The Whitehouse, Washington DC
16th September 2004
"This is moving way to fast." President Hayes expressed his anxiety. "Doesn't it feel fast to you?"
"Yes Mr President." His chief of staff, Erwin Rogers followed beside him as they stamped through the corridors of the venerable building. "Which is a good thing, we need to act quickly."
It was just a day since Generals Hammond and O'Neill had made their reports directly to the President identifying the ancient artefact and the alternate dimension beyond. He'd had a hard time grasping the idea at first, but then he'd met Michael Garibaldi and seen some of the small pieces of technology he'd brought along including a tiny energy weapon which could apparently burn through a Russian tank. After that President Hayes had listened very carefully to what he had to say.
"I still say its going too fast, there's hardly any time to think!" Hayes sighed. "Sometimes I think I should've gone for another job."
"Your approval rating is good Mr President." Rogers encouraged. "If we can get our allies to back this deal we can solve every problem we have regarding that series of issues we don't mention in public."
"You mean aliens?" Hayes said. "This is the Whitehouse, everyone knows already." He came to a halt outside the Oval office. "If they can deliver what they're promising, a full planetary protection screen made up of giant cannons, well I guess it's worth the risk."
"On that note one of our intelligence guys called Atwood has a report for you when we're done. "Rogers said sceptically. "He wants funding to research alleged new species of humans living in our society."
"Oh great, more fun." Hayes shook his head. "Did the last president deal with this? How did he find time for that thing with the intern?"
"The Ambassadors are waiting sir." Rogers swiftly changed subjects and gestured for the door.
The Oval office was bathed in a warm glow, the fading light still bright enough so the President didn't need to use the electric lights of the office. Inside were four men of advancing years sat on the two couches in the centre of the office either side of the great seal woven into the carpet, they represented the UN security council and were looking both worried and annoyed at the sudden summoning to the Whitehouse.
"Sorry gentlemen," Hayes waved as he headed for his desk. "I know this is short notice but I think you'll agree this is a matter of utmost importance to us all." He sat behind the great wooden desk, a gift from Queen Victoria many decades before. "You gentlemen are all aware of the Stargate programme?"
The group nodded, it had been some years since America told of its programme and secured greater national cooperation. Since that time a number of governments had been briefed on the programme and had sent some of their brightest minds to join the Atlantis expedition, but the five nations of the security council were still considered the first to know of changes in official policy. Each of them had benefited in some way from the programme, with Russia and China taking technology from the programme to develop their own unique defences while Britain was working closely with the United States on developing Space based missiles and weapons. The French had their own programmes, but were mainly focused on creating an effective Fusion reactor in company with a British and German team.
"Recently we made contact with another race of humans." Hayes worded the announcement carefully. "They are more advanced than us in many ways and have offered to give us systems to defend our world against all enemies."
"Really? And how do they propose to do that?" The British ambassador raised an eyebrow.
"By giving us orbital weapons platforms with the firepower to destroy any ship likely to threaten us."
"Orbital weapons?" the Chinese representative narrowed his gaze. "I do not like the idea of such weapons over my country."
"They will be pointing outwards." Hayes said. "And they will be under your control."
"Will we get equal numbers of these weapons?" the Frenchman wondered.
"You'll get enough to protect your country." Hayes said. "So I guess bigger countries will get more."
"Well, I have to raise some concerns about that." The British ambassador said. "Seems rather unfair."
"This is a global initiative meant to protect humanity as a whole, besides the deal also includes weapons and engine tech which could help balance the smaller countries."
"What do you mean balance?" the Russian added. "You mean they have something we don't?"
"No Mr Ambassador, that isn't what I meant." Hayes tried to calm him down. "What I mean is no one group will have an unfair advantage."
"The British government has contributed a great deal to the programme." Its ambassador said. "By padding out and extending our development of fighter and warship systems we have given billions to the 302 and 303 programmes, not to mention sending Edinburghs best biologist and the Navy's smartest technician to the far side of the universe. We want what is best for all of us, but too often the smaller countries of the world are sidelined in global affairs."
"Exactly, we want as many weapons as the other countries!" The French ambassador demanded.
"Well, practically…" The British ambassador started to try and correct his French colleague, but was in turn interrupted.
"And we demand enough weapons to protect our country from any aggressor!" the Chinese representative spat.
"No one is going to be short changed!" Hayes raised his voice. "But there's more beside technology, there's a price tag."
"Oh, of course there is." The Russian grinned. "What is it this time?"
"In exchange for technology, the people we have contacted need us to help them find a cure for a plague afflicting their planet."
"A Plague?" the Russian said. "Any threat to us?"
"We have precautions in place." Hayes said. "we'll be conducting all research at the Atlantis station, if we agree to do so."
"We still need to resolve how the technology will be distributed." The Frenchman said.
"We do," answered the Briton. "But we can discuss the details after we give help as research is under way."
"You're in favour then?" Hayes asked for confirmation.
"I'd like more details, but provisionally… yes, Britain will help."
"So will we." The French ambassador said. "But again, we will require more details on the technology and its distribution."
"Russia has always supported the Stargate programme, we support this too."
The four men now all looked at the Chinese representative. He frowned and looked to his feet before addressing them.
"We are with you, but with the same conditions as my colleagues have stated."
"That's fine." Hayes grinned happily. "I'll provide a full list of what we're been offered, plus some negotiable extras." He stood and headed for the door. "My secretary will be along in a moment with the details, we did the right thing today, the good thing. Its rare we can say that and mean it. Thanks."
Hayes left the room and picked up the first phone he came to. "Erwin? Get onto General Hammond, tell him it's a go."
Daedalus
"General O'Neill, we have confirmation." Colonel Caldwell reported. "The security council permanent members have agreed to back the initiative."
"They agreed?" O'Neill sounded disappointed. "I owe Carter ten bucks."
"We're in position to make the crossing to the alternate dimension sir." Caldwell began fastening his seatbelt, even though O'Neill was ranking officer the ship was still technically Caldwells command and he occupied the central chair.
"Alright, I've been wanting to try this for all of two hours." O'Neill took a chair by the side of the bridge. "Proceed when ready."
O'Neill would be travelling on the Daedalus without his other team mates, they had other duties back on Earth sorting through the data Mr Garibaldi had provided and providing a report to the President on the pros and cons of the deal. So far it was all positive.
"One final message sir." Major Foster took the long range call. "Mr Garibaldi says he owes President Sheridan ten credits, he'll know what that means."
O'Neill smiled, Garibaldi must have made the same bet he had. "Acknowledge that signal, then take us through."
He braced himself, travel through a normal Stargate was second nature to him by now, but he couldn't help but feel a little apprehension as the Daedalus activated its Asgard sensors and triggered the oval ring. A rippling surface flashed across its centre much like a Stargate giving O'Neill a slight comfort in familiarity.
"Crossing event Horizon in three, two, one…" Foster read off, and then they were through. An instant of brightness and nausea assaulted the general but by the time he opened his eyes it was over. Space outside the forward windows looked the same as anywhere else he'd been and the gentle pulse of the ship, its engines and computers, continued to sound in the background.
"All systems nominal." Foster reported. "We're exactly where we are meant to be."
The point was emphasized by a pair of split wing fighters ghosting past the window, clearly recognizable as Earth Alliance vehicles.
"Open a channel to the Excalibur" Caldwell says. "Are they nearby?"
"Yes sir, getting response."
"I'll take it." O'Neill walked to the centre of the bridge. "President Sheridan, you hear me okay?"
"General O'Neill, what's happened?"
"Good news, the five most powerful nations will provisionally back finding a cure, which means we can start right away."
"That's excellent news, thank you General." Sheridan beamed. "It means a lot."
"Well the big space gun bribe probably had a lot to do with it, hard to resist."
"I knew they'd come round, Garibaldi owes me ten credits." Sheridan was still smiling. "So what can we expect to see?"
"We're starting the programme at our outpost on Atlantis, yes the actual lost city, very long story. Anyway they have a huge repository of knowledge on there so it gives us a chance of finding similar plagues to the one you have. If its been beaten before we could use that knowledge to try and beat this one."
"I see where you're going." Sheridan nodded. "I've got some people who would love to go and help, especially if its on Atlantis…"
"Long story Mr President, I'll tell you about it someday." O'Neill smiled. "In fact I've got some great stories, like…"
He was interrupted by a message on Sheridans side. "Hang on General, it's a distress call." The President turned to take the call. "the Drakh are heading for our prototype ship yards, the place where we built the Victory and Excalibur."
"What defences do you have out there?" O'Neill asked with concern.
"Not enough, everything on patrol in that sector was diverted to Earth, there are maybe two Whitestars that can be there in time." Sheridan cursed. "That's the only yard capable of handling the new ships, if it goes it'll be a year before we can start production again!"
"How far is it?"
"Nearly a days jump, the Drakh are arriving in less than an hour."
"Yeah, but our engines are pretty quick, in an hour we could travel hundreds of lightyears." O'Neill pointed out. "We could make it in time, maybe you can hitch a lift?"
"Me personally?"
"And your ship, we could try and tow you through hyperspace." O'Neill suggested. "Right?" he looked to Caldwell.
"Err…"
"Great, its settled." O'Neill clapped his hands. "Get your people ready, we'll contact you in a few minutes."
The channel closed and the General turned to his crew. "It can't be that hard."
"We've never tried it before sir." Caldwell explained. "It's pretty far fetched."
"Get Hermiod to sort it out, Carter would know what to do." O'Neill sighed. "Who's your science guy?"
"Doctor Lindsay Novak, I'm sure she'll be thrilled at the news."
"I'll bet." O'Neill grinned. "We haven't got long, the Asgard have done it before so make sure that grey dude doesn't try and weasel out of it."
It took a few minutes, most of which was filled with Hermiod's complaints, but finally the Daedalus was prepared for the difficult operation.
"President Sheridan," O'Neill got back in touch. "We've got the plan worked out, basically we'll expand our hyperspace bubble thing so you can fit your ship within it, probably a couple of ships."
"How many?" Sheridan asked. "And how soon will we arrive?"
"Not as fast as one ship alone, but we might just beat the Drakh. We can take three or four ships, we're ready right now."
"Alright General, I'll have the strike forces form up."
Many of the ships that had fought in defence of Earth had taken heavy damage, only a few were still fully operational. From that group Sheridan quickly pulled together a fighting force centred on the Excalibur including the Warlock class Enchantress, the flowing form of the Minbari Warcruiser Ilyr's Strength, and the venerable Agamemnon. Alongside three Whitestars which stayed close to the larger vessels they drew up around the Daedalus and got as close as they could.
"So this will work, right?" O'Neill raised the question.
"Hermiod thinks so sir." Caldwell answered. "And the little fella's never wrong."
"I bet." O'Neill shrugged. "Okay then, lets make this happen. To infinity, and…. Sorry."
The crew moved in unison, activating a dozen systems and creating a low hum as the ships power generators wound up to full power. There was a notable increase in tension as Caldwell barked out his instructions, this would be a first for this ship and the idea of such a small vessel creating a pathway big enough for the huge ISA flagship was a little overpowering.
"Coordinates locked in." Foster reported. "All stations ready for jump."
"The hyperdrive is ready," Novak added from engineering. "We'll be monitoring field strength, if it looks like trouble we'll drop everyone safely and decelerate."
"We'll be using our inertial dampeners to cover the whole fleet." Caldwell said to O'Neill. "Its going to take a hell of a lot of power."
"We don't have far to go." O'Neill nodded. "We're in this now, we won't back out. Activate engines."
"Here goes nothing." Foster whispered, then pushed the hyperdrive controls to active.
000000000
Whitestar 9 ducked beneath the blue energy beam and returned fire, tearing a rent in an offensive looking Drakh cruiser. Robert Lockley commanded this ship, one of the first of its kind and with a list of battle honours as long as his arm. He was a Ranger, and as far as he was concerned that was all anyone needed to know about his skills and abilities. Merely passing the selection process showed him as individual of great courage and personal strength while his command of Nine was verging on legendary. He'd seen it all, from Imperialistic Earth force destroyers to Thrall controlled Centauri cruisers. His greatest achievements were surviving the great battles of the Shadow war and supporting Ivanova against the modified Shadow destroyers of President Clark, where his ship was one of the few combat worthy enough to follow Sheridan all the way to Earth.
He had fought the Drakh and pursued their fleeing ships from the latest battle, and his path had led him to the hidden shipyards where the President had built his new battleships to protect the alliance. The yards themselves only had a simple interceptor grid, their secrecy being relied on for defence. When Lockley arrived hed seen two sister Whitestars from nearby patrols preparing to defend the facility alongside the destroyer Charon. The Omega class ship had been left by its crew who went to man the Victory and Excalibur taking the ships fighter wing with them. The ship yard technicians after sending the distress signal had shuttled over to crew the destroyer, each was intimately familiar with Earth force weapons and starship systems and were quite capable of running the destroyer as efficiently as her own crew. Unfortunately for all their knowledge they were not military and lacked training, so while the Destroyer fought efficiently its tactics were easily guessed by the Drakh who swiftly crippled the large vessel.
"More Drakh coming from the right." His Minbari first officer said calmly, she was a female warrior and a rare commodity among Rangers who tended to be religious caste. Taranen was different, she had spent much time studying with the Religious caste and had reached a state of virtual enlightenment allowing her to see the bigger picture. As a trainee ranger she had befriended Lockley and they had fought well together throughout the ships long career.
"Bring us around, fire on the biggest vessel." Lockley ordered. "Slow them down, we'll destroy them later."
He had no particular illusions about still being around for 'later,' his ship was badly outnumbered and it seemed likely they would all fall in defence of this place. Lockley accepted this, as a Ranger he did not fear death and if this was to be his last few moments so be it.
"Something else just arrived." Taranen reported. "It's a relief force! But I can't see where they came from." She said in glee and confusion.
"Doesn't matter, keep us fighting." He checked the sensors, a small fleet headed by the Excalibur herself was passing the shipyard and arming weapons. "Hooray for the cavalry." He remarked, then went back to his mission.
Sheridan quickly assessed the scene, the personality of the diplomat and president making way for the military officer re emerging from his past. The Drakh were assembled in large numbers, but as far as odds went he had faced worse. These Drakh had poisoned his home and tried to escape, he was determined not to let them get far.
"Order the Charon to fall back and cover the yards." He ordered quickly. "Release the Whitestars and Daedalus to engage at will. The rest of us will drive straight through the middle."
The small fleet began to move into its parts, the Excalibur, Enchantress and Agamemnon passing the shipyards and locking onto the nearest cruisers while fighters streamed from their hanger decks and formed into strike squadrons. The light ships swept around and immediately began harassing the flanks of the Drakh force. Suddenly faced with a real threat the enemy began to change tactics and arrayed for a fleet battle.
"Colonel Caldwell." O'Neill announced. "Find a bad guy and shoot him."
"Yes General, Mr Miguel, you heard the order. Fire at will."
The Daedalus pulled a tight and accelerated, its sudden burst of speed throwing off the aim of the Drakh gunners. The small cruiser launched a brace of Mark VIII while performing a high speed pass, while the missiles themselves were slow they were being fired from a vessel travelling at extreme speed lending them a similar velocity to a rail gun round. They picked up a slow moving Drakh cruiser each and blasted them to wrecks.
"Sweet." O'Neill grinned. "I can see that was money well spent."
A series of massive explosions dotted the fleet as the Excalibur's escorting Warlock fired its restocked missile batteries followed by scything red and green beams. The Human and Minbari ships and crews were working in unison to defeat the new threat and while O'Neill only knew the very basic history of the two races from Garibaldi he was encouraged to see aliens working with humans. The Drakh ships were individually a poor match for the allied ships, but their numbers were greater and they weren't going to retreat so easily.
"Squadron is moving to engage." Foster commented. "Our fighters are loaded up with Mark VII's, oughta be quite a light show."
Despite having never worked together before the Earth force pilots found a lot of their general tactics were understood by the USAF personnel flying the F-302 squadrons from Daedalus. With a few brief chats the Thunderbolt pilots took point and used their cannons, missiles and agility to blast a path through the escorting Drakh raiders, the powerful gatling pulse weapons having little trouble tearing through the relatively light ships while the USAF craft dodged past and brought their far larger nuclear weapons into range of the cruisers. With authorisation from Caldwell they fired a pinpoint attack and pulled a rapid escape, the Thunderbolts following their lead.
"I've never seen twenty enhanced nukes go off at once." O'Neill commented.
"It's a hell of a sight sir, but Major Foster, not too close to the scene."
"Aye sir, coming about."
The Daedalus made a sweeping turn, shredding two raiders with its rail guns in the process and put its back to the upcoming Nuclear blasts. The volley of missiles ploughed into the centre of the fleet, exploding in direct contact with the cruisers to maximise damage to the vessels just in case their armour was greater than predicted. The precaution was unnecessary, each missile neatly annihilated its targeted ship, the Drakh vessels apparently unimpressed by the small missiles had ignored them and focused on the much more formidable looking Excalibur. In a second the Drakh ships had their core dissolved away in bright light, the few ships that survived on the edges of the multiple explosions would be easy pickings for Sheridan's group.
The F-302's now joined the final hunt, racing between radioactive debris and firing on Raiders. The Drakh vessels were much larger than the nimble 302's and it required concentrated fire from at least four fighters to make a difference. The cannons were fitted out with alternating rounds of trinium tipped shots designed for piercing and naquadah rounds designed to blast apart an opponents hull. The exotic bullets proved remarkably effective, the 302's swinging in close and peppering the drive fins of the raiders with close ranged fire. In union with the raw power of the Thunderbolt fighters they were able to bring down the Drakh light vessels while the Whitestars dealt with larger threats.
The sudden and overwhelming use of nukes had ended the battle far quicker than either side really expected, and much to O'Neill and Sheridans relief losses had been relatively light.
"Well, its something to write in my diary." O'Neill quipped. "Today I saw the biggest bang ever."
"Wait until you see a Mark IX general." Caldwell grinned. "If we can get them to work, whew."
"Yeah, Carter went all misty eyed when she talked about them." O'Neill shrugged. "Wait, did we win?"
"The enemy is routing, Whitestars are finishing them off." Foster said.
"The shipyards?" Caldwell checked.
"Minor damage, still seems fully operational."
"Cool." O'Neill grinned. "They can fix up the Excalibur's sister and then build more."
"Recall our squadrons." Caldwell ordered. "I guess we should offer the President a lift home?"
00000000
"Tuvan." Alyt Shaleth spoke quietly. "Send a message to homeworld, inform them of our success."
"Our success? Do you mean the human success?"
"We share the victory, after all we are allies." Shaleth corrected giving his subordinate a withering stare. "Send the message."
Tuvan bowed in obedience and left the command deck, heading for a private communications station. Before raising fleet command, he sent a message to another group first.
"Shai Alyt Kathenn, I have encountered the secret human ship again."
From the headquarters of the Wind Sword clan Tuvan's master growled in acknowledgement. "Did you gather further data?"
"Yes Shai Alyt, I have been able to determine how it travels at such speed and the primitive but effective weapons it deploys. Worryingly the ship is capable of extreme speed in both normal space and hyperspace, it also mounts a shielding system possibly better than or own experiments. We should consider this unit a Threat to project D'Vost."
"So noted, send the data you have for consideration." Kathenn ordered. "You have done well, keep me informed."
"Yes Shai Alyt, D'Vost must soon come to fruition, and the humans will not stop it."
"Our government is growing weaker, more corrupted by the aliens." The Wind Sword leader intoned darkly. "This will not be allowed to continue. And if this ship is to stand in our way, well, it won't stand for long."
0000000000
Earth, homeworld of the Earth Alliance.
The return journey was much quicker with only the Excalibur being pulled alongside the Daedalus on the return trip, the other ships of the force remaining to secure the prototype shipyards from further attack. The effective use of nuclear weapons in the battle had raised a number of points with Sheridan, generally Earth force and other races avoided such destructive weapons in large numbers in case of accidents with only the new Warlocks carrying a hefty Nuclear payload. Sheridan was beginning to think the policy might need changing.
"Dropping back to normal space." His helm officer reported, and in the next instant the Excalibur was home, Earth still ringed by damaged ships and debris.
"I'll be in the conference room making a call. Let me know if anything else shows up, at this rate I'm expecting the second coming by the end of the week."
He left the bridge and sealed the door behind him. "Computer, open a private channel to Tuzenore, Alliance headquarters."
He waited patiently for a few moments, then was greatly relieved to see Delenn answer his message.
"John, are you alright?"
"Just fine, been chaos out here but its slowly getting back into shape."
"I've been reading the reports from the Rangers, who are your new friends."
"It's a long story, I'll be heading back on the first Whitestar to address the ISA council and try to set up an aid package for Earth."
Delenn nodded slowly. "Is it as bad as they say?"
"Probably worse." Sheridan sighed. "But we have a chance, a couple of doors have opened for us and we'll be getting help."
"You're new friends?" Delenn pondered. "John, what are you hiding?"
"Can I ever hide anything from you?" he grinned despite himself. "Are you telepathic in some way?"
"No, you're just as easy to read as an open book written in bold red letters." His wife smiled. "Now tell me."
"They are humans from another reality, we found a gate that led through to their home, a perfect copy of Earth but in a different universe. Incredible really."
"Most fascinating." Delenn agreed. "Creation is always surprising us. What did they offer?"
"They'll help with a cure, technically they are a long way behind us but they've got access to some really neat toys, plus a lost city, so it'll help. Meanwhile we'll devote the resources of the ISA back here to doing the same thing."
"Both places working together." Delenn smiled. "That is reassuring. You want to go with them don't you?"
"I never said…" Sheridan stuttered.
"Open. Book." Delenn interrupted firmly. "This is a great adventure and you want to go there, and one day you should but not today."
"You're right, as usual." He smiled. "My place is here with the Alliance, but I'll need to send some teams to help the research, and to protect the results."
"I agree, it is vital we protect the information." Delenn thought. "You should send your best assets to carry out this task."
"I was going to lead the Excalibur through the gate." The President said. "Then have Captain Anderson use the Victory to search for a cure here with the Rangers."
"And so you should, but you cannot command the Excalibur no matter how much your heart desires it."
"I know, it'll be the adventure of a lifetime."
"We've already had more than sufficient adventures." She said softly. "Stop hogging the fun, let someone else have this mission. Do you know anyone?"
"I'll place some calls to Earth force command, I'm sure they'll recommend a good Captain and staff."
"A whole new universe to explore." Delenn said with a hint of wonder. "And fellow humans to meet, it is a small miracle and we will have time to investigate. The universe gives us what we need when we need it, this is a great opportunity and a great hope. One which will remain for us to explore in the future."
"It might be just what we need." He agreed. "I'll head back."
"Don't take too long, I'll call the leaders of the Alliance together to make an emergency decision. We will not allow a repeat of the Markab tragedy. I'll be waiting."
"I'll be there." He smiled to her, then ended the message. She was always right, his days of hopping stars were over and he had greater responsibilities to the alliance as a whole. This mission would be someone elses, he'd saved Earth and galactic civilization plenty of times in the past and now he had to lead them forward. Hopefully Earth could find the right Captain for the job.
