1 – Moving Chess Pieces

(Marine One – Main Cabin – 08.01.2022, 0800)

President Vincent Zachary Quinn of the United States of America watched as his helicopter descended towards Tern Island. Located in the state of Hawaii, this island had been a nature preserve until a couple of months ago. But then the Stargate Program had pulled off a miracle. Years ago, a group of people led by Colonel Everett Young had ended up stranded on an alien starship called Destiny. There was more, much more, to the story. But the part that mattered right now, was the fact that they had found a way back home. And that was brewing up some major changes in two galaxies.

The helicopter hit the tarmac and Quinn disembarked. A group of five people was waiting for him. Normally, it took the International Oversight Authority ages to decide things. But by putting these five representatives in charge of the treaty negotiations, they had been able to hammer out a treaty in two weeks. Which was warp speed by diplomatic standards.

The group consisted of the British Reginald Jones, the American Doctor Ingrid Anders, the Russian Boris Grankin, the French Henry Valluy and finally the Chinese Qui Han. They had originally been low-ranking members of the IOA, who had been sent to serve as political cannon fodder. But they had used their common sense to beat the odds. And they were still here. In fact, they had all gotten promoted. Jones had been a file clerk, Anders had been low-level researcher, Grankin was had been a cook, Valluy had been a cook and Han had been a nurse. But at the insistence of several key people – including Quinn – they had all been promoted to a new title of Negotiator and had been given a major pay rise.

"Mister President," Jones said.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Quinn said with a nod.

He looked at the group and smiled. They were all wearing the Hope Base uniforms, which has a good example of what these people apart from the rest of the IOA. Other representatives would have shown up in fancy suits, with fancy shoes. But this team was had simply blended in and gone to work. Which was to oversee the research and development being done at this base. As for the uniforms, Hope Base used the same uniforms as Stargate Command. The only difference was the shoulder patches, which were black with 'Hope Base' in silver letters.

"So, how are things going here ?"

"Well, we're learning tons of stuff. But it's slow going taking the Seed ship apart," Jones paused. "And putting it back together, not going to happen, sir."

"Understood."

The plan was for them to integrate what they learned into the X-305, Earth's next generation of starships. But there was more to the treaty then Hope Base. When Destiny's crew had come back, Earth had been defended by a 304-class ship called USS Prometheus and an Aurora-class ship called the Tria. The Tria had been a gift from a friendly group of replicators called the New Asurans. Meanwhile, the rest of the Milky Way galaxy was patrolled by four more 304-class ships. USS George Hammond and USS Odyssey were US Air Force ships, while the RFS Korolev was Russian and Sun Tzu belonged to China. Russia and China also operated the Tria together.

Finally, the USS Daedalus and USS Apollo patrolled the Pegasus Galaxy. The Pegasus Galaxy was home to a species called the Wraith. The Wraith feed on Humans by consuming their life energy. This had led to a long war between the Wraith and the Tau'ri and their allies. That war had ended in 2010 when the Atlantis Expedition had found a way to force the Wraith to sign a treaty. They had also been forced to ceded half of the Pegasus Galaxy.

But treaty of no treaty, the IOA did not trust the Wraith as far as the could throw them. They figured that the Wraith had only signed the treaty to buy themselves time to replenish their numbers. So they had wanted the Destiny Treaty to prepare Atlantis and the Pegasus Galaxy fleet to go sideways big time.

"I heard a rumor that the shakedown cruise for the Austerlitz went well, sir," Valluy said.

"She's fully functional and ready to join the Earth fleet."

Funded by the European Union, construction of the European Union Starship Austerlitz had begun in 2009. But then Atlantis had returned to the Pegasus Galaxy and the work had grounded to a halt. It had resumed several months later, but had grounded to a halt again when the funds had been diverted to upgrade the Beta Site. And what had not been needed there, had been needed for the redevelopment of friendly Pegasus Galaxy planet called Sateda. But the Destiny crew had not come back alone. They had also brought along twenty-one alien starships.

The first was called the Freedom Alliance Starship Chaser. A coalition of friendly races – which included Stargate Command – it took it's name from Freedom Prime, its official capital planet. But because that planet was in another galaxy, Earth was running the Milky Way branch. Ship number two was called the Spera. It had been built by a race called the Ancients. Now gone, these were the folks who had invented the Stargates and built Destiny. Spera had been the back-up for Destiny, which had been zapped back to Earth.

The remaining nineteen ships had been Ancient seed ships. These ships had travelled ahead of Destiny and build Stargates. This had been the core development of the new Destiny Treaty. At some discussion with the political leaders on Freedom Prime, the IOA team had managed to negotiate a starship trading deal.

First, the Chaser had been sold to the USAF. Renamed the USS Chaser, it had gotten a new crew and replaced the USS Prometheus on Earth guard duty. And – as Quinn had said – the EUS Austerlitz had also joined the Earth fleet. This had been this only way to balance things to keep all the brass happy. ~One American ship, one Russian/Chinese vessel and one European starship.~ Quinn thought. ~And Prometheus is on her way to the Pegasus Galaxy.~ With Colonel Everett Young as her new commanding officer and a freshly promoted Captain Matthew Scott as her new Chief Pilot.

Secretly, Quinn suspected it wouldn't be long until young Mister Scott made Major. Of course, that didn't matter to the treaty. Next to the schedule had been selling Spera. Like the Chaser, it had renamed to USS Spera. USS Spera had been assigned to patrol the Milky Way galaxy to replace the USS George Hammond. ~And another ship sails off to the Pegasus Galaxy.~ Finally, there had been the nineteen ships to deal with.

To 'pay' for the Chaser and Spera, the US Government had 'sold' Tern Island to the people of Freedom Prime. A naval base during World War Two, the island already came with abandoned buildings and a runway. The surface buildings had been torn down and replaced, while the tarmac had been resurfaced. After that, a large hangar had been carved out underneath the island. This was where the seed ship that they were studying here was being held. So the oversight team led the way to one of the hangars, where there was a secure elevator. It was big enough to hold thirty people, so they all fit inside with ease.

"Going down," Han said as she pushed the button.

The elevator doors closed and the cart zipped down. It only took a couple of seconds to reach the hangar. The doors opened and they stepped onto a walkway. Quinn whistled at the sight of the Ancient vessel. Because Spera and Chaser were now US Air Force starships, the non-Human crewmembers of those two ships had needed a new assignment. And Hope Base had suited the bill. But the treaty had also said that the IOA would boost the complement of Hope Base by assigning people. So the bulk of the group that originally had been stranded on Destiny had also been assigned here.

Quinn ran through the list in his head. ~ Captain Vanessa James, Chief of Security. And freshly promoted. Doctor Nicholas Rush as Chief Scientist…~ The job had been offered to Eli Wallace, but he had turned it down. ~…and Major Tamara Johansson, also freshly promoted, as Chief Medical Officer.~ There had been some protest about giving the job to TJ, but Doctors Carolyn Lam and Carson Beckett had put their feet down and insisted that she was the best person for the job. And that had been the end of it. Another issue had come up regarding the presence of several former Lucian Alliance people on the base. ~Ginn and Varro.~ This had been a problem for some of the higher-ups in the IOA. But Quinn had pulled some strings there.

"Mister President," Nicholas Rush said as he approached the group.

"Doctor Rush," Quinn began. "Shall we ?"

Rush nodded and they began a tour of the facility. This was Quinn's second tour of the week. Yesterday, he had visited the EUS Austerlitz and two more Austerlitz-class ships. The Alliance had eighteen more seed ships, which they had sold to the New Asurans. As payment for the first six, the New Asurans had finished the Austerlitz. The other twelve seed ship had bought Earth two more Austerlitz-class starships, which were the property of the British Commonwealth. Minus the United Kingdom. Her Majesty's Commonwealth Ship Victory replaced the USS Odyssey, while the HMCS Liberty was extra muscle in case the Wraith attempted to invade the Milky Way.

~Three extra 304-class ship's and the IOA still doesn't think it's enough.~ Which was another reason why getting this treaty signed had been so easy. They wanted to get the X-305 Program to the next level. Before getting on Marine One, Quinn had checked the latest reports. George Hammond, Prometheus and Odyssey would arrive at Atlantis in three days. And they would not be alone.

The New Asurans had agreed with the IOA. One of Atlantis allies in the Pegasus was a Human government called the Genii. They had salvaged a Lantean cruiser called the Avenger and renamed it the Pride of the Genii. The New Asurans had seen a chance to score goodwill points and had build two more cruisers called Defender and Vengeance, which they were donating to the Genii. As he made his way through the facility, Quinn hoped that five extra ships would be enough to make the Wraith think twice about whatever they were up to.

(Sateda – Valor Shipyard – 08.01.2022, 0800)

While Quinn toured Hope Base on Earth, another President was touring a shipyard on Sateda. In 1998, the local technology of this planet had been equal to Earth in the 1940's. That year, the planet had been attacked and wiped out by the Wraith. But a handful of people had survived. And in 2010, some of them had returned to their world and begun rebuilding it. This effort had been supported by the Tau'ri – as Earth was called off-world – and their allies.

The first problem they had faced, had been numbers. Sateda had been a world of millions. But only a few hundred had returned. Fortunately for them, word had spread about their efforts. And people had arrived through the Gate. First, one by one. Next had been small groups. And – eventually – by the hundreds and then the thousands. By 2014, reconstruction was in full swing. That was also the year the Sateda had scored a major diplomatic victory.

When the Wraith Peace Treaty had been signed, a group called the Travelers had refused to sign it. The Travelers were a group of Humans who kept out of the reach of the Wraith by living on a fleet of ships. But in 2014, the Satedans had convinced them to do so. The Wraith had gloated about this, but the new Satedan Alliance – as the new Satedan-Traveler government was called – had several tricks up their sleeves. Like the IOA, they didn't trust the Wraith either. So they had gotten to work.

The civilian Traveler population had been relocated to Sateda. At the same time, two major construction projects had been kicked off. Project number one had been to converted an old naval shipyard into a facility capable of refitting the Traveler fleet. The resulting facility had been completed in 2017 and was called Valor Shipyards. It was this base that the President of the Satedan Alliance was now touring. Her name was Larrin. She had been the leader of the Travelers until 2014. After the Satedan Treaty had been signed, she had been elected President twice. Her first term had been from 2014 until 2018. Term number two had been from 2018 until 2022. And three days ago, she had been elected for a her final term. The constitution of the Alliance limited the President to three terms. But that was a 2026 problem.

Today, she was inspecting the base. ~And checking up on the PDG.~ The second construction project had been a Planetary Defense Grid. Thanks to the Tau'ri, the Satedans had already created an Air Force to defend their world. They had also rebuild their Army. But they had known that it would not be enough. So they were building a grid of ground-to-orbit energy weapons and missiles. These were augmented by twenty-four weapon satellites in orbit. Combined with the refitted and upgraded Traveler fleet, this meant that any attack against Sateda would be facing a major fight.

Larrin walked into the office of Miro Samuels. Samuels was the Director of Valor Shipyards. He was one of the few original Satedans that had survived and made it back. He was in his fifties, with grey hair and brown eyes. A retired soldier, Samuels was fit, muscled and smart. He looked up when Larrin entered.

"Madam President," Samuels said.

"Miro," Larrin began. "Are our guests here ?"

"Yes, ma'am," Samuels said. "They are touring the Zacharias now."

The flagship of the fleet, the Zacharias was named after a legendary Traveler Admiral. He had commanded the fleet for sixty-two years, winning many battles with the Wraith. Then he had died peacefully in his sleep. It was one of seven new ships that the fleet overhaul had allowed them to build. Samuels led the way to the dock where the ship was receiving its final checks. They arrived just as their guests left the ship.

There were two of them. Alex was a male New Asuran who looked like a Caucasian male with brown eyes and black hair. Their second guests was Dahlia Radim, who represented the Genii. She was the sister of Ladon Radim, their leader. Dahlia was also the ranking scientist of the Genii.

"So, what do you think of our new flagship ?" Larrin asked.

"It's impressive," Radim said.

"Indeed," Alex began. "The Wraith will be unhappy when they see this beauty."

"Speaking of making the Wraith unhappy…" Larrin looked at Alex. "What did the New Asuran leadership decide ?"

Alex was the commanding officer of the Orpheus, the only New Asuran ship in the Pegasus Galaxy. It was an Aurora-class ship with a mission to keep an eye on the Wraith and befriend local populations. It had arrived in 2018 and had been working in the shadows since then. Alex was the one who had convinced the New Asurans to gift the Defender and the Vengeance to the Genii. He made a face that made it clear that Larrin would not like what he was about to say.

"I'm afraid they made it clear they will not send any additional ships to the Pegasus Galaxy, nor will they gift any more vessels," He paused. "That said, I have the resources of the Orpheus and a few ideas brewing that I think you will like."

"Let's hear them," Larrin said.

Alex nodded and he set about explaining what he had in mind.