Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate or Battlestar Galactica: 2003.
Another Road not Taken
Chapter15: Trial by Fire
July 18th 2008
Sol System
Earth
Stargate Command / Cheyenne Mountain
Gate Room
"It's good to have you back Colonel," General Landry greeted as Carter descended down the ramp.
"It's good to be back sir," Carter nodded. "Though I'd of preferred it if the IOA didn't replace me with Mister Woolsey."
"They're politicians," Landry told her. "They don't want a military commander in charge of Atlantis, not when there's not a crisis going on at least."
"Yes sir," Carter nodded again.
"You should be proud," Landry continued as he led her up to the briefing room and sat down. "The Replicators are wiped out, that hybrid creature 'Michaels' plans have been ruined and I doubt we have to worry about the Wraith anytime soon."
"With all due respect sir I would still prefer to be back in Pegasus," Carter smiled.
"The Milky Way just isn't the same since the Cylons got their butts kicked huh?" Landry chuckled. "Anyhow...General O'Neill has new orders for you; that is another reason you were recalled."
"What happened?" Carter asked with a frown.
"Three days ago the planet Tegalus dialled Earth and sent a message through to us. It was too badly garbled to make any real sense so we tried to dial them back. We couldn't establish a lock," Landry explained. "We dispatched an E305 to the planet...Tegalus is gone...it was nuked."
"Did they do it to themselves or was it the Cylons?" Carter asked him.
"We're not sure," Landry replied honestly. "General O'Neill wants you to find out if the Cylons were responsible. If it turns out that they are then we'll have definite confirmation that the Cylons have broken the new armistice line. The Apollo, the Astrea and three Artemis destroyers are going with you."
"SG1?" Carter asked knowingly.
"SG1," Landry nodded with a smile.
"Hey Sam," Cam waved as he entered the room. "Welcome back," he greeted and she nodded.
"Where are Vala, Daniel and Teal'c?" Carter asked.
"Around," Cam answered with a shrug.
"Round them up...you leave in twenty minutes," Landry ordered.
"It's only another mission to save the galaxy sir," Cam told him.
July 19th 2008
Hyperspace
In orbit above Tegalus
EFS Astrea
Main Bridge
"Major?" Colonel Ronson asked as he stepped onto the bridge with SG1.
"We're approaching Tegalus now sir," Major Thompson informed.
"Sorry we're late," Cam said as the remaining members of SG1 stepped up beside his chair.
"You're just in time," Ronson reassured them.
"Dropping out of hyperspace now," Jessica reported.
"Maybe it won't be as bad as we thi-" Cam started.
The Astrea and the Apollo exploded out of hyperspace above the planet Tegalus a moment later followed soon after by the three Artemis-class destroyers, Artemis, Varyag and Athena. Almost immediately orange bolts of plasma struck the unshielded hulls of the five Tau'ri vessels, shattering two of the three escorts and ripping into the armour of the two Tau'ri capital ships.
"Report?" Ronson demanded.
"The Hyperdrive is offline and the shield generators have been hit. Shields are down to forty-eight percent," Jessica responded. "We lost the Varyag and the Athena sir. Artemis reports heavy damage...she's not going to last much longer."
"Who's firing on us?" Cam questioned as he looked out of the viewport.
"Scanners show four Cylon Baseships bearing down on us," Jessica replied. "I'm reading Goa'uld energy shields and plasma pulse cannons integrated into them."
"It was only a matter of time before they started reverse-engineered Goa'uld technology," Carter mused worried.
"What's the status on the Apollo? Get me Colonel Elis on the line," Ronson ordered.
"It looks like they're communication array has been hit," Jessica reported. "They can receive messages but they can't send them."
"Colonel?" Cam asked sending the ship's commander a look.
"Scramble all our Vipers and Vultures. Ready weapons," Ronson ordered. Cam nodded and quickly left the bridge, heading towards the hangar.
"Cylon Baseships are launching raiders," Jessica informed. "Both Apollo and Artemis are launching fighters to intercept."
"Open fire," Ronson gave the order.
The Colonial-styled Viper-class fighters were the most manoeuvrable craft ever developed however the Tau'ri F302-Vs codenamed 'Vultures' were quite simply the fastest fighter-craft in three galaxies. They could outrun Goa'uld Death Gliders, Wraith Darts and even Cylon Raiders. Because of this they were a nightmare in both atmosphere and in space because they could accelerate and simply outrun anyone they came across.
Their one flaw was that they were built more along the lines of a regular airplane thus limiting manoeuvrability. This problem was relatively fixed however with the introduction to the Colonial Jump-drive core which Earth had successfully developed and installed in all of their F302s. This granted them limited interstellar capabilities allowing them to effectively jump out of trouble if the Cylons or the Wraith decided to swarm them.
The Vultures launched from the Astrea and the Apollo quickly accelerated away towards the Cylon Baseships with the vipers providing escort. They then saw both Tau'ri capital ships open fire on the approaching swarm of Cylon raiders with their rail-guns, tearing into the vast numbers of drone fighters.
"Alright, that's our cue," Gold-Leader spoke up over the comm. "Execute jump on my order; all vipers break and engage enemy raiders while we deal with those Baseships."
"Roger that Gold-Leader," Eagle-Leader responded.
"Come on, come on," Cam muttered.
"Receiving coordinates from the Raptors now," Gold-Leader spoke up. "Execute jump," she gave the order. The 302s quickly flashed away signifying their FTL jump and reappeared behind the formation of Cylon Basestars. "Let her rip!" she shouted out the order.
"Fox-two," Cam muttered.
All twenty-four Tau'ri Vultures let loose a salvo of nuclear missiles at one of the Basestars and peeled away as the missiles closed in on their target. These missiles were enhanced with extensive amounts of Naquadah and upon impact with the Basestar's new shields, exploded in a blinding light seen by all. The blasts quickly overwhelmed the primitive shields of the Goa'uld and consumed the Basestar within. When the blast died down all that remained of the Cylon warship was a cloud of debris signifying its destruction.
"One down, four to go."
"Sir, the Apollo is moving to engage one of the Baseships," Jessica reported.
"Analogue fire on the second Baseship," Ronson ordered.
The Apollo turned and accelerated around the dogfight between the vipers and the raiders before bringing its main guns to bear on the flanking Basestar. A blue beam of superheated plasma lanced out from the Tau'ri cruiser's underbelly and tore into the shields of the Basestar which was soon followed by a second one. The second shot brought the shields down completely before a third and fourth shot split the Basestar in half at the neck.
"We have a lock," Jessica informed.
"Fire," Ronson gave the order.
The Astrea quickly came to a halt and let loose a volley of Ancient plasma drones at the Basestar beside the one the Apollo destroyed. Raiders moved to intercept but the drones simply manoeuvred out of the way before finally tearing into the Basestar itself. Secondary explosions consumed it as the drones penetrated the shields and detonated within the hull of the vessel.
"We've depleted out compliment of drones," Jessica reported. "Three Baseships have been neutralised and the fourth is firing on the Apollo sir."
"I knew we should have started the refit sooner," Ronson muttered knowing that the new Asgard weapons would have came in handy in this situation.
"Sir, the Apollo has no shields," Jessica spoke grimly. "They've sustained too much damage and they just collapsed."
The Apollo angled away as its underside was struck by several bolts of plasma from the Basestar and missiles swarmed in. The Artemis was at its side, providing support against the swarm of raiders bearing down on them however it was clearly a losing struggle. After the beating it had taken during the initial drop out of hyperspace it was clear that the Apollo had simply taken too much damage to continue fighting.
Suddenly two nukes struck the battlecruiser's neck, engulfing it in nuclear light and destroying it instantly. Despite its advanced shield technology it just wasn't built to withstand such an onslaught and shattered above the planet Tegalus. The bridge crew of the Astrea watched this silently unable to turn away from the sight before them.
"...Was anyone able to beam off of the ship before she went down?" Ronson asked.
"It looks like some of the crew beamed down to the surface," Jessica confirmed.
"How many?" Ronson asked further.
"...Thirty-seven," Jessica replied solemnly.
"...A Daedalus-class cruiser has a crew compliment of two hundred," Carter sighed. "Is Colonel Elis among the survivors?"
"...I'm not reading his transponder ma'am," Jessica shook her head.
"Load all missile tubes and release all safeties. We're taking these things down now," Ronson ordered.
"...Sir, they're pulling out," Jessica informed as the raider turned back towards their mothership.
"What?" Ronson asked in disbelief. "Why would they do that?"
"...This was a test," Carter said catching on. "They wanted to see if their new weapons could harm us...now that they've destroyed one of our ships they know their weapons can damage us now."
"Cylon Baseship is withdrawing," Jessica reported. "They appear to be trying to escape our FTL-jamming field."
"Not if I can help it," Ronson spoke clearly. "Launch all missiles...destroy that thing."
Missiles streaked out from the launch tubes along the neck of the Astrea before turning and accelerating towards the fleeing Basestar. The Cylon warship's lack of actual interception weaponry proved that they could do nothing to stop the incoming missiles. The warheads quickly struck their target, consuming the Basestar in nuclear fire and leaving nothing but floating wreckage in its place.
"They're just going to resurrect their people," Carter told him. "Either way they've gotten away with the knowledge that they can still hurt us."
"What about the planet?" Ronson inquired.
"No life-signs but our people on the ground," Jessica replied.
"Start beaming them to the infirmary," Ronson ordered. "As soon as they're aboard start salvage operations...I don't want to leave anything here for the Cylons to get their hands on."
"Yes sir," Jessica nodded.
"...And dispatch a subspace message to General O'Neill...tell him...we've engage the Cylons."
Author's Notes:
As you can see the Cylons have now incorporated Goa'uld shields and weapons into the ships however they were only able to do as much damage as they had because the Tau'ri were unprepared when they dropped out of hyperspace. The politics of this situation are tricky however since Tegalus isn't really an ally of Earth nor is it a member of the Protected Planets Treaty. Because of this even though it is a human world the Tau'ri will legally be unable to retaliate however the time when the Tau'ri resume their war against the Cylons will be coming soon.
There's still a certain ZPM-powered Wraith Hiveship to deal with first...
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