20 – The War / Langara

(Langara, Facility Alpha – Command Room One - 05.03.2022, 1305)

The years since Jonas Quinn had returned home from his stint on SG-1, had been far from quiet. First, there had been the near destruction of the planet because of the use of a Naquadria bomb, which had eventually led to the unification of the planet. But just as this new and improved version of the planet came into being, the Ori had invaded. Fortunately, the Tau'ri had managed to liberate the galaxy from the Ori.

But that had not ended the threat to Langara. Because the yoke of Ori had been replaced by the menace of the Lucian Alliance. Until the 2010 diplomatic incident with the Tau'ri had provided them the promise of protection. And for seven years, they had indeed kept the Alliance at bay. Then in 2017, the war with the New Asurans had happened.

And with the threat of the Lucian Alliance gone, relations between the Tau'ri and Langara had become minimalistic. Once every very months, the Tau'ri would ask about dialing the nineth chevron. And the diplomatic service would politely say no. At the same time, the Stargate facility had been updated. But that had merely a smokescreen.

Because while everybody had been focused on the Stargate and Langara's relationship with the Tau'ri, the planet's political leadership had been making other moves. Sure, the construction of Langara's SGC had been important. But the real gamechanger was the fact that every since the Ori had left in 2006, the Langarans had been retro-engineering several pieces of technology they had left behind. And at the same time, they had been scraping together Tel'tac's from all over the galaxy and militarizing them.

Instead of buying these vessels in bulk, they had bought one ship every month. And each time, from a different source. This had allowed them to stay under the radar of the Tau'ri and other major powers. It had been a slow process, but it had paid off. Because unknown to the wider galaxy, the Langarans now had fifteen squadrons of twelve ships each. All of them upgraded with Ori technology.

The Langarans had stopped at one-hundred and eighty, because they couldn't maintain more ships then that. And the leadership wanted to divert the budget to the retro-engineering program. What all of this meant, was that the Langarans were ready for the Terrans when they showed up.

Of course, a fleet needed a commander. This was where Jonas Quinn entered the picture. During the Ori occupation, it had been Jonas who had set up an underground movement to resist them. It had also been Quinn who had come up with the retro-engineering programs and the fleet acquisition plan. The first program was codenamed Operation DaVinci – named after Leonardo DaVinci – and the second had been named Operation Sword. As soon as they had been approved, Quinn had left politics and gone on to raise a family with Kianna Cyr.

The two of them had married in 2007 and had four children since. Daniel and Teal'c were twins and were both fifteen. Jonathan – who everybody called Jack – had been born in 2010 and Samantha – the only girl of the four – had joined the family in 2015. She had been two years old when the Lucian Alliance had collapsed.

It was this event that had brought Quinn out of retirement. Well, what he had thought off as retirement. He and Kianna still had to pay the bills. So they had become teachers at a school in a small town called Sooke. He taught history, while she taught chemistry. After a meeting with the Joint Ruling Council, he had been appointed as the first commander of the Office of Planetary Defense.

He had overseen the upgrade of the Stargate facility. Codenamed Facility Bravo, it was now a fully-fledged Stargate Command. The base had been finished in late 2020, but the staff had been a different story. The process of training and selecting them was still on-going, which was why the base was still inactive.

As for Facility Alpha, it was located deep underground and was the Langaran version of the Pentagon. And Command Room One was the most secure part of the whole thing. It was a round room with three circles of consoles and a round tactical table in the middle. To allow passage to the table, there was a break in the circles with a flight of stairs.

The unit had a map of the local system with lights underneath. A pair of cables connected it to the radar systems. The incoming enemy vessels were represented by moving red dots. But there were no friendly dots.

"All ships remaining cloaked, General," Said Rex Jones. "They are not showing up on our scanners and there are no signs that the enemy knows they are there, so far."

Lieutenant-Colonel Rex Jones was in his thirties, with dark skin and short, black hair. On an average day, he was the ranking officer for Control Room One. Which made him the second-in-command during this situation. Besides Quinn and Jones, there were thirty-six officers manning the control consoles and four security officers guarding the door.

"How many hostiles are we looking at ?"

"Five Ha'tak-class, twenty Al'kesh and three troops transports. We're not reading any Deathgliders, but I'm sure that those capital ships are carrying a full squadron each."

Quinn nodded at Jones and looked at the display. ~Here we go.~ He grabbed a telephone receiver that was connected to the table. It was not actually connected to a telephone, but to the facility's central radio transmitter. And so, Major General Jonas Quinn began giving orders.

(TIS Hannibal Lecter – Bridge - 05.03.2022, 1305)

Admiral Jonas Quinn sat in his command chair. It was a bit weird to invade his own homeworld, but there was no doubt in his mind that this would an easy conquest. According to Imperial Intelligence, this version of Langara was virtually defenseless. The Tau'ri had provided them with a couple of railguns and a stockpile of missile launchers, but that was all they had. So conquering this planet would not be an challenge.

"Weapons officer, order the ships to formation Delta Two."

"Yes, Admiral." Said the officer.

As the ships were moving into formation, something impossible happened. Dozens of cargo ships decloaked between the Fleet and the planet. Before Quinn could give the order to open fire, the enemy did just that. And so began what history would remember as the Great Langaran Turkey Shoot.

(Langara, Facility Alpha – Command Room One - 05.03.2022, 1317)

Jonas wondered who was in command of the Terran fleet. ~Whoever it is, I'm glad it's not me.~ Because the Terrans in the Langaran system were having a very bad day. The Tel'tac's were armed with Goa'uld staff weapons, which had been upgraded with Ori technology. There was also a third weapon build from scratch by the Operation DaVinci engineers.

And all three weapons had quickly proved that they could punch through Terran shields. Jonas had already made a mental note to make sure that the press would focus on that. ~They just saved our bacon, big time.~ As for the current status of the enemy fleet…The support ships had been wiped out in mere minutes, which had allowed the Fleet to focus on the Ha'tak-class ships. Four of them had been destroyed, leaving only the flagship. It was attempting to retreat, but the Fleet had other ideas.

There was a beep from the tactical table as the flagship exploded. The invasion of Langara was over, but there was still a tense silence in the room. All that could be heard was the beeps and rattles of the control consoles. Finally, Colonel Jones spoke up.

"Sir, we did it," He paused. "It….it's over."

"Loses, Colonel ?"

"Sir ?" He snapped out of his surprise and worked a control console attached to the tactical table. "None," He double-checked and a smile formed on his face. "None at all, sir. All one-hundred and eighty ships are still here. Orders ?"

"Order the squadron commanders to…" That was a far as he got before console four beeped. "Ed, please tell me that's not what I think it is."

First Lieutenant Edwina "Ed" Rodriguez oversaw consoles one through four, which were connected to the longer range scanners. There were eight units, so each console got to control two. Rodriguez gave the General a surprised look. Quinn had memorized the name of everybody manning the consoles, but he had not told anybody that.

"I'm reading another Terran task force on the long-range scanners. But the course projection is not towards us, sir."

"Then where are they going ?"

"Extending course now," Rodriguez said as she worked her console. "I can put it on the table, sir."

"Go ahead."

Rodriguez pressed several buttons and the image on the tactical table changed. It now showed a map of the wider area, with a red line representing the course of the Terran task force. It was pretty clear where the Fleet was going. ~Free Jaffa space, right for Dakara.~ The problem was that it was only a matter of time before the Terrans figured out that their fleet had been wiped out.

~And once they do, they'll send a second wave.~ Which meant that they would need the Fleet in position to defend Langara once again. But the Free Jaffa were good people. Was he just going stand by and let them get wiped out ? When he had the means to do something about it. ~Decision time, Jonas. What would General Hammond do ?~ He made his decision and picked up the receiver.

(Dakara – High Council Chamber - 05.03.2022, 1325)

The Terrans were coming and everybody on Dakara knew it. As soon as Bra'tac had returned from Earth, he had raised the alarm and the planet had begun preparing for the attack. The Free Jaffa Nation had assigned a considerable fleet to protect their homeworld. But Bra'tac was still worried that it would not be enough. The Free Jaffa had spent the last couple of years upgrading their ships, but the enemy had Ancient and Wraith modifications. So it was a race of technology, not a question of numbers. And there was a fair chance that the Free Jaffa might lose that race.

"Master Bra'tac ?" A female voice asked.

Bra'tac was alone in the council chamber. The rest of the council was in orbit, commanding Ha'tak-class ships. But Bra'tac and one more member of the council were to remain on the surface. That way, if Dakara fell, some of the leadership would leave the planet through the Stargate. This would prevent the Free Jaffa ending up leaderless. Bra'tac had been selected as the first selected survivors. He was waiting for the second council member to arrive.

"Yes ?" Bra'tac said he turned around.

The new arrival wore traditional High Council robes, but what surprised Bra'tac was her age. ~She is young.~ She also did not have a tattoo or a mark on her forehead like most Jaffa did. ~There's something familiar about her.~ She made the traditional bow as the approach him.

"Greeting, Master Bra'tac. I am Nesa of the Hak'tyl."

"Nesa, you look well."

The previous Hak'tyl representative - Ka'lel – had led a movement to make Bra'tac the new leader of the High Council after a man called Se'tak had died in 2006. It had succeeded. As for Ka'lel, she had left the council several weeks ago. Years ago, the world of Dar Eshkalon had been home to a Free Jaffa camp. Which had been bombed by a Jaffa called Arkad. Afterwards, the planet had been abandoned.

But recently, the Free Jaffa had realized that expanding their territory further then their currently reach, would be unwise. It would leave their forces spread too thin. Especially in the light of the Terran threat. So instead, the High Council had begun looking for worlds that could be settled or resettled inside their border. Dar Eshkalon was one of the worlds selected, with Ka'lel leading the local government.

This had left the Hak'tyl in need of a new representative. The problem had been that nobody had desired the position. So Bra'tac was not surprised that Nesa did not appear to be pleased to be here.

"You are not pleased to be here."

"I did not desire this position. I wished to be a warrior, like my sister."

"There are many ways to wage battles, Nesa," Bra'tac began. "Your words and decisions here are equal to a thousand warriors. But it…" Before he could finish, the door to the chamber opened and a male Jaffa came in. He gave a piece of paper to Bra'tac. "The battle with the Terrans is joined."

"What can we do ?"

"I have a plan. Please, come with me."

Nesa nodded and Bra'tac led the way out of the room.

(Space – Near Dakara – 05.03.2022, 1326)

The Free Jaffa and Terran fleets opened fire on one another. For every Terran ship, there were three Free Jaffa vessels. But like Bra'tac had known, the Terran vessel were more advanced. Now it was only a matter of time to see which would come out on top, the technology or the numbers.