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.

2. Chapter One: The Firebringer

Chapter One: The Firebringer

Really the original version of the Prometheus was quite underwhelming in the weapons department, sporting a dozen missile launchers as its primary armament and a dozen small railgun batteries for point defense. That had been what the Air Force's so-called Future Space Combat Committee had come up with after studying reports about the Goa'uld's Space Combat Doctrine from the SGC. They mainly saw that the Goa'uld did not use any sort of missile weapons or point defense; therefore, they believed that the best way to have the ship fight against a Goa'uld Ha'tak Mothership was to bombard it with heavy anti-ship nuclear missiles from long range.

However, things started to change with the failure of the modified nuclear cruise missile used against the Ha'tak of Apophis in 1998. Then, the following tests of Operation LONGBOW in late 1999 gave us better data on using nuclear weapons against shielded targets. Even then, the Prometheus would be launched in 2003 still with nuclear warhead-equipped weapons as its main armament. It would be Operation SPACE SHIELD, a series of minor military exercises between the Prometheus and several Free Jaffa and Tok'ra piloted Al'kesh Bombers in the orbit of the planet Tagrea. Then the brief battle against a Goa'uld Ha'tak Mothership on its journey back to Earth would finally put a final closure on the whole Primary Missile Armament for any future space warship of Earth…

- Taken from a series of notes done by Engineer Brianna Carter after studying the design of the Prometheus soon after its commissioning

-o-o-o-

Catwalk A-01-22
Bay Zero-One
Area 32-92 – "The Yard"

A couple of hours later found Lionel standing on a small catwalk that ran above the central hull of the Prometheus. He had been quite surprised by the General's briefing and overall introduction into the expanded world of Stargate Command, including a future meeting to bring their planet-bound allies to the table. Afterward, the General gave him a permanent security pass to the entire facility and left him in the office to accumulate everything about the briefing. However, Lionel didn't remain in that small office and instead decided to get a better look at what will become his new command later in the week after a more formal ceremony. Hence, he now found himself leaning against the safety rail of the catwalk, looking down at the large space warship below him along with a similar-looking ship next to the Prometheus, the still not finished sister ship to Prometheus, the Atlas. He already peeked in at the Yard's other main bay, which held the half-finished form of the far larger successor to that of the Prometheus Class, the Daedalus, and its own sister ship, the Odyssey, which had just been started to be laid down a few weeks beforehand.

Now he was silently giving the Prometheus a more thorough look over than the quick one he had from the office's window, and while he was pretty impressed with the ship's design. His more NASA-trained mind was a bit unhappy with the design. However, he didn't let that deny him from admiring the overall looks and design of the ship. It wasn't an Orbiter or NASA-built spacecraft for space exploration but a space warship that was meant to fight the new alien enemies of Earth away from the planet. Hence, the reasoning for the aggressive-looking main turrets and missile batteries that graced the hull of the ship and its almost block-looking nature gave him the impression of a US Navy warship. Something he was quite familiar with, thanks to his grandfather showing off a few Museum Ships he served onboard during his time growing up with the man. That was mainly due to him being a twenty-year veteran of the Navy before the man retired to take care of himself and his sister.

It wasn't meant to look pretty but to take the fight to their enemies; from what he understood from the briefing, the engineers and such who had first designed the ship wanted to have every advantage they could with the design. That included a far heavier armor scheme that was said to be expected on other space warship designs that the designers were aware of at the time. The other advantages the designers wanted were the heavy missile battery and a faster hyperdrive. Unfortunately, neither of them was successful, with the prototype hyperdrive failing and blowing itself up, almost taking the ship with it. At the same time, the missile battery did not have the heavy anti-ship missile to quickly blast through an enemy's shield to destroy their ship. Hence, the current reasoning for the new weapons layout the current refit of the Prometheus. Meanwhile, the hyperdrive was replaced with a new version designed jointly by a human engineering team and a couple of alien engineers. From what the General said, it wouldn't be as fast as the old version, but it was far more stable.

He frowned, knowing that the newer Daedalus Class would be from the start built with everything that the Prometheus now had but would be far superior as it would be built from the start with everything developed for the Prometheus. Not to mention having some stuff that was developed for the Daedalus Class, like the flight pods along either side of the design, giving a vastly superior fighter capability to the Prometheus. Also, from what he saw when he peeked earlier sported a few more turrets and sported a large modular VLS-looking missile launcher on the ship's bow. Lionel shook his head at this before looking back at the Prometheus, knowing he had to make it seem like the ship wasn't just a simple prototype with a more powerful production-type design in the near future capable of replacing it. Instead, being an actual warship that may not have all the bells and whistles of the newer ship designs, but still a capable ship in its own right.

"Yeah, you, what in the world are you doing up here?" came the totally annoyed, almost angry-sounding question from his left, jolting him out of his inner thoughts and making him turn his head to the left to see quite a familiar looking figure walking towards him down the catwalk with a determined almost angry look on their face. He blinked in surprise before chuckling, for this did explain some things.

"Hello Brianna, funny to see you here," he mentioned with a slight smile on his face, looking over at the short red-haired woman to see her blinking in some surprise, making her come to a shocked halt.

"Lionel! Lionel Pendergast! What in the world are you doing here?" former Air Force Major, aeronautical engineer, and NASA Astronaut Brianna Carter managed to say after several moments of shocked silence. This drew a laugh from Lionel before nodding down toward the Prometheus.

"I am her new commander, apparently," he explained with a short chuckle making the woman blink in further surprise before seeming to facepalm and letting out a laugh her own. She then came up alongside him at the handrail of the catwalk.

"So you are the new commander of the Promie, huh," she mentioned with a shake of her head, throwing her new longer hair to one side, making him smirk slightly as he was pretty used to seeing her with short hair. He did blink in surprise at the shortened name for his new command but could only smile in some appreciation that it was better than some of the old Orbiters' nicknames over the years.

"Yup, it was quite a surprise to get yanked from across the country to a military base in the middle of nowhere. A military base that, by the way, officially did not exist at all. That hadn't happened to me in a long time," he mentioned with an almost annoyed tone to his voice, making Brianna snort in some agreement of her own.

"So, I take it you have been here since you left NASA after that whole hush-hush launch with the Endeavor in ninety-eight?" he asked with a thoughtful look on his face making Brianna snort and shake her head at him. She and two other military-trained astronauts had launched with the Shuttle Endeavor from Vandenberg in almost complete secrecy with no feed down to the NASA Mission Control Center at Houston. One thing mentioned in his briefing was that the launch was actually at the request of the SGC to retrieve one of their teams that managed to get stranded in Earth's Orbit after they managed to save the planet from an alien invasion.

"Pretty much during the trip back, I got to talking with then Captain Carter, the second-in-command of SG-1, and she introduced me to a few people at Area-51 who were starting the process of designing a full-on space warship to defend the planet. Soon afterward, I retired from the Air Force and became a civilian but was assigned to the design team to get our first space combat craft running, which resulted in our now primary fighter, the F-302. After I finished with that, I was shoved onto the design team reasonable for the construction of old'Prommie here soon after it finished its commissioning. They wanted my help in furthering the design of the 303, and after I reamed them all out after taking one glance at the design of the Prometheus, I was made the team leader of a future refit. So here I am," she answered with a sigh, making him nod and look back down at the ship in question.

"So, it wasn't because someone found out that you liked girls like the rumor said it was?" he asked in return, making her look over at him in surprise and shock before snorting and shaking her head.

"No, it wasn't, and that wasn't even my cover story about the reason I retired either, but I am not all that surprised, really, with a few people we both know in NASA and the Air Force," she replied with an almost weary look on her face. It wasn't the first time he saw it on her face, as he had been one of the few of her friends and co-workers to know of her sexual orientation.

"Well, I am quite glad you did manage to land on your feet like this after leaving NASA and the Air Force Brianna," he mentioned after a moment of silence between them. He then threw an arm around her shoulders, hugging her to his side, making her sigh at him before shrugging off the hug and giving him a slight glare making him chuckle. Finally, he turned his attention back down to the Prometheus with a frown on his face.

"Still, the briefing the General gave me didn't really say anything about the ship outside of simple explanations about its new weapons and such. Care to give me a more technical briefing on it?" he asked after several moments of comfortable silence between them, making her look up at him in some confusion. She then groaned and shook her head.

"I recently gave him a thorough briefing on the new refit and everything, as he is still listed as the commander of the Prometheus. At least till you become its official commander in a few days," she mentioned before sighing, "And he didn't say anything to you about it?"

"No, like I said, he just mentioned something about the plasma cannons and the other weapons, nothing more specific about them at all," he replied with a shake of his head, making her groan once more as she lowered her head to facepalm at what was going on. Finally, after a couple of seconds, she looked back at him before sighing and looking down at the Prometheus in front of them.

"Okay, the first thing I will mention about the ship is its defenses. I am sure the General mentioned something about the shields?" she asked, making Lionel lightly nod, remembering the General mentioning something about that in the brief rundown he managed to do about the Prometheus.

"Well, the ship is equipped with a dedicated sci-fi-like shield that protects the ship from any sort of damage. However, this doesn't make the ship invulnerable, and like the shields on a Goa'uld, Ha'tak Mothership can be battered down with enough firepower. Right now, the shield on the Prometheus is a back-engineer and improved version of what would be on that same Ha'tak Mothership. That said, where the original version of the Prometheus can be said to be superior over that of any Goa'uld ship is its armor. One of the good things the original designers and engineers did with the ship was to give her a heavy armor belt around her hull. As from what we have found out with Goa'uld ships and any other alien ship we have looked at over the years, is that they often rely on their shields, not any sort of heavy ship armor. So, if the shield on the Prometheus goes down, you still have some protection. Still, once the armor is breached, there isn't really anything else defending the ship," Brianna explained with a wave down at the ship, making Lionel raise an eyebrow in some interest at this point from his friend. It was good that the shield wasn't the only defense he would have on the ship when he took the ship into combat. Suddenly he blinked and looked over at Brianna.

"Is that the reason the new ships in the other bay have what looks to be a plate over the top of the majority of its hull?" he asked her to make her blink in turn at the question. She snorted at this before looking down at the Prometheus.

"Yes, and no. It was an extension of the u-shaped plate you see on the back of the Promie, but yes, it could be used as an extra layer of armor over the hull of the new 304s," she replied before waving down at the turrets that were built into that same mentioned u-shaped plate.

"Moving on to the ship's weapons, as I am sure the General mentioned, the ship recently has changed its primary armament from missiles to turreted cannons, mostly seen on the back plate there," she said, returning to the requested briefing. Lionel nodded at this because the General mentioned a refit of the ship.

"So, first, the turrets you see are actually a sort of magnetic plasma cannons that are basically completely rebuilt versions of the Capital Scale Staff Cannons found onboard the Goa'uld Ha'tak Motherships. We improved the overall design thanks partly to our greater understanding of magnetics, which does see a slightly longer and normal-looking barrel being added to the weapon. They also use a superior material – Trinium – in the barrels themselves, allowing them to be fired faster than a Staff Cannon onboard a Ha'tak and a bit more powerful as well as a result of this," she explained, pointing down towards the large turrets on the ship's u-shaped back plate. Lionel knew there were a couple other turrets he couldn't see underneath the ship itself, including a single larger three-barrel version of the regular turrets located directly underneath the ship's bow. Thanks partly to his earlier wandering about the bay he had done after leaving the office.

"The next thing you need to know is that the turret underneath the ship's bow is a vastly improved version of the other turrets that sport longer barrels on the cannons and a third barrel added to the turret. It is something we developed for the newer X-304 Project for its own main armament but is being fully tested on the Prometheus before the 304's construction goes any further. That said, we had some help from Asgard engineers with its design, and it's far more powerful due to their own contributions to the design, which was mainly having it based on an old Asgard design instead of Goa'uld," she pointed towards the ship's bow and the turret located there making him nod in understanding. That was most likely the main cannon the General mentioned in the short and sweet briefing he received a few hours ago about the ship. He believed it would have been some sort of fixed center-line mount, but that was primarily thanks to him being a fan of a couple of Japanese anime series. This was far better as it would allow the primary weapon to have a wider firing angle, though at the same time, since it was underneath the ship's bow, it didn't have that much of a firing angle for any target right in front or above the ship's bow. Even then, that was covered by the ship's other turrets quite capable of engaging these targets.

"The missiles, meanwhile, have been vastly improved over the older design we were going to use with the Prometheus and the 304s. This was also thanks partly to the assistance of the Asgard, who overhauled the entire design of our missiles and launchers. They now sport a smaller version of the engines found on our new version of the F-302 Fighters, which gives the missiles a vastly superior delta-v and general maneuverability over the older modified rocket engines they had in the past. As for launchers, we decided to keep the horizontal launchers from the original design called for but added a couple additional launchers to the ship's bow allowing for a full-on missile salvo of twelve missiles with five seconds reload time, allowing you to throw up a hefty missile barrage in a matter of minutes. But, again, that is something we kept from the original design," Brianna mentioned turning her attention to the ship's long-range weapon options making Lionel nod at this as well. He knew from the General's earlier briefing that the original design of the Prometheus had the missiles as its main armament. As that was something the various civilian experts and military officers had gathered together to do – devise space combat strategies. Mainly thanks to the Goa'uld not sporting any sort of missile weapon or any sort of point defense. However, that idea became entirely pointless as the engineers and such who had been designing their new missiles for use in space combat couldn't come up with a way to breach or bypass the shields of a Goa'uld Mothership outside of the brute force method. Now with some help from their allies like the Asgard and a bit from the Tok'ra, they were able to come up with a far better design for the ship's armament.

"Another new weapon that has been added to the ship is a single twenty-four cell VLS launcher on the ship's aft which can launch smaller anti-fighter missiles at an enemy force of space fighters. Again, these missiles are a bit different from that of normal missiles found on, say, a Navy Destroyer or Cruiser. They are also made to work in tandem with the last weapon found on the ship," she continued on, pointing down towards the back of the u-shaped plate at the back of the ship. Lionel could vaguely see the mentioned VLS Launcher in that location, making him nod, pleased that they really went out of their way to make the ship heavily armed.

"For more direct point defense, the Prometheus sports twenty-four dual-barrel rapid-fire railgun cannon turrets spread across the ship's hull. These are slightly improved from the original design's railgun turrets with an improved barrel and a vastly superior targeting program built-in, along with an improvement to their automation. They are further supported by a half-dozen larger single-barrel railgun cannon turrets mounted in a couple of points along the ship's hull for use against larger strike craft attacking the ship like, say, Goa'uld Al'kesh," Brianna finally came to a close for her own quick and dirty briefing about the Prometheus. Lionel meanwhile gave the entire ship a more approving look as having a dedicated ability to counter enemy fighters and bombers would be vital. As he would most likely be outnumbered by the enemy till Earth built up a more extensive fleet of ships to defend the planet. So he would most likely use his fighters to harass other ships in a fight instead of countering the enemy fighters. He already had some ideas for further strategies and such for combating the enemy with just one ship.

"Yeah!" Brianna called out with a slap on his shoulder, making him blink and shake his head as he returned to the present. He looked over at his friend to see her looking at him in some annoyance which made him flinch slightly as most likely she had said something to him, but with him busy in his thoughts, he didn't hear her.

"Sorry was in my thoughts there for a moment. What did you say?" he asked a moment later, making her sigh and roll her eyes.

"I pretty much said: That is about it for the weapons on the Prometheus," she started to say with a shake of her head, "Was there something else you wanted to know about her, or should we get in a quick tour?"

At this question, Lionel hummed in thought at this before looking back down at the Prometheus, knowing that a quick tour of the ship would be a great idea. However, as he looked down at his new command, his eyes quickly slid over to its sister ship laid up next to her with a confused-looking frown on his face. He had just noticed that the hull of the ship was different from her sister, with its central hull looking quite different from that of the Prometheus. Though it did look like it was getting a similar-looking armament to that of its sister ship. This had him turn to look down at Brianna with that same frown on his face.

"One more question for you, Brianna: What is going on with the Atlas?" he asked with a nod towards the ship in question, which made Brianna blink in surprise at this before she sighed, looking down at the ship in question.

"That is a bit complicated. The Atlas was originally started to be built about halfway through the construction of the Prometheus when we finally managed to expand this bay a bit to allow the second berth in the bay. However, soon after its construction, the 304 was undergoing its final design phase and would have started construction. The 304 would be superior to that of the Prometheus as the Asgard was on the design and construction of the ship from the start, unlike the 303. Still, we had a half-finished ship and no real will to finish it, as the 304s would be quite superior. So it remained half-finished till someone mentioned that the one thing our small space fleet would need was some sort of dedicated support ship. Hence, the construction of the Atlas was once again started. This time as a sort of dedicated support ship for the rest of the fleet," she mentioned with a frown on her face as she leaned away from the catwalk's handrail. This made Lionel look on in some interest before the last bit of Brianna's statement made him look over at her in confusion.

"Sort of? What do you mean by that?" he asked, making her snort and eye the half-finished hulk of the sister ship to that of the Prometheus.

"The original idea that was proposed was to make the Atlas truly a support ship where it would have two larger pods along either side of the ship. Similar to hangar pods on the new 304s, just a bit larger and made to carry cargo. From there, several crane arms and such would be added along either side of the pods to allow another ship to come alongside for help in repairs of their hull if needed or a resupply. However, that was declared to be too expensive to modify the half-finished Atlas into. So instead, they decided to do something different with it," she explained with a scowl and a wave at the under-construction Atlas. Lionel raised an eyebrow at this and looked down at the Atlas and saw nothing on it that would advertise it as a support ship of any type. Instead, it did start to look like a complete twin to that of that Prometheus, complete with what looked to be similar turrets found on its sister ship as he saw earlier. Though once again, something was different from the central hull, and after glancing between the two ships, he believed he found the difference between the two of them.

"Basically, they decided to remove the ship's hangar and replace it with a larger centrally mounted cargo bay that would be capable of resupplying another ship. However, that does remove any sort-of natural defense those fighters may give the ship. Still, they did take my suggestion of still arming the ship, but without any sort of fighter cover, it wouldn't be that useful while in a fight. It is basically an armed transport and doesn't sport anything further to make it able to further support another ship," she continued with a soft grumble and glared down at the ship. Lionel hummed at this before narrowing his eyes because he didn't see any way of getting cargo carried by this ship to another ship.

"How would it transfer the cargo to another ship?" he asked slowly with a frown on his face making Brianna snort and turn to look over at him.

"Either through the same bottom-mounted cargo access door as the Prometheus sports or through the four ring transports placed onboard the ship. As that is how a Goa'uld Ha'tak is supplied after all," she answered, making him blink in outright shock at this for what he had heard from the General. The cargo access door and ramp on the Prometheus were designed to load and unload cargo while landed and not while in space. As for the idea of using those ring transports, that was worse as not everything cargo-wise could be transferred that way or even just broken down to allow such a transport to work. He took another glance down at the Atlas, eying the ship's still-under-construction central hull, and gave a hum of thought as he got an idea.

"You know they could put in some dedicated large cargo doors over the cargo bay itself and maybe put a crane arm where the hangar entrance would have been if it was the Prometheus. So it would be kind of like the payload bay doors on an orbiter if you do it correctly," he mentioned his idea out loud to that of Brianna, who froze in surprise at this before groaning and facepalming.

"I call myself a former NASA Astronaut, and I didn't think of that!" she mumbled to herself before turning to stare at him with a frown, "Though to further explore this idea of yours, how would another ship receive the cargo from the Atlas?"

Lionel smiled at this before nodding down at the Prometheus itself, which currently had a large crane lowering something down on the ships forward deck in front of the hangar entrance. This saw Brianna looking down as well, just in time for the workers around the lowered object to started to be pushed into the hangar. This made her look thoughtful and look over at her fellow astronaut to see him nod with that same smile on his face.

"So, cargo transferred through the ship's hangar. That would work especially on the larger 304s with their large hangar pods. Though the crew receiving the cargo would need to be in space suits for such work," Brianna said to herself with a shake of her head. Lionel meanwhile just sighed and shook his head at this statement.

"Actually, Brianna, have you forgotten those studies NASA did on introducing some sort of orbital space work pod that would help with the construction of the International Space Station? I am sure with the new materials and tech we got through the Stargate would allow you all to develop such a vehicle," he almost casually mentioned making Brianna to once more freeze in shock and surprise before she groaned in some annoyance at something else she should have proposed thanks in part to her history in NASA.

"Okay wise guy, let's go and get you that tour of the Promie," she mentioned, starting to walk down the catwalk towards a nearby lift to take them down to "ground level."

"Though I am definitely going to be put together another report of suggestions for the general and the other engineers about these ideas along with that other idea that I had earlier," she managed to mumble under her breath, making Lionel chuckle as he turned to follow behind his old friend. He smiled once more for while, he complained about being dragged halfway across the damn country. He was glad the Air Force did so, for he never would have known about this. At least till it was released to the public anyway. Shaking his head with a short chuckle, he got into the lift with Brianna and prepared himself to start getting to know his new command.

-o-End-o-

Okay! After struggling with it over the past few days, this chapter is finally finished! Grumble. I really wanted to cut down on the info dumb, but it wasn't working correctly without it. Not to mention the character of Brianna just wouldn't shut up about the Prometheus. Sigh. Anyways, I am sure you have noticed some things that were mentioned in the main thread of the previous version of this story. Like the mention of the work pods, the Atlas being a Support Ship, the rebuild staff cannons as the main weapons, and a few other things. Speaking of which, I radically changed the idea of the Support Ship Atlas, which was the original idea mentioned in this chapter, to a different version. Basically, replacing the ship's fighter hangar and replacing it with a larger cargo bay for carrying the needed cargo for any other ship. The Orbiter-like payload bay doors that Lionel mentioned as an idea were something I came up with while writing this chapter. That said, that isn't entirely what I have planned for the Atlas. There are still a couple of further things I plan to add to the ship's design.

Still, I do hope you all liked this chapter. I worked enough on it and hope to finish the next chapter as soon as possible. That chapter will see us getting a dedicated tour of the ship and a more thorough explanation of the new version of the ship. Not to mention meeting up with some key members of the ship's crew. Okay, that is about it, everyone! See you all next chapter!

EDIT: So here is the promised chapter one of the story. We get a further look at what really has changed with the old Prometheus. As mentioned in the last chapter, the weapons on the ship have been completely redone. The Plasma Cannons are something mentioned in the thread for the first version of this story. The larger triple-barrel turret is something that is going to be the main armament for a slightly different version of the Daedalus Class, which we will not be seeing in this story. The sequel, however, will feature the new version of the Daedalus and her sisters. Meanwhile, in the first version of this story I had a VLS launcher on the ship's central hull like the Daedalus Class, but rewatching the various episodes of the series with the ship in it and I noticed that it actually has torpedo-tube-like launchers. Both forward and aft-mounted. Hence the reasoning for them to be included in this version of the ship's design.

Okay. That is enough chatting about tech. I have Chapter Two halfway finished and hopefully can finish it off some time tomorrow. However, I will not post it till I am well into chapter three. So hopefully, during the weekend, it will be posted. My original idea for this was to get a few chapters written up and then post them around this time. However, I sadly got distracted from the story by another idea I had, and that prevented me from truly getting into writing the story. Now that I am focused on writing this story, I shall, hopefully, see about pumping a new chapter every couple of days. However, that does depend on things like school and real-life - Hello, Thanksgiving! - so it is not all set in stone. Okay. Again I shall see you all in the next chapter! Thanks for reading!