Chapter Seven.
Washington DC, White House.
The oval office was in a bit of a state of chaos as the new sitting President Henry Hayes was trying to remember why he became a politician in the first place, that first day was a hell of a doozy when he discovered that not only had the Air Force been traveling the stars for years without the general public knowing about it but the United States had been prosecuting a secret war against an interstellar empire of parasitic snakes, that really pushed his incredulity to the limit. After reading the mission reports from SG-1, the premier team of Stargate command he was pretty much convinced he lived in an age of heroes!
Recently still, although the SGC and Area 51 had made great strides in learning and creating technology that could assist Earth in its defense what had come of this whole thing in just the most recent 8 months had been mind-boggling, advanced weapon systems, new more efficient designed fighters, an entire construction complex under the Mars soil for christ sakes, and so much more all thanks to the actions of one man, Doctor James Felger who at first didn't seem too impressive on paper had been explosive in his ability to design and build new and incredible things for Earth in the last few months that eclipses what had been done years before.
He just had to meet the man, especially now with the current crisis looming over their collective heads like the bloody sword of Damocles, thirty eight ships were coming to Earth to destroy and enslave our world, not even a full month behind the resolute desk and already dealing with a world ending catastrophe, he could just hear his predecessor laughing at him now.
Currently in the room was General Francis Maynard the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff along with Major General George Hammond recently arrived from the SGC there were also a few other officers as well as his secretary and the Vice President Robert Kinsey, all of them were discussing how best to come up with a plan of action against the incoming threat, and of course his running mate was doing nothing more then annoy everyone in the room.
All of a sudden a strange musical sort of hum filled the air, then a bright light appeared just in front of his desk, out of this light came a man, the appearance of which scared the bajesus out of just about everyone in the room save for Hammond and Maynard, security was quick to rush to his defense, pointing there weapons at the unknown intruder.
"I'm sorry for coming in unannounced Mr President but I think you would agree that time is of the essence" said the man, Hayes moved his chief of security out of the way to get a better look at man, to which he immediately recognized said individual as Doctor James Felger, a toothy smile coming to his face meeting the roguish smile of the good Doctor.
"Well I gotta admit that was a hell of an entrance Doctor Felger, everyone stand down"
Hayes walked around the desk and gave Felger a hearty handshake, so this was the man that sparked a techno renaissance in the past half year or so, the young man took in the room and his eyes fell upon Hammond.
"General, its good to see you, when I arrived in the gate room to find that someone else was in charge I was kind of worried"
George smiled at the young man shaking his hand, "Things change Doctor but right now we could use some help in figuring out what to do"
"I'll do my best" answered Felger.
The good Doctor took a seat and asked the room "So, where are we at?"
So here I was in a room with the leader of the free world listening as to how the free world was going disappear in a moments notice, these guys were really looking for some light in the darkness right now, Hayes asked me the question I'm sure everyone here had wanted to ask.
"Well Doc, what have you got for us?"
Taking a deep breath I lay it out for him. "Well sir all things considered the situation is grim, thirty seven Anubis level Ha'tak class ships plus Anubis' own flagship puts us in quite a bind, from what I've been told here Colonel O'niell has taken in the repository of the ancients again in the hopes of finding ancient weapons to help us alongside the rest of SG-1, if I was a betting man sir I wouldn't bet against them, that doesn't mean we can't prepare as much as possible, we currently have over one hundred and twenty Star-Hawk fighters fully armed and ready for intercepting any Death gliders or Al'kesh that come our way, they are also loaded with at least 30 Talon anti-capital ship missiles a piece which will help in taking down those motherships if they decide to spread themselves all over the globe but I do have a something in the works that will increase our chances of survival considerably."
"And what would that be Doctor?" asked Hayes
I continued "Sir what do you know about the deal I made with the Asgard?"
Hayes seemed surprised for a moment then answered. "Only what I've been told so far, you developed a weapon that helped end those machine bug things called replicators and as payment you were able to secure a truly massive resource point as well as some technological concessions, by the way that was a hell of a thing you did, I actually laughed for ten minutes straight when they gave me the numbers for the resources we actually have at our disposal now, its crazy"
I couldn't help smiling as he did, Hayes was a really relatable guy, and easy to talk to.
"That's right sir but there was also one more thing I asked for and that was a favor."
"A favor?" question Hayes curiously.
"That's right sir, a favor I just happened to call in from the Asgard before I beamed into the Oval."
"What kind of favor son?" The man had leaned forward seemingly excited as to what I could ask for to help the Earth.
"I asked for the use of there time dilation technology - cue confused looks - you see mister president right now we have not the time or enough resources to build a fleet of ships but we do have enough resources to give the Prometheus a large upgrade that I had been planning for some time and it should give us quite an edge in this fight, problem is this upgrade would take two weeks to complete normally."
"Which we don't have" added Hayes
"That's right, except if we add the time dilation device which can slow down AND speed up time in a designated area, we could upgrade the Prometheus in as little as 60 seconds giving us plenty of time to go over the new systems before the fight begins, in fact I had originally been planning to study that technology using that favor I was owed so that I could build our own version of it, so when we have the resources delivered from the Asgard we could just essentially "Print" ships as the personnel becomes available".
The looks I was getting were amusing as hell, Kinsey that gormless tit seemed to be drooling into the carpet, probably thinking about how his NID and Trust buddies could take advantage of this tech, ya like that's gonna happen, don't worry I'ma gonna be right on that shit once the current crisis is over.
"Outstanding" said Hayes catching my attention again, he was sitting back against the couch his legs crossed with a shit eating grin on his face, I couldn't keep my eyebrow from raising curiously, he continued.
"Absolutely outstanding, you see reading about the crazy mind blowing stuff you guys have been pulling is one thing, because it kinda reads like Science Fiction but to actually be in the same room as its happening, its fantastic!"
"Thank you sir"
"Alright you have my permission to upgrade Prometheus as you see fit, your in charge of the entire affair as far as I'm concerned, anything else doctor?" Hayes asked
"Not at current sir, with your leave?"
Prometheus Launch Bay.
After being bid goodbye I was transported to the Prometheus dock where thankfully Vizeer was waiting for me along with Colonel Ronson
"Did you bring it Viz?" I asked my Asgard friend
"It is here Jay although I must remind I can not give you this technology as it does conflict with the deal that was made between the Asgard and yourself" stated the little alien, he didn't want to say such things to his good friend but he need to remind him of these facts before they continued on.
"Don't worry Vizeer, I wont be using the time dilation device, you are" I said cheerfully.
Well that was a different story altogether thought the Asgard.
"Alright lets get started! Colonel Ronson do we have all the construction drones we have available inside the launch bay?" I asked the man.
"Everything is as you asked for Jay, the ship and launch bay are clear of any and all people and foodstuffs and there are about 200 construction drones inside the launch bay now, although I still don't get what you are trying to do here."
"What WE are about to do will be a peek into the future of Earth ship construction methods, so enjoy the show Will" Walking over to the large window of the control center that looked out over the Prometheus' launch bay, turning my head I addressed Vizeer.
"Lets do this buddy!"
Bobbing his head Vizeer chirped back "I'm ready friend"
With a big toothy grin I turned back to the view port, my hands gliding over my tablet as I interfaced with the construction drones, loading the construction program I hit the ENTER button.
"Program has started" I stated.
"Understood, time dilation field established" Vizeer returned.
It was a beautiful thing to watch as the drones moved about at near lightning speeds taking apart pieces of the ship and then remaking and adding new parts and systems, new sublight engines designed after the 304, new 304 style subspace field emitters and hangerbays on the arms of the craft, a slight flattening of the bulbous nose of the ship, more weapons emplacements, enhanced shield generators and finally my party favor to surprise Anubis with.
The 60 seconds pass by in silent awe as the craft finished its refit, then it was over.
"Program complete" I said quietly, still awe struck but loud enough to be heard by my two companions.
"Time dilation field has now dropped." Vizeer added softly.
"Doc..-Colonel Ronson started but found it hard to continue, his mind was well and truly blown – That was incredible, I don't know what to say".
I turned to the stunned man my face serious, "Lets just hope its enough for whats coming" That got a reaction out of the man, Ronson's face became serious as well as he gave me a nod, understanding that this would be the Prometheus' stand against the darkness and the upgrades she just got would help her hold the safety of the Earth for for longer then she would have before the upgrades.
"Gather your people Colonel, we still have some work to do, i'll see you on board." Receiving an affirmative from the man he hurriedly began to gather his crew to board his ship once more.
I turned to Vizeer who was looking up at me with softly blinking eyes, what we did seemed to have surprised the Asgard even more then I thought it would.
"Jay, I never – he shook his head - We never thought to use these technologies together in this manner before, your people's mind truly is such a unique thing".
Crouching down I placed my hands on Vizeer's shoulders and with a smile I said "Viz, I want to thank you for all you've done for me and my people and I hope that this isn't the last time we meet my friend, be well Vizeer" Getting up I turn around, my white coat fluttering behind me as I walk to the Prometheus launch bay entrance but I was still close enough to hear Vizeer's quiet response.
"Good luck my friend".
Walking the Prometheus's corridors again I could already see what some of my upgrades had done to my surroundings, cleaner more streamlined corridors, more up to date comms panels and computer status screens every so often, almost felt like a completely different ship.
Entering the bridge I saw some of the more extreme changes I had made, the forward view port was enlarged and made of a single solid piece of transparent trinium, with advanced scanning and imaging technology embedded into the transparent metal.
The consoles on the bridge got a big update, more advanced LED touch screens and controls gave those manning those stations far better control over their assigned tasks, a new holographic situation table at the back to the bridge capable of giving those in command a wider view of any theater of operation, auxiliary consoles dotted the bridge in an ergonomic pattern, all in all the bridge looked like a super advanced version of the BC-304's bridge.
I was knocked from my musings when I heard people coming onto the bridge behind me, most were looking around in awe at the new and shiny technology, I decided to get their attention by clearing my throat.
"Alright everyone we only have a few days to get used to the new control interfaces and technology that was added to the ship so get to your assigned stations and I'll come and walk you though things, any questions?"
There were many.
Two days later and I'd successfully got everyone up to speed with the new systems on board Prometheus, just in time too since General Hammond had just walked onto the bridge and with barely a look around he went over to me, looks like it was time.
"Doctor Felger, I can't express how much we are all grateful for what you have done here, you've given us a far greater fighting chance then what we would have had if we had continued building as we did all those months ago. Thank you".
We shook hands and I replied, "You're welcome General but we've got a long fight ahead of us I think we should get going.
"Are you sure you want to stick around Doctor? You have more then earned a place with the evacuees"
"With all due respect sir, I wouldn't miss this for the world, plus with me on board I can keep the Prometheus in the fight far longer then if I wasn't, shall we get to work?
The General shook my hand again and walked over to sit in the center seat, turning to Ronson he ordered.
"Colonel get us into the air" he ordered.
"Yes sir! Bring sublight engines online and clear all moorings and docking clamps." Ronson began giving out order to his crew which began following them quickly and efficiently, I watched as the roof retracted quickly and Prometheus began to rise smoothly, her new sublight engines purring like kittens.
"General I'm bringing all auxiliary power generators online now, it will give us more power to allocate to specific systems as necessary" I said.
"Understood" Hammond said simply, the Prometheus cleared the bay then rocketed towards Antarctica to save SG-1 and hopefully the Earth.
The same time.
Near Earth Orbit, Anubis's Mothership.
Anubis, supreme system lord of the Goa'uld and future master of the Universe watched as his fleet slowly approached the Tau'ri homeworld.
These humans had caused more then enough trouble for him and his plans and now it was time to deal with the problem personally, he would conquer this world and take control of all the left over technology that was undoubtedly left here by the Ancients, then, as with all things, all would be his, as it should be.
Yet as he looked at the blue green world he couldn't help the very human chill that that ran through him, something had changed, something was different with this world, he just couldn't put his non corporeal finger on it.