Author's note: So, while reading yesterday this chapter, trying to find any grammar error, it came to me the brilliant idea to change a few lines I didn't particularly like. Why not. It would be maybe fifteen minutes tops.
Three hours later, I was still changing things, and the worst part was, I wasn't sure anymore if the chapter was sounding better or worse than before. Anyway, because of it I had to postpone the release of the chapter for one day.
Today I didn't go through it. I was afraid I would start changing things again, maybe even turning everything back as it was, and maybe even have to postpone it again. I wasn't about to do that. So, sorry if there are few errors here and there ;)
Reviews:
Stormwolf3710: Whatever my mind can imagine, Carter will make it a reality.
I do plan to always have SG teams, though it stands to logic things will have to change. I don't really see air force officers going around on foot to investigate new planets.
I always try to put some fun and silliness into the story, just to break the routine, and Jack's character is in line with such behavior.
The Goa'uld are mostly gone and I don't believe and entire civilization can survive – in the long run – if they need to take daily doses of Tretonin.
Mojtaba13:
Understanding the use of zats:
1. Logically, if two different methods (zatting them or shooting them) have the same desired effect (to incapacitate), then the method with the greater gain must be used (the ability to interrogate them later and gain intel)
2. Ethically, shooting unarmed scientists running away from you in the back, is simply wrong. They do not pose an immediate threat to you, so the use of deadly force is a simple and big no-no.
3. The Law. I'm not an expert on the military rules of engagement, but I do believe that shooting unarmed prisoners (they were prisoners at that point) in the back is against the rules, which means whoever kills them can be court martialed for such act.
Now, if the smart thing to do is to get prisoners to be interrogated, if the moral thing to do is to not shoot unarmed people in their backs, and if the only way to be certain you won't get court martialed for the unnecessary use of deadly force is to not kill them, then, shouldn't the real question be – Why would you want to kill them? What other reason would you have to kill them?
If you know, please let me know.
The part of the sentence with the so called insurgents getting killed every day, I really didn't get. It isn't a specific case enough for me to compare with what I wrote, and saying it happens every day doesn't mean much. People get killed every day, good and bad, people get robbed every day, and people get stuck in elevators every day too.
Something happening every day doesn't make it good or bad, or right.
EvilTheLast: The point is that the three people in the Ancient outpost were simple scientists, not part of their government or military, probably not very informed in current plots either, and definitely not knowing all the details of the war between them and the Terrans. So the only thing they can rely upon is the psychological study the Aschen did about the Terrans which says that, although very emotional creatures, they often behave like the do gooders of the galaxy (this is the condensed version). On the other side, the Terrans yes, they have three Aschen in front of them, but they also have three scientists who possibly haven't done anything illegal even by their own laws. Who's to say they are not three simple people with families and that have never in their life killed anyone or committed any other crime. Do you believe that only because they are Aschen, no matter of individual guilt, they should be punished for something their government has done? And if you still think that punishment should be dispensed to those that follow their government, try to read about Milgram's Experiment on Obedience to Authority and how he decided there was no need to test the Germans ;)
Tamed Scoundrel: Not sure if hostages would work with the Aschen. The Terrans would say - Let us go or we will – do what? And whatever it is that they threaten to do, the Aschen simply start shooting the next instant. There is more to gain from capturing SG-1 than from saving three of their scientists. They have enough of those back home.
It is said that DNA defines what we are and our experience defines who we are. I'm not certain that I completely agree – I do believe it is not that black and white – but I do believe that half a century of collected experience - that has formed Jack's character - cannot be discarded only half a year after Jack's genetic makeup has been changed. Also, and often, people use humor to alleviate the tension. The character of Jack was based on that. He was the kind of character that when Daniel explains to him his fear about the Ori, with the grave sense of impending doom, he replied – I'm hungry.
Last point, who says that all Alterrans has to be all serious and wise all the time? We don't have a large enough number of Alterrans from the show to define how their entire race behaved.
HellsMaji: Nope. It just means he's a very weird dude.
Mayhem: Thanks.
Epi: Yes, China's problem is at the end. Maybe I'll mention a few more things here and there.
Haley looks more like the physicist to me than a programmer; the same as Carter.
That's the idea. Gates smuggled and use as a back door.
Milky Way Galaxy – P3X-529
stardate: 2695.76
Peters watched the six armed Aschen facing the open gate. It had been that way for the past fifteen minutes, with no activity whatsoever. Even the probes that had been canvasing the area in search for him had returned in order to face whatever was about to exit through the gate. And he knew something would soon come out.
Not long after, a TT-X2 tank rolled out of the gate, quickly followed by one APC. The Aschen on foot and the probes in the air began shooting at the first vehicle – the one they had probably deemed the greatest threat - but the only thing the Aschen hit was a strong shield protecting it from harm.
Plasma repeaters quickly began barking plasma bolts back at the probes, while from the rear of the APC, a full squad of Terran Special Forces began exiting the vehicle. Concentrated fire from the tank quickly depleted the shields of the first probe, with the next hit blowing it to pieces. With the railguns on the APC barking bullets as well, a second probe followed the same faith shortly after.
Peters was still hidden behind a boulder, watching as the six Aschen began their retreat into the woods, probably hoping there at least the tank and APC would not be able to follow them. He also saw the squad of Special Forces taking position behind the DHD and both sides of the gate. They looked very determined to take care of the offending Aschen on foot.
Bullets hit three of the six Aschen even before they could find proper cover behind some trees, with the other three Aschen already squeezed behind three separate tree trunks, probably thinking they had at least for the moment found cover. It was time for Peters to disillusion them.
Peters pointed his rifle, aiming carefully at the closest of the three Aschen. Switching to single mode and with the help of the small scope embedded in the rifle, he carefully aimed to take a head-shot. With the trigger squeezed and the slight sensation of recoil, Peters watched the targeted Aschen fall to the ground. Quickly switching aim to the next Aschen, he noticed the Aschen was looking in his direction, with his gun already raised.
One Aschen would have to be enough.
Peters quickly dropped behind his cover, the next moment feeling bolts of energy flying above his head. It had been just in time. He would have liked to hit at least another Aschen, but that hadn't happened. It also didn't matter. The important thing was to show the Aschen they were surrounded, unable to find proper cover. The SFs would have to do the rest.
Colonel Pierce, seeing that even the last probe had been destroyed and how the two still alive Aschen were pinned down from both sides, instructed three other members from Team Alpha to follow him behind the APC. Instructing the APC to move in the direction where the three Aschen were hiding, they made their approach under cover up to the edge of the forest.
"Surrender, now!" Colonel Pierce yelled, motioning for his squad to stop firing.
There was no reply from the two still alive Aschen. Pierce already thought he would have to drop a few grenades to end this, but then he saw them slowly getting out from their cover and even more slowly dropping their weapons on the ground and raising their hands above their heads. Pierce and three other SFs from Alpha Team moved quickly, grabbing the three Aschen and pinning them to the ground. They were bound in matter of seconds.
Pierce saw Peters rushing past him and his men, not even saying a word, heading straight for the DHD. Once Peters reached it, he kneeled in front of it and opened its underside.
Pierce walked behind Peters, "What are you doing?"
"I'm connecting my tablet directly to the DHD to find the last few addresses that were dialed before the gate shuts down. We can expect more Aschen coming the moment we close the connection and we need to find out where they have taken the rest of my team."
"Good idea to find the last few addresses, but you don't need to worry about the gate from Terrania cutting the connection. The gate will stay open for as long as we need it to be."
"Oh, right. HQ has the power to do that. I forgot."
Pierce clicked his comm. unit, "HQ, this is Pierce. Site has been secured. You can send the troops."
"Acknowledged Colonel."
The next moment, two more APC, followed by a full platoon of Army troopers came through the gate. Without waiting, combat engineers began assembling some pieces taken out from the APC. They were mounting railgun emplacements in front of the gate for a warm welcome to whoever came through the gate once it closed.
Milky Way Galaxy – Terrania
stardate: 2696.32
Inside the war room, Jack, the other Jack, Klaus and Anderson were discussing the recent engagement with the Aschen and what to do next.
"Alright, Peters is safe and we have the last five addresses that were dialed. Since one of those five is Earth, we need to check the other four if we want to find where they've taken our people," Jack said to the assorted group of people in the room.
"Yes, and the good thing is that the Aschen homeworld is not among the other four addresses," the other Jack said.
"Yeah, which is good since storming their homeworld wouldn't be feasible," the first Jack replied.
"I know that! That's why I mentioned it in the first place."
"I was just making it clear," the first Jack replied.
"Oh, you two! Would you please shut up?" Klaus yelled, fed up of those two always monopolizing the conversation. Sam's idea of placing them in separate galaxies wasn't such a bad idea after all.
Both Jacks looked at Klaus very much hurt, "Fine!"
"Good. I have already sent four spyships to those four planets, but from the addresses we can already infer the most probable candidate is PX5-337. It is the closest to the Aschen territory. Now, the question remains, do we send a probe through the gate or do we wait for the spyships to report back first?"
"If we send a probe through, it could tip them off and they could decide to move our people to someplace else. We cannot risk it," Anderson replied.
Klaus looked at both Jacks who wanted to say something, but were struggling to stay quiet, "What?"
"Can we speak now?"
Klaus shrugged, "Sure, why not?"
After a small nod from Jack number two, giving consent, Jack number one began explaining, "Well, if this one planet is the most probable candidate I think we should send a probe anyway to see what they have there," Jack number one replied.
"And what if the defenses are too strong to go there through the gate? The Aschen can simply leave while we bring ships there."
"It's possible. It is also possible they are not even there anymore and that all this planning is pointless, but let's assume this planet is some kind of Aschen outpost. If we dial the planet and keep the connection open for as long as it takes, we can at least block them from escaping through the gate."
"And what if they have ships in orbit?" Klaus asked.
"That is something we can't prevent anyway. Besides, from the moment they haven't heard back from their people on PX2-529, they must know something is wrong, which means they already know we are coming, no matter if we send the probe or not."
"Alright, you have a point there," Klaus said.
"Also, if the probe finds the gate is not protected adequately we could free our people even before our ships reach the planet, or at least we could maybe sneak a cloaked puddle jumper through. The jumper could then fly in orbit and we can get some intel on what they have in terms of number of ships there," Anderson said.
"Alright, I will dispatch a few ships to that system in advance. No reason for them to stay here idle anyway. They can change course later easily enough if that's not the planet where our people are," Jack said.
With the rest of the people nodding in complete agreement, they went their separate ways in order to start the rescue mission to save SG-1.
This Aschen were starting to be a real problem.
Milky Way Galaxy – Aschen Council
stardate: 2696.53
"The Terrans are remarkably resilient to the mind probing," one of the Aschen in the room said.
"Were we able to extract anything from them so far?"
"Little. What we do know is that Earth has been infected by the virus and that they are trying to find a cure. The Terrans we have captured seem to believe they will succeed in finding a cure in the next few weeks."
"This is not possible. How can they find a cure so quickly?"
"Still unknown, but I'm certain we will eventually succeed in extracting that information as well. It will just take more time for the mind probe to get the information out. There's also another piece of information that we have extracted and that is of some concern, but we still need to check its validity."
"What piece of information?"
"If their memories are accurate some of their people on Earth are not dying. Children are somehow being cured. One of the captured Terrans has a vivid memory of a news feed showing children miraculously getting cured."
"How?"
"As I said, the Terrans are fighting the mind probing. We still need to check the validity of what the mind probe has extracted from them before we can be certain."
"What about other information? Like their strength and allies."
"We have confirmation that the Terrans are part of an Alliance of four races spread across several galaxies."
"Galaxies? Are you certain?"
"The data extracted has an eighty percent certainty of being truthful. The greatest concern from what we discovered is the Edenian race."
"The Edenians? Never heard of them."
"The Edenians are a race of advanced humans led by an Alterran. They are the ones who have formed the Guardian's Order."
"Led by an Alterran? Aren't the Alterrans the race they call the Ancients? And aren't they extinct?"
"Apparently, one lives, and he's the one who has created the Edenian race over ten thousand years ago."
"This isof great concern."
"Maybe in time we will be able to learn more from the prisoners, but for now that is all we were able to extract."
While the small group of Aschen thought about the revelations they were getting, another Aschen walked in the room, "We have lost contact with our people on the planet where we captured the Terrans. We are unable to dial the planet."
"Did you try for longer than 38 minutes?"
"We did. The gate still won't connect."
"It means the gate has been buried or someone else is constantly dialing; the Terrans probably," one of the Aschen said thoughtfully before turning to face the Aschen that had just entered the room. "Keep trying. Sooner or later, we will get a connection."
The man nodded, leaving the room.
"We need to assume the Terrans have captured our people."
"We also need to assume they will be able to extract everything our people know."
"I agree, which means they know where we have taken their people. We need to send reinforcements to our forward base."
"Shouldn't we transfer the prisoners?"
"I am more concerned with losing the base than the prisoners. It is imperative we not let the forward base fall into their hands."
"As far as I'm aware, we have only one ship in that system. Whatever the Terrans decide to send, one cruiser is far from being enough to efficiently protect the base."
"Then we need to send more ships. Also, the people we've captured should be enough to deter the Terrans from simply bombarding the base. They will most certainly want to free them," one of the Aschen present said, not fully understanding the Terrans' way of thinking, but knowing it would play to their advantage. Why risk so much for only three people?
"How many ships can we send?"
"Twelve cruisers are stationed near our forward base. They should be able to reach the planet before the Terrans do."
"And what if the Terrans have sent a large fleet that even twelve cruisers cannot win against? They still have superior ships. It is the reason why we are not facing them directly."
"Then, if that is the case, we use the backup plan."
"Is that wise?"
"Do we have a third option?"
"I suppose we do not."
"Then we agree."
The rest of the Aschen in the room nodded in agreement.
Large Magellanic Cloud – Borealis
stardate: 2696.93
Young jogged from his office on the top level of the command center to the, no more than fifty feet apart, control room. "What is it?"
"The long range sensors have detected a ship on course for this system sir."
"Do we know what kind of ship?"
"Unknown sir, but it can't be very large. Otherwise, we would have detected it earlier."
"How long until it reaches us?"
"Less than five minutes sir."
"All right. Cloak the city."
The operator quickly pushed a few buttons, with the city slowly disappearing without leaving any trace it was ever there, "City's cloaked."
Young nodded, waiting patiently for whatever ship was about to reach them.
"Hyperspace window opening. The ship seems to be a small Leptinian scout ship. No more than thirty meters in length, sir."
"Borealis," Young called to the thin air.
"Yes Captain?" Borealis replied, the moment her hologram appeared next to him.
Young made a grimace the moment he heard the word 'captain'. He felt like he'd been demoted. The truth was that all ranking officers and enlisted under the purview of the Terran Space Fleet were changing their ranks to those in the Navy, and the rank of captain in the Navy is the equivalent of colonel in the Air Force. After the rank of captain, there was only rear admiral, so it wasn't a demotion, but to young it felt differently. "Please launch a squadron of drone fighters under cloak. They are to follow the unknown ship closely, but they are not to engage. Only if there is indication the city has been discovered are they to engage the ship and destroy it."
"Of course, Captain," Borealis replied.
On one of the piers, massive doors on the deck begun to open until there was enough space for the drone fighters, no more than ten meters in length, to exit the hangar, one after the other. They all cloaked even before leaving the city's cloaking field, quickly speeding upwards towards the sky and further into space.
By now, the Leptinian ship had already passed one of the moons on a straight course for the planet on which the city floated. Once it reached the planet's orbit, it opened several ports, and the same small craft that had previously attacked the Daedalus exited, speeding downward into the atmosphere. Six of the cloaked drone fighters turned and followed the six smaller craft, while the rest continued keeping the larger craft at arm's length.
"Six Leptinian shuttles have entered the planet's atmosphere. They have spread in different directions. I would say they are going for the various landmasses on the planet," the operator informed Young.
"They are probably canvasing the planet to see if it is suitable as breeding ground."
"In that case, I do not believe they will find this planet capable of sustaining a large population," Borealis replied. "Except from sparse sea life, the planet has no other sources of food."
It was true. The planet had been picked for that exact reason. The planet was almost completely covered with a massive ocean, with a few sparse and small continents that had no animal life on them. If they could remain hidden, once the Leptinians were done with their survey, they would probably never return to this planet.
The survey lasted for another hour. In that time, one of the small Leptinian shuttles flew only a few hundred miles from the cloaked city, but even then there hadn't been any indication the vessel detected their presence. Shortly after, the six ships climbed into space, docking with the larger scout ship. The next moment, the ship left orbit, speeding into hyperspace.
"Well, that went as good as it could have. Borealis, the drone fighters can return now."
"They are on their way as we speak, Captain," Borealis replied politely.
"Good, when are our guests scheduled to arrive?" Young asked.
"In sixty three minutes, Captain."
"Thank you Borealis. Please inform me the moment they step through the gate, and inform Zelenka that I need to speak with him," Young said before leaving the control room on his way to his office.
Twenty minutes later, Zelenka entered his office.
"Captain. You asked to see me?" Zelenka replied.
"Yes, I did. Please take a seat," Young said, waiting for the scientist to sit down. "Dr. Zelenka, I was wondering about one thing. I don't know if you are aware, but less than half an hour ago, a Leptinian scout-ship dropped out of hyperspace and a few of their shuttles canvased the planet, probably to see if it were suitable for colonization."
"Has the city been discovered?"
"No Doctor, it wasn't, and they will probably never return, but I like to be on the safe side on this."
"What did you have in mind, Captain?"
"Is it possible to build several orbiting defense platforms here on Borealis?"
"Well, we have the materials and the facilities to build them, but you probably want them to be able to stop a large number of small craft like the ones the Leptinian use."
"Yes I do. I know that every orbital platform we have designed so far has some kind of anti-capital ship weapon in it, be it plasma cannons or plasma beams, it doesn't matter, we don't need either of them. But we need a lot of fast firing low yield guns placed on them if they are to be useful against the Leptinians."
"Yes, I understand what you want, and although we don't have any designs of something similar ready, I can probably come up with an efficient design in a few days at the most. The only problem is that for deploying them in orbit, we would need the help of a ship and their beaming systems. I wouldn't want to waste space and resources on building the weapon platforms with large enough sublight engines to take them into orbit."
"Of course not Doctor, and it won't be a problem. Once we have enough of them constructed, I'll ask Captain Caldwell to make a short trip here and help us out," Young said the same moment as Borealis appeared next to Zelenka.
"Captain Young, the Tikal ambassador and Captain Caldwell have just arrived through the gate."
"Thank you Borealis. Please, escort them to the conference room. I'll be there shortly," Young replied.
Borealis nodded before disappearing into thin air.
"Doctor, would you like to be present with me in the conference room? There might be some questions you can answer better than I could."
"Of course Captain," Zelenka replied, getting up.
The two of them quickly moved to the conference room where Caldwell and Ambassador Olek were already seated.
"Ambassador Olek, Captain Caldwell, thank you for coming," Young said, noticing the same expression on Caldwell's face when he said his rank.
"Thank you for having me here. It is remarkable what you have built," the ambassador replied while looking around, especially through the large window in the conference room.
"Thank you. This is one of the greatest achievements the Ancients have ever created and we were able to restore it to her formal glory. But let's discuss now the reason why we are all here. Could you please update me on the latest in the war against the Leptinians?"
"Well, ever since you came in this galaxy and joined us in the fight against the Leptinians, the situation has greatly improved. We have noticed a slight drop in Leptinian raids at our remaining three worlds, something that has given us the much needed breathing space to recuperate the losses and even increase our fleet and orbital defenses. I can't even remember the day when our planetary defenses were at such level."
"I'm glad to hear that. What is the prediction on when we will have a decisive edge against the Leptinians?"
"Unfortunately, I don't think I can make such prediction."
"I'm sorry? I thought you said the war was going great?"
"It is, in terms of number of raids against our worlds and the increase in fleet strength. We were also able to successfully target a few of their worlds and even to engage and destroy several of their beehive ships, but I'm not certain we have made any real progress in the war."
"Why do you say that?" Young asked, not understanding.
Caldwell picked up to answer the question. "Captain Young, from the time I have spent in this galaxy, I was able to learn one thing. We have no clue how many Leptinians there are or how many planets they have under their control. In these few months, we came across dozens of planets they use for breeding, and we are more than certain they have even more planets under their control that have some installation on them, like shipyards, mining facilities or forward bases of operation."
"The Captain is correct in his assessment," the ambassador continued. "You must understand that the Leptinians are not like us. They don't have citizens and then a small percentage of their population belonging to the military. They are all military or they serve to provide the military with whatever they need. We are talking about a race numbering in the billions with the only purpose to build more ships and to destroy anything in their path that tries to stop them."
"I see. Well, then there is only one way to proceed in this war, isn't it?" Young said.
"You mean, we need to cut the head off," the Ambassador added.
"Yes, I do think that. If they can grow in numbers that fast, and if they have numerous worlds with installation on them, the only way to give them a substantial blow, a blow that will give them pause, is if we strike at their heart. We need to strike at the planet you think controls the rest of them."
"I agree, but the problem is that we don't know where that planet is," Caldwell added.
"How is the canvasing of the galaxy going?"
"Slowly. This galaxy is only 14 000 light-years in diameter, but such relatively small galaxy holds approximately 500 million star systems."
"So searching system by system is like searching for a needle in a haystack."
"Exactly. I think our best bet is to follow one of their ships if we can and see if it takes us to their home world. But so far it looks like no ships ever goes there, at least those that we have followed."
Next to Captain Young, Borealis appeared with a worried expression on her face. "Captain Young, the long range sensors have detected several ships on a direct course towards us."
"What? What kind of ships?" Young asked in puzzlement. He knew no Terran or Tikal ships were scheduled to come here.
"The sensor readings suggest it is a group of six Leptinian beehive ships and one we haven't seen yet."
"How long until they reach us?"
"Eighteen minutes."
"This doesn't look like a coincidence. How could they have known we are here?" Caldwell asked.
Young sighed, "Less than an hour ago, a Leptinian scout ship entered the system and performed scans of the planet. The city was cloaked the whole time and the planet is far from being perfect for one of their breeding planets. We were certain they didn't detect us since they left after they finished scanning the planet, and I don't think they were able to detect the city through our cloak."
"This planet is not something the Leptinians would ever consider as one of their breeding planets," the ambassador replied. "Are you certain they could not detect your city under cloak?"
"No I don't think they could. If they were able to detect the city while cloaked, then they would have been able to detect the Daedalus when we nuked their shipyards too."
"I don't know what else could be the reason for them to come here, again," Young added, but then he saw the slight frown on Borealis' face. "What is it Borealis?"
"There is a small probability that the Leptinians are capable of detecting the high frequency subspace band we use to transfer energy to our drone fighters. Since telepathy works through subspace and the Leptinians have an incredible ability to communicate telepathically at great distances, there is a chance they could sense the transfer of energy through subspace, even at such high frequencies. Although, I must admit I do not exactly know how."
"If they were able to detect the exact location of the city, cloaking it again shouldn't be a smart move. They could attack us the moment they enter orbit," Young said. "Bring the ENI Generators to full power and connect all three ZPMs. The moment they enter the system, you are to raise the shield."
"Yes Captain."
The group of people continued talking about the impending visit of the Leptinians with what they were predicting would be a sizeable force. The remaining minutes until their arrival had quickly passed.
The six large beehive like ships entered the system, in less than two minutes reaching orbit above the city. Scores of small spheres began exiting the ships, plummeting straight down into the planet's atmosphere clearly on a course for the city.
As they reached weapons range, thousands of small beams began hitting the city's raised shield.
"I now understand what you meant when you said they would obscure the sky. There are so many of them," Caldwell said to the Tikal's ambassador.
"Yes, it is the same tactic as the one they used when they targeted our planets. Will the shield hold?" the ambassador asked, since he couldn't feel any shaking from the many beams hitting it.
Young simply looked at Borealis who understood what he wanted from her, "The shield is under constant stress, but there is no immediate risk of the shield being overwhelmed. I have calculated that it would take several weeks of intense fire from their ships to be able to deplete the ZPMs, and the ENI generators are also helping diminish the stress on them."
"How many of them are there?" Young asked, since it was difficult to count them all.
"There are over twenty thousand Leptinian spheres, but they are unable to fire all at once. There is simply too many of them for them all to get a clear shot without risking hitting one of their own."
"Do we have enough drones to hit them all?" Caldwell asked Young, knowing that the only offensive weapon the city had were the drones.
Before Young could say anything, Borealis stepped in, "We have five thousand drones, which should be enough to destroy them all, but I am not certain such use of the drones is advisable."
"Please explain." Young asked.
"From what I understand, the Leptinians are capable of building one of their spheres incredibly fast and the construction materials used are much cheaper and more abundant that the materials the drones are made of."
"In short, you think that a drone is more expensive than one of their craft," Young concluded.
"Yes, and if we add the possibility that this is only the first wave of what could be coming our way, the depletion of our drone reserves is not advisable."
"Alright, so we should use drones only if we have no other choice. But what other choice do we have? Can we leave the planet?"
"Unadvisable," Borealis replied, quickly continuing. "The city's liftoff procedure is the most vulnerable moment of the city. Massive amounts of energy must be diverted to the inertial dampeners and the sublight engines, and the Leptinians might decide to ram us with their beehives during such procedure. I do not believe the shield would be able to sustain such an assault while lifting off the planet."
"Well, I don't know if the Leptinians would ram us, but I also don't think we should take the chance of finding out. I think we are out of options on how to solve this without reinforcements coming to the rescue," Young said.
"I agree. We need to call our fleet and face them in battle, no matter the cost. Then we can use the drones in a supporting role," Caldwell said, not liking it, but what else could they do. "There's also the chance of more Leptinians coming here before we can bring the brunt of our fleet."
Zelenka had spent this entire time in silence, leaving the military strategists to think of a way on how to solve the predicament they were facing. From what he could understand, they wanted to engage the enemy or leave. The only two options they thought at their disposal were strike at them or a strategic retreat. How very military of them, but they weren't thinking of another, simpler, solution. "We sink the city."
The three other people in the room, as well as Borealis, turned to look at the diminutive scientist. Young was the first to ask. "What?"
"We can sink the city. It is impossible for their small craft with their even smaller beams to penetrate hundreds of meters of water."
"And what then?" Caldwell asked.
"And then we have virtually unlimited time to think of what to do next. With three ZPMs and the ENI generators, the city could stay for thousands of years under water, even without the ability to get more resources from Earth through the gate, which we also have."
"Good thinking Zelenka. Our first priority is to keep the city safe," Young said turning to Borealis. "Borealis, please initiate the necessary procedures to sink the city to the ocean's floor."
"Related procedures have been initiated, Captain," Borealis replied.
The city slowly began dropping, with the water rising above the city's ground level. Quickly, the entire city was under water, with the fire from the many Leptinian spheres stopped from hitting the city's shield. A minute later, with a slight thud, the city settled on the bottom of the ocean.
The city was safe from the Leptinian attack for the moment. Now it was only a matter of finding a way of clearing the large Leptinian infestation in the system. Somehow, nobody believed the Leptinians would simply leave.
Milky Way Galaxy – Orbit above Aschen Base
stardate: 2697.13
The captain of the lonely Aschen cruiser stood on the bridge awaiting orders from the ground. He had been informed of the possibility of the Terrans coming here, which meant the ship was on high alert, with its shields and weapons already powered and ready. The instructions were to immediately engage any ship that entered the system. The captain didn't like it. Only one ship against whatever the Terrans decide to bring here, but the captain thought that with the high readiness he had put the ship into, there was at least a chance of them hitting the Terrans before they could get their bearings right. And he also needed to keep them at bay before reinforcements arrived, which should happen in the next ten minutes or so.
A beeping sound informed the captain that a hyperspace window had been detected only light-seconds from their current position. As he watched through the frontal view, his face contorted in the usual 'holy cow' expression anyone who for the first time saw the more than three kilometers long aurora class warship exit hyperspace in front of him.
'Screw this!'
With unseen speed, the Aschen ship opened a hyperspace window of its own straight ahead, not even bothering with the direction where the voyage would take them. The only thing missing was roadrunner's 'Beep-Beep' sound before the ship sped inside hyperspace faster than a bullet.
"Holy Cow!" the captain of the Aurora warship shouted after seeing the Aschen ship flee, "I've never seen a ship leave that fast."
The aurora has become the terror of the Milky Way galaxy to any race that would see the ship. And that was only because of the size. If they really knew what the Terrans had put under the hood of the monstrosity, they would probably crap their pants even before being able to move. The ship had been upgraded with the latest tech the DN-306 had except for the Antiproton Beam weapon. Unfortunately the ship would need to undergo extensive rearranging if they wanted to place that particular weapon inside, so, instead, the Terrans had opted to place scores of Heavy Plasma Beam weapons, with even more plasma repeaters, railguns, PDLs and an extended magazine of 3000+ drones just for good measure. Not to mention the five ENI generators, a ZPM capable of being charged by them and the ability to raise the Fortress Shield. A hundred and twenty drone fighters were just the final touch to make this ship comparative with the smaller but still the deadliest warship in the Terran arsenal, the DN-306.
"Sir, I'm detecting a large complex on the surface of the planet," the ensign manning the sensors replied.
"Can you pick up SG-1's transponders?"
"No sir."
"That still doesn't mean they are not down there. Their transponders could have been removed," the captain replied thoughtfully. "How long until the rest of the fleet is here?"
"Ten minutes sir."
"In ten minutes a lot can happen. Notify the Special Forces' teams on board they have a go with the rescue mission. And launch the drone fighters. They are to provide support to our raptors."
"Yes sir."
Milky Way Galaxy – Aschen Base
stardate: 2697.43
Inside the Aschen base, in a small room, Mitchell lay strapped in a slightly reclined chair with cables attached to his forehead. It had been that way for the past hour. Whatever this was that had been attached to him, he could feel it was forcefully accessing his memories, and it did it in a very painful way. He also understood how the device exactly worked.
The device would read his current surface thought, no matter what it was. Once the device had read the current memory, it would inflict pain through his synapses forcing him to reset what he was thinking and forcing him to think of something else, something he hadn't thought yet. If he didn't comply, thinking of the same thing, the jolt would simply repeat and in time increase in intensity.
He had tried thinking of the last football game he had watched, thinking that if he thought about a series of images, rather than of a static memory, the mind probe would not be able to detect his deception of thinking of a stupid game for at least the next hour.
It didn't work.
The more he tried to block the device from accessing the memory he didn't want the Aschen to know, the more pain he felt, and it was starting to feel unbearable. He could also remember how Vala, and afterwards Ford, had looked once they had been brought back to the cell. The probe had done a real number on them, and now it was doing the same to him. Still, Mitchell wasn't estranged to pain, the same as Ford and Vala weren't, and he wasn't about to make it easier for the probe to extract secrets from his mind. Not if he could help it.
Another shock coursed through him as the probe again tried to force him to think of something else. The probe wasn't only good at extorting information. It was also very good at torturing. As the shock subsided, the same way it had countless times before, he turned to see an Aschen entering the room and approach the one already inside, the one he had begun to call his personal torturer. If he could get free, he would show that man what sharp pain is.
"The Terrans have entered the system," the one Aschen that had just entered the room said.
"Are we evacuating?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"The gate is still open and the ship we had in the system has fled."
"Fled? Why?"
"The Terran ship that has entered the system is… massive."
"Aurora," Mitchell whispered with a smile.
Both Aschen turned to the strapped man on the chair, before his torturer asked the other Aschen another question, "How massive?"
"Three kilometers, at least."
"Hm… then it is understandable for our ship to have left. Are reinforcements arriving?"
"No. They have been ordered to turn back. We are to initiate the backup plan."
The torturer raised an eyebrow, "I see. That is… regrettable."
"I concur, but we have no other choice. Pity we weren't able to extract more from these Terrans."
"I agree. I will start with the necessary preparations immediately," the second Aschen said, the same moment as an alarm started blaring through the entire compound.
"The Terrans are here. You must hurry."
The second Aschen nodded before storming out of the room. As the Aschen opened the door, Mitchell heard a distinctive weapon's fire he knew very well. He could recognize the TR-X1 rifle's sound anywhere. He smiled.
The Aschen in the room deactivated the mind probe, taking a gun from the table nearby. Mitchell continued hearing the weapons' fire coming closer and closer, and only seconds later, the door opened again, with the Aschen firing at whoever was on the other side. It didn't help him though, as he got half a dozen bullets straight into his chest as a response. Mitchell felt sad. He really wanted to deal with his torturer on his own, definitely taking his time and not ending his life so quickly.
A soldier came near him, quickly taking the straps that were holding him tied on the chair off.
"Oh, how glad I am to see you."
"Colonel Mitchell, are you able to walk," the soldier said.
Mitchell tried to stand on his feet, but he felt wobbly, like his legs were made of jelly. He quickly lost strength in them almost falling. The soldier instinctively grabbed him by his forearm, helping him to stand upright.
"I'm alright." Mitchell said as he partially regained strength.
"Colonel, where's the rest of your team."
"Give me a gun and I'll show you."
The soldier gave him his sidearm. Without waiting a moment longer they went in the outside corridor, with Mitchell showing them the way where the prison cells were located.
While moving through the various corridors all looking almost the same, Mitchell decided he should inform them of something, "Before you came inside the interrogation room I heard two Aschen talking. They have some kind of backup plan and from the sound of it, they knew it meant they would die."
"Some kind of self-destruct?"
"That's what I thought yes. The other Aschen stormed out of the room. He said he was going to make the necessary preparations, which means we need to hurry."
The soldier quickly contacted the other teams who were canvasing the complex someplace else, giving them this new piece of information, just as they reached the area where the prison cells were.
"In which cell is the rest of your team?" the soldier asked.
Mitchell looked at the six identical doors, three on each side of the corridor, "I have no idea."
"It doesn't matter." The soldier said, seeing that Mitchell was barely standing. He turned to the three other member of his team. "Get to work and open those doors ASAP."
All four of them took one door, quickly beginning to work on the door's release mechanism. The first door one of the soldiers had succeeded in opening had no one inside. The second one, the one that Mitchell and the soldier who was helping him were trying to open had a man inside. Mitchell looked at the bearded man lying on the bed inside. "Ambassador Faxon?"
The man turned, looking back at Mitchell, "Yes."
Mitchell turned to face the soldier next to him, "I can manage on my own. Help him."
The soldier moved, grabbing the Ambassador, "Ambassador, we need to go now."
"Oh, okay," Faxon replied, getting up on his feet. He didn't complain, but it didn't look like he understood who they were either.
"Found them!" another soldier shouted from the corridor.
As Mitchell, Faxon and the soldier exited the cell, they saw Ford and Vala having already been brought outside into the corridor. Without any more delay, they all began moving out of the facility. There was no time to waste.
It had taken them almost five more minutes, but they had eventually reached the raptor waiting for them. The raptor immediately took off on its way to the Terran warship in orbit.
In orbit, inside the massive Terran warship, the captain was waiting impatiently. "Are there any news from our rescue party?"
"I just received word the rescue mission was a success and that all members are on board the raptors sir."
"Did scans reveal any type of self-destruct Mitchell mentioned?"
"No sir. Although, I am detecting a strange gravimetric distortion coming from where the system's star is located."
"The sun? Intensify scans of that region, now!"
The ensign worked on the console, focusing the powerful sensors of the Aurora class warship in the direction where the star was. "Sir, there are six large constructs all around the star creating a strong gravimetric pull. They… they are lowering the gravitational force the star exerts."
"Meaning?"
"It means there is a chance of the star becoming unstable. Sir, the star could go nova."
"Sir, the rest of the fleet has just arrived," another ensign added.
"Tell them to immediately engage their hyperdrives because the star can go critical at any moment."
The ensign contacted the fleet, sending the very important message. "The fleet is leaving right now."
"Sir, the star is beginning to expand."
"How long do we have until the shockwave reaches us?"
"The shockwave is traveling at near relativistic speed. It will be here in less than six minutes."
"And how long until the raptors are back?"
"It will be close. There is a chance a few raptors won't make it in time sir."
"Which raptors?"
"The last two sir. They are still inside the planet's atmosphere."
The captain thought quickly. "Alright. Helm, set an intercept course for our raptors and prepare the ship to enter hyperspace at a moment's notice. Comm., inform those raptor to disengage their engines the moment they are at a distance of one hundred kilometers from us. And tell them not to argue."
The ensign gulped. "But sir, they would still be deep inside the gravitational well of the planet. The same as we."
"I'm very well aware of that Ensign. Do it anyway."
The massive aurora turned on an intercept course for the raptors, quickly entering planetary lower orbit. As it went on a steep descent, the shields began burning as the friction with the planet's atmosphere began to intensify. From the left side, the forefront of the approaching shockwave, mostly made of EM radiation, was already turning the planet's atmosphere red, with the temperature climbing quickly.
The brunt of the shockwave was only moments behind.
"The raptors are inside the specified range and they have disengaged their engines sir!"
"Beam them now!"
"Raptors are on board!"
"Jump!"
The aurora's shield on the starboard side flared brightly, consequence of the approaching shockwave's radiation hitting the ship. An inferno of heat and turbulence enveloped the aurora as it plunged deeper and deeper into the atmosphere of the soon to be obliterated planet, the same moment as a hyperspace window formed straight ahead. The ship sped forward, disappearing into the newly formed hyperspace window just a moment before the planet broke apart, scooped by the shockwave like it was a small prop replica made of plastic.
Milky Way Galaxy – Terrania
stardate: 2700.93
"They are blowing stars now!" a very irritated Jack said. "I thought only we were doing that."
"Apparently not," Klaus said not liking that fact either.
"Any word from the aurora?" Daniel asked.
"No. We don't know if the ship made it. They could have been destroyed by the shockwave or, if they somehow managed to escape the shockwave, then they must have sustained enough damage to be unable to contact us."
"Yeah, or they ended up in another galaxy." Sam added. "Remember what happened to us when we entered hyperspace while a star was exploding?"
"Don't remind me. We were lucky we came back," Jack said, frustrated. "Which means, our search party doesn't have much chance of finding the ship. It's like searching for a needle in… the universe."
Klaus turned to face Sam, "Is there any chance the Aschen could do something like that to any of our systems?"
"In theory, yes, they could do it in any system, but from the data the Aurora has sent us before the explosion we know the Aschen had constructed six large installations around the star; installations strong enough to create the needed gravitational pull to destabilize the star's own gravitational force that keeps it together. Stars have a very delicate balance between their gravitational force that is pulling everything closer and the fusion reaction that is trying to blow everything apart."
"So, they could do it, but it is not something you can do quickly. They would need to bring those large installations first and place them around a star."
"Yes. Not a very efficient way to attack somebody, but a very efficient way to use them inside already occupied systems as a deterrent. Still, we are already working on placing some defenses near stars in all our systems; just in case."
"Can we do that to the Aschen? I mean, can we bring a nice stargate near their sun and dial the address where there's that black hole on the other side?" Jack said, looking at the plastered looks he was receiving. "Oh forget I said anything. Not something I would ever do. I'm just pissed at them."
"Well, the Aschen do come close to being the race where to use such tactics. In the long run, we can beat them countless times, but we all know they are never going to change. They are simply sociopaths and there's nothing we could do that can change that." Klaus replied.
"Well, for now I will be happy to just give them a good lesson. How is our little plan of showing them they are not so invincible coming?" Jack said, looking at Sam.
"The LRMS (Long Range Missile System) has been tested and it's ready for deployment. We have already built enough of them to strike at the Aschen whenever ready," Sam replied.
"Good. As soon as the Jaffa are ready too, we are proceeding with the mission. The Aschen should feel very fortunate we have other things to worry about at the moment," Jack replied.
"What are we going to do about Borealis? The last time we heard from them six more Leptinian beehive ships have entered the system, and even more have been detected on course for the same system. Is the fleet we have in the Large Magellanic Could even enough to face so many of them?" Sam asked.
"Don't know. For now the city is safely tucked on the bottom of the ocean and there's nothing the Leptinians can do to change that. I'm going there myself later today to see what can be done. Maybe this could even turn out to be a good thing."
"How can this come out as a good thing?" Sam asked.
"Because the Leptinians are sending a lot of their ships there, without having the ability to actually inflict any damage. I don't know if facing them in battle there is even warranted. If they are turning so many of their ships there, it means they have that much less somewhere else. We could maybe harass them from time to time, just to keep them busy, but I think we should focus on taking the fight to their worlds instead and leave them flying above the sunken city for as long as they wish."
"Alright, that does sound like a plan. I just wouldn't want for them to somehow find a way to target the city even while on the bottom of the ocean. If that happens, they could be in a very bad situation."
"And that's why I'm going there right now. I want to work out a contingency plan with Young and Caldwell if that is to happen, no matter how remote such possibility is," Jack said.
Furling galaxy – Sanarian Outpost
stardate: 2709.22
The almost four hundred meters long Edenian warship reverted to normal space at spit distance from the planet. Quickly pushing forward, the ship entered low orbit in a matter of seconds. Using its beaming system, the ship deposited a stargate on the planet's surface, seconds before opening another hyperspace window and leaving the system with the same haste as it came. The Sanarian satellites, placed there to protect their base on the surface, hadn't even had enough time to aim, much less fire on the Edenian cruiser that had, at least in the Sanarians' eyes, had used a very strange and unknown way of faster-than-light travel.
On the ground, the stargate shimmered into invisibility immediately upon being deposited. In less than a minute the invisible gate became visible again for a fraction of a second as the event horizon erupted, disrupting the gate's cloaking field. Once the event horizon settled, the gate once again became fully invisible. The stargate had just established a wormhole to another stargate on a distant planet, a planet where Edenian teams readily awaited for that to happen.
Teams began exiting from the very useful rounded device, taking a defensive position around the gate. After the initial platoon of soldiers, a few fighter drones came out instead, quickly engaging their cloak and climbing in altitude.
In the next few minutes, more very determined soldiers would step onto the alien world, all taking defensive positions and creating a rounded perimeter in order to protect their beachhead. In such situation, the initial phase was always the most perilous. They need to secure the immediate area before they began their assault at the Sanarian base, only four miles on the south.
This process would take a good part of the next hour, before the company worth of soldiers was to push toward the Sanarian base while under the constant protection of the cloaked drone fighters circling above their position.
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