Tow Job
USS George Hammond
Earth's Orbit
April 1st, 2009
Shortly after getting word of an incoming priority one message from Homeworld Command, Colonel Carter ran onto the bridge. She was holding a meeting in the conference room when the word came.
"What's the word, Major Pope?" she asked her weapons officer who was put in command of the bridge until she returned.
"General O'Neill is standing by to give us the mission details, ma'am."
"Bring him up on the HUD," Carter ordered.
"Yes, Ma'am."
Carter turned towards the viewscreen where the HUD materialized showing O'Neill in the HC operations center.
"Greetings, Carter," Jack Cheerfully said.
"Greetings, sir. I understand you have a mission for us."
"At long last I do, but it's a simple one. You're heading out to the void to pick up the Sun Tzu and bring her home."
"I'm surprised we're finally getting around to it."
"Well, it's taken this long for things to finally start looking up again. The aftermath of our fight against that Wraith Superhive left us with three ships combat ineffective ships and our drone chair smashed to pieces. Of course, we put your ship into orbit the week after, but yours was the only one we had at the time. We didn't want to put the task on defending Earth solely on Atlantis's shoulders. Speaking of which, they are still doing repairs on that city."
"Understood, sir."
"But now with our British friends about to launch their first 304, the Victory in a few hours, we feel that the time for this tow job is now. You have your orders Colonel, now get moving."
"Yes, sir." The HUD faded then Carter returned to her chair and told the ship's pilot, Major Stephanie McCord to set course for the void and activate the hyperdrive.
The ship broke orbit and went into hyperspace. Thanks to its more powerful hyperdrive, the Hammond's ETA was five hours instead of thirteen which would've been the case if the Daedalus or Apollo were making the trip.
Plus as a block two 304, the Hammond had a tool that made it more than perfect for this mission.
PLAS Sun Tzu
The Void
"Yes, sir. I'll tell him right away," Colonel Camren Mitchell replied into his earpiece then turned to Colonel Yin who just finished talking to one of his officers. When Earth was contending with the Superhive, SG-1 was away on the Odyssey trying to find a planet that would be suitable for trying to dial the ninth chevron. An operation dubbed the Icarus Project. After the Superhive was destroyed, Homeworld Command rerouted them to Praclush to get the drone chair from the outpost Taonas since the one on Earth was destroyed.
But that mission was scrubbed due to the surface temperature being way too hot. Since then, the Odyssey had been babysitting the Sun Tzu. The Daedalus and Apollo returned to Earth for their long repair periods when the Odyssey arrived back in the middle of February. The rest of SG-1 was still on the odyssey while Mitchell had been given the role of liaison.
"What news do you have for me, Colonel Mitchell?" Yin asked.
"Good news, sir. Your ship is finally going home. The Hammond will be here in five hours to pick you guys up."
"Finally. It feels like we've been out here forever."
"I know the feeling, but you and your crew did a great job keeping it together and saving your ship from breaking apart."
"That was also due to the support we received from the Daedalus and Apollo repair teams. I don't know what I'm going to do when we get back to Earth. Even with the restoration of hull integrity, we're still looking at a year of repair time."
"Cheer up, Colonel. While your ship is in the shop, she will also be upgraded to the Hammond Standard. Which means your ship will be returning to the fleet with a faster hyperdrive still not as fast the one on the Odyssey and other features like a stronger superstructure, better reverse thrusters, larger and wider 302 bays, more powerful railguns and the neat tool Colonel Carter is gonna use to tow you home. I'll still be onboard to oversee the hookup on our end."
"Very well. I still regret not being able to make it home in time for Colonel Sheppard's award ceremony."
"If Atlantis is still on Earth by the time we get back, you might be able to thank him yourself. After you finish debriefing your bosses in Beijing of course."