"It was once said that your life will flash before your eyes one day. It is far worse when it is not your own." - Peter Harrington, Primarch of the Terran Commonwealth.
Prologue
For the greater good.
It had been this single thought that Peter had hoped would shape his vision of the future. Some had called it a fictitious fantasy, others a paranoid delusion, but there were those who knew it to be a far greater compromise to their current administrations.
And Earth… Earth was paying a high price for his mistakes.
Peter's expression did not so much as twitch or show any sign of emotion as his gaze shifted from one feed to another on the display before him. The orbital bombardment had been brief, with what few ships to have breached the defensive perimeter having wrought absolute destruction on the planet's surface before they were inevitably dispatched.
He watched as the Earth's crust destabilised, looking on as the resultant earthquakes and tsunami's wreaked havoc across the globe, with cities and towns being torn apart or otherwise being washed away entirely. Another feed lit up in a blinding flash of light as the Yellowstone caldera erupted, followed by many others around the globe. Another indicated pockets of radioactive fallout and contamination from damaged and destroyed nuclear power plants.
"You don't have to watch this."
Watching as a tsunami swept across the Philippines, Peter's expression stiffened. Drawn again to another feed, he watched as a fault line cut clean through an entire village, swallowing it up and grinding it to dust within the blink of an eye.
"Peter."
The display turned off as Daniel spoke again, but Peter did not so much as flinch in response. His arms still folded across his chest, he sighed deeply, his gaze still very much fixed on the display. "Defeat is a state of mind," he said at last, "and no one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality."
Daniel's brow furrowed. "Do you really believe that?"
Straightening slightly, Peter turned his head. "You asked me once if I had the right to play god," he said, reflecting on the question. "My answer has not changed, Daniel. And if I have to suffer this defeat a thousand times before the right path reveals itself, then so be it."
And with that, Peter closed his eyes and terminated the simulation.
As the last to exit the simulation – as with all the others – Peter and Daniel found themselves in the midst of a debate as they removed their headbands. As with their earlier discussions which had arisen from the current situation, much of what they heard came from just two allied parties seated across the conference table from one another.
"We owe the people of the Tau'ri much, but the other leaders of the Free Jaffa have made their positions clear on the matter," Bra'tac said. "They will not commit their ships to a battle which they do not believe it is possible to win."
"And have they seen for themselves the outcomes of these simulations?" Lantash countered.
"Many amongst the Jaffa do not believe in the ability of these simulated battles to shift the balance in favour of one side over the other," Teal'c said. "In actions such as these, predictions are, inherently, inaccurate."
"And none more so than when engaging with the forces of Anubis," Bra'tac put in.
Sat at the opposite end of the table to Peter, in his own chair which he had beamed down with him from his ship, the Valhalla, Thor said, "That may be so, Teal'c, but it cannot be denied that these simulations have proven their worth on more than one occasion."
Sitting to the left of Thor, Sam nodded. "I agree. And of the nine simulations which we have already undertaken, we have managed to reduce our casualties from over eighty-five per cent to a little under sixty."
"Again –"
"And what do you think will happen if we all get our asses kicked," Jack broke in, "because I really doubt that the rest of your Free Jaffa friends are gonna last that long without us."
"There are still many who believe the same as you do, but the majority feel that if our full force were to be joined with your own, it may not be enough. Not against a force such as this."
"But it would make a difference, would it not?" Lantash asked.
Exchanging a glance with Teal'c, Bra'tac said, "Truly, I do not know the exact –"
Harbouring a slight hint of exasperation in his tone, Jack said, "Just hazard a guess."
"A dozen Ha'tak, perhaps more."
"Our intelligence places that figure closer to twenty," Delek, Lantash's associate said. "A fleet three times larger than the one which we have provided."
"And more than enough to keep good ol' Mother Earth from the apocalypse," Jack said.
"Then perhaps we should factor this into the next simulation?"
Of them, all, John McGuire, Commander of the Battleship Orion – sister-ship to Peter's own, the Phoenix, flagship of the Terran fleet – had kept his simulator headband well in hand as they spoke. Having spent more time training in the various simulations that had been programmed into the ship's core than anyone else, he was more than well aware of just how important it was for training and refining one's skills – and was itching to get back in.
"Hear-hear," Jack concurred, sitting between him and Daniel.
At Thor's suggestion, a twelve-hour respite from the simulation had been put into effect. And, despite both their protests, John and Jack were not too pleased with the idea – not with the time constraints they were currently faced with – but were left with little choice, nonetheless.
Remaining behind as the others left, Peter placed his hand on a small round crystal on the desk, activating the console that was built into it. Except for the countdown at the top of the display, the image had not changed since the last time he had looked at it. Courtesy of the deep space sensors aboard Thor's ship, the image of Anubis' fleet – comprised of one of his capital ships, forty-nine of his advanced Ha'tak motherships, ninety-eight standard Ha'tak motherships and close to three hundred Alkesh Bombers – was an imposing sight as it drew closer to Earth.
TIME UNTIL ARRIVAL:
3 DAYS 17 HOURS 22 MINUTES 56 SECONDS
Leaning back in his chair, Peter reflected on the battle to come – and the path that his life had taken to bring him here.