AN: thanks to Rudy Pena for the beta.
AN: the second, quite long part. Enjoy, read and review!
From the biography of General Jack O'Neill: 'For Crying out loud!'.
It had been two months before the final charges were readied against Emerson. Up until that time he was held in an undisclosed location without representation. Eventually two JAG lawyers were assigned to his defense. One had been the Navy JAG San Diego while the other had been the US JAG Europe. Both were among the best in military and federal law.
Meanwhile Kealty hadn't been sitting still. He introduced a number of new bills that extended the power of the president in case of an emergency or crisis. On the outside it was very reasonable, during a crisis or emergency the president should be able to make decisions without going through the entire bureaucratic process. The fine print however didn't specify what exactly an emergency was; a simple burglary could be made into an emergency if the president wanted to.
In addition to the political actions he had been leaking negative information about the Ori while also sending ships by to check on the Ori at Novus Celestis and ensure their 'safety'. In reality he was just waiting for them to make a wrong move he could use against them in the press.
All Kealty did was increase the tensions between the Ori and the somewhat radical Tau'ri citizens, and especially on planets that temporarily housed followers until more living space could be constructed in Novus Celestis. The first crimes were already reported widely in the press. The press unfortunately was in the hands of Kealty as he had a lot of friends there which made sure the spotlight was on what the followers did. Of course there were some bar fights but nothing serious and in comparison the followers were actually quite tame. But it was because of those spotlights that it didn't look that way. The first signs of race related attacks were already found.
55-Lima
55th police precinct, Cartville, Alpha site
August 2, 2023
1849 hours
55 Lima was one of the fourteen squad cars used by the 55th precinct. Cartville was one of the larger cities on the Alpha site. The city counted nearly two million citizens while neighboring cities added another million daily commuters.
Officers Morrelli and Thompson rode 55 Lima for the last four years, ever since the 55th was created.
"Attention al units, we got an assault in progress at Lexington and 63rd street nearest units please respond." Central reported.
"That us?" Thompson asked his partner.
"Only two blocks away." Morrelli said as she responded to the call. "Central, 55 Lima responding."
Thompson, who was driving turned on the sirens and they quickly made their way over to the corner of Lex and 63rd.
A minute later they arrived at the scene, two teenagers were beating up a man lying on the ground. Once the car arrived both teenagers ran away into an alley. One however tripped over a bunch of boxes and was quickly taken into custody by Morrelli. The second teenager got away, though with Officer Thompson on his six. Back at the corner Morrelli put the kid into the squad car and went to check up on the man. What she found wasn't promising.
"Central this is 55 Lima, I need EMT on a rush. My partner is on foot pursuit of suspect, last known position in alley heading for Washington street."
Meanwhile Thompson was only about twenty meters behind the suspect. He had to admit that the boy was fast. Fortunately Thompson was fast as well. He could only hear the sirens of other squad cars but they were closing in and he continuously kept them up to date on his position and heading.
As he rounded the next corner he saw he had chased the boy into a dead end. He was just about to tell the boy to give up when the boy also noticed he was stuck. As he halted to a stop he reached behind his back to grab something there, he also turned around to face the cop. Once he got a hold of what he was looking for her took it out and brought it up. Thompson, thinking it was a weapon of some sorts took out his firearm and fired a quick shot just before the kid could bring whatever he had in his hands up.
The bullet struck the boy in his heart. Before Thompson could reach the boy he was already dead. He checked the wrist of the kid for a heartbeat. "Shit!" he contacted central. "Central I need EMT and a Supervisor in the alley behind 68th street, near Delphi. Suspect has been shot."
Ten minutes later the scene had been secured and they started the standard procedure after a cop shot a person. The cop would surrender his weapon to the IAB(internal Affairs Bureau/rat squad) investigator and walk the investigator through his steps and actions.
"How's the man doing?" Thompson asked the investigator.
"He'll survive. It appears he was attacked because he's a follower." The investigator said. "That's not what you should be focusing on. You shot a kid that didn't carry a weapon but instead grabbed his cell phone."
"Damn it, why the hell did he have to go grab his cell phone, don't they know we can't really distinguish between a cell phone and a gun? Why the hell was that kid reaching for it anyways? Huh? He wanted to call the police or something?"
"Probably his lawyer. Turns out the kid's parents are somewhere high up in politics, most of the time their back at Earth. The press is just getting word of it and the chief already has a press conference planned in fifteen minutes."
"I'm in deep shit right?"
"You could say that again. We're gonna bring you back to the precinct and you'll be on administrative leave until we can clear all this up. Okay?" Thompson just nodded. "Your partner can drop you off."
From the testimony of Lieutenant Johnson, 55th precinct, city of Cartville, Alpha site.
Things quickly went downhill after the press conference. The people were mad about the shooting of what later was confirmed to be an unarmed kid. The power failure that evening just completed the mess. Most of the people had just heard about the shooting when the power went down. From the reports I received that evening the riots started when two followers attempted to attend the wake that was held at the scene of the shooting. The officers there had to evacuate the two followers in a rush to save their lives. The angry mob made their way over to the precinct to demand justice but quickly became violent after passage was denied by police officers outside the precinct. They destroyed a window and set two squad cars on fire before officers were able to drive the group back using tear gas. Up to that point nine arrests were made.
That night word spread of the protests and what had happened at the precinct and before ten PM we were facing a riot. At that point I had all my officers equip themselves with riot gear and I called for backup from the police headquarters. For a still unknown reason backup did not arrive until after midnight and by that time the violence had already spread beyond the 55th.
The next morning most riots calmed down and people went home. Unfortunately riots kept spawning all across the precinct for the next days.
CNN late edition
August 2
2300 hours
Today the trial of Space Forces General Emerson started, his lawyers are confident of the innocence of their client, but on the other hand has no confidence in the impartiality of the judges and jury." The anchorman said. A short video started of one of the lawyers exiting the courtroom.
"Commander Rabb, why don't you have any confidence in the judges and jury?"
"Look, this trial isn't judicial, its Political, President Kealty isn't happy with the losses sustained in the Ori galaxy and wants to blame someone. The easiest mark for him is my client. It's easy to see that the President wants a conviction, he pulled strings to get the current judges assigned to the case, and all three are known supporters of President Kealty. The same goes for the jury, all registered voters for President Kealty."
"Commander, recent military rules have limited the amount of comment an officer can give about a serving politician, aren't you breaking that rule right now?"
"Well, strictly seen yes, but under the UCMJ (Uniformed code of military justice) my client is entitled to the best defense my co-counsel and I can give and since the President has involved himself and the press in the case we have to defend the General in those areas as well."
The video was cut short as a confused anchorman relayed breaking news. "Ladies and Gentlemen, it seems that riots have broken out in Cartville on the Alpha site. Nearly four hours ago a fifteen years old boy was shot and killed by the police after he had assaulted a follower. Details on how the riots exactly started are still unknown but it has been confirmed that several police cars have been destroyed and people have been arrested."
"So far that's all we know but we will give you more, the moment we have more. Stay tuned."
Alpha Site Governor's office
August 5
For the last two days his planet had been in turmoil as riot after riot happened. Ever since that cop shot a kid the riots were spreading. First just in Cartville but later in the suburbs and within days nearly every city on the planet was faced with riots. The civilian governor (Officially the Alpha site was a military planet) had the difficult decision to make how he would end the riots and have the peace return to the streets. He had already called up the national guard and all other assets he had under his control. A state of emergency ruled the planet and the national guard hadn't really helped much. All that remained was to either beam everyone on the streets back to their homes, or to the jails despite that being illegal under several laws, or request help from the central government, which would most likely result in the deployment of the first marine division, the fourth light infantry division and two mechanized divisions that were stationed at the Alpha site.
"Governor, the police is at breaking point; a Molotov cocktail killed two officers and landed another four in the hospital. There are entire areas that are inaccessible to the police. We need the military sir." An aide urged the governor.
"How long would it take for the military to start helping us if I were to request it and get it now?"
"A day, perhaps less, the marines have been put on alert."
"Then we'll make the call. Get me the president's office." The governor decided. "What are the predictions for the meantime?"
"I have no idea sir, it's not like the riots are organized nor have a real purpose. Right now we're just trying to keep everybody safe, most of the anger is directed at the followers so the neighborhoods where they live are heavily patrolled. Local councils have already announced that they would organize a peaceful protest march around the scene of the shooting. It has the largest potential for disaster, people of all ages will attend and we estimate that about twenty thousand people will participate. They'll march from the scene to the city hall."
"Isn't the area around the Cartville city hall off limits after that attack on the Mayor?"
"Yes it is. They hope they'll get through but the police won't budge and has announced they'll use tear gas and other means to prevent the people from going through to the city hall."
"And they'll march tomorrow?"
"Very likely sir."
"Assuming the president authorizes the use of the military forces here I want those marines that are on alert deployed to that protest march."
"I'll make sure they are. Assuming the president agrees."
Battalion HQ, 1st battalion of the first marines
Morning of August 6th
Lieutenant Colonel Mia Lundstrom commanding officer of the first marine battalion, part of the first marine regiment of the first marine division had just received her orders. The president reluctantly had agreed to authorize the use of regular military forces to quell the riots of the Alpha site. Her battalion would be among the first to see action. She would have to stop a group numbering in the tens of thousands with a mere 1200 soldiers, organized in four companies. Her job was to divert the march, which was hell bent on reaching city hall away from it and to a park where, if everything went well a spokesperson for the government would address them there.
A company would block the march eight blocks from the city hall. They would also send the protesters in the right direction and cut off the way to the downtown business area. She expected that their job would be the hardest. The police had already tried to inform the march leaders about the change in plans but were unable to contact them. She had already directed the CO of A company to put up signs with the changes and they would also announce the change with loudspeakers.
B company only had to maintain order during the march from the blockade near city hall to the park. They were equipped with humvees, as were the other companies and would also make sure no groups broke off towards the city center. If the protesters behaved their job would be easiest. But if they wanted to find a way around, they'd be in trouble; they only had so much troops and had the largest area to cover.
C company was ordered to maintain order at the park for the rally and provide security for the spokespersons.
D company, or the weapons company was held in reserve, partly because their presence would do more harm than good. An M-700 was one thing, but a M249SAW or a stinger was not something the people would react well to. Nevertheless they had ditched most of their heavy weapons for regular rifles which should be more than ample for this job.
"So you all have your orders, any questions? Remarks?"
"Yes Ma'am, what are the rules of engagement?" A Company's CO asked.
"The politicians want you not to do anything. That being said, I'd rather have to explain why you busted a few kidneys with rifle butts then explain why a bunch of unarmed people got killed. That's what started all this. If you have to fire warning shots do it overhead, and use bullets, they make a hell of a lot more noise than a M700."
"What if we're being overrun? When the masses are so large we couldn't shoot them even if we wanted to?" B companies CO asked, a logical question for him because he would most likely be outnumbered if anything were to happen.
"Use teargas to slow them down and if that doesn't work you retreat to the next intersection and try again. Meanwhile you will inform me of the situation and I'll send a platoon or so from D Company."
"And if they are elsewhere occupied?"
"Then you fall back until you reach the Police barricades, two blocks away from city hall." Lundstrom said. "Look I know this isn't our usual thing, we're not trained for this and have zero experience. We do have discipline, use it to keep your sergeants in line and they'll keep the marines in line. These are our own people, we do not want to harm them but a line has to be drawn. Alright?" all four CO's nodded. Good, Semper Fi."
Two hours later
A company blockade
Two marines were posted on top of a building with a flat roof, they were on lookout and using their powerful binoculars could track almost the entire march. Once the protesters got close enough to read the signs or hear the announcement they hesitated. Under the lead of the organizers they did walk on until they reached the barricade. They stayed at a distance of about thirty meters. A lieutenant was using a megaphone to issue orders to the crowd and issue warnings.
After some chanting most people turned left for the park obeying the orders given by the marines. There was a small group that remained behind chanting and cursing at the marines(whom they mistakenly called soldiers, Marines don't like that). The group grew as more and more people passed the blockade.
"Echo Six, this is Alpha one Eye snatcher, we've got more than the predicted amount of people coming through here. Current estimates are above the fifty thousand and counting." Alpha one Eye snatcher was a recon team atop the roof.
"Alpha one Eye snatcher, Echo six here, I copy. Keep counting and scanning for trouble." Echo six was Lieutenant Colonel Mia Lundstrom's cal sign.
The marines had deployed their humvees in such a way that most of the street was blocked off. A platoon of marines stood in front of the vehicles while a second platoon stood behind the vehicles while their own vehicles were parked there, ready to deploy at a moment's notice.
Once in a while a dumbass would walk up to the marines and stand at a meter or two away. He yelled in their face, calling them jarheads, baby killers and some more unwelcome names and spit at the marines. Each of those idiots would quickly feel the butt end of a M700 hitting their kidneys before being dragged away by two marines and placed into custody.
"If you do not comply with our orders forceful means will be utilized." The Lieutenant with the megaphone said.
Another few minutes later while most of the protesters followed the new route, several hundred remained at the checkpoint to cause trouble for the marines.
"Ready gas masks." A company's CO ordered. The sight of all those marines simultaneously reaching behind their back and grabbing their gas masks and putting them on was a clear enough message for half of those that remained. They however didn't get a chance to get out. From several points the marines threw CS gas canisters into the crowd and a charge of the marines followed soon. First platoon went straight into the protesters beating and arresting them, while second platoon went beside them in order to form a new barricade behind the troublemakers.
Second platoon was now standing very close to the main part of the march though the violence against them was low.
Within ten minutes all troublemakers were arrested and taken away by police vans to be processed and detained. The marines resumed their original mission at the barricade.
2nd squad, second platoon B company (Cal sign Bad Boy 2)
Bad Boy 2 was assigned to roadblock duty. They had parked their three humvees across the road to block it. Like the rest of their company they had to prevent the march from going downtown, instead they had to make sure the march went to the park.
"You hear about A company?" one marine asked another.
"No, what happened?" the other asked.
"They beat the shit out of a couple hundred assholes. Used CS gas and the likes." The marine replied. "Happened over an hour ago and those mofo's still won't listen." He said as he spit in the direction of the protesters.
"Shut that trap marine." The squad leader said. "You're supposed to be a professional, act like one."
"Aye Sarge." Both marines said.
"Everyone listen up." The Sarge said. "Intel has been very wrong about this march. Instead of the expected 20 to 25 K people we have a confirmed 100K and perhaps even 150K protestors. This means that we'll be on station for a lot longer so I want the fire teams to rotate, two on the barricade, one resting and eating. Fire team Charley, you're off first. Rotation is every three hours."
Behind him a high sort of whistle was heard, followed by something impacting a window and something or someone falling.
At once the Sarge turned around only to see one of his marines on the ground. Within a few steps he was at the marine's side. Meanwhile he yelled to take cover. He looked the marine over for any injuries and found a gash at the marine's neck spilling quite an amount of blood. "Medic!" quickly the medic made his way over to him and the wounded marine, he started working on him immediately while two other marines helped him.
"Echo six, echo six, this is Bad Boy two do you copy?"
"Bad boy two, this is Echo six we hear you."
"I need an immediate Medevac, I have a man down, and I am taking fire."
"Medevac is underway; do you have a sight of the shooters?"
"Negative on the shooters, what are my orders Echo six?"
"Hold your position and try to get a visual on the shooter. Backup is on their way."
"Copy Echo six." The Sarge said. "Keep your heads down!" he yelled at his marines as he saw that some tried to peek over the humvees. "Anyone see the muzzle flashes?" echos of no returned.
"Sir, I think I saw something in the crowd, can't be sure if it was a muzzle flash or a reflection of something."
Some more stuff hit the humvees they were hiding behind. One of those things fell over the side for the marines to see. "Bricks?" a marine asked.
"Yeah, people tend to throw bricks when they're mad." Another replied.
"Doc, take two marines and get that man a hundred meters back and wait for the evac. The rest of you prepare for CS." Sarge ordered.
A minute later the medic had taken the wounded away and everyone was ready for the CS gas. This day the CS canisters had replaced their normal Frag grenades so every soldier had a couple. Each and every one of them threw a CS gas canister. Quickly enough people started yelling and crying but the amount of bricks thrown decreased. Instead they could hear the sound of bullets impacting the humvees.
"Echo six, Echo six, this is Bad Boy two, do you copy?"
"Bad boy two, this is Echo six, we copy go ahead."
"I have deployed CS gas but weapons fire is still incoming, I request UAV coverage to locate gunmen."
"Copy, rerouting Eye in the sky, ETA thirty seconds. Medevac will be there within minutes."
"Copy Echo six, thanks."
And just when Echo six said the UAV support would arrive, it did. Sarge looked up in the skies and vaguely saw the UAV. He turned his attention to a small screen he took from the humvee. It showed the crowd dispersing as the cloud of CS gas expanded. A few blocks down he could see a similar thing. The difference was that in his little spot he could see the muzzle flashes of weapons being fired he guessed they were fired from an elevated position since the crowd showed no sign of being fired at.
He also saw the Medevac coming in. it was one of the newer marine transport ships. It was called a space hawk and looked like a cross of a Blackhawk and an Osprey. What made it so special was that it could reach orbit in about an hour and descend from orbit in about fifteen minutes. The First Marine division's air wing only had a dozen or so space hawks.
Seeing as the space hawk would have no trouble he turned his attention to the gunmen. He noticed that there was some room in the crowd where a squad or so could advance through.
"Fire team Alpha, there is a way through the crowd about twenty meters to our right. Go through and find those gunmen." He said as he showed them the live feed. He took another screen from the humvee and gave it to the fire team's leader.
As the four men team made their way across the street he looked back to find that the space hawk was making its landing. The pilot was careful so not to hit the buildings to the side.
As he watched the pilot do his work he suddenly saw a red dot appear on the pilot's chest. Before he could do anything to warn the pilot a single shot was fired directly through the strong cockpit window into the pilot's chest killing him in seconds. The pilot's hands clutched on to the stick and the space hawk quickly turned to the left. The co-pilot attempted to correct by powering up increasing their altitude and steering right.
The co-pilot's efforts wouldn't matter. The space hawk hit a balcony and started spinning, out of control. The aircraft started hitting more buildings as it was coming down. Eventually it crashed into a second floor apartment over the march route. All five crewmembers died in the crash and as debris fell down people in the crowd died as well. The chaos was complete and was only further complicated by a fire team trying to advance through the now panicking crowd.
"Echo six, Echo six, this is Bad Boy two. The Medevac is down, we've got major casualties. Send EMT, fire rescue, reinforcements, Fuck! Send everything you've got now!"
The Sarge didn't wait for the response and started issuing orders to his men. "Fire team Charley, go secure that crash site and help the casualties. Fire team Bravo, you're with me, we're going to help fire team Alpha take down those shooters."
At once all marines stood up and quickly made their way across the street, through the masses there. Only the medic and the wounded marine stayed behind. It would be the last time the Sarge and his men would be seen alive.
Three minutes later, reinforcements from D company arrived. They more cautiously made their way through the crowd and secured the area. They found the bodies of the eleven marines that made up Bravo squad at several locations around the scene. Some seemed to be mowed down in surprise while others seemed to have been beaten to death.
From the memoires of General Patraeus.
The evening of the sixth, I arrived at the Alpha site's military HQ. I was ordered to take command there. What I encountered was worse than Iraq, Afghanistan and the other dozen or so hotspots I've been to in my career. By the time I arrived the First Marines had already gone in in-force to secure the site and find those responsible for the deaths of sixteen Marines, eleven of Bravo Squad and five from the Medevac Space hawk. The violence that day was a double edged sword. On one side all other riots virtually ceased that night. For Cartville however, the violence grew exponentially.
The forty-third Mechanized division rolled into the city and started occupying vital areas and setting up a perimeter around the area where most of the violence happened. The fourth light infantry redeployed quickly and was dropped off near a helipad in the center of the forty-third perimeter. The twelfth mechanized division took two days to relocate, they together with the forty-third created a solid perimeter while the marines and Light infantry went in to clear it out, inch for inch.
Twelve days later we were able to declare the city safe again. A heavy price was paid. Nearly four hundred soldiers were killed or seriously injured, while the civilian casualties neared the twenty thousand deaths and wounded. The total damage to civilian property was estimated near the forty billion, while the governmental en military damages were nearly a hundred billion.
An investigation into the crash of the Space hawk was started, one of the first discoveries was that the pilot was shot by a .50BMG round fired by a M82 Sniper rifle. Though weapons were still common on the streets, a .50 sniper rifle was not common.
Office of the General of the Space Forces
Main tower, Atlantis
August 20 2023
"Jesus Christ." O'Neill said. He was reading the preliminary report made by General Patraeus. It was late and the report was one of the last things he wanted to read before he went to his quarters.
"What's that?" Sam Carter asked as she entered his office.
"Hi, I was just reading Patraeus' report on the Cartville Riots (the news called it a Massacre). Compared to this the Teacher riots in Caprica city, eight months before the attacks, are nothing, and don't get me started on the LA riots."
"Yeah, I heard. Absolutely terrible what happened there. What'll happen now?" Carter asked.
"The FBI will start an investigation and we'll see what comes from that." O'Neill said as he laid the report down and stood up to put on his jacket.
"You wanna come see the report on Emerson's trial? It's on a big screen in the conference room. Rumor has it that Kealty's lawyers pulled some nasty tricks."
"Yeah, they somehow managed to get around some of the courtroom procedures; verdict will be read tomorrow morning at nine. The defense hasn't even been able to mount a proper defense yet, he'll be found guilty, not that any amount of lawyers or time would have changed that." O'Neill said somber.
"That rat Kealty. What can we do now?" Carter asked.
"Nothing, nothing legal anyways. We tried getting the trial done in an alliance court since it was an alliance mission, though under Tau'ri rule."
"No luck there right?"
"No luck anywhere."
"Jack? Sam?" Someone behind them said. They both turned around to not be surprised by what they saw.
"Daniel, what a surprise." Jack said with sarcasm in his voice.
"Yeah I know. How are you two doing?"
"You really need to ask? I'm sure you've been keeping tabs on all of us." Jack said. "Besides, we're fine. It's the Federation that's in trouble; it's getting screwed up by Kealty."
"Emerson and the Alpha site?"
"Among others." Sam replied.
"Somehow I get the feeling you're not here for a social call, so why don't you cut to the chase?" Jack asked.
"True. They are coming. They are coming right now and will arrive within a day, you need to send the fleet, your first battle with them in this galaxy will determine the outcome, don't ask me how, but it's just that way."
"How do you know?" Sam asked.
"We've been looking for them, it wasn't easy but we've just acquired them. Atlantis' sensors should pick them up any moment."
"Of all moments they could chose to show up." Sam said.
"General O'Neill." The Intercom chimed. O'Neill pushed a button on his desk. "Sir, we are detecting massive hyperspace disturbances in the Dominion arrival zone. Sir guessing by the size and speed I'd say we have eight to sixteen Dominion battle groups incoming." The Officer of the watch reported.
"Thank you Colonel." O'Neill said. He pushed another button, which activated a voice responding computer. "Confirm Identity of General Jack O'Neill Tau'ri Federation Space Forces." His ATA gene would do the rest of the id confirmation. "Send a Flash priority one message to all Tau'ri fleet units in the known galaxies. Message reads, Prepare for DEFCON 1, Dominion fleet incoming stand by for further orders. Message ends. Also send a message to the Joint Chiefs for an immediate meeting and prepare for a teleconference with the president."
"You need me to do something?" Sam asked.
Jack thought about it for a while. "Yeah, the Sol is in orbit, Marks and Cadman are still on board. Take command and take a cruiser group and head for the incursion point. I've got a feeling Kealty is not gonna let us follow our plan. Make sure you do not head directly for the area, instead make a detour along Terra Nuevo or Caprica."
"Okay, what are you going to do?"
"Get you some back up, one way or another."
"Good luck with that." Sam said. She activated her earpiece. "Colonel Marks, this is General Carter, Beam me up to the Sol immediately."
Seconds later she was beamed up and Jack left for the Situation Room near the auxiliary control room in the bowels of Atlantis. Once he arrived there he found that most of the other chiefs were already there. "Gentlemen." Jack greeted them.
The Chairman started as soon as the heavy doors were closed. "Jack, since this is your area of expertise, what have you got?"
"Only a few minutes ago I was contacted by Daniel Jackson, he warned me that a Dominion invasion was imminent. Only seconds or so later Atlantis' sensors picked up the invasion fleet. Preliminary readings suggest there are anywhere between eight and sixteen battle groups incoming."
"And we expected twenty?" the army chief of staff asked.
"Correct, it is possible that our expedition to the Ori Galaxy has lowered their initial numbers for the invasion." O'Neill said. "Our plans detail that we send a large part of our fleet to engage them at the incursion point. I must also say that Daniel suggested that the first battle in this galaxy will determine the outcome. I have already put all space forces at DEFCON-1 and al ships should be heading for their assigned positions."
"They are not." Kealty's voice said. A holographic representation of the president appeared at the head of the table. All chiefs immediately rose as usual.
"Mister President." All greeted.
"I have recalled all Tau'ri vessels to their home port and the 305 fleet back to Earth. We will not involve ourselves into this fight just to save a bunch of Jaffa and Colonials. We will defend our colonies only and we will not waist the fleet on this ridiculous plan you have made up General." Kealty said while looking at O'Neill.
"Mister President, with all due respect, all our plans, all our defenses are designed around the plan we have to start now. Everything depends on hitting the Dominion hard now, and then letting them expand for a year or so before engaging them across the front. By that time they should be getting closer to the Aschen territories and the Twelve Colonies. Our entire fleet, our entire military structure has been redesigned around this plan, not to mention the plan to first defeat the Dominion invasion in the Pegasus galaxy." The Chairman pleaded.
"My civilian advisors say different, according to them we can avoid any further bloodshed by returning our ships to our own planets. Now that General Emerson will soon be convicted it will surely make an impression on the Dominion that we are unwilling to combat them, and they will accept that and not attack us, for if they do the Tau'ri military will beat any fleet they will send."
"Mister President that it total bullshit. If we let the Dominion settle in this galaxy it will become a numbers game. A numbers game they will be able to win. As of this moment we have no ideas on how to destroy a single mother ship, let alone when they bring in hundreds of them to scavenge this galaxy." O'Neill burst out.
"General! Control yourself. Now about those mother ships, you already managed to destroy three."
"The first one was luck and the other two ruined several star systems, not something desirable when we are only defending our own star systems."
"Well I don't really care, you figure that out, it's your JOB! And if you are too incompetent to do it I will have you removed by someone more capable." Kealty said with the anger audible in his voice. It also marked the end of the teleconference. Though before the connection was cut they could hear Kealty say: 'Incompetent Baboons.'
"Gentlemen." Admiral Jackson started. "What do we do now?"
"Sir, whatever we're going to do next, I'm completely behind it." The Army Chief of staff said.
The other chiefs voiced their agreement over their colleague's opinion.
"This might also be the right time by saying that I ordered Carter to take command of the Sol and a cruiser group and head for the incursion point to join the alliance fleet there." O'Neill confessed.
"Okay. Well it seems we only have two choices anyways." Jackson said. "We quit, or we stage a coup, remove Kealty and his leadership and impose a military leadership, Martial law with a military dictatorship, basically."
"I hate to say it, but right now it seems that leaving Kealty in power will do more damage than a military dictatorship. We do however need to agree that the moment everything has settled down we relinquish our power and hold free elections to establish a new democratic government, and let them sort out what will happen to us. Please remember that we are doing is mutiny, punishable by death. Are we all willing to pay that price?" the Air force Chief said.
"General Maynard, General Patraeus wishes to speak to you, he says it's an emergency." Someone said over the intercom.
"General Patraeus, you're on the line with the joint chiefs."
"General Maynard, could I speak to you privately for a moment?"
Maynard picked up the phone. "Go ahead."
"Please answer with yes or no only." Patraeus said. "Is the president there?"
"No."
"Can he listen to this conversation in some way?"
"Not to my knowledge."
"Good, in that case you can put me on speaker phone."
"You're on speakers again."
"Yes sir, thank you sir. Ever since the escalation on the Alpha site the FBI, Army CID and NCIS have been investigating the source of the high tech weapons involved in the shooting. An hour ago they made a stunning discovery. The weapons are from an armory near Washington DC, one used by the Secret Service. We have finally traced the people involved and found out who gave them the orders to release the weapons. Sir, President Kealty ordered a team of mercenaries to escalate the situation at the Alpha site, he ordered the shooting of the Marines."
For a minute no one spoke, to stunned to say anything.
"General, I assume you have a file with the evidence for this?" General Jumper asked.
"Yes sir, I'll forward it to General Maynard's account, that shouldn't raise any suspicion." Patraeus said. "And sirs, if you are going to do what I think you are going to do, I support you, as does my staff."
"Thank you General." Maynard said. With that the connection was cut and not much later the files arrived. They were put on screens and the joint chiefs quickly started studying them.
An hour later they were done.
"That rat bastard." Jumper said.
"Do I need to call for a vote? I'd rather have this anonymous but a majority would do." Jackson asked.
"No objections here." O'Neill was the first to respond.
The rest of the Chiefs voiced similar answers.
"Alright, anyone have an idea how to do this?" Jackson asked.
"History tells us to seize the president and his cabinet, as well as other senior government officials in a surprise attack. We also need to capture vital communication hubs to prevent an uncontrolled release of media attention." O'Neill said.
"Yeah, we need boots on the ground for that. Anyone have an idea for a unit or a number of units loyal enough to fight their own countrymen?" Admiral Sir Stanhope said.
"I doubt any unit would be willing to do that, but considering the way the president is screwing over the military I doubt there would be much opposition to it from any reasonable commander." O'Neill said.
"So it comes down to availability, maneuverability and readiness, we need a unit that can move out within hours and hit targets around the planet simultaneously." Jumper said.
"The 101st is on hot stand-bye, there camped out at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. They are equipped with Space Hawk transports so they can reach any target within three to four hours, add another hour for preparation and orders and you've got a maximum of five hours." Maynard said. "General Sink, the 101st commander has already expressed his desire to get rid of Kealty and according to him his staff and commanders want the same."
"Okay, let's get him in here shall we, we need to set up a plan." Jackson proposed.
Thanks to the Asgard beaming technology General Sink was in the situation room.
"General, recently you have indicated that you are willing to affect a change in the current civilian leadership, are you still willing?"
"Yes sir I am. We need to end Kealty, and rather sooner than later. Let's cut to the core, we are planning a coup and you want me to be the muscle for it right?"
"Correct, General Maynard has informed us that you can commence operations within four to five hours." Jackson said.
"If I give the order within the hour they can be anywhere on the planet by 3AM GMT."
"Okay, take a chair and join us. We need to capture the president. He currently is in the White House. We also need to control the high court in The Hague, the Senate in Geneva and the house of representatives located in the Capitol building." Jackson summarized.
"I assume you want them all alive?" Sink asked.
"That's preferable, the president and his cabinet might resist, but I doubt the rest will be able to mount much of a resistance. Most of them will be asleep, especially those in Europe. We could have a squad pick them up at their homes and escort them to the place where they are working. It's easier to confine them in a place they are familiar with; they won't put up much of a fight that way. We could probably lock the president and other more powerful and dangerous people at the 8th & I street marine barracks."
"In the meantime we need to get control of all communications in the planet. Atlantis can use its systems to jam a lot of civilian channels, but there are some relay stations we need to capture. These include Fort Meade, Allice Springs, Australia; Ramstein, Germany and the Chelyabinsk Communication center. Several other posts are already under our control, such as Diego Garcia and the Okinawa station. We also need to send troops to the major channels to make sure we can get a coordinated release of information when we decide to release information." Maynard detailed.
"That's quite a lot for a single division. But I think it should be possible if we utilize the surprise advantage and rush the local defenders. We can use stun weapons to lower casualties but no matter what, people will die." Sink said.
"It is quite possible that as soon as word gets out other units will join you relieving the pressure on your troops." Jackson said.
"What about the fleet? More and more ships are arriving at Earth as time passes. We need them out there; they'll already be late if they leave now." O'Neill said.
"We can't send them now, it will inform Kealty of our defiance and he might take countermeasures. We may be able to do an appeal the moment the coup starts for them to start moving but they'd be considered traitors as well." Jumper said.
"Okay, we'll see what happens and who are willing to take the risk." Jackson said.
"We also need to find a way to liberate General Emerson. Thanks to the nanites he ingested we now know where he is, but that also tells us that he is heavily protected. He's being held at the ICC detention unit in Scheveningen near The Hague. The protection for that place is massive, it's rated to withstand orbital bombardment and its vehicles are all armored." O'Neill said.
"My Special Operations group can do that. I think they are secretly planning to free Emerson anyways." Sink said. "They'll be as fast as their transports can take them there."
"Well then General, I'd normally say you have your orders, but these can't be orders, so what about directions?" Admiral Jackson asked.
"Fine by me sir, I'm just glad we're doing it, he had it long coming."
"Yes he did. General, please try to keep casualties to a minimum, we need the public's support on our side."
"I'll tell my men sir, we'll do our best."
"That's all I'm asking." Jackson replied. With that General Sink was beamed back to his HQ in Kentucky.
"So, now we wait." O'Neill said.
"How do we handle foreign responses?" Jumper asked.
"We can't tell them now what we're going to do. The risk is too great." Jackson said.
"I could have a conversation with Ry'ac and Hermiond, they're both here and I could casually hint at the possibility so they won't be that surprised." O'Neill said.
"How about the Colonials, the Nox or the Tok'ra?"
"I don't trust their ambassadors here. I could send a messenger to their home worlds to explain what's going on the moment we're successful." O'Neill said.
"Might as well wait for us to be successful and then inform the ambassadors of those nations here." Maynard said.
"Let's do that." Admiral Jackson said. "Well, I think that's it for now. We should all go back to our offices and prepare for what's to come. Lets agree that at least one of us will remain here and once General Sink commences his operation we'll all meet back here again."
They all agreed and went their separate ways. Both the Vice chairman and the Chairman remained behind and did some paperwork and updated their will, just in case.
0255 hours
All the chiefs were back in their seats and several screens showed the progress the 101st was making across the planet.
"Sir, Atlantis has been secured. The jamming equipment is ready to go at your command." O'Neill said.
"General Sink, are you ready?"
"Yes sir, all forces are in a waiting pattern over their targets and ready to engage within minutes."
"Okay, send them in." Admiral Jackson said.
All across the planet space hawks of the 101st made for their targets.
In a suburban neighborhood near Geneva several space hawks set down, this neighborhood housed several senators. Each space hawk carried a squad of airborne troopers.
The soldiers disembarked and walked up to the door of the house. A few soldiers went around the back, just in case. The squad leader knocked on the door.
A minute later a man in a bathrobe opened the door.
"Senator Morris?" the Sergeant asked.
"Yes who are you?" the Senator replied.
"I'm Sergeant Fredricks of the 101st; I need you to come with us sir."
"Why? Is there an emergency?"
"I can't say sir, but I need you to put on some clothes and come with us, we'll escort you to the senate." The Sergeant said.
"Fine, give me a few minutes." The Senator said as he tried to close the door.
"I must insist on coming with you sir." The sergeant said as he put his foot between the door.
"What the hell is this?"
"Orders sir, please just do as I ask."
"Fine." The Senator said angry.
Five minutes later the Senator and the squad were loaded into the space hawk and it lifted off for the short flight to the Senate building in Geneva.
The Hague area
A platoon sized special operations group was embarked in five space hawks; they could count on the support of three other space hawks equipped with hellfire missiles and M-61 Gatling cannons. They could also count on the support of a flight of 302's should the rescue really go FUBAR. Since a stealthy insertion was out of the question they'd have to control the guard by impressive force, using the supporting space hawks to keep the guards occupied while the others dropped of the soldiers. All that was to be done without firing a shot, at least not the first one.
The entire operation went pretty smoothly, the guards probably already guessed what the space hawks were doing there and didn't put up a fight. Within minutes General Emerson was liberated from his cell and loaded into a space hawk. Once the rest was loaded in, they left, heading for ramstein AFB where a battalion had secured the communication station. On their way out a pair of fighters tried to stop them, but the support flight of 302's chased them away.
Washington DC area
Captain Speirs, CO of Easy Company, 2nd battalion 506th PIR was heading for the highest profile target he could get, the White house. His entire company was assigned to storm and take the building by force. They were under no illusions it would be easy. The Secret Service would be loyal to their president and put up a fight, at least until they had secured the president in the bunker. It was the plan to seize him before he got there. As he looked out the window he could see other space hawks throughout the city rounding up the members of the House of Representatives, nearly five hundred people in total.
In front of the transport he could see the illuminated White House; nothing seemed out of the ordinary except for the helipad. Marine one was warming up its engines and a group of agents stood around it.
Suddenly a streak of tracers came their way. The space hawks quickly evaded the tracers. Another group of space hawks, that was providing support over the city came in from the side and used their Gatling cannons to clear the roof of the White house. The fire immediately ceased, but the Secret Service was now alerted. As the transports got closer the Secret Service started shooting at them. Fortunately the space hawks were sufficiently armored to withstand small arms fire.
The space hawks put the troops down at about fifty meters away; they quickly organized and stormed the entrances. They quickly crossed the distance and only lost a few soldiers. The Secret Service agents either were killed or retreated into the White house. The paratroopers followed the secret service into the building and quickly got tangled in close quarters combat. Eventually the heavier weapons and armament of the paratroopers won over the lightweight Secret Service agents.
The troops were divided into two main thrusts, one going for the presidential quarters, and the other for the elevator down to the bunker.
The first thrust succeeded, but as expected the president wasn't there anymore. The second thrust had some trouble because the Secret Service was really putting up a fight. By the time they reached the elevator the president was already down in his bunker, locked and secured. Once that was done, the Secret Service agents on the surface surrendered.
"Damn." Speirs said as he was told that the president fled to the bunker. "Contact HQ and tell them we failed to capture the president." Speirs ordered his radioman. "Alright, secure the area and start cutting through that door, be sure to use gasmasks, the bunker has some nasty defenses."
0332 AM
Situation room, Atlantis
"Sir, all but one objective completed. We failed to capture the president; he has locked himself into the bunker. General Sink is going to try to talk him out." An aide reported. Now that the staff knew about the coup they were fully committed to help their commanding officers.
"Jack, I guess we should try to get the fleet to move." Admiral Jackson suggested.
"Lieutenant, Establish a connection with all ships in orbit." Jack said as he stood up.
"Done sir."
"Commanders, Generals. As some of you might already know, we, and by that I mean the Joint Chiefs, have started a coup against President Kealty. We decided to take this course after Kealty changed our entire military strategy in a single minute. We also found out he personally ordered the shooting of our own marines at the Alpha site, and we all know what happened afterwards. Now I ask of you to come to the aid of our allies and honor our treaties with them. I ask you to go against the President's orders to stay at your anchorage and make your way over to the Dominion Incursion point. The Sol and a cruiser group are already en-route, as well as alliance fleet units."
"This is not an easy thing. I will also never hold any of you responsible of you do not act now. You are all free to make up your mind. If you want to let the crew decide, do it, they will be in it as well. If some feel uncomfortable doing this beam them down to the surface. All those who are willing to come, depart from this system in twenty minutes. You may transmit me your allegiance, and as long as you do not take action against us we will leave you be, without repercussions."
White house
Elevator shaft
"General Sink." Speirs said as he saw the general appear through the smoke. The entire shaft was filled with smoke from countermeasures. Not long ago they had finally managed to cut a hole through the thick elevator doors down in the shaft. Speirs' soldiers had already secured the outer perimeter and were at the door to the inner bunker.
"Captain, I want to talk to the president."
"Yes sir. We've got a communication terminal here. We haven't been able to make any contact with those inside the bunker but we know they're listening."
"That's alright, they probably think a captain is too low for them, let's see what they'll do if a general calls for them." Sink said. He walked up to the terminal and pushed several buttons that connected him through to the bunker.
"Mister Kealty, this is General Sink, 101st Airborne Division. Your bunker has been surrounded, your cabinet taken into custody and the rest of the government has been separated and is under quarantine. Now the way I see there are two options for you on how to leave this bunker. Actually there is one, because the other way you'd be blasted into so many pieces we wouldn't be able to find anything even if we'd wanted to. It would also mean the rest in there would be dead as well."
"Mister Kealty, we know about your orders to kill the marines, we know everything. Surrender now and you will be put through a fair trial, unlike General Emerson I might add. You will have the chance to explain your actions and I can give you the guarantees of the Joint Chiefs that you will not be put to death. Life imprisonment, most likely but you'll live, which is a hell of a lot better than the alternative. Being blown up with all of those there with you. I'll give you ten minutes. If you haven't decided by them we'll deploy a high yield, focused bunker buster bomb at this bunker and blow it up."
Atlantis
"General Sink is on the line." An aide said.
"Put him on." Jackson said.
"General Sink, what have you got?"
"Sir, Kealty just came out of his hole, he's agreed to surrender unconditionally."
"Okay, good job. We'll have him beamed up to the Atlantis brig. Thank you General."
The connection was cut and they soon got confirmation that Kealty was locked down at the brig.
"So what now?"
"We'll declare martial law for now, well lift it after we've dealt with the Dominion invasion and our ships are returning. Then we can gradually turn control back to the civilian government while also commencing voting procedures. Now we need to get the news out at a controlled way." Jackson said. "I'll go round the house of representatives, the high court, Cabinet and senate and inform them of what has happened and what will happen."
"I'll go have a talk with the ambassadors, to let them know we'll be late, but are on our way." O'Neill said.
1232 hours
Bridge, TFS SOL
Hyperspace, nearing Dominion incursion point
"General Carter, we've received a communiqué from Earth." Colonel Cadman reported.
"Read it to me please."
"From JCOS, Coup successful, Kealty disposed. Reinforcements are underway, ETA 1900 hours." Cadman read the short but clear message. Sam figured that they'd use a combined hyperspace window considering the low travel time.
"How long until we exit hyperspace?"
"About five minutes."
"What does telemetry say about the site?"
"They've got a lot of contacts, though they all compare to alliance ship signatures."
"That's good, nevertheless I want all ships to exit hyperspace with shields raised to full and weapons armed and powered."
"Yes sir."
Carter activated her earpiece. "Colonel Marks, I want a line to all ships in the Task Force."
"You're on ma'am."
"This is General Carter I'd like your attention for a minute." She waited a few second for everyone to drop what they were doing. Since they left Earth rumors had been going round about a coup or Dominion infiltration of Earth's command structure. "Only minutes ago I received word from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, last night they have executed a Coup against the government of President Kealty. Reasons for the coup are various, among them the imprisonment of General Emerson, the order of shooting marines during the Alpha site riots and many more. Furthermore the fleet is now on its way as well although they may be too late, so our job is to delay the enemy for as long as possible so that the fleet can arrive and save the day, so to say. That is all."
"Prepare for hyperspace exit, Condition one set, all ready." Emerson called in over the PA.
Seconds later the Sol and its four escorting battle cruisers exited hyperspace, weapons at the ready. They were greeted by a friendly sight. Ships from all over the galaxy were already there, most in battle formations ready to engage the enemy. Sixteen battlestars formed an enormous cluster while groups of Free Jaffa ships were scattered around. On occasion a less known ship could be seen, usually from one of the minor galactic powers with technological support from the majors. In total about a dozen battlegroups were present, one Tau'ri, four Colonial and seven made up of Jaffa fleet elements augmented by other ships as well as a pair of improved O'Neill class warships.
"Sir, the Galactica is hailing us. Admiral Adama wishes to speak with you."
"Put him through."
"Admiral Adama, what a pleasure to meet again."
"A pleasure to meet you to General Carter, though is wish it were under better circumstances."
"As do it. What can you tell me about the fleet here?"
"Well, as you can see its quite big, we've got a large contribution from the Free Jaffa fleet. I just received word on the situation on your home world, it is quite disturbing. I hope the rest of your fleet will arrive in time."
"So do I, can you tell me something about the Dominion's ETA?
"The Asgard scanners picked them up about half an hour ago and estimates an arrival of 1805 hours your time."
"Damn, the fleet has an ETA of about 1900 hours."
"Just in time for the grand finale." Adama said.
"What do you mean?"
"The incoming fleet has been divided into two groups. The first are twelve battle groups, the second however contains four battle groups and a mother ship. It hid behind the other ships so we didn't pick up on them until the Asgard were able to make an accurate scan."
"I guess that explains why Daniel said this battle would determine the outcome of the war."
"Is that so? I hope you keep in mind that the ancients usually speak in riddles."
"You've met an ascended?"
"Once actually, during a recon mission near Aschen territory."
"Interesting, you know what, if we survive today we'll swap stories about the Ancients."
"My pleasure, I'll bring the ambrosia. I've got a bottle of vintage Aquarian hidden somewhere."
"General Carter, Admiral Adama, this is Kvasir aboard the Asgard warship Wrath of K'tau, could you spare a moment to discuss our tactical options?"
"Of course we can Kvasir, I guess we just got carried away."
"Something which occurs quite frequently for humans." Kvasir muttered.
"You wanted to discuss something, go ahead."
"Yes, I have a suggestion for our tactics. We should use superior firepower to take down their heavier ships. Our escorts can protect the units that are targeting their capital ships. Meanwhile the Colonial air groups will engage any dominion fighters, bombers and gunships and if they manage that they can start harassing the capital ships."
"How do you suppose we split up our forces?" Carter asked.
"The Sol is a power in its own right, furthermore the battle cruiser group you brought can be split in two, each battlestar group will gang up on a target and the Jaffa groups can also be split in two each. My ship's computer has already determined a strategy and positions for every ship. Because the Sol will be on its own it can easily be used as a free ship without a fixed position so it can help wherever needed."
"I can agree with that plan. Who will be in total command?" Carter asked.
"You will be, you are the highest ranking officer here and the Sol is very well suited for leading a force as big as this." Adama said. Kvasir only nodded in agreement.
This will also improve communications as soon as your fleet arrives." Kvasir added.
"Very well. Kvasir, could you send the plan to the Sol's Flag bridge and also to all other ships here?" she simply received a nod from the Asgard. "Admiral Adama, does any of your ships have a Special Warfare Raptor Group?" Adama thought about it for a moment before he nodded. "I want you to send them to the Sol, we'll equip them with heavy nukes before we send them away. They will wait for the Dominion mother ship to arrive before attempting to jump within its shield and unleashing the nuke. This will require precise calculations made by either the Asgard warships or the Sol. Perhaps we can take them down the same way we took down the Wraith super hives in the Sol system."
"I'll have them sent over immediately." Adama said.
From the biography of General Samantha Carter-O'Neill: 'Astrophysics & Deep space telemetry'.
For the next few hours we prepared. The Flag bridge was activated and its personnel started updating all systems and preparing for the soon to come chaos. All pilots were given a few hours off before getting their final briefings and pre flight checks. All systems were checked and rechecked one last time. In the Flag bridge, countdowns were started, one for the arrival of the first Dominion group, another one for the arrival of the second Dominion group, and a third for the arrival of the Tau'ri fleet. By now all three fleets were clearly visible on the Asgard sensors, the Tau'ri ships especially since they were breaking about every rule of hyperspace transport in order to reach the incursion point as fast as possible. We threw up a jamming field, hoping to obscure the fleet while they were in hyperspace, but this did give away our position.
I quickly sent a message to Atlantis detailing them on our situation and our plans. They were surprised to hear that the Dominion had sent a mother ship though that wouldn't matter, we'd have to face them sooner or later. The tension was clearly visible in the flag bridge, throughout the fleet tensions rose to the point where it almost couldn't be contained. Eventually the countdown neared T minus five minutes. As one all fighters and bombers were launched across the entire fleet. Shields were raised, weapons were powered and power was increased to a hundred percent.
T-2
Flag bridge, TFS SOL
"This is General Carter to all fleet units, may I have your attention. Today we will show the Dominion who we are, we will show them our determination and our courage. In the last twenty five years this galaxy has changed so much, overcome so many obstacles and banded together to form the alliance we are all part of. Today all the blood, sweat and tears we shed will pay off, today we will face our destiny, we will make our brothers and sisters among the stars proud, we shall fight to preserve freedom and if we may die, we will die knowing we did our best to stop the onslaught that is coming. I expect you all to stand your ground and do your duty, I ask no more than that. By being here we've already written history and we will be remembered by those who will come after us. Today we shall go to war!"
For a moment nobody spoke. Then came the battlestars.
"So say we ALL!" Adama said. Quickly the other battlestars joined in as well as viper and raptor pilots flying in formation ready to engage the enemy. Eventually everyone joined in on their own way.
Hyperspace windows started to open.
"My fellow warriors, they are here, our day of glory has come. Open fire." Carter said.
As Dominion warships exited hyperspace they were immediately attacked. Several were destroyed before they could raise shields, others were damaged. The Dominion weren't stupid, they'd been conquering galaxies while the ancients were still little amoebas. Their first ships were cannon fodder, just meant to draw the weapons fire away as the real ships exited hyperspace and launched their fighters. All in all almost an entire battle group was taken out without any losses to the alliance side within the first few minutes.
Vipers, F-302's and gliders engaged formations of Dominion fighters. The two groups quickly noticed the other was experienced, the Dominion pilots through the many battles they'd survived and the Alliance pilots through the Cylon, Wraith and Aschen wars, as well as their training. The Colonials fielded a newer variant of the Viper mark 8, the mark 8B, they were an immediate success. Much more maneuverable than the regular 8's and also sporting a much heavier armament. For a change the alliance had a numerological superiority fighter wise, they've always been fighting with the numbers stacked against them.
As the Dominion ships finally organized they started returning fire. Their weapons fire was spread out among all ships which probably saved quite a few from a quick and flashy death.
The Dominion ships quickly caught up to the tactics used by the Alliance fleet and adopted it with deathly efficiency.
"Sir we're losing ships rapidly." Cadman reported.
"Colonel Cadman, the Dominion have a centralized command structure right?" Carter asked.
"Yeah, kind of like the Soviets I guess, little initiative for the little guys."
"Then scan for their command and control ships, if we can target their leadership we might buy ourselves some time."
"The Themistocles just went up." A lieutenant reported. The Themistocles was one of the newer 304 class ships.
"Sir, we've discovered the enemy flagship."
"Show me." Carter said.
A holographic field highlighted the Dominion battle cruiser that apparently controlled all Dominion warships. Unfortunately several other battle cruisers were in a protective formation around it. She only saw one way to get at them and survive.
"Set course for that quartet of light cruisers." Carter said as she pointed out a group of light cruisers slugging it out with two Hak'tyl, neither side seemed to be really wining. "We'll sling around the backdoor and destroy that battle cruiser that way."
"But sir, they'll see us coming from miles away." Cadman said.
"Unless they are distracted." Carter said as she glanced over the map. "Order the Asgard warships as well as Battlestar group 23 to charge the battle cruiser head on, as a distraction, tell them as much so they don't make a suicide attack."
The Sol charged forwards across the lines taking some weapons fire that was meant for another Alliance ship. Once she got in range of the four targeted cruisers she opened fire, two were destroyed before the Sol passed and the other two were destroyed as the Sol dived between the two and delivered a deadly broadside which would make any 18th century admiral proud. She quickly dived behind the enemy formation, nearly unseen.
Meanwhile the two Asgard ships and the four Battlestars made their frontal attack. They grabbed the attention of the Dominion alright. They were pounded from over a dozen ships, most of which of a heavy class.
During all this the Sol managed to sneak behind the enemy flagship and powered its most powerful weapon. In total six turrets bundled their fire into two beams. One targeted the flag ship while the other targeted another battle cruiser, which if the shot would go through would also hit another battle cruiser.
Simultaneously the Sol fired its main guns. The flagship was gutted down the length of the ship, from stern to bow, the beam exited through the front and its power was soaked up by a frigate. The second shot did exactly as hoped, it bored hole through the side of the ship and exited on the other side to slam into the engines of the second battle cruiser, critically damaging it. The battle cruiser was quickly finished off by a loose turret.
The Sol, which had a speed of about one fourth accelerated to military thrust rushing through the debris field of the flagship and exiting the cluster of battle cruisers on the other side. The Sol was lucky, the battle cruisers were already turning trying to engage a new enemy whom they thought had jumped in behind them. This gave the Asgard warships and the Battlestars enough time to make it out.
Now that the Dominion central command structure was taken out and the rest of the ships were turning in circles thinking they'd been ambushed from behind by a large unknown fleet, the Alliance ships managed to recover and continue their attacks. Quickly more and more warships were taken out.
After nearly forty minutes of intense fighting the last of the Dominion capital ships were destroyed. The remaining destroyers and frigates could barely throw a punch at the heavier Alliance ships that went after them.
At last all ships were destroyed, though at a heavy cost. Nearly half the Jaffa contingent was wiped out. Six out of sixteen battlestars were lost, while three others had been too damaged to continue the fight. Two out of five battle cruisers were lost as well.
"Alright people we've only got so much time before the next wave arrives let's get our birds refueled and rearmed and patch up any system we can. All ships are to reform on the Sol." Carter instructed her staff. "Colonel Cadman, how are the SAR missions going?"
"We're beaming out all alliance life signs we can detect."
"Sir, we're receiving a hail from the Mars, its General Chekov." Someone reported.
"Put him on."
"General Carter." Chekov greeted her as the connection was established. He spoke with a thick Russian accent. "I heard you needed some help!"
"General Chekov, it's good to hear from you. You couldn't have come at a better time. We're about to have a visit from a mother ship."
"We're five minutes out, how long until that mother ship arrives?"
"Five minutes, give or take."
"Where do you want my ships?"
"How much you got?"
"Three full squadrons, each counting five battleships, not to mention the two dozen battle cruisers and other ships."
"Then I want two squadrons deployed in a single frontal line ready to charge into the enemy formation and I want the third to make a 90 degrees sphere and target the mother ship's forward power relays. The rest is to provide support wherever needed. Be aware, we've got a Colonial raptor unit standing by with high yield nukes ready to jump in the moment we've got a positive lock on the mother ship."
"That will be done General, see you soon." Chekov said.
The connection was cut and Carter turned her attention to the holographic projection that showed the battle space. It was littered with scrap from destroyed ships, it was a wonder sensors were still able to determine what was what. It would give them a small advantage, the Dominion sensors would first have to adapt to all the junk flying around meaning that they couldn't open fire straight away, just a few seconds later. The next wave would carry only four battle groups, though that it didn't really matter of there were one or one million, the mother ship was the game changer.
She thought back about the old days, with SG-1, those were the good old times. She then remembered how she felt as she took the Sol and destroyed group after group if Wraith and Vanir ships and wondered if the Dominion commander aboard that mother ship would feel the same after so many victories in other galaxies. She had no more time to think anymore. They were there.
"Hyperspace windows opening." Cadman stated.
"All ships, engage." Carter said.
Seconds later a console beeped and the Tau'ri fleet had arrived. They took a second to orientate themselves before heading out. They were already charging the Dominion war fleet before they could even get out of hyperspace properly. They did good against the battle groups, but the ships attacking the mother ship had no such luck. Within a minute the first 305 was destroyed.
Then the Raptors jumped in, ready to receive the coordinates for the micro jump that would bring them inside the shields. The first raptor jumped, it smashed against the shields and its warhead detonated doing no damage to the mother ship but killing enough outside the shield, friend or foe. The second raptor only jumped seconds later and underwent the same fate.
"Hold all Jumps!" Carter ordered. somehow the Dominion had either anticipated this move or their shield was simply too strong for it to work.
"I want all 305's to line up behind us, we're gonna make a pass and we're gonna keep doing it until we take down that mother ship. All other ships are to take down the rest of the Dominion ships." Carter ordered.
As the other 305's formed up behind the Sol, the Sol powered its weapons, two amazingly bright balls of light formed in front of the ship and kept getting brighter and larger, until they streamed towards the Dominion mother ship. They hit the shields, which rippled under the enormous bombardment, but held. The Sol broke off and flew over the mother ship while the second 305 repeated the Sol's move. Ship after ship repeated the move to no avail. Two more 305's were destroyed.
As the Sol turned around for its third pass it was hit hard by the Dominion ship.
"Sir, Hyperspace engines are overloading." Cadman reported.
"Shit." Carter said. She thought about what to do, Evacuation was the probable thing to do and then set the ship for a collision course for the mother ship. But she thought up another way. "Tell all ships to get out, all fighters are to land on the nearest ship possible. I want the Mars and Jupiter to flank us and prepare to tow us into hyperspace. Then I want engineering to prepare to eject the hyperdrive core and add in a spare ZPM. Once that's done the Mars and Jupiter will tow us out of here."
"Yes sir."
The fighters immediately returned towards the nearest alliance ship that could take them. Other ships started to enter hyperspace for the journey to Caprica, the rally point of the fleet. The Sol, flanked by the Mars and Jupiter made one last attack. As the Sol passed over the mother ship the hyperdrive core was ejected along with a ZPM. The Jupiter and Mars overtook the Sol and immediately opened a hyperspace window, drawing the Sol in with them.
Only about fifteen seconds after the Sol entered hyperspace the core exploded, sending shockwaves everywhere. The ZPM made sure that the blast was big enough to be noticed throughout the galaxy. The explosion distorted subspace in such a way that communications and hyperdrive travel was made impossible. It would be a long time before anyone would dare to enter the region again.
AN: Well, quite a long chapter, I surprised myself with it.
AN: I recently found a very detailed map of the twelve colonies, I won't post the link here, if I remember correctly that's made impossible by the site, but if you'd pm me I'll be happy to send you the link.
AN: So again, I ask you to review, anything helps.