Chapter 5: Initial Reports
Command Deck, Thundersdawn.
Captain Peters sipped her tea slowly as she watched the message from Dauntless spool quickly off the printer, she could, she supposed just read of the screen, but like many people, she preferred the solid feel of paper in her hands for anything important. A sentence caught her eye, and she moved closer to the printer, reading it as it spooled off. Her eyes widened,
"Bloody Hell!" she exclaimed under her breathe.
"Comms, Signal GC I'm on my way with a priority dispatch, make sure th Rings are online to GC, and inform the admiral he might want an SGC rep there to hear this."
She waited impatiently for the report to finish printing, quietly imploring the laser to hurry up.
"Captain, GC acknowledges."
"Who's on the roster for backup OOTW?"
"I am" Captain Dodge was curious, it was not often that Captain Peters left Thundersdawn nowadays, in fact he had a hard time remembering her leaving at all, yet here she was rushing off station, during her shift as Officer Of The Watch (OOTW) even, just because of a report from what was supposed to be a relatively, tame first mission for Dauntless, "Your Comm. Officer buzzed me, what's up?"
Peters moved away from the printer, gesturing Dodge in. Curious, Dodge grabbed the printout and began reading it just as the printer finally finished. His eyes widened,
"I have Command, Security; Peters will require an escort to GC."
Peters glared at Dodge as she grabbed the printout, and raced to the ring-room, a pair of Sergeant's in Royal Marine uniforms joining her. She stepped within the ring boundaries, the marines standing either side of her, their guns at the ready, rings could be intercepted, they weren't taking chances, not with Thundersdawn's Captain.
Second later they arrived at GC, St Athan, Peters quickly striding through the corridors and security checkpoints to Admiral Thompson's office. She knocked quickly and went in.
"Admiral," she said, noticing the presence of General Hammond in the room, "We just received the initial report from Dauntless."
"Most have been a doozy to get you off Thundersdawn." Thompson noted.
"Alpha appears to be an abandoned Goa'uld outpost, Admiral."
Thompson motioned Peters to sit down, "Are you serious?"
"According to Dauntless, markings indicate Ra owned this particular outpost. It appears to have been abandoned largely intact when he was killed."
"Exactly how intact?" Hammond asked.
"Very, sir" she paused, "according to this report, there are five trinium mines on planet, only one of which has been expensively mined, and all of the mines need only minor work to be brought online, also large deposits of other desirable materials, such as iron, copper, aluminium ores, as well as crude oil have been detected."
Thompson turned to Hammond, "How many people do you have ready to set up a crash-mining operation?"
Hammond shook his head, "I don't know for definite, but I think a SG-D3 is available, all other Digger teams are off world."
Thompson looked puzzled, "SG-D3?"
"We have enough teams operational now that dedicated teams need to be clearly identified, SG-M is medical teams, and SG-D are miners, or 'diggers'."
Thompson nodded, and hit his intercom button, "Petty Officer, I'll need a pair of runners here, fully cleared personnel only."
As soon as he was acknowledged, he released the intercom.
"Anything else Peters?"
She glanced at her report, "Oh, you could say that…" she replied slowly.
"Go on Captain" Hammond said, curious.
"We have a pretty good idea why the system was abandoned for a start, No gate present, and the shattered remains of several Goa'uld ships, seem to indicate there was as well as interestingly enough, an derelict Asgard hull. Dafydd seems to think the Asgard vessel engaged the Goa'uld, reason unknown, and managed to destroy them, but not before being destroyed themselves. Without ships or a gate, the Jaffa couldn't leave the planet, and Asgard interest in this area stopped any of the other Goa'ulds from stumbling on this world." She looked up at the eager gleam in Thompson and Hammonds eyes "The Goa'uld have probably forgotten about Alpha now."
"Exactly how much equipment has been left behind?" Hammond asked.
"Quote: Equipment recovered: Not transmitting for Security Reasons, request Reinforcements PDQ."
Thompson and Hammond sat back as they contemplated this, for Dauntless to refuse to tell them, and demand reinforcements meant a significant haul.
A knock sounded at the door, and the two runners came in, making Thompson smile as he realised whom his secretary had called on. Hammond closed his eyes, trying to clear them of the double image he was seeing, no such luck. Obviously Twins he thought as he gazed at the trim fit looking brunettes in Royal Navy Petty Officers uniforms.
"Petty Officer Joan Williams, you will run for Hammond, Petty Officer Sarah Williams, have 633 Squadron brought to readiness, and have basic supplies for deployment loaded onto 1-6 series hulls, my authority."
"Yes, Sir!" Sarah snapped a salute, and left the room at a dogtrot.
Joan turned to the slightly dazed General Hammond, and said "Just call me Petty Officer Joan sir, only way to know which one of us you are talking to"
"I can see that" Hammond grabbed his notebook and a pen and quickly wrote a message down, sealing it into an envelope he handed it to Joan and asked her to courier it by Ring to SGC.
As soon as Joan left, Hammond turned to Thompson and asked "How in the hell are you supposed to tell those two apart?"
Thompson replied, totally serious "Easy, Joan's gold tooth is front left, Sarah's is Lower right."
Peters struggled to keep a straight face; Thompson chuckled for a moment, and then said "Alright, back to business."
"633 Squadron are the only squadron of fully Hyper capable Lancers we have at the moment, I'll brief them to reinforce Dauntless shortly, and they should be able to arrive at Alpha sometime this afternoon."
"As soon as Joan arrives back with the status report I requested, we can…"