AN: chapter 11, thanks to Rudy Pena and Just a crazy-man for the beta, from next chapter onwards it will be a crossover between all Stargate series together with those already in the story.
Gate room, Atlantis
Moon, Sol System
May 11, 2024
1000 hours
Colonel Cadman, the commander of the Atlantis base awaited the arrival of someone important from the FJN. She was accompanied by Ry'ac, the FJN ambassador to the Tau'ri. Ry'ac was quite insistent on an immediate meeting with a high ranking Tau'ri, for what he couldn't say. All he got was Colonel Cadman.
As they waited for the stargate to open they made some Smalltalk. The stargate was still the original one from the Pegasus galaxy. Since the newer Tau'ri designed stargates went into use this one saw much less action. It was still used several times a day but it was nothing compared to the activity on some of the busiest days years ago. The stargate started spinning and after all seven chevrons were locked it engaged.
"Free Jaffa IDC received and confirmed." Someone announced.
"Lower the shields. Tell them they're cleared." Cadman replied.
The shield was lowered and a well known female Jaffa stepped through along with four guards, two male, two female.
"Ishta. It is a pleasure to see you again." Ry'ac said.
"It is good to see you as well. Your father sends you his regards."
"Thank you. How are my father and Master Bra'tac doing?"
"They are doing well. They're both under pressure by the war and the traditionalists, but all in all they're fine."
Cadman, getting a bit bored by the family reunion, coughed to get their attention.
"Ah, Sorry Colonel I got a bit carried away. Please meet Free Jaffa councilor Ishta, wife of Teal'c. Ishta, please meet Atlantis base Commander Colonel Cadman."
"Welcome ma'am."
"Thank you Colonel. Please forgive me and I don't want to sound rude, but is there someone more senior I could talk to?" Ishta said.
"I'm sorry but I'm all you're gonna get for now. But if you can convince me that someone more senior need to be brought in I will do so. Both generals Landry and O'Neill are on base."
"Very well. Is there somewhere private to retreat to?"
"Yes, let's go to my office." Cadman proposed. She led the two Jaffa up on the stairs and through the control room and into her office. She offered two seats to the Jaffa and then took her own seat behind the desk. She used her computer to make the office more private. The windows became nontransparent and active countermeasures were activated. "Alright, we're all private now."
"Thank you. Well, I don't know where to start." Ishta started.
"Just take it from the beginning." Ry'ac said.
"As you know since the fall of the Goa'uld and the creation of the Free Jaffa Nation we have been busy with freeing Jaffa used as slaves on primarily human planets. Most of these human civilizations were abused and enslaved by the Goa'uld and once they fell, the Jaffa remained and were the targets of retributions. We always try to do this in a diplomatic way, offering tribute and aid in turn for either a free passage for the Jaffa or for fair rights for the Jaffa to remain on the planets. Usually this works out and once in a while a small show of force is enough to make them agree to release the Jaffa. Most of these planets are located in neutral or Free Jaffa territory or in our sphere of influence, but a few are located in those of others. A week ago, we received word that a planet, know to us as P33-222 had once again refused several quite generous offers."
"Wait a minute; isn't P33-222 located in Tau'ri territory?" Cadman asked.
"Yes it is, which is why we made so many offers to resolve it peacefully. Eventually a member of the lower council decided to make a visit to the planet, hoping that a higher ranking person would persuade them. Unfortunately the Traditionalists managed to get one of their own members sent. The Jaffa had an escort of twelve warriors but it all went bad very fast. In total only four Jaffa returned, what happened to the rest is unknown."
"And you want us to solve this?" Cadman asked.
"Yes."
"You should have told us right from the start what you were doing there. It might not have made much of a difference but at least we would have been in the loop."
"I know, and that is why it is so difficult for us to ask you for help now. But you need to intervene; the Traditionalists are going crazy about this and are talking about an invasion to evacuate all Jaffa."
"Alright, I'll get a call out to the Director of Stargate Operations for the Milky Way galaxy. General Myers will evaluate your request and I think he will send in some units to work this out. Why don't you go to the conference room and wait for him, he'll be here shortly." Cadman said.
"Thank you Colonel." Ry'ac said.
"You're welcome."
Ry'ac led Ishta out of the office and towards the conference room. Meanwhile Cadman went to call General Myers.
A few minutes later Cadman entered the conference room.
"We'll, it seems that General Myers is otherwise occupied. He has put me in charge for now, I'll send SG-4 in as a possible mediator and to asses our options. We have some information about these people and we'll get through that first. The CO and XO of SG-4 will be here shortly to be briefed as well.
A few minutes later the CO and XO of SG-4 as well as a member of the cultural department arrived in the conference room. These days a standard SG team consisted of twelve to sixteen soldiers allowing for more flexibility and support.
"Professor Klein, you have had a chance to read into the situation?"
"Yes I have. So far it seems that the civilization is deeply based on the Ancient Romans, though quite a bit more aggressive in diplomacy and several other areas. Their technological base is about that of the second or third century AD. The stargate is located near their capital city and has a daylight guard of praetorian guards. They allow free entrance to the country but one is warned not to break any of their laws or face the consequences. Their army is made out of a volunteer force, with high training and the best equipment they can get. The soldiers are fiercely loyal to their emperor and will die for him. Tread cautious when approaching them, they are very strict on protocol and respect for their superiors is everything. Try to get in their favor, give them tributes or, though I won't recommend it, fight as a gladiator and win. Winners in those matches are treated as gods and therefore can get favors with the leadership."
"We won't have to worry about that, none of my men are crazy enough to go play gladiator." SG-4's CO said.
"What could have happened to the nine Jaffa that didn't return?" Cadman asked.
"If they haven't been killed during their capture they would either have been sold as slaves for hard labor or killed in the arena." Klein said.
"And the female Jaffa?" Ishta asked.
"Slavery, probably as prostitutes or executed as an appetizer for the arena fights. To them, women don't have the same rights as men and being in a combat unit would not have gone over smoothly with them."
"I've got five females on my team, how much more danger is in it for them this mission?"
"As long as you keep it a diplomatic mission it might even serve an advantage since they can more freely speak with the local women. But once the mission becomes violent you need to get them out of there immediately. You simply do not want them there once the shit hits the fan."
"How about orbital support?"
"No joy, we don't have anything available and even if we would reroute a 306 it would still take a few days. This planet is on the other side of the galaxy, the safe side. We don't have that many ships there since the Dominion invaded." Cadman said. "Look if you want I can get five men from SG-12 to change with the five females of your unit."
"We'll have to take the risk; they might be able to mingle with the local females. Is there a possibility to take a subspace emergency beacon?"
"I insist on it. You can use armor piercing rounds for your side arms, you're gonna need it against the armor they will have. I want you to update all your subspace locater beacons and I want you to wear full body armor for this one." Cadman said.
"Is there any chance for me to come along? My knowledge might come in handy." Professor Klein said.
"Not a chance. Perhaps, after SG-4 has determined that it is safe enough to bring you in but we first need to know how save it is for us." Cadman said.
"Ma'am if there isn't anything else I want to return to my men to prepare them for this mission."
"Please do, you'll leave in four hours. I'll have a couple of jumpers on standby if you need them." Cadman said.
Four hours later the fourteen members of SG-4 were assembled in the gate room. They were talking among one another and checked their equipment. They all knew the danger of the assignment; especially if it all went wrong but accepted it as part of the job. The stargate started dialing and one by one the seven chevrons locked and engaged. Eventually the gate opened and the soldiers got in formation.
"SG-4, you're cleared to go through, good luck and be careful." Cadman said from the control room.
The CO, a Major turned around and gave her the thumbs up before stepping through the gate as the first one.
P33-222
A guard of about forty soldiers guarded the gate. As soon as SG-4 got through the gate a local leader approached them.
"Greetings travelers, I am Centurion Ramel of the Praetorian Guard."
"Thank you Centurion. I am Major Eisman from the lands named Earth. I come here to enter negotiations. These thirteen men and women are my close friends and under my command."
"Welcome to the lands of Rome, Major, is it some kind of military rank?"
"Yes it is, it can be compared to yours actually, though the number of men I command differs greatly at times."
"I see. May I inquire to the nature of the negotiations?"
"We were recently contacted by one of our allies that some of their warriors came here for various diplomatic reasons. For a reason unknown to us not all of them returned. We wish to find out what happened to them and perhaps return them to their lands peacefully."
"I think I know of whom you speak, their crimes are great and sentencing has already been past days ago. They proved to be valiant fighters in the arena."
"Are they still alive?"
"Some of them are. Those who survived the arena were sent to the mines." The Centurion proudly said.
"I wish to speak with the magistrate right away." Eisman said.
"You are quite insistent. Why do you care so much for those dogs? They and their entire race is a scourge, a scourge that enslaved us for centuries."
"They are our allies. And they didn't enslave you, parasites called the Goa'uld enslaved you, they merely used the Jaffa as their puppets." Eisman said. "Besides, for the moment the Jaffa have been very patient with your people. Their patience is running out and instead of going in themselves they asked us for help, not wanting to escalate things even more."
"Very well. I will escort you to the city, if the Magistrate will hear you is another case."
The next twenty minutes they walked to the impressive city. It clearly reminded them of scenes from movies set in the ancient roman times. They had left four soldiers at the gate to facilitate radio contact with earth through the stargate. They walked through the gates of the city walls and followed the centurion to the magistrate's residence. Along the way they were looked at with interest, apparently their armor and weaponry made quite an impression. Eventually they reached the magistrate's residence; they were not allowed to enter with weapons. Eisman and two other soldiers gave their weapons to the other soldiers, who remained outside. They went inside with the tributes they had taken.
For hours Major Eisman and the magistrate talked. They exchanged courtesies and Eisman delivered the tribute. Eisman told a very interested magistrate about the Tau'ri federation and what it stands for, its history, especially the roman part, and Eisman also told him about the Dominion war. It appeared that both men had two children, and they were all serving in the military, Eisman's boy and girl in the 1st marine division and 49th armored division respectively and the magistrate's two sons were serving in the Praetorian Guard.
After a while Eisman broached the sensitive topic of the Jaffa. Eisman tried to convince the magistrate of the change the Free Jaffa had gone through since they won their freedom. The magistrate countered with the brutal rule of the system lords and the two rebellions they had started since the fall of the system lords. Arguments were sent back and forth and eventually Eisman managed to get the Jaffa soldiers released and the bodies of the dead returned to the FJN as a gesture of good faith. With that and the promise to return the next morning, Eisman and the magistrate parted way. Eisman and his men escorted the Jaffa to the stargate from where they went back to Atlantis.
The next day they returned, progress was slow and by the end of the day they hadn't moved up much more. Eisman did however hear that the emperor himself was on his way to the city, to take charge of the negotiations himself. Eisman managed to secure safe passage for a diplomatic team from Atlantis to take over the negotiations.
Several days later the emperor arrived and so did the diplomatic team. They both drove a hard bargain and many concessions were made by the Tau'ri diplomats, despite the fact that the bill would be forwarded to the Free Jaffa. Eventually the emperor agreed to an evacuation of all Jaffa, over the duration of a year in return for numerous advances, mostly in agriculture, medicine, construction, mining, though not in military means, that would violate several treaties. Within two weeks the first engineer battalions would arrive to start schooling them in the new techniques and helping them set up things such as improved plumbing and new mining equipment. A lot of the transport would be done by the Free Jaffa, though they would never actively help them.
It seemed that after all which had happened this particular chapter was closed, with satisfying results on all sides.
War cabinet meeting
Situation room, White house
Washington DC, Earth
May 22
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm sorry to have called you earlier than expected, I know that the next meeting wasn't supposed to take place for another week, but Director Foley of the TFCIA claims to have credible information about imminent Dominion activity." Ryan said as he opened the meeting. "Director Foley, if you will."
"Yes, thank you Mister President." Foley said as he stood up and walked towards a presentation screen. "As you can seen from these scans made by the Tok'ra a Dominion scout force is moving towards the Cau system. This was eight hours ago. Three hours ago they arrived and attempted to move through the natural barriers in place. As expected the ships sustained heavy damage before they turned around and called for reinforcements. Ten minutes later a carrier group departed a nearby staging ground. We think that the Dominion are going to use fighters or unmanned drones to scout the barriers and find a way through."
"Will they find that way through?" Ryan asked.
"If they keep it up long enough they will most certainly find a way." Foley said.
"And what are the defenses there?"
"Sir." O'Neill said as he stood up, this was more his part. "We have eight MBDP's at the entrance and about a dozen more in the two systems. Considering the size of the entrance it should be more than enough, only destroyers and light cruisers will fit through and those are no match for our platforms."
"So what's the rush here? None of our bases are under immediate threat and I don't see any downside in the Dominion wasting a bunch of ships looking for a needle in a haystack."
"As long as Dominion ships are in that sector our wolfpacks need to exit hyperspace further away to evade detection and then go in cloaked, it will increase the travel time with several days and once the Dominion ships enter that tunnel to the Cau system we cannot get our ships in or out." O'Neill said.
"What are our options?" Ryan asked.
"Nothing really, all we can do is wait and see."
"Okay, so now that we're here, what else is going on in the galaxies?"
"Well, ever since the conclusion of the deal with the people of P33-222 we've been sending in engineering battalions. The second battalion has just arrived and the Free Jaffa have delivered their needed tools. We've also transferred two education companies to teach them new techniques and the likes." The secretary of state said.
"That's great; thank god the Jaffa didn't screw it all up but instead came to us to solve this." Robby Jackson, the chairman said.
"Amen to that." Ryan said.
"Sir, the medical research division has passed me a request to test body reconstruction nanites." O'Neill said.
"Okay? I didn't know the space forces did medical research these days." Ryan said.
"We don't, usually. But somehow General Sheppard got his hands on a report about the project and suggested we go one step further and use it to create a body to house Doctor Elizabeth Weir's conscious. As you know she's been afloat in a replicator body in the middle of space since somewhere in 2009."
"Not considering the security breach going on here." Ryan said before he was interrupted.
O'Neill coughed once: "McKay." And coughed again.
"What are the dangers here?" Ryan asked, ignoring O'Neill.
"Well, we all know how dangerous the replicators are." The SecDef said.
"True and I'll be the last person in the known galaxies to advocate the return of those little buggers." O'Neill said. "But we have been using nanite med packs in the field, and military hospitals have been using nanites in all kinds of procedures."
"And don't forget that we've been using nanites to gather resources and they're even involved in building our own warships." Admiral Jackson added.
"But this is a full body, made by nanites, with nanites remaining in the body." The SecDef said.
"No, the nanites will be removed after completion. The most dangerous part would be extracting the conscious from the old body without reactivating the replicator body and transmitting it into the new body." O'Neill corrected the SecDef.
"Okay, I'm leaning to allowing this, does anyone have anything else to bring in and try to change my mind?" Ryan asked.
"Replicators, especially as advanced as what we are talking about have always been dangerous and always will be dangerous, no matter what we'll do to make it safer for us." O'Neill said.
"General, are you trying to change my mind after advocating giving this a try?" Ryan asked.
"Just giving you all the info about it. My wife would kill me if I wouldn't."
"Does she know about this particular part?"
"Not specifically, but I did ask her what the risks were and what advances we've made since we destroyed the last replicators."
"What does she think?"
"It's something worth risking. If this test is successful, we might be able to transfer consciousnesses from people whose body is failing into new bodies. Though we do need to consider what happened to the Asgard."
"I understand." Ryan said. He thought about it for a moment. "Okay General, take any possible precaution and give it a try." Ryan said.
TFS Explorer
Aquarius Dwarf Galaxy
May 30
The TFS Explorer was one of the dozen or so exploration ships. It was a modified BC-304, one of the hanger bays was transformed into a living area, a science lab and several other more useful things that would be necessary on a mission of exploration. Because of the loss of the hanger bay the ship carried no 302's, but instead carried four jumpers with an ample supply of drones. The ship was also a bit larger, and the open space that was normally present on a 304 between the main body and the top deck was filled up. The Explorer had been in this galaxy for quite a while. The galaxy itself was located close to the Pegasus galaxy, but showed no signs of any kind of life ever being present, not even Wraith life. So far the Explorer had scouted about a quarter of the dwarf galaxy. This didn't mean it had visited every planet in that one quarter, but they had searched the most likely planets for live to develop and they had searched for signs of space travel. After all, the Tau'ri federation didn't need prehistorically allies, but space faring advanced allies.
Today they were searching a system that showed four planets within the goldilocks zone, the habitable zone. Within this galaxy habitable planets were hard to find. If this system did indeed contain four habitable planets it would be a prime candidate for any future colonization.
"Commander, no apparent signs of habituation found. No ships in the immediate vicinity found, the scopes are clear."
"Very well. Put us in an orbit over the nearest habitable planet. Start a detailed scan of subspace and hyperspace and look for any traces of space travel." The Commander said.
Within a few minutes early results were back. "Sir, we've detected a faint trace of hyperspace radiation, it seems recent."
"Anything else?"
"Yeah, right where the hyperspace radiation ends a strange type of radiation starts to form a trail."
"Can you map out all the particles, date them and determine a possible course and speed?"
"Yes sir." The bridge officer worked on her console and a map covered the main screen and it featured the planet they were orbiting and a dotted line showed the past positions and an arrow showed the current heading, and speed.
"Is it just me or is it about to come from behind the planet?"
"Yes sir, about thirty seconds or so. They will see us once they do."
"Why aren't our sensors detecting them already?"
"They might be cloaked."
"Let's do the same. Activate our cloaking system."
"Activating." Seconds later the ship cloaked itself.
"Holy shit, unknown contact straight ahead, 180.000 miles out and closing fast!"
"Activate defensive systems and switch to shields." The commander ordered.
"The other ship is coming back into our visible spectrum." A lieutenant reported.
It was immediately put on screen.
"Is that Wraith?" the bridge officer asked.
"Not anything I've ever seen before, but it does look like Wraith tech." the Commander said. "Arm weapons, but make sure the targeting systems remain in their current stance."
"Yes sir." The tactical officer said. "Shields are at full, rail guns and missiles are online, energy weapons powering, 70, 80, 90, 100 percent, fully loaded, armed and ready."
"Sir, sir I believe its slowing down. Yes, it is slowing down sir, at about 20.000 miles straight ahead." A rather nervous lieutenant reported.
"We've got an incoming video feed, the compression is a bit odd, but I think we can make it work."
"Put it on screen. Beware of any viruses trying to sneak in or anything."
"Already on it sir, the mainframe is up and running."
"Okay, put it on."
The screen changed into the face of a man. He looked odd, a mixture between human and Wraith.
"What is that? A Wraith with human features?" someone asked.
"More like a human with Wraith features." Another commented.
"Silent, all of you, we will find out what's the reason behind that later." The Commander said. He turned towards the screen and a camera focused on him. "This is Commander Archibald Forrest of the Tau'ri Federation Ship Explorer; I inquire to your identity and intentions."
"Ha! You inquire to my identity and intentions? What gives you the right to make such claims while you have powered your weapons, invaded our territory and are two buttons shy of opening fire on my ship?" The other commander replied. "But nevertheless, such transgressions can be overlooked. My name is Dirius, commander of the Ghost vessel Dreadnought. For a while now we've been tracking your ship as you drew closer to our territory. Our intentions, as you put it, are to maintain the neutrality of our territory, to seek out any threats to our society and thwart them. We shall not seek aggression and conflict, though we shall be prepared to respond in kind to anything you will throw at us. Does that satisfy your questions?" Dirius asked.
"Almost. Considering your appearance, I have one more question. What is your relation to the Wraith." Forrest asked.
"We were brothers of the Wraith, hence our appearance, though we don't share their need to feed. I assume you have met the Wraith and witnessed their destructiveness, it is why we fled them, and they tried to eliminate us." Dirius said. "This is a topic which will need further explaining, given that one is possible."
"If that is the case, please forgive me for the aggressiveness with which we approached you. We have fought a long, costly and deadly war against the wraith and one of their allies, the appearance of your ship and yourself made us wary and cautiously." Forrest apologized. "As the name of this ship suggests we are explorers, peaceful explorers. The matter of the fact is that we, along with a dozen other ships have been sent out to neighboring galaxies for exploration and to find new powerful allies, and as it is, a power, many times stronger and larger than the Wraith is invading our home galaxy. All our indications are that they will stop at nothing and have been conquering galaxies for many millions of years."
"Then why have you come here, all you do is lead this enemy here. You have put this entire galaxy in danger." Dirius said in terror as the reality started to dawn.
"No, we have not. We are among the first powers that are unified into a galactic alliance geared towards creating one political and military unity for our galaxy, we have had quite an advance warning of their coming and we have prepared. Nevertheless, losses are already high and will keep climbing tremendously as the more populated planets are just coming under attack. Even as it is, one of our closest ally's home system is about to come under siege and we've been evacuating nearly fifteen billion civilians while another six to nine billion are gathered on several planets that will be heavily defended."
"And what would you want from us?" Dirius asked.
"Whatever you have to offer to us. We could use any kind of help, from humanitarian aid to high tech military support."
"I suggest we meet in person."
"I agree, do you want to come over to my ship or do you want me to come over to yours?"
"I must admit I am quite intrigued by the design of your ship, I am willing to come over to your ship, commander."
"Very well, I will prepare a greeting party. Will you be coming over by personal transport?"
"Yes, I presume I can land in your single hanger bay?"
"Yes, it will be ready to receive your transport."
"Thank you, Dirius out."
The screen went static and was quickly changed to a view of the other vessel.
"Okay, let's roll out the red carpet." Forrest joked.
"Sir, we don't have a red carpet."
"I know, I was joking. Have a marine detachment prepare for an honor guard in the hanger bay."
About fifteen minutes later the commander and a marine honor guard stood at the ready as a transport set down inside the hanger bay. Commander Forrest searched for a hatch and thought he found one. He stood in front of it, waiting for I to open but was surprised when suddenly a rear hatch opened. He quickly made his way over there. Commander Dirius had exited his craft without any additional security or visible defenses. Forrest took a good long look at the Commander. He certainly reminded him of the Wraith, the strange nostrils, the face tattoos, the same type of skin, though lighter and also an impressive length of over six feet.
"Commander Dirius I presume?" Forrest said as he held out his hand, hoping he wouldn't be fed upon.
"You presume right. Commander Forrest?" Dirius asked as he took the hand, no feeding action going on fortunately.
"That's me. Welcome aboard the TFS Explorer, a modified 304 class battle cruiser." Forrest said as they shook hands while someone was using a small, flying drone to record the entire event.
Darius quickly noticed the drone and looked at it inquisitive. "May I ask what the purpose of this drone is? Is it a defensive weapon?"
"No, most certainly not, it's only 'weapon' is a camera to record this first contact as we like to call it, for others to watch."
"Quite some expectations you must have to record your first meeting with my race."
"Well, you never know what might happen on a first meeting. The least it will do is act as a teaching guide for future diplomats and commanders to prepare them for a first contact situation." Forrest said. "Shall we go to a more appropriate location to continue our talks?"
"Yes, that would be perfect."
Both of them, as well as a small security team made their way over to the commander's ward room. They entered and Dirius got his first real look at Tau'ri design. A large mahogany table dominated the room and a dozen comfortable chairs stood around it. The window showed the beautiful sight of one of the planets and a sofa stood in front of the window. On one of the walls several pieces of art showed ancient and more modern sea going vessels, some of which had been called Explorer as well. Another wall had a couple of large screens on it, one displaying overall information of the Explorer, the other giving a clear picture of the Ghost ship. The old purely functional interior had been replaced by a more luxurious design, these ships were supposed to be away from home for several years. The table had some cans of water and a few glasses and also some fruits from Earth, it caught Dirius' attention.
Dirius looked at the bowl of fruit inquisitive until he turned to Forrest. "May I?"
"Please go ahead." Forrest said. Dirius looked at all the different sorts of fruit before choosing one. "These are all from Earth, as fresh as can be when you're millions of light years from home. In fact we had these brought in about a week ago through the stargate."
"You have a stargate aboard your ship? We didn't detect it at all." Dirius said.
"Well, we have some additional shielding installed to it; we don't want anyone to get easy access to it."
"Ah, that solves some super weapon theories my people have about that section."
"Well, the stargate is a super weapon in its own right, wouldn't you agree?"
"True, I remember the war against the Ancients; we regularly used their own gates against themselves."
"Yeah, use your enemy's strength against him. We did that too to eliminate the Wraith."
"And which might that have been for the Wraith?"
"Their allies. We exterminated their allies whom were giving them the means to fight us and once they were out of the equation we simply had to mop them up."
"And what do you exactly mean by 'exterminated'?" Dirius asked. "Do you mean that you destroyed their military and political infrastructure? Destroyed their power to make war?"
"No, I mean complete and utter destruction, it wasn't our greatest moment, and we completely wasted their home world. Fact is, we ended that war and could start to focus on the Dominion. It also sent out a message to all other powers in the known galaxy that we weren't going to let other races kill other races without holding them to account for their actions. The Wraith together with their allies killed over a billion humans during the siege of Earth."
"Well, I honestly don't know what to say about that." Dirius said after a moment. "Let's start with what we are here for."
War cabinet meeting
Situation room, White house
Washington DC, Earth
June 14
"Ladies and Gentlemen, it appears that we have a small crisis developing on P22-333. Audrey, would you please fill us in." Ryan said.
Audrey Keller, the secretary of state, pressed a few buttons and several digital reports came to the screens around them. "Yesterday at about 9.50 PM four members of the 22nd educational company were reported missing. They had been in town to help out with a problem in the educational system. At 9 PM they called in and reported that they were leaving town and were on their way back. The trip from this town to their camp usually takes about fifteen minutes. When they were fifteen minutes late they were called on the radio but no answer was given. A search party was organized and they quickly found their radio and other equipment along the side of the road. To those first on site it seemed as if they were taken by surprise and at least one was injured due to the finding of blood. At this point a call was made to the central command post and a UAV was launched to find the missing members. The immediate area was heavily forested and hampered the search. When they tried to locate them via their locater beacons they could not be found. It is possible that they were taken into several nearby caves but this is yet unconfirmed."
"I assume that our troops went to search the caves?" Ryan said.
"Eh, yes sir and that is when it all turned pear shaped." General Maynard (Army) cut in.
"A local force came to the camp of the educational unit under the pretense of helping out. What they were there for however was to take them all into custody. They managed to get a call out to the other units, which since then have all fortified their positions awaiting further instructions."
"So if I get this correctly, they first asked our help, then somehow four of our people got abducted and now they are holding an entire educational company hostage while our other units are under siege." Ryan said.
"Yes sir."
"Any casualties?"
"Our last dial in reported over a dozen death on our side. Our deaths might be higher as the radio call we got from the 22nd did indicate they were taking casualties."
"Did we try talking to them?"
"The local commander tried that but nearly got a spear up his ass sir." Maynard said.
"What have we got in the area?"
"A 306 exited hyperspace just a few minutes ago." O'Neill said. As on cue his telephone rang. He picked up the phone and listened to the person on the other side. "Sir, I have the commander of the ship on the line, do you want me to patch him through?"
Ryan just nodded.
"Colonel Hadrians of the Louisville, you're on speaker with the president and the war cabinet."
"Colonel." Ryan started. "What can you tell us about the situation?"
"Sir, we've just received several critical wounded from ground based units as well as the bodies of the dead. Our preliminary sensor sweep shows that the hostages have been taken to some kind of prison complex near a theatre, we are counting 108 life signs which mean that twelve are missing. The four that had been missing from the start can still not be located but the other eight seem to be buried in a improvised grave near their camp." There was a little pause while the Colonel listened to someone else on board the ship. "Sir, it appears that the other four are located deep underground in some kind of building. We cannot be sure if they are alive but there are a lot of life signs around that cannot be identified."
"Anyone has an idea why they are there?" Ryan asked.
"Perhaps it's a trial?" someone suggested.
"Or a victory party or something." Someone else suggested.
"Colonel, can you beam them out?"
"Negative, they are too far underground and our sensors can't get an accurate enough fix with all the other people around." Hadrians said. "Sir, wait a minute. Sir four life signs just disappeared. It, it might be our people, their positions roughly match."
"You're saying four people just died?"
"It seems to be so."
"An execution."
"Alright." Ryan said. "I want options."
"Give diplomacy another shot." The Secretary of state said.
"We tried and failed. We've already lost a dozen people and probably just another four more. We need to act now before more people are hurt." O'Neill said.
"What can we do?" Ryan asked.
"We've got the biggest and strongest military in this galaxy; we can do anything we want to do." The SecDef said.
"Let me rephrase. What can we do that wouldn't make us the bully in this story?"
"We could beam our own troops out. Send in Special Forces to extract the prisoners, keep the weapons down to stun only. We could speed up the evacuation of the Jaffa by having them rally on the outskirts of the villages and beam them out from there. Those that live in free areas could be protected by orbital bombardments against forces attempting to cross a certain line; we could call it the Rubicon, to make it easier for them. In the end we need to evacuate the entire planet without killing all too many of their citizens and not lose too many Jaffa in the process." O'Neill said.
"Can you make a plan for that?" Ryan asked.
"Give me 24 hours and it'll be on your desk." O'Neill said.
"Alright, I'd say go, any of you have something to say about it?"
They all collectively shook their heads.
Gate room, Atlantis
August 14, 2024
The president and an entourage of him waited in front of the stargate. It wasn't every day the president received guests through the stargate, it was quite rare actually. But today was different; his guest was unable to come by ship, at least for now. His guest was a princess called Amarah and she was here to sign a trade alliance between the Tau'ri Federation and her people, known as the Ghost. Commander Forrest had put together quite a comprehensive report on the Ghost. They were an offshoot of the Wraith and basically were the scientists in the war. After the Ancients fled the Wraith turned on their gifted brothers and tried to exterminate them. It left them with only one option; take their ships to another galaxy, knowing that no common Wraith vessel could follow them.
The Ghost developed in peace which in turn pacified their population. Though their ships were powerful, they were not numerous. Their need to feed was long ago discarded as a weakness. Instead they used regular food at only the cost of slower regeneration. Their technology bordered on that of the ancients and only the combination of Asgard tech and human ingenuity coupled with the Ancient tech gave the Tau'ri the upper hand technology wise.
Nevertheless the Ghost had agreed to send their crown princess, the future queen to Earth to sign the treaty. Meanwhile a jumpgate was prepared so that travel from the Aquarius galaxy would become much easier and a small escort fleet for the princess could be brought in. it was planned that after the treaty was signed the princess would travel around the galaxy to initiate diplomatic relations. Most of the details had already been ironed out during the numerous meetings commander Forrest had with Ghost officials.
"Incoming wormhole." A tech said as the stargate started dialing. "Chevron one engaged."
A major in his dress uniform rushed his way up to the president. "Major Barclay reporting as ordered sir."
"Finally Major, I was starting to wonder where you were. You are supposed to give the princes her tour of the base first thing."
"Yes sir, sorry sir. General O'Neill wanted me to relay a message to you about operation 'Legion Gemina'." Barclay said.
"What is it?"
"It appears that a unit has crossed the line we established as Rubicon against the wishes of a majority in their senate. It appears that just as in the tails of Julius Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon, a Civil war has broken out."
"Are any Tau'ri or Jaffa lives at stake?"
"No sir, we had already evacuated all of our own people and all Jaffa within the republic had already been evacuated. So far the Rubicon is holding and the Free Jaffa are still evacuating the Jaffa there."
"Very well major, there's nothing we can do about that, it's their own fault. Let's focus on the task at hand." The president said as the seventh chevron locked.
"Chevron eight is locked and engaged." The typically large kawoosh formed and receded. "TFS Explorer IDC has been received and verified, shield is lowered."
An honor guard quickly assembled for the arrival of the princess. First through were a couple of Ghost soldiers. They were large enough to dwarf most Tau'ri and had their side arms holstered. They quickly looked around and stepped aside to allow the princess through. She surprised most, instead of the height of her escorts she was small, in comparison, and also looked a lot younger and more human. The honor guards saluted and the princes took notice of them and looked them up and down. She walked forwards to where Ryan and his entourage were waiting.
"Princes Amarah, it is a pleasure to welcome you to Atlantis, city of the Ancients." Ryan said as he shook her hand.
The prices looked around in marvel of the design and grandeur of the gate room. "It is my pleasure to finally set foot in this city and to meet you Mister President." As she looked around her eye fell on Major Barclay who stood a few feet behind the president.
It only took the president a moment to notice that the princes' gaze was focused on the Major. "This is Major Barclay; he is the commander of the TFMC's second defense battalion stationed on Atlantis. In a few moments he will give you a tour of the city after which you can retire to an apartment we've set up for you. The signing will be tomorrow morning."
"Thank you Mister President, I am looking forward to it." The princes said. She walked over to the major." I'll take that tour now please."
Major Barclay looked towards the president who gave him a nod. "Yes your majesty. If you'll please follow me."
The princess followed the major as they made their way to the sickbay in the control tower.
"This is the central tower's sickbay, once known as now General Sheppard's private infirmary. The story goes that every week or so then Major and Colonel Sheppard got injured to some degree on a mission or while working out in the gym. He spent so much time here that he barely had anything in his quarters that was of much value to him."
"This General Sheppard sounds like a reckless man."
"Well, I wouldn't say he's reckless per se. he did a lot of things, he was part of the main team fighting the Wraith and was heavily involved in training new members of the expedition in hand to hand combat which was to be expected when ambushed by the Wraith, he saved a lot of lives that way."
"And is it still used as an infirmary, there aren't any people around?"
"It is an auxiliary infirmary these days; we don't have any teams going through the stargate on a daily base. The medical facilities of the base are now located on the southern pier where we have a real hospital, equipped with the most advanced medical technology in the galaxy.
Eventually Princess Amarah and Major Barclay moved on. They visited a lot of impressive sights, including the gym where they got a firsthand look at how Sheppard got hurt so much in the past; Ronon was training some of his commando's. The princess got an impressive sight of the shipyards and other facilities just outside the main city and visited the 305 wharf where a number of 305's were in different stages of construction.
"So, Major Barclay, tell me about you." Amarah asked while they were watching construction on one of the 305's.
"What would you like to know?"
"Well, anything really, seeing all those medals and ribbons on your chest I'd say you are quite an experienced soldier."
"True, I've been in quite some conflicts. When I was seventeen years I had my parents sign a permission slip so that I could join the US Marine Corps, the predecessor of the Tau'ri Federation Marine Corps. I first did a tour as a sergeant in Iraq where the US was fighting a counter insurgency war. After a few years I was recommended to officer candidate school. In my last year of OCS, I was on leave with my sister in New York City when the Wraith laid Earth under siege. During the siege I was part of a USMC battalion defending the Manhattan area, by the end I received a field promotion to the rank of first lieutenant. After the Wraith fleet was destroyed I was part of a command that would storm an unknown island known as lingshan to free Wraith prisoners there. The assault was a massive disaster; we were ambushed from the start and had massive casualties. Nevertheless I pushed my troops forwards and took out three vital Wraith positions. I was later rewarded the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration possible, for my actions there. At the end of the Wraith's siege large pieces of debris struck the planet, killing my parents in upstate New York. Since my promotion I've been deployed several times, twice to the Pegasus galaxy to fight the Wraith and I've been part of eight invasions in the Aschen campaigns. In the end I had collected all these medals and my golden oak leaves."
"Golden Oak leaves?"
"Yes, it's the insignia for a Major in the Marine Corps, these things on my shoulder, they are modeled after the leaves of an Oak tree."
"So how about you?"
"Well, contrary to what most Tau'ri I've spoke to seem to think I wasn't born a royalty. In my society you are appointed as princes. Its more or less a selection of who would be the best queen. Every queen only serves for a hundred years at most. Due to our long lifespan it means that a queen only serves a small part of her life as queen. About twenty five years before a ruling queen is bound to step down a procedure begins where a new queen is selected. It takes about five years to select a new queen and the remaining 20 or so years the princes undergoes training and is prepared for her eventual duties."
"That sounds more like your professional life; I meant your personal life."
"There honestly isn't much history to me from before I became princes. I was selected at the age of fourteen, I'm 30 years now, and I'll be the queen of the Ghost in five years, no matter what. Both my parents were scientists. I have two sisters and a brother; two are in the military while the third owns a private business."
"Let's move on, there are many more feats you should see."
She of course visited the holoroom where she was introduced to the interactive hologram representing Atlantis' training program created by the ancients.
After the tour Barclay showed her to the mess hall where he had the cook set up an area for a more private dinner where the best of Tau'ri cuisine was displayed. After the diner Barclay showed the princes to her chambers in the diplomatic section of the city.
The next morning
0830
"Major Barclay? Major Barclay this is Sergeant Yeng in the control room, please come in." the voice of one Sergeant Yeng came in over the radio.
Major Barclay, not really amused on being interrupted while he was in bed with the princess, doing what people do in bed when in the presence of a rather beautiful lady.
As he reached for his radio he replied.
"This is Major Barclay, what do you need Sergeant?"
"Sir, General Landry requested your presence at the pre signing briefing. He also wishes to know the position of the princess; according to her guards she left her chambers last night."
"Please inform the General that I will be in his office in half an hour and that I will make sure that the princess is in her quarters by that time."
"Very well sir."
"That was close." Barclay said.
"You think she knows?"
"No, even if she did she probably wouldn't tell."
September 1, 2024
Colonial Presidential command bunker
Caprica city, Colony of Caprica, seat of the Colonial Government
The presidential bunker was located deep underground directly under the government complex. The main attraction was the Gods room, a place from where the President could rule the twelve colonies. Nowadays, there were only four, Caprica, Picon, Tauron and Gemenon. The other eight had been evacuated and less than a week ago Dominion battle groups invaded them. Instead of completely wasting the planets they cleared them out and put up a garrison force.
While they were doing this they had cautiously probed the Helios Alpha system, the last free Colonial system. The defenses around Helios Alpha had been placed in such a way that it created a bottleneck. If you'd look at the system as if the planets and the sun were floating in water, the 'underwater', the bottom was blockade by large minefields covered by long range weaponry. The asteroid belt was already close to impassable and it served as a perfect place to put most of the MBDP's because from there, they could cover the top or 'air' area. This also meant that most of the fleet was there to tie down the attacking forces. Once again the use of mines allowed for the creation of a bottleneck making the job much easier for the ships and limiting the amount of ships to field against the alliance fleet. Together with the combined Tau'ri-Colonial fleet, the Tau'ri operated Ancient Defenses on Caprica, the elaborate defenses of the Picon fleet HQ, the mine fields and the massive numbers of MBDP's, the system was the most fortified in the known galaxies, safe from the Sol system.
The Gods room was packed, beside the president and other senior cabinet members and the Colonial Joint Chiefs, dozens of Admirals and Generals were present. Most were colonial, but five Generals were part of the Tau'ri's 21st Army Group while seven Generals made up the commanding force of the Tau'ri fleet present. The more important one was, the closer one was to the holographic tables in the center of the room. From several other planets people attended by holographic avatar.
The holographic tables showed the situation as it was, a large fleet of blue, allied ships clustered together near the Picon fleet HQ anchorage and an even more massive red colored war fleet assembling between the Helios Alpha system, and the Helios Beta system.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Admirals and Generals, welcome. The invasion of the remnants of the twelve colonies is only hours away. The coming days, weeks, perhaps even years the future of the twelve colonies as we know it will be determined. We've got the largest ground army, coupled with the best equipment and Tau'ri help it will keep control of the planets. We've got massive shields to defend the cities most of our citizen are housed in, we've got major defensive lines that sometimes stretch for hundreds of miles, and not just one deep, but ten, sometimes even twelve lines deep. We've got so much weapons and supplies stored so that we could fight on for a hundred years and arm every able person in the twelve colonies and still have weapons and ammunition left."
"Admiral Negala, could you please run us through the plan one last time?" Roslin asked.
"Yes Madam President." Negala said as he stood up. "If everyone could please find a place from where he/she could see the tables I'll start."
People shuffled around a bit to get a better view.
"Alright, as we all probably know by now we've been ruining the Dominion scout parties into the system for the last few days. They have become more and more aggressive, both in size and speed. Now, within two hours we expect these ships to advance as a forced recon." Negala said as a group of ships was highlighted. "These will probably be the last scout group and we will do our best to make sure they will not send any kind of information back to the Dominion fleet."
Negala let it sank in a bit for the rest. "Once that's done we've got about an hour at most before the Dominion main attack starts. They will most likely send in two or three battle groups at a time trying to grind us down."
The table changed into an overview of the entire fleet in orbit. The battlestars, battleships and all other ships were ordered by group and type. In particular the five Aurora's were interesting. "The Tau'ri operated Aurora warships as well as the Caprica based Drone chair will not commence firing until the Dominion either threaten to break through our lines, surprise us though as so far unthought-of maneuver or send in one of their mother ships."
"Now, as I said, the Dominion will try to grind us down. So don't be surprised if they will keep sending ships for over two weeks, one wave every twenty minutes or so. It will be exhausting on you and your crew and you might even have to send your crew to battle stations at reduced. The current record is the Dominion siege of the once home world of the Ori; Celestis, which lasted for nine weeks. That means seven battle groups every thirty minutes for nine weeks. The casualties were enormous and a lot of the Dominion most experienced forces were decimated."
"At first we might be able to take out any damaged ships to repair them and then later return them to the line in order to take other damaged ships out and continue this. But eventually we will suffer too many losses and we will simply not be able to sustain this practice and we will need every ship on the line."
"Once Dominion landing craft have breached the perimeter and start to land forces on the surface the fleet will provide as much as possible firepower. As you all know all four planets have been heavily fortified, for instance Caprica, the most well known fortresses are located on the perimeter of Caprica city and Delhi. Though both cities lie over 200 kilometers away from each other, but nevertheless together they have a total of nine defensive lines while both cities have twelve individual defensive lines for their defense. Because of the city shield technology provided by the Tau'ri we are able to protect our most important cities from orbital bombardment."
Before Negala could continue a loud alarm started blaring. "Well, it seems that the Dominion once again won't play on our timeline. Let's all get to our assigned stations and I don't think we'll be seeing each other for a while. Dismissed."
Quickly most people were beamed away and only the civilian personnel as well as the joint chiefs remained, basically everyone who didn't have a field combat command.
In space, ships got in formation, fighters were launched and formed up with their squadrons and weapons and shields were brought up to full power.
Nearly an entire Dominion battle group approached the perimeter. As usual they spread out further than they should have and as soon as the flanks entered the minefields they were eliminated.
In response to the alliance launched fighters the Dominion launched theirs. They quickly came under sporadic attack by long range railgun fire from Picon Fleet HQ, the only station to have railguns with such a range. A dozen or so fighters were taken out.
As the Dominion force crawled closer more and more of their ships came under intense fire from the various defenses. Eventually they came under attack from the fleet itself. A short firefight finished off what remained of the Dominion fleet against no losses on the Alliance side.
Once the fleet was destroyed the alliance fleet retrieved its fighters and bombers and resupplied its forces. Already the Dominion were preparing to send in their main assault. Hundreds, if not thousands of ships formed up, and even now more and more Dominion ships were arriving, most notably the Dominion transport and ammunition ships.
The battle for the Colonies was on.
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