Chapter 9: Alarums
Lagrange Point L3
The tug slowly pushed the small self contained satellite into its orbit, the crew of the Shunter were not rushing this. If they did they might have to come back later. None of then liked the long trip around the Sun from Earth to this point, which the astrophysicists insisted was the perfect location for this combined Early Warning / Radio Relay Satellite. They were the only craft on this side of the Sol system and that they didn't like. Still they saw the point, this was a great big blind spot that needed covering, the sun blocked earth based sensors from scanning this part of space making it the perfect route for a surprise Goa'uld attack.
Finally, the guidance computers were satisfied that the satellite was in the correct orbit, and the Shunter crew powered up its ZPE generator.
"Finished here boss, better tell GC."
The bulky Midshipman in charge of the Shunter snorted, "Would love to, but L4 and L5 aren't up yet, must be behind schedule, so we can't get a message to Earth."
"Shit! What if we'd had an accident?"
"We'll take that up with GC when we get back, jobs done, not as if anything is gonna happen now…"
The Satellite's sensors dutifully recorded a microburst transmission coming in from deep space, the computers quickly stripping down the headers, Critique Flash. For SGC, noting the Critique flash header the computer immediately diverted all of its attention to getting this message to the SGC, quickly querying the L4 and L5 satellites, neither responded, the satellite searched for other routes to get the message to earth, a passing ship in the right place to bounce the message perhaps. It found nothing. If the satellite had been human, it would have been feeling a touch of despair at this point, as it was it repeatedly and dutifully tried all the tricks it was programmed with to get the USS Eisenhower's transmission to Earth, failing every time.
(Authors note: For an explanation of Lagrange Points, see:
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