Jack tried to stay calm as the lights nearly blinded him, making it thankfully hard to see the cameras.
"Director O'Neill, with this new fleet representing a more than doubling of Earth's fleet size, what are the implications this has for our war with the Cyrannoids and our ability to protect Earth from them and other non-Earth menaces?" Jack couldn't see the face of the reporter who asked.
"The new fleet should be seeing combat fairly soon, however the new vessels will be going through trials before we do so." Jack stated. "All ships hold the potential for problems that slipped through the cracks, so the crews of our sixteen new 304s will be making sure such problems don't arise in a real combat situation but instead in a controlled test. For the 305s and 306s there's also the additional problem that we're dealing with a new class of starship we've never had practical runs with. We did not call the 305 class 'Dreadnought' without a reason, they are the most powerful class of starship not only that we have ever created but that exists in the known universe, not something we should have go through a trial by fire in combat. Same applies to the 306 Enterprise class carriers; we've never had a dedicated indirect combat and air support ship so it's best not to have trials be in real combat."
"Director, are the rumours of our being at war with another alien force true?" Another reporter asked.
"We are currently in a state of hostility with multiple alien species; we've never hid this fact from the general public ever since this organization went through its reformation." Jack stated. "A major issue we still face is lack of contact with multiple foreign entities. While we don't suspect the Chitauri, for example, will be coming back any time in the near future, due to their previous attack we are considering them to be a state we are officially in a state of hostility with despite not having any official contact with between our peoples. There are multiple entities we are in such a state with though are not currently in combat operations against."
"What do you say about the accusation that two members of the Strike Force have defected to enemies of the state?" A third reporter asked.
"Those accusations are categorically false. Commander Kirishima is currently stationed off world and Lieutenant Makinami is on this very station. Next question." Jack knew the question was coming, someone had leaked multiple pieces of information that the government had not wanted released, namely the current state of hostilities with the Wraith and the defection of two famous enhanced individuals. While the details where still hidden the damage was already done in the form of many had starting to question him and others in high positions. Thankfully for the issue of Mary there was a clone of her who could stand in her place for the cameras, though for Mana there wasn't at that moment, which was a problem.
"What happened to the USS Hermes?" One of the reporters asked.
"The USS Hermes was destroyed in orbit by the USS Hammond, the USS Apollo, the USS Daedalus and the HMCS Bonaventure after being hijacked by Hydran forces during the Winter Uprising. The ship was destroyed after trying to escape from our system and firing upon the Hammond. All other details are classified at the moment and I am not at liberty to discuss them." Jack lied, stating the government line as to what happened to the ship.
"How do we know a similar infiltration by Hydran forces won't occur with these new ships?" The same reported added.
"We are confident in our ability to screen new personnel for such individuals." Jack informed him. "As it stands the past two months have seen the arrest or otherwise removal of an estimated ninety seven percent of Hydra's forces by my counterparts Earthside and law enforcement."
The next few minutes where filled with relatively mundane questions compared to those before them as the press where killing time before the launch. When it finally came Jack was happy as the attention was away from him and moved to everyone focusing on the large window behind where he was standing. The large window was strategically chosen due to its ability to show a fair bit of space. It was otherwise just a large window but today it was the best place for the press conference at hand.
In the darkness of space above Earth a fleet slowly came into view. Thirty ships in all, twelve Daedalus class cruisers, twelve Dreadnaught class battleships and six Enterprise class carriers all flying in formation, the carriers flying in two groups of three in a triangular formation one after the other, with two of cruisers and battleships escorting each carrier.
The ships flew closer to the station until the formation had to split around the station to avoid it, disappearing from view before looping back around and returning to their original formation moving away from the station, entering hyperspace as one unit in full view of the cameras.
Jack was happy to see the reception looked positive, though unlike what the press believed the ships where not going to trials but where jumping into the flames, heading towards a planet believed to have a Hive ship under construction on P6R-372.
Half a lightyear from P6R-372
USS Enterprise war room
The large war room became instantly silent as Admiral Steven Caldwell entered it. Caldwell for a moment took it in as he was just as unfamiliar with the new role and territory he was entering as everyone else present. Being in command of the Daedalus for a full decade had made him the logical choice for commander of the battlegroup. That didn't mean he didn't have his doubts or wasn't nervous about the whole ordeal, he and everyone else present where writing the book on how things where to be done.
Clearing his throat to ease his nerves, he ordered everyone to take their seats. Present where the second in command of all ships in the battlegroup, the wing commander of each carrier, the squadron commander of each Daedalus class ship, eight lieutenant colonels responsible for a battalion each who were being transported on the carriers, the leaders of the sixteen SG teams assigned to the battlegroup for the mission, the leader of Strike Force and John Sheppard. Seventy four men in all in the room that had been built specifically for such large briefings.
"HMS Roberts has finished reconnaissance of our target." Caldwell stated. Behind him a projector showed an image of a planet and a fleet of Wraith ships. "The fleet in orbit is larger than we thought it would be. There are five Hive Ships and fifteen cruisers defending the planet on top of their associated darts. The reason for this large force is simple." The next image was of the surface of the planet taken from high orbit. "We estimate that around twenty three Hives are at different levels of development on this planet. We've only seen one or two Hives being grown on each planet we've found them on so far, likely as a means to decentralize their production to make our destroying them harder through spreading them out, however from our scans of the system there seems to be some form of radiation being emitted from the system's sun that, when filtered through the planet's atmosphere, leads to an accelerated growth through photosynthesis. What's worst is that I do not believe that this is the only location they are building ships at such a rate, as the Super Hive is not present here. Whether this is because 'Queen Death' has elected to hide herself from combat or is simply defending another such location is unknown, but it's safer to assume a worst case scenario. The good news is that with five Hives that means five queens, and the goal of this operation is to simply capture one. Everything else is secondary to that goal, the capture of a queen is critical to putting an end to this war once and for all. To present the battle plan I have called my top strategist."
Moving aside, the focus went on a particularly short member of the crew. Taking position at the front of the room, Hermiod, the last Asgardian, stood. "Greetings."
Space above P6R-372
The first indication the Wraith had that something was wrong was a very sudden one. One moment the five Hive ships where silently flying in orbit around their occupied world, and the next all had taken heavy damage to their primary sub light engines. Immediately the Hives found themselves in the presence of a fleet of ships that where much smaller than their own, but outnumbered them by half. Many of the ships where immediately identified as Human vessels while the other, larger ones where a new mystery they had never come across. Immediately opening fire on them, the Hives and cruisers found themselves under a similarly large spread of fire as plasma flew across the void. Daedalus class ships where initially the primary targets under the mistaken belief that they were the only ones which were truly Earth vessels; however this mistake was quickly rectified as they learned the power of a Dreadnought. HMS Invincible showed them most clearly, positioning itself in the middle of a formation of three Wraith cruisers and taking their punishment in stride as its hundreds of staff cannons and ballistic point defences filled the space around it preventing Darts from ramming the ship, all while its twenty four Asgard beam weapons blasted the two cruisers flanking it. The scene was like that of the wooden warships of the age of exploration and early imperialism fighting, with Invincible standing between the two cruisers as the three ships blasted away at each other.
With Wraith vessels not having shields every shot counted as the armour of the two cruisers was quickly chipped away by the fighting, Invincible taking a pounding but its shields where more than capable of handling it. The real tour de force came for the third cruiser, which unlike the other two was directly ahead of the Invincible. The Wraith ship had initially been ignored by the Earth battleship, but after a large buildup of power was detected the previously ignored cruiser found itself being fired upon by two dozen electromagnetic railguns firing pieces of metal at relativistic speeds leaving large holes in the cruiser's armour as a result, before the primary weapon of the warship was unleased in the form of three forward facing Ori beam cannons fired in unison. The beams entered one side of the cruiser and left out the other, cutting clear through it and taking along large parts of its interior with it as systems went critical and secondary explosions ripped the cruiser in two along the area the beams had fired through, the ship now two dead halves floating in the void. In one final act of aggression, the battleship launched hundreds of Earth built ancient drones towards the two still active cruisers to put them out of commission once and for all.
In other parts of the battlefield the Earth carriers took up a defensive position as they laid down flak as they scrambled to launch their complement of 205 Avalon fighters and 302 interceptors. The carriers focused on a defensive stance and engaged the swarms of Darts instead of the enemy ships themselves, dropping them like flies as the fighters and interceptors entered combat doing the same.
The Daedalus class ships where focused on the Hives, carving out their primary, secondary and tertiary engine systems, cutting off any hope of escape.
In the midst of the chaos one lone 205, painted sky blue instead of the standard grey of its sister craft, dove towards the hanger of one of the city sized Hive ships. Dodging plasma bolts, Captain Haida moved as close to the ship as he could before flying into the hidden gap below the armour which the Darts used to enter and leave the ship, blasting the hanger doors with his own weapons before flying through the remains. Several Wraith soldiers close to the hanger door where sucked into the vacuum before the ship healed the wound close.
Haida didn't waste a moment though, keeping his fighter hovering in the middle of the hanger and blasting away at any Dart or Wraith he could see.
"A.D.A.M., sentry mode." He ordered, unbuckling himself as his canopy opened. As he lowered himself in the hanger, the small cargo bay within his fighter which usually held emergency provisions in case of a crash landing opened up, dropping equipment that was not the original intended purpose of the small bay.
As Jon began working with the equipment on the ground the fighter rose up several meters to avoid interfering with the work. It let out a few shots, blasting away warriors who had come to reinforce the position. Jon worked quickly at assembling the three nodes; each device sticking up a meter in height in a triangular formation each around twenty meters apart from the other two.
"Haida to Enterprise, ready for transport." Not a moment after he radioed in the area between the three nodes was filled with a blinding light which left behind hundreds of soldiers in its place. "First battalion go, go, go!"
On Haida's orders the battalion of infantry, which had SG 14 and 15 assigned to it for direction, charged towards one of the large corridors which spanned the city sized ship. Haida moved along with them, the moment they were clear of the nodes a second battalion was transported in, this one again having two SG teams assigned to it and one member of Strike Force as well. The second battalion charged in a different corridor, heading down another line of the ship.
Another battalion was transported in, and another, and another, until all eight battalions where on the ship heading in different directions on a search and destroy mission to kill every Wraith warrior they came across until they could find the queen. It didn't take long for the boarders to come across Wraith warriors, the ship holding thousands of them, leading to dozens of fire fights across the ship only minutes after they had arrived.
Out in the skies the last cruiser was destroyed under the overwhelming firepower of the Dreadnoughts. All accounted for the only damage was to the systems of one of the twelve battleships that had one of its overlapping shields overload. Faulty wiring was to blame, leading to several dozen injuries as well as minor damage to ship systems and major damage to the armour plating in the area exposed without the shield subsystem. Compared to the destruction of fifteen Wraith cruisers it was an overwhelming victory.
With the ships they wanted destroyed eliminated the 304s and 305s moved towards the carriers who were dealing with the remaining Darts, which still numbered in the thousands as reinforcements from the planet below arrives in large swarms. The fleet positioned itself outside of the range of fire for the stranded Hive ships, positioning each other to allow for the maximization of their firing arcs being unobstructed while also doing their best to cover their ships respective blind spots behind the engines, creating a sphere of death from which no dark could escape.
The fighters were not as lucky in their duty, as the hundreds of small Earth build craft found themselves having to try and prevent any Darts from returning to the boarded Hive ship. The fighting became a balancing act of trying to shoot down a Dart while trying to avoid being shot by those same Darts and also dodging fire from the Hive ship. The few Darts which did make it into the hanger found an unpleasant surprise waiting for them as the A.D.A.M. controlled 205 blasted them upon entry, their numbers and comparatively weak armour making the action more akin to a game of whack-a-mole then an actual fight.
Across the Hive ship the different battalions started to grow thinner and spread out as each went further into the ship, securing a growing area of the ship. Any opposition by the Wraith was put down before it could become a problem, either through sheer firepower through numbers and weapons designed to kill instead of stun, or through Strike Force members smashing through entrenched defences, often before the frontline had even moved up to said defences.
The Wraith where caught completely off guard, having never before seen Earth infiltrate one of their active ships in such numbers, nor having come across enhanced individuals the likes of which were being fielded in battle alongside infantry.
The true turn in battle was at this point, as in a panic to mount a proper defence the queen of the boarded Wraith became too preoccupied with stemming the tide of battle within her own ship to realize what was truly happening. The other four queens had no such problem; using their thrusters to position their Hives to open fire on their sister ship, wanting to deny it to their enemies.
This plan by the four unboarded ships would not come to fruition as half the 304s and 305s moved away from their defensive positions around the carriers and charged the Hives, smashing them with everything they had, from Asgard and Ori beam weapons to kinetic railguns, staff cannons and swarms of drones. Nothing was held back as the fleet did everything in its power to eliminate the four Hive ships from existence. In their final moments, the four queens cursed the humans for defying their rightful place in the universe.
With four Hives gone and one being captured, all that remained for the fleet to do was wait as the number of Darts continued to drop rapidly and quickly approached the number of fighters Earth was fielding in the battle. For the crews on the ships the battle was over as all that remained was for automated defences to operate independently of their impute.
It would be after an hour, long after the last Dart had been pulverized, that the call came in that confirmed the capture of the Hive's queen. While her capture was technically the mission being accomplished, the ship took another three hours after that point for it to be secured with the last of the holdouts being found and neutralized.
"I will admit, Admiral, that was far more efficient then I had expected." Hermiod stated. "I cannot think of a race that has mastered warfare at the level your species has."
"If I didn't know better I'd say that was a complement." Caldwell stated.
"Interpret it as you wish, I am simply stating the facts as I see them before me." Hermiod replied. "If you want a complement however I do have one. The people of Earth have shown an aptitude for asymmetric thinking the likes of which I did not think was possible before our people contacted each other. Given its absence in other human groups, I believe it may have been a modification done after the Goa'uld where driven off your world. A last gift before their extinction."
"I see. Well I can't say I disagree, but I can't think of a way to respond to that which is humble." Caldwell's comment couldn't be expanded upon as he was interrupted by one of the bridge crew.
"Admiral, scans of the planet are showing a large number of life signs in the region the Hives are being built."
"How many life signs?" Caldwell asked.
"Over fifty thousand." The systems operator stated. "All human. Wait, I'm also getting a power signature from one of the hives. It's a ZPM!"
"Are you sure?" Caldwell walked up to the terminal to get a look at the readings.
"Yes sir, the readings are weak so it's probably close to depletion but it's most definitely a ZPM." The systems operator informed him.
"I see. Contact the men aboard the captured Hive and tell them the mission isn't over. Send a message to the Peak informing them of our status and order the USS Achilles to bring them our prisoner. Contact the nearest site location and inform them of the fact we're about to bring them a new group of refugees." Caldwell ordered, getting a series of "yes sir" in response.
"You seem disappointed Admiral." Hermiod stated.
"I'm just tired is all. It's been a long day."
Hours later
O'Neill's office
"I think the terms 'overwhelming success' apply to this operation." Jack stated, pouring himself and his guests a cup of coffee. "Though I think spending an hour blasting the Wraith shipyard from orbit after it was emptied out was a little excessive."
"Yes well one would expect nothing less from the 'most powerful warship in the known universe'." Jay stated, taking one of the cups.
"Mock him if you like but at least that part was true." Doc stated as he took the last offered cup. "If the media finds out about the lies Jack stated today it'll be a nightmare."
"A nightmare I will be dealing with instead of you." Jack said. "What you do have to deal with is a new batch of clones to replace the ones we lost. How are things coming along?"
"Well the stand-in for Miss Kirishima is coming along well." Doc informed him. "She's currently in the 'learning tank' and is somewhere around a sixth or seventh grader's level of mental development and should reach maturation in about two days. Project Lazarus on the other hand is taking time. Requisitioning the parts I need for my equipment is hard enough as it is, but on top of that I need to take new scans of the brains of those being cloned. It sounds simple and for most people it would be, but for enhanced individuals it's remarkably difficult due to the chemical makeup of the brain being so different from that of a typical person, and that's just for Espers who's differences from a baseline human is limited to the brain. You don't want to get me started on someone with a full on mutation."
"Sounds like you might have bitten off more then you could chew." Jay stated with a laugh.
"I've done it before already so I know I'm capable." Doc replied, turning his attention to Jay. "The problem is just that it's time consuming. I'm rewriting the book every step of the way with this one. Just like the Stargate program through the book on physics into a shredder you freaks did the same for medicine."
"Well now I can't help that, I am as god made me." Jay stated with a smirk.
"God might work in mysterious ways, but I doubt a lab accident is the most subtle way of doing his bidding." Jack stated.
"Well at least it was better than the accident that led to my brother." Jay remarked.
"I don't think you parents felt the same when they made that accident happen though." Doc stated, earning a laugh from the other two.
"So what's the general plan now that we have a Wraith queen?" Jay asked as he calmed himself down.
"Someone's going to scoop that things brain and spinal cord out and place it in a device that's being built right now." Doc explained. "The machine is going to use the passive psychic wavelength queens use for communication and broadcast across hyperspace a message to gather at the point the device is being held. A big 'come here' signal that can't be ignored due to instinct, it's the same one that compelled them to attack Atlantis a decade ago, only we're going to be setting it to its maximum, which will hopefully make them unable to resist. The only downside is the fact that the queen will have to be kept alive every step of the way and the brain itself kept alive the whole time it's in the device, meaning it's going to be a very difficult vivisection."
"And I'll assume that means hard work for you." Jack stated.
"While I take that as a complement Jack the reality is I'm not specialized for that type of procedure. I might be a miracle worker but taking people apart was never in my line of study." Doc informed him. "And it's a moot point anyway because even if I could do it I wouldn't due to the fact the act would violate my oath. I swore to do no harm to any living being, and being an enemy of the state or a monster does not change that. Especially given the fact there are monsters who are our allies, friends and comrades in arms. I'll leave the work to Doctor Beckett. He has the most experience with the Wraith anyway."
"Well, sorry for offending you." Jay stated in a quiet voice that could make one forget he was one of the most dangerous men in the galaxy. Jack, however, did not forget that for a moment.
Author's notes
Well, that's a first taste of things to come. Those of you who couldn't wait to see them (you know who you are) finally got to see the 305 Dreadnought battleship and 306 Enterprise carriers in action after 34 chapters of teasing them. Though it's a little underwhelming right now, there are quite larger things to come.