The Meaning Of Command

Author: Chaoseternus

Chapter 11: Rathouse Unearthed

Lieutenant Commander Ryan David Richardson grimly looked though the front windows of the Paladin, the red combat lighting accenting the harsh lines of the cockpit around him. The Paladin was running silent, no sensors, and no radios just the old mark 1 mod 1 eyeball following the SAR Paladin ahead as it inched into the asteroid belt. The SAR bird was way out of bounds and heading for the NID controlled facility buried within the belt, the NID were now expecting a delivery of Naquadah, instead they were going to get a delivery of Special Forces troops. Lieutenant Richardson grinned ferally as the NID facility crawled into sight, time to deal with some rats.

The two Paladins surged forward, ignoring panicked calls from the facility as they closed as breakneck speed, before slamming the thrusters into reverse, slowing the craft whilst spinning it so the airlocks faced the NID station. With a shuddering jar, the Paladins force docked, quickly equalising their atmospheric pressures, before cracking the locks. The special forces troopers aboard the Paladins surged aboard the station, shrugging desultory fire off from the few shocked NID operatives waiting at the locks, they moved swiftly through the base, Zatting and securing the NID operatives as they moved. Within minutes, the entire facility was under RSS control. Richardson grinned as he removed the helmet of his spacesuit, too many scientists here and not enough soldiers, this had been easy. His grin widened as he sat down at a computer terminal in the central control room, it appeared no one had had the opportunity to trigger a computer core dump. They had an entire NID database intact for the first time, okay probably only the database of this cell but it was still a major intelligence coup. "Richardson to Thundersdawn actual, Facility captured with minimal resistance, be advised Mage looks intact, I repeat Mage intact" Richardson smiled as he imagined the shock that would be causing amonsgt the RSS hierarchy, hell to John Ryan when the head of Taskforce Lucifer was briefed. Mage intact, an intact NID computer core. Oh yes, that would raise some eyebrows, and certainly net him a promotion.

Thundersdawn, 5 Hours Later

Dodge sipped his coffee slowly as he watched over the bustle of Thundersdawn's command centre. He didn't particularly like station board duty, but he could live with it, after all, it was space duty, and just didn't that look great on the résumé. At least he would be getting another ship, even if he did have to wait for it to be constructed…

"Conn, sensors, new contact just left hyper, sensor profile suggests Asgard O'Neill class"
"Captain Peters to the bridge" Dodge flicked the intercom off, and rose from his seat, "Raise them"
"Unidentified vessel, this is Captain Dodge aboard the RSS Thundersdawn, please identify yourself"
The screen at the front of the command centre flicked on, causing Dodge to relax slightly as he saw the familiar face of Thor, commander of the Asgard fleet. "Captain Dodge, this is Thor, high Commander of the Asgard fleet. There is a critical situation we need to discuss with General Hammond and Admiral Thompson most urgently"
"Hammond is at the SGC according to the schedule we have, Admiral Thompson is temporally unavailable due to illness, Peters has command of the RSS" Dodge replied, his tone concerned.
"I will retrieve Hammond and return momentarily"
The screen flickered off as Peters entered the room, "Captain Dodge?"
"The Asgard are here, they say they have a critical problem they need to discuss with us"
"Shit! Trouble" Peters cursed.