Stargate SG-1: The Pathfinder (Version Two)

by Deathzealot

The USAF Prometheus is the first space warship of the humans of Earth, the Tau'ri, to be designed and built. It soon became the pathfinder of the rest of a growing fleet trying to protect their planet from the large and powerful Goa'uld Empire. However, a ship isn't that great without its crew, and this story shall follow the said crew as they go about missions to protect Earth.

3. Chapter Two: The Tour, Part One

Chapter Two: The Tour, Part One

When I first met Colonel Pendergast, I was surprised to find out that he had been a longtime member of NASA, which gave him more experience in commanding the ship. What with it being a spaceship. At least over that of now General Ronson, who had previously been a bomber pilot with the Air Force and had no real experience in that space. That was shown during the only two combat engagements we took part in during his command. Not to mention the extremely poor results of the military exercises we took part in. I sometimes wonder if that was why he was relieved of command of the ship when they brought the ship in for its needed refit. I know he is now in control of our growing but still tiny space fleet, replacing General Greer. I honestly believe he would be a better fit for that role than the commander of an individual ship.

Still, the idea of a NASA Astronaut in command of the ship comes with a couple further problems, as the colonel had been with NASA for so long, he hadn't been in combat since the start of his career. At least, according to what I could see in his military file. He also hasn't even been with the program long, having been transferred directly from NASA to just take command of the ship after its much-needed refit. Hence, he doesn't have any sort of experience with what the program has been running into over the past few years. Granted, I only have a couple of years on him, but I had been involved with the ship's construction from the beginning. So, I really do not know how him not having any sort of experience would work with commanding an actual space warship like the Promie.

While I am a bit excited about being under the command of an actual NASA astronaut, I still do not know how this will work out in the end for the ship and its crew. However, I do have to admit he has to start somewhere. I just hope everything does end up working and nothing goes wrong with this new commander of ours.

- Taken from the Journal of Lieutenant Colonel Erin Gant, Executive Officer of USS Prometheus

-o-o-o-

Personnel Airlock S-3
USS Prometheus
Berth Alpha, Bay One
Area 32-92 "The Yard"

The two of them did not take long to get to the nearest personnel airlock. As they did so, Lionel could only whistle in some appreciation at the ship's sheer size. It is one thing to hear about the size of the ship, and it is entirely something else to actually see it up close like this. He couldn't help but wonder how in the world had the SGC and the US Military as a whole was able to keep such a large ship secret like this, not to mention how they hid the funds needed to build the damn thing. He briefly considered asking Brianna about this but shook the question off. He could ask that later when he is actually a bit more experienced in the program. Still, it didn't take them all that long to get to the airlock from the overlooking catwalks, which was built right at the bottom of the ship's superstructure. As the two of them approached the airlock, Lionel was surprised to find a pair of personnel in front of the airlock as if waiting for the two of them. He raised an eyebrow at this, looking at the corner of his eye at Brianna, figuring out she had called for them when she had fiddled with the phone in the lift from the catwalk.

"Colonel Pendergast, I like to introduce you to Major Erin Gant, the ship's executive officer, and Major Cameron Mitchell, the commander of the ship's fighter squadron," Brianna quickly said with a wave towards the two waiting officers before turning to look at the two of them, "Erin, Cam this is Lieutenant Colonel Lionel Pendergast the new commander of the Prometheus once all the paperwork goes through. Like me, he is trained as a NASA astronaut though he has been with NASA longer than I managed. Though unlike me, he has some combat experience from an earlier part of his career."

Brianna introduced them all, making them aware of each other and all that stuff. Lionel gave a quick glance over the two officers in front of him. The long-haired blond female officer that was introduced as his XO was giving him a glance of her own while the taller short-haired brunette male officer next to the Lieutenant Colonel just grinned at him. He had raised an eyebrow when Brianna introduced him as a NASA astronaut instead of the brief frown that appeared on the woman next to him. He sighed internally at this, most likely knowing the reason for the woman's unease. Still, he exchanged salutes with the two other Air Force officers.

"Nice to meet you, Colonel," the Major said with a slight drawl and accent that made Pendergast raise an eyebrow in some interest before shaking the man's hand. But then, he blinked, for he suddenly remembered where he had heard the other man's name.

"Same to you, Major. Though I believe we have a common acquaintance," Lionel mentioned with a slight grin on his face as the other man's own blink of surprise.

"Oh, who would that be, sir?" he asked, a bit wary at his grin.

"That would be one Doctor Amy Vandenburg. She was recruited by NASA a few years ago from MIT. She is currently working alongside JPL on the next Mars Missions from what I understand," he mentioned making the Major's eye widen in some surprise before he grinned in response.

"Glad she is doing alright," the major replied before Lionel nodded at him, moving his attention to the younger-looking major.

"Majorglad to meet you. I hope we can work together," Lionel mentioned to her with a smile and once again frowned internally at the hint of displeasure on the face of the female officer. He knew that thanks to him being a longtime NASA astronaut, he had minimal combat experience compared to other combat-rated Air Force officers his age.

'I am going to have to have a talk with her later after I officially become the commander of this ship,' he thought to himself with an internal sigh. While he had little combat experience, he had plenty of experience in space operations, not to mention various little bits of space combat exercises several military-trained astronauts had undergone over the years. Which he now personally believed to be somewhat connected to that of the Stargate and Stargate Command. Shaking his head to clear his own inner thoughts, he focused on Major Gant, whose face no longer had that hint of displeasure on her face reaching out a hand towards him.

"Sir, yes, I hope we can work together," she replied with a small smile on her face, and Lionel was pleased that she wasn't letting her own internal dissident thoughts be known to others and let it stain any relationship they would have in the future.

"With you all knowing each other, know I shall get going. These two will give the grand tour of the ship Lionel. I now have a General to yell at and get those ideas we talked about into a report," grumbled the voice of Brianna from next to Lionel and an annoyed look on her face. Lionel blinked at this, turning to look at Brianna with a look of some surprise at this statement.

"Okay, I understand, Brianna, but I do hope we can get together later to talk and such?" he asked with a smile to his friend, making her chuckle lightly before nodding to him before she moved to leave the group moving towards a distant armored hatch along the wall of the underground space grumbling all the way. Lionel, hearing this, only watched her go with an amused smile on his face before turning back towards the other two Air Force officers.

"I really hope she won't be too hard on General Ronson," he said with a shake of his head, "Still, let's get this tour started, Majors." He directed with a wave of his hand towards the large hatchway that made up one of the main airlocks of the ship. The two quickly nodded with their own amused looks on their faces before leading Lionel into the ship itself.

-o-o-o-

Bridge
USS Prometheus

"And here, sir, we have the ship's bridge," Major Gant mentioned as she led Lionel into a decent-sized room with a large window looking out into the construction bay. He had been quite surprised to find the overall look of the ship's interior both reminded him and not so of US Navy ships he saw as a kid growing up with his grandfather, a twenty-year Navy Veteran. It had that look of a Navy ship, but at the same time, it didn't. Which was quite interesting, to say at the least, for he would have believed it had some sort of similar internals with that of Navy ships, but he really shouldn't be surprised with, one, being a spaceship and two, built by the US Air Force, not the US Navy or one of its civilian contractors. Now on the bridge, he was briefly reminded of the pictures of the cockpit of the Navy's two Flying Aircraft Carriers mixed somewhat with a regular Navy ship bridge. Next, he looked around to see a few displays around the walls of the almost rectangular room, along with three small displays mounted above the bridge's viewport. From there, he noticed three centrally located stations in the center of the forward area of the bridge. Two of which were just forward of the central chair, and each sported an impressive amount of controls and a couple of different displays. The central chair, meanwhile, didn't sport many controls, though it still sported a few controls built into either armrest. He then looked over towards the aft end of the ship to see four other smaller stations along either side of a sizeable see-through display panel. It looked like some sort of plotting display, and he figured that it was for navigation of the ship. He then looked towards the front end of the bridge to see another pair of smaller-looking stations built into the walls along either side of the main viewport.

"Impressive," he mentioned looking over at Major Gant, who was patiently waiting by the hatch leading out of the bridge. Major Mitchell took a few steps to look out of the bridge viewport with an impressed-sounding whistle as he looked down. Gant meanwhile moved away from the hatch and stood next to the centrally mounted stations.

"Yes, sir. This is the command chair," she mentioned with a wave towards the central chair before waving at the other flanking chairs, "while these two are the ship's main Tactical and Sensor Stations."

Lionel raised an eyebrow as he eyed the command chair before bending down to look over the tactical station's controls and briefly wondering what the various controls actually did. However, he guessed the majority are for the ship's multiple weapons. He soon moved over to the sensor station and raised an eyebrow at the controls on this station. These were a bit more familiar to him as they reminded him of various aircraft he had flown. The major moved a bit forward of the command chair and pointed over to the two stations flanking the bridge's viewport.

"Here we have the ship's helm and communication stations," she said while Lionel following behind her, looked over and hummed in some thought. Like the other stations, he briefly looked them over and again. Some of the controls were a bit familiar to him. The helm station he saw looked like it was expanded vastly from that of the piloting controls of a Space Shuttle, while the communication station looked far larger than the simple radio and communication board on the Space Shuttle or any terrestrial aircraft.

"Huh. Communications isn't tied into another station?" he asked out loud with a hum of thought.

"The Communications Officer of the ship is not only reasonable for the ship's own communication equipment but also the ship's own internal communications along with directing any sort of damage control," Major Gant replied with a raised eyebrow, making Lionel almost wince for he needed to remember that the Prometheus is a ship, not an aircraft or even the Space Shuttle. At the corner of his eye, he saw Major Mitchell chuckle at this before he moved away from the viewport and towards the communication station.

"From what I hear, they also are reasonable for the large database of different languages that the SGC's Linguistics Department has put together over the years since the start of the

program," the man mentioned with a nod toward the station, making Lionel give the other man a nod in understanding. For it did make some sense, for he was certain alien races didn't speak English as a matter of course.

"That is correct, Colonel, and now we have these last bridge stations," Gant mentioned now in the back of the bridge, right behind one of the stations along the plotting display he had noticed earlier when walking into the bridge. Both Lionel and the Major looked at one another before shrugging and moving towards Major Gant.

"These two are the ship's navigation stations and are reasonable for feeding data to the helm officer. While also doing the work on plotting hyperspace jumps," Major Gant leaned against the first of the two navigation seats making Lionel nod in some understanding. She then turned her head to look through the see-through plotting display to nod at the stations on the other side of the display.

"Those are the ship's Auxiliary Weapon Station and Electronic Countermeasure Station. The Auxiliary Weapon Station is focused mostly on supporting the tactical station and coming up with targeting data for the ship's missile launchers. The Electronic Countermeasure Station is reasonable for directing the ship's electronic and physical countermeasures," she informed him with a small smile on her face. Lionel blinked at this and frowned down at the Electronic Countermeasure station.

"I would think Alien Races would have their own more superior defenses against stuff like electronic countermeasures and other such things?" he asked in an almost shock-sounding voice looking over at Major Gant, who smirked at this while Mitchell only snorted behind Lionel.

"The Asgard, oh yes, they can easily counter anything we do in ECM. For they have a greater understanding of such things. Heck. They can sit in the orbit of the planet, and we cannot detect them with anything we have. Either on the planet or in orbit directly," Mitchell said aloud with a short laugh. Major Gant nodded along with that before looking out at the viewport almost as if she was in experiencing a memory of a past event.

"Meanwhile, the Goa'uld don't really care about it, and the Jaffa, due to that, know very little of what we could call Electronic Countermeasures," she mentioned before looking back at the Colonel.

"That is how we managed to face down and eventually destroy a Goa'uld Ha'tak on our way back to Earth. Once we started broadcasting jamming and other such countermeasures, they could barely detect us as we approached. That was after their shields tanked a full spread of missiles from our forward missile launchers," she mentioned with a wistful look on her face. Mitchell meanwhile grinned proudly as he finished the story.

"While the ship peppered the Ha'tak with its railgun batteries. I personally lead a team of marines and SFs to board the enemy ship via the ship's ring transporter. We were carrying the warhead of one of our Mark VII Anti-Ship Missiles with us and placed it nearby the ship's reactor before retreating to the Prometheus. Once we did that, we sent the signal to the warhead, and it exploded, taking out the Ha'tak entirely," the Major mentioned with a beaming smile on his face. Lionel blinked at this before nodding at the man.

"That was quite a ballsy move, Major, but I am glad it worked," he replied to the story before turning to look over at Major Gant.

"Anything else you need to show me on the bridge?" he asked her, and she blinked at this before she looked around the bridge for a moment.

"Not really. Outside of having nine stations on the bridge, there is normally around a few extra personnel supporting the rest of the bridge crew. Though they wouldn't be seated at a station. For example, someone would support the navigation stations and work on the plotting display on the orders of the main navigation officer. Other than that, I do believe that is about it, sir," she answered and was about to step away from the navigation station to start moving further into the back of the bridge. Lionel blinked in surprise at her explanation before shrugging, guessing it was not really all that important. However, before she could do anything else, Lionel blinked as he got a thought and raised a hand to stop her.

"One more quick question, Major: Since you are the ship's XO, where is your usual station during combat?" he asked out loud of his earlier thought. Major Gant blinked in surprise before sighing and looking around the bridge. He could see she was surprised and a bit impressed with his question. Hopefully, that will help in getting her to trust him as the ship's commander.

"Before, it was either the Tactical Station or the Auxiliary Weapon Station, but when the advisor we had hired to help us with the refit saw that we had the majority of our senior officers stationed on the ship's bridge, he kind of lost it on General Ronson. So, since then, we moved my combat station to that of the ship's CIC where I can take over if the bridge is taken out or damaged in any way," she mentioned making him nod in understanding, for it did make some sense to him. That is normally how a Navy ship would operate with officers not only on the ship's bridge but in the ship's CIC located elsewhere in the ship's hull. So, if the bridge was hit at, all and the officers there killed the ship weren't completely leaderless when it happened.

"Understood. After you, Major," he said with a wave towards what he was surprised to see a second hatch built into one of the rear corners of the bridge, which opened at their approach. The two majors went through the hatch and into what looked like a decent office/lounge.

He blinked as he looked around at the space around him. A decent-sized desk took up one wall of the small, almost triangular-looking room with a couple of office chairs in front of the desk, and a comfy couch took up a second wall. At one of the three prominent corners of the room, right next to the large couch, sat a small table with what looked to be a house plant perched on it. To his immediate right was a wall and what looked to be another hatch leading elsewhere. Further from that wall was a bit more free space that surrounded a thin-looking viewport that dominated that bit of wall. In that corner was a large shelving unit that looked to be pretty bare at the moment though the shelves of the unit touched the viewport. A quick look into the nearby hatch saw him looking into a small bathroom with a tiny cube-shaped shower and what looked to be a built-in wardrobe/closet on the other side of the bathroom.

Turning around, he saw a massive emblem-like display on the wall opposite wall, along with a few different smaller shelves clustered around the display. Above the emblem, he saw the ship's name written in an almost whimsical font. Taking a closer look at the emblem, he saw it to be a modified form of that of the emblem of the US Air Force Space Command. The main chevron at the center of the emblem now looked more like the Point of Origin for Earth which he had seen in the briefing notes as part of the SGC emblem. Also, the planet behind the chevron was no longer there; instead, a general outline of the Prometheus replaced it. Finally, along either side of the outline of the ship were a pair of what looked to be a pair of torches that were leaning away from the ship, making a v-like look. Along the bottom of the emblem was a Latin phrase he quickly assumed to be the ship's motto. Looking around, he was pretty impressed that such a place was shoved into what looked to be a ten-by-ten room.

"This would be the Wardroom/In-Space Cabin for the ship's commander. The couch can be pulled out into a bed, making it into a cramped but livable cabin for the ship's commander," Major Gant mentioned, making Lionel look quite pleased at what he saw. As with this cabin placed right behind the ship's bridge, he could easily be on the bridge when something happened that required his presence. However, he looked over at Gant at the mention of a Space Cabin because it sounded similar to an At-Sea Cabin for US Navy Captains, which is where the said officer would bunk when at sea.

"I take it since you mentioned it being an In-Space Cabin that I would have a second, larger cabin somewhere else in the ship?" he asked and was a bit pleased to see the surprise on the major's face. Once again, she looked quite impressed with his questions, and once more, he hoped it would help her trust him more when he officially became the ship's commander.

"Correct, sir. This came about for two main reasons, the first being that when General Ronson was in command of the ship, he was not all that pleased that he had to go up two decks to reach the bridge from his quarters when something happened. The second reason was that the advisor we had hired had mentioned the idea of putting an in-space cabin into the design to the General soon after he was hired. The General liked the idea and approved the introduction of such a cabin behind the ship's bridge to allow the ship's commander an easier time getting to the bridge. This area of space was pretty much a void of space behind the bridge, and nothing was done with it during the initial construction of the ship. Therefore, this was the first major thing added when the refit started. The former primary quarters of the ship's commander were then turned into the commander's in-port cabin, which can also double as the cabin for a taskforce commander if we ever carried one onboard during missions," the major explained, making Lionel nod in understanding before looking around at the cabin once more. He was quite impressed with it. He turned once more to look at the large emblem on the shared wall with that of the bridge.

"I take it that this is the ship's chosen coat-of-arms?" he asked, turning back to look at Major Gant, who looked pleased with this question and nodded.

"Yes, sir. Originally, we didn't have any sort of custom coat-of-arms for the ship. We just had a slightly modified US Air Force Space Command Emblem on our patches, but when we started to commission a couple of captured Goa'uld ships into our service and the construction of the other ships starting. So a few officers came together and proposed the idea to the General, who then brought it up to General Hammond of the SGC and General Vidrine of the United States Air Force Space Command. Both of whom liked the idea and gave us the go-ahead to design our own coat of arms. The result of which is that" she explains, pointing at the almost glass-looking display. He nodded at that with a smile before looking back at the display and made a quick note to himself to look up the motto.

"Okay, what's next, Major?" he asked, turning away and starting to walk towards the hatch back to the bridge. However, before Major Gant could answer him, Major Mitchell pipped up instead.

"Let's go and show him the ship's mess, Erin. I'm sure the Colonel would like to meet with the advisor?" he mentioned out loud, making Gant look over at her fellow major in some surprise before she nodded. Meanwhile, Lionel looked quite interested and wondered why the advisor was still around after the majority of the ship's refit was completed. Not to mention why they were now in the ship's mess hall.

"Okay then. Let's head to the ship's mess," Major Gant said, turning to move back into the bridge with the two men following behind her. Lionel looked over at Major Mitchell with a confused look, but the other man only smiled at him before waving him to keep following Major Gant as she started to exit the bridge. Again, Lionel only shrugged at this before following close behind her.

-o-o-o-

Main Mess Hall
USS Prometheus

It didn't take the three of them all that long to make it down three decks toward the ship's mess hall. As they moved through the ship, Major Gant explained some things to Lionel about the ship as they moved through the ship's major crew space heading towards the ship's main mess hall on the opposite side of the crew space. As they did so, they quickly peeked into a couple of different crew cabins, which made him look quite impressed with them all. As the standard crew cabins on this ship looked quite different from what he knew to be crew berths on a US Navy Ship which were quite cramped and had no actual means of crew comfort in the berths themselves.

While still being shared between more than one crew member, these cabins were only shared between two to four crew members, depending on their ranks. For example, senior enlisted and NCOs are bunked down in two-man crew cabins, while junior enlisted have to bunk down in similar-sized four-man cabins. Both crew cabins looked quite similar to one another, with a pair of bunks along either side of the cabin, complete with small wardrobes right inside the hatch on either side. Then towards the back of the cabin is a small living area complete with a single desk, a small table, a couple chairs, a couple shelving units, and a small bathroom facility complete with a tiny showering cubicle. The only difference between the two was that the four-man cabins sported a pair of bunk beds, and the two-man cabin sporting desks plus chairs built into the lower part of the bunks along with a bunk above the desk.

They also took a quick look at one of the officer cabins, which was similar to other cabins but sported one more comfortable looking bunk on one wall. A couch, a complete closet on the opposite side of the cabin, and a slightly larger living area at the back. The bathroom room was also a bit larger, including a larger shower cubicle. There were also a couple of different types of crew lounges around the crew space of the ship, which included things like a crew library, relaxation areas, and various types of game rooms including; he was surprised to see a room with a couple of pool tables in it, and other forms of entertainment. There was even a mini-Theater Room which, according to Major Gant, could show things like movies, TV shows, and other notable videos. Then there was a pair of gym facilities, including a full basketball court and other notable fitness recreation facilities.

Finally, after taking a peek into the ship's four guest cabins, which were slightly larger versions of the officer cabins, they arrived at the ship's main mess hall. Which was located along the ship's aft and apparently, according to Major Gant, was one of three mess halls around the ship, along with a pair of smaller private messes. Like on a Navy ship, the other two mess halls were an NCO mess and an officer's mess. While the two private messes were for the use of the ship's commander and that of the ship's fighter pilots. Of which Major Mitchell mainly mentioned that it allowed the fighter pilots to eat between sorties as the fighter pilot mess was literally right next to the ship's hangar. Still, as they approached the main mess hall, they were surprised to hear raised voices from it, and when they entered, they saw everything a bit darkened with the dozen or so tables of the mess having their chairs stacked together in one corner of the large space.

"I told you, Captain, we are going to need everything that I ordered," came a rough and scratchy voice from the mess hall's kitchen. Lionel raised an eyebrow at this while Gant sighed and grumbled under her breath as they approached the kitchen.

"I understand that, Chief, but I do not think we need everything on that list, as in the crew. Like I really doubt we will need all those spices you ordered," came a younger-sounding but still a bit rough voice as the three of them entered what looked to be a top-of-the-line kitchen like one found at a nice civilian restaurant in a decent-sized city.

"Captain Casey, what in the world is going on now?" Major Gant almost yelled as she entered this very nice-looking kitchen. Lionel looked over the two men that were arguing in the center of the kitchen and raised an eyebrow in some interest, for both couldn't be all that much different. The first man wore an Air Force Battle Dress Uniform complete with a blue beret of a United States Air Force Security Forces member, while the second wore the same blue-colored one-piece flight suit of his two companions, just with a white apron over it. The first man looked to be a typical member of the Air Force Security Forces though what made him different from anyone else was that he was tall and big. Lionel guessed he was somewhere around seven feet tall and looked to be quite heavily muscled. He briefly wondered how he got that tall, for it was clearly not normal. The other man was far older, with long, almost white hair that was gathered together in a neat ponytail down his back. He looked rugged, and Lionel thought he looked quite similar to his grandfather.

"Major Gant, ma'am. Mister Kelly here just put in a massive order of foodstuff and such to be delivered, including tons of spices," the large man mentioned with a shrug of his massive shoulders. The Major sighed at this before turning to look at the shorter older man who looked like he was willing to argue his case against her.

"Mister Kelly, I know the General did mention you can order whatever you needed for the ship and the crew itself, but still, isn't that a bit excessive?" she asked the man, who only snorted at this.

"Major, the food order I put in is only about seventy percent of the usual amount of food that an aircraft carrier carries on their cruises. You Air Force types need to understandthat a ship like this will need a lot of food and such to keep your crew going. From what I understand from the General, this ship is planned to go on cruises around the galaxy, lasting around two years or so. I would think your quartermaster types would have told you about that," the man mentioned with a frown on his weathered face. Lionel blinked at this and nodded, for it made sense to him. Usually, the Air Force didn't have something like year-long cruises like the Navy ships did, as a matter of course. They had the majority of their personnel in nice and secure air bases across US-claimed territory where they would be resupplied by civilian delivery companies. Mostly those from the closest city to the air base in question.

"Besides, Major, I am not having it all delivered all at once as, yes, that may be a problem. Instead, I will insert parts of it into the normal load Nellis gets, which then can be transported to Groom Lake and, from there, transported to us here at the Yard. It will be weeks until this ship is ready to go. Therefore we can split out the order during that time," the man continued on with his little speech. This made Lionel almost chuckle at the man's passion, and he looked over at Gant to see her a bit flustered at this, which he saw at the corner of his amused Major Mitchell very well.

"Okay, everyone let's all calm down," he managed to say with a flash of a smile on his face. The captain frowned at him before his eyes widened at his rank. While this, Mister Kelly only eyed him in some concern before he, too, saw his rank and straighten up in some form of attention.

"Captain Casey, Mister Kelly, I like to introduce you to Lieutenant Colonel Lionel Pendergast, who is going to be the ship's new commanding officer once the paperwork goes through," Major Mitchell said, introducing him as he stepped forward before turning to look at Lionel, "Sir this is Captain Gavin Casey the commander of the ship's contingent of SFs turned Marines, and this is John Kelly, the advisor we had mentioned earlier. He is hanging around as the ship's official head cook."

"It is nice to meet you both," Lionel mentioned as he saluted the captain back before turning to look at the lone civilian in their midst.

"Mister Kelly, was it? Well, I agree with you about that order, and I shall talk to the General about it when I see him later. But, also, good idea about not doing it all in one order, for that wouldn't be good for our secrecy here," he mentioned to the man holding out a hand to shake with him, who looked quite surprised at his comment.

"Thank you for that, sir," the man mentioned shaking his hand before leaning in close to look at Lionel, "Say you wouldn't know James Pendergast, would you?"

"He was my grandfather, sir. He practically raised my sister and me after he retired from the Navy in 72," he replied with an almost sad look as he was once again reminded of his grandfather. That made Mister Kelly nod pleased at this, before letting go of his hand.

"James was a good man, and I was proud to serve under him a few years on the old Black Dragon when I was a young lad. Shame I couldn't get transferred when he took command of the Long Beach a few years later. Still spent the vast majority of my own career on deployed ships across the world, before I retired myself where I somehow managed to find myself overseeing the USS Texas Museum," the man mentioned making Lionel blink in some surprise at this, knowing that the mentioned Black Dragon was actually the USS New Jersey, an Iowa Class Battleship that is now a museum in New Jersey. Meanwhile, the Texas was another Battleship that became a museum and is now at San Jacinto Battleground Historical Park near Houston, Texas. A place he had visited a few times over the years since he was with NASA, as he spent the majority of his free time in Houston.

"So that is why you were hired by the Air Force to advise them on this refit," Lionel mentioned out loud with a smile on his face. The older man snorted at this before nodding as he looked around the kitchen they were in and maybe even the rest of the ship.

"Yeah, soon after I was going to retire from the position of overseeing the Texas, the Air Force came swooping in and wanted to hire me for something hush-hush. Since my wife passed a few years before, I figured why not and went along with it," he mentioned before grinning slightly and something "Then, when I saw what they were planning and everything, I decided to stay around as the ship's head cook for a happy, well-fed crew makes a happy ship after all. Besides, I originally joined the Navy to see the world; therefore, seeing new places on different planets will be quite a thing."

"I, for one, am glad you are here, Mister Kelly, and I agree we will be asking these airmen and such to go on these lengthy cruises in space. Naturally, they are going to need to be well-fed and happy. So, thanks for staying on," he mentioned with a nod to the man, who only returned the nod with a slight smile on his aged face.

"Well, I better get going. I need to see about finishing ordering a few things for the pilot's private mess," he mentioned before shaking Lionel's hand again, giving a jaunty wave at Major Mitchell, who returned it with his own smirk and a look at the captain before leaving the kitchen behind. The now four Air Force officers left behind with a mixture of different moods, with Major Gant only sighing and shaking her head, Major Mitchell only grinning in amusement, and the tall Captain Casey glowering after the shorter man as he left. Lionel, meanwhile, could only smile at the back of the man, for he was interesting, and he was right about the whole bit about feeding the crew. Shaking his head, he turned to look at Captain Casey now with a frown and looking a bit confused.

"That said. I have a couple of questions for you, Captain," he mentioned to the towering Security Force officer, who blinked at this before turning his own attention to Lionel.

"I shall hopefully have the answers for you, sir," the man replied with a nod to him.

"First of all, when Major Mitchell introduced you earlier, he mentioned that you were the leader of the SFs turned Marines. What did he mean by that?" he asked and was quite surprised by the groan of Major Mitchell and the wince from Major Gant while the captain himself only sighed and shook his head.

"Originally, Colonel, we were going to have a short company of marines onboard to serve as the ship's primary deployable infantry formation with a smaller platoon of SFs to serve more as a dedicated security force. This was mostly due to Goa'uld often using boarding tactics in combat. Therefore, having marines onboard would be the best way to counter such a thing. However, there is currently some good-old cross-branch political fighting going on right now along the senior staff of the different branches of the Armed Forces. Mostly as the Navy wants a piece of the pie that is the Stargate and demands to have control of all of our ships. The Marines are pretty much caught in the crossfire; therefore, to better appease a few Navy senior officers, it was decided that my Security Forces guys would become the ship's primary onboard deployable infantry force as well as serve as the ship's security force," the man mentioned with another sigh making Lionel shake his head and groan himself. That is one major reason he likes working with NASA, even with their own internal politics and such going on.

"Oh boy. That does explain a few things, then, doesn't it? What about the training of your SFs Captain? Are they able to act as Marines when required?" he asked, realizing a bit too late at what he said, which saw him almost wincing at the glare on the captain's face.

"Yes, sir. All of my men have at least three years of experience serving at the SGC, with a few, even like myself, former members of an SG Team. We also have been training hard to actually allow us to be used as direct combat troops and everything that goes along with that. Including hostile boarding and counter boarding training," the man explained, making Lionel nod, quite impressed with what he was saying.

"I understand and apologize, but I was simply curious. I should have been a bit less blunt with my questions," he replied with a nod in apology to the taller officer who only nodded back at him with a small pleased look on his face. He then opened his mouth to ask his second question when he suddenly stopped himself from saying anything and only sighed. He was sure it would have been a stupid question to ask, basically asking if his overall size was natural. Not something he really should have been asking at all. Especially since he knew about the Goa'uld, hence there may be a story to it that he really shouldn't bring up. He internally cursed at himself for, as mentioned, he could be too curious at times.

"Everything alright, Colonel," came the voice of Major Mitchell, jolting Lionel from his own internal lambasting of himself. He sighed and only nodded at the man before turning to look at Captain Casey, who had an almost knowing look on his face before the man nodded again with a smile on his face.

"I am quite alright Major just had a thought in my head, and I told the NASA part of myself to shut up," he mentioned with a small, amused smile on his face making Mitchell chuckle lightly before a light beeping made him look at a watch on his wrist before wincing and looking back up at him.

"Sir, sorry to bail on you right now, but I have to get a meeting I need to take part in," the pilot mentioned with a regretful-looking face. Lionel only nodded at this, for he was sure that their impromptu tour did interrupt their plans for the day.

"No worries, Major. I shall hopefully see you around later," he mentioned with a wave of his hand. However, before Mitchell left, he turned to look over at Captain Casey with a look of his own.

"Captain, I do believe you should help finish up the tour as you have been somewhat involved in some parts of the refit; therefore are the best person to answer any further questions of the Colonel," the pilot mentioned making the captain wince before sighing and nodding his head at this idea.

"Of course, sir," he mentioned making the pilot smile pleased at him before the smile turned a bit crafty, which made both Lionel and the Captain look a bit concerned.

"Though I am sure you can show off your armory to the Colonel. As I am sure he would be quite impressed with it," the man mentioned, almost innocently confusing Lionel, but he soon saw the captain's sigh and a roll of his eyes.

"Understood, Major, I will do that. Don't you have a meeting to get to," the captain replied, making the pilot looking down at this watch before he winced and quickly left the kitchen before going off further into the ship.

Through all this, Major Gant looked a bit pained before she turned to look at the captain and asked, "Are you sure you want to do this, Captain?" The man only smiled at her before nodding in agreement and turning to look at Lionel with an interested look on his face. Seeing this, Lionel got the hint and looked over at Major Gant.

"So, Major, where should we go next?" he asked, simply trying to get things moving. Major Gant exchanged a quick look with the captain before turning to look at him.

"I believe we should get a good look at the ship's engineering, as the captain can explain everything better than I could. We can then call it for the day. I am sure you have some other things you need to do before the day ends Lieutenant Colonel. Not to mention there are a few other things we can show you later on if you are still interested," the Major mentioned making Lionel nod in understanding.

"On the way, we can follow Major Mitchell's suggestion and show off the ship's main armory, for I am quite proud of it after all," Captain Casey mentioned drawing a smile from the Major while Lionel only lightly chuckled at the man's comment.

"That will work. Shall we, gentlemen?" she said, and with a wave of her hand, the three officers left the kitchen behind them, heading towards the nearest deck elevator.

-o-End-o-

So! Here is the next chapter, and we are really getting to the start of the story. Not to mention a general idea about Prometheus in general. I am sure you all have noticed some things have changed from what we know about the ship. For one, the Alien Ship from Grace does not jump the ship on its way back to Earth. Instead, ending up running into a Goa'uld Ha'tak Mothership, where the ship's weapons proved unsuccessful. This was mentioned earlier in the story, and this chapter brings up a better explanation of it. Speaking of which, our boy Cameron Mitchell has appeared! Figured since we do know he was a member of the ship's crew in the series, he should make some sort of appearance. Also, he was chiefly reasonable for getting the Prometheus out of the battle with the Ha'tak. Figured a future member of SG-1 had to have some sort of crazy-ass idea that ended up working. For Cam, it was him leading some Marines and Air Force SFs onboard the Ha'tak to personally deliver a nuclear bomb to the ship's reactor. Combined with his later stunt with that, Al'kesh, during my version of Battle of Antarctica, will get his foot in the door to join, *cough* lead *cough*, SG-1 later on in one of the sequel stories.

Also, in this chapter, we are introduced to two further characters who will impact the overall larger story. Unlike the first two new characters introduced in this story, these two are pretty much original characters. Though one is modified from a one-shot character seen in an early episode of the series. The first is, of course, John Kelly, who is funny enough a character that was never introduced in the first version of the story and one that I planned on introducing in said story. He was to advise the Air Force on the refit of the Prometheus, and that was about it for him. Hence, the only things I changed with him are that he is in charge of a ship museum and that he will be sticking around with the ship. I figured that since we later see civilians like Doctor Novak serving onboard Earth ships, therefore, it shouldn't be all that much of a stretch to have someone like Mister Kelly serving onboard the ship. The second character introduced is Captain Gavin Casey, one of the first members of SG-2 during the series' first episodes. After he was injured on Chulak, he pretty much disappeared. Here, he returns to SG-2 and eventually stumbles onto a Goa'uld nanotech experiment similar to that of those poor people on Argos, just bulking him up instead of aging him fast. Speaking of which, I have also mentioned the idea of the troops onboard the Prometheus being specially trained US Air Force Security Forces instead of Marines. This is something I figured happening in the background. Expect similar things to happen in the future of this story and its sequels.

That said. I have a few more things to mention before I get into writing the next chapter. This does neatly bring us to said chapter. My original plan would have the next chapter covering the first official mission for the Prometheus after Colonel Pendergast taking command. However, the Tour part of this story took a bit longer than planned. Therefore, I am separating the chapter into two. This is mainly thanks to how fun I was having with it. For example, to better expand on the Commander's Wardroom/Space Cabin, I actually, for the first time ever, drew up a little floor plan for it. That was a bit of fun and funny in that the shape of the room looked kind of like the state of Nevada. The state I am currently living in! And no, I did not plan it out that way. Okay. That said. I have one last thing to mention before I get to write the next chapter. I have introduced a small subplot in this chapter: Erin Gant's unease with what she sees as Colonel Pendergast's having little combat experience. Do not think I did it justice, but I hope it still came through.

Alright. That is about it for these notes. Really need to stop having them so darn long. OH. I almost forgot a couple things to mention. First, for those AO3 Readers, I put up the SGC Intelligence File Codex for those lore hounds out there. So far, it has the background files for the Prometheus itself and the new version of the F-302. I will post the background file for the Atlas and the Korolev when they are genuinely introduced into the story. I also have a Goa'uld Weapon List and a Goa'uld Ship List Background Files when I get a bit further into the story itself. Next, so far, I have had little response to the story. At FFN, I have only the one review, while Spacebattles and The Sietch only have a handful of responses going for them. I usually wouldn't ask for responses, as I always hated it when I was reading a story, but I know myself that if I do not have an idea on if people enjoying the story, my excitement for the story will start to wane. And I really want to get a good amount of this story to be written. So please give some feedback and such for the story. Thanks.

Okay. Now I am done! See you in the next chapter, everyone! Please read and review!