Hell to Pay
P9X-262
Lucian Alliance controlled planet
Tornen and his partner Steek were standing guard near the stargate watching a farmer on horseback making his approach with ten cartloads of Kassa behind him. Kassa was a highly addictive equivalent of Earth's corn and was highly lucrative for the Alliance to grow and distribute.
But the war between the Lucian Alliance and the Tau-ri of Earth had seen Kassa fields becoming few and far in between. Over the past several months, fields on other worlds had been destroyed by herbicidal bombs dropped by Tau-ri ships and fighters. The bombs would bore into the ground beneath a Kassa field then release a toxin that would poison the Kassa roots which in turn would cause the crops to wither and die within twenty-four hours. Not only did the crops die because of these weapons, but farmlands also became useless for growing Kassa or anything else and anyone who ate an infected piece of Kassa would become extremely sick which caused more problems for the Alliance. It's hard to get people addicted to something when they complain about it making them sick.
"That's close enough," Tornen said pointing his assault rifle at the farmer. "Steek, check the product."
"You guys, follow me," Steek ordered to six other Alliance soldiers who were standing off to the side of the gate. One of them dropped his cigarette as the group moved up.
They unlatched the covers of each cart and looked over each Kassa load very carefully. Satisfied that they were fully loaded and in good order. Steek gave Tornen the thumbs up.
"It's all good, buddy."
"Great. Now dial the gate so we can send this load through."
Steek was just about the about head toward what they called the dialing terminal when it suddenly started lighting up.
"Tor-um, someone is dialing in," Steek shouted.
"Defensive positions," Tornen ordered. The farmer ran off to the side for cover as Tor-um jumped down from his perch near the gate to join his men in front of it. Assault rifles were raised at the ready as the dialing process neared completion.
A burst of blue erupted from the gate then quickly collapsed into a stable wormhole.
A few seconds later, a very long black device with a red nose came through the gate on a cart and stopped just short of Tornen and his men.
Then consumed them all in a white flash.
USS Odyssey
P9X-262 orbit.
March 21st, 2012
"Detonation of MK-Xll confirmed sir," weapons officer, Major Rebecca Barrymore.
"Bring up the BDA," Colonel Ian Davidson ordered.
"Processing…bringing it up on the HUD, sir."
The digital HUD appeared on the veiwscreen and Davidson rose from his command chair to take a closer look at the results. Prior to the explosion, the continent was a cookie-shaped piece of land eight-thousand miles wide. Thanks to the MK-ll whose destructive power was further enhanced by the destruction of the nearby stargate, seven thousand miles of land was nothing more than a giant highly radioactive crater. The continent on this planet was home to a Kassa mega-farm and several Lucian Alliance bases and shipyards. Not anymore.
"The continent buster really lives up to its name." Barrymore, Inform Homeworld Command that the strike on P9X-262 was a success and tell the Churchill we're about to get back on the hunt."
"Yes, sir.
Prior to being rerouted to observe the results of this strike, the USS Odyssey and the HMS Winston Churchill were on a roll flying across multiple Alliance controlled systems destroying as many enemy ships as they could. They departed from Earth on December 31st, 2010 and so far, they had racked up forty-five kills.
Now they were off to hopefully claim more.
Taskforce Hammond
Somewhere in deep space
Near the end of January, Colonel Carter was sitting in orbit above Earth on the George Hammond when she received a message from Homeworld saying she was being put in charge of a four-ship task force consisting of her ship, the Phoenix, the Pendergast, and the Paul Emerson and after receiving some additional F-308s, they were to head out to area of space designated as MS-627 and await further orders. She tried asking General O'Neill for more information but all he did was repeat the instructions.
"Just take the fighters onboard and go, Carter," she remembered him saying.
January and February had come and gone and her task force was still out here in the middle of space with no additional marching orders.
Until now.
"Colonel, I have an incoming priority one message from Homeworld Command," weapons officer, Major Kevin Brice said.
"Put them on screen," Carter ordered then got up to stand in front of the wall monitor on the left side of the bridge.
General O'Neill appeared on the screen and looked to be in a much brighter mood than last time.
"Sir."
"Carter, Operation Boomerang has begun. We are finally paying back the Lucian Alliance for their failed attack on this building in 2009. We've already sent dozens of MK-Xlls through the gate to Alliance-controlled planets and blown their precious assets to kingdom come. Some of them have been sent from the SGC with love while others have been sent from our off-world bases. And we're not even close to being done."
"It sounds more like we're taking the gloves off than paying them back if we're using MK-Xlls, sir."
"Indeed it does. Odyssey and Churchill are still hunting down Alliance ships but you and your marry band of raiders is going for the most high-value target of all. One that is very dear to these bastards."
"What's that?"
"Lucia."