Neeros: Thanks. Although, I will try to speed up. I'm starting to forget things I wrote and things I had in plan to write. Not good. Not good.
Stephenopolos: Well, I do think it was about time for all those hostile races to meet.
Beyogi: The point of any good trap is to make the target juicy enough so that even if they smell a rat, they still have to go check it out. Just to be sure.
Trekki859: More tech coming in the next chapters, but most of the tech I'm keeping for the awesome ending of this second book. Then in the third book things will change drastically, with... uhm... weird weapons coming into play.
StargateFFWriter: Well, Adria certainly doesn't like to be lied to, but she's still an Ori so…
Yup, Lorne is a Captain (Senior Grade) in the newly redesigned Terran Navy, and Sheppard would be a rear admiral now, although he's ascended so… difficult to exactly define what he is right now.
Well, the Terrans did lure them with juicy false pretenses. They couldn't possibly pass on an opportunity to knock out the new Terran super weapons before being deployed.
Kami No Raijin: Will see in this chapter. When there are four factions fighting and where you don't know who'll target whom, literally everything is possible.
EvilTheLast: I must admit, my first idea was to get two factions, the Ori and the Wraith, to get to know each other, but then I thought about it and decided why not all of them!
Itns: Why, thank you. I'll try to come up with more similarly devious scenarios.
Nashakell, ryanduong1: I must admit, at one point I simply didn't know where I would find the time to write. But, since I too hate when I'm reading a story that suddenly stops in the middle, the least I can do is to not follow that same example.
Awesome275: Will see, will see.
pking10: he-he, what can I say. The universe works in mysterious and chaotic ways, riddled with not always welcoming coincidences.
UNSpaceCommand: True, true. The Terrans indeed will be the only real victor here, and without even firing a single shot. Or getting their ass shot either.
Arsenal18: Possible, but I don't think there'll be enough time to make any kind of spur-of-the-moment alliance though. Still, everybody involved knows who's the most dangerous amongst them and who's to weak to even try to fight them.
Skarosianlifeform (chapter 4): As far as Jack naming the Station 'Babylon One', the only thing I can add is that we can all be happy he hasn't decided to name it 'Homer One'.
Guest: Well, since the Lucian fired the first shot without thinking, I opted for the 'chaos-rules' option on how this will all play out. I also have to agree about the indigestion part when the Aschen and Wraith are concerned. The Aschen do look like a nice and big snack from the Wraith perspective. Something that will play a big role in the future chapter. ;) Ok, I've said too much already.
Skarosianlifeform (chapter 5): Ok, you may have a point here as far as what the easiest way to deal with the China problem would have been, but let's first play a little reverse-role game for a moment. Let's say that your country decided not to join the Terran Alliance (preposterous I know, but let's still take this hypothesis as a possibility at least), as it is her right to do so as a free sovereign nation, no matter of the motives behind such decision. Furthermore, let's say that your country decides to start her own space program to explore the galaxy and colonize other planets, which is also her right to do since no binding document had been signed. At this point, the Terran Alliance doesn't like very much what your country is doing, so they decide to sabotage her first voyage to another planet, preventing your country from taking a brand new stargate back home, because, let's face it, it would be really awkward to have two gates on Earth. Furthermore, they decide that they really don't like where all this is going so they decide, as the easiest and fastest solution, to use their much bigger club to hammer down your country into submission. Would you in such case still think of the Terran Alliance as the good guys, or as the aggressor who when push comes to shove opts for the military solution, even though they were the first to say that the Terran Alliance's military would never be used on Earth's soil against any country?
Well, in a way it is understandable to side with the 'good guys' in any story you read. Hell, when I watch Dexter I'm on his side, even though in the end he's nothing less than a ruthless serial killer who enjoys killing and chopping off people in pieces. I have to admit he's not exactly a role model, and yet I still root for him no matter what he does in his spare time. So, in the same way, since you know they are the good guys, it automatically means that whatever they do must be a good thing too even though, let's face it, in my story, the Terran Alliance didn't have any right to sabotage the Chinese on their first voyage, did they? No matter what their motives were.
As far as Churchill's quote goes, I don't believe the situation is the same. In 1938, when Churchill said that, everybody more or less knew that a war with Germany was inevitable. In my story though China hasn't shown any intention of attacking any other country on Earth (and it doesn't matter if the only reason why they didn't was because they knew the Terrans have a bigger club to pound on them if they did try either). So at that point, there was no real risk of China going all berserk.
Also, you are right that the admission of China in the alliance would probably result in them reaping of the benefits, but only in the short term. The long term from the Terran Alliance's perspective is to create the Terran race in which every soul on the planet is simply a citizen of Terra. And China can also forget about aspiring to Dominate the entire world since the Terran Alliance have never given the latest in tech to Earth countries in the first place, does it?
Well, with this reply I almost managed to write a new chapter inside this chapter, so I'll simply stop blabbing now.
gamdori-bil: How did you know what I was planning! Hmm... maybe I should check my laptop to see if there a spyware on it. Although, the second Jack is still with the Nox.
Skarosianlifeform (chapter 8): It would be a problem to put so many different cultures together, but they are not really together are they? A planet is a really big place, and there is no reason to put them closely together. They could place them thousands of kilometers apart easily, and the Edenians are always watching over them so if some of them gets antsy, they can simply tell them to go back, shut up, and don't make more troubles. Furthermore, even if relocating the Pegasus natives could eventually create some troubles, it is still better than allowing for them to be eaten. Besides, it was always the plan to let them go back home once the Wraith are defunct. So spending a few years or even half a decade is not enough time for massive hostilities to start between them.
Monsterjeffbuk: Well, I'm glad to hear that. And I hope I'll be able to post more chapters on an at least semi-regular basis.
Reader 771: Well, that would be a shock for Jack, but somehow I think even if a single Ori ship remained to face all of the Lucian ships, they still wouldn't have a chance in hell of winning.
Friend & Dneirf: Hmm... very peculiar. Both reviews only two minutes apart. And even before I moderated them so they could be displayed. Were you for any chance in the same room maybe when you wrote them?
Morgauxo: I'm fully aware of the rotation of satellite galaxies, and I can't say that I remember the reason why I wrote that, not exactly. At a guess I think I wrote it to give the readers an idea that not all planets in the MW are at the same distance from the circling satellite galaxy, and maybe to picture better the difference between a satellite galaxy and a regular one like Pegasus or Andromeda. I think.
There's always a risk when loaning some technology like the beaming system, but I would call this a calculated risk. It helped the Jaffa a lot in this instance since they didn't have to go to the planet and lift the gate with the ship. On the other hand the Terrans had confidence the Jaffa would succeeded, and not get hammered instead. Second, there's a greater chance of a ship being destroyed than captured, and even if the ship had been boarded, the Jaffa still had time to simply destroy any sensitive tech on board. And although the series doesn't show it that way, but reverse engineering is not that easy. To make a comparison, I could give you a CPU and you won't have a lot of ways to understand how it works. Plus the Terrans are installing temper-proof precautions on all of their tech.
I always believed a good story plot must have a good misdirection. If everybody always knows the truth, the story can became dull. So, yes. The Ori, or at least Adria, were under the impression the Alterrans had spread the disease.
Guest: To tell you the truth, I always had the feeling the creators of the show had planned much more for the Aschen race than what they showed. Somehow the Aschen simply disappeared when the Ori showed in the show.
Milky Way Galaxy – Terrania
stardate: 2917.41
Late at night, inside a small conference room, Daniel, Jack and Sam were seated, all impatiently waiting for Klaus to finally show up.
"Where is he?" Jack asked.
"Don't know. Maybe he was detained for some reason," Daniel asked.
"Or maybe he started without us?" Jack frowned.
"He wouldn't do that. We said we would watch it together," Daniel replied simply, confident Klaus wouldn't do that to them.
"I'm just sorry Teal'c couldn't make it," Sam added, taking a fistful of popcorn from one of the several bowls on the table in front of her.
"Yeah, he would have loved it. It's going to almost be like watching Star Wars. You'll see." It appeared Jack was really looking forward to this. Well, it was his idea after all.
At that point Klaus entered the room, scurrying quickly towards the table where the rest of the council was already seated, "Sorry I'm late. Something important came up I couldn't postpone."
"Yeah-yeah, do you have it?" Jack asked impatiently.
"I have already uploaded the recordings on the server," Klaus said, tapping at the small tablet he was holding. The next moment, the large screen in front of them came to life with the recording of the battle beginning to play. "Here it goes."
"Uh, goody," Jack said, smiling and taking one entire bowl of popcorn all for himself.
Daniel growled at Jack, looking directly at him and at the bowl he just took , "Don't you think popcorn is a little too much? It's not a real movie night, you know?"
"Oh, relax Daniel! How often do we get the chance to watch our enemies fight each other?" Jack replied, taking another fistful of popcorn and putting it in his mouth.
In the meantime, the battle on the screen had already begun, with one of the Lucian ships firing a single plasma bolt at an Aschen cruiser.
"Uh, apparently someone's twitchy on board that Lucian Ha'tak," Jack said.
"It looks that way. Ah, here we go," Klaus said as other ships started firing.
It was pretty easy to discern how the Lucians were attacking the Aschen, the Aschen firing at the Lucians and the Wraith ships, the Wraith replying in kind while focusing their fire from their larger hives at the Ori, and the Ori turning to face the Wraith exclusively. Apparently, the Ori didn't feel the Aschen or much less the Lucians were a threat to them.
"Uh, nice move that one! Those toilets are much more maneuverable than someone would think. Did you see how quickly they were able to position four of their ships to take out that one hive?" Jack said.
"Yeah, but the Wraith are not stupid either. They have quickly realized who's the biggest threat. Look, they are almost completely disregarding the Lucians and the Aschen," Klaus said, watching as all hives were focusing their fire on the Ori, while their cruisers were keeping the ships from the other two races at bay.
"What was that?" Jack asked, leaning towards the screen trying to see better.
"What was what?" Daniel asked. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
"Just look at one of the Wraith cruisers when it gets hit by an Aschen warship," Jack said, watching intently.
"Oh crap!" Daniel yelped. "Since when do Wraith ships have shields?"
"Don't know," Sam added, not liking the implications one bit. "The hives don't seems to have them though."
"Hives must be too big to have shields, but apparently cruisers aren't. Not anymore at least," Klaus added to the conversation.
Daniel gazed at the lower left quadrant of the screen where the Lucians were fighting the Aschen, "Poor Lucians, they don't have a chance against the Aschen, even with them having to keep the Wraith cruisers at bay. Numerical inferiority and weaker ships. Not a good combo."
Everybody nodded, completely agreeing with him while still keeping their eyes fixed on the screen. The next instant, one of the Ori ships exploded under the relentless fire from three hives. It had simply been too much for the ship.
"Look, one of the hives is turning to face the Aschen ships. Maybe the Lucians could survive after all."
"Even if they survive the Aschen, the Wraith will turn against them the moment they are done with the Aschen," Daniel said.
Jack had to agree with Daniel's prediction. Still, the Wraith still had to face another enemy first. "You are forgetting the Ori are still in the game. I think only the Wraith can take out an Ori ship here, and I'm not certain they can take all of them."
Watching the events further unfold on the large wall-size screen, the people in the room witnessed yet another hive explode, followed shortly after by one Ori and several other ships on both the Aschen and Lucian side following with the same fate. In short time, only two hives and two cruisers, two Ori toilets, six Aschen cruisers and two Lucian Ha'taks remained still standing.
Suddenly, the last two Ori ships quickly turned, entering hyperspace and leaving the system.
"That's disappointing," Jack commented sadly.
The hives, without thinking twice, turned immediately to face the Aschen, firing a full broadside at the nearest ship and obliterating it in seconds. Another Lucian ship exploded the next instant as three Aschen ships managed to surround it. It looked as if the last Lucian ship was about to flee too, but another broadside from one of the two remaining hives and the two cruisers prevented that from happening. Three Aschen ships quickly entered hyperspace, fleeing and leaving two of their own. Those two must have been damaged enough to prevent them from entering hyperspace, because if not, they would have fled as well.
Probably knowing there was no way to survive a battle against two hives and two cruisers, the two Aschen ships sped straight at the two Wraith cruisers. Unable to move out of the way fast enough in order to evade the collision, the two Aschen ships succeeded in ramming the Wraith cruisers. The resulting explosions signaled the destruction of four ships.
Jack stopped the recording. "So, the Wraith won."
"You can look at it that way, yeah; they were the last standing. But the Ori fled while having lost only four ships. The Wraith lost three of their massive hives and all of their cruisers. I must say, the Ori main weapon is very effective against hives," Klaus said.
"Hey, the one that remains standing, and I emphasize the word remains, is the winner. No matter how many ships they've lost. The Ori fled, which means they forfeited the battle," Jack stated firmly. He'd bet on the Wraith winning, so it was important to him to make that point stick.
"I think the Ori were the smartest here. Those poor Lucians should have left the moment they saw what was there. Instead they stayed, fighting a battle they could not have possibly won. The others at least had a chance of winning."
"Well, you never know who's going to win in such scenarios. If the Ori, Aschen and Lucians all targeted the Wraith first, the battle would have ended differently."
"I think we talked enough about who won and who didn't. The positive side is that our enemies have lost a lot of ships, and hopefully they will now start fighting each other," Jack said.
"Not sure about the second part, Jack," Klaus said, shaking his head. "They know we are behind this entire ordeal. They could decide to gang up against us."
"Fat chance of that ever happening!" Jack said. He couldn't even conceive a situation in which the Aschen or the Ori would side with the Wraith. And at this point, he really didn't care what the Lucians did. They were too weak at this point to be of any consequence. "The Ori and the Wraith would never even speak to each other, much less work together."
Klaus remained thoughtful for a moment. "That's true. However, the Ori and Aschen, well, that's a completely different story in my humble opinion."
"That… I have to admit is not that impossible, but I think this battle benefited us more than the long term repercussions may turn out to be, even if the Ori and Aschen gang up. There's not much difference between fighting those two separately or together. Besides, the Aschen know who the Ori are and what they want, so the chances of them working together is practically nonexistent. If we fall, the Aschen will fall too against the Ori… and they know it!"
"We'll see. How did you come up with this idea in the first place, Jack?" Daniel asked. Now that he saw the results, it was easy to see the benefits. But Jack came with the idea out of the blue, without the advantage of hindsight.
"Well, when we found out the Wraith were here, I thought how nice it would be if for once our enemies started shooting at each other for a change. You know, instead of all of them focusing on us. Then I came to the conclusion that the main reason why this didn't happen sooner was mostly because they never met. So I decided that introductions were in order, and Klaus' spy network easily spread false data to our enemies so they'd act upon it."
"It wasn't easy though. We had to time everything perfectly, giving our enemies only a small window of opportunity so they would all come at the same time," Klaus admitted. "It could easily have gone differently."
"I'm just glad it worked. Although, I would say the Wraith coming up with ships with shields is of some concern, don't you think?" Sam said, thoughtfully. There was great change in the Wraith's M.O.
"That's true. Now we'll have to worry about their cruisers too. Until now, one of our 304s was more than enough to take out a cruiser or maybe even a bunch of them, but now… I'm not so sure anymore," Jack said.
"I think, with Liam leaving for the Ori galaxy and the Asgard busy in the Pegasus galaxy, we need to come up with more such sneaky tactics for fighting our enemies," Klaus added.
"That's for sure. What are we going to do with the Jaffa and the Alliance they are trying to make with the Optricans, Langarans and Galarans?" Daniel asked. The creation of such alliance with the sole purpose of opposing the Aschen as a united front would be of great benefit for all of them. Still, there were other factors that were against such alliance. The most prominent, the fact that except for the Jaffa the other races didn't have that many ships at their disposal.
"Don't know if we can do anything. If they want to gang up against the Aschen, well, I'm all for it, but as far as we are concerned, we can't do that much," Jack replied. The idea was to let them come up with the alliance without the Terrans meddling. Not much at least.
"But do you think it's smart for the Galarans, Langarans and Optricans to get involved in this?" Daniel asked.
"They have ships now, and they know what the Aschen are all about. So, I don't see why not," Jack said.
"They have started going out into space only a year ago, and they don't have that large of a fleet to face any enemy. Much less somebody as powerful as the Aschen. The Aschen could decide to target their home worlds. It could get ugly."
"Yeah and that's why they are asking us if we can assure them that in such case we are ready to protect their worlds. Both us and the Jaffa," Klaus said.
"I think this is the main reason why they want to join the Jaffa in their fight against the Aschen. Having certainty we will be there if they get targeted is something worth going to war for, since if they stay on the sidelines, they could still get targeted by them and have no guarantee we would come to their rescue," Daniel explained.
"We have decided a long time ago that we will help them if they are attacked, the same as the Quirilians. But yes, the idea of having it written on paper must be pushing them to do this," Klaus added.
"Daniel, when is the meeting between them scheduled?" Jack asked.
"Tomorrow they are all meeting on Dakara. I'm going to be there too," Daniel replied.
"Good. You can assure them we will be there to help if they get attacked back at home. We need those races to work together. That way at least we'll have to worry about the Aschen a little less and focus more on the Ori, Wraith and those strange Leptinians." Jack said with clear disgust. He really wasn't sure which race he liked less.
"Are they still sieging Borealis?" Sam asked.
"They are. There are more than forty thousand of those small ships and a dozen of their transport ships in the system, but since the city is under water, they aren't doing anything useful there. The Daedalus and the rest of our ships there are harassing them from time to time, but no real engagement has been undertaken. And I don't think we should either. There's simply too much risk of something going wrong with their ability to block a hyperspace window from forming."
"Maybe we should use those long range missiles like we used them on the Aschen."
"Maybe, but those small ships are spread too thin for our missiles to destroy enough of them in one big blast."
"Yeah, but that's only if they are spread too much apart," Klaus added.
"That's what I said. They are spread too much apart. Why are you repeating my words?" Jack asked puzzled.
"Because, it means the solution is then to force them to get all together, isn't it? If you give them a juicy enough target, wouldn't they all flock together in order to take it out?"
Jack was thoughtful. "You may very well be onto something."
"I know I am," Klaus said with a grin.
"Well, I'll think about it. Their ability to block our ships from entering hyperspace still bothers me." Jack said. There was no chance in hell, he would risk his ships, without an effective strategy in case they'd need to retreat. He thought about it for another minute or so, noticing no one else was saying anything constructive. "I think we are done here. For now at least."
The other people in the room nodded, a moment before getting up from their seats and slowly leaving the room, all in separate directions. Jack, the last to exit the room, went on his way to his office. He needed to think about what Klaus had proposed earlier. He was already more than certain that nuclear weapons like the Mark IX were the perfect weapon against a large number of those pesky Leptinian spherical craft. He now only needed to find a way to make them all group together so that the blasts could take out enough of them. There was also the fact that the Leptinians having so many ships in the system where Boeralis was, without the ability to threaten the city-ship, worked in their favor. The raids on the Tik'al had somewhat diminished in frequency ever since the Leptinians had found another target to worry about. If they attacked them and they decide to leave, they could lose that advantage.
And that would be bad.
Milky Way Galaxy – Supergate Location
stardate:2919.38
Liam stood pensively on the bridge of his ship. As the ship reverted back to normal space, he looked at the frontal display now showing the large Ori supergate, the one they were keeping connected with another, smaller gate in the Pegasus galaxy near another black hole.
Behind Liam, William slowly walked until he reached his right side. "We are here. Finally."
"Yes, we are. The time has finally come to take the fight back to the Ori," Liam replied, thoughtfully.
"What do you think we will find on the other side?" William asked.
Liam sighed, "I simply don't have an answer to that question. I can tell you what I hope we will find. I hope the Ori are arrogant enough so that they haven't placed defenses on the other side. I believe we have enough ships to do the job we've set upon ourselves, but if the supergate is well guarded on the other side, it could get very ugly for us." He knew that if the Ori had placed powerful defenses on the other side, exiting the supergate one ship at a time could be very perilous for them.
"Yeah. I was wondering about the same thing," William replied.
"But, I'm not that worried. I do think the Ori are arrogant enough to think they are untouchable. Still, just to be sure, our ship is going first. We have the greatest chance of surviving whatever it is on the other side until more ships can come through," Liam said.
"I agree," William replied.
"Well, I think it is time to inform our allies on the other side of the wormhole that they need to sever the connection," Liam replied.
"Already on it," William replied while concentrating.
Both of them waited in silence for the next minute or so until the event horizon of the supergate in front of them suddenly dissipated.
"Is the fleet in position?" Liam asked.
"It is," William replied.
"Good. Let's see if we can dial the Ori galaxy," Liam said.
William understood what Liam wanted him to do. He called an already written subroutine to be executed, the one containing the procedure needed to send the right signal in order to dial the supergate.
Only moments later, the supergate began cracking with electricity, piece by piece. As all components of the supergate became charged, the event horizon erupted, quickly settling down to a calm watery-like surface.
"Let's go then," Liam said.
Liam's ship, closely followed by two Archangel class ships, three Seraphim class battleships, and nine cruisers, began moving towards the event horizon. One after the other, the ships reached the watery surface, quickly disappearing into the event horizon.
Ori Galaxy – Supergate Location
stardate: 2919.40
Liam's massive ship exited the Ori supergate, immediately detecting a single Ori toilet ship standing guard in front of it. Without waiting, Liam's ship let loose a beam of antiprotons from its already charged primary weapon. The beam of antiprotons lanced straight at its target, the lonely Ori ship, hitting it in full. The ship's shields quickly began to fold in itself, the next instant loosing cohesion. The beam sliced through the entire length of the ship, continuing onward. A massive explosion erupted from the Ori ship, blasting the ship in million pieces.
As Liam's ship settled less than a thousand miles in front of the gate, the rest of the fleet quickly gathered in three separate formations at a short distance from it. While Liam's ship was visibly alone, one Archangel took position with three cruisers behind it. It didn't take long for the four ships to open a single hyperspace window, disappearing inside it. The second Archangel and three more cruisers did the same only seconds later. The last battle group comprised of two Seraphim class battleships and three cruisers followed suit quickly afterwards, leaving Liam's ship alone in front of the supergate.
"They are on their way Liam," William informed him.
"Good. Let's hope they will quickly find where the Ori followers have their shipyards. The sooner we destroy their infrastructure, the sooner they will stop sending reinforcements to the Milky Way galaxy," Liam said.
"A galaxy is a big place, Liam, and we don't know how many planets have shipyards on them," William replied.
"I know, I know, but we have no other way to find them," Liam replied, not very pleased about the task those task groups need to perform, before continuing, "Well, I think it is now time for us to be on our way too. Let's find that damn Ark of Truth and end this war," Liam said.
"I have already inputted the coordinates where you sent that prior. It is our best chance to learn the whereabouts of the Ark," William replied.
"I agree," Liam said, giving William a small nod. It was time to go.
Liam's ship powered its sublight engines, slowly pushing forward. As the ship gained enough speed, it opened a hyperspace window and sped inside it.
Milky Way Galaxy – Wraith Queen's Hive
stardate: 2026.40
Todd stood frozen, kneeling on the floor inside the queen's private chambers with his gaze directed straight at the floor, only inches in front of him. Even while looking at the floor, he could see the queen's pacing, clear indication of the mood she was in. Yes, the pacing was a bad sign, but it wasn't the pacing that was making him extremely worried. The telepathic waves of pure rage the queen was sending were the ones that were making Todd wanting to shrink and possibly fall through the floor in order to disappear.
"What is it with this galaxy?" the Queen asked while continuing to pace.
Todd said nothing. If the queen could somehow vent her anger, he could still survive this day… maybe.
"This galaxy should have become our new home, our new and rich feeding ground, with the Terrans as our only obstacle," the queen added, pausing again and looking straight at the one the humans had named Todd.
Todd, again, said nothing.
"Instead, there are a dozen races here all fighting each other, and all with warships at their disposal. And to make things worse, the Ori are here, the Alterrans' archenemies," the Queen said, pausing and again glancing at her subordinate kneeling in front of her. He wasn't saying anything. 'Smart move,' she thought.
"And you didn't know about all these other races? Or did you my child?" the Queen asked.
Todd knew he couldn't stay silent anymore, not after such a direct question, "I did not my Queen," Todd replied, 'That's right; short answers.'
"Why didn't you?" the queen asked.
"There was no mention of a war here when I befriended the Terrans, my Queen. Or at least there was no record of it in their database," Todd replied, thinking that maybe he shouldn't have mentioned the last part.
"There was no record or you didn't look strongly enough?" the queen asked in a threatening tone.
'Yup, I shouldn't have,' Todd thought. "I assure you my Queen, there was nothing in their database in Atlantis when I accessed it."
The queen began pacing again, scrutinizing her child kneeling in front of her, "I believe you… this time."
"Thank you, my Queen," Todd replied, taking his first breath since he had entered her private chambers.
"Who are they?" the queen asked.
Todd again knew that if she wasn't satisfied with his knowledge, she might still decide to end his life. Thankfully, he came prepared for such questions. "My Queen, from the intel I was able to gather, there are several advanced races in this galaxy in addition to the Terrans and their allies. The Ori are the strongest among those races. They have powerful warships as we have witnessed recently and an endless stream of followers. Not to mention the fact the Ori themselves are ascended beings."
"I am well aware how many of our ships were destroyed by their ugly ships. Who else?"
"Well, there is the Aschen, my Queen. They are the most numerous human race, even more than the Terrans," Todd answered.
"More numerous? Do we know where their planets are?" the queen said, torn between wanting to destroy those that had dared attack her ships, and finding the richest feeding ground ever.
"My Queen, although the Aschen have several worlds in their confederation, they live only on one of them. Their homeworld has more than fifteen billion humans on it."
The Queen's eyes grew in delight. Such feast hasn't proposed itself in… well, never. "Could this become our next feeding ground?"
"No, my Queen, I wouldn't advise it," Todd replied, even though he didn't like having to use the negative when replying to the queen, no matter that it had been masked as an advice.
"You wouldn't? Why not?"
As expected, she didn't take kindly him saying 'no' to her. "My Queen, from what I was able to ascertain, even the Terrans or the Ori are reluctant to attack the Aschen homeworld. The Aschen have built an incredible defensive satellite grid around their planet."
The queen was thoughtful. They were building in strength, but they were still too weak to take on such target. A target that even the Terrans or Ori were reluctant to take on. "Who else?"
"There is the Free Jaffa Nation, my Queen."
"Who are they?"
"They are Earth's allies, ever since the Terrans have freed them from the Goa'uld."
"The Goa'uld?"
"Yes, my Queen. A parasitic race that can take control of the host it inhabits."
The queen hissed, "Parasites!? There are parasites in this galaxy capable of taking control of someone else against his will? Have they been destroyed?"
"Not entirely my Queen. The Terrans and Jaffa have won the war against them. As a result, the Goa'uld have fled far from their territory, but they still live."
"Could they take control of one of us?"
"There is no indication of the contrary, my Queen."
"Is that all? Or there is more enemies we need to worry about?"
Todd sighed, "Well, there are the Tollans, Optricans, Galarans, Langarans, To'kra, all space capable and allies of the Terrans. And of course there are also the Guardians, Asgard and the Nox, the members of the previous Great Alliance and now members of the Second Great Alliance, together with the Terrans and-"
The next moment, Todd, and probably every other Wraith on board the Queen's hive, heard a deafening telepathic scream of pure rage the queen let out. Todd suddenly felt lightheaded, with his telepathic senses clearly having been overwhelmed. 'This isn't a good sign,' he thought. It was probably the understatement of the century.
The Queen, without saying anything, took a deep calming breath. She really needed it. "My child, how is progressing our plan to increase our numbers?"
At last something positive to say. "Well, my Queen. We have infected many worlds with the retrovirus, and our numbers are growing with each passing day. Soon, we will have even more worlds with humans turned into Wraith.
"And what about our fleet?"
"We are growing more ships on many hidden locations. In three more months…"
"IN THREE MONTHS! This is unacceptable!"
Todd looked at a very irrational queen, yelling at him. No matter how much he tried, he wasn't a magician. There was simply no way to increase the speed at which their ships were being grown. Something the queen was very well aware of, but apparently something she also didn't care at all. Todd decided the best course of action at the moment was to shut up and wait for the Queen to come to the same conclusion on her own.
It took some time, but in the end the queen did come to the same conclusion, "Fine! Three months it is, but no delay."
"Of course my Queen."
"And I want a plan to take the fight against all those races. Is that understood?"
"Perfectly, my Queen."
"You may leave now."
Todd nodded, getting back on his feet and quickly leaving the chamber. Walking down one of the many corridors on the Queen's hive with no definite destination in mind, Todd thought hard about his current situation. Asking of him to find a way to fight the many enemies in this apparently very hostile galaxy was something the queen thought he could find with ease. On the other hand, he didn't have a clue where to even begin.
Thinking a little more, Todd came to the unpleasant but possibly lifesaving realization that he didn't know who the worst enemy of his was at the moment; one of the many races in this galaxy, or his beloved Queen. Such realization also made him think that, maybe, it was time to start working on a plan B. One that would involve a quick getaway if the queen's irrationality didn't subside in the near future. Maybe, from the many planets where he was overseeing construction of new ships, he could build a few for himself and hide them for the remote - or maybe not so remote - possibility he would need them one of these days to flee far, far away.
Ori galaxy – Unknown location
stardate: 2927.53
He was finally in the Ori galaxy. He was finally taking the fight back to the Ori. Liam knew that the end game was nearing when the Ori were concerned, an end game in which the faith of several galaxies would be decided. By now, there was no doubt the Ori knew about their incursion into their galaxy, and he knew they would act on it in any way they possibly can, even by deciding that the time has finally come to strike back at his ascended brothers and sisters back in the Milky Way.
The two ascended forces had been in a stalemate for millions of years, with no side having the decisive advantage to strike at the other with any certainty of winning. But this now didn't mean the time of confrontation hasn't finally come. He was certain the Ori would not idly wait with him here in their galaxy. He knew he had very little time to act.
On the other hand, a galaxy was a large place, and hopping from planet to planet in hope of finding the Ark of Truth Aenea had mentioned to him, would bear no fruit whatsoever. Not in the time he had at least. Not knowing where the Ark was, meant that he needed to go searching for someone who knew, or at least someone who could give him some clues, and the only place he knew where to start his search was the planet where he had sent that one prior, just after turning him back into a human.
"William, how much longer?" Liam asked his mechanical counterpart.
"You asked me the same question two minutes and thirty-five seconds ago. Asking me again won't increase our traveling speed," William retorted.
"I know, I know. I'm just worried we are running out of time," Liam replied, worriedly.
"I understand and I also agree with you. And that's why I don't understand why Aenea didn't give you the exact location of the Ark. Our search would go much faster if she had."
"I think she was worried what the ascended would do. She is walking a very thin line, even with what she did tell me."
"I don't get it. Maybe my cybernetic brain works differently, but I would have thought the ascended bunch would be all in for you to find the Ark and getting the Ori followers to see the truth. It's their neck too on the line if the Ori decide to take matters in their own hands."
Liam sighed, "Well, the way I see it, my brothers and sisters were against using the Ark even when they built it, and I have the slight feeling they still are. They are probably having a debate as we speak about the pros and cons of getting rid of the Ori versus freedom from ascended interference; a debate that has probably continued for the last several millions of years."
"You're probably right. I'm also concerned by the fact that we didn't know about the Ark. Somehow I think we would have taken such knowledge with us when we descended."
"And now you know why I'm so worried, and probably why Aenea was worried too. When I descended, somebody must have erased that particular memory from my mind. Or maybe it is more precise to say that somebody hid that memory deep into my subconscious, because after Aenea mentioned it I started to remember having known about it."
"You do? Is there a chance you can bring those memories back so we can find this Ark faster?" William asked.
Liam on the other hand was already shaking his head, "I've already tried. Maybe in time I might, but I don't think we have that much time."
"Alright. Let's do this the old fashioned way then. Let's find some clues. We have reached the planet anyway," William replied, the same moment as their massive ship exited hyperspace.
In front of them, a blue planet stood, with no indication of any high level technology on it. It was a usual human planet in the Ori domain, a planet where humans lived on a medieval level. It was incredible how the Ori could so easily lie to these humans, telling them how they were prepared to give them knowledge freely, as opposed to the evil Alterrans, and yet, they never uplifted any human world in their entire galaxy to even the stage where they knew about electricity. They were keeping humans in the age where people could easily believe in their magic and powers, without giving them the knowledge to understand there was more to life than what they currently knew.
"Please scan the planet, William."
"Already ahead of you. As suspected the people on the planet live simple lives, mostly in small villages or towns. I'm also detecting several Ori ships being built on the planet's surface, and there's a large training camp too. We should maybe take those out from orbit before you go down on the surface."
"No, I don't want to look as the aggressor to these people. If we blast those shipyards now, we will also create panic. And panic is not good when you want people to give you information." Liam explained, before continuing. "William, give me an image on how people on the planet are dressed."
William complied, and the next instant the frontal view on the bridge displayed a view of a typical village on the surface, with people moving around.
"Good, now make me some robes similar to what they are wearing and beam them in my quarters," Liam said, already moving out of the bridge.
"Already on it. Oh, and Liam," William said, waiting for Liam to turn, "Be careful down there. There are a lot of soldiers on the planet and probably priors too."
"Don't worry. My idea was never to go down there looking for trouble in any case. I will be sneaky this time," Liam said, before moving out of the bridge.
William watched as Liam exited the bridge, "Yeah, you never go looking for trouble, but somehow trouble always find you," William said to no one.
Liam didn't hear the last part. He was already on the way to his quarters. Moving down the few last corridors between him and his chambers, he quickly reached them, immediately noticing the garments he intended to wear already waiting for him on the bed. He removed his usual Alterran white robes and dressed the robes from the bed. He then took his wristband he usually wore with his combat suit, putting it on his right hand. Although he would not have the same protection as if he wore his armor, the wristband had many features to help him in this endeavor if things turned for the worst. And even without those, he wasn't someone to mess with.
Finally dressed, he exited his chambers, moving at a fast pace towards one of the hangar bays on the ship. He would take a smaller craft in order to reach the planet's surface. He had thought about simply beaming down, but he knew the Ori had the ability to block the beaming and he didn't want to get stuck on the planet's surface without any way of getting out.
As he reached the hangar and entered the first of three craft in the hangar, he sat in the pilot's seat before powering the flyer. It was a craft not larger than a Tel'tak, but very different in its configuration.
Pushing a few controls in front of him, the nimble craft rose from the hangar's floor, turning its nose toward the outer doors already in the process of opening. Before pushing the throttle, he cloaked the ship.
The invisible craft sped outside the much larger ships, immediately turning its nose downward towards the planet's atmosphere. His descent was slow, and it took him almost ten minutes to reach the surface of the planet. He wanted to make the least possible atmospheric disturbance so even if the Ori had some advanced sensors on the planet, his approach would not be detected.
His craft finally landed on the grassy ground, only a mile from the nearest town. He powered the ship down, leaving only the cloak active, before he exited the craft from its rear doors. He checked once again his wristband with its sensors showing there were no life signs except his own anywhere in the vicinity. He pushed back his sleeve in order to conceal the wristband that was a dead giveaway of him not being from this planet, before starting to walk towards the nearest town.
After a short walk, and after he entered the town, he noticed that except for the occasional soldier busily moving in some unknown direction, there was no prior to speak of. This part he liked very much as soldiers were not such a problem, at least not as much as priors were. Even though he could easily hide his thoughts from a prior, there was still the possibility of a prior understanding that he was blocking his ability to read his mind.
Moving deeper into the town, he soon came in the central square where the pedestal that had burned Vala stood. He didn't like the sight of it. It reminded him that these people were ruled by fear of being burned to death if they were not such devoted followers as the Ori were asking of them. He would have to be careful. He didn't want for anyone in this town to pay such price because of him.
Since simply asking around where the Ark was wasn't such a good idea, his first task was obviously to find someone who was open to the idea of the Ori not being such nice fellas. He needed to find someone who was questioning his belief in the Ori, and there was no better place to start than the local tavern, only ten meters in front of him.
Entering the tavern, he sat on the farthest table in the opposite corner from the entrance. Only a minute later, the bartender approached him, asking him if he wanted something to drink. He politely replied he wanted a beer and their specialty for food. The bartender left, returning five minutes later with a dish with some meat and green vegetables on it and a large mug filled with their version of beer. He grabbed the mug and took a long sip from it. It actually wasn't bad, and the food smelled good too. He took a bite of the meat from his plate. The meat was good too, although he couldn't decide from which animal it had originated.
As Liam ate and drank, he was actually doing a much more important job. He was augmenting his senses in order to hear, see and feel everything everyone in the room was doing. He had quickly picked up on a conversation of some interest where two people were talking about the newcomer. They were talking about him and apparently, the simple fact that they could not recognize him was enough to make them worried. This part was definitely strange to him. Was it possible that travels between towns were so infrequent that seeing any stranger was enough to alarm the people in this town? Apparently it was. Still, those two talking about him, weren't the ones he was looking for. They looked like the usual follower, devoted and enslaved by the Ori religion. Something he could easily sense from everyone else in the room; everyone except one person who was seating on a table in the opposite corner. The man was sitting alone and he hadn't said anything to anyone the entire time he had been here. His demeanor was also telling Liam that he was feeling like an outcast, someone who didn't belong here. From time to time the man would also glance at him, he as well probably sensing that Liam too didn't belong among these people. Maybe he had found the man he was looking for, and the best part was that it hadn't taken too long to find him either.
Eating for the next fifteen minutes Liam had finished his meal and drink. After having paid the bartender with the coins William had fabricated for him, Liam stood up in order to leave the bar. As he walked toward the exit, he brushed against the man's chair, the man he was very much intent to meet. He did so in order to leave a small tracking device on his coat. Here wasn't the right place to talk to him. He needed a more private setting to lay on the man the hard truth about the Ori and to ask him for help.
Liam spent the next half an hour wandering around the small town, with no real destination in mind. He was wasting time, and he wanted nothing more than for that man to leave the tavern and go home, or if not home then at least someplace where he could talk to him in private. It was getting late too and Liam knew that the chances of more people noticing a stranger wandering the streets increased with each passing moment. If he were in a city like New York, where someone wandering the streets in all hours of the day or night was of no concern to anyone, he wouldn't be so worried. But here, in this small town, people went home after dark, and him remaining the only person wandering the streets would not go unnoticed.
As Liam thought about what to do next, in case the man decided to stubbornly remain in the bar for much longer, his wristband sensors detected the tracking device beginning to move. Liam turned immediately, intent on following the signal wherever it took him. Moving through several alleys, always trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, Liam soon noticed the dot representing the location of the tracking device had stopped. Two more alleys farther away, and he was in front of a house from where the signal was coming from. It was time for the truth.
Stepping in front of the wooden doors, Liam knocked twice. He waited, and then waited a little more. He could sense the man was on the other side of the doors, probably peeking through the hole in them and weighing the pros and cons of even opening the door to a complete stranger. Apparently, curiosity got the best of him, since the doors opened the next moment.
"Hello. Who… who are you?" the man said, uncertain.
Liam put the best smile he could muster, "Hi, my name is Liam. I mean you no harm."
"What… what do you want?" the man asked next.
Liam could clearly sense this man was frightened, "I was wondering if we could maybe talk; talk far from any prying eyes." Liam said, instinctively glancing around to see if there was someone else near them.
"Talk 'bout what?"
"The Ori," Liam said, immediately sensing the man's heartbeat starting to run faster.
The man didn't reply for a good thirty seconds, still looking intently at the man standing in front of his house. "Alright, please come in… but hurry."
Liam entered the man's house, with the man quickly closing the doors behind them and locking them right away. If the man had more locks, he would have probably used them as well. It was enough for Liam to understand the man was frightened through the roof. "You don't have to be afraid. No one will hurt you."
"The Ori are all seeing, and I have the feeling you didn't come here to spread their teachings," the man replied.
"The Ori are powerful, I will not deny it, but they are not all powerful, and much less all seeing."
"How can you be so certain?" the man asked, uncertain of Liam's statement.
"Because, if they could see us now and if they could reach us, I would be already dead."
It did make sense to the man, "How is it possible that they cannot reach us?"
"It is possible because I have a device on my ship stationed above this planet that prohibits the Ori to see or to come here in person," Liam stated calmly, not wanting to add that it also meant the Ori by now probably knew he was here. That also meant that they would soon send ships here, or at least send soldiers through the gate to investigate. But this part the man didn't need to know at the moment.
The man was again uncertain, but the fact that this man was clearly preaching the Ori were not almighty and the fact that he was not in flames, was telling him he was telling the truth. "What did you want to talk about exactly?"
"What would you say if I told you that my people and our allies are fighting the Ori as we speak? What would you say if I told you there is a way to even win against the Ori?"
"How?"
"Well, the how is very complicated to explain and it would take a lot of time. Suffice it to say, there is a certain device that can help us in our fight, but I don't know where it is. I only know it is here in this galaxy."
"And you think I can help you find it?"
"I think you can give me clues that would help me find it, yes. The device I am talking about should be located somewhere near the place where the Ori archenemies, the evil they had fought, had resided in this galaxy many millions of years ago."
The man thought about the evil Origin preached about, "The Book of Origin talks about the Ori having vanquished a great evil a long time ago. They have then built Celestis in that unholy place as a symbol of the Ori having won over such evil."
"Celestis? Do you know where Celestis is?" Liam asked, expectantly.
"Not exactly. I know which star in the night sky is the one where Celestis is? Does this help?"
"It does. If you can show…" Liam began saying, but he was interrupted by the cracking sound of his earpiece."
"Liam, I… detected… warships… in syst… dampening… signal," William's intermittent voice came over Liam's earpiece.
"William. William!" Liam spoke, but there was no reply. The connection was severed.
"What's happening?" the man said frightened.
Liam saw how frightened the man was. "You don't have to worry, but we have to leave now. There are probably soldiers coming here. Just follow me and everything will be fine."
The man nodded, understanding that his only chance to live another day was to follow this stranger, whenever he was going to take him.
Liam moved quickly, opening the doors and peeking outside. There was still no sign of any soldiers near them, and the fact that it was dark outside also played in their favor. Motioning to the man to follow him, both of them exited the man's house, quickly slipping in the nearest alley. Moving at a fast pace, Liam was constantly looking at his wristband showing him if there were people anywhere near them. Unfortunately, the wristband's sensors were telling him there were, and from the look of the dots on the display, Liam knew those were soldiers moving in formation. Also, and unfortunately, there was no way out without having to face at least one of the many groups that were converging on their location. He stopped, quickly telling the man to hide behind the nearest wall and wait there. He then activated his cloak, disappearing from sight.
The man suddenly became incredibly frightened. Did this man just leave him dry, leaving without him? As he listened what was happening, he heard a lot of footsteps coming from the adjacent alley, and from the sound of it, it looked as if they were getting closer. Listening intently, he suddenly heard people yelling in pain, accompanied by some crushing sounds, weapons fire, people yelling in the general term of 'what the hell is happening', everything playing out in a very short period of time, all before it all went quiet again. Only moments later, Liam appeared in front of him, in the same way as he had disappeared.
"It's clear now. We can go," Liam said with a slight grin. He simply could not help himself.
The man followed without saying anything. They entered the alley from where he'd heard the sounds, immediately noticing the dozen soldiers lying on the ground in various very uncomfortable positions. He didn't know if these soldiers were dead or just unconscious, but at the moment he really couldn't care less about their fate. He just wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible. He didn't even care where they were going.
Moving through the maze of alleys the town was made of, from time to time stopping in order for them to evade yet another patrol, they finally managed to exit the town. On their way through the open field surrounded by a thick forest towards, at least to him, an unknown destination, he began hearing more and more people, soldiers he thought, all around them. They were slowly getting surrounded, that was apparent from the rustling sounds he was hearing even though he could not see any soldiers yet, and the constant and worried glances the man next to him was giving to his strange wristband were not comforting at all.
Suddenly, the man that was supposedly leading them to safety stopped, grabbing his shoulder in order for him to do the same. It was as if he was waiting for something. In the distance he heard more people at the edge of the forest getting closer and closer, and he didn't know why they had stopped. And he really didn't like not knowing. From the rustling sounds he was hearing, there were at least a hundred soldiers coming their way, and stopping in the middle of an open field with no cover whatsoever was the worst they could do in such situation, at least in his opinion. That was of course until he saw what happened next.
Liam knew there was at least a hundred soldiers between them and his craft, and if he was alone he could easily slip under his cloak and pass them without getting noticed, but with this man coming along, there was no way he could do that. He would have to solve this little problem in some other way.
Suddenly, from the nearby woods all around them many energy blasts hurled towards them. Liam instinctively raised his hand, with a barrier immediately forming and surrounding the two of them in order to block the incoming blasts. Impacts from a hundred energy weapons began raining on the barrier he had raised, unable to pierce through.
The man was frightened at what he was seeing. This man was somehow capable of protecting them against a hundred firing weapons, and apparently he was doing it with ease. But the surprises were not over yet. The thing that frightened the man the most was when he saw Liam slowly rise from the ground several feet in the air, with his body beginning to emanate a light strong enough to illuminate this dark night almost as if it was day. As he watched the man becoming half ethereal, glowing with constantly increasing intensity, the man suddenly felt as if time itself had somehow slowed down. It looked as if it took minutes for the blasts from the many energy weapons directed at them to reach the barrier, with the grass on the ground pushed by the wind moving as if in slow motion. In reality, all this was happening in a very short time.
Suddenly the barrier that was surrounding them, and that the man had somehow created, flickered, just before increasing in intensity. It was then that the barrier was suddenly pushed forth, inexplicably turned into a massive blast wave that spread outward away from them and toward the hundred soldiers that were firing at them. As the blast wave spread, soldiers, trees and even a good portion of the earth beneath those soldiers were blasted away with such force that most of it went shredded in the initial moment of impact. The massive blast had destroyed everything in its path, spreading further and further away and out of sight and into the darkness.
As the man watched the devastation in front of him with his mouth agape, he noticed Liam slowly returning back to the ground while losing his previous glow. They were again in complete darkness, with only the distant and dim half-moon illuminating their surroundings.
"He-he, maybe you weren't lying when you said you have a way to fight the Ori."
"I do have ways to fight them, but now we need to hurry before more soldiers show up," Liam said, giving the man a small reassuring nod. Safety was near, just half a mile away.
It took them a few more minutes to reach the small shuttlecraft, but the important thing was that they didn't come across any more soldiers on their way. Which, in his humble opinion, wasn't that strange after all.
The shuttle took off under its cloak, speeding on a straight course for the larger ship in orbit. As they exited the planet's atmosphere, Liam immediately registered three Ori warships not far from their current position. There was also the fact that he wasn't seeing his ship, but that changed quickly as the two miles long ship decloaked in front of him. Although his instincts were telling him that finding the safe confines of his larger ship was something he needed to do, he noticed that William was actually turning towards the affronting Ori fleet.
Meaning, they would have to wait until the fight was over.
Liam watched as a lance of antiprotons streaked from the tip of the largest ship in the system. As it went, folding space-time around it, it sliced through one of the Ori ships in front of it as if it didn't even have shields. The other two ships immediately retaliated, firing from their main weapons. His ship turned against its next victim, this time firing from the newly installed heavy baryon beam weapons. Six heavy lances of utterly destructive energy streaked from the massive ship, hitting the Ori ship in front of it. The result was different this time as the ship's shields were enough to stop the weapons from piercing through. The Ori must have further improved their shields, because Liam knew an Ori ship like those they had faced in battle before should not have survived six such blasts. It didn't matter though, as the next moment six more lances hit the same ship and this time even the improvements the Ori must have made were not enough to stop the destructive energy from piercing through.
As the second ship began breaking apart, with secondary explosions happening all over the ship, the third ship must have understood what would happen to it because it quickly turned, attempting to enter hyperspace. It failed. Liam understood William must have activated the device capable of stopping anyone from opening a viable hyperspace window. Also, it must have been more than three minutes since the first ship had been destroyed, because the primary weapon was able to fire again, slicing the last Ori warship and ending the battle.
The man sitting beside Liam stood frozen with his mouth catching flies the entire time. Liam smiled when he saw his expression. "I told you I have a way to fight the Ori. With your help, we will be able to do even more and without the need to kill more people."
The man said nothing. He was still looking at the devastation he was seeing through the craft's frontal view. Three Ori ships, he knew his people had spent a lot of time building, had been destroyed by a single ship, apparently without incurring any damage.
"Well, let's get aboard my ship and leave this place, shall we?" Liam said to the stunned man seating next to him.
"Yeah, yeah… whatever you say," the man somehow replied.
In less than two minutes, the smaller craft they were on docked inside the hangar bay of the larger ships. The ship left the system only moments later.
Senari Galaxy – Anomalies
stardate: 2928.33
At a distance of two hundred thousand kilometers from each other, six massive space stations stood separated, forming a perfect hexagon. Near each of the space stations, an anomaly capable of quickly transferring whatever traveled through it to a far distant galaxy could be seen glowing. In the center of the hexagonal formation, another space station stood watching over the seventh and final central anomaly, the one leading to an unknown place, the place from where the Vargas had initially come. Their last visit had been tens of thousands of years ago and since then the Vargas had never been seen again. This was about to change.
Through the central anomaly, two identical manta-like silver ships each a kilometer long and even wider on it widest points, exited, setting course for the central space station. After a short period in which data had quickly been exchanged between the two ships and the station, one of the ships turned entering hyperspace, while the other slowly proceeded to one of the other six anomalies. Reaching it, the ship simply slipped inside it and disappeared from view.
Andromeda Galaxy – Anomaly
stardate: 2928.35
From the anomaly, the single Vargas warship burst into existence. Making it less than a mile in front of the anomaly, new suns erupted as the antimatter mines detected the intruder and detonated on proximity.
Hundreds kilometers away from the anomaly the four massive weapon platforms, put there by the Guardians and Asgard, powered their main cannons, immediately firing at the newly discovered threat. Lances of utterly destructive energy soared at relativistic speed through space, on their way to meet the unknown ship.
Quickly turning upwards and banking left, the manta-like warship, evaded two of the four lances with incredible grace, with the other two hitting the ship on its underside and making its shields intensely glow. The ship lurched upward above the minefield, before opening a hyperspace window and disappearing inside it.
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