This Isn't Kansas
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and universes that I am about to mangle around for my own amusement – sadly all Robotech and Stargate characters remain the property of Harmony Gold and MGM respectively – I am merely borrowing them and make absolutely no profit from their use. As a result, please keep the legal attack jobs – also known as lawyers – firmly muzzled and on a leash as I have no money to give to anyone.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Bridge
USS Odyssey
Twenty Minutes Later
"General we're coming up on our destination."
General Landry looked up from his command chair at the report from the helmswoman. Despite having experienced it once already he was still somewhat surprised by just how fast the Odyssey's hyperspace drive was now. The replacement of the original naquada reactor with a naquada-enhanced reflex furnace by their cousins in this reality had really enhanced all of the ships systems so that everything was running at a level that it just hadn't been able to, at least not without tapping into the zero-point module. They're really going to like this new power source back home, he thought before mentally grinning, well once they've finished wrapping their heads around the fact that protoculture is a biofuel.
It would not be easy, hell even after all this time he still sometimes had problems believing it himself. To think that one of the highest yielding and cleanest power sources in the universe was a biofuel, produced from oils found in the seed and spore pods of a flower of all things, was ludicrous. Ludicrous but undeniably, seemingly impossibly true. One thing was sure the nature of the Flowers of Life, how they tapped into the space-time continuum even to a limited degree allowing them to trap minute amounts of vacuum energy in their cell structures, would drive the biologists and astrophysicists to distraction as they tried to understand how a plant could possibly evolve like that.
He pushed aside his thoughts and focused on the here and now.
"How long until we drop back into normal space?" he asked.
"Forty seconds sir," the helmswoman answered as she manipulated some of her controls, preparing the ship for the transition from hyperspace to normal space.
"Understood," Hank acknowledged before tapping the comm on the chair arm. "Bridge to Colonel Carter."
"Yes sir?"
"We're coming up on our destination. Begin making the final preparations to transfer power to the inter-universal portal generator."
"Understood sir. Sir I should warn you that once the power transfer begins, I cannot risk stopping it, the risk of damaging the device would be too great."
In other words, I won't be able to redirect power to other systems like the weapons systems if there's trouble in system, Hank thought with an inward frown. Though he fully appreciated the warning it was still not a really welcome reminder that the device that they had spent months painstakingly constructing from plans provided by the Custodian was not only a major power hog but that its power systems were actually very delicate and could easily destabilise if anything interfered with the devices power up cycle. Which was probably why the Lanteans had stopped using this method of inter-universal travel as the data from the Custodian confirmed that, while incredibly advanced by their standards, this method of generating a stable inter-universal rift was one of the more basic, easy to use methods that its long since ascended creators had known about.
"Understood, Colonel," he said at last. "We'll scan the system before you commence the power transfer procedure. How long will it take to complete?"
"Approximately ten minutes sir."
Hank blinked. "That long?" he asked in surprise.
"Unfortunately, yes sir."
A lot can happen in ten minutes, Hank thought with a mental wince. "Understood," he replied at last mentally crossing his fingers in the hope that nothing happened at the last minute to stop them going home. It would be beyond heart-breaking to have come this far, to get so close to their goal only to fall at the last hurdle. If something went wrong now, he would honestly start to seriously worry about the mental health of the crew.
"Sir we're dropping into normal space now," the helmswoman reported a moment before the hyperspace conduit flashed and dissolved, turning into a blur of indistinct colours and shapes as the Odyssey and her escort were thrust back into normal space at a fair percentage of light speed. It lasted only a moment as a combination of sublight engines, and a unique subspace anchoring system built into Asgard designed hyperdrives overcame the well-known, somewhat understood phenomenon of hyperspace inertia and brought the ships back to a safe sublight speed. "All systems secure from hyperspace sir."
"Excellent. Major Marks scan the system if you please. Let's make sure there are no unexpected surprises."
"Yes sir, commencing scan," Marks acknowledged giving the command to the system to commence a comprehensive scan of the system. A moment later his short-range scan came alive with new contacts, contacts that were emerging from the Dauntless. "Sir the Dauntless has just launched two squadrons of fighters."
Why would they do that, Hank thought. "Where are they going," he asked, wondering if the sensor crews in the combat information centre on the strike carrier had spotted something quicker than they had.
Marks checked his short-range screens. "Nowhere," he said at last, "they're splitting up into smaller four ship groups and assuming a screening formation around all ships."
"Ah it's a CAP," Hank realized aloud. "They're not taking any chances that anything could interfere with us going home. Same reason they decided to surprise us with this escort."
"Nice of them," Marks commented as the scan results came in. "Scans complete sir. No hostile contacts detected."
"Excellent. Still keep an eye out Marks just in case."
"Yes sir."
Hank tapped the comm on the arm of the chair. "Bridge to Colonel Carter you're clear to begin the power transfer," he said.
"Understood sir. Connecting the device to the hyperdrive and power systems… connections confirmed and stable. Commencing charge up cycle now," Colonel Carter replied from engineering, "power transfer has begun and is stable. Nine minutes and fifty-eight seconds to full power."
"Understood let me know when the charging cycle is complete," Hank ordered.
"Yes sir."
"Bridge out."
As soon as he signed off with engineering Hank sighed softly to himself and leaned back in the command chair. This was going to be a long ten minutes.
Ten Minutes Later
Colonel Samantha Carter smiled as the readings on the computer screen of the Asgard core finally turned from yellow to green confirming that the rift generator device was finally fully charged. The last ten minutes had been quite nerve wracking as the device's capacitors had slowly charged up to the level needed to create the rift that would, hopefully, take the Odyssey and everyone aboard her home. The Asgard core chimed slightly letting her know that an automatic diagnostic on the device showed that it was indeed online and functioning as the Custodian had told them it would.
Quickly she activated the comm system. "Engineering to bridge. Sir the device is charged and ready to go," she reported.
"Excellent," General Landry replied from the bridge sounding as relieved as she felt. "Prepare to generate a rift. How far from the other ships do you think we should get Colonel before opening a rift?"
Sam checked her readings as well as the information on the type of rift they would create that the Custodian had provided them with. I'm really going to miss that AI, she thought though she hadn't worked with him for long the Custodian had been nothing but helpful and supportive. He well fulfilled the purpose for which the Ancients in this reality had constructed him after they'd returned to the Milky Way – or Avalon as they called it - from Pegasus at the end of their war with the Wraith, to act as a mentor to there second evolution to help them understand the history, sciences and technologies that were there birthright. If only the Ancients back home had been so thoughtful, she thought before pushing those thoughts out of her head and focusing on finding the information that her superior officer had wanted. It didn't take long at all.
"Sir based on the information provided by the Custodian we need to be a minimum of thirty thousand kilometres away from our escort before we generate the rift," she reported, "I would however recommend that we double that just to be on the safe side."
"Understood. Load the signature of our universe into the devices navigational system and prepare to activate on my order."
"Yes sir, standing by."
"Landry out."
~~/~
"Helm begin moving us away from the other ships," Hank ordered immediately after signing off with engineering and Colonel Carter. "Take us out to sixty thousand kilometres and hold position. Communications hail the Dauntless."
"Yes sir," both the helmswoman and the communications officer responded before giving the appropriate commands to their respective workstations.
"The Dauntless has acknowledged our hail sir," communications reported after a moment. "Response coming on the holographic HUD."
Hank nodded a second before the holographic HUD activated and pulled in an image of the face and torso of Admiral Hayes. As before the other man appeared to be in the CIC of the strike carrier as opposed to the command bridge.
"Hank you ready to go," Don asked from the screen, having already been informed by the crew around him that the Odyssey had begun moving away from them.
"We are Don," Hank confirmed, "once we're sixty thousand kilometres away from your ships – so you don't get caught in any subspace backwash from the rift when it closes – we'll generate the rift and go home."
"I understand. We'll wait and watch until your gone then return home ourselves. Though I doubt we're going to get any unexpected, uninvited guests now it doesn't hurt to be careful."
"Very true."
"Sir we're in position," the helmswoman reported.
"We're in position, Don," Hank said to the other officer.
"I heard. I suppose that there is nothing left to say but a final thank you for everything you've done for us, it will not be forgotten. And to wish you good luck."
"Thanks. And thank you for having us also good luck to you as well."
Donald Hayes nodded back, gave a final smile of farewell then nodded to someone off the screen closing the communications link from his end. The holographic HUD vanished returning the expansive bridge viewport to normal.
Hank tapped the comm on the arm of his chair. "Bridge to Colonel Carter. Activate the device."
"Yes sir."
For a few moments nothing happened then a strange whine began to be heard throughout the ship. Beyond the viewport arcs of energy – like some spontaneous outbreak of Saint Elmo's Fire – began to play over the ship and a vibration began to be felt. The lightshow outside the viewport steadily increased in intensity until it became a solid sheet of light. Then a jolt shook the whole of the Odyssey with a force that was normally only felt during the heat of battle and the light turned into a shimmering white-green-blue and purple tunnel similar in many respects to the wormholes created by the Stargates…
…after two years, seven months and twenty-four days in another universe the Odyssey was on her way home.
Combat Information Centre
UES Dauntless
Standing before the situation table in the centre of the combat information centre Admiral Donald Hayes and Captain Henry Gloval had mixed feelings as they watched a strange energy field form around the Odyssey. On one hand they were happy for General Landry, Colonel Carter, and the rest of the ships crew that they were getting to go home, back to their own reality, after so long being stuck in there's. On the other hand, though there was some sadness as well as they had gotten to know them all and would greatly miss them.
Neither man spoke as they watched the holograms floating above the situation table. The energy field being generated by the trans-universe device had now completely enveloped the Odyssey, the Daedalus-class ship vanishing inside a cocoon of light and unfathomable energies. Abruptly the cocoon seemed to stretch out into the distance and vanish into a hole that momentarily appeared in the very fabric of space and time. The hole blinked closed after the ship passed, a ripple of subspace distortion spreading out from its location the only sign that it had been there at all.
Odyssey was gone.
"That's it then," Gloval said after a moment.
"That it is Henry, that it is," Hayes agreed. "I admit I will miss them. I hope they'll be alright."
"So do I," Gloval answered with a nod then sighed. "We should get moving ourselves."
"That we should. Flight ops?"
"Yes sir?"
"Recall the CAP. Communications all ships are to plot an immediate hyperspace jump back to Earth; we'll leave as soon as the CAP is back aboard."
"Aye sir."
For several minutes, the four Terran ships remained where they were as the fighters that had been maintaining a security perimeter around their ships landed on the flight decks of the Dauntless. As soon as the last fighter was aboard the strike carrier closed her landing bay doors. Silently, but with a synchronisation that spoke of both good training and precise navigational computer link ups the four ships turned in unison and opened hyperspace windows heading for home…
… none of their crews aware of an event that was taking place elsewhere that would set the entire galaxy on fire.
Zentraedi Command Dreadnought
Entering Erebus System, Goa'uld Empire
That Same Time
Standing proudly in the command blister of his dreadnought Commander Breetai, his arms crossed over his broad chest, watched one of the many floating holographic screens as the fleet drew ever closer to their defold point near a Goa'uld world that communications intercepts had indicated that the Goa'uld called Erebus. It was apparently the site of recently expanded shipyard complex and he had been ordered to completely destroy it.
As he waited Breetai mused quietly on the circumstances that had led him to be commanding this small, but powerful, force of Zentraedi warships on an attack mission. It was not a mission that he would have chosen to mount at this time, they weren't really ready to commit to an all-out war with the Goa'uld at this time. Unfortunately, the events that had taken place two days ago had made it inevitable especially as Robotech Repair Station JS-235 had not defolded at its back up coordinates. At first the thought had been that, due to the hurried nature of the fold to escape a cataclysmic event unleashed by a salvo of Goa'uld torpedoes hitting some naquada rich asteroids, the station, and the Robotech Masters and fellow Zentraedi aboard it had merely gone through a bad fold and been dumped into normal space at a random set of coordinates – such things had happened with fold drives in the past after all.
Unfortunately, all attempts to contact the station had failed, as had all attempts to establish a lock on its vector with finder beams, there was no vector to find. Thus, all the advisors and Dolza had only been able to conclude that the station had not been able to escape the system in time and had been destroyed. When Dolza had, very reluctantly, contacted the Robotech Masters homeworld to inform them of the development things had really kicked up a gear. Dolza had ended up speaking to the Robotech Elders – the three first masters themselves – and say they had been unhappy at the repot had been a monumental understatement. Homicidally angry would have been a better description though as always with the Robotech Elders there had been a terrifying coldness when they'd delivered their judgement and how to respond.
The Elders had ordered an immediately counterstrike on a major Goa'uld target to explain to the alien power that nobody could cross them without enduring the most terrible of consequences. They had also issued orders for additional forces to be brought to this galaxy, including some of their own forces and another factory satellite, though given the distance from Tirolian space – and the fact that the vast majority of the Zentraedi armada was deployed across multiple galaxies searching for Zor's ship – it would take some time for them to arrive. In the meantime, they were to launch a few major raids to put the Goa'uld off balance, while making them pay dearly for the loss of the survivors of the Miltlari, the station and the tens of thousands of Zentraedi aboard.
Hence his current mission.
"You seem troubled, Breetai," Exedore commented from beside him.
"I am concerned, Exedore," Breetai admitted knowing better than to try to conceal it from his advisor and long-term friend. "While I understand the Robotech Elders reasoning for this attack, we cannot let the Goa'uld carry out such outrages as the one they mounted against JS-235 without consequence, I just worry that this is committing us to a war with an enemy we still do not fully understand before we are truly ready for it. I fear the Elders are letting emotion override their logic."
"A problem that most micronian races suffer from, commander," Exedore reminded him, "as powerful as they are the Robotech Masters are still at the end of the day micronians. I admit I do share your concern unfortunately the Elders have made their decision and there is no arguing with them."
"No there is not," Breetai agreed.
"Commander Breetai we've reached our defold coordinates," came the report from the navigational consoles on the main level of the bridge.
Breetai nodded even though he knew the other Zentraedi would not see him. "Very well all ships commence defold operations," he ordered, "once defold operations are complete all ships are to go to battle stations."
"Yes commander."
"And so, it begins my friend," Breetai said to Exedore as a familiar thrum of power ran through the ship as the ship began the process of exiting space fold.
"Indeed commander."
The two Zentraedi, both among the oldest and most experienced of their kind, waited patiently watching the holoscreens as their small fleet of ships – just over a hundred ships as that were all that could be spared at the moment – returned to normal space. It took the better part of two minutes for the entire fleet to complete the defold manoeuvre, however as each ship emerged alarms sounded summoning the crews to battle stations.
"Defold operations complete commander," came a report from the consoles, "all ships report battle stations manned and ready. We have been detected, Goa'uld warships and fighters approaching on an intercept course."
"Launch fighters and battlepods to intercept the Goa'uld fighters," Breetai ordered as he scanned the tactical displays. He immediately noted that there were twelve Goa'uld motherships and twenty-four of the smaller cruisers, identical to the one that had attacked two days ago on approach. Several more motherships were in orbit of the planet along with a number of defence satellites.
"Commander we are being hailed by the Goa'uld," communications reported, "audio only."
"I will hear what they have to say. Open a channel."
"Yes commander."
The hidden overhead speakers crackled then a Jaffa voice spoke. "Zentraedi vessels, you have encroached on the domain of our Lord Ba'al. Surrender now or be destroyed. You have two minutes to comply."
"The Jaffa devotion to their duty is admirable but foolish," Exedore commented as the surrender demand hung in the air, "the Jaffa have to know we outnumber and outgun them. Challenging us with a much weaker force like that does not seem logical."
"No, it is not," Breetai agreed, "but then as you have Exedore micronians and logic do not always go hand in hand."
"Very true commander. So, what is your plan Breetai?"
"Out of warriors respect I will allow the Jaffa to take the first shots," Breetai replied, "then I will destroy them before proceeding to attack the planet."
"Understood commander."
Breetai leaned forward to touch one of the comm units. "All gunnery crews prepare your cannons for full bombardment of the approaching Goa'uld ships," he ordered, "however do not fire yet. Let them take the first shots before we destroy them."
"As you wish commander," came the response from the officer in charge of the gunnery crews.
Satisfied that he would be obeyed Breetai stood and waited while the minutes ticked down. Finally, the two-minute deadline given by the Jaffa arrived and past. Then the Jaffa commander spoke up again. "Very well you have chosen your fate," the Jaffa told them. "May our Lord Ba'al have mercy upon your souls. Jaffa, kree tak'nel ron."
The communications link with the lead Goa'uld vessel closed…
…and the Jaffa opened fire.
To the surprise of the Zentraedi what emerged from the cannons of the Goa'uld ships was not bolts of hot plasma but the light blue javelins of particle beams. The beams sliced across space and struck Breetai's command ship, only instead of hitting and cutting into the green and purple armoured hull the beams broke apart as they hit a glowing field of translucent blue hexagonal tiles a few meters from the hull as they encountered the vessels newly installed Tirolian designed shields.
Breetai stumbled as the deck beneath him shook as the beams from the Goa'uld ships slammed into his shields, while the energy barriers easily absorbed the power of the beams, they did nothing to stop the sympathetic oscillation that the hits generated in the ship's artificial gravity field.
"Particle beam weapons! Where did the Goa'uld get those?" Exedore wondered as another volley impacted their shields, shaking the ship but causing no damage.
"I don't know," Breetai replied a little annoyed at the Goa'uld springing yet another unpleasant surprise on them. Keeping his annoyance under control he moved back to the comm scope and opened a link to gunnery control. "All batteries open fire."
Shields continuing to flare under heavy Goa'uld particle beam attack Breetai's command dreadnought opened fire unleashing a blistering hail of high-intensity energy beams and missiles towards the Goa'uld fleet. Immediately the Jaffa manning the ships began showing one of the main reasons why the bioengineered giant warriors had had such trouble in battle with the Goa'uld from the very beginning as the far more advanced gravitic based engines of the Goa'uld ships allowed them to burst into motion accelerating in unison into high-speed evasive manoeuvres that looked like something you would be able to pull in a fighter not multi-million-ton capital ships.
As a result, most of the initial volley of beams from Breetai's ship missed their targets or only scored glancing hits against the Goa'uld shields making them glow softly but not inflicting much in the way of damage.
Unlike in previous battles however the superior agility of the Goa'uld ships was not as great an advantage as the Jaffa, and their Goa'uld commanders, were used to. The reason being that, within seconds of their command ship firing, most of the remaining ninety-nine Zentraedi ships also opened up with their own salvos of beams and missiles. As a result, a dozen ships took multiple hits with both heavy and standard beams making shields flare and ripple with distortions as they attempted to deflect and disperse the intense streams of energy.
Then the missiles arrived.
Every single one of the Ha'tak and Sed'tak became the target of hundreds of missiles with high-yield plasma warheads and disappeared under a riot of brilliant yellow-white explosions. Shields flared brilliantly with strain and for the Sed'tak-class cruisers – with their less powerful shield generators – it was too much. The shields on the Sed'tak gave way and dozens of missiles impacted hulls burning through naquada-trinium armour to fill the interiors with superheated plasma, vaporising crews and consuming the ships from the inside out. The yellow-white light of the plasma explosions brightening notably as the reactor cores of the doomed cruisers detonated.
The cloud of plasma cooled and dissipated revealing that all the Sed'tak had been destroyed though the twelve Ha'tak remained – there shields glowing brightly from the stress they'd been subjected it – and now the crews were extremely annoyed. Knowing that they would not survive much longer against so many Zentraedi ships – especially with weakened shields – the Jaffa decided to take as many Zentraedi with them as they could.
Simultaneously the Ha'tak concentrated all their fire on the closest four Zentraedi warships flanking and shielding Breetai's command ships. Dozens of particle beams from each ship burned across space and slammed into the shields surrounding the four vessels. Tirolian designed shields flared brilliantly under the strain and the four Zentraedi cruisers visibly shook under the assault. Unwilling to give up the Jaffa maintained their assault causing the hexagonal structure of the shields to sparkle and crackle with energy before in a flash of brilliant pyrotechnics giving way allowing the Goa'uld beams to cut into then through green and purple metal hulls to slice through multiple compartments on the doomed vessels. The Goa'uld beams disappeared though the damage was already done as gas, debris, and the bodies of dead and dying crew flew out of the breaches in the hull as vast sections of the ships suddenly and violently decompressed.
All four Zentraedi cruisers yawed sharply in random directions as the venting acted like crude thrusters sending them tumbling out of control despite frantic attempts by the Zentraedi helmsman to compensate for the wayward thrust. The Goa'uld beams lanced out again, targeting the same four ships eviscerating section after section on numerous decks before reaching and slicing through the doomed vessels reflex furnace clusters. The result was predictable as all four warships disappeared inside expanding balls of light and energy as the ruptured furnaces annihilated them.
The Jaffa did not get time to celebrate their destruction as it was at that moment that the twelve Ha'tak ran out of time. Already weakened shields offered no protection as each Ha'tak was pelted with dozens more heavy plasma missiles and particle beams from the Zentraedi fleet. Within moments all twelve motherships joined their smaller cruiser brethren in oblivion.
"Targets destroyed commander."
Though he knew the underling giving the report wouldn't see it Breetai nodded. He could see it himself on the holograms floating in their projector fields beyond the concave wall of the command blister. Though hopelessly outnumber the Jaffa manning the Goa'uld ships had not attempted to flee and save themselves from the inevitable. Instead, they'd stood and fought to the last, claiming four of his heavy cruisers and damaging the shields on his command ship and several others.
He could respect them for that.
"Understood. Move the fleet towards the planet," he ordered at last. "Bring us to a halt as soon as we are within weapons range of the planet. Target the remaining Goa'uld ships and fire as soon as they're in range."
"Yes commander. Commander the remaining Goa'uld ships are jumping into hyperspace."
Breetai nodded he could see it himself on the holographic displays. The remaining seven Goa'uld motherships were moving away from the planet, a second or two later hyperspace windows opened ahead of them, and the ships disappeared into them. Wise, Breetai thought.
"Order's commander," Exedore asked.
"We'll continue with our mission," Breetai said before speaking to the crews below, "continue approaching the planet. As soon as we are close enough begin firing upon the defence platforms."
"Yes commander."
Breetai watched the monitors as over the next few minutes the fleet drew closer to the planet. Soon they were close enough to the defence platforms for the ships to open fire. The initial volley of beams sleeted ineffectively off the shields around the platforms making the force fields glow but otherwise doing no damage. The second volley was more effective breaking down the shields allowing a third apocalyptic volley of beams to wipe the pyramidal satellites out of existence.
"All orbital targets eliminated commander."
"So, I see. Begin scanning the planet, locate any and all Goa'uld facilities on the surface."
"Yes commander."
For a few minutes quiet reigned on the bridge as invisible beams of energy reached out from the sensor arrays of the command dreadnought and began searching the surface of Erebus for the Goa'uld facility that the Zentraedi knew was there somewhere. They soon found it.
"Target located commander," sensors reported, "there appears to be a large industrial complex on the surface along with a sizeable naquada mine. We are detecting numerous Goa'uld vessels of all sizes under construction in a number of anti-gravity drydocks. The whole facility appears to be surrounded by a powerful energy shield. The shield is strong enough that our conventional weapons will barely scratch it."
Thankfully, we will not be using conventional weapons, Breetai thought frowning slightly at the report. "Understood, instruct our monitors to move forward, target the industrial complex and commence primary weapon activation," he ordered, "they may fire when ready."
"Yes commander."
From where they had been protected near the rear of the Zentraedi formation two Rineunadou Lojmeuean-class monitors moved to the front of the fleet. Within a few minutes both of the highly specialized ships were in position. Along the horizontal axis of each ship the front half of each vessel split apart, each section moving up or down to create the impression of a tuning fork stood on end. The boons locked into their firing positions, lights flickered along the inner surface of the boons before snapping between them as crackling lightning-like energy as a phenomenal build-up of energy occurred, the ongoing protoculture reaction from the ships reflex furnaces being dumped between the boons as the reflex cannons began their power up cycle.
For a total of forty-five seconds the power build-up continued until the front halves of the two monitors were almost too bright for the crews on the surrounding Zentraedi warships and escorting mecha to look at even with the automatic polarization of their optical pickups. Both vessels turned slightly in unison, pointing their noses at the planet and the shipyard/industrial facilities there…
… then, as one, they fired.
Space seemed to ignite as two intense streams of energy erupted from the maws of the cannons in a display of power that had not really been seen in the Milky Way since the reign of the Ancients came to an end millions of years earlier. The beams pierced the atmosphere of Erebus, incinerating everything in their path and triggering instant superheated windstorms before they smashed into the dome shield surrounding the largely automated Goa'uld factory complex.
For a few moments, in a testament to the engineering skills of the Goa'uld as well as their ability to create viable if inferior performing copies of the technologies of those who had come before them, the shield dome glowed and resisted the immense force of the blasts. Standing longer in fact than the defensive shield around the Tirolian capital city of Tiresia would have against such an assault. Then the shield gave way and the beams smashed into the base.
Instantly waves of pure energy and plasma – plasma which was heavily impregnated with spontaneously forming and annihilating matter-antimatter pair bonds – swept through the complex like a wildfire through a forest steadily annihilating everything they encountered. The few hundred Jaffa and Goa'uld technicians died instantly as huge sections of the base simply ceased to exist. Some sections – especially the reinforced storage rooms that held highly refined weapons and reactor grade naquada – weathered the firestorm longer but eventually even they gave way. Reflex energies and high refined naquada met with the predictable result as a colossal explosion erupted enveloping a third of an entire hemisphere of the planet and annihilating it.
The reflex beams vanished but the destruction continued as a massive column of destruction shot up, reaching, and travelling beyond the planets orbit bringing with it burning chunks of the crust and mantle. Massive earthquakes rippled through the whole of Erebus as the planet shuddered in mortal agony even as a wave of energy and fire spread across the entire planet. In mere seconds the whole planet had been engulfed. All over the planet fault lines snapped open swallowing up huge tracts of burning land, volcanoes suddenly spewed lava and ashes into the superheated sky as the loss of so much mass all at once started a devastating chain reaction.
Commander Breetai stared in shock, and no small amount of horror, as he beheld the destruction that had been unleashed on the planet Erebus. He had seen reflex cannon attacks on planets before but they had never triggered such a devastating reaction before. Continent wide firestorms yes but not a planet wide one like the one he was seeing.
"Commander sensors are picking up massive seismic disruptions on the planet," sensors reported, "the planet is tearing itself apart. We are also now detecting a massive energy build up within the planets core and mantle."
"It's going to explode," Exedore breathed in horror, "the reflex cannon strikes must have ignited all of the planets naquada veins in much the same way the Goa'uld torpedoes ignited that asteroid field two days ago. Commander we cannot remain if we're still here when the planet blows…"
"… it could well take us with it," Breetai finished for him. "Recall all mecha to our fold perimeter then all ships execute an emergency space fold to our fallback coordinates."
"Yes commander."
As the crew scrambled to carry out his orders Breetai turned his attention back to the holographic displays and the view of the dying planet. Great glowing cracks had started appearing all over the planet, here and there colossal detonations were throwing chunks of molten and semi-molten crust and upper mantle into space as the planet entered its final death throes. It's not going to survive much longer, Breetai thought as fresh explosions erupted making the whole burning surface ripple like ocean waves.
After what seemed like an eternity but was really only a few minutes during which time the planet had begun to start glowing from within as the chain reaction racing through the planets many naquada veins, reached critical mass, a familiar hum of power ran through the dreadnought as a fold sphere formed around the mighty warship and its armada of small craft.
Identical spheres appeared around the other ships before collapsing down into tiny pinpricks of light that shot away before vanishing completely into subspace. Behind the fleeing Zentraedi warships the largest sequence of explosions yet tore across Erebus until with a final horrific blast the planet shattered and became a brief new star.
A star whose birth signalled the beginning of what, for the peoples of the Milky Way galaxy, was going to be one of the most tumultuous periods that they had ever known.
Authors Note: Well, here we are the final chapter of this story bites the metaphorical dust. I hope you have all enjoyed the ride we have been on. The stories of both the Odyssey crew and what they will find when they return to their own reality and the events in this fusion reality will continue in their own separate stories that I have already begun working on. Also keep an eye out for a series of one to two shot anthology stories set in the fusion universe that will flesh out some of the background information that has either not been touched on or only mentioned in passing during the story itself. Until next time stay safe everyone.