Prologue
01 June 2013
Lantea, Pegasus Galaxy.
"Atlantis Control, this is Daedalus actual; we're on approach bearing one-four-zero, one-five-zero clicks, angel 50, requesting permission to land."
"Daedalus actual, this is Atlantis Control, remain on glide-path, you are clear for landing on pier six, be advised, the airspace heading 270 to 359 of Atlantis is closed for up to one thousand clicks until 2100 hours, reason: F-302 live-fire exercises."
"Atlantis Control, this is Daedalus actual, maintain glide path, clear for pier six, wilco, ETA 10 minutes."
Elizabeth Weir sat on a comfortable couch on the balcony watching the Daedalus return from her most recent patrol; from her perspective, the battlecruiser was nothing but a small silhouette 2.5 kilometers away amongst a sea of gleaming spires, the red and purple evening glow refracting off the towers, sea breeze blowing gently on her face.
She spaces out, hands lightly gripping the warm cup of tea in her hands. Four years she had lived here, and yet even after all this time, after ascending, experiencing infinity as an ascended being, and then descending again, the Ancient City still never fails to take her breath away.
She is broken out of her trance with a gentle knock on the door behind her. She turns around to see her second in command, John Sheppard, a small smile on his face. They meet eye-to-eye to a second before he too turns towards the view of the Ancient city.
"Nearly a decade, and the view still never fails to impress," said John.
Elizabeth returns a small smile as John sits next to her in companionable silence, watching the Daedalus shut off her engines as the ground crews approach from the sides. They savored the tranquility for another few seconds before Elizabeth reactivated her Governor Weir persona with a soft, deep breath.
"So, was there anything you needed?" she asked absentmindedly.
John turned towards her, pouted, and let out a small shrug.
"Well, I was supposed to hand over the weekly defense report, but…."
Elizabeth rolls her eyes and lightly shakes her head.
"For the millionth time, John, I'm fine," she replied exasperatedly.
John raised an eyebrow in doubt, Elizabeth meanwhile, was giving him one of those forced poker faces usually reserved for politicians and diplomats. John was the happiest man in the world when he heard that Elizabeth was back, even though he'd never admit it to anymore, especially Rodney; the woman in front of him was his best friend, and like any best friend, he knew when something was bothering her.
Elizabeth looked like she was about to hold her ground with another round of I'm fines when the serenity of the moment was broken when the distinctly loud roar from an F-302 screamed past them from above, followed by a loud boom.
BOOM!
John winced from the shock and then turned absolutely livid; he turned around and reached for his comm piece.
"Sheppard to Atlantis Control, WHO THE HELL WAS THAT?!" He fumed into his earpiece.
"Sorry, Colonel. It looks like some newbies from Number 3 squadron of the 2nd Fighter Group got carried away."
John closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and sighed in frustration.
"Find the pilots responsible, their squadron leader, and tell them to meet me in my office the second they touch down." He said, barely holding back from raising his voice; he was almost growling from Elizabeth's point of view.
"Aye, sir"
John hanged up and turned back towards Elizabeth, who seemed more than a little amused at her normally renegade head military officer chewing people out for something he probably would've done himself not too far back.
John quickly noticed Elizabeth's amusement, immediately realized what she was thinking, and raised his hands in mock surrender with a similar bout of amusement in his eyes.
"Hey, just because I used to be a little bit of a rebel doesn't mean I'll condone reckless behavior," he says with amused mirth in his voice; the irony was not lost on him.
"Besides," he continued. "We've got enough firepower in the city to pretty much take over the entire galaxy; what kind of commander would I be if I let a bunch of fly-boys play around with it however they like."
The amusement on Elizabeth's face faded with that statement; the troubled look John found her with was back.
"That's exactly what I'm worried about." She said with a somber voice.
Elizabeth has been a lot of things since her departure from the UN over a decade ago, commander of the SGC, head of the Atlantis Expedition, leader of a rogue faction of Asurans, ascended being, and back to Atlantis as governor of Earth-Lantea territory, or Terran-Lantea depending on what the bureaucrats back on Earth decide they should call themselves.
She's been through more shit in the past decade than what most people will go through in several lifetimes; however, despite the trials in tribulations, Elizabeth was still first and foremost a diplomat with a doctorate in Political Science with a minor in history tacked on for good measure.
John looks at Elizabeth in confusion.
"Isn't that a good thing? We can pretty much wipe the floor with the Wraith if they try another Siege."
The Governor of Atlantis takes another sip of her tea and watches the sunset as a squadron of 24 F-302s comes in on their final approach into one of the newly constructed hangar bays.
"It's not the Wraith I'm worried about."
She turned towards her impromptu companion. "John," Elizabeth said in a semi-curious yet neutral voice. "Tell me about the F-302's ground attack capabilities."
The military commander raised his eyebrows in confusion at the former diplomat's question.
"Why do you ask?" he said in a curious voice. John seriously didn't know where the conversation was heading.
"Humor me, will you?" Elizabeth says with a slight smile.
John scratches the back of his head, closes his eyes, and slightly tilts his head towards the ceiling trying to remember the specifications.
"Well, uh… technically, the F-302 is an aerospace superiority fighter, but I guess it can also do strike missions, it's not ideal-.
"-but it can be done? "
" Yeah, we could easily kit it out with an assortment of ground attack ordinances if we wanted to; it'll be like fitting snow tires to a car; paveways, hellfires, mavericks, tomahawks, even those naquadah enhanced B61s. I heard the geeks over at Area 51 managed to get the yield up to a thousand megatons."
The colonel continued to look at Elizabeth with a confused look on his face. "Where are you going with this?"
Elizabeth looked at him, face still blank.
"You still don't see it, John?" she asked as if he had just missed something extremely obvious.
For most of her career, Elizabeth had advocated for peace, non-violent resolution. She detested the idea of large armed forces; sure, she wasn't a hippie, and her appreciation for the military had increased significantly since joining SGC, but she's studied enough early native American history for her previous pacifism's reasonings to still stand, albeit, in a more subtle way.
"Uh… not exactly to be honest" John responded sheepishly.
Elizabeth took another sip of her tea before placing it on the table in front of her and turning her body towards the colonel.
"Do you remember what happened to the Australian Aboriginals when they met the first European settlers? Or the Native Americans? Zulu Tribes?"
John looked absolutely incredulous
"Elizabeth, are we saying we're-"
"Blatant imperialists? No, probably not" she says with a casual shrug, "but look, we have an entire galaxy out there full of resources and valuable Ancient technology just lying around, technology that the higher-ups on Earth want to claim at any cost "
John's confusion began morphing into something in between defensive and morbid acceptance as the never thought about role of the Atlantis Expedition began to sink in.
"John, how many BC304s do we have in our fleet? Five? Six?"
"Seven" John replied. "Four crewed by Americans, two by the Chinese, one by Russians, and two more on the way for the EU and India; they would've been constructed sooner but the recession kinda threw a wrench into the plans."
"And a single Daedalus class loaded with Mark Nine gatebusters turned to their maximum settings has enough firepower to turn an entire planet into a radioactive wasteland several times over from orbit, on top of sixteen F-302s; all of which are capable of dropping continent destroying gigaton naquadah bombs," Elizabeth commented wryly.
Elizabeth still remembers her undergraduate history classes at Georgetown as if they happened yesterday, the patterns were undeniable. For most of history, the only thing that could unite humanity was a common enemy, without one, humans will always turn on one another and fight amongst themselves, creating arbitrary enemies.
"John, hypothetically, if one of our BC304s were to somehow go rouge, how many other races would have the capability to stop it?"
John ruminated for a second, his best friend's worries also starting to get to him.
"Well, there was the Vanir and Asurans, but they're...gone. The Wraith stand a good chance, but they're too pre-occupied with their civil war, amongst human races, I guess the Travelers stand the best chance, and the Genii have access to an Ancient Aurora Class."
John sighs out of his nose and lies back fully into the couch's backrest. Elizabeth is still listening intently with the cup of tea back in her hands, although, he figures she already knows about everything he's telling her.
"But" he continues. "Daedalus battlecruisers are designed to go toe-to-toe with several Ori Motherships at once, the Asgard beam alone could destroy one in six shots, and they've recently been upgraded to a standard that's nearly one-and-a-half times more powerful"
John thought about it for a few more seconds.
"On paper, a single modern Daedalus could go one-on-one with a Lantean Aurora Class in its prime, however, the one the Genii have is old, dilapidated, and they don't even understand how to work on three-quarters of that Aurora, and the Travelers' tech is centuries behind our Asgard based ones, meaning, a rogue Daedalus could make quick work of them."
Elizabeth nodded with agreement.
The Atlantis Expedition's first tenure in Pegasus was almost 100% focused on defeating the Wraith, but now that the main threat has been eliminated and Earth wants to assert itself in the VERY Ancient Technology rich Pegasus Galaxy, well, let's just say Elizabeth has been nervous.
"John, we've already been receiving reports of a few pre-industrialized kingdoms and even a few industrialized worlds invading others for resources.
I'm trying my best to keep us out of these local conflicts, but I'm worried about the day people from Atlantis get hurt or killed because of these local conflicts. There are a lot of suits back on Earth looking for any excuse to go in guns blazing. And when that day comes, we're gonna have a lot of blood on our hands."
"History doesn't repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme" John finished wryly.