Notes: The website is acting up again and I couldn't post the latest chapter but a few friends told me of a creative shortcut to get this chapter up. Also, I like to thank everyone for their reviews and the warm welcome for my return. As a gift, here's chapter 32 and I hope to get up to speed on chapter 33. Take care. :-)
Chapter Thirty-Two: Earth One to the Rescue
"We're approaching a critical point of the war. It is time to strike at our enemies."
"No. I want you to remain out of the war. Your forces are still too small to challenge the combined might of the alliances forces."
"Then why I have been gathering my fleet if I'm to do just nothing."
"I have a different plan for you, my old friend. Their strength and key to victory lies in John Crichton and what is locked within his mind."
"You told me he's being protected by the Nox. He's beyond my reach and you can't touch him because Zhaan and Adama are watching."
"He's not the target. Aim for the one he loves and he'll do anything to protect her."
Anbuis pondered Iblis plan. "Yes, his wife will make for a better target but she'll be protected as well and difficult to capture but not impossible."
SCW: Day 119
What is the universe coming to?
Captain Valeur thought as his ship approached the Zytozym Nebula. Every major power in this quadrant of the galaxy was at war with this mysterious race of machines called Cylons, who appeared out of nowhere a half a cycle ago. At least the war hadn't spread to this part of the Uncharted Territories yet which would have been bad for business.
He paced about the cramped bridge area of his ship, providing barely enough room for only three stations, the pilot, navigator/sensors operator and the gunner.
On a tiny forward monitor, he could see the huge Zytozym Nebula. From this distance it appeared like a blossoming flower, radiating with a beautiful rainbow aura. He never imagined he would be returning to this area of space.
"Are we close enough to get any readings?"
The navigator checked his console. "Scanning," After a moment, he smiled. "I'm registering two, no, three masses inside the nebula. They are Leviathans!"
"I would have never dreamed it was possible. They actually came back to this corner of space." The captain beamed brightly.
Long ago, this nebula was the home and spawning grounds for Leviathans. The nebula also provided needed shelter from predators, namely the Peacekeepers or slavers, who hunted these gentle creatures and fitted them with giant control collars before selling them to the highest bidder. Hunting Leviathans was a very practical business, why go through the trouble of constructing ships when these large sentient spaceships were out here for the pickings.
The nebula for a time protected them but unfortunately, technology finally allowed slavers to scan further and deeper inside the nebula until the Leviathans had to flee their natural home and out into deep space. For centuries, they were hunted and chased across the galaxy until there were barely a handful of free Leviathans left.
But the rumors they'd heard were true. They had returned to their old grounds and this was their lucky day, the captain thought. The small bridge crew around him cheered. It was going to be big payday for them all.
"Alert the rest of the ship," He ordered. "Navigator, does your sensor read anymore Leviathans?"
"It's hard to tell from this distance, captain."
"Doesn't matter, three is plenty," The captain said. "Gunner, warm neural cannon, I want all three Leviathans captured. With a war going on, the Peacekeepers will pay a fortune for them."
"Neural cannon powered up and ready."
"It's time to collect our pay. Take us in." The captain ordered.
The slaver ship moved into the nebula on an interception course for the three Leviathans. The plan was straight forward, to get within range to use the neural cannon to stun them before they could perform a starburst to escape. Then their ship would pull alongside and the crew would fit small temporary control collars on them. It'd be enough to force the three Leviathans to return home with them to their base.
Routine as this was, it was still a dangerous operation. While Leviathans are not a violent species, sometimes the adults would try to ram any attacker, especially to defend their young. Fortunately, no baby Leviathans was detected.
"Closing to target," The navigator reported. "The Leviathans are moving away. I think they saw us."
"Are they preparing to starburst?"
"No detectable energy spikes. I think they're just trying to loose us in the nebula."
The captain laughed. "They must be young. Don't they know our sensors can pierce it?"
The slaver ship continued to overtake the three Leviathans when the navigator sensors beeped out a warning.
"New contacts," He shouted. "Six… Seven… Eleven new signals! It looks like an entire family of Leviathans and they're coming right at us!"
"What?" The captain couldn't believe it. Leviathans run when threatened, they don't stand and fight. "Are you sure?"
"I've got five adult sized Leviathans and by their smaller profiles, six baby Leviathans on an interception!"
In a blink of an eye, the entire situation started to look more like a trap for them. Three Leviathans refusing to starburst but instead turned to lure them inside the nebula and now they have eleven Leviathans coming straight for them. Whatever it was, these Leviathan are quite different some how. They're willing to risk their own children to join in on an attack against them.
"Turn the ship around," The captain ordered his pilot. His small ship wasn't designed for combat. "We're outnumbered."
The pilot didn't hesitate and started to turn the ship away to make a break for it.
"Gunner, fire the neural cannon to any Leviathan that get too close."
"Aye, aye captain!" The gunner answered in a shaky voice. The cannon could only fire about five times before needing to be recharged. It would take more than their lone pop gun to save them.
"No…" The navigator whispered before turning from his console to shout. "There's a Leviathan appearing ahead of us!"
On the monitor, they saw a new Leviathan that was dark and red in color instead of the familiar bright golden hull of the space going creatures.
The captain just stared at it as it closed in. "How did you miss it?"
"It's just appeared like it had a cloak…" The navigator started to say before his console let out a screeched of another electric warning. "It's locking onto us!"
"Locking on?" The captain cried. "They don't have weapons!"
Then, right on the monitor, they saw a flash coming from the mysterious red Leviathan before they felt their entire ship shudder from an impact. Sparks and smoke erupted from electrical junctions along the walls and ceiling on the bridge as the captain tumbled to the deck. Before he could pull himself up, he heard the gunner yelling.
"The neural cannon is hit! The weapon is offline!"
The captain was in a complete state of shock. What was happening? Leviathans don't deliberately attack and they definitely don't mount weapons!
"Get us out of here!" He commanded to the pilot.
"I can't," The pilot said in a terrified voice. "The Leviathan is right in our path."
Looking up at the monitor again, the red Leviathan was holding nose to nose with their ship and refused to bung. The Leviathan was so close that it filled their viewscreen and more importantly, they could see it was indeed armed with one huge top mounted cannon, pointed right at them.
The pilot swallowed nervously. "Orders, captain?"
Good question, the captain thought. "All stop."
"Sir?"
"I said all stop!" The captain barked. "That one has us and we can't escape. Not while it is armed with weapons."
Slowly, the pilot brought their ship to a standstill before fourteen more Leviathans of all sizes encircled their ship. Much to the slavers shock, they counted six baby Leviathans and all of them looked like the adult Leviathan confronting them, including being armed to the teeth with weaponry.
The pilot checked his console and said softly. "We're being hailed by the Leviathans facing us."
The captain swallowed again, nervously. Perhaps this might be their only chance to escape from this mess alive.
"On screen," He ordered.
The threatening image of the Leviathan was quickly replaced by an equally threatening looking Sebecean male dressed in a dark uniform. Behind him was another Sebecean looking female manning a station off to his right.
"I have a message for you and others in your profession. I trust you will deliver it."
With little option and the desire to survive paramount, the captain immediately nodded. "Yes, whatever you wish."
"Good, my name is captain Crais," The man said. "And this is Leviathan territory and you presence here is not welcome! As of now, the hunting and enslaving of Leviathans is over. You will tell every slaver of this."
"Of course, whatever you say."
Crais smiled darkly. "Make sure you do or the next time we won't hesitate to start making examples of anyone who tries to place a control collar on another Leviathan. This nebula is their sacred grounds and now they are taking it back. Tell everyone what happened here today. Now go!"
On Talyn, Athena watched as the other Leviathans and baby gunships backed away to allow the slaver ship to quickly flee the area. She suppressed a smile.
"Nice speech but do you think it'll work?"
"No," Crais admitted. "Not on all of them. Some of them will have to see for themselves but we'll deal with them as they come. For now, we just need time for Talyn's children to mature. Every day they grow stronger and in just a few months, they'll be able to fend for themselves and others but until then, we need to stick together."
Athena checked her console, monitoring the slaver ship leaving the nebula and racing out of range of Talyn's sensors.
"Isn't that what families do?"
Crais nodded. "Yes, you are correct. I was taken from my father long ago to become a Peacekeeper and sometimes I forget what it was like."
"You know, it's never too late to remember."
"I trust you'll be the one to help me?" Crais smiled warmly to the person he has grown to trust and love.
x-o-x
SCW: Day 120
Outer Rim - Just beyond the Scarran Territory
Patrolling the very edge of Cylon space, the Galactica and Pegasus were leading a task force of one hundred Hynerian and Luxan warships. They were following reports of sightings of an unknown vessel.
On the bridge of the Galactica, Omega was performing long range scans when he finally detected something of interest.
"Commander Apollo," he called. "I'm picking up a ship."
Apollo approached behind his chair to look over his shoulder. "Give me what you got Omega."
"It's appears to be dead in space, no power readings and I can't identify the vessel."
"Better place the fleet on yellow alert and see if we can have a patrol able take a closer look. What do we have out there?"
Omega quickly checked the positions of their patrols and found the closest one. "Silver Spars squadron, being led by Captain Sheba."
"Contact the Pegasus and see if they can perform a fly by on the target."
x-o-x
Colonel O'Neill was down in the Galactica's Alpha hangar deck, about to do another check on the X-302 and perhaps get some flying time in. He was hoping to take the Earth fighter into battle but amazingly, the front had been very quiet lately. It was as if the Cylons all went home or were massing for a new offensive.
That last dreadful thought disappeared as he approached the X-302 and found someone standing next to it. O'Neill politely smiled as he stepped up next to the Rose Tyler.
"You're up early?"
The small English woman turned to face him with a weak grin. "Just a little bore. The Doctor and I usually don't stay in one place for too long."
"Not that I'm complaining. Your Doctor friend has been quite helpful in this war."
"He's doing this more than just to help you. This Count Iblis is consuming him. Every time the Doctor speaks or hears his name mentioned, he becomes angry. He has such hatred against this Iblis that it almost frightens me."
"I get that feeling too," O'Neil agreed. "However, considering the damage this Count Iblis has inflicted over the last few centuries alone, I would be furious too."
"I just worry that the Doctor will do something regretfully," Rose said barely above a whisper. "Revenge serves nothing."
"I have been down that road too," O'Neill confessed. "It clouds your judgment to the level of stupidity, making it a sure fired way of getting yourself killed or others with you. And if you survive, chances are you probably won't be able to look at yourself again in the mirror. You're right, revenge serves nothing."
"I never thought you would agree about something like that."
"Huh?" O'Neill stared at her in surprise. "Just because I'm a soldier doesn't make me Robocop. Believe it or not, I do have a life beyond this uniform."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you."
"You better, there's nothing like being on another planet on the other side of the galaxy, up to your neck in Goa'uld before realizing that you might have left the oven on in your kitchen back home on Earth. Trust me, not good!"
Rose started to laugh.
"Feeling better?" He said to her, glad to see her smiling. He now pointed to the X-302. "Would you like to see the inside of that bird?"
Rose eyes widened. "Uh, I would love to but don't I need a security clearance of something?"
"You travel around with an English speaking guy who's actually an alien in a wooden box that goes through time and space," O'Neill said. "Who's going to believe anything you say?"
"Good point."
x-o-x
"Silver Spar squadron, everyone keep you guard up," Sheba reported over the comm. "We're now approaching the alien craft. Whatever it is, it's huge."
Aeryn was just off the portside of her wing leader with four other vipers in support.
"Still getting no hits from the alien ship data base," Aeryn said over the comm. "Whatever it is, no one has encountered this vessel type before."
"No power readings or signs of life," Sheba said as they started to come within visual range. "It looks dead in space alright. We'll make one pass and see if we turn anything up. Silver Spars, stay loose and alert."
"Yes captain." Aeryn and the other four viper pilots said in near unison.
The derelict ship was indeed a giant, dwarfing the Galactica and the Pegasus combined. The main hull was sphere shaped with two giant pods, about one quarter of the size of the main body extending from either side of it like wings. The entire hull itself had a bluish grey hue to it.
"That thing is a monster…" Aeryn heard Viper three muttering over the comm.
"Cut the chatter, Viper three." Sheba warned. "Keep your eyes peeled for trouble."
x-o-x
Rose was seated in the rear cockpit of the X-302, which O'Neill referred to as the Radar Interceptor Officer position or RIO for short. From here, said O'Neill, targets are managed and locked in to be engaged by the X-302 vast weapons payload and to deploy countermeasures when needed. Also, the operator handles and maintains the engines, the electronic systems and even navigation.
Rose continued listened intently, as O'Neill gave her a quick run down on the various displays and systems. He was standing on the left wing, leaning into the cockpit, pointing out various controls.
"On your main display, the weapons system can track up to one hundred targets and lock a missile onto five of them."
"This is a lot for one person to handle," Rose commented. "Weapons operator, engineer and navigator too?"
"The good news is that the onboard computer system can monitor and look after the engines half the time but it still requires someone to watch it. Also, the pilot up front has duplicated controls, although smaller, to help out if needed."
"That's nice but the guy up front still gets to fly the plane."
O'Neill chuckled. "You are so wrong there. You see that yellow button up on the far right of the console screen labeled 'Aux Control'? Press it."
Rose did as instructed and upon pressing the button, on the right side of her seat, a small joystick with a tiny console flipped up and on the left, a miniature throttle control leveler lifted into position. She felt something pushing up against her feet and she looked down to see a set of petals rising up from the floor.
She shook her head in amazement. "I think it might be quicker if you just tell me what you didn't try to squeeze into here?"
"Well," O'Neill shrugged his shoulders and said half jokingly. "I wanted them to install a nice little DVD system for those long trips but they told me it was already way over budget."
"How much is this worth?"
"I'm not good with numbers but a ballpark figure, we're talking an arm, leg and first born for each one we build."
Rose suddenly had the urge to get out before she accidentally broke something and could get stuck with the repair bill.
x-o-x
Sheba watched the mysterious derelict as they made their flyby and so far they were still detecting no signs of life.
Aeryn stared at it before announcing over the comm. "I think we might be looking at a Nebari host ship."
"Are you sure?" A cautious Sheba replied, knowing a bit about the Nebari from Chiana.
"Just a feeling," Aeryn admitted. "Not too many people ever escape after confronting a Nebari host vessel but I saw a smaller Nebari ship up close once and I'm picking out some familiar characteristics between that one and this ship."
"What's so dangerous about the Nebari, Lieutenant?" The pilot of Viper four asked.
"For one, they believe in perfect order and for those who disagree will get mentally cleansed until they come around to their way of thinking," Aeryn educated them. "They probably won't hesitate to do it to us if they get a chance."
"Brainwashing," The pilot of Viper six said nervously. "How nice of them."
"Enough chatter," Sheba reminded them. "Lets finish our sweep and then we can go home."
They continued their close flyby of the Nebari host vessel and as they circled behind it, they immediately saw something. A large section of the hull was blown and ruptured outward like a crater.
"I'm seeing damage," Sheba said before contacting their fleet. "Pegasus, this is Silver Spar Leader. The vessel has suffered severe damage. From the pattern, it had to be an internal explosion."
"We read you Silver Spar Leader," Cain answered. "Any signs of what might have been the cause or possible survivors?"
The squadron of six vipers slowly made a pass directly over the damage hull. It looked like a black pit made of twisted metal and smashed bulkheads. The hole was so huge and deep, that at least the remains of fifty decks could be seen which extended two hundred feet in the bowels of the ship. Aeryn studied the huge damaged sections for a second she thought she saw a glint of light reflecting off something shiny.
"Negative, Commander," Sheba replied. "Sensors are showing no lifesigns. We'll make one more pass to be sure but… Pegasus, I'm now detecting a surge of new energy sources within the damage area of the host ship. I'm now registering lifesigns… Frack!! Silver Spars! Evasive…"
A small energy bolt erupted from the darken pit in the damaged Nebari ship and struck Viper four. One moment he was there and the next, he was transformed into a fireball as his fuel tanks ignited from the direct hit.
The rest of Silver Spar squadron had little time to register the loss of Viper four as more energy bolts poured out of the blasted hull section of the dead ship, threatening to kill all of them.
"Evasive!" Sheba screamed over the comm. Desperate to save the rest of her squadron. "Hit the turbos and get clear!"
Igniting their engines, the remaining five Vipers broke formation and peeled away.
"Who the frack are they!" Viper three shouted. "That's not Cylon weap…"
He never finished as another energy bolt impacted dead centre in his Viper's tail section and his entire fighter disintegrated in to a ball of flame as his engines exploded. Then their attackers finally emerged from their hiding spot inside the damaged host ship, thirty Goa'uld death guiders.
"Pegasus! Galactica!" Sheba called out as she spotted them. "We're under attack by Goa'uld fighters! Enemy has superior numbers! We need help out here!"
x-o-x
On the Pegasus, the Battlestar was now on alert as Commander Cain shouted orders to his crew. "Launch all Vipers! I want everything that can fly out there five centons ago!"
"Commander," Dex called to Cain. "I have Commander Apollo from the Galactica."
Cain immediately hurried to the communication station. "Commander Apollo, my squadron has been ambushed."
"We have been monitoring the situation from here and we have dispatched Blue squadron to help but it'll take them ten centons to reach them even at full turbo. How about your forces?"
Cain shoulders slumped. "Not much better, they're simply not close enough to be of any assistance. How about the rest of the fleet, we've got Hynerians and Luxans with us. They must have something that's faster."
"Not compared to our Vipers," Apollo said, and then he remembered what was sitting down in Alpha Bay. "But something from Earth might reach them sooner. Omega, get me Colonel O'Neill!"
x-o-x
Down in Alpha Bay, O'Neill was still giving Rose a run down on the X-302 basic control functions when the Galactica went to red alert. Deck crews started run to their stations and pilots raced to their Vipers.
Rose started to rise up from her seat to get out of the cockpit when O'Neill stopped her.
"Stay here," O'Neill said, not wanting her to leave the safety of the X-302 until he had an idea of what was happening.
Rose nodded to him before O'Neill started to climb off the X-302 when something in his pocket beeped. Then he remembered the tiny communicator the Colonials gave him and he pulled out the pager size device and activated it.
"O'Neill here," He spoke into the communicator.
Rose watched and listened but she couldn't hear who O'Neill was talking to but what she heard from O'Neill didn't sound good.
"They're under attack? Are you sending help?"
"You want me to launch now? Of course I'll go but I don't have a RIO."
"Alright, I'll go. Don't worry, I'm volunteering."
O'Neill then pocketed the communicator and turned back to Rose. "Okay, Rose, out of the bird."
"What is happening?" Rose started to climb out of the X-302.
O'Neill reached into the forward cockpit, grabbing his helmet while explaining. "Commander Apollo informed me that Sheba's squadron is under attack and the X-302 might be the only thing that can reach them in time."
"You're going out," Rose said in surprise. "But who's going with you?"
Securing his helmet, O'Neill said. "Just me, I don't have time to wait."
For a moment, Rose hesitated but a determined look took hold over her eyes and sat back down in the rear cockpit. "Then I'm going with you."
"Rose, you're a civilian and I do not need to add not quantified to operate any of the systems in front of you."
"You showed me where everything is."
"Just in ten minutes," O'Neill informed her. "It takes months of intensive training in simulators before anyone can sit back there. Rose, I like you but get out!"
"I can do this!"
"It's too dangerous!"
"I know all about danger," Rose said defiantly. "I traveled with the Doctor and faced it all the time. I confronted Sitheen, Daleks…"
"Not good enough Rose."
"…And delivered Aeryn's baby!"
"Okay, you win," O'Neill relented on that point and he hated to admit it, while he could operate the X-302 by himself, he needed someone in the back even for an extra pair of eyes. He could grab anyone walking by on the Galactica and put them in the backseat but Rose at least had a simple gasp of the X-302 systems and that made her the most quantified on hand, like it or not.
O'Neill reached back behind Rose's seat and handed her a spare helmet. "Here, put this on."
As Rose slipped on the helmet which was nearly too big for her, O'Neill quickly fastened her into her seat, tightening her shoulder and waist belts, then attaching her oxygen mask to her helmet and plugged in her helmet microphone. Once he was certain Rose was ready, he quickly climbed into the forward seat and got himself strapped in.
By now, the Galactica's deck crew was swarming about the X-302, removing the cockpit ladder, the wheel blocks and giving the craft one last quick inspection. As soon they were done, they cleared away as a Fighter Director, dressed in bright green coveralls and safety helmet stepped in front the X-302 and signaled for O'Neill it was safe to power up.
O'Neill closed the canopy and activated the X-302 twin turbo engines and the X-302 growled to life. "Rose, check the engineering panel and tell me if they are all green."
Feeling the craft shuddering underneath her and the dull roar of the engines just behind, Rose now felt a little nervous. Was this a good idea? She tried not to think of it and checked the engineering panel.
"They are all green, Colonel sir."
O'Neill heard the slight fear in her voice and her British accent was as thick as ever. "There is still time for you to get out."
Rose shook her head. "We're wasting time, let's go."
Hoping he was making the right decision in taking Rose with him, O'Neill raised his hand and signaled the Fighter Director that he was ready. With that, the Fighter Director started to step backward and gestured for him to follow. O'Neill started to apply thrust and move the craft forward slowly after him.
Because of the size and wingspan of X-302, it couldn't fit inside a Viper launch tube, so it had to be launched from the landing bay which was regularly used by shuttles for taking off.
"Galactica Launch Control," O'Neill called over the comm. using the X-302 callsign. "This Earth One, taxing for take off."
"We read you Earth One," A female voice answered. "Alpha bay area is clear. You have top priority."
"Thank you Launch Control."
Soon they entered the spacious landing bay area and the Flight Director quickly shepherded O'Neill and the X-302 into position for takeoff. Once they stopped, the Flight Director gave them a thumb's up before hurrying away for cover.
O'Neill watched him leave and waited until he was safely away before saying into the comm. again. "Launch Control, this Earth One. Requesting permission to launch."
"This is Launch Control, permission granted... May the Lords of Kobol protect you."
"Thank you Launch Control." O'Neill replied before pushing the throttle controls forward, causing the X-302 to surge ahead with a deafening howl. Rose felt her body being pushed back into her seat, despite the inertia dampeners protecting her. She watched as the walls of the landing bay sped by which was quickly replaced with the cold blackness of space, with the slight warm grow of stars doting it. Rose looked back and saw the Galactica and the fleet growing smaller by the second behind them. This thing is fast!
"Are you okay back there?" She heard O'Neill asking her, as he retracted the landing gears.
"Yes Colonel sir."
"Hold on to your lunch, I'm engaging turbo thrust."
Rose eyes widened, we're not at top speed yet?
Then she felt a sudden jolt of speed and again she was pressed back into her seat as they accelerated faster and faster still.
x-o-x
"I've got three on my tail."
"Break right! Break right!"
"I've got a lock! Firing!"
"They're just too many! ARRRGH…"
"They got Viper Six! Six is gone!!"
They listened and that was all that Starbuck and Blue Squadron could do as they raced towards the battle. They were at full turbos, pressing their engines dangerously to the upward limits. After this, the engineers on the Galactica would probably have to strip their Viper engines down and rebuild them due to the wear and tear of the stress they were putting on them.
"Silver Spars!" Starbuck said over the comm. trying to encourage them, to let them know that help was on the way. "Hold on, you have to hold on for four more centons!"
"Starbuck," Sheba answered and the tension and even the fear in her voice was very evident. "Just get you ass in here because we're not going to last much longer! I'M HIT!"
"SHEBA!" Starbuck shouted but no reply came. He checked his scanner and saw just two Vipers remaining in a swarming nest of bad guys, numbering at least eighteen. One Viper was Sheba and she was still flying but the way she was maneuvering, she had to be damaged and the other one was Aeryn who was fighting back like a demon. Those two had to be the toughest ladies he'd ever known but the feeling in his gut told him it would take a miracle to save them against those odds of nine against one.
His thoughts were interrupted when Commander Apollo came over the comm. "This is the Galactica to Blue Squadron, we're sending more reinforcements to help Silver Spars, so don't be alarmed."
"Alarm?" Starbuck questioned.
"Starbuck," He heard Boomer who was flying just off his starboard wing. "We got a fast moving target coming up from behind. IFF confirms it to be the X-302."
He barely had time to check his scope when a fast moving blur with twin blue glowing engines rocketed by them as if Blue Squadron was standing still.
Boomer gave an enthusiastic battle yell at the top of his lungs as he watched the X-302 charge to the rescue and the rest of Blue Squadron joined in to cheer.
For Starbuck, he just gave a big grin, saying. "There goes my miracle now."
x-o-x
"How are we back there Rose?"
"Colonel sir," Rose groaned with the heavy Gs pushing down on her as they kept accelerating forward. "I think I'm going to throw up in my oxygen mask."
"Don't throw up. Think of something else and you don't have to keep calling me Colonel or sir."
"Think of something else…" Rose muttered to herself when saw a little red light flashing on the engineering panel. Immediately she forgot about the sensation of needing to throw up, because that fear was replaced by the fear of blowing up instead. "Colonel sir, the engine temperature light just went from green to red."
"Yeah, that's because I'm pushing the engines harder than I should."
"Uh, we won't explode or anything."
"Don't worry, I can push her at this speed for short periods," O'Neill assured her before saying under his breath. "I hope."
"Colonel sir?"
"Yes Rose?"
"These helmet mikes are very good. I can hear every word that comes out of your mouth."
Before O'Neill could respond, the radar beeped out a detection alert.
"Colonel sir?" Rose said. "If I'm reading this display in front of me right, we're got two green targets and a mass of red one right ahead."
On his cockpit's HUD, it too was showing multiple targets in front of them at long range. "Good, now first thing… Stop calling me Colonel sir."
"Yes… err, Mr. Colonel."
She had to be doing that deliberately, O'Neill sighed. "We'll talk later. On the Weapons Control in front of your right hand press the button labeled SAT and then the button labeled 'Command'"
Rose pressed 'SAT' and then Command. "Done!"
The X-302 Weapons Computer entered Selective Auto Targeting mode, locking onto five of the closest targets with no IFF.
"Good work," O'Neill said as an electronic buzzing sounded alerting him that the targeting radar had a lock on something. By using the correct button sequence on his HOTAS he selected his active scan up to his wide angle HUD and saw that five red contacts had flashing boxes surrounding them. Again using his HOTAS he assigned a missle to each of the targets and announced. "I got good tone…Fox three - five!"
x-o-x
Sheba's viper shuddered from the hit and went spinning wildly. Alerts wailed in the cockpit, demanding her attention even as she fought for control over her viper.
"I'M HIT!"
Her viper was still in one piece but every very second she remained alive was on borrowed time, if she didn't regained control now a death glider would surely finish her off. With both hands on the control stick, she fought to straighten herself out. Sheba could tell by the way her viper was handling that one engine was running roughly, possibly the port one.
Reaching for her engineering panel, she saw the light on number one engines flashing, confirming her fears. Not having time to figure out how bad it was, she immediately shut it down. Once she did her viper flight smoothed out and it start to respond better to flight input.
Wasting no time, she pulled her viper into a straight vertical climb just in time to shake the small group of death gliders hounding her for the kill. She still could maneuver but running on two engines will make her a much more slowly moving target.
Looking around, her patrol was gone except for Aeryn who was still fighting back. Also, help was still too far away for both of them to survive. This is where the leader had to make the tough choices.
"Aeryn, I'm not going to make it. If you can, get out of here and run towards the X-302 and Blue Squadron."
"Like the frell I am, Sheba! I'm not going to abandon you while I can still fight."
"I'm ordering you to get out of here!" Sheba shouted to her when she was hit again.
A pulse blast impacted against the sided her viper's top tail fin, smashing through the reinforced metal, sheering it off. Sheba almost lost control but recovered and banked hard to try to stay alive for another moment.
"Aeryn," Sheba said. "They're all over me and once I'm gone they will swarm all over you. As your superior officer, get the frack out of here lieutenant!"
There was a brief period of silence before Aeryn replied, voice full of defiance. "Your transmission must be failing because I didn't hear your last orders, captain."
"Don't pull that stunt! We're still outnumbered 8 to 1, get out of here!"
"I won't leave you."
"Damn it Aeryn!"
Suddenly and without warning, Aeryn's and Sheba's vipers detected several fast approaching objects just entering the edge of their scanner range. It took the viper's computer a half of a micron to identify the objects as five speeding missiles racing straight into the middle of their dogfight. Then O'Neill's voice crackled over the comm. system.
"Incoming ladies!" He shouted. "Hit the deck!"
Five heavily modified AIM-120(X) AMRAAM (Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missiles) or called by their flight crew nicknames, Slammers came streaking in. Four missiles found their targets and four deathgliders died in four massive fireballs. The last missile failed to hit when the death glider jinked and flew off into space.
The Goa'uld was momentarily confused when the X-302 itself now roared into the fray and suddenly the battle became more manageable, 4 to 1.
"This is Earth One, to Silver Spars. I heard you could use a hand?"
Sheba laughed, she'd never been so glad to hear Colonel O'Neill's voice and to see that 'Cylon' looking fighter of his. "Confirm Earth One, I don't mind sharing the workload. Let's take them down together!"
O'Neill circled the X-302 and got behind a surprised death glider and switched to the cannons supplied to them by the Luxans. The cannons fired solid metal slugs at 70 percent the speed of light, but the weapon was old technology to the Luxans. However, it was good enough for Earth and they were able to reverse engineer the weapon system to produce their own version of it. It might not as good or flashy compared to energy weapons but it still got the job done.
Locking onto the death glider, O'Neill felt the X-302 shudder as he fired a short burst and he watched as the Goa'uld fighter crumpled in half and exploded.
"Nice." He was becoming pleased with his new ride.
Aeryn was dodging three death gliders before kicking it into reverse thrust and barreling backwards and behind her Goa'uld attackers. Then she hit the turbos and surged forward again to go on the offensive. The three death gliders separated but Aeryn stayed on one and fired, eliminating it.
Sheba was nursing her damaged viper along, determined to stay in the fight as well. One death glider escaping from Aeryn unexpectedly wandered into her sights and she took the shot. The enemy fighter exploded in flaming debris.
"Keep it up, they're disorganized!"
O'Neill suddenly found himself behind two more death gliders but they were too far away to try with the cannons. On his HUD, the Weapons Computer System listed them H4 and H7.
"Rose," O'Neill called to his backseat co-pilot. "Press the "RG" button, it is real close to the SAT button you just pushed, after that touch the contacts labeled H4 and H7 on your RADAR screen with your finger and then push the Command button."
With a nod, she did it all. "Done but what does this do?"
"Remote Guidance," O'Neill said as he fired a missile at both targets. "The Slammers are designed to be fire and forget missiles but with remote guiding, the X-302 Weapons Computer and sensors helps to keep the missiles on target until they're close enough to guarantee a kill. You just told the Weapons Computer which two contacts to RG on."
From her position, Rose watched the missiles chasing down the death gliders, even as they tried to jinx them. The two Goa'uld fighters maneuvered pulling impossible evasive turns trying hard to loose them but it was like the missiles were tied to them and were reeling themselves in closer and closer. Finally, one missile struck home and a few seconds after that, the second missile found its mark. Both death gliders went up in twin explosions before fading from sight.
It was then that Rose realized that she was witnessing people dying in those machines. Not void of life like a Cylon raider.
"Earth One! You've got multiple hostiles closing in on you!" Aeryn yelled.
O'Neill cursed. He had five death gliders zeroing in on him from all sides. "I see them, Silver two. It's a damn pile on!"
Rose was alarmed. "What's happening?"
O'Neill had no time to explain. "Hold on!"
The X-302 suddenly was making violent and wild evasive actions. Rose closed her eyes as the world spun crazily. She thought she was going to finally throw up but she dared to open her eyes and saw stars whirling about them as the X-302 performed a rapid rate barrel roll. Then Rose saw shooting stars whizzing by them before realizing it was enemy weapon fire.
"Earth One! Climb hard, I'll get to you!" Rose heard Aeryn's voice calling to him.
She then heard O'Neill's speaking. It was tight as he struggled against a possible losing battle. "Rose, we just might…"
Then they were hit. There was a bright flash, smoke filled the cockpit and Rose felt the X-302 spinning again but this time with no control. It was followed by the sensation of being crush back against her seat by ever increasing g-forces pushing on her. The inertial dampers weren't working.
"Colonel sir?"
No answer. Rose looked forward and saw O'Neill head slumped to one side in his seat. He wasn't moving.
"Colonel… O'Neill…" Rose called to him as the g-forces bearing down on her, making it harder to breath. She felt herself starting to pass out. "Someone… Help…"
Tbc…