"The mission was a success?"
"Very much so," Picard replied his expression grim but satisfied, "the original mission parameters were simply to disrupt Osiris's attempts to rebuild and retrieve a Ha'tak for technical analysis. The fact that she also lost a pair of ships in the process is a bonus, as is the fact that we have a Jaffa crew willing to assist with out analysis."
"The Klingons lost a lot of ships in the raid," Ewing noted.
"I know," came the quiet reply, "but they didn't lose the shipyard and that is significant in itself."
Ewing reached forward with his right hand to grab the cup of water on the small table in front of him then grimaced, dropping the stub to his side and reaching forward with his left instead. Picard caught the move and looked momentarily uncomfortable.
"How long?"
The Tau'ri Captain sighed, "A week to create a replacement arm, then a month minimum before I can use it as well as the original."
"I see," grimly, he noted, "the Doctors have had a lot of experience with replacing lost limbs over the past few years."
"Not a comfort,"
Picard opened his mouth as if to speak then closed it with a nod of reluctant agreement.
"Still," Ewing shrugged, "how does it feel to have authorised your first terrorist operation?"
Picard stilled, "what?"
"You just authorised the bombing of targets in the proximity of civilians in the domain of another government," he sighed, his expression dark, "sometimes necessary but… well, I just hope the damage was enough to justify it. I would make sure you have plans in place to go in and rebuild the damage once this is over."
"Quite," came the equally grim reply, "and if I hadn't thought it necessary, I wouldn't have ordered it in the first place. Unfortunately, none of the allied fleets are in any position to begin a prolonged campaign. If Osiris is allowed to rebuild…"
"That is not an immediate threat," Ewing noted, "not so long as we manage to keep track of her but still, that is not my main concern at the moment."
"Oh?"
"We've proven to be too much of a threat to her and she still has three Ha'taks and worse, a Rel'tac to play with. She may flee again… but I suspect not."
"Cornered rat."
"Not quite," Ewing shook his head, gazing at the stars outside the windows for a moment, "at this point a direct attack would appeal to Osiris on several levels. It would greatly reduce the allies as a threat, count as both warning and punishment for going against her and force us to divert resources to rebuilding."
"Earth?"
"Quite possibly but not guaranteed. My gut says she's going to attack now though and that it will be with her full strength."
Picard considered this then leaned backwards in his seat, displeased, "the analysis of the captured Ha'tak had barely begun, we can't expect much from that source yet. Fighting the smaller ships has been bad enough, but if she shows up with the Rel'tac… "
"I can't offer much advice on fighting such a ship either," Ewing admitted, "generally, we only engage Ha'taks. The few times we have engaged the Goa'uld capital ships, we have lost vessels of our own in the process but such fights have been few and far between."
"Our projections…" Picard paused, looking uncomfortable, "if they do hit Earth in full strength… We're not going to be able to gather enough force to destroy her before the Earth is rendered uninhabitable."
"I know," he looked away from the stars, gazing back on the form of Picard in the monitor opposite once more, "during the assault on Edonia, Maktenos and Anubis were observed fighting in the skies over the world we now know as Ragnarok. Between them they lost over three hundred warships, most of them Ha'taks. "
"My God," Picard, "how many thousand aboard each ship?"
"Usually two," Ewing noted "and Anubis had the surviving crews purged for failing him. We've lived and fought for years with the knowledge that if any of our enemies made a series attempt to destroy us form space we would be lost. There are a number of facilities created around that very fear."
"Well," the other Captain pulled himself back together, "it's not a fate I'm willing to accept, not for Earth or any other world."
"When the Indefatigable is back online we will be able to help," he looked at Picard directly, "but we're not much of a threat to a Rel'tac. Frankly, a single full strength salvo would be enough to end the Indefatigable. "
"We're well aware of that and what it means for our fleet," Picard noted.
"So," Ewing caught Picard's eyes and held them, "we can not allow this to develop into a fleet action."
Picard considered this and then nodded, "You have a plan."
"Yes,"
"I'm on my way."