Chapter 20
"Get that straw out of my ear…"
USAF Prometheus
Unclaimed System
Achilles Rift.
Arrival of SG1
The last ships of the combined Search and Rescue squadron had met with the Prometheus earlier that day, a half dozen Ha'tak warships. And their on board, contingents of secondary craft had been gathered close to the rift. The Prometheus and the Primus class warship floated in space close together as the Human built battle cruiser watched over the massive Centauri ship. With a burst of light and energy a Tel'tac shuttle broke from hyperspace and into the allied controlled system. Virtually every weapon from every ship in the system locked onto the cargo ship painting it with active sensors and gathering targeting data on the incoming ship.
"You know one of these days we'll enter a system full of ships and not have everyone ready to shoot us out of the sky," said Jack O'Neill.
"Possibly, but where would be the fun in that?" replied Daniel.
"O'Neill. We have an incoming transmission from the Prometheus, Colonel Ronson is requesting we identify ourselves."
"These space cowboys never learn."
"Space Cowboys O'Neill?"
"Never Mind T., put them on. Prometheus this is Sierra Golf Charlie Alpha One. General O'Neill Commanding."
"SGC Alpha One this is Prometheus, General, I'm surprised to see you." Ronson said. "Is the diplomatic team aboard?"
"Kind of Ronson. SG1 and myself are the diplomatic team."
There was a pause on the radio although Jack could have sworn he heard a 'oh great not again' from Ronson. On the other end, Ronson was mentally reviewing all the problems with diplomacy that O'Neill and his team had gone through in their years with the SGC.
A review that left the entire crew thinking the same thing, "thanks General; now what are you getting us all into?"
"We read you Alpha One, 302s are on escort intercept. The main airlocks are clear for immediate docking when you arrive."
"Got that Prometheus. Where is the senior surviving officer of the Centauri ship?"
"He's aboard the 'Spirit of Freedom' being treated by the Jaffa, and Jack there's something strange about what's going on."
"Such as?"
"I'll tell you during the briefing."
"Got that, Prometheus."
"Welcome to the Rift General, Prometheus out."
"Seems there's a lot of 'Freedom' Names in the Free Jaffa fleets," said Daniel
"There are many names that equate to the freeing of the Jaffa from slavery in the Jaffa fleet. There are also names praising the Tau'ri and in some cases single people involved in their freedom."
"You got one Teal'c?" asked Jack.
"Indeed, I have been told that what you would call an 'elite' warship is known as the Staff of Teal'c."
"An entire Ha'tak named for you, you must be proud, " Sam said.
"In the contrary," he answered. "I am not."
"Why?"
"I am but a single Jaffa in the service of the Tau'ri. I did nothing but follow what I believe in, I have no claim to the hearts of the Jaffa or the pride that demands I be recognised as such a person. The names of those fallen for our cause should be those whose names adorn our ships."
"You really thought about that didn't you?" Daniel asked
"I have."
"I kinda thought it was cool to have a ship named after me, now not so sure."
"O'Neill the Asgard named their ships after you as a show of respect for what the Tau'ri have become and what they still are to become. The two scenarios are not the same; the honour bestowed upon you by a race that was long believed to be legend is just that a True Honour. I honour my brothers by fighting for their freedom in the names of those whom have fallen before us. The Asgard honour you for being one of the greatest of the first race."
"Thanks Teal'c. I'm not sure what to say."
"Then say nothing O'Neill. You are respected and well thought of by Allies and enemies alike. Many Jaffa are saddened that you will no longer lead or follow on the field of battle as you once did."
"Not trying to kill me?"
"There would be much honour in your death by Jaffa hands, however your killer would in turn be torn apart limb from limb by those around his person."
"Ahh, gotcha."
"Better than what it used to be."
"Better than a day's rations anyway," Jack said as he walked away.
"Hey that was a joke you know?" Daniel followed him, "They hate me more than you as well." The two arguing voices disappeared into the back.
"I never thought I'd miss that," Sam spoke up
"Which part SamanthaCarter?"
"The whole lot." She smiled back and went off to meet up with the arguing pair.
"Indeed," the big Jaffa said quietly a slight grin on his face.
SG-1 was back and in full force.
The small cargo ship sped across space to the conglomeration of warship near the rift, which had noticeably calmed down and dropped in size and intensity since the burst that had sent the Centauri battle cruiser tumbling into space.
A flight of four F302 fighters came into view from their system patrol and set up a small defensive perimeter around the shuttle sized vessel. A quick salute out the forward windows to the pilots from the General and they as a group turned and followed a preset path to the Prometheus herself.
As they closed in, the members of SG-1 could see the massive and spectacular ship. The gold and purple of the ship's paint scheme was tarnished and burnt from energy strike and what seemed to be weapons blasts. Whatever the ship was it was as much a functional warship as it was a stately symbol of power and prestige, much closer to the designs of the Goa'uld Pyramids and the Asgard cruisers than the functional and blocky design of the Earth built Prometheus class warship.
From their vantage point the damage was easily recognisable and while it seemed intact to them, the reports from the Prometheus said otherwise.
The cargo ship pulled around the nearest Ha'tak and towards the much smaller Human vessel. The ship's lower hanger bay was fully open and awaiting the arrival of SGC Alpha One into their midst. The interceptors peeled away with a waggle of their wings and set off back onto their system patrol. The cargo ship powered down leaving it's station keeping thrusters to nudge them into the bay.
The small bay lacked the larger Goa'uld ship's abilities to keep a forcefield up around their fighter bays. So with the final dock of the Tel'tac the bay doors closer and the entire bay was pressurised allowing the four members of SG-1 to disembark from their vehicle.
"Colonel Ronson, permission to come aboard."
"Permission granted General, welcome aboard."
"Thank you. You know, I've always wondered what happens if the Commanding officer says 'Permission denied'."
"You would be held at gunpoint put back on your ship and forcibly ejected from the hanger bay."
"Well that answers that then."
"If you will follow me to the briefing room; we'll get started."
"After you, Colonel."
The group consisting of SG1 and the Colonel plus three members of the command crew made their way to the Prometheus' mess hall, the only place large enough to have a full meeting this way with the people they needed there.
"What's the latest on this ship Colonel? Anything more since the data burst?" asked O'Neill as they walked through the ship's corridors."
"Not much General. A good percentage of the survivors are still in intensive care. We have some of the highest ranking survivors aboard one of the Ha'taks, there is one thing that has come to the fore though."
"Such as?"
"Wherever these Centauri are from the Humans there, are at war with as race called the Minbari as mentioned in the data burst. However it seems that recently some 'Ace Cruiser' has been destroying Minbari ships quickly and easily. The Centauri have little to go on but the ship is apparently advanced and very small compared to the ships of their immediate area."
"The Achilles?" Sam asked.
"We don't know Colonell, However it does point to it being our lost warship."
"Any way of getting her back?"
"Until we can ascertain what the rift is exactly and how to get through without the damage taken by the Centauri ship it's unlikely. To tell the truth it's only because that ship is reinforced and covered in metres thick armour that it made it through at all."
"Won't the Asgard shields protect this ship?" Daniel asked
"Until we learn what the energy in the rift is it could be more of a problem when we make any attempt to go through," Sam said.
"Quite right Colonel. The apparent use of our scanning systems combined with that of the Centauri's own technology caused the original rift to expand and encompass the other ship. Evidently they were not as fast as we were getting away from the rift."
Making it to the currently empty Mess Hall, the seven people assigned to the meeting took their places around the closest of the long tables. Two of the ship's experts on 'Extra Terrestrial' races already sat looking through the folders everyone had been given for the briefing.
"General O'Neill, My CMO, Major Rockford and ship's liaison to the Centauri survivors. I believe you know Capt. Simmons."
"General Colonel good to see you again."
"Simmons, good to see you. Coping with you new assignment?"
"Yes, Sir. It's a change from the rest of Norad, but it's good."
"Now that's settled, Capt, your report please," Colonel Ronson said.
"Yes, Sir. In addition to what you have been informed about from the data burst, it seems that the Centauri were at one time one of the most powerful races in their sector of space. The entire area is known as the 'Orion Arm'."
"That's this arm of the galaxy," Sam spoke up.
"That's correct, as far as we can tell from the debrief of the Centauri and their reactions to us we're looking at some form of time travel or more likely some form of alternate reality."
"Oh great! Not again."
"Unfortunately, yes General. 'That again' seems to be coming more and more part of life around here. The Centauri are responsible for Humanity of their universe reaching the stars and apparently becoming something of a Major power. In the one hundred years that the Earth Alliance has been in space they have been involved in brushfires with three smaller powers and two major Interstellar wars."
"Nice to see things don't change." Murmured Daniel
"The latest involves an advanced race known as the Minbari Federation. The Alliance has been at war with them for around six to seven months and is currently in dire straits as the Humans are incapable of combating the Minbari in any way, shape or form. The Minbari are approximately one thousand years more advanced than the Alliance is and their ships show that."
"Threat ratio to our ships?" asked Ronson.
"Negligible at one on one odds. From what we can gather from the Centauri their ships have armour and several forms of energy weapon. However they lack shields and most of the weapons of their immediate area of space are less effective than anything used by the Goa'uld or the Asgard."
"So our defences should be capable."
"If the information is correct, everything from the point defence guns to both the enhanced and non-enhanced nukes and the main Asgard weapons on our ships are more than capable of destroying almost any ship in their known galaxy. Our shields and Trinium armour should also protect the hull for a small amount of time."
"So the Achilles, if she's over there, should be okay."
"That depends, Dr Jackson. If the Achilles took damage on the transfer then she may be in bad shape. If not, she may be in the hands of the Alliance or any other power in the area giving them access to all of our technology, home grown or retro engineered."
"What was the Achilles' armament at the time?" Teal'c asked
Ronson answered this, "The Achilles was fully armed with a maximum load out and reserve of railgun rounds and nuclear ordinance. Her shields and hyperdrive were operational but under testing when the ship was lost."
"We know the Achilles was in the immediate area," Simmons took over "The debris of two Ha'tak class ships were found in the system. Both Anubis class upgrades, obviously sent against the Achilles by Baal. The Achilles destroyed both but from the radiation traces found there was some sort of problem with the Achilles, traces of Trinium alloy and a high level of radiation from an exploded Naquada source was also in the system."
"She had a hull breach."
"That's the guess Sir. Something pierced the skin and caused an upset with some of the large amount of Naquada from Wolfhound station causing an explosion. The lack of debris leads us to believe it was ejected from the Achilles possibly by the use explosive decompression."
"So what about the rift?"
"We believe it was an accident with the Naquada explosion and the hyperspace window that had been opened by the Achilles. But to tell the truth we have no idea how it happened."
"Well the Quantum Mirror was made of Naquada, possibly something happened in the energy transfer that created the rift." Carter hypothesised, "I'd like to look over the scans you have Captain."
"Yes, Sir."
"Ronson, what about that ship out there, is it salvageable?" O'Neill asked.
"It's possible Colonel, however it will not survive another pass through the rift without shields which is against operating procedure as well as the treaty with the Asgard, also it is unlikely that the few survivors of the crew will be able to take her through anyway she's stick here."
"They may not survive it either," said the Major, "Their movement through the rift caused severe damage to many of he survivors. We've already lost a number of the one hundred and fifty survivors with more on their way out. The few that will make it can't take the shift again. In addition to the extreme damage taken by the crew of the other ship during their passage, something in their body chemistry that has caused some problems for the Centauri themselves."
"So you're saying that they can't go back."
"Not yet, it's possible that after a time they will recover and go back through in a shielded ship, but for the moment they would be killed if they go through."
"Do they know?" Asked Sam
"The most senior officers are, it seems that one of the survivors is a member of the ruling 'house' that owns the ship."
"Civilians that own warships?"
"It's not quite like that General. The Centauri republic is a monarchy that has their ruling families building the ships for their Royal navy. Some hold their alliance to the houses that built those ships but are usually detached to the main fleet."
"Sounds confusing," said Jack.
"Got that right," said Rockford. "This ship is owned and operated by House Mollari. If the senior officers are to be believed this 'House' is one of the oldest and most decorated in the entire Republic. A Lt Carn Mollari is the only member of the survivors from that house is by default the head of the remaining crew, although an equivalent to a Commander is also among the survivors so he may also be the one to take command."
"Where is he?"
"Unlike the Lt, he is in bad shape and is currently under medical care aboard the 'Spirit of Freedom'. He is one of those not expected to survive."
"Excuse me, Sir." A young crewman stepped into the room a sheaf of paper in her hands. She looked decidedly nervous at the sheer amount of famed members of NORAD and the SGC in the room. She quickly moved into the room and left the report in the hands of the Colonel. A quick salute either way and she was gone, the members of the SGC looked at each other in amusement.
"You know it's weird to see that."
"Some of the younger crewmembers see you all as heroes. Even military training won't push that all out more so now that you're both top ranks in Homeworld Security"
"So what's that?" asked Daniel
"We have a constantly updated list of the Centauri, names, ranks and current conditions. It seems that we've lost more of our gests in the last day."
"How many?"
"We picked up One hundred fifty two when the ship came through a few days ago. Less than eighty remain with that number likely to dwindle..." Daniel interrupted Major Rockford
"There's nothing that can be done?" He asked horrified at the loss of lives.
"Not with the medical stations here or on the Jaffa ships, however the Jaffa ships are better staffed and their medical areas better than anything we have on Earth. We have no functional Sarcophagi available to us either. The strongest of the Centauri may survive but then they may not, either way the crew loss is at a high percentage, all we can do is return them home."
"Major, I'd like you and Colonel Carter to work together to study that thing. Ronson have your engineer crews ready to look through that ship see if there's anything we can get out of it. Teal'c you try and get help from the Jaffa engineers to assist."
"Aye, Sir."
"At once, O'Neill."
"Meanwhile, Daniel and I have an appointment with a Centauri."
The meeting broke up at that with the small groups scattering to their duties. Ronson grabbed O'Neill and Jackson before they left to inform them that Lt Mollari was still aboard the Prometheus and in one of the Empty Crew Quarters. Leading them to him the two members of SG1 sat down to talk to the young Centauri.
USAF Achilles
Io Transfer Point
Sol System
Twenty-Two Days Post Transfer
The massive jumpgate in orbit of the moon of Io activated as a flotilla of Alliance ships came through. Over a dozen cruisers and over a hundred fighters locked in on the five warships scanning for any form of IFF signal. The signal sent by the all five ships confirmed their identification causing the defence force to break off and return to their stations.
Two of the cruisers came close up to the alliance ships scanning the entire group. Most of their scans being deflected by the ECM systems aboard the refit ships and the Achilles herself.
"You know, now I know how General O'Neill feels ever time he meets with the Free Jaffa fleet," Taylor said.
"The Lexington is hailing us, Sir." Communications said
"Put them on."
"Lexington to Achilles, hows things over there?" came the voice of the Lexington's XO.
"This is Achilles. We're intact and alive Lexington, thank you."
"Good to hear it. The R&D bays are awaiting your arrival."
"Another pressure dock?"
"Negative, the dock is a basic drydock on the other side of Io."
"Got that Lexington, thank you for the escort."
"Thank you for willing to help us, otherwise I'm not sure where we'd be."
"Good luck Achilles."
"You too Lexington. Achilles out."
The three capital ships of the escort peeled away from the Achilles and further into the system. The running lights flickered in sequence before leaving sight. The communications officer laughing slightly brought the crew's attention to him.
"Lieutenant?"
"Sorry Sir. That last sequence was in morse code, it said 'Tag your it'."
"Strange bunch, contact the Corvette."
"Aye Sir. They're online."
"Corvette, this is Achilles come in."
"Achilles, Corvette, we've got you guys. Follow us in we're expected at the R&D complex soon."
"We'll follow you in."
"Corvette out."
The Achilles engaged its engines at a low speed, keeping close to its much larger escort. As they passed by close to the transfer point the Achilles picked up scans and power spike as warships and defence sats of all sizes attempted to scan them. With their shields down and weapons offline the Achilles did not post much of a threat, however it was more than likely that the surrounding ships were annoyed that their scans could not pierce the ECM that they were putting out.
The first to notice this was the sensor officer. His scans were going insane as the Alliance ships increased power. "Sir, the station and some of the closest ships are increasing scan power. I think they are trying to break through our ECM."
"Any chance they will?" asked Taylor.
"No Sir. They tried it at every stop so far. They don't have the capability to, however we still have sweeping targeting scans coming in. I think they don't trust us, Sir."
"I wouldn't trust us either Lt. An unknown ship even with our reputation could be a trap, even more so considering they can't scan us."
"Trying to get our secrets, Sir?"
"Indeed, Lt."
"Aye Sir." He tuned back to his console. "Sir, we're receiving a communication from ahead of us. It's from an incoming vessel."
"Put it on."
"Alpha Leader to Achilles. Welcome to the Pleasuredome."
"Silverston, nice to hear from you. How's it going down there?"
On the screens the sensor systems brought the picture of an F302 settling in close to the larger battle cruiser, the 302 was still fully operational and seemed to be manoeuvring easily even this close to the station.
"Good to hear from you too Sir. The food here's pretty good and the accommodations are quite nice although some of the people could do with an attitude change."
"Thank you for that glowing recommendation Dennis. You here to bring us in?"
"That's an affirmative Major, just follow me in. We've got a landing pad big enough for the Achilles ready for you."
"Thank you Lt, please lead on."
"Alpha Lead Out."
The small fighter spun around and headed towards Io Station's R&D section, the two small warships following it in. The sensors and weapons of the station locked onto it at all times until they were ordered to stand down by the commander of the R&D department.
Inside the large dockyard a single warship sat in a cocoon of beams and girders as the ship was taken apart and rebuilt with new systems. The majority of the ship was already fully built however some of the other sections were still in pieces. The scanner systems, weapons and defensive systems as well as the personnel areas were not quite ready. Obviously the technology they had already shared with the Alliance was of top priority and being built into the ships under construction.
"That was quick."
"Major?"
"We traded the technology we needed for repairs a little over two weeks ago. Now the basic refits to scanners and weapons were done in less than a week but they're rebuilding their entire ship with the tech we've given them and it's been only a few weeks."
"Their own technology isn't that much different to our own Paul."
"Possible, very possible."
"Besides they aren't finished yet, it might take them another month to get the systems in place. It's just lucky our sensor systems are so easily rebuilt using their own technology otherwise things could get hairy."
"True, the scanner systems of Durani base are now complete. They have ships being rebuilt with railguns and updated scanners as well. With luck they should be able to hold off the Minbari now."
"Colonel?" The Comms officer spoke up. "We have docking instructions from the base command station. The way in is clear and we can go in anytime."
"Helm, bring us up onto the docking signal and take us in."
"Aye Sir- taking us in."
The Prometheus class vessel slowed right the way down allowing the small warship to navigate it's way to the large docking platform that was awaiting their arrival. The dock itself was over three times the size of any of the three bays that held the Prometheus class vessels underneath the Arizona desert.
The bay was deserted although it held signs that it had been under heavy use by the denizens of Io station for a long time. The bay was just awaiting them and as they sat down a series of specially refit docking arms and airlocks clamped to the Achilles pressurising the links between the station and the hull of battle cruiser. With the ship safely attached the engines and manoeuvring thrusters shut down leaving the Achilles in place.
"We're down Sir, all systems to standby," Davis said. "ECM and internals still online." The nod he gave her meaning that the secure systems were all set for complete destruction per her orders to him earlier in their voyage.
"Good, let's go and meet out landlords shall we?" Taylor said.
"Aye, Sir."