Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: Sg-1, Stargate: Atlantis or any other television programs, video games, books or movies used in the telling of this story. I make no money off of this work of fiction, and would rather not be sued anytime soon as I make very little money and need it to pay the bills, buy food and pay for the ridiculous cost of fuel.

To Virusgod: Thanks for the review. You're right, the story has been a little bit rushed thus far, but that's because I've been trying to quickly set the stage for the first part that involves a crossover, and also because I've realised that the war between the Human/Tau Alliance and the Goa'uld is going to be somewhat one-sided once the Allies team up with the Tok'ra and the Asgard, so I'm preparing for a crossover that'll give the Goa'uld some allies of their own. So, the pace should really start to even out in this chapter.

To Ogi: Sorry, the Magnus didn't go to the SG-verse, because it's already there. This is set in the same universe as SG, it's just an alternate history of it. Thanks for the review, though, it was a good idea but I'm afraid it won't fit in with this storyline.

A/N: Sorry for the longer than usual time between updates, but I recently had to drive interstate for my brothers wedding and as I don't have a laptop yet, I couldn't do any typing at all for about a week and a half.

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March 10th, 2187

Approximately Three Minutes After Nuclear Detonation

Location Unknown

UNSC SOCOM Stealth Cruiser Magnus

Battered and leaking atmosphere from several new breaches in her hull, the Magnus drifted slowly and silently through the void, its sub-light Ion engines flickering a dull blue as they struggled to manipulate the cruisers motion.

As it continued its voyage, the Magnus' barely operational shields fended off dozens of small meteorites, the once proud stealth ship heading towards a distant asteroid field, tiny pieces of space junk and even debris from the cruisers own hull following in its wake.

Within the armoured belly of the ship, it was just as quiet as the outside, aside from the occasional spark of exposed circuitry and the automated alert system, a computerized female voice informing the mostly unconscious crew of severe damage and hull breaches. Even Siobhan was 'unconscious', her memory core having been jostled out of its housing in the ships main computer banks, effectively sealing her within the small crystal cube until a crewmember was able to replace her.

In the port hangar bay, dozens of crewmembers, Marines, technicians, engineers and pilots lay sprawled on the floor surrounding the Scorpion Interceptors and Firebird dropships, tools and equipment cluttered across the deck. The barracks were even worse off, the artificial gravity having failed and sending men and women and anything not bolted down tumbling unknowingly through the air.

On the bridge, Commander Burrows sat slumped in his command chair, the various consoles around the room unmanned by anything other than unconscious bodies, and, in the case of the Fire Control Console, a dead Lieutenant. Although everyone around him seemed somewhat at peace, Albert Burrows appeared to be in the midst of a dream, and for the first time in a long time, he was smiling.

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Albert Burrows was standing in one of the most beautiful places he had ever seen. As far as the eye could see, rolling hills covered in thick, lush grass and bright yellow daisies stretched off into the distance, the occasional large, shady Willow tree dotting the picturesque landscape.

He walked slowly across the shallow valley he was in, inhaling deeply through his nostrils. The air was sweet with the scent of daisies, and the unmistakable taste of fresh, mid-morning air lingered in the back of his throat, making him smile even wider.

It had been many months since last he had seen a place anywhere near as beautiful as this. As he walked, he held his hands out to his side slightly, running them gently over the top of the blades of long grass and flowery heads of the daises. As he walked, taking in the sights, scents and sounds, however, a new sound entered his range of hearing.

A voice. A distinctly feminine voice, singing a children's lullaby that Burrows had not heard in years, since his now deceased wife had last sung it to his also deceased son, more than thirty five years ago.

"Hush, little baby, don't say a word," he heard from behind him. He slowly turned around as the voice continued its melody.

"Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird," the time it took to turn a simple one hundred eighty degrees to face the mysterious crooner seemed to stretch on into eternity.

"If that mockingbird don't sing," finally, Albert was able to see the woman singing. She stood perhaps thirty feet away, and was a stunning beauty. Shoulder length platinum blond hair, deep blue eyes and wearing a red dress that afforded a view to a modest amount of cleavage and showed off her long legs.

"Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring," she continued, a sultry smile slowly spreading across her face as she began to walk towards him.

"Hello, Albert," she said as she got within ten feet of the Commander, whose duty uniform seemed to fade away into casual civilian wear, loose denim jeans and flannelette shirt.

"Who are you?," Albert breathed, suspicion lacing his words. He was certain he had never met this woman before, yet she seemed quite familiar with him.

"Who I am is not important, Albert," she answered, standing just feet away from him. She reached out and gently placed her hand on his cheek. "You, on the other hand, may just be the most important human alive. You don't know it yet, Albert, but very soon you will become a symbol of hope for an entire civilization, and you will lead your lost brothers and sisters to the safety they have been praying for."

Albert furrowed his brow in a frown. "I don't understand what you're talking about. Tell me what's going on."

"I'm sorry, Albert, I can't do that. Soon though, you will understand," the woman answered, then stepped back from him a little and smile as a strange bleating noise filled the valley, somehow familiar to Albert.

"It's time to go Albert," she said, "It's time to -

"Wake up, sir," a masculine voice said, and Burrows felt a hand gently shoving his shoulder. Groaning, Burrows opened his eyes, the bleating sound he had heard in his dream revealing itself to be the depressurization alarm, letting the crew know that the ship was losing air.

"What happened? Did the hyper drive burn out?," Burrows asked the younger man, Lieutenant Lee Mercer from Navigation. The other man shook his head.

"I don't know sir, but our short range sensors are picking up a great deal of Gamma radiation all over the forward hull. If I had to guess, I'd say it was a nuclear detonation of some kind. Judging by the amount of radiation, possibly one of our ship-killers. That's about the best I can make of it without Siobhan, sir," Lieutenant Mercer answered, helping Burrows stand so he could survey his bridge.

"What happened to her?"

"Looks like her memory core was knocked loose somehow during the transition to hyperspace. I managed to wake a couple of technicians, they're down in the core room now. Until you woke up, sir, I was the most senior person aboard the ship," came the reply.

"The others?," Burrows queried, worry evident in his voice.

"Everyone on board was knock unconscious during the transition, sir. We also found a deckhand who was crushed to death by a drifting dolly loaded with extra armour plates when the gravity went out on the hangar deck," Mercer said, watching the Commander as he slowly nodded and took in the new information.

"Okay. All able-bodied personnel are to commence immediate repairs to the ship and all medical personnel are to start looking taking on the injured. We're going to have to make more comprehensive repairs than before, so I need the Nano-Fabricators online ASAP," Burrows ordered. Mercer nodded and head over to the PA system to relay his orders to the rest of the ship.

Burrows walked around the bridge, checking the status of the other people still at their consoles. All of them appeared to be fine, albeit unconscious, aside from a few cuts and bruises. After his brief tour, he returned to his command chair and called up a real-time blueprint of the Magnus.

He sighed as the image came to life in front of him. More than seventy percent of the ships outer hull was shaded in light red, indicating areas that had been breached or were under a lot of stress, the rest was made up of orange, indicating areas that would need to be reinforced once the red areas were taken care of, and a small amount of green, which indicated areas that had taken no damage or only very light damage.

The shield status indicator blinked in the bottom corner, letting Burrows know that they were at a critically low 12 percent of optimal charge. The main weapons, the rail guns, laser cannons, missile bays and the Ion cannon, were all offline due to lack of power from the main reactor, which had shut itself down to prevent power surges from destroying the ship. The Laser Net CIWS, on the other hand, was operating at full functionality, aside from a small number of cannons that had been destroyed during the fight or damaged during the hyper jump.

All in all, it would take days, maybe a week to get the Magnus back to within 90 percent optimal functionality, but the extensive damage to the hull ensured that the ACSIS would remain inoperable until some time at dry dock could be secured. The crew of the Magnus had a long week ahead of them.

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March 11th, 2187

Eden System

Experimental Seventh Generation Human Battleship Redemption

Seventeen minutes after the twenty-first hour, on the eleventh day of the third month, the Goa'uld battle fleet arrived in the Eden system just over 150 million kilometres from the orbit of the lone inhabitable world, Eden Prime.

The prototype battleship Redemption, 1850 metres long and with a distinct spearhead shape, and its escorting cruisers and destroyers, forty three ships total, were the only defending ships and were all that stood between Eden Prime's defence grid and the enemy fleet.

Onboard the battleship itself, hundreds of crewmembers ran to their action stations. Crisis response teams, made up a few Marines, some medical personnel and engineers, took up strategic positions in the corridors of the great ship. Gunnery crews sat in their combat chairs, strapped in and watching the slow, methodical approach of hundreds of enemy fighters and gunboats through a holographic targeting system, fingers a hairsbreadth away from squeezing the triggers that would fire the massive guns.

Engineering crews made final checks of the internal systems, making sure the engines were receiving full power and that the shields were at optimal charge, checking the power feeds to the energy weapons that dotted the battleships hull. All across the small defending fleet, the same actions were undertaken by thousands of personnel.

The Redemption was at the fore of the fleet, the cruisers and destroyers having taken up a crescent shaped formation, an aggressive stance that spoke volumes of the fleets intentions; they were preparing to charge the enemy fleet, a suicidal gesture at best, but it would buy the defence grid time to launch additional fighter drones and automated gun platforms, and every second counted.

"Enemy fighters entering extreme weapons range, automated defences engaging," Lieutenant Joseph Starkes spoke around the growing lump of anxiety and fear in his throat, sweat dripping off of his brow as his eyes stayed glued to the tactical overlay of the fleet action.

"Understood. All main batteries stand by for Alpha Strike once we've reached optimal range. Have the ECM suite brought up to full combat status, I don't want them getting clean locks on us," Captain Cassandra Forsyth ordered as she strapped her command chairs restraints about herself. "Push engines to 110 percent, all escorts are to maintain attack speed with us, we'll cut through the middle of their forward elements, circle back around the right flank and head back to the defence grid."

Once her orders had been relayed, Forsyth felt a faint tug as the engines forward momentum overpowered the inertial dampeners. The tactical overlay changed to a birds-eye view, and fleet strength estimates began scrolling through the hologram. The forward elements of the enemy fleet were roughly 100 thousand kilometres ahead of the second wave, and was made up of eighty or so gunboats, forty of the light cruiser analogues and twenty five of the heavy cruiser analogues. Just the forward elements outnumbered Forsyth's forces by nearly four to one, and if the defenders weren't able to break through to the other side or were too slow in looping back around their flank, they would be caught up and crushed under sheer weight of numbers.

As the range drop to below 120 thousand km, the four heavy cruisers and twenty destroyers with the Redemption began emptying their missile racks, launching one nuke after another once every three seconds, resulting in more than three hundred warheads - the entirety of the fleets internal missile racks - crossing the void in just under two seconds and detonating all across the foremost ranks of the Goa'uld fleet. Several ships were destroyed outright in the brilliant, blinding flash, with dozens more falling out of formation leaking atmosphere. More still had their shields stripped, leaving them vulnerable to the next phase of the Eden Defence Fleets attack.

The range now just over eighty thousand km, the Redemption and her escorts opened up with a coordinated Alpha Strike, rail guns, plasma and laser cannons, and the Redemptions heavy hitters, the three Particle Accelerator Cannons and two Ion Cannons raked across the Goa'uld ships, tearing several more apart in silent explosions, even as the Goa'uld finally began shooting back.

Golden plasma bolts began hammering the shields of the human task force, and a pair of destroyers and a light cruiser suddenly lost forward momentum as their shields were overwhelmed, one of the destroyers exploding into a million pieces. The Redemptions fore shields glowed a bright silver as dozens of heavy plasma bolts splashed against them, but they held against the fire of star-hot super heated gasses. Three more destroyers were lost and a Kodiak-class heavy cruiser was severely damaged before the human fleet pierced through the fore Goa'uld forces, the humans fire being redirected to the sides as they fended off dozens of ships.

Death gliders danced around the human ships, their own fighters having been contributed to the defence grid, spitting tiny balls of energy at the charging ships, some of them resorting to kamikaze tactics. A pair of human Percheron-class light cruisers, their hulls breached in a dozen places and leaking atmosphere which fed brief fires all along the ships, changed course suddenly and delivered Alpha Strikes to a pair of standard Ha'tak, moments before ramming them, one of them exploding immediately, taking its target with it, the other fusing together with the enemy ship and tumbling quickly off into the empty space around it.

The Redemption shuddered violently as a dozen fighters and three enemy gunboats rammed her aft shields, the protective energy bubble finally giving out and allowing plasma bolts to connect with the thickly armoured hide of the prototype warship. Seconds from emerging out the other side of the Goa'uld fleet, the battleship fired its PACs and Ion Cannons again, tearing apart an upgraded Ha'tak and two standards.

With a final volley of exchanged fire, the Redemption and its escorts, now down to one heavy cruiser, three light cruisers and nine destroyers, broke free of the enemy fleet and immediately began looping around their right flank, now only taking and giving light fire.

"All units, return to the defence grid immediately, all platforms and drones are fully deployed. Repeat, RTB immediately," Forsyth heard the command from the Orbital Command Facility and smiled wearily to herself.

"Okay, helm take us back behind those battle stations," Forsyth ordered, although she knew she didn't need to. She returned her attention to the tactical overlay and sighed. Of the forty three ships she had started with, she now had only fourteen, all with moderate to heavy damage save for the lightly damaged Redemption.

But, she reminded herself, they took twice that number of enemy ships with them, not to mention the fighter and gunboat casualties they caused. Still, this is just the beginning.

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March 11th, 2187

Apophis' Flagship

Eden System

Apophis seethed as his frontline wave of ships was savaged by the human ships. The small number of ships should have been no threat to the much larger force that Apophis commanded, yet they had charged his foremost wave and actually broken through to the other side, circled around and were now heading back to the orbital platforms of the world Apophis had been charged with taking.

"Order the second wave to move forward and bolster the first," Apophis ordered his First Prime, a large stocky Jaffa named Rya'c. Rya'c bowed to Apophis, then turned and relayed his orders to the second wave, the Flagship being at the centre of the fourth and final wave.

"Shall I have some Ha'taks break off and pursue the fleeing ships?," Rya'c asked his God, bowing his head slightly again. Apophis seemed to consider it a moment, but then shook his head.

"No. They will be destroyed when we take orbit, one way or another," Apophis stated with absolute certainty. For his part, Rya'c did not seem so sure, but wisely held his tongue. As the Goa'uld fleet got closer and closer to the blue, green and brown orb of the large terrestrial world, the First Prime began to notice that something seemed different somehow. Quickly he called up the reconnaissance records that the Al'kesh scouting party had sent back, and immediately noticed it: the number of orbital platforms had tripled in the time since the last scouting party had been here, most of the new platforms were fairly small though, most of them no larger than a Tel'tak cargo ship.

That, Rya'c reminded himself, does not mean they are not a threat.

He considered telling Apophis, or warning the forward ranks of the fleet, but quickly decided against it. If anyone were to notice his treachery, he would surely be executed, but had a duty to fulfil, one that had been handed to him by his now deceased father, former First Prime of Apophis, Teal'c, and by Teal'c's also deceased former master, Bra'tac.

Whatever happened here, or in the near future, Rya'c had to complete his duty and restore the honour of his fathers name, and free all the Jaffa from the ego-maniacal, tyrannical rule of the False Gods. By keeping his silence, he jeopardised the entire mission, the fleet and everyone in it, but he also gave the defenders and advantage - even if only a slight one - and he had to know if these people had the power to help free his people.

All he had to do now was hope that one of the other commanders did not notice the increased number of defensive platforms before the first wave got within range.

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March 11th, 2187

Commander of the Air Group Captain David Taulen's Shrike-class Assault Fighter

Eden Defence Force

Captain Taulen followed the forward momentum of the first wave of enemy ships, watching as the second wave merged with the first to become one over strength battle fleet. He checked the systems of his fighter, starting with shields, engines and weapons. The Shrike Assault Fighter was the Seventh Generation replacement for the older Sixth Gen Sabre Space Superiority Fighter, and unlike the Sabre, its primary armament was plasma based, not laser based.

The V shaped fighter was equipped with four rotary plasma cannons and an internal missile bay with room for twelve AMRAAM - 121's, hydrogen warhead tipped anti-fighter missiles that would replace the AMRAAM - 116's that Sabre SSFs and Scorpion Interceptors were equipped with. The Shrike's were an impressive upgrade, and it was unfortunate that aside from Taulens squadron, only two others were presently in the Eden system, with the rest of the defending strike craft made up of Scorpions, Sabres and anti-fighter gunships like the Tectoria point defence ships, hardy little vessels forty-five metres long and twenty metres across and equipped with twin front mounted rail guns and a Laser Net defence grid made up of fifteen turrets.

Comm. Chatter flooded Taulens COM link, people giving orders and updated targeting solutions for a combined missile volley. Taulen filtered it out, until all he could hear was the chatter between the five other members of his squadron and the orders being relayed from the OCF Overlord. After a few brief moments more of waiting, Vice-Admiral Rickman's voice came of the COM link.

"All attack squadrons, break and engage by flights," the Admirals smooth voice stated, and all around Taulen hundreds of tiny blue glows appeared, the signature of fighter sized Ion engines activating. Taulen activating his own engines and goosed the throttle, launching the fighter ahead at phenomenal speed. Even with the inertial compensators at full power, he was pressed back into his seat from the sudden burst of acceleration.

As the two opposing fighter screens drew ever nearer to each other, Taulens holographic tactical overlay lit up with countless golden circles, each on indicating the position of an enemy fighter or gunboat.

"Alright, guys," Taulen spoke over his squad-link," keep to your wingman like shit to a blanket, you don't wanna be alone out in this mess."

Affirmatives flashed back at him, moments before the fighters reached missile range. Each human fighter launched four missiles, with each missile targeting a different enemy craft. The exhaust plumes of hundreds upon hundreds of AMRAAM - 121's rushed out from the collective mass of fighters, and within moments, ball explosions lit up in the distance, each one marking the death of an enemy fighter. The gunboats took comparatively light casualties, each one taking three or four direct hits to destroy, but literally hundreds of death gliders met their end, only a small number of pilots having the quick reflexes to be able to shoot down the fast moving missiles.

After briefly savouring the small victory, Taulen and the other human fighters were among the enemy, still outnumbered four-to-one. Taulens cockpit lit up as the pulsing strobe of his quad plasma cannons firing a one second burst washed over the fighter, an image that was repeated on hundreds of other fighters. Ahead of him, his target exploded in a cloud of debris and short lived fire.

He yanked hard on the control yoke, swinging the Shrike in behind an enemy gunboat, and launched a pair of missiles into its hindquarters, then broke off from his attack as dozens of golden plasma bolts stitched through the void around his fighter. The gunboat began a slow, ponderous turn that was cut short as another missile and a hail of blue plasma bolts tore through its shields and ripped apart the hull. The Captain grunted as he pulled his fighter in a tight 30G turn, firing his plasma cannons again and tallying another kill.

Behind and above him, his wingman launched a missile into another of the poorly designed enemy fighters, the craft breaking apart instantly. Taulen squinted his eyes against the distant flash of a nuclear detonation amongst the rear most ranks of the enemy fighter screen, instinctively manoeuvring despite not being able to see particularly well. The glare faded in time for him to dodge around a pair of Sabres as they hunted down a gunboat, laser cannons strobing.

"Keep it tight and make a hole for the bomber wings, we've got enemy cap ships closing fast," Taulen heard the Tactical Command AI order over the COM link, and quickly the Captain looped his fighter back around and gunned it back to the RV point for his squadron, a blank area of space roughly 60 thousand km distant, just outside the reach of the Orbital Defence Grids non-missile weapons.

As the massed human fighters retreated, the Goa'uld fighters began to reform into a halfway decent attack formation, only to lose a third of their number 110 thousand km from the reach of the ODG to the hastily activated minefield that had been erected in the void between the ODG and the systems fifth planet, a gas giant made up mostly of Helium-3.

At that same time, Taulen and the other fighters were regrouping for a Spearhead Strike, a fighter tactic designed to make a tunnel through an enemy fighter screen and pave the way for bombing runs on enemy ships. He was pleased to see that his whole squadron had survived the short lived fur ball, although one of the Shrikes was missing a plasma cannon and another had lost one of its four main engines.

"All Shrikes are to form the tip of the spear, followed by Sabres and with Scorpions taking up escort formations around the bomber wings," Tac. Com ordered, and the massed fighter formation quickly reformed into a large, three dimensional pyramid shape, Shrikes at the fore. As the Assault Fighters and their Space Superiority Fighter brethren again charged the Goa'uld fighter screen, the Interceptors formed a protective shell around dozens of Stalker-class Heavy Tactical Bombers, each one harbouring a deadly payload of six 600 megaton Thorium based nuclear warheads.

Taulen tilted his head from side to side, trying to loosen up his shoulder muscles as he was once again pushed back into the padding of his seat. His fighter was fairly close to the tip of the Spearhead formation, and would likely be one of the first to come under fire. Again, the fighters fired off what remained of their missile stores, and again the death gliders had their numbers reduced by a considerable margin before even getting a chance to fight back.

A moment later, Taulen was in the thick of it again, finger squeezing the trigger on his control yoke, sending enemy fighter after enemy fighter to its destruction with balls of superheated plasma. He pulled hard back on his control yoke, looping the fighter back around in time to see a flaming Sabre soar past his cockpit just metres away, a pair of death gliders hot on its tail. Without even thinking, Taulen again squeezed the trigger, clipping the first glider and destroying the second as it ran into his line of fire.

Just as he was swinging around again, the bombers now in view, passing down the middle of the rather large part in the mass of fighters, his aft shields flared blinding silver as they were assaulted, and he jerked the yoke back to the right, just barely avoiding another burst of plasma. A quick glance at his tracking computer told him he had been tagged by two gunboats, and they seemed intent on shooting him down.

He gritted his teeth in anticipation of his next move; he pushed forward on the yoke and instantly the fighter went into a bone crushing 45G dive. The Shrike corkscrewed violently as the inertial compensators fought valiantly against the gee forces being generated by the insane manoeuvre. Duelling fighters and bright explosions flashed by his cockpit at a dizzying pace, and surprisingly, the gunboats had managed to stay on his tail although they had fallen back quite a bit.

Taulen pulled back on the yoke, and his fighter instantly looped back up, so that now he was facing his pursuers as they charged at him and he at them. He squeezed the trigger, and again the plasma cannons pulsed out hundreds of glowing orbs of plasmatic energy, splashing violently against the forward shields of the closest gunboat. After several dozen hits, the shields on the gunboat finally gave way and the blue plasma cored through the armour and scoured the interior of the ship.

Taulen jinked his fighter, passing the burning debris by metres and fired on the second gunboat, by this time much closer. Blue plasma crossed paths with golden as the two ships fired on each other, Taulens fighter spewing out the energy projectiles at a much faster rate, but the slower firing gunboat dealing more damage per individual hit it scored.

Just as Taulens shields gave out and he lost one of his cannons, the gunboats shields gave way and the two vessels passed each other. That would have been the end of it for a short time, were it not for the vastly superior manoeuvrability of the Shrike and the excellent reflexes of its pilot: Taulen yanked on the yoke turning the fighter to such an angle that the nose was facing the gunboat as it passed, his finger still holding down the trigger. The three remaining plasma cannons stitched a line down the length of the gunboat, melting through the armour and superheating the insides.

Taulen continued flying straight 'up' until he had cleared the engagement zone by several hundred kilometres. Now effectively alone, he released his death-grip on his control yoke and clutched at his chest, the incredible pain from all those high-gee moves finally catching up with him. He breathed quick, shallow breaths as he gently pressed against his chest, trying to assess the damage.

He grimaced as the slight pressure aggravated his injuries; clearly he had at least a couple of broken ribs. The inertial compensators were rated to protect against 40Gs, but he had made several manoeuvres that had been somewhat higher than that. With deliberately slow movements, Taulen grabbed the Medpak situated beside him, in a small purpose built cabinet, opened it up and rummaged around inside for a short time, careful to keep an eye on his sensor suite for any incoming contacts. There were none within 1500km.

He grunted as he finally found what he was after. A Nano-Med booster pack, a medical application which would temporarily boost the number of nanites in his system, thus boosting the speed at which he could recover from injuries. Working quickly, he found a vein in his forearm and injected the Nano-Meds into his bloodstream, then discarded the use hypo in a small side compartment on the Medpak.

Taulen, then turned his attention to the battle unfolding 'below' him, his eyes widening slightly as he took it all in. Stretching out in every direction for a thousand kilometres, hundreds of fighter craft and gunboats duelled ceaselessly, small (from this distance) explosions dotting the battlefield, and all the while the enemy capital ships slowly advanced toward the defence grid.

He switched frequencies on his COM link and began to listen into the chatter floating about the system, much of it was human pilots reporting victory after victory, but there was the occasional report of defeat, either by an ejected pilot or by their wingman. He gasped as the Nano-Meds took effect; he could feel the cracked and broken bones in his chest beginning to stitch themselves back together.

Drawing in a deep breath, Taulen powered up his engines and started to head back into the writhing mass of star fighters, the pain in his chest having subsided enough for him to continue his grim duty.

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March 11th, 2187

High Command, Epsilon Eridani System, High Orbit of planet Bastion

Orbital Command Facility Imperial

The Senate was in session again. And they were arguing again, this time about the findings of the SOCOM flotilla that had been sent along the escape trajectory of Ra's flagship.

"We have the perfect staging area for an attack against these "Gould" in P3Y-737, and you're telling me we can't use it!?," Major General Fields practically shrieked at Senator Bachmann. To her credit, the Senator did not flinch.

"No, we can't use it," she replied calmly, "because we don't know what happened to the Magnus. Yes, she won a battle that by all accounts she should have lost, and was able to affect repairs afterwards, but once the Comm. Drone was launched, we have no way of knowing what happened, why the Magnus did not return. For all we know, there could be a massive enemy fleet waiting in ambush for us there."

Fields snarled, but he could not help but begrudgingly agree with the normally naïve woman. The fact was, as far as anyone knew, the Magnus had simply disappeared, which did not bode well for any attempts to turn P3Y-737 into a forward base.

"With the attack on Eden Prime still underway, we should be concentrating on building up our defences, so that we - ," Bachmann was cut off by the Tau representative of Cardec, a fringe-world that had a massive mining system in place to mine the enormous deposits of Titanium, Tritium and the all important Thorium, and was also the key site for testing Total Annihilation (Matter/Anti-matter) weapons and energy production

"So that we can cede defeat? So that we can sit back behind our fortifications and try to weather the storm? No. I want a peaceful solution as much as anyone in this room, but these creatures clearly do not want to listen to logic," Representative N'Ict spoke, his tone quiet but his words heard by all. "Therefore, I must support General Fields. Send a scouting party to P3Y-737, and if all is clear we can use it to go on the offensive whilst our enemy bleeds their fleets dry against the Camden Sectors defences."

"And if our scouts discover nothing is out of the ordinary?," questioned Representative I'Pah, the Eldest, and therefore highest ranking, Tau in the chamber.

"Then Vice-Admiral Lucas' fleet will be sent to establish a forward base of operations, with the support of the TRN 9th fleet and one of the Titan fortresses," Fields answered, somewhat calmed down from his outburst earlier. "There is something else of great importance about P3Y-737 that we must discuss as well: the artefact that the local populace referred to as the 'Gate To The Heavens'."

A murmur ran through the assembled Senators, Ambassadors and Military Personnel assembled around the Major General. Everyone in the room had been privy to the recordings that the Magnus' Comm. Drone had provided them with, and most were understandably anxious about this new technology the enemy had.

"It has come to my attention that an artefact that appears to be exactly the same as the one used by the enemy to move troops on our SOCOM team is currently residing in the Museum Of Ancient History And Arts in Berlin, Germany," the man said. The statement was followed by a moment of absolute silence, right before all hell broke loose.

Immediately, the many people assembled in the chamber began shouting, yelling at each other and flinging accusations to-and-fro, many of the humans blaming Fields for having kept this from them for so long, many others convinced that it was part of an elaborate scheme to remove them from power.

Politicians, Fields thought to himself, sneering in disgust as the duly elected representatives of each of Earths colonies turned into a band of raving lunatics.

If this were a Military-Only meeting like I requested, we'd have gone through all the details and worked out a viable plan by now.

Finally, much to Fields' relief, someone shouted for order. To his surprise, Senator Samantha Bachmann stood up on her chair and shrieked at the top of her lungs, calling for silence. Fields had noted a few surprises like this since the last meeting in these very chambers, namely that the normally peaceful Tau seemed to actually be pushing for war against the Goa'uld, and that they had ramped up their military budget and production tenfold.

It seemed that the unprovoked attacks had forced some of the more peaceable members of the Senate to rethink their ways, Bachmann was still very cautious, but once the attack on Eden Prime - her birthplace - began just over an hour ago, she too had begun to act more aggressively.

"Be silent!," Bachmann shouted. "Let the Major General explain himself before you start trying to lay blame."

The room began to quiet down, but Fields noticed many of the Fringe-Worlders were giving him the evil eye - they were the ones who believed that the Inner Colonies and Earth itself were keeping many secrets and technological advancements from them.

"Thank you, Senator," Fields said sincerely, to which Bachmann bowed her head slightly in acknowledgement. Fields cleared his throat before issuing a mental command from his neural interface. A holographic image of the aforementioned artefact appeared in the centre of the room.

"This object was discovered in the sands of Egypt, part of the North African Protectorate, in 1927 AD. At the time, no one had any clue what it was, and it was assumed to be a sculpture of some kind, although there were a variety of rumours surrounding the artefact, namely that it was made of an unknown material, one that is completely foreign to Earth."

Again, the Senate erupted into chaos as the assembled dignitaries argued over the implications of what Fields was telling them. After a moment, Fields held up his hand and the crowd slowly began to calm down again.

"Does this mean that Earth may have been visited by these creatures some time in the past?, N'Ict asked, perplexed.

"It seems likely. Our analysts believe they now have some idea of how the artefact works. The outer ring, with the hollow chevron shaped object mounted on it, spins around the inner ring. The chevron pauses at the desired glyph carved on the inner ring, which are believed to represent stellar coordinates. Once the correct number of glyphs are entered in the correct order, we think it may open some kind of gateway that connects to another of these artefacts in some way, allowing objects to travel stellar distances without the aid of a starship," Fields stated, reciting what he had been told almost to the letter. He waited expectantly for the Senate to again become a verbal battlefield, but instead all he heard was silence. He looked around the room, and noticed that everyone was hanging of his every word, waiting for him to continue.

"Ultimately, though, we have no idea how it works in full, or even the basic power requirements needed to make it work. There is one thing we do know about it, however. The material used to construct it is an almost perfect match to the molecular structure of some of the materials used in the construction of the Progenitor Mothership," Fields stated, referring to the crashed space ship discovered on Mars shortly after the discovery of the Progenitor city.

"What does that mean?," Bachmann asked, breaking the silence that has enveloped the room.

"Well, it lends more credence to Vice-Admiral Lucas' theory that these Goa'uld are using technology discovered in Progenitor repositories, like us, but they have had more time to study them. Whatever the case, it is of vital importance that we learn the secrets to operating this artefact, as it could allow us to insert SOCOM teams behind enemy lines without risking stealth cruisers," he answered. "Also of great importance is discovering the fate of P3Y-737s protectors."

"What do you mean, protectors?," Senator Andrew Warren, of the Fringe-World colony Tanis, a mining colony that had succumbed to corruption and was believed to be housing a large number of pirates.

"Clearly you did not view the recordings, Senator Warren. If you had, you would have noticed that the Spectre team leader was told of a benevolent, highly advanced alien race that had been protecting the settlers from harm for generations," Bachmann answered the older Senator, with smug look on her face.

Take that, you stupid bastard, she thought to herself. She had been a rival of Senator Warrens for years, the two had never got along and it never helped that Warren was in the pocket of any number of pirate groups, though that had yet to be proven.

"Senator Bachmann is correct, there was mention of an alien race that had taken this world under their wing. It was also mentioned that they had mysteriously disappeared for reasons unknown, and that ever since they had left, strange occurrences had been happening, such as the appearance of predatory animals where none had existed before. It is vital that we find out what happened to these aliens, they may make good allies if this war escalates to the level ONI thinks it will," Fields stated, nodding slightly in Bachmann's direction, glad that she had been able to quickly quell the questions of a fool.

"Moving on, we - ," The Major General was cut off unexpectedly as the Imperials AI, Templar, appeared on the holographic projector.

"Forgive me, General, but your presence has been requested in the Command Centre on a matter of utmost urgency," Templar spoke, bowing slightly, the facsimile of chain mail armour he wore clinking slightly as he brought his broadsword in front of his chest.

"Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen. I leave the remainder of this briefing to my 2IC, Major Wong Si Ko. Major Wong, if you please," Fields spoke, knowing better than to waste time asking for an explanation from Templar. The Chinese man behind and to the right of Fields stepped forward and began speaking as Fields about-faced and hurriedly exited the room, heading for the Command Centre of the immense battle station.

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March 11th, 2187

Edge of Epsilon Eridani System

Tok'ra Tel'tak Cargo Ship

The Tok'ra ship exited hyperspace on the very edge of the system, one of more than a dozen that had been cautiously scouted by other Tel'taks over the past week. After careful deliberation, it was decided that this system would be the one in which the Tok'ra would initiate contact, because of its much higher hyperspace traffic and larger numbers of ships, mining facilities and orbital platforms.

The Tok'ra had been suitably impressed by the vast level of infrastructure that these humans seemed to support, and the obviously powerful fleets. The four Tok'ra inside this particular cargo ship were even more impressed when, moments after entering the system and de-cloaking, a pair of enormous ships, escorted by dozens of smaller vessels, turned their attention on them and half a dozen fighters rapidly closed in on the Tel'tak.

"Quickly! Tell them we mean no harm!," the most senior Tok'ra, a host named Jamarr and a symbiote named Selmak, ordered his subordinates. Even as the two younger men frantically relayed their message, Selmak watched the sensor readings on the approaching fighters, watching as their power levels increased by a great deal very suddenly.

Probably activating weapons, Selmak thought. It was understandable that the humans would take such an aggressive stance, since Tel'taks were Goa'uld designs, and the Goa'uld had already made clear their standing with the humans. He just hoped the message got through in time to save them from the fighters.

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Wildcard Flight, Sabre SSF Squadron

Closing On Unknown Contact

Epsilon Eridani System

"Okay, Wildcards, we've got a possible enemy contact bearing zero-nine-zero by six-zero-four. We are good for weapons hot, but hold fire until we can get a positive ID on this sucker," Captain Nathaniel Burton stated through his COM link, then activated his laser cannons and missile targeting systems as the other five squad members signalled their affirmatives.

As the six Sabres neared the contact, dodging around the occasional asteroid that had drifted away from the belt that rested between Bastion and the systems third planet, an unliveable lump of frozen rock with little to not about it other than its unusually high deposits of the recently discovered Thyrium, and its radioactive isotope, Thyrium-261.

Burton dropped down into a fairly steep dive with two other craft following, ducking in underneath a 1500km long asteroid that would likely be blasted to small chunks by one of the battleships if it got too close to Bastion, the other three fighters going over the top. According to the sensor readout, they were being slowly followed by a pair of battleships and their escorts, the back up if this craft turned out to be a scout for a second invasion force.

Burtons fighter cleared the side of the asteroid, coming up around it and meeting up with the others as they came down over the top, and the squadron was one again. After a moment more of continuing to close with the ship, the missile tone sounded, indicating that if necessary, he could fire a missile at the craft. Then, after rounding another, much smaller asteroid, Burton saw it for the first time.

It was a small craft, not much bigger than a gunship maybe, and reminded the Captain of a pyramid with rounded edges and a capstone that slanted forwards somewhat. There was no mistaking the design; it was distinctly reminiscent of the alien craft that had attacked Rear Admiral Vladislov and were currently sieging Eden Prime.

"Shit," Burton said to himself. Into his helmet mike, and by extension the COM link, he said, "Come in Tac Com."

A moments silence followed, then, "This is Tactical Command, what do you have for us, Wild Lead?"

"Confirmed enemy contacts, requesting permission to engage," Burton replied.

"Permission granted, Wild Lead. Disable and secure the craft for our analysts," came his orders. Burton nodded to himself and acknowledged his receipt of the orders, the opened his squad link.

"Okay, guys, we're weapons free, disable the ship and-"

He was cut off suddenly as a frantic voice, speaking in English, began speaking over the standard subspace frequency.

"Approaching craft, please do not fire! We mean you no harm. We are here as an emissary for the Tok'ra and the Free Jaffa Nation! Please, do not shoot!" The voice said. Burton, confused at the reference to the 'Tok'ra' and the 'Free Jaffa Nation', quickly belayed his orders to the squad and flipped the safety switch on his control yoke, preventing him from accidentally letting off a missile.

"Tac Com, did you hear that?," Burton asked over the command frequency, then waited tensely for a response.

"Yes we did, Wild Lead. You have new orders. Take up an escort position around the craft and guide it to the Imperials aft docking bay No. 6. If the crafts occupants refuse to comply, or if they try anything untoward, your previous orders are to be reactivated," the voice of the Tac Com communications officer came back over the subspace carrier frequency.

"Roger that, Tac Com," Burton affirmed, then switched to standard freq to speak with the crafts occupants. "Unknown vessel, remain where you are. My flight will be taking an escort position with you shortly, and we will take you our leader."

Over the still active squad freq, he heard several chuckles and sniggers, and he couldn't help but smile to himself at the unintentional pun.

"If you do not comply, or if you try to escape, you will be fired upon. Do you understand?"

There was no reply for a long time, too long for Burtons liking. Just as he was about to turn off the safety switch and reacquire the target, however, a different voice from before answered.

"We understand. Take me to your leader." At that remark, the squad freq again became a jumble of sounds, mostly laughter but with a little snorting mixed in here and there, and despite himself, Burton joined in.

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March 12th, 2187

Apophis' Flagship

Eden System

Unknown to Rya'c, the human clock had just ticked over midnight and a new day had started. Even had the aging Jaffa known, he would not have cared, because the spectacle going on before him was too amazing for him to worry about anything else at this point.

At first, Rya'c had been somewhat disappointed as the Goa'uld fleet approached the planet unfettered after the first delaying attack by the small force of ships nearly three hours previously. He had been pleasantly surprised when a large mass of human fighter craft assaulted the forward fighter screen, decimating their numbers in a brief skirmish before regrouping and making a precision strike through the middle of the Udajeet and Al'kesh formation, tearing a gaping wound in the mass of friendly fighters and allowing the slower, cumbersome enemy bombers to get through.

True, not a single bomber had survived longer than ten minutes, but in those ten minutes, sixteen standard Ha'tak and seven upgraded Ha'tak were destroyed, with nineteen other ships taking heavy damage. The tenacity and capabilities of the humans had made Rya'cs heart soar, because it gave him hope that maybe he could fulfil the promise he made to his late father decades ago with the help of these humans and their allies, and free all Jaffa from the shackles of the False Gods. He did not want to have to pass the responsibility on to his own son when his time came.

The tiny - by comparison to the galactic population of all Jaffa - fledgling Free Jaffa Nation was currently forced to hide on the outer edges of known space, the scant million free Jaffa and the half dozen Ha'tak that defended them huddled in fear that the False Gods would one day discover their treachery and destroy them. They collaborated with the Tok'ra frequently in undermining the authority of the Goa'uld, but they rarely succeeded in their goals and less than a hundred new Jaffa were set free each month.

Now, the Goa'uld fleet was within striking distance of the immense space stations orbiting the world they were going to conquer. He continued to watch with barely concealed glee as the large human ship that had led the initial charge hours ago tore another pair of Ha'tak from the sky, unaware that behind him, in his throne, Apophis was fuming, on the verge of an outburst to release the slowly building pressure of his pent up outrage.

The space battle had already taken twice as long as it should have, with no end yet in sight, and Apophis' fleet had been hit hard with nearly a hundred Ha'tak, both standard and upgraded, out of commission and more than three quarters of the Udajeet and half the Al'kesh destroyed.

Apophis didn't know who, but he did know that someone was going to pay dearly for this.

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March 12th, 2187

Eden System

Experimental Seventh Generation Human Battleship Redemption

The deck heaved beneath Captain Forsyth's feet as the Redemption exchanged broadsides with a pair of Ha'tak. The ship itself was badly damaged, with deep gouges and gaping holes in the advanced composite armour that protected the ship, and many of its guns having fallen silent as power feeds were cut from enemy fire or the turrets themselves were damaged or destroyed.

"Adjust our heading to zero-zero-six by nine-zero-six and align our dorsal guns for volley fire one these three ships," Forsyth ordered, designating the desired targets on the tactical display.

"Aye, ma'am, adjusting course," her helmsman replied, and the battleship began turn. As Forsyth watched through the bridges heavily armoured and shielded view ports, a pair of Sabres flashed by, followed less than a second later by three enemy gunboats firing golden energy projectiles after them. The rearmost gunboat caught a burst of laser fire in its flank, overwhelming its shields and tearing apart its starboard hull.

"Weapons status," Forsyth requested, turning her attention to the Redemptions Weapons Officer as the ship took another volley plasma fire, one of the large bolts splashing harmlessly against the bridge shields.

"Our PACs are ate eighty percent charge and climbing at a rate of three percent per second. Ion Cannons are fully charged but need another thirty seconds to bleed off the remaining radiation from the last firing. We have four plasma batteries and seven laser batteries remaining," the WO responded, making minute adjustments to his firing solutions as the Redemption approached the designated coordinates.

Outside the vessel, the space above the dark side of Eden Prime was alight with hundreds of explosions and ceaseless cannon fire and shields flaring. The Overwatch-class Battle Station above the Southern Pole fired a volley of nuclear missiles from its many tubes, the warheads spreading out in all directions as the surrounded and besieged battle station struggled to fight off its attackers, the immensely powerful shields flaring bright silver under the constant bombardment of plasma fire.

The Redemption soared past barely forty thousand km from the battle station, close enough for its PACs to fire with near-perfect accuracy. As one, the three double-barrelled cannons fired, each on a separate target. The two of the three targeted ships were standard Ha'taks, and their shields gave out almost as soon as they were hit, taking crippling hull damage in the process. The other ship was one of the newer Ha'taks, and although its shields were stripped from it, it didn't take enough hull damage to keep the ship out of the fight.

The killing blow was delivered by the battle stations heavy rail guns, a trio of 750 metric ton projectiles launched at 70 percent light-speed, demolishing the unfortunate Ha'tak in an explosion of light and sending a million pieces of debris flying in every direction, some of it vaporising against the Redemptions shields.

A short distance away, the last remaining Percheron light cruiser was hammered in its aft side by a pair of Ha'tak and a half dozen gunboats, its over stressed shields failing and the relatively thin armour running in molten rivers down its slightly curved side. The cruisers few remaining heavy guns did nothing to deter its attackers, and after another twenty seconds of sustained fire, it split in two down the middle, the rear half still moving under its own power thanks to the engines. The front half slowly tore itself apart as secondary explosions erupted over its surface. The remains of the ship slowly tumbled into a declining orbit above the planet, its fate sealed.

Now all that remained of the local defence ships was three near-crippled destroyers and the moderately damaged Redemption. Seeking vengeance, the Redemptions crew adjusted their course again and began heading for the small group of ships that had destroyed the light cruiser.

"We have a firing solution for the Ion Cannons for those two cruisers," the WO informed Forsyth. The Captain nodded. The orbital battle had been lost the moment the enemy fleet arrived, it was the defence grids job to whittle down their numbers and hope that the Sector Fleet would be enough to drive the attackers off. For now, the crew of the Redemption and the tens of thousands of people occupying the battle stations and gun platforms would do what they could and pray for a quick death when the time finally came.

"You may fire when ready," Forsyth ordered, and immediately the two Ion Cannons fired. Twin beams of brilliant whit Ionic energy speared the two Ha'tak and their shields glowed bright gold as they struggled to fend off the titanic energies arrayed against them. The nearest Ha'taks shields gave out under the enormous stress put on its generator by the cannons fire, and it was immediately hit with dozens of laser pulses and plasma bursts from the charging battleship, breaking up finally under the fire.

The other Ha'tak, its shields on the verge of failing, charged at the Redemption, plasma cannons firing wildly. The battleships own cannons returned fire even as the lumbering vessel began to take evasive manoeuvres. The Ha'taks shields lasted barely three seconds under the bombardment, but it did not slow, even when its main guns ceased firing.

The Redemption, its shields at critical levels, redoubled its forward fire as it tried to stop the oncoming ship. Unfortunately, it was far too late for that. The Ha'tak collided with the much larger vessel, the force with which it connected quickly overwhelming the shields and sending the Ha'tak driving deep into its hull. There was a blinding white flash as the Ha'taks reactors went critical, and the smaller ship exploded.

The very last thing that Captain Cassandra Forsyth saw as the flashed cleared away was a sixty metre length of the Redemptions own hull plating slamming into the bridge, effectively beheading the great battleship.

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March 12th, 2187

CAG Captain David Taulen's Shrike-class Assault Fighter

Eden Defence Force

"Fuck me," Taulen whispered to himself as the Redemption finally succumbed to the battle. The battleship had practically carried the human side of the battle on its proverbial shoulders, and with it out of the picture, the remaining defenders could not possibly last long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

The OCF and more than three-quarters of the defence grid was in tatters, the orbit above Eden Prime thick with debris from both sides of the fight.

"All remaining units, head planet side immediately. We've lost this fight, but we might be able to lend the ground pounders a hand," Taulen heard over the COM link. The voice speaking was Commander Onin Mutambe, the highest ranking fighter commander still in the fight. Taulen nodded to himself, taking a deep breath and regretting as his chest flared with pain. No matter how good the Nano-Meds were, it would still take at least another day for the pain to die down completely and perhaps two days after that the broken ribs would be completely healed.

As one, the remaining fifty or so fighters still capable of atmospheric flight turned and headed for the atmosphere of the world they were tasked with defending.

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March 12th, 2187

Location Unknown

UNSC SOCOM Stealth Cruiser Magnus

The Magnus was still in a bad way, even after two days of near constant repairs. Only small sections of the hull had been patched, the shields were only at 30 percent integrity, the engines were still barely functional and the long range sensors were still offline.

Commander Burrows' sleep had been plagued with dreams that were very similar to the one he had experience when they had first arrived at wherever they were, and as it turned out, he wasn't the only one having unusual dreams about people he had never met. Extra Sensory Perception had long since been proven to be scientific fact, and was quite common these days, so Siobhan's theory was that the reason so many of the crew were sharing such similar dreams was because the were prophetic visions of the near future.

No one onboard the Magnus had any clue just how on the money the AI's hypothesis was. Right now, Burrows was discussing the likely-hood that they would be able to find their way back to where they came from, and if that was not possible, what they would do about finding a new place to settle.

"Recon Drones confirm that we're in a binary star system, but aside from this asteroid belt and a distant Ionic nebula, there appears to be nothing of any real value in this system However, the RDs were getting anomalous readings from the nebula. They indicated that there may be a planetary body hidden within it," Siobhan stated.

"Can we get some drones through the nebula to confirm that?," Burrows asked, scratching his cheek lightly as he examined the holographic display representing the star system they were currently in.

"I've already sent two drones into the nebula, we should have the results of their findings by tomorrow when they return," the AI replied, indicating two flashing blue dots on the display with the words 'RD1' and 'RD2', respectively.

"Excellent. Keep me informed, please Siobhan," he said, and the AI deactivated the holo display and left the room. Burrows turned of the lights in his quarters and headed for his bunk, hoping he would not dream again.

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A/N: In terms of finding a suitable ally for the Goa'uld, I'm willing to take suggestions as I can't really think of anyone with similar enough ideologies to make good allies for them. I was thinking of maybe using the Halo Series antagonists, the Covenant, as they are religious fanatics who believe in vastly powerful higher beings, much like the Jaffa revere the Goa'uld, but because of their apparent hatred of humanity, I don't think that it'll work out too well.

On the other hand, I may still use the Covenant, but instead of making them allies to the Goa'uld, I'd turn it into a three way war between the Human/Tau Alliance, the Goa'uld Union and the Covenant themselves. Let me know what you think. R&R please, I could use some more constructive feedback.