Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate or Battlestar Galactica: 2003.
Another Road not Taken
Chapter14: Replicator War
March 16th 2007
Sol System
In orbit above Earth
EFS Orion
O'Neill's Cabin
"Asgard space guns?" Jack asked the question.
"Yes sir," Carter confirmed. "They're plasma-based energy beam weapons...according to our tests they should be powerful enough to penetrate the shields of the Replicator ships in Pegasus."
"When can you start building more of these weapons?" Jack asked with a grin spreading across his face.
"We can start now but it'll take time to refit our ships with the new weapons," Carter replied.
"Schedule the Daedalus and the Apollo to undergo refit at Area 51 first and then when they're re-launched have the Korolev and the Sun Tzu go next. After that start refitting the Astrea and the Icarus; they're the only 303s we have right now. When they're finished we'll start on the 305s," Jack gave the order. "Oh and the situation in Pegasus is getting worse...good luck out there Sam."
"Thank you Jack."
October 12th 2006
Cylon-controlled Space
Deep Space
Cylon Colony
Command Center
In the last year the Cylon Empire had undergone a drastic change; the Ones had 'convinced' Baal into giving them Goa'uld technology allowing them to install the much more advanced systems on their Basestars. As time went on tensions between the different Cylon models had arisen and it all centered around what they called 'God's Plan' and their place in it.
A Model Six by the name of Natalie Foust had been relatively quiet during the War of Transcendence against the hated Humans and their alien allies. She personally didn't care about the Humans or the aliens however it was clear that they had all but lost that war and only survived because the Humans couldn't locate the Colony. After the war she had asked a question to the other models and even her own model.
Why do we fight? she had asked that day. Who cares about the humans or their alien lapdogs? Why should we care about wiping them out?
She received a few answers, some being because the humans would do the same to them. That was probably true but the Humans would have to catch them first and they wouldn't make it easy; that was for sure. Another answer was because if they didn't destroy Humanity now then they would just rebuild and seek revenge for everything that happened. Again the Human would have to catch them and even then it would take generations before the Colonials could rebuild their civilization, long enough for the Cylon Empire to expand and conquer galaxies.
In the end, she had thought. The Colonials are irrelevant, the Tau'ri are irrelevant and so are the aliens.
"The Ones are becoming more erratic as the days go by," Natalie spoke up.
"The Fours and Fives have allied with the Ones," a D'Anna spoke up. "It won't be long before Cavil starts demanding we lobotomize the raiders and centurions."
"We can't let him do it," Caprica Six said as she looked over the other two models.
"What do you have in mind?" Boomer Eight asked.
"He's blinded by hatred and will stop at nothing to wipe out the humans. We are no longer weapons of war...we are a new race...and our fate is our own. Our destiny is our own," Caprica responded. "If we don't do something now then he'll try to erase us from the Resurrection network like he did to the Final Five or box us like he did to the Sevens."
"How many Basestars can you procure?" D'Anna asked.
"Twelve," Caprica answered. "Why?"
"Because I think it's about time we made our own destiny," the Three replied.
January 3rd 2008
Harvest System
New Lantea
Atlantis
Control Room
"Ma'am, the Daedalus and the Apollo just arrived in orbit," a technician spoke up.
"Both ships at the same time, that's a first," Rodney commented and Sheppard nodded at his side.
"Well it's the first time we've needed them," Carter shrugged and then saw the look she got from the two AR-1 members. "Since I've been here," she corrected almost sheepish before two columns of light signifying the arrival of the two ship commanders drew their attention.
"Colonel," Caldwell nodded.
"Colonel," Elis returned.
"Colonel," Caldwell greeted towards the others.
"Colonels," Carter smiled.
"Colonel," Elis continued.
"Colonels," Sheppard finished.
"What? Seriously?" Rodney asked suppressing a groan.
"Good flight?" Carter inquired.
"Long flight," Caldwell admitted.
"We'll make it worth your while," Sheppard nodded.
"That's what I hear," Elis spoke up. "You have a way of tracking the Replicator ships?"
"Indeed we do," Carter confirmed.
"That'll make finding them and destroying them a lot easier," Caldwell commented.
"Why don't you come into my office and we'll get you briefed," Carter gestured.
January 4th 2007
Uncharted System
Deep Space
EFS Daedalus
Main Bridge
Two hyperspace windows opening signified the arrival of the two Tau'ri battlecruisers in cold and darkness of deep space.
"Daedalus this is the Apollo, our scans are clear, we don't have any other contacts. Can you confirm?" Elis asked.
"Copy that, we have the same readings," Caldwell responded. "Colonel, how long until our guest arrives?"
"It should be any second now," Carter replied.
"Won't they be surprised," Caldwell chuckled. "We're going weapons hot Apollo."
"Copy that, we have done the same," Elis acknowledged.
"I'm detecting a hyperspace window opening," Marks said over the comm.
"Standby to fire forward beam weapons," Elis ordered.
A second later the space in front of them tore open allowing the long hull of an Aurora-class battleship to be dropped back into normal space. The Asuran warship quickly came to a stop, clearly surprised to see the two Tau'ri cruisers bearing down on it.
"Fire," Caldwell gave the order.
Both the Daedalus and the Apollo fired down on the Replicator ship with its new Asgard-designed weapons. Bright blue beams of superheated plasma lanced out, striking the dorsal hull of the Asuran battleship and penetrating its shields. Its hull melted once the shields fell and it split into several sections under the assault. Finally its reactor went critical and consumed the remains in a short-lived fireball.
"Target has been neutralised," Sheppard reported.
"I wish I had these a few years ago," Caldwell commented.
"Well the first attack was easy, they didn't know we were coming," Carter countered. "The Replicators have proven very effective in changing strategies when faced with failure."
"Still, we took that ship down without breaking a sweat," Caldwell added.
"Right...one down...thirty seven too go," Carter said with a smile.
January 10th 2008
Harvest System
New Lantea
Atlantis
Control Room
"Welcome back sir," Sheppard greeted.
"I was in the neighbourhood and thought I'd stop by and resupply," Caldwell told him.
"How's it going out there?" Sheppard asked.
"Splitting us up was a good call," Caldwell responded. "The Daedalus has already downed another three ships," he continued.
"The Apollo has downed another two so that brings us to seven," Sheppard commented.
"I'll need about an hour to get what we need and then we'll get back out there," Caldwell told him.
"Well...there's been a little change of plans," Sheppard countered.
"Really?" Caldwell asked.
"Yeah," Sheppard nodded.
"They're falling back?" Elis asked in disbelief.
"Safety in numbers," Carter explained.
"Either they haven't figured out how we're tracking them and-" Rodney started.
"Or they haven't figured out how to stop us," Sheppard cut in.
"Either way they want to stop losing ships," Rodney said clearly.
"So they're all heading back to the Replicator homeworld?" Caldwell asked them.
"That's right," Carter confirmed.
"Well that's good; they're finally all in one place. We can wipe them all out at once," Elis spoke up.
"Ideally yes, but our two ships against the entire Replicator fleet..." Carter trailed off.
"Not to mention the drones they'd be firing from the surface," Sheppard added.
"The new weapons we have are very effective but they are no match against that kind of firepower," Carter shook her head at the idea.
"Well it sounds like it's about time for you to use that new killer program you've been working on Doctor," Elis commented.
"Yeah," Rodney nodded suddenly feeling on the spot.
"Remember when you said all you needed was ten hours to finish it?" Elis asked.
"...Vaguely," Rodney admitted.
"Well it's been ten hours...and a week. Are you finished?" Elis questioned further.
"Well I'm just dotting some 'Is' crossing some 'Ts," Rodney defended.
"Well whatever our plan is, we need to act quickly. Our current intel suggests that they're putting all their resources into building new ships," Carter explained. "I figure we have about a week before they head back out into the galaxy and in much greater numbers this time."
"If they start travelling in packs then our kill rate is going to drop drastically," Caldwell spoke up.
"We can't let that happen," Carter told them. "We need to take them out while they're all in one place and we need to do it quickly," almost immediately everyone turned their attention on McKay.
"I think I should...erm...get back to work," Rodney said before leaving the room.
"Our old Anti-Replicator technology relied on separating the bonds between every individual nanite cell," Rodney started. "They just collapsed into a pile of dust right?"
"We're...familiar...with the technology, yes," Sheppard nodded.
"Yes well...our thinking was always to continue down that line," Rodney continued. "To break the bonds, turn them off, sever their connection to one another. Because dust we can deal with right?"
"Rodney," Carter said clearly not amused.
"We do the opposite," Rodney responded. "Instead of severing their connections, we significantly dial up their attraction to one another. We turn each cell into an extremely powerful nanite magnet...you know, one cell attracts another cell and they attract two more. As more and more nanite cells bond to the group they'll become stronger and stronger and stronger until every Replicator cell on the planet, in orbit, all of them are gathered into a single giant super dense blob."
"...A super dense blob? That's your good idea?" Sheppard asked sceptically.
"Yes...it is actually," Rodney nodded.
"So what do we do with the blob then?" Sheppard asked the question. "Aren't we in danger of creating some kind of Godzilla-sized Super-Replicator?"
"No, at least not at first," Rodney responded. "Look, this is not their normal form of bonding; it'll take them some time to adapt and figure out how to function with the new parameters."
"How much time?" Carter asked.
"Well, I mean I can't speculate," Rodney shrugged.
"Since when?" Sheppard asked.
"Look, it doesn't matter anyways because long before that happens they're going to fuse together so tightly they'll be rendered essentially inert," Rodney explained. "Remember this bond is happening on a subspace level," he told them.
"Which helps them get passed the normal repulsive force between nuclei," Carter said catching on.
"To the point where their electrons are fusing with their protons and once that starts happening, they're toast," Rodney concluded.
"You're talking about neutron star levels of density," Carter said.
"Precisely," Rodney grinned.
"Whoa...it sounds crazy but...this might actually work," Carter smiled at the thought.
"How do we make it work then?" Sheppard asked the question. "Just upload a new command into their base code?"
"I have better idea," Rodney just smiled.
"Rodney has had some crazy ideas over the years but this really takes the cake," Sheppard commented as they walked through the corridor.
"He built his own Replicator," Carter agreed. "And worse of all he made her self-aware allowing her to know her purpose. To destroy the Replicators once and for all. It reminds me too much of the Cylons...this is a little too close to home."
"At the end of the day I'm not sure whether to agree with you or not," Sheppard countered. "I hate to say it but this is the only plan we've got...unless you can live with the lives that are lost if we don't do this?"
"I don't even want to think about that," Carter responded. "How did the mission go?"
"Todd managed to get us seven Hive-ships and Larrin showed up when we were leaving. She's as friendly as ever," Sheppard answered. "She managed to secure another six ships for the battle...we're still outnumbered two to one though."
"Those are better odds then we normally get," Carter countered.
January 11th 2008
Harvest System
New Lantea
Atlantis
Conference Room
"We overload their Zed-PMs," Rodney began. "About a half a dozen of them in a symmetrical pattern around the Replicator mass; the force of the explosion will cause the mass to compress even further, essentially creating our own Replicator fusion bomb. The whole planet will be destroyed in the process," he finished with a grin.
"You don't mess around, do you?" Larrin asked seemingly impressed. It's not every day she encounters someone who can blow up planets in a single afternoon.
"All of this is information provided by a Replicator? We have no reason to trust it," Elis spoke up.
"We're not trusting it," Sheppard corrected. "We're trusting...Rodney."
"Now this causes a slight wrinkle in the plan," Rodney continued. "I'll need to beam down to the core room."
"Along with Ronon and a squad of marines," Sheppard added.
"From there I'll be able to hack into their systems and set the Zed-PMs to overload," Rodney finished.
"In the meantime we'll be keeping their ships occupied," Carter explained. "The seven hives will space themselves around the planet equally and our smaller ships will fill in the holes."
"We could use you in my chair Sheppard," Larrin spoke up. "We have an arsenal of drones but my guys can fire them quite like you can."
"No place I'd rather be," Sheppard forced a smile.
"The hives will be dispatching sizable waves of darts to target the Replicator's Hyperdrive engines," Todd cut in.
"My 302s will join you," Caldwell added.
"Very well," Todd nodded.
"Now while I'm working in the core room we'll beam Fran down into the city," Rodney started again.
"Wait a minute," Elis cut in. "Fran?"
"It's our friendly Replicator-Android," Rodney responded.
"I didn't realise we were naming things," Sheppard commented.
"Well it noticed that Zelenka and I had names...and she asked for one," Rodney explained.
"...Alright, let head out," Carter nodded.
January 11th 2008
Asura System
In orbit above Asuras
EFS Daedalus
Main Bridge
The Replicators were caught completely by surprise when fifteen ships consisting of Tau'ri, Wraith and Traveller warships dropped out of hyperspace over the planet Asuras. Almost immediately the allied fleet opened fire on the Asuran ships in orbit before they could get their shields up. Several Aurora-class battleships and the smaller cruisers were destroyed in the first salvo. By the time the Replicators had raised their shields and started returning fire eight ships were already destroyed with another seven heavily disabled.
"Scramble 302s and Vipers. Fire the Asgard cannons at the shielded ships only," Caldwell ordered.
The Daedalus flew through the battlefield, its railguns tearing into an unshielded Asuran battleship as a squadron of vipers and darts weaved through the destruction all around them. Missiles from the vipers quickly launched and struck the underside of the unshielded Aurora, splitting it in two. The Daedalus then turned and fired off a shot from its new plasma beam cannons, striking the side of an Asuran cruiser.
A second shot quickly overwhelmed the shields of the cruiser allowing the fast-moving 302s to swoop in from 'above' and unleash a volley of nukes into the hull of the cruiser. Nuclear fire consumed it, blowing away large chunks of its armour and sending its rear engines spiralling away as the Daedalus continued on to its next target.
One of the Wraith Hive-ships was suddenly hit by a barrage of drones from three Auroras sending secondary explosions across its ventral hull. The Apollo quickly moved to intercept and fired on one of the Auroras with a barrage of plasma fire, effecting splitting the Asuran battleship in two.
"How's it coming McKay? I don't want to be doing this all day," Caldwell said into the comm.
"I'm done," Rodney responded. "I have total control of the power grid...and the Zed-PMs...and Fran is...Fran is just about to activate. Alright she's started and...It's working; just hold those ships off a little longer."
Suddenly one of the Traveller generation ships lost its shields and a pair of drones shattered the vessel's space frame. A second later the Hive-ship from before was struck by another barrage of drones and literally fell apart under the assault.
"I'm not sure how much longer we can keep this up," Caldwell winced as the Daedalus' shield shrugged off another volley of drones.
"We just have to keep them busy," Carter told him. "I don't think they realise what's happening yet."
Suddenly the Asuran ships stopped firing and seemed to start losing power. The Replicators themselves soon started to swarm out of their ships and down towards the planet. The allied fleet kept firing even as the last of the Replicators were drawn down to the surface.
"Did he do it?" Caldwell inquired.
"McKay, according to our readings every Replicator nanite is now a part of the mass," Carter said into the comm.
"Copy that Sam," Rodney responded. "I'll set the countdown and-" a draining noise filled the channel.
"Did you do that?" Ronon asked.
"No...It's the mass; it's collapsed the subterranean power grid. It's a blackout, we won't be able to overload the Zed-PMs," Rodney said worriedly. "Not good, not good, not good."
"Do you want me to beam down there and help you?" Carter asked.
"The power grid has been destroyed, there's nothing either of us can do," Rodney responded.
"What's the big deal? If you can't overload the ZPMs then let's just send some nukes down there and get this over with," Sheppard spoke up over the comm.
"It's not as simple as that," Rodney shot back. "Look, to implode a mass this large the explosion has to be timed down to the millisecond; the force has to be exactly right. I mean you can't just fire a few nukes down here and hope to get the job done."
"Well it's got to be better than nothing," Sheppard countered.
"I have to agree," Caldwell added.
"McKay, my sensors indicate the ground around the mass is rich with Neutronium," Carter spoke up.
"Neutronium?" Caldwell asked.
"It's the base-raw material in the Replicator cells," Rodney explained. "It makes all the sense in the world by the Ancients would set up on a planet where it's abundant."
"This could be useful," Carter commented. "Neutronium is incredibly dense."
"And this helps us how?" Sheppard questioned.
"Sam, we are geniuses," Rodney continued. "The mass is so super heavy that it's sinking into the planet surface; if I dial it up just a little bit. It will attract the Neutronium and sink all the way to the core."
"And the planet will exert enough pressure on it to cause an implosion," Carter finished.
"Just...give...me...one...more...got it," Rodney said finally. "Erm...we need to get out of here."
"Beam them aboard," Caldwell ordered and the team appeared on the bridge in columns of light.
"As much as I would love to," Rodney started as he moved to Sam's side. "We really shouldn't stay and watch this go down."
"We should tell the fleet to jump to the rendezvous point immediately," Carter said clearly. "The planet has become unstable," she added.
"Helm, break us out of orbit and take us into hyperspace. Tell the fleet we're leaving," Caldwell ordered.
One by one the ships of the allied fleet started jumping away into hyperspace as explosions riddled the planet surface. The moment the last Hive-ship made the jump away the planet exploded, wiping out the Asuran fleet and the Replicator menace once and for all.
Author's Notes:
And this ends the Replicator war; like I said before SGA follows the canon storyline however the Cylon war has affected the Tau'ri especially when they consider the morality of their actions. The concept of 'disposable people' and 'living weapons' are concern in this chapter unlike in canon because of what happened with the Cylons.
As for the Cylons themselves, it looks like a civil war is brewing. I've had this planned for awhile, ever since I asked myself 'hey, what happened to Boomer and Caprica Six?' They tried changing Cylon society into something else even if they failed in canon; here however they ended up influencing others of their models including Natalie Foust. The Cylons are now splitting into two factions, one following Cavil and his genocidal quest and the other being Natalie and her want for a destiny of her own.
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