Ernests great Adventure

by Syphon01

Ernest goes to a different stargate address and history changes

Ernests great adventure

Doctor Ernest Littlefield stepped through the stairway to heaven with the absolute surety of a crusading army.

When he exited the stairway to heaven Ernest was met with pitch blackness with the only illumination provided by the stairway to heaven.

When it suddenly shut down he was left in absolute darkness he switched his dive helmet light on and spied an almost empty room.

The only thing he could make out was a strangely throne like chair sitting in front of a blank wall.

Deciding that he might as well sit while he waits for Professor Langford to redial to his location he slowly made his way to the throne like chair and sat down.

Ernest was most surprised when the chair suddenly reclined and lights started to light up.

Ernest had thought he was dead when his air and communications lines had been cut then he noticed that he was still breathing but the air was stale like it had been sealed for a very long time.

He was contemplating how long he could survive here when he felt a slight breeze and opening his face plate he realised that the air had a fresh smell to like it had been scrubbed clean.

He wondered if this place had a means to clean air and thought that it would be a valuable process for the submarine service.

As the hours passed Ernest started to wonder if Professor Langford had forgotten him.

Then he remembered how long it took to charge the stairway to heaven.

Knowing that he might be here for a while and feeling hungry and thirsty Ernest thought about exploring to find some source of food and water.

After he had thought this, a map projected into thin air in front of him showing the way to what appeared to be a commissary of some kind.

Deciding to check it out Ernest walked down three flights of stairs and came to what he thought of as the commissary.

It took him nearly an hour of experimentation but he finally discovered how the machines worked and made himself a turkey dinner and a gallon of lemonade.

After he had finished he returned to the throne chair room to wait for Paul to dial the stairway to heaven again.

After having been wherever he is for a day now Ernest started to grow concerned and decided to explore the other levels.

His exploration surprised Ernest as he found sleeping facilities and some kind of advanced manufacturing equipment.

During his exploration he heard the stairway to heaven activate but it closed down again before he could make it back to where the stairway to heaven was located.

Despondent at having missed his chance to get home to Catherine, Ernest slumped down in the throne like chair and thought about how he could get home.

At this thought a map was projected in thin air in front of him showing the recent connections to the stairway to heaven.

Ernest realised that he now knew how to return home but he didn't know the glyph for the point of origin and the machine providing him the information seemed to be unable or restricted in supplying that information.

Wondering if there was any other way to get home the machine suggested that it could construct him a vessel capable of taking him home but due to a lack of resources it would take many months for the vessel to be ready.

Having hope albeit a slim one Ernest instructed the machine to construct the vessel while Ernest pondered what he would do once it was finished.

Ernest had learnt a lot as he watches the vessel take shape.

But he had concerns that he wouldn't be able to pilot the vessel.

After all it appeared to be the size of a destroyer but had weapons like a battleship.

When he raised his concerns a virtual intelligence Aurelius spoke to him directly for the first time and advised him that it would fly and fight the vessel for Ernest but he would have to provide instructions and a direction for the route.

This is something that had perplexed Ernest, as he didn't know where he was so he didn't know what direction to head in.

After a while Ernest decided that the best he could do was hop from star system to star system in the hope that he could find some clue as to where he needed to go.

When the Aurelius was ready Ernest informed the virtual intelligence on the planet that he was leaving but that he would return with others so that the Ancient facility could be brought back to full functionality.

It had been three months since Ernest left on board the Aurelius but his efforts had so far been in vain.

He had hopped from star system to star system to no avail and was beginning to lose hope when he come across a populated star system that appeared to have suffered a cataclysm.

He was about to leave when he received a transmission pleading for help.

Unable to ignore a plea for help Ernest contacted these Tollan and offered his assistance in relocating their remaining population.

Ernest ended up spending the next six months ferrying the Tollan to their new home world of Tollana.

Yet the Tollan were insistent that they didn't know where Ernest's home world was.

It wasn't until Ernest's second last trip before he was to return for the stargate or chappa'ai as it was called to take it to Tollana that he found a direction to go in.

Omoc a young four year old child, told Ernest to head core wards towards the Goa'uld space of their Supreme System Lord Ra.

As the Goa'uld's had spread humanity across the galaxy it stands to reason that the Goa'uld must know the location of the homeworld of humanity.

Ernest was surprised that a child of Omoc's age would know of such things but he then realised that the Tollan were much more advanced and their educational systems must be equally advanced.

He realised that the Tollan had been deliberately avoiding giving him a direction to travel in but it was the innocence of a child that provided him a direction.

After Ernest had finished assisting with the evacuation of Tolla and the stargate was safely transported to Tollana it was time for Ernest to continue his search for the Earth.

Ernest said his goodbyes to the Tollan and set off in the direction young Omoc had given him.

Jolinar of Malkshur and her host Rosha were worried.

A strange ship had been detected entering the territory belong to Supreme System Lord Ra.

It had destroyed every Goa'uld vessel that had fired upon it with impunity.

She had been trapped on this world by Cronus' Jaffa guarding the chappa'ai and three of his ha'tak's in orbit.

Then before she knew it the strange ship had arrived and destroyed Cronus' ha'taks and then a shuttle type craft and travelled down to the planet.

The shuttle easily destroyed any Goa'uld death gliders, Tel'taks or Al'kesh that went up against it and landed close to her hiding place.

Ernest was enjoying travelling the stars but it would have been better if he had Catherine with him by his side.

He had learnt a lot since he set out to search for the Earth.

The Aurelius had taught him many things while he travelled including how to pilot the Aurelius and the shuttle craft in its hanger bay.

He hoped that he could find somebody that could assist him in his search.

The Goa'uld he had contacted had all tried to destroy or steal the Aurelius.

As he pondered his dilemma Ernest wondered if Catherine was waiting for him.

After all it had been nearly three years since he stepped through the stargate and even when he left it was obvious that the war was coming to a close.

With the war over all those single soldiers would return home and Catherine was a good looking woman who would make an excellent wife to any of them.

Ernest just had to hope that she would wait for him, for surely her father professor Paul Langford would have told her what had happened to him by now even with all the secrecy involved in the project.

After the shuttle had landed Ernest took a life sign detector and decided to explore while avoiding the Jaffa.

For some reason they were mostly gathered around the stargate as if they were guarding it to prevent its use.

He was just about to head to a local village when his life sign detector showed a single Goa'uld who appeared to be hiding in a nearby cave.

Thinking that this Goa'uld might be hiding from the Jaffa guarding the stargate Ernest thought that if he were to offer them a means of escape then they might just be willing to tell him where the Earth was located.

Jolinar was scared Cronus' Jaffa were guarding the chappa'ai and now the strange man had entered the mouth of her cave and now she was trapped.

Then she heard in the worst Goa'uld she had ever heard that if she was willing to help he locate his home world then he would help her escape the Jaffa.

Knowing that this was possibly her only chance at escape Jolinar walked up to the man with her Zat'nik'tel hidden under her cape.

Ernest looked at the attractive woman who had stepped out of the darker recesses of the cave and approached him suspiciously.

Then she said, "What do you want to help me leave this world?"

Jolinar was surprised when the man called Ernest Littlefield only wanted the stargate coordinates for the first world.

Ernest was willing to take Jolinar anywhere she wanted but first he wanted to travel to the first world just to be sure that he wasn't being lied to.

Jolinar couldn't really fault him for this as any Goa'uld would lie, cheat and steal anything before they had to stoop to having to tell the truth.

Agreeing to his condition Jolinar followed him to the shuttle she had seen earlier.

But no sooner had she stepped on board the Aurelius than she was surrounded by force fields.

Ernest merely shrugged and advised her that it was merely a security protocol that was in place to prevent Goa'uld's from taking control of the vessel.

Jolinar was irritated by this and losing her cool shouted at Ernest, "I'm not a Goa'uld, I'm Tok'ra a part of the anti Goa'uld resistance."

Ernest merely shrugged his shoulders and said, "You may know that and I might believe that but the machines merely notice the parasite inside the host and the security protocols were enacted.

Once I'm certain you've given me the correct coordinates then I will take you to whatever planet you desire."

With this said Ernest continued onto the bridge of the Aurelius to fly to the coordinates provided.

Ernest wasn't concerned about being lied to as the Aurelius was more powerful than any known Goa'uld vessel and could take on multiple Ha'taks with little to worry about.

His only concern was being directed into a black hole.

But that was only a remote chance as the Aurelius' sensors would pick it up long before it became a danger and secondly the Goa'uld's liked to survive so it was unlikely that one would send itself into a situation that it couldn't survive.

When Ernest reached the coordinated provided he started crying when he picked up the radio broadcasts of the Earth even before he had reached the orbit of Jupiter.

There was no need to go any further and scare the bejesus out of the other inhabitants of the Earth and he now knew the way home.

So he turned the Aurelius around and headed back out of the Solar System before headed to where Jolinar of Malkshur was still fuming in her force field prison and asked her where she would like to be dropped off.

After he had dropped off Jolinar of Malkshur at the requested planet Ernest decided to check out what other stargates were around the Earth.

As he was nearing the Earth he came across a desolate planet that the Aurelius immediately landed on with the message on the main view screen stating database update in progress.

Ernest was glad that he never got stranded on this planet as he would never have known how he would have been able to survive.

While the database update was in progress Ernest decided he might as well explore the world a bit while he waited for the Aurelius to complete its update.

As he entered the only dwelling on the planet he noticed that it was undermined by the nearby sea and that the control device for the stargate was broken.

No sooner had he reported this to the virtual intelligence on the Aurelius than robots had left the Aurelius which then proceeded to move the stargate to a stable location and repair the control device.

Ernest's decision to explore the space around the Earth ended up delaying his return home by four days as the Aurelius wouldn't leave until the update was complete and the stargates control device fully repaired.

Finally when this was done the Aurelius took off again and at Ernest's direction headed straight for the Earth.

While he was travelling the remaining distance to the earth Ernest thought of the various medical procedures he had undergone during the years he had been away.

The nanites infusion had increased his lifespan and provided him near perfect health.

He no longer needed glasses and as far as he could tell he now possessed a supra level of eyesight hearing and reflexes.

Ernest pondered what else had had also been improved that he had not yet detected.

The other thing he knew about was the cerebral implant he had attached to his brains cortex which enabled him to communicate with the Aurelius without having to worry about carrying a radio with him to communicate with the Aurelius.

Once Ernest reached Earth orbit he took a shuttle down to Central Park in New York and exited it before he sent it back up to the Aurelius.

Once the shuttle had left Ernest headed for his parent's house for a change of clothes before he would head out to find Catherine.

Ernest was apologising to his father as he helped him carry his mother back inside after she had fainted upon seeing him.

He had been surprised when his father had advised him that he had been reported to have died in a laboratory accident three years previously.

About the only good news was that Catherine had kept in contact with his parents and she was still single.

Catherine Langford was perplexed by the phone call she had just received from Ernest's father.

He had asked her to come over to their house immediately as they had discovered more information about what happened to Ernest.

Catherine had always suspected that her father hadn't told her the truth about what had happened to Ernest.

Now she might just be able to learn the truth about what happened to her fiancée.

Giving her father an excuse that Ernest's mother was ill, as to why she was rushing off to see Ernest's parents at 9 pm at night.

She then took her car and drove straight to Ernest's parent's house.

When she walked into the Littlefield's living room Catherine was stunned to see Ernest sitting on the sofa next to his mother.

Catherine then ran to Ernest and enveloped him in a hug before she kissed him passionately.

It was only when the kiss finished did she ask where Ernest had been all these years.

Ernest looked at Catherine and his parents before he said, "Catherine, Your father and I got the ring to work.

Unfortunately I was unable to dial back.

Obviously your father must have written me off when I failed to make contact the second time he dialled the address." Ernest said bitterly.

"I've spent the last three and a bit years flying back here.

But it wasn't all spelling like a rose.

We have enemies who would destroy us in the blink of an eye if they knew we have developed a technological society.

I know this is asking a lot but I need to use your father's connections with the military to get the program the highest level of support.

If we don't do this I doubt for the long term survival of the Earth."

Catherine thought about this for a moment and then said, "All right, but first we have another important matter to attend to first.

Ernest we are getting married as soon as we can get the marriage licence my father be damned."

With this said Catherine kissed Ernest again and Ernest realised for the first time that this wasn't a dream and everything would be all right.

Professor Paul Langford was concerned when his daughter hadn't returned by midnight.

When Catherine did return just after 2 am, she merely told her father that she was going to bed.

As she started walking up the stairs to her bedroom she also said over her shoulder, "Oh dad just one more thing I'm getting married in two weeks."

Paul Langford was left stunned as he heard his daughter's bedroom door close and lock.

When he heard the latter Paul knew he wouldn't get anything more from his strong minded daughter tonight.

Paul didn't get much sleep that night as he kept wondering who Catherine's fiancée was.

He didn't even know she had been dating again after Ernest's loss.

The next morning he still couldn't get a straight answer from Catherine who would only say that her fiancée was coming over for lunch and she had to make sure that the house was perfect and the roast that was being prepared for lunch was the best it could be.

Seeing Catherine, the maid and the cook all busy and not wanting to get roped into some of the tasks that only a "man" could do Paul Langford retreated to his study to finish grading the papers his students had submitted.

At the designated time Paul Langford heard a car pull up outside his house and heard the front door open as Catherine went out to greet her fiancée.

When he heard the door open again and a strangely familiar male voice was heard Paul decided he had better meet his future son-in-law who Catherine had escorted into the sitting room.

When Paul Langford entered the sitting room he staggered to a stop and then stuttered, "Ernest!"

Ernest Littlefield stared at the man who had abandoned him and said, "Hello Paul! Long, time no see.

It took me a long time to get back and I'm going to make up for lost time.

We have much to discuss but that is best done later after lunch in the privacy of your study.

Besides I don't want to be deprived of a moment of my lovely fiancé Catherine's company.

And she will be joining us in the study after lunch as what I have to say will affect her future as well as my own."

With this said Ernest took Catherine's hand and asked her what she had been doing while he had been away.

Later that evening Professor Paul Langford pondered what Ernest had told him.

When he had heard about the hostile aliens he was all for dumping the stargate in the deepest part of the ocean.

But when advised that the aliens could also come in ships meant that doing so was sheer folly.

The stargate and the ancient alien facility was probably the Earth's only means of defence.

He knew that the United States Army Air force had disbanded the program after Ernest's loss and stored the stargate away somewhere.

Knowing that he had to take action he contacted a friend from the former Office of Strategic Services that became the central Intelligence agency and asked a favour.

USAF Chief of Staff, General Hoyt Sanford Vandenberg wondered what he was doing on a farm in New Jersey.

He had been asked to come here by a subordinate that he trusted implicitly about a secret program that was run during the latter stages of the war.

He had pulled the files of this Project Giza and was staggered.

If it hadn't been for the movie reel of this stairway to heaven in operation he would have dismissed it as a fairy tale.

As he pondered this, the door to the farmhouse opened and out stepped Professor Paul Langford, his daughter Catherine and another man.

General Vandenberg took a double look at the man holding Catherine Langford's hand.

If he wasn't mistaken then that was Doctor Ernest Littlefield who had been lost going through the stairway to heaven and when he didn't return declared dead.

When the party reached him Ernest Littlefield said, "General Vandenberg, I have something to show you and a request.

Once you have seen what I'm about to show you I guarantee you'll want to reactivate Project Giza as it is essential to not only the survival of the United States of America but the Earth as a whole."

With this said Ernest gestured to the barn several hundred feet from the farmhouse and started walking towards the side door.

General Vandenberg was flabbergasted when he entered the barn to find a strange craft sitting amongst the various farming machinery.

Ernest smiled at General Vandenberg's shocked expression and said, "Seeing is believing general if you board I'll take you on a short trip to the dark side of the moon where the Aurelius is in a parking orbit.

Once there we can discuss things in a secure location and make plans for the future."

General Vandenberg stared at the Aurelius already thinking about the possibilities.

Even though he wanted to keep Project Giza and the potential ships like the Aurelius under the control of the USAF he knew that politically it would be impossible.

Besides if he could present such a plum to the Chief of Naval Operations he was sure that he could retain control of Project Giza while having the navy pay half the budget.

He was already thinking of hiding project Giza in plain sight at the base of the strategic air command at Offutt Air Force Base.

With all the coming and going at Offutt Air Force Base not to mention the ongoing construction a new properly designed base for Project Giza could be easily hidden amongst everything else at Offutt Air Force Base with nobody the wiser.

After having toured the Aurelius and been returned to the Earth, General Vandenberg immediately set about restarting Project Giza at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.

Once this was done he made a phone call to Admiral Louis E Denfeld, the Chief of Naval Operations for an urgent meeting.

Admiral Louis E Denfeld, the Chief of Naval Operations wondered what was so urgent that General Hoyt S Vandenberg needed him to meet at a goddamn farm in the middle of nowhere.

General Vandenberg and his lap dog Curtis Le May were not his favourite people at the moment.

With the Truman administration intent on gutting the navy in favour of the cheaper Air force plan to defend the United States of America through the threat of saturation nuclear bombardment.

Still if a compromise was possible then it was his duty to the country and the US navy to hear Vandenberg out.

Lieutenant General Curtis Le May was wondering what was going on.

The Airforce chief of Staff General Hoyt S Vandenberg had ordered more construction at Offutt Air Force Base that wasn't part of the Strategic Air Command.

But even stranger was the large heavy square but flat crate that had arrived guarded by no less than a company of Air force security forces who had orders to shoot anybody who approached the crate without permission.

Le May was dying to know what was so important about the crate but he wasn't on the list.

He was also incensed that another airforce division was going to be based at his airforce base but he'd have no control over this Project Giza.

He shouldn't have even known the name but a friend in the Security forces had accidentally dropped the name of the project in passing.

General Hoyt S Vandenberg needed somebody who could cope with a secret program and unfortunately the best candidate was somebody he disliked immensely.

Still Paul Tibbets had successfully trained the first crews for the delivery of the first atomic bombardment missions and this Project Giza would also keep him out of sight.

With the decision made he arranged for Paul Tibbets to be promoted to Brigadier general and placed in command of Project Giza.

As a backup he decided to inform Curtis LeMay of the program so that he could keep an eye on Tibbets for him even if LeMay would have no operational command over Project Giza.

On to other matters Doctor Ernest Littlefield was certain that the alien facility he had been trapped in must be able to build other things than just ships.

General Vandenberg thought that if it could build advanced bombers and fighters then the technology gap they had over the Soviets would only increase.

And the old Glenn L. Martin bomber plant at Offutt Air Force Base would be the perfect cover for alien technology based fighters and bombers.

But because of the 22 feet (6.7 m) in diameter size of the stargate any bomber or fighter produced at the alien facility would have to be modular in design and sent through the stargate for final assembly at the bomber plant at Offutt Air Force Base.

General Curtis LeMay was bemused by some of the orders he had received.

The old Glenn L. Martin bomber plant had been due to be demolished but had instead been re-purposed as part of Project Giza.

The bomber plant had been gutted and a really deep bunker complex being built beneath it.

Admiral Louis E Denfeld, the Chief of Naval Operations met General Hoyt S Vandenberg at a farm in New Jersey.

He was surprised when he was escorted into a barn that held one of the strangest aircraft he had ever seen.

He was surprised to see that the pilots were a young couple that he was sure he had seen them holding hands as he entered the aircraft.

Then the aircraft took off and before he knew it the strange aircraft was heading for orbit.

Shocked by what he was experiencing, he barely listened to General Hoyt S Vandenberg as he explained the situation.

Admiral Denfeld was stunned by the sight of the Aurelius but then his mind kicked into gear as he contemplated the offer he had received.

The offer the airforce was making was simply too good to refuse.

The navy could have a fleet of space based ships that the US government wouldn't have to pay for and could be crewed by less than a dozen men.

It would be at least a year before Project Giza was ready to restart and another year after that before any ship construction could possibly begin.

But it gave hope to the navy in the face of the Truman administrations post war defence cuts.

And the cost to the navy was to help fund Project Giza, supply additional manpower from the Marine Corps and to run interference to stop the politicians closing the Project Giza down.

It was a bargain anyway you locked at it and Denfeld couldn't wait to get his hand on the Aurelius.

Lt Colonel Jonathan Stephen O'Neill, United States Army Airforce, (retired) raised an eyebrow as he collected his mail.

The last thing he had expected was a letter from the Department of the Air Force, but more confusing was his recall to duty after having taken early retirement at the end of the war.

He was enjoying his retirement on half pay with his wife Kathleen and for the life of him he wondered what the Airforce wanted with a has been pilot and manpower officer.

Sure he had helped with the 509th composite group getting the right people for the required roles that had taken some finagling and more than a couple of presidential orders.

Still he was only a retired former manpower officer well now former retired manpower officer.

He just wondered what the Airforce wanted with him now and how to explain his recall to duty order to Kathleen.

Brigadier General Paul Tibbets smiled when he was notified that Lt Colonel Jonathan Stephen O'Neill had been recalled to active duty.

Paul was going to need Jack's organisational skills especially when the alien facility started producing aircraft and ships.

Jack could get stuff done when nobody else could as long as you didn't ask questions how he did it.

The second the stargate was operational again the first thing he would do was to send Jack to the alien facility with Doctor Ernest Littlefield to get it fully functional again.

Admiral Denfeld, General Vandenberg and General LeMay wanted the alien facility operational yesterday for their own individual reasons and Paul Tibbets knew that Jack O'Neill was the man for the job.

The wedding of Ernest Littlefield and Catherine Langford was a strange affair.

Strange in the way that the groom was followed everywhere by an airforce security team.

Even on their honeymoon the newlyweds were followed everywhere by Ernest's airforce security team.

Not that Catherine minded, if she had to put up with additional security to have Ernest then so be it.

Besides with her former and current knowledge her security clearance had been upgraded and she had made it clear that where Ernest went she was going too regardless of what the powers that be thought of the situation.

After their honeymoon Ernest and Catherine Littlefield held a meeting with General Vandenberg and Paul Langford.

During the meeting it was decided that Professor Langford would resume his role as director of Project Giza with Ernest as his deputy director.

Brigadier general Paul Tibbets would be the overall military commander reporting directly to General Vandenberg.

As the meeting was coming to an end Ernest announced that he and Catherine would be leaving the following morning to return to the alien facility so that it would be operational when the stargate was ready to commence operations.

This wasn't the only bombshell he dropped.

He also announced that a new control device had been constructed and was ready to be collected from his uncle's farm along with a communications device that could contact either the Aurelius of the alien facility instantaneously.

With the control device powering the stargate an external power source for the stargate would no longer be required and would cut the costs of the program dramatically.

Any arguments about Ernest and Catherine leaving were dismissed by Ernest, who merely said, "You couldn't stop us leaving even if you tried.

There is other technology that would enable us to leave and your security forces wouldn't be any the wiser until they tried to find us."

With this said the meeting broke up and General Vandenberg wondered if he had just mortgaged his job on the responsibility of two headstrong young people.

Doctor Catherine Littlefield really liked the long journey she and Ernest had undertaken to return to the alien facility.

By the most direct route it was only a little over a month away and she was enjoying every moment of the journey.

She studied the alien database during the day and made love to Ernest every night.

Life couldn't be better for her.

Studying where the alien facility was she noticed that it was on the very edge of the Milky Way galaxy.

This implied to her that these aliens that looked remarkably like humans were most likely extra galactic in origins but the database was strangely absent of any indications of where they originally came from.

It was almost as if they were running from something and had deliberately removed the data of their origins from their records.

Still the knowledge they possessed was mind blowing even to an archaeologist and anthropologist like her.

But soon their extended honeymoon would be over and the real work would begin.

Catherine was thankful for the medical treatment Ernest had given her in the Aurelius' hospital as she hadn't felt or looked better.

Finishing her contemplations Catherine decided to go find Ernest and drag him back to bed for more fun times before the real work begins.

When they arrived at the alien facility the real work began.

Not that they had been out of contact with the Earth, General Vandenberg and Paul Langford had contacted then at least once a day to discover how they were fairing and to give reports on the new base for the stargate.

It had been decided that they couldn't wait for the purpose built base to be finished so as soon as Ernest and Catherine indicated that they had arrived at the alien facility the stargate would begin operating out of a heavily guarded underground weapons storage facility.

Upon their arrival Ernest immediately sat in the throne like control chair and enquires the state of the facility.

Resource levels were at 0.01% and the virtual intelligence recommended the immediate deployment of automated resource collection units to mine and process the required resources.

Ernest immediately approved the virtual intelligence's recommendation and almost immediately the stargate started to dial and strange robotic spider like machines appeared and marched through the active wormhole to an address that Ernest had never seen before.

Once this was done Ernest reviewed the other reports on the facility.

Energy production was nearing the minimum sustainable level and refuelling would take place as soon as the first of the resources were returned.

Ernest realised that he had accidentally depleted most of the remaining resources in the construction of the Aurelius in his desire to return home.

But then again he hadn't learnt how to really use the control chairs until after he had left on the Aurelius.

Deciding that he had better report this Ernest used the communications device to speak to Professor Langford and advise him that due to lack of resources the facility will take some time to return to optimum functionality.

When Paul asked how long until it will be so that they could organise the first people to relieve him and Catherine.

Ernest once again queried the virtual intelligence and was advised that at the optimum resources gathering rates the facility would return to full functionality in three weeks and two days.

Advising Paul of this he sighed in relief as it would still be another month for the first people to pass the clearance protocols.

Pail Langford then advised his son-in-law that before that he was going to have some very important visitors as Admiral Denfeld, Generals Vandenberg, Tibbets and himself would arrive to tour and inspect the alien facility.

This tour was scheduled to take place in a week's time when both of the service chiefs had clear spots in their calendars.

While he waited for the VIP visit Ernest decided to play with the virtual intelligence to see what kind of bomber and fighter designs were in the databanks and whether they could be modified for use by the USAF.

The VIP tour was nearly complete, everybody who hadn't already had the benefits of a nanite infusion received one but the piece de resistance for Admiral Denfeld was the mile long frame of the battle cruiser that was under construction.

Ernest smiled at the look on Admiral Denfeld's face and said, "It can be crewed by a single person but normally it would have a crew of twenty.

Whoever you choose to operate it will need substantial training but the vessel is heavily automated.

I decided to start construction on it so you would see the tangible benefits of this facility.

The battle cruiser design is an existing design in the facilities database but you could easily design your own.

Like I did for General Vandenberg."

Then turning to General Vandenberg he said, "If your will look straight ahead you will see designs for a fighter and a bomber.

There were no existing bomber designs in the database so I had the virtual intelligence design one but the fighter was a pre-existing design."

Generals Vandenberg and Tibbets could only stare at the sleek delta winged craft.

Ernest continued, "Both are capable of flying into space and a rough calculation suggests that the bomber could reach targets anywhere on the Earth within forty minutes.

Though the technology to build them only exists here at present we should be able to rapidly introduce the technology here to America.

Oh and on a side note you don't really have to worry about others stealing the technology, as some of the materials used in the construction aren't found of the Earth, so any copies our enemies make will be inferior in every way."

After all the VIP's returned to the Earth, Catherine approached Ernest wrapped her arms around him and said, "There is one other thing that was left out of the briefing that would have been of interest to father.

Ernest I'm pregnant!

We're going to have a baby!"

Ernest just stood there stunned for a minute before he turned Catherine around and started kissing her passionately.

After they finished the kiss Ernest started worrying and stated that perhaps it might be best if Catherine returned to the Earth to have and raise the baby.

Feeling Catherine stiffen in her arms and the look of fury in her eyes he quickly added or we could get a medical opinion before we make any hasty decisions.

Colonel Jonathan Stephen O'Neill liked being a full bird colonel.

Brigadier General Paul Tibbets had presented him with his silver Eagles upon him reporting for duty.

Then he was given his first task to go and appropriate experienced aircraft assemblers for roles in assembling new fighters and bombers that would be constructed modularly elsewhere and then assembled at the former Martin Bomber plant.

But before he was to start he needed his complete briefing on Project Giza.

The second he heard the project name Jack knew he was being dragged into another top secret project like he had at operation silverplate.

Jack stared in awe at the stargate and was completely bemused when Tibbets took him through the stargate to the alien facility.

The alien facility was now fully functional but still there were only two permanent residents in Doctors Ernest and Catherine Littlefield but Jack knew that would change very quickly.

Jack was fascinated by the control chair and everybody was surprised when he sat in it and it reclined just like it did for Ernest.

Testing showed that although he could use the control chair it wasn't as responsive to him as it was for Ernest and certain commands and controls were restricted from his use.

General Tibbets was pleased that they had another person who could use the control chair even if it was with limited functionality.

He decided to launch an investigation into why Ernest and Colonel O'Neill could use the control chair to differing degrees yet others couldn't.

Not that it mattered to Paul Tibbets.

All he cared about was getting the facility producing fighters and bombers so that he could keep Vandenberg and LeMay off his back.

Ernest already had the navy Admiral Denfeld happy even if the facility could only build six vessels a year at maximum production rates.

Luckily the fighters and bombers could be built using different construction facilities so the navy wouldn't have to surrender any production capacity to the airforce meaning he could keep both service chiefs happy.

But now he and Jack O'Neill had to return to the Earth to get the people in place to fully staff the alien facility and the old Martin bomber plant to assemble the fighters and bombers that the facility would build in modular components.

The advent of the Korean War saw the Truman administration in an invidious situation.

Due to the Truman administrations defence cuts neither the navy nor the army could deploy quickly enough for the situation at hand.

Even the airforce though better prepared only had older aircraft that it could deploy at short notice.

With the Korean war taking much of the Truman administration attention nobody paid attention to the strange goings on at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska or why the USAF and Navy were spending money and sending personnel to something called Project Giza.

Project Giza wouldn't be noticed by the politicians for many years as it was only when the Airforce started deploying fighters and bombers in numbers that couldn't be explained as having been purchased through previous budgetary allocations.

General Curtis Emerson LeMay wanted bigger bang for his bucks but at present the nuclear weapons he possessed were large cumbersome devices.

So he was surprised when he was asked to visit the alien facility with Brigadier General Paul Tibbets and General Hoyt S Vandenberg.

It would be his first visit to the alien facility and he hoped not the last.

Ernest was waiting for Generals LeMay, Tibbets and Vandenberg to arrive.

He had discovered something amazing studying the properties of the elements that were constructing the aircraft and vessels for the United States of America.

If you added a small quantity of this naquadah to a fissile isotopic weapon you could increase its yield a hundred fold.

This would enable atomic bombs to be made smaller and lighter while still having a greater explosive force then the current generation of atomic weapons.

Generals LeMay, Tibbets and Vandenberg were fascinated by Ernest's discovery that this naquadah, the same stuff that the stargate is made of could also be used to boost the power of atomic weapons.

Curtis LeMay wanted the Los Alamos National Laboratory to start experimenting with naquadah enhanced bombs immediately.

Ernest just smiled and presented each of the generals a two and a half pound block of naquadah to carry back with them when they returned to the Earth.

When the generals returned to the Earth the naquadah was immediately placed under heavy guard and flown to the Los Alamos National Laboratory for the experimentation to begin.

Doctor Edward Teller was fascinated by the new super heavy element that had turned up at the Los Alamos National Laboratory under heavy guard.

He had been told nothing other than its name Naquadah and that it could boost the effects of atomic weapons a thousand fold.

Initial tests indicated that this naquadah was very reactive and highly explosive.

Yet it was also highly stable and not radioactive like the other heavy elements.

Naquadah was an enigma its properties shouldn't allow it to be stable and non-radioactive yet the tests proved that the claims about naquadah were correct.

It could boost the yield of fission bombs and Edward couldn't wait to test a naquadah enhanced hydrogen bomb.

Unfortunately all other tests of naquadah had been banned from both the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory that he had just helped to found, due to the potential for and explosion to kill many irreplaceable nuclear scientists.

The US army had heard about Project Giza and wanted in on the action.

Even though the decision had been made on Ernest's recommendation that no exploration be done through the stargate until the Earth had means of defence if the Goa'uld came calling.

Seeing that this defence could only be built from the ancient alien facility in the form of the ships that were slowly being constructed for the US navy.

So to placate the US army it was decided that army medical staff would be sent to the alien facility to monitor the health of those people working there and to study any available medical technology.

Colonel Sherman Tecumseh Potter was surprised when instead of being sent to Korea he and a Major Margaret Houlihan were to report for a permanent change of duty station at Offutt AFB, Nebraska.

For Colonel Potter this was the best of both worlds as he would be based not far from his home in Hannibal, Missouri and wouldn't have to relocate his wife from the bosom of their family.

McDonnell Douglas and North American Aviation were not happy when some of their best and most experienced aircraft assemblers were essentially press ganged into working for the US airforce at the recently refurbished Glenn L. Martin bomber plant at Offutt AFB, Nebraska.

This facility remaining in operation meant that Offutt AFB needed to be expanded much to the delight of the State of Nebraska who would have even more federal funding spent in acquiring land and building more runways at Offutt AFB.

The aviation companies didn't complain too loudly as they both knew that the Airforce would be buying large quantities of aircraft in the coming years to allow the Strategic air command to fulfil its mission to defend the United States of America.

Colonel Potter and Major Houlihan were staggered after they had signed their non-disclosure agreements and had been briefed on their new roles as part of Project Giza.

While Sherman Potter had some concerns about being be demolecularised and transported to the other side of the galaxy, Margaret Houlihan found the situation fascinating.

Not that either of them had any choice in the matter as the army had issued their orders and they were expected to obey.

Colonel Potter as the Chief Medical Officer of Project Giza would spend most of his time at at Offutt AFB, Nebraska while Major Houlihan would be a near permanent presence at the ancient alien facility.

General Curtis LeMay started at the first fighter-bomber interceptor delivered from the alien facility.

It had been designated the F-4 Phantom and would be ready for its shakedown fight by the end of the day.

But his eyes were concentrated of the still incomplete frame of the B-70 Valkyrie, exospheric bomber.

Nothing the Soviet Union possessed could catch this aircraft but its speed was also its greatest limitation so the B-52 program would continues in modified form with technology from the B-70 Valkyrie to be used to extend its speed and endurance.

The McDonnell Douglas Aeronautical engineer, George S. Schairer scratched his head at some of the design changes, components and materials to be incorporated into the B-52 design upgrade.

The use of this trinium alloy alone would reduce the weight of the B-52 by half but for the life of him George couldn't figure out where all this new stuff came from.

It was so advanced that it had to have come from some super secret government think tank or quite possibly more Nazi technology that somebody else had found.

But what was even stranger was that the US Airforce was providing all the components and materials to be incorporated into the B-52 design upgrade free of charge.

Lieutenant commander James Lemuel Holloway III wondered what was going on.

He was about to be deployed to Korea on an aircraft carrier for another tour of duty when his orders were suddenly changed.

James suspected that his father the Chief of Naval Personnel had a hand in his change of duty station.

But even as a naval aviator he still wondered why he was being stationed at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, the headquarters of the Strategic Air Command division of the USAF.

Still orders were orders and he had to obey.

When he arrived for his briefing he knew something strange was going on when he saw a newly minted Captain Elmo Russell "Bud" Zumwalt Jr and a number of other naval officers.

Strangely most of the officers present were surface and submarine specialists with no other naval aviators in sight.

What was more surprising was that Admiral Louis E Denfeld; the Chief of Naval Operations was present for the briefing.

The naval officers were stunned after having signed their non-disclosure agreements and had been briefed on their new roles as part of Project Giza.

Once they had got over their shock they were taken through the stargate and then to the USSS Franklin D. Roosevelt the first of the US navies deep space battlecruisers.

Captain Elmo Russell "Bud" Zumwalt Jr would be its commander with Lieutenant commander James Lemuel Holloway III as his executive officer.

Though this would only be a short term role for James has he was slated for command of one of these battlecruisers in a couple of year's time.

The newly formed KGB was getting some very strange information from the USA.

The Americans had seemed to have suddenly jumped forward technologically in their aircraft and missile designs.

Designs that the USSR couldn't easily duplicate.

They set their spies in the USA to get as much information as they could on these American technological breakthroughs.

President Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower had been hearing rumours about a super secret Airforce program that had the backing of the entire military.

This surprised him as normally the various arms of the US military butted heads over funding.

Deciding to get to the bottom of the mystery that was this Project Giza.

He ordered the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Arthur William Radford and General Hoyt Sanford Vandenberg, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force to give him a full briefing on the strangely Egyptian sounding project.

Ike was astounded by what he had heard during the briefing but even more so by the fact that this ancient alien facility was building deep space combat cruisers and aerospace fighter and bombers for the airforce.

He found himself both agreeing with Doctor Ernest Littlefield and disagreeing with him over the issue of exploring through the stargate.

One thing he was sure of was that the knowledge and technology of that alien facility needed to be assimilated as quickly as possible into American industry and academia.

Then Ike agreed that the Airforce could continue to run the program as they had shown great prudence As such project Giza would now get funding from every agency in the United States not just the military.

And each agency would have one person sworn into the project to both protect the projects funding and get the skilled personnel it would need from whatever fields necessary.

He then ordered that an off world base be set up so that exploration of the stargate network could begin with no threat to the Earth.

He then threw Admiral Radford and General Vandenberg a curve ball by asking if the facility or the other world close to the earth could help identify the Aliens that had crashed at Roswell and then mysteriously disappeared from a heavily guarded base several weeks later.

Catherine Littlefield felt like a bloated whale.

She had wanted to return to the Earth for the latter stages of her pregnancy.

But Colonel Potter the Chief Medical Officer of Project Giza, and Major Houlihan wouldn't hear anything of it as they stated that they didn't know enough about stargate travel to allow a pregnant woman to transit through a wormhole.

At least Catherine wasn't alone any more with just Ernest for company.

More scientists and technicians arrived everyday with al of them being military or former military who had been reactivated.

Catherine did giggle a bit when she remembers the navy trying to take the Aurelius only to discover that it was keyed to only respond to Ernest.

She found it funny that Ernest had essentially his own private armed yacht and there was nothing that the navy could do about it.

Still in a couple of weeks she would have her baby to concentrate on.

Then she wondered if it would be possible for her to get a nanny to help with the baby while she continued her research into the alien database.

At Project Giza, the stargate had just been moved to its permanent home when an un-scheduled off world activation took place.

Knowing the danger the control device was separated from the stargate in its own armoured room.

Because of the equipment and parts required to be transported by the stargate it was at the rear of a very large cavern.

At the other end were the defences heavy machine guns and light cannons manned 24 / 7 all with new trinium naquadah rounds.

When the Jaffa of Heru'Ur exited the Chappa'ai they immediately tried to locate the control device then they noticed the humans with weapons pointed at them.

The prime in charge levels his staff and ordered the hums to surrender and bow before their new god Heru'Ur.

Not that this matted for the moment he raised that staff the USAF security forces opened fire.

The new trinium naquadah rounds cut straight through the Jaffa armour like it wasn't even there.

With the amount of weapons fire the Jaffa were cut to pieces leaving no Jaffa or symbiote alive.

When his Jaffa failed to return Heru'Ur assumed that the Chappa'ai to the first world was still in accessible.

He would eventually along with the rest of the Goa'uld System Lords realise what a mistake this was and by the time he found this out it would be too late to do anything about.

The knowledge and technology that was coming from the alien facility continually amazed President Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower.

The problem was that most of the knowledge and technology couldn't be immediately used, as the USA had to develop the precursor technology to be able to develop what they had already discovered.

Sure there was technology and equipment that the alien facility could build and ship through the stargate that could be put to immediate use.

One thing he did want to do was to create the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

This new agency was to have a distinctly civilian orientation, encouraging peaceful applications in space science.

But Ike wasn't above giving them a bit of a boost and asked Professor Paul Langford if the alien facility could build a couple of dozen of those shuttlecraft for NASA's use.

Plus the advanced shuttlecraft would drive the communists insane trying to duplicate the design.

Of course this would probably annoy the airforce that would get a few less bombers and fighters over the next couple of years.

But that was the price they would have to pay for controlling project Giza as now every agency and department in the US government was contributing to the funding of project Giza by executive order.

Ernest and Catherine Littlefield were ecstatic at the birth of their son Ernest junior.

Ernest had wanted a different name but Catherine had insisted that he be named after his father.

It was during a family moment that Colonel Potter discovered that a family connection must be needed to control the control chair.

He had arrived to check on little Ernest when the baby made it known that he wanted to be fed.

The only chair close to the stargate was the control chair so Catherine took him there and started to nurse him.

It was when one of little Ernest's feet touched one of the arms of the control chair that it reclined like it did for Ernest and Colonel O'Neill surprised both Catherine and Colonel Potter as it had never done it before for Catherine.

Colonel Potter had been studying a medical field called genetics, which had intrigued him, and he realised that some people like Ernest and Colonel O'Neill must have a genetic connection to the aliens that created this facility.

It was Catherine Littlefield who then filled in a blank by answering one of Sherman Potter's questions with, "Well these aliens looked very much like us and the Earth was one of their main colonies. Perhaps we are their descendants but only some people have a strong enough family connection to use all of their technology."

This statement left Colonel Potter much to ponder.

Wernher von Braun wondered what was going on.

He and around 1,600 other German scientists, engineers, and technicians, had been moved to the United States of America as part of Operation Paperclip.

But now he and many others who had worked for the Nazis were now being kicked out of America as if they were no longer needed.

Wernher was seeing his dream of space travel disappear before his eyes.

His rocket development program had been cancelled but the USA was already deploying rockets and craft that could easily reach orbit.

And he didn't know how they had developed those without his knowledge.

It was almost as if the Americans had found a source of immense knowledge and no longer had a need for research only technical development.

Whatever the reason he and his family and countless other Germans who had worked for the Nazis were now being sent back to Germany and whatever fate held for them.

The NASA officials were astounded by the extra-atmospheric shuttle-craft that the USAF had provided them.

But still the question was where and when did they develop it?

They knew that President Eisenhower had ordered the USAF to provide NASA with these craft but they seemed way too advanced.

Yet a lot of advanced technology had been developed in a very short space of time.

Some said it was the result of reverse engineered alien technology from the Roswell crash but the more realistic thought it most likely were refinements of technology the Nazis had been working on.

In the end it didn't matter NASA were to get twenty of these shuttlecraft and then they could start the real space exploration.

Edward Teller couldn't wait for the test of the naquadah-enhanced fusion bomb he had designed.

Because of the still relative unknown properties of naquadah he had added considerable more to the design then the maths said was strictly required.

The resulting 25gigaton explosion obliterated Bikini Atoll and triggered volcanic eruptions around the entire Ring of Fire for years to come.

The subsequent investigation saw Teller lose his position at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and his security clearance effectively ending his career as an experimental nuclear physicist.

Edward Teller would spend the rest of his working life teaching physics to High School students.

The obliteration of Bikini Atoll shocked President Eisenhower and the rest of the world in general.

Seeing how dangerous naquadah enhanced nuclear weapons could be President Eisenhower asked Project Giza if there were safer ways of producing energy other than nuclear fission.

Project Giza and Ernest Littlefield came through for Ike in spades when he discover the design for a deuterium fuelled controlled fusion reactor in the alien facilities databanks.

And best of all it could be built using Earth available materials though some components of a technical nature would still need to be manufactured at the alien facility due to the technology not yet existing to build these components on the Earth.

At his Atoms for Peace speech, delivered by U.S. President Dwight D.

Eisenhower to the UN General Assembly in New York City, offered the world plans for deuterium fuelled controlled fusion reactors.

These deuterium fuelled controlled fusion reactors would be available to all but certain parts would have to be manufactured in the United States as only they had the technical ability to construct them at this time.

The Atoms for peace speech effectively killed the nuclear fission power industry before many fission reactors were constructed.

The reasoning being it was better to use the cleaner fusion reactors that didn't produce radioactive by products and also produced more energy than the fission designs.

Another side effect of releasing the plans for deuterium fuelled controlled fusion reactors was anybody who did build large scale fission plants was a near certain give away that they were using it as a program to produce nuclear weapons.

The USSR was struggling to compete with the technological advances that the United States of America seemed to be pulling out of thin air.

The problem wasn't the technology itself as the KGB was its efficient self in acquiring the knowledge and schematics for the technologies.

No the problem was the cost of putting those technologies into production.

With mass obsolescence on this scale the USSR simply couldn't afford to replace what it had struggled to construct.

Now the USAF had these F-4 Phantom interceptors and the B-70 Valkyrie, exospheric bombers were flying over the USSR with impunity.

Not that the USSR had anything that could reach the heights these aircraft flew at.

On top of these wondrous craft there was also the B-52 Stratofortress that was to low level bombing that the B-70 Valkyrie was to high altitude bombing.

If the military aspects of American technological advancement wasn't bad enough now they had deuterium fuelled controlled fusion reactors that were far better and less dangerous than the fissile isotopic reactors.

Catherine Littlefield couldn't believe her luck.

No sooner had she given birth to her first child then she discovered that she was pregnant with another.

She had no idea that she and Ernest were so fertile.

Normally when a woman is breast feeding an infant she normally should fall pregnant at least not straight away.

This wasn't the case in her case thinking back to when she and Ernest wee intimate she realised that she must have fallen pregnant the very first time she had sex after having given birth.

Colonel Potter and Major Houlihan were amazed that she had fallen pregnant so quickly stating that it was not normal jet not unheard of.

They speculated that Catherine might just be one of the very few women who continue to ovulate even while breast feeding an infant.

During his last term in office President Eisenhower asked Project Giza for suggestions on how to improve the Earth's technology so that they are more competitive against the Goa'uld.

The recommendation he received from Doctor Ernest Littlefield fascinated Ike.

Ernest suggested that the United States skip the silicon chip stage of electronics entirely and instead go straight to crystal based computing and electronics.

He went on to advise that the Ancient alien facility could easily produce a production line for crystal based electronics that would allow production to take place in the United States of America.

This would have a twofold effect of not trying down the Ancient alien facilities manufacturing capabilities while at the same time providing the United States with an unmatched advantage of the other nations of the Earth when it came to consumer goods.

President Eisenhower decided to run with Doctor Littlefield's idea as it had advantages long term for the United States of America while also guaranteeing his place as one of the great American presidents.

Colonel Jonathan Stephen O'Neill carried his grandson Jonathan J O'Neill through the stargate to the ancient facility.

Colonel Sherman Potter had requested the visit when he heard that Jack had a grandson.

Colonel Potter wanted to test little Jack to see if the control chair would respond to him like it did to the Littlefield's children.

The discovery that little Jack did in fact activate the control chair came as no surprise as Colonel Potter was nearly certain that genetics played a part in controlling the Ancients technology.

He was also certain that these Ancient had interbred with the Earth humans sometime in the distant past allowing some families the ability to use their technology to certain degrees.

Rear Admiral Elmo Russell "Bud" Zumwalt Jr was astounded when he was informed of his most recent promotion.

With the growing space fleet it had been decided that having eighteen deep space battle cruisers under his command was too much responsibility for a mere rear admiral.

Hence his promotion to Vice Admiral and the United States navy space fleet was broken into battle squadrons of six vessel each.

Each squadron would in turn be commandeered by a rear admiral lower half.

This command structure would remain in place until more of the deep space battlecruisers were constructed.

Eventually the United States Space Navy would have multiple fleets of twenty four vessels each with each vice admiral answerable to the commanding admiral of the United States Space fleet until a more formal arrangement is made for the space fleet.

Jolinar of Malkshur had finally convinced the Tok'Ra High Council that the Tau'ri needs a close eye kept on them especially now that they had access to a ship that was more powerful than any known Goa'uld vessel.

She and Selmak had taken a cloaked tel'tak to the first world and what they found terrified them.

They counted no less than a couple of dozen heavy warships similar in design to that Jolinar had previously seen.

But it was the disparate technologies that scared them the most.

Once nation state seemed to have developed technologies that no other had.

In fact certain technologies the Tok'ra didn't possess either.

This proved that the advanced faction not only had the chappa'ai operating but also had discovered a source of technology that the Goa'uld or the Tok'ra didn't possess.

They were just about to head for a closer look when one of the warships started heading straight for the cloaked tel'tak.

Realising that they had been discovered Selmak managed to jump to hyperspace just before the vessel was able to intercept them.

The latest incursion by the Goa'uld drew the attention of the United States militaries Joint Chiefs of Staff.

After they have discussed the matter it was decided to take a more proactive approach to the Goa'uld needed to be taken.

This stance was led by the marines and the army who to this point in time had gained little from Project Giza.

President Eisenhower on being briefed on the situation decided that if the Goa'uld were going to continue their aggressive acts then two could play at that game.

But being concerned that the Goa'uld might try another incursion at Project Giza at Offutt Air Force Base.

Realising the Project Giza was their link to the Ancient alien facility and it couldn't be endangered he authorised the creation of an off world base where the Army and Marine corps could take the fight to the Goa'uld.

Ike also ordered that a means be found to prevent unwanted visitors from coming through the stargate at Offutt Air Force Base.

General Hoyt S Vandenberg was concerned that with the growing number of military personnel from other services that the Navy, Army or marine corps might just try to put a fast one and station a higher ranking officer than Brigadier General Tibbets to try and gain control of the military aspects of Project Giza.

Deciding this couldn't be allowed he promoted Tibbets to major general and Jonathan S O'Neill to brigadier General.

This way the only way the army or navy could exert undue pressure was to appoint a Lieutenant General and that would require a corps level command slot and congressional approval.

Major General Paul Tibbets looked at the newly installed steel shutter that had been quickly installed above the stargate.

At the first sign of an enemy beachhead situation it would drop down in front of the active event horizon prevent any further enemies from coming through the stargate.

This was only a stop gap measure as Doctor Ernest Littlefield was sure he could develop a force shield for the same purpose.

But in the meantime he was constructing a naquadah trinium retractable iris that could be installed in front of the stargate.

This was only a minor concern to General Tibbets, his main one were the teams of force Reconnaissance marines that would be exploring stargate addresses to fine one that would be suitable to conduct military operations from.

During his monthly presidential briefing on the activities of Project Giza Ike was advised that Doctor Ernest Littlefield had discovered in interesting piece of technology, the permeable shield that would allow air and contact to be made but would prevent higher velocity items from making contact with the wearer.

On hearing this technology being described to President Eisenhower, his secret service detail chief broke into the conversation.

He demanded the immediate construction of this device to protect the current and future presidents from potential assassination attempts while still allowing them to perform their presidential duties relatively risk free.

Once this item was dealt with Ike expressed his unease with allowing the force reconnaissance marines to use the earth's stargate for initial exploration for an off world base.

This left Project Giza between a rock and a hard place for they needed an off world base to pursue Ike's policy of taking the fight to the Goa'uld's yet Ike was uneasy with using the earth's stargate to find this base of operations.

The only solution was for the navy to dispatch one of their battlecruisers to explore the stargate addresses that Ernest Littlefield had supplied to find suitable unoccupied base for the force reconnaissance marines to be based from.

Admiral Arleigh Albert Burke, the new Chief of Naval Operations looked at the order he had received from President Eisenhower.

He had been surprised at his briefing on project Giza and the fact that the United States Navy now had a space arm of a several dozen battlecruisers.

Now he had orders to dispatch one to find a suitable off world base for the force reconnaissance marines to be based from.

With a sigh Admiral Burke cut the orders for the newly commissioned USSS Enterprise to undertake this mission.

The newly promoted Captain James Lemuel Holloway III was inspecting his newly commissioned command, the USSS Enterprise when his communications officer run up to him and advised him that the Enterprise had been given a mission from President Eisenhower.

They had a five year mission to go where no man had gone before to inspect the stargate network and to find a suitable off world base for the force reconnaissance marines.

Part of the mission was to record if the worlds were inhabited and if so whether or not they were Goa'uld occupied.

All these records would be collated to make target lists and list for potential trading partners and or allies in the fight against the Goa'ulds.

On the planet Gaia, Lya observed the vessel that was currently orbiting Gaia.

The vessel was of a very old Ancient design dating back to when they first came to the Milky Way Galaxy.

The scans of the vessel showed that his was manned by humans not Alterans.

Luckily the technology of this stage of the Ancients development wasn't able to detect Nox cloaking technology so the Nox were safe.

But the vessel did detect the presence of Goa'uld and Jaffa that were hunting the Fenri to no avail.

After a few hours the vessel broke orbit and left Gaia none the wiser that it was the homeworld of one of the former members of the Alliance of Four Great races.

Captain James Lemuel Holloway III completed his report on the first planet.

It was nothing out of the ordinary with now needed resources or technology but did appear to be a Goa'uld hunting reserve.

Taking these items into account Gaia or as the Americans referred to it as P3X-774

Was placed low on the list of planets to be explored by the force reconnaissance marines.

President Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was writing the letter to his successor John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy.

He wondered how to explain Project Giza to Jack Kennedy finally deciding to left it for his presidential briefing but mentioning in his letter that project Giza was of the greatest important to the United States of America and in his opinion more important than any other project including the Manhattan project.

President John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy read the letter left by his predecessor Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower and wondered what in the hell was more important than the development of the Atom bomb.

Preparing to assume office he instructed his chief of staff that the second he had been sworn into office the first item on his agenda was too be fully briefed on this Project Giza.

The third planet the USSS Enterprise inspected appeared perfect to the needs for the marines.

P3D-017 was a world that appeared to have no inhabitants, no strategic resources and little that would interest any potential future colonists.

It was barren real estate and their fore perfect for an expendable military base.

Captain James Lemuel Holloway III sent his report back to Project Giza with his recommendation and then set of to continue the Enterprise's five year mission to explore the stargate networks and the galaxy as a whole.

P3D-017 was a dream come true for the Marine Corps and the army they could literally do anything to this world and it wouldn't matter to anyone.

But it was soon apparent to both the marine Corps and the army that their existing tank designs couldn't fit through the stargate and only the M75 Armoured Infantry Vehicle or the Willys MD / M38A1 Truck were the only vehicles available to supply support and transport to ground forces.

Both the army and Marine corps immediately petitioned for new tanks and air defence vehicles to be designed and produced that could fit through the stargate.

Reports from the USSS Enterprise indicated that the Goa'uld Jaffa armies didn't have tanks but did use fighters in some kind of close air support role.

The airforce and marine aviators didn't want to get left behind so they started a campaign to have aircraft designed that could fly through the stargate to support the ground forces.

Since their near miss at the first world of the Tau'ri, Jolinar, Selmak and Lantash had been alternating in following the Tau'ri vessel as it explored the stars.

The Tok'ra High Council was very worried that such a young civilisation had access to Ancient technology that neither they nor the Goa'uld System Lords possessed.

Their latest discovery only increased the unease of the Tok'ra High Council.

The Tau'ri were developing a world yet it wasn't a colony.

To Selmak it almost appeared to be a garrison world where the Goa'uld bred and trained their Jaffa.

At least Selmak thought that the Tau'ri were smart enough to base their military on a world that was far from their home world.

Jolinar of Malkshur occasionally visited the first world but only the outer reachers of the Solar System.

Yet her reports were increasingly concerning.

The first world had increasing numbers of warships every time Jolinar visited.

It was apparent that soon the Tau'ri would be too strong for any attack on their home system by any single System Lord.

And if the Tau'ri continued their military build up at the current rate in a couple of decades they would probably be too strong for the combined Goa'uld System Lords.

The Ascended Ancients watched in horror at the use the Tau'ri were putting their technology to.

How could they have foreseen that the Tau'ri would discover their very first base they built when they arrived in Avalon fresh from fleeing the civil war with the Ori.

Now the Tau'ri were using their older technology in a military build up that was very obviously aimed at the Goa'uld.

Observations of the lower plains showed that the Tau'ri were very good at war and given time could probably defeat the Goa'uld System Lords.

As Janus listened to the elders speculate he wondered if it might not be a good idea to give the Tau'ri a hint to the location of Atlantis.

This way the Tau'ri would have access to the latest Ancient technology and knowledge which would better prepare them for war with the Wraith and the Ori.

President John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy was shocked by his briefing on Project Giza.

To think that the American technological renaissance America had experienced over the last decade was all due to an Ancient alien facility.

He looked at the computer on his desk with awe.

More and more of these desk top computers were appearing in government departments and they were even starting to be sold to the private sector and the public.

Jack knew that American industries where basically rebuilding from the ground up with more automation appearing every day.

Soon there would be an employment crisis as the traditional blue-collar manufacturing disappeared.

At least Ike had seen the writing on the wall and had changed the scholiastic program so that today's students would be ready for the employment market of tomorrow.

That still left a lot of people who would either need to be retrained or find other employment as their jobs wee taken over by machines.

Over the last few years the economic miracles of Germany and Japan had stalled.

They had started to rebuild after the war and were just starting to be competitive again when the Americans started developing advanced technologies that effectively killed the German and Japanese technological developments.

With this act the economic rebuilding of the countries came to a screeching halt.

As not only couldn't they produce anything for export but then they in turn had to purchase the American technological marvels further depleting the limited quantities of foreign currency holding they possessed that were needed for their rebuilding programs.

The USSS Enterprise went to another planet of their list for exploration and found a thriving human civilisation.

This planet had great potential to be a trading partner as it appeared to be decades behind the earth but the Enterprise's sensors did detector an anomaly, the presence of a single Goa'uld queen and an apparent breeding centre for Goa'uld symbiotes.

It wasn't like the other breeding facilities of Goa'uld worlds that had scanned.

This was an industrialised breeding facility for what purpose the crew of the USSS Enterprise couldn't determine.

That would be left to contact specialists with the exploration teams that would be used when it was deemed the planet to be visited was not great threat.

Jolinar of Malkshur was surprised by the planet that the Tau'ri had just scanned and visited.

Her own cloaked tel'tak indicated the presence of a Goa'uld queen and an industrialised breeding facility for symbiotes.

She was intrigued with what the humans of this world were doing.

Noting that the abandoned Goa'uld temple complex still had a set of ring transporters that the locals had yet to discover Jolinar decided to investigate what the humans of Pangar were doing.

With this decision made she contacted the Tok'ra High Council and had Lantash replace her in following the humans for the time being.

Supreme System Lord Ra was annoyed.

An Ancient warship was travelling through Goa'uld controlled space with near impunity.

Many lesser Goa'uld had attacked it and been destroyed yet the Ancient warships just continued with its mission after each battle.

This concerned Ra as the Ancients had disappeared millennia ago yet now they have returned and were apparently conducting a survey of the galaxy.

He wondered what the Ancients would do when they discovered that the Goa'uld had broken all the promises they had made to the Four Great races before they had left for a destination still unknown.

This was the first time in centuries that one of the four great races had been seen and now they were putting on a visible display of their power.

Keeping her tel'tak cloaked Jolinar of Malkshur used the ring transporters to reach Pangar's surface.

Appearing in an undiscovered part of the temple complex Jolinar made her way to the emergency escape tunnel.

As she walked through the escape tunnel Jolinar noticed some writing in the wall most likely some Goa'uld propaganda telling everybody how great they are.

Jolinar looked at the writing in passing and then continued one before stopping and doubling back.

Out of the corner of her eye she had seen a name a name that the Goa'uld were forbidden to mention.

Now back at the writing Jolinar read it more carefully and came to the passage that had caught her eye, "Here lies Egeria, betrayer of the Goa'uld. May she suffer for all eternity."

On reading this Jolinar didn't know what to do.

Could it be that her friend Egeria who had encouraged her rebellion against Cronus on Malkshur wasn't killed by Ra after all but rather imprisoned on a world that he subsequently lost control of.

And if that was the case then the Goa'uld queen she had detected wasn't a Goa'uld at all but rather Egeria the queen of the Tok'ra.

Jolinar knew she had to rescue her friend but she also knew that the facility that held Egeria was heavily guarded.

So Jolinar turned around and rushed back to the ring transporter to contact the Tok'ra high council and advise them of the situation so that a properly prepared rescue mission could be organised.

The Tok'ra High Council was stunned by the discovery that Egeria was in fact alive and being forced to breed symbiotes for some unknown reason.

It was quickly decided to rescue Egeria regardless of the cost and all current Tok'ra missions were terminated to provide the manpower to secure Egeria release.

Garshawof Belote was fighting a losing battle with the rest of the Tok'ra High Council.

She like Jolinar of Malkshur were not born Tok'ra but rather broke from the genetic programing and chose to be Tok'ra.

But the rest of the Tok'ra were determined to recover their queen regardless of the cost.

Garshaw had taken the moderate route and suggested negotiating with the Pangarans yet the rest of the High Council insisted that Egeria had to be released now.

Having lost the battle for moderation Garshaw issued the orders for every Tok'ra agent to return to their respective bases along with any vessels they could acquire to help free the Tok'ra's queen and mother.

The Pangarans were frantic, the Goa'uld had returned and were attacking the Tretonin facility.

Strangely all the attackers were Goa'uld's with not a Jaffa in sight.

Even stranger was the fact that there was not a ha'tak taking part in the invasion.

The only Goa'uld vessels involved were tel'tak's and a single al'kesh.

Yet apart from this abnormality the Pangaran defenders of the Tretonin facility simply couldn't match the sheer firepower of the staff weapons and the zat'nik'tel's used by the attackers.

Within an hour of the beginning of the attack the Goa'uld had withdrawn at a significant cost to both sides.

But the Goa'uld's had recovered the Goa'uld queen and now the Pangarans who were using the Tretonin were now destined to die.

Luckily if that was a way to think of it not many Pangarans were using Tretonin as they had only finished their research and only a small number had starting the trail stage of the drug.

Garshawof Belote was appalled at the losses that Tok'ra took in securing Egeria.

Yet even with the losses the Tok'ra was still ahead as with a viable queen they could now replenish their numbers.

With Egeria needing up to date knowledge Selmak had offered Saroosh as she only had a few decades left and Egeria probably wasn't far behind.

Selmak would take Freya as a host as Anise had died after the battle having lived just long enough to save Freya from a similar fate.

Even though she lived Freya needed the healing properties of a symbiote to complete her recovery.

Jolinar was caring for her friend.

Egeria was held in a special tank to heal her from the forced breeding.

Once she was recovered from her ordeal they would discuss the spawning of more Tok'ra.

But even while she recovered the remaining Tok'ra were looking for a safe spawning ground for without Jaffa they would require a naquadah rich aquatic environment.

The search would take a while but they eventually found the perfect world in Edora.

The Goa'uld System Lords immediately noticed that the activities of the Tok'ra worms had dropped off to nearly nothing.

Ra took credit for their disappearance claiming to have located and destroyed several major Tok'ra bases forcing the remaining Tok'ra to stop their subversive activities against their betters.

The first diplomatic and trade team was preparing to visit the most promising one on the list Pangar.

Because there was very little risk of conflict on this first vital mission only a small team of four force recon marines would accompany the delegation.

Ambassador Nathanial Stephens knew he was lucky to have his current position.

It was the fact that in his almost anonymous position in the State Department made him the ideal person for the role of roving ambassador for project Giza.

Nobody would miss him if he disappeared for weeks at a time and if anybody asked about him they would be referred to the Secretary of States would advised this parties that he was on a classified mission.

Now he was going to be the first ambassador from the US State Department to hold negotiations with a different planet.

The arrival of the trade and diplomatic team on Pangar were met by frantic soldiers not knowing what to do with the visitors who didn't appear to be Goa'uld's or Jaffa.

They were eventually passed to the office of the Pangaran First Minister Tekka.

The Pangaran First Minister Tekka was still dealing with the after effects of the Goa'uld attack on the Tretonin facility.

Now he had a human diplomatic and trade delegation coming to introduce themselves.

From the reports he had received these humans were fairly advanced having arrived in wheeled vehicles that were robust enough to simply drive up and down the steps leading to the stargate.

These Earthers also appeared to have weapons that the Pangaran military seemed very interested in.

For now he must prepare for negotiations with these Earthers while they are shown the best of Pangaran culture in a tour that had been quickly organised.

On September 12, 1962, a warm and sunny day, President Kennedy delivered a speech before a crowd of about 40,000 people in the Rice University football stadium, many of them students saying, "We choose to go to the Moon! We choose to go to the Moon...We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things in space, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too.'

After delivering his speech President Kennedy ordered NASA to not only land a man on the moon but to have a pertinent moon base, space station but also to build a settlement on Mars.

He did this in the full knowledge that the Soviets would be hard pressed to counter even a fraction of the space races goals that he had set NASA in the knowledge that with the ancient alien's technology they would be achieved before the end of his presidency.

First Minister Tekka was amazed when the negotiations went so smoothly.

It appeared that everything he asked for the Earthers were willing to sell to Pangar.

Pangar had been offered the whole bread basket jet powered flying craft, armoured vehicles, modern rifles and those robust all-terrain vehicles.

All Pangar had to do was pay for them and that was the pain point.

Everybody wanted everything now but after the Goa'uld attack First Minister Tekka knew that the military had to come first.

Luckily these Earthers were willing to accept naquadah, precious gems and metals in exchange for all that modern equipment.

The Willys Motor Company couldn't believe the offer they had just received from the Airforce.

The airforce wanted to order ten thousand jeeps but strangely they didn't want the modern versions but rather ones that used the same technology used in the early fifties.

Not that Willys Motor Company cared this deal could save the companies falling fortunes.