7 hours later Unknown Sector, Baal Controlled Space
High above one of the numerous outpost worlds under the somewhat weakened domain of the Goa'uld known mainly as Baal, dozens of pyramid like ships gathered into formation. Ranging from the small corvette like bombers called al'kesh, or to the monstrous 'standard' starships like the Ha'taks, while squadrons of death gliders flew in between the giants, like insignificant insects.
Near the planets sole moon, the flash of hyperspace came into being, a small cargo ship exited swiftly, turning tightly in the fleet's direction, letting the acceleration from hyperspace do the work. Watching from afar was the self appointed god himself, in side the safe but menacing form of a Goa'uld Mothership, Baal inwardly snarled, even after years of preparation, of rebuilding, he would never return to his former state of power. Every time that thought came to mind, and it often did, he always knew who to blame, the shol'va Jaffa that declared themselves 'free'. But then he considered the route of it all, the problems that had occurred in the past decade that had almost thrown the Goa'uld out of their dominant position in the galaxy, the meddlesome people that had continued to deny their place under his heel, the Tau'ri.
In the few mere years that they had joined the galactic scene, dozens of Goa'ulds from various levels of the hierarchy had fallen to them, some in the most pitiful of ways. It all started with Ra, then after Apophis made them his personal enemy, he had fallen no less then 3 times to them, not to mention the other Goa'ulds that rose and feel afterwards, Hathor, Sokar, Cronos, Nitri, hell they even managed to take out Anubis..somehow.
That's when he took his chance, centuries of preparation, secretly building his worlds too a standard that only Sokar had on his former Homeworld of Delmak, in which great cities spreading for hundreds of miles were spotted across the magnificent globes of blue and green, massive starbases orbited each world also, allowing the thousands of starships of various size to come and go, making trade runs between outposts and capital worlds, continuing their military patrols, or even just his many underlings going about their daily business.
While this was but a few worlds, his domain was expanding, quickly engulfing what remnant Goa'uld held territory that still spread across the galactic plain. With each world captured, more resources were brought in, be they the material kind, or man power, it just expanded with every turn, and like the years before, in which Ra ruled supreme over all, Baal had recreated the dream, he had made a true Goa'uld Empire.
But through his constant planning, building and selective battles, against certain Goa'ulds, and 'trying' to keep the innate feeling of arrogance in check, which was an accomplishment far greater then the empire that he was building mind you, 'like trying to hold back a wave with a wooden dam.' The self-appointed god mused mentally, not even noticing the Jaffa Master enter his chamber.
The aging man bowed respectfully, only then did Baal jump out oh his trance, turning to look down at the master from his heightened position, the original Jaffa, before his recent request to his human subjects too join his armies, suffice to say it was somewhat effective, and his armies while less then half they were before the rebellion, were ample enough to for his needs." My lord, I bring word of our scouts from the Tau'ri outpost." The Jaffa reported from his still kneeling position.
Ah yes, the cloaked tel'tec that he had ordered to the alpha century system, as the captured Tau'ri SG team had informed him. Interrogation was so much easier, albeit much less entertaining if the prisoners are just implanted with a Goa'uld, while somewhat tiresome, very little information was given up from his new born 'children', though a name or too, a number of ships the Tau'ri had, was all he needed, the rest he would find out through his own means.
"Excellent" the smile on his face took no small hint of smugness, "What was learned?"
Washington D.C. 9.34 am, Local Time, 27th of July 2008
Hayes was pissed.
It was the simplest way of putting it, the US President, most powerful man on earth, was absolutely fuming at the latest report, the new Egyptian government had out right refused the use of their territory for the numerous military bases that the US held in the area, hell they even outright demanded that they leave the place within the next 4 days, or all they'll be considered as hostile targets!
"Damn Arabic bastards!" the president just a bit too loud, his aide jumped slightly, as he threw the 16 page report against the wall, the papers spraying everywhere as the small clip that held them bounced off.
General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs gave a small forced smile, he himself didn't like the idea anymore then his CnC, but this was going to happen some day. "Just hold that tongue at your speeches sir, we've been waiting for this for months now, our men will be out of there in a few hours."
But that did nothing to calm down Hayes, his face growing red with anger his hands waving in the air for the sake of it, "That's not the point, and I know you know it also."
Before the general could even open his mouth to respond, the presidents aid butted in "You have too consider it from their side as well Mr. President, there have been a lot of reforms in Egypt."
"Oh yeah, and they're not the only ones," walking up to his globe he spun it once and jabbing his index finger heavily in the Middle East. "No less then 14 nations have gone through similar coops in the past 3 years, Egypt being the core of it all." His finger traced an invisible line, making a small circle, stretching from north Africa, around the former Yugoslavian territories, and as east as Pakistan, "All these nations but a few of our allies in the area, have either gone through a sudden change of government, or in some cases, being out right invaded!" his face no longer looking furious, but even in his calmer state, his bright red face was enough to give any unwary spectators enough to consider, piss this man off, and it's the last thing you'll do.
Pace nodded emotionlessly, in his time as chairman of the joint chiefs, and also with the job of being the president's top military advisor, he himself had seen, and in some case, experienced these changes in the Middle East first hand. Nations liberated by the US soon collapsed to a new regime, former enemies did the same, only for a new and more dangerous government to take their place, completely isolating themselves from the outside world…excluding of course, other like minded nations, Pace gave a grim look ,there was no way in hell this was a coincidence.
"I'll have our people look into it Mr. President."
The president nodded "See that you do General" reaching into his draw he pulled out a small silver device and waved it knowingly at the Marine General "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to see a test firing."
Watergate, Washington D.C. same time
Unlike the prepared and waiting President, General O'Neill was somewhat less then ready. Half dressed in his formal uniform, he himself was jumping up and down on one foot as he tried to put his sock on the other. He was mentally screaming that his wake up call didn't come, let alone his breakfast that he ordered the night before, and with his uniform not ironed like he ordered, he was having some not so small doubts about just buying an apartment instead.
'Damn uniform, my ass a BDU isn't proper clothing for a general! I did it for a year and no one complained' O'Neill thought grimly, as he grinned in success, taking the moment to admire his now covered foot, 'damn thing took 5 minutes, better make the most of it'
Meanwhile, a middle aged woman silently opening the door while pushing the somewhat oversized trolley, filled on each level with layers of toast, bacon, eggs and pancakes and rows of orange juice glasses. Slowly the trolley came to a halt at the small table in the suites lounge room, the woman slowly went over her list, removing the food that was ordered by a J. O'Neill.
By the time that all the food was laid, the hotel employee was wondering exactly where this O'Neill was. She dashed silently to the bathroom door, putting an ear against its wooden surface, she heard no rushing of water, nor did she feel the usual hot moisture that flowed up the door edges The woman knocked twice, awaiting a reply. She had safely concluded that the man was not in the bathroom that left only the bedroom.
Slowly approaching, she attempted to walk as quietly as possible, knowing that the wake up call was missed due to a power out in the area, she and hotel staff in general had been given their fair share of complaints already.
Knocking politely, she waited a response, she held a sharp yelp, probably in surprise, but what was more confusing was the strange sound afterwards, accompanied with the flash of light sleeping out the door frame. Curiously she opened the door, peeping through the growing opening, until she could see the room clearly….empty, except for two shoes spread across the floor.
USAF Theseus, 9:51 am Low Orbit above Nevada
High above the earth, the massive form of a Daedalus class Battlecruiser orbited the planet, if someone looked closely they would see a small white stream of light pulsing in towards the starship. While the US president and his body guards were making their way off the light blue panels that allowed their transportation, Hayes was shaking hands with the Theseus captain Colonel Williams, when they were both caught off guard by the sudden whirling sound and flash of light that accompanied any Asgard based transporter. The president's guards immediately reaching for pistols, Williams activating his zat, but before any of them could even aim at the flash, it quickly turned into a half dressed General O'Neill, sprawling on his back, jacket held tight in his right hand, and pants in the left.
Slowly he turned to look at the assembled people, the reactions on their faces mixed to say the least. From the straight, somewhat overly tense looks of the secret service agents, the embarrassed grimace on the ships captain, to the outright grin on Hayes face, it wasn't a comfortable thought.
Shifting his view to all the reactions, he responded in the best way he could ,"Ummmmm you know where I can get some shoes?"
White House, Washington D.C. same time
Surrounded the perfectly trimmed grass fields inside the home and office of whatever president ruled the nation, the presidents aide, Mark Thompson was in his own, somewhat smaller office, going over President Henry Hayes current alibi, suddenly disappearing from the white house, without a car was somewhat suspicious, and there was always one or two people constantly watching the presidents movements, mostly the media.
Underline with the closed pen, Thompson slowly read over what he typed up, "and as such, President Hayes was occupied with th…" the ringing of his office phone caught him off, dropping the pen, he picked up the receiver with his now free hand, he brought it too his ear "Thompson."
"Hello Mark." The voice was almost familiar, yet he couldn't think where.
"Who is this?" he asked curiously.
The voice seemed to chuckle slightly at the question "oh please Mark, surely you haven't forgotten me?", the aide scrunched his face in confusion, then it hit him, a sense of cold dead fear rushed over him at the memory.
He hesitated for several seconds, not finding the words to answer, blurting out unconvincingly "I told you I'm not helping you any more"
"Oh I know what you said, I remember it quite clearly." The voice said quite patronizingly, as if talking too a child., "but you were scarred, confused, years of working in such a strange new environment, it must have been overwhelming for you." Bullshit, Thompson thought, ones he left…that group, he made every effort to make amends for his previous mistakes.
With a little more conviction, he pressed the point "It's the same as before, I'm not helping you, enough people have been hurt from my actions." He himself feeling not convinced that was the only reason..
"I see" the voice sounded, genuinely disappointed, as if he expected Thompson to full heartedly side with him. "You know your sisters not been well lately I hear, possibly that new virus, you know the one that causes total inflammation of the blood vessels? Very painful I hear."
Instantly catching on, he was outraged, but kept his calm "You wouldn't…."
"Wouldn't what Mark?" the innocent reply came
The thought jumped in and out of his brain, should he? Two famous statements came too mind, The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, then the exact opposite, Family comes first. The whole thing was a constant debate, there was no right choice, nor was their a wrong one, each one suffered severe consequences, but he knew these bastards would probably kill his sister anyway, as sickening as the thought was too think
"Alright then!" he quickly broke, knowing full well all the consequences of his actions "What do you want?"
The mocking tone returned. "Oh? Why the sudden change of hear-"
"Just tell me what you want me to do! No more games!"
"Very well then." The voice took a deeply serious tone, no more playing around "In the 2nd draw to you're left, you will find a small device, you will use it to.." Thompson followed the instructions word for word, he only hoped that this wouldn't leave yet another mark on his soul…..
USAF Theseus
Staring out to the bridges reinforced windows, Hayes was admiring the view, the shadows of night that still cloaked half the planet, yet the majestic light of the sun blazed across the American surface, it was definitely awe inspiring, and the newly dressed general behind him had to agree.
Gone was the half dressed officers uniform, now clad in the more comfortable and functional BDU's of the Theseus's crew, O'Neill had a grin on his face as the president gave him a quick glance
"All set now general?" he asked with the smallest smirk on his face
'You bet, don't know how you live wearing one of those damn things every day.' O'Neill thought, looking at Hayes's suit "Yes sir, good to be out of the suit every now and again."
Raising an eyebrow at the statement "Thought it would have grown on you by now Jack."
O'Neill mentally rolled his eyes, even after 3 years, in his little still non-windowed office, the US military lost a few points in his opinion, the requirement of generals to wear dress uniform, was just one "you assume far too much…"he muttered, catching onto the presidents frown, he quickly added "Sir"
Colonel Williams watched the banter from the command chair, he couldn't hide the smile on his face, Brigadier Ronson always told the ship captains to watch out when O'Neill was aboard. A quick beeping cut his thoughts off, the comm. Officer nodded in his direction, guess it was time then.
Rising from his chair, he walked calmly to both of his superiors, giving a breath nod to them in the process "We just got the report from Nellis, Prometheus has finished the supply drop and is making its way into orbit to assume defensive status in our place."
That made O'Neill's dull face brighten up somewhat, as much as he liked the view, he was just 'dying' to see yet another big honkin' space gun go boom. "So we're going down?"
Williams nodded," As soon as the Prometheus launches, and our patrols are recalled, we'll head back to the dry-docks."
Clapping his hands together in a somewhat exaggerated way, the general replied, mostly with the growl in his stomach. "Excellent, now where's the mess hall on this thing? I kinda missed breakfast"
The President grinned knowingly, the colonel merely shrugged, "Airman?" he asked to the young woman assigned to aid the general.
"If you'll follow me sir." She said, as she led the general out of the bridge, leaving Williams giving a questioning look at the president.
Hayes was still grinning, catching the odd glance of f-302's gliding into the Daedalus class's hanger bay's, "You'll get used to it colonel, don't worry."
