behind.

"Godfather this is Hitman 2-2, we're back in position and ready for orders." Lane reported.

"Copy Hitman 2-2, good job on the village. We've got a massive hostile force incoming at about 5000 meters, we'll close in to weapons range before halting and opening fire. Be aware, infantry will dismount." Godfather replied.

"Copy Godfather. Hitman 2-2 out."

Lane picked up her binoculars and had a look for herself. She was surprised as hordes of Dominion forces were running towards them. They did use the natural cover of the terrain. The area was long used as farmland and therefore had numerous ditches and hedgerows, it basically looked like a bocage. She could see the faint glow of the shields as energy passed through it, the wrong way.

"All Hitman victors, hostile artillery inbound! Shields to full and hatches down."

The barrage was devastating. Several bradleys and Humvees were destroyed and numerous shields were depleted. Nevertheless most units got through with only shield damage.

Hitman one and two, hold position and open fire on Dominion forces to provide cover fire. Hitman three, four and five, advance to infantry fighting range and dismount. All victors will provide cover fire from then on." Godfather relayed over the battalion coms. What it meant was that the two tank companies, Hitman one and two would provide cover fire while the mechanized infantry companies, Hitman three, four and five would approach the enemy lines to about five hundred meters and dismount the infantry which would then clear out any and all Dominion positions with the support and cover of their transports and the tanks.

"All Hitman 2-2 victors, halt position and fire at will. For Christ's sake remember to stick to your designated areas." Lane said to her troops.

"Driver full stop." The tank came to a rather abrupt stop.

She used her binoculars to find a Dominion strongpoint and quickly found one that was giving away its position way to early.

"Gunner, Target, between twelve and one, distance 4400, around three trees close together."

"Target found. Round loaded, ready to fire."

"Fire."

The round left the barrel and quickly reached the target. it hit one of the trees and exploded showering the area with shrapnel and pieces of tree. Most of the dominion soldiers were killed and the rest was to wounded to return fire.

"Good hit. Next target…" Lane continued to give more targets which all one by one were destroyed.

Suddenly the world around them exploded.

"Shit." Lane said as she realized what happened. "All Hitman 2-2 victors, advance 150 meters ASAP. Advance 150 meters every five rounds." Somewhere the Dominion had spotters calling in strikes for the artillery.

"Godfather, Hitman 2-2 here."

"Go ahead Hitman 2-2."

"Interrogative, are there any Dominion spotters?"

"That's most likely, intel is already on it."

Once they were about 1800 meters behind the infantry forces she could clearly see targets ideal for .50 fire.

"Loader, activate autoloader and get up here for the 7.62. Gunner, use your discretion when finding targets, fire at will." She said as she got up to her waist and manned the .50 bmg. It was equipped with a holographic sight that also checked for friendly units through a sort of IFF system and automatically warned if friendly units were near or in the line of fire. It also showed points indicated by other units to contain hostile units. The autoloader could replace the loader when he/she was up top using the 7.62 but was a second or two slower than the experienced loaders. When the loader was not up top, it could not be used because it would harm the loader because he/she would be in the way.

As she looked through her sights she got a clear view on a dozen or so Dominion throwing grenades and firing full auto with their weapons. They had an entire squad pinned down in a ditch. She had to be carefull not to aim to low because then she would hit the friendlies. As the computer (yes the gun has its own computer) aided her aim she let loose a small burst. It hit right on target. she quickly let loose a longer burst and also spread it out horizontally to cover all the Dominion. As she looked over her gun she followed the tracers and saw the satisfying little green explosions as Dominion soldiers were no doubt being ripped apart. As she went on to find her next target a small screen next to her gun showed a message from the unit she had just helped out, thanking her and inviting the crew to come have a beer the next time there was any alcohol in the vicinity.

Next to her the 7.62 was also firing away at numerous targets.

Suddenly the loudest noise she had ever heard came overhead and when she looked up she saw hundreds of rockets heading for the Dominion side. She guessed that these were intended for Dominion artillery batteries hammering the Tau'ri units.

The driver had been advancing every five rounds fired and by now they were getting close to the first hedgerow they would cross.

"Driver, advance slowly through the hedgerow, slowly."

And the driver advanced slowly through the hedgerow. On the other side she found numerous corpses, most were Dominion, but she saw two friendlies, being secured but their comrades waiting for an evac on the medevac bird for two wounded soldiers. Fortunately they weren't in anyone's path.

They now advanced towards the infantry units which were having a hard time advancing through the hedgerows. In this particular part the hedges were extremely dense and hard to push through for the dismounted infantry. On occasion bradleys would drive straight through the hedge though half the time they were subjected to hostile fire once they got stuck in the hedge. The other half of the time they managed to make it far enough for the infantry to get through and take out Dominion strongpoints that were now forming.

"This is Godfather to all Hitman one and two victors, advance to aid the infantry in breaching those hedges, we're taking too much casualties the way it is."

Lane used her binoculars to find the nearest unit that needed some help and quickly steered the driver in their direction. Once the driver reached the squad she had him stop.

She got the attention of the squad leader and he was running towards them. "Hey, heard you needed sixty tons of pure fighting skills on tracks."

"Yeah, UAV shows two strongpoints, on at your four o'clock and one at your eleven. They seem to pack quite a punch, at least against our Bradley. He said as he pointed to the Bradley they had been using before, it was a burnt out wreck, its entire front side destroyed.

"Kay, we'll punch through right here." She said.

"Driver prepare to advance. Gunner, take the target at eleven, I'll suppress the four o'clock long enough for the infantry to get through and take it out. Loader, look for any roaming targets not yet identified." She said. She checked her weapon one last time and so did the loader next to her.

"Driver, you may advance when ready."

Immediately the tank moved forwards. They went up a little bump as they forced their way through the hedge. On the other side, the shields were immediately pummeled with plasma. The turret quickly moved to target the strongpoint at eleven, while Lane had already turned her .50 to four o'clock. Once she got the dominion troops in her sights she let loose several long bursts, while the gunner destroyed the other strongpoint. By the time that was done the infantry squad had already stormed through the hole and was firing m302 grenade launchers at the position. Within thirty seconds the two strongpoints were destroyed, at no loss of life on their side, although the shields did drop by 37 percent.

They repeated the process another three times before they reached the outskirts of a village, or what was left of it anyways. It was nearly completely razed by friendly artillery fire. Somewhere through the middle of the village the edge of one of the enemy shielded areas passed. It was quite large, about ten kilometers in diameter, though compared to the fortress city shields or the ones on earth, they were nothing. Ahead of them they saw a couple of bradleys and a tank pass through the shield at a slow pace.

"Godfather, this is hitman 2-2, I have reached the Dominion shields, request permission to pass through."

"Negative Hitman 2-2, wait for your platoon to catch up before going through. Hitman 4-2 will accompany you through, work with them to clear the boccage landscape from there on. Their ETA is eight minutes."

"Copy Godfather, Hitman 2-2 out." Lane said.

As her tank slowly moved towards the edge of the shield the infantry squad walked alongside the tank. "Sergeant, what victor are you from?"

"Victor four, Hitman 4-2. We lost contact with the rest of the company but were told the rally point is a couple hundred meters up ahead."

"Okay, 2-2 and 4-2 are to team up from now on, the rest of your platoon is 8 minutes out."

"Thanks."

"Victor one this is Victor three, we're two minutes out."

"Copy victor three." Lane said. "All Hitman 2-2 victors, make for the rally point be there in five."

A number of affirmatives followed.

Eleven minutes later both units had arrived and had teamed up, one squad per tank. Most of the infantry had lost their bradleys and only one was left. From what intel they had they would have cover for about a kilometer before they could engage the enemy. They would go through the shield and advance that kilometer before engaging the enemy.

As the tanks moved through the shields their own shields momentarily flickered. Most shields allowed slow moving units to pass through, while fast moving objects, like bullets, rockets or even fighters would not be able to pass through.

Up ahead another unit was fighting as well. They had just cleared a crossroads when 2-2 arrived. 2-2 would move left, while the other unit was ordered right. As they moved on the fields they cleared got larger, but so did the amount of hostile forces.

Though they continued encountering Dominion forces, they were less and less organized and easier to destroy, they didn't set up strongpoints or ambushes. Most were on their way to the front unaware that it was closer than they thought.

At one point nearly three hundred dominion were caught off guard on an old road, needless to say the two tanks which managed to get a clear line of fire on the Dominion, slaughtered the soldiers.

"LT, what's that up ahead?" the loader shouted over the noise of the engines and weapons fire of another tank.

Lane used her binoculars to get a good look at it before using the screen beside her gun to open a small database on Dominion field weapons. After less than a minute of searching she found it.

"It's the shield generator." Lane said. "Driver, hold." Immediately the tank stopped, the infantry took defensive positions to the sides. "Gunner, target straight ahead, 5600 meters, elevated target."

"Got it."

"Load tactical Naquadriah round." A tactical Naquadriah round caused quite a large explosion, nothing like a nuclear explosion, but far more powerful than the regular rounds used. The reason that is wasn't used as often was because it left a pocket of radiation in the vicinity.

"Loaded."

"Godfather, this is Hitman 2-2, hostile shield generator found, firing TNR."

"Copy Hitman 2-2, good luck."

"Gunner, Fire."

The tank shot back nearly a meter as the round left the barrel. It took a second or two to reach the target, but once it did, the target's top part was completely destroyed. At once the Dominion shields ceased to operate. Things such as communications and UAV cover immediately improved considerably.

"Godfather, target is history."

"Copy, air cover inbound."

As they watched the generator crumble further they could already hear the sounds of jet engines approaching.

Their convoy had stopped about three hundred meters away from an intersection. Suddenly Dominion troops appeared from two sides and started firing at them. They immediately returned fire. Bushes were cut to pieces by large caliber rounds and railgun rounds.

These dominion weren't the regular units they'd been slaughtering all day long. These were more along the lines of special forces, for the Dominion anyways. They used the cover of the terrain to close in on the two platoons and attack them in the flanks.

"Godfather, this is Hitman 2-2, we are taking fire and require support."

"Copy Hitman 2-2, close air support in on station in thirty seconds. Lead callsign is Bronco 1, frequency 22."

"Copy Godfather, Hitman 2-2 out."

Bronco flight

Bronco was the callsign of a flight of four A-10D Thunderbolts. Though the original A-10 was quite old and not immediately connected with the high tech warfare going on at the Colonies it still proved invaluable after numerous upgrades were made. In fact numerous weapon systems now in use were heavily based on older materiel in use during the late stages of the cold war and the middle eastern wars. The M1 Abrams and the A-10 were only a few of the designs copied and reused for newer vehicles now in use by the Tau'ri armed forces. The older systems proved to be reliable and with new technologies incorporated also very effective and durable.

Lieutenant Colonel Mathers, AKA Bronco 1 led his flight of four A-10D's towards the spearhead of the Tau'ri advance into the Dominion incursion force. His aircraft largely had the same load out as was possible before the upgrades. His GAU-8 cannon now allowed for naquadah laced rounds to be fired, but also the regular rounds. Most of the GAU-8 ammunition was stored the same way as aboard the Schwarzkopf though the loading was automated. Fifty minutes ago his flight had taken off from Thiva Colonial fleet air arm base, the largest of the four air bases around the Caprica City-Delphi defenses.

"Bronco one, this is Hitman 2-2, do you copy?"

"Hitman 2-2, this is Bronco one, I copy. What do you need?"

"We need danger close air support at our north, east and west. Dominion forces have us pinned down and we cannot retreat."

"Copy, how close?"

"Between 50 and 300 meters."

"That's pretty danger close, can you mark the targets?"

"Already done, IFF has been activated, do you receive?"

"Receiving IFF and markers five by five. We're inbound, tell your people to keep their heads down and we'll clear this mess up for you. ETA 25 seconds."

"Will do, smoke 'em."

His HUD displayed the IFF and markers properly and he quickly formulated a plan of attack and sent it to the other three aircraft.

Hitman 2-2

"All hitman 2-2 and 4-2 units, friendly air support inbound, danger close , keep your heads down." Lane warned.

Twenty seconds later hell broke loose around them. First, their flanks were cleared by two A-10's and a couple of seconds later their front was cleared by the other two A-10's. the strike couldn't have been more devastating. There was hardly anything left that could identify the massacre as Dominion forces. All that remained were smaller body parts and loads of green Dominion blood.

"Holy shit." Lane said. "All victors, Status report."

"Victor 2, no damage, shields at 22 percent."

"Victor 3, no damage, shields at 54 percent."

"Victor 4, heavy damage to front armor, shields disabled."

"Victor 5, moderate damage, no shields."

"Hitman 4-2, status report?"

"This is Hitman 4-2, we have 12 KIA and another 24 WIA, medevacs inbound, we are combat ineffective."

"Copy 4-2." Even though the a-10s had given support quickly over half the platoon was taken out of the fight and coupled with earlier losses it had made the platoon unable to fight on. "Godfather, this is Hitman 2-2, our mech infantry is out of the fight, how do you want us to proceed?"

"Hitman 2-2, wait until 4-2 has been evacuated, then proceed to rally point gamma, the First is being pulled back, the Second and Third have taken out the other shield generators and most Dominion forces have been destroyed. we're done here, see you back at the rally point."

"Copy, Hitman 2-2 out."

Situation room, Atlantis

September 12, 2024

The president had his daily situation meeting with the members of the war cabinet. Usually some were absent because of business elsewhere and sent deputies to the briefing.

"General Maynard, would you please start today."

"Yes sir. As you are aware, on the 9th heavy fighting occurred in orbit of Caprica. Subsequently a small ground invasion followed. Today we are finally able to present most of the facts of our offensive against this invasion force." Several graphs appeared on a screen. "As you can see, a total of 120.000 soldiers participated in the offensive, of which approximately 55.000 were Tau'ri. At first the advance went without a hitch." A top view showed the units advance. "Advanced units were easily disposed of, here there we suffered a casualty or two." A replay was shown of Hitman 2-2's attack on the gas station. "However, what we didn't take into account was the nature of the terrain ahead of us. It turned out that the area had been long ago settled and over time a boccage style landscape had been created."

"Like in Normandy during the invasion in the second world war?" the president asked.

"Yes sir." Maynard said. "This gave us, just like 80 years earlier, a lot of trouble, the Dominion picked up on the opportunities of the landscape fairly quick. The result was a massive battle, with massive losses on both sides, only through the combination of armor with infantry and the advanced technologies such as shields and UAV's were we able to overcome the obstacles and push through and succeed. Eventually all objectives were reached and 24 hours after operations had started all Dominion forces were destroyed and our troops were back at their staging points. Now, our losses were high, nearly 10 percent, a total of 5490 soldiers were killed while double that was wounded in all degrees. The enemy deployed around 400.000 soldiers and they have all been killed."

"How long until all losses have been replaced?"

"About two weeks, the priority isn't very high right now because the enemy doesn't have enough forces to force another breakthrough, though that is more of the territory of General O'Neill." Maynard said.

"I see. General O'Neill what is the fleet status for the colonies?"

O'Neill stood up and he too had some stuff to put on the screens. "Mister President, as you know we've taken some losses. So far we have lost four battleships, three of which were caused directly by the mother ship, the fourth was rammed by a 306 ship and was later deemed unsalvageable. Of the 40 battle cruisers we lost eleven, of which six during the mother ship attack. The colonial losses are a bit higher, of the 105 operational battlestars in the system at the start of the siege, 34 have been lost, of which 18 during the mother ship attack. What is left, though damage not included are 16 battleships, 29 battle cruisers and 71 battlestars. As I said, most of these are damaged and a number are at Ragnar being repaired. The 305 fleet got through undamaged, though they did deplete more of their drone supply than we had expected."

"Are there enough drones to replenish the supplies of the Aurora's and the chair device?"

"Yes, there are numerous storages, though most contain our own version of the drone, which is significantly weaker but can be mass produced more easily."

"How many souls did we lose that day?"

"Approximately 3800 in orbit and 5490 on the ground. The colonials lost in excess of 40000 souls."

"Okay, on to other things, what is the status of Operation Longbow?" Ryan asked.

"We have been able to pinpoint the location of destiny and a cruiser group has been sent as well as transport ships with the required materials for long term operations in the region. In a couple of days we expect to hear back from General Young, by that time we should have a viable plan for capturing, reprogramming and transporting a drone strike force to a Dominion owned galaxy far behind their lines."

"Okay, I want to know that plan whenever its ready." Ryan said. "So, what else? How about operation Black Adder?"

General Maynard stood up. Black Adder was a special forces campaign involving mostly ground forces. "Sir, We've been inserting teams on Dominion slave planets and supply depots since they have entered the galaxy. It is only since the loss of the Aschen territories that our teams have been able to have great success."

"Ever since the Dominion incursion they have been exterminating planet after planet. On the other hand, they have been leaving groups of people alive to do their dirty work for them, usually hard labor such as ship construction and the likes. On the Aschen main planets they started with a large planet wide bombardment, but they did not go on to destroy the entire planet. They took out the infrastructure, power grid, civil services, everything that could resist their invasion. Now they are using what remains of the Aschen people to do most of their work. There are large labor camps near the cities. Though most cities have been destroyed, reduced to ruins, the majority of the people live there. A limited form of agriculture still exists though also under Dominion control. The environment which has been created by the Dominion is very advantageous for our teams to carry out missions."

"The Aschen territories are not the only place where we have been operating. On numerous planets we are executing such missions as blowing up supply stations, attacking barracks etcetera. Most of our teams have been inserted by the 160th night stalkers, special operations aviation regiment, they have been equipped with puddle jumpers, LCS-306 ships and other useful toys."

"How much damage have we done already?"

"To much to count basically. We've destroyed numerous supply depots, this combined with the wolf pack attacks have created serious munitions shortages to frontline Dominion units. We estimate that the amount of Dominion soldiers killed through bombings, sabotage and other means is in excess of one million, though might easily be much higher. The real plus point however is that a large amount of Dominion forces has been diverted from the front lines to combat our special forces teams."

"Have there been drawbacks to the tactics used?"

"Yes sir, as was expected the Dominion have taken to retaliate against local populations, often killing hundreds for one small attack and killing thousands, sometimes even tens of thousands for larger attacks. Also, on some occasion the Dominion have issued bounties to capture or kill our strike forces which has cost the lives of some of our operators already. Also, there have been reports from fringe planets where the Dominion are supporting one group to dominate the other groups and also nearby civilizations. Usually these planets don't have anything of worth to us or the dominion except for their location on the flanks of the dominion warpath. We have been supplying weapons, food, medical supplies and other goods to opposition parties to hold the Dominion at bay and cause them problems. Fortunately the Dominion don't want to devote any troops to these planets because they are already to spread out as it is and with mounting losses at the twelve Colonies it isn't going to be easier for them. I can have General Meiers of SOCOM prepare a detailed briefing about ongoing operations and operations in the planning stages."

"Yes that would be great." Ryan said. "General O'Neill, what is the status of our new ships?"

"Sir, both the 308 and 309 class are nearing completion, approximately three months for the DC-308 and only two weeks before the CVZ-309 is ready. Currently our newest fighter, the DF-310 is in production though only enough for eight squadrons have been built so far, all these will be deployed to the first CVZ-309. As you know, the 310 is a drone fighter, it can be controlled by an on board AI or from aboard the carrier. In theory it can also be controlled from a ground station, assuming they have the appropriate equipment. The Viper Mk.9 we have been working on together with the Colonials will still take a few months to complete the designs and trials before it can be adopted for mass production."

"I heard the committee couldn't agree on a name and you made your own suggestion?" Ryan asked.

"Yes sir, though all names were very fitting the name I suggested somehow didn't make it to the list."

"What is the name of our new class of space carriers?"

"Enterprise sir."

"I see. So when will the TFS Enterprise make her maiden voyage?"

"Well, she'll be done in about two weeks. The crew needs to get used to the ship and run drills but all in all I think that she'll be combat ready in a month or so."

"Where will her first assignment be?"

"As it is she'll be added to the general reserves. We do have plans to deploy her to the outer territories to make a show of force to all those who might side with the Dominion and do their dirty work."

"That's good, so what else's going on in the universe?" Ryan asked.

"Yesterday, the Ghost princess Amarah signed a treaty with the entire alliance, following up on the treaty they have with us. The terms are almost the same, though a bit more limited in regards of advanced technology." The Secretary of state said. "Also, she requested and was granted the permission to marry Major Barclay at Heliopolis. The entire ceremony is slated in a couple of months, she wants it to be a low profile wedding with a few dignitaries from around the galaxy. The queen herself will also be present and will arrive by ship and take a small escort fleet. Afterwards the queen will return home, probably through Atlantis and the princess and Major will make a honeymoon throughout the galaxy."

"Do they now there is a war on?" Ryan asked.

"Sir, this presents another problem." General Conway (TFMC) said. "Assuming the princess will retain her right to the throne of the Ghost empire, Major Barclay will be forced to resign before the marriage is finalized. The princess being from a foreign power, though friendly, but also in a position of power the major cannot be allowed to be near classified military secrets which exist in his current workplace."

"Has someone told him the bad news?"

"Yes sir, he'll turn in his papers a month before the ceremony. He understands the situation and has requested to be given a civilian position in an Tau'ri or Alliance service on the Ghost home world." Conway said.

"This might be a good thing sir, his ties and connections here will allow him to further the bond between the Ghost and the alliance." Keller said.

"Well, if it's possible, make it happen." Ryan said. "What's next?"

After a brief moment of silence General O'Neil started. "Sir, a while ago you authorized the retrieval of Elizabeth Weir, who at that time had her conscious trapped in a frozen replicator body. Just a couple of days ago a ship retrieved the body and extracted the conscious from the body. After that the old body was destroyed and the remains ejected into space while the conscious was downloaded into a new Tau'ri made body. The transformation seems to have been successful."

"That is very good, what is happening to Doctor Weir now?"

"The ship is in outer space as a matter of precaution and scientists and doctors are running tests on the body and mind. So far tests show that the entire body is working properly and could later even be used to 'grow' missing limbs, replace organs and the likes. This may very well be the medical breakthrough we've been waiting for."

"That does sound very promising. I'll have a meeting with the surgeon general to get all the details and see how we should proceed with this."

"Mister president, with all due respect I urge you to make haste on implementations on this for military personnel, daily, soldiers get into hospitals and lose limbs or organs, this could very well allow us to return these soldiers to a combat posting within a few months." General Maynard said.

"I understand you General be we also need to be aware of the dangers to such a technology." Ryan said. "What do the Asgard and Ancients say about this?"

"Well, not much. Both haven't used nanite technology in recent history because the Ancients had their own healing capabilities or would Ascend and the Asgard would simply download into a new body."

"Okay. Does anyone have anything to add, either on this topic or any other?" Ryan asked. No one responded and most shook their heads. "In that case I call an end to this meeting. Dismissed."

that's it for now, if you like, you can leave a review (I would appreciate it)