Chapter 3
After SG-1 had docked and stored their things, Jack decided the best thing to do would be to familiarize himself with the ship, then meet the other pilots and get them briefed on the mission. "Guys. Go get some food or something, I'm going to explore for a little bit. I'll call all the flight staff later."
The first thing Jack wanted to do was meet the bridge staff and find out what the Asguard had done. Jack walked the long corridors to the bridge. You know, he thought, we really shoulda splurged and got some elevators. After walking up three levels and a total distance of about a kilometer, Jack got to the bridge. The ships' commander turned to look. "Ah, Colonel O'Neill. It is good to meet you. I am Rear Admiral Halter."
Jack raised an eyebrow. The navy is in control of this thing? I guess that kind of makes sense, he thought. After all, naval warfare was the closest thing to space combat.
"Good to meet you, sir." Jack said, throwing a crisp salute.
"So, Colonel, how do you like my ship?"
"Actually sir, I've already been aboard Prometheus. She's a fine ship, but where are the turbolifts?" Jack raised his arms in a gesture of hopelessness, "Have we learned nothing from Star Trek?"
The admiral chuckled, "Co what brings you to the bridge, Colonel?"
"Well sir, I came here to see what my good friend Thor did for us."
"Ah, you've come to see the guns. Well Colonel, meet my tactical officer, Captain Mitchell," the admiral said as he walked over to the weapons station, "Captain, why don't you brief the colonel on this ships capabilities."
The captain turned to look at Jack. "The Asguard went all out here sir. The Prometheus has 4 rotating gun turrets, sir, two on the top and two on the bottom. Each one is easily powerful enough to blast through a regular mother ships shields, and we shouldn't even have a problem taking on one of Anubis's more powerful ships.
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Nice of Thor to do that for us. Did he give us shields like that too?"
"Yes sir. We have the same shields that you would find aboard an Asguard battle cruiser. No normal mother ship can touch us, and we can go toe to toe with any mother ship Anubis throws at us as well," the captain said confidently.
"Sweet. Hey speaking of mother ships," Jack said, "can you give me any information the Tok'ra gave us on the one we're going to fight? I want to brief the pilots."
"No problem sir," the captain replied, "I'll page the flight staff to the briefing room." He said as he handed Jack the papers he had printed out.
"No. The hangar, not the briefing room please." Jack said
"The hangar, sir?" replied a puzzled captain.
"Yeah," Jack said smiling. "I hate briefing rooms. Boring, BORING stuff goes on in those rooms, and the chairs are too damn comfortable. Major Carter tends to get pretty pissed when I doze through one of her more, err, longwinded briefings."
The captain smiled, "Okay sir, I'll page the flight staff to the hangar."
Jack wandering his way down to the hangar deck, trying to commit the rest of the ship to memory before he got there. He wanted to make sure that everyone was there by the time he got there. When he walked into the hangar, the chattering young group of pilots quickly stood to attention. "At ease, gentlemen. My name is Colonel O'Neill, and I will be your wing commander for this mission. Now, who was in charge before I got here."
A young, well-built man at the back stood up, "I was sir. I'm Major Micheals."
"Alright Major," Jack said while he sized the guy up, "can you give me a readiness status on your fighter wing?"
"Yes sir. All of the fighters and equipment is combat ready. The wing has done 30 hours of training up to this point."
Jack winced. 30 hours in a fighter wasn't a whole lot of time, and this would be the first combat test of this fighter, let alone this unit. I guess that'll just have to do. "Alright then gentlemen, for those of you who don't know, we are leaving on our first mission as we speak. We are going to try and take on of Lord Yu's mother ships. We would preferably like to take it in one piece, but we can destroy if we have to. Now the problem is that although the mother ship is damaged, it still has some death gliders left. The Tok'ra informant has said that there are at least 20 left, and as many as 24. Worst case scenario, that puts them at a 3:1 numerical advantage."
A lieutenant in the back stood up. "3:1?! Sir, how can we expect to beat that many ships?"
Major Carter stood up. "It is true that the Death Gliders outnumber us by quite a bit. But, the X-302 has a significant advantage. The X-302 has missiles."
Teal'c chimed in, "A death glider has no long range capability. It is indeed susceptible to missile attack."
"You heard the man, boys," Jack said, "hit them with missiles and you will be ok. If you need to get in close, fly it like what it is, a spaceship. I don't want to see any hotshot get blown away because he thinks like an atmospheric pilot. Now, how many of you have been trained for ground combat, and how many of you know how to use a Stargate?"
Almost everyone's hand went up. "Any of you that aren't, you have 12 hours to get these skills. Should we encounter resistance from the mother ship, we might be asked to land and secure it, so you will all be carrying P90s, make sure you know how to use those as well. Dismissed."
As the pilots filed out of the flight deck, Teal'c and Sam came over to Jack. "Do you think this mission has a high probability of success?" Teal'c asked.
"I dunno," Jack said, "let's hope these pilots know their stuff."
"Yeah," Sam chimed in, "but if not we can take on all 24 ships, right sir?" she said flashing her most winning smile.
"That does not seem likely," the always stoic Teal'c replied.
After SG-1 had docked and stored their things, Jack decided the best thing to do would be to familiarize himself with the ship, then meet the other pilots and get them briefed on the mission. "Guys. Go get some food or something, I'm going to explore for a little bit. I'll call all the flight staff later."
The first thing Jack wanted to do was meet the bridge staff and find out what the Asguard had done. Jack walked the long corridors to the bridge. You know, he thought, we really shoulda splurged and got some elevators. After walking up three levels and a total distance of about a kilometer, Jack got to the bridge. The ships' commander turned to look. "Ah, Colonel O'Neill. It is good to meet you. I am Rear Admiral Halter."
Jack raised an eyebrow. The navy is in control of this thing? I guess that kind of makes sense, he thought. After all, naval warfare was the closest thing to space combat.
"Good to meet you, sir." Jack said, throwing a crisp salute.
"So, Colonel, how do you like my ship?"
"Actually sir, I've already been aboard Prometheus. She's a fine ship, but where are the turbolifts?" Jack raised his arms in a gesture of hopelessness, "Have we learned nothing from Star Trek?"
The admiral chuckled, "Co what brings you to the bridge, Colonel?"
"Well sir, I came here to see what my good friend Thor did for us."
"Ah, you've come to see the guns. Well Colonel, meet my tactical officer, Captain Mitchell," the admiral said as he walked over to the weapons station, "Captain, why don't you brief the colonel on this ships capabilities."
The captain turned to look at Jack. "The Asguard went all out here sir. The Prometheus has 4 rotating gun turrets, sir, two on the top and two on the bottom. Each one is easily powerful enough to blast through a regular mother ships shields, and we shouldn't even have a problem taking on one of Anubis's more powerful ships.
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Nice of Thor to do that for us. Did he give us shields like that too?"
"Yes sir. We have the same shields that you would find aboard an Asguard battle cruiser. No normal mother ship can touch us, and we can go toe to toe with any mother ship Anubis throws at us as well," the captain said confidently.
"Sweet. Hey speaking of mother ships," Jack said, "can you give me any information the Tok'ra gave us on the one we're going to fight? I want to brief the pilots."
"No problem sir," the captain replied, "I'll page the flight staff to the briefing room." He said as he handed Jack the papers he had printed out.
"No. The hangar, not the briefing room please." Jack said
"The hangar, sir?" replied a puzzled captain.
"Yeah," Jack said smiling. "I hate briefing rooms. Boring, BORING stuff goes on in those rooms, and the chairs are too damn comfortable. Major Carter tends to get pretty pissed when I doze through one of her more, err, longwinded briefings."
The captain smiled, "Okay sir, I'll page the flight staff to the hangar."
Jack wandering his way down to the hangar deck, trying to commit the rest of the ship to memory before he got there. He wanted to make sure that everyone was there by the time he got there. When he walked into the hangar, the chattering young group of pilots quickly stood to attention. "At ease, gentlemen. My name is Colonel O'Neill, and I will be your wing commander for this mission. Now, who was in charge before I got here."
A young, well-built man at the back stood up, "I was sir. I'm Major Micheals."
"Alright Major," Jack said while he sized the guy up, "can you give me a readiness status on your fighter wing?"
"Yes sir. All of the fighters and equipment is combat ready. The wing has done 30 hours of training up to this point."
Jack winced. 30 hours in a fighter wasn't a whole lot of time, and this would be the first combat test of this fighter, let alone this unit. I guess that'll just have to do. "Alright then gentlemen, for those of you who don't know, we are leaving on our first mission as we speak. We are going to try and take on of Lord Yu's mother ships. We would preferably like to take it in one piece, but we can destroy if we have to. Now the problem is that although the mother ship is damaged, it still has some death gliders left. The Tok'ra informant has said that there are at least 20 left, and as many as 24. Worst case scenario, that puts them at a 3:1 numerical advantage."
A lieutenant in the back stood up. "3:1?! Sir, how can we expect to beat that many ships?"
Major Carter stood up. "It is true that the Death Gliders outnumber us by quite a bit. But, the X-302 has a significant advantage. The X-302 has missiles."
Teal'c chimed in, "A death glider has no long range capability. It is indeed susceptible to missile attack."
"You heard the man, boys," Jack said, "hit them with missiles and you will be ok. If you need to get in close, fly it like what it is, a spaceship. I don't want to see any hotshot get blown away because he thinks like an atmospheric pilot. Now, how many of you have been trained for ground combat, and how many of you know how to use a Stargate?"
Almost everyone's hand went up. "Any of you that aren't, you have 12 hours to get these skills. Should we encounter resistance from the mother ship, we might be asked to land and secure it, so you will all be carrying P90s, make sure you know how to use those as well. Dismissed."
As the pilots filed out of the flight deck, Teal'c and Sam came over to Jack. "Do you think this mission has a high probability of success?" Teal'c asked.
"I dunno," Jack said, "let's hope these pilots know their stuff."
"Yeah," Sam chimed in, "but if not we can take on all 24 ships, right sir?" she said flashing her most winning smile.
"That does not seem likely," the always stoic Teal'c replied.