Thanks to Rudy Pena and just-a-crazy-man for the beta
school made me forget about this for nearly a week, so here it is.
Oval office, white house
February 8, 2025
"Gentlemen, welcome." Ryan said as the directors of the TFBI, TFCIA and TF Security Agency and Detective Pat O'Day, lead investigator of the December 12th assassinations, walked into the office. They all got seated and a secretary brought in a tray with coffee, tea and something to eat.
"So, Detective, I heard some rumors about the investigation almost being completed." Ryan started.
"Yes sir." O'Day replied.
"So tell me what I don't already know."
O'Day looked over at his immediate boss, Director Murray, who gave him a nod.
"Sir, I think we all know that the Dominion are behind this." O'Day said. He received a nod from the president. "We have finally been able to make all the links, get the suppliers of the weapons, transportation and other things the assassins used to infiltrate the alliance worlds and carry out the attacks. We know that the Dominion used a number of intermediaries, most of these were former Lucian Alliance mercenaries with enough connections and most were captured by the Dominion. They used their contacts to set up the separate attacks and were only told a target, and date. Most of the assassins used were from fringe worlds, either fighting for money or out of hatred against the alliance. This is one side of the network. The other side are insiders, people on our end working on giving the assassins access to their targets. We now know that all these insiders were recruited by personnel that were captured as well. They were brought back to our sides of the lines on April 12th, 2024, the Dominion attack at the Colonial evacuation fleet. We have finally been able to round all of them up and they will eventually be given a lengthy prison sentence, depending on the severity of their involvement."
"What is being done to prevent any of this from happening again?" Ryan asked.
"We've increased security, high clearance personnel will be scanned more often and numerous other measures. In addition we have compiled a list of persons, institutions, planets and nations somehow involved in organizing the attacks, as said most of these are fringe worlds doing the bidding of the Dominion. This list, with your approval, will be turned over to the military and TFCIA black ops division for punitive measures, so to say."
"And all those on the list cannot be brought to justice by our own justice system." Ryan concluded.
"Yes sir. It might be possible for an alliance ruling to get some sort of jurisdiction, but for this instance I wouldn't recommend it." The Director of the TFBI said.
"I agree, we need to send a message that any kind of attack on us or our allies won't be tolerated." Ryan said.
"Pat, I want you to turn that list over to JSOC, they can compile a list of actions to be taken. I want the galaxy to know what happens to those that conspire against us and our allies. Therefore, make sure there is no doubt on who is behind this." Ryan said. He already saw Director Foley of the TFCIA waiting for a moment to object. "Which is why the TFCIA won't get to do this job. If one of our covert agencies does this it might imply that we wish to keep it secret, or that we aren't that proud about the actions we have taken. The TFCIA, as well as any other agency will give their full corporation to JSOC, though that shouldn't be anything new."
All three directors nodded.
"Once the investigation is finished and a public report has been made ready, Detective O'Day can make the presentation to the press."
Before Ryan could give any additional instruction someone knocked on the door and entered. "Sir, you're needed in the situation room on Atlantis, something bad just happened on Tauron." A Secret Service agent reported.
"Thank you." He said to the agent. "Well, I've got to go, I think you all know what to do." Ryan said to his guests, they all nodded as they stood up. Once they were out of the room a number of Secret Service agents walked in and stood in a protective circle around the president, weapons drawn. Once the lead agent gave the word the president and his detail were beamed out to Atlantis. Once there he only had to walk a short bit before he reached the situation room.
As he walked in he saw a UAV feed projected on a screen, it showed what appeared to be a wide valley with numerous Dominion forces marching through, unopposed.
"What happened. He quickly demanded.
"The Dominion blew a hole in our defenses." O'Neill reported as he stood up.
"How much did we lose?"
"An entire battalion, no survivors yet."
"Why the hell was there only a battalion assigned to defend that valley! You'd need like a brigade to defend that place."
"Sir, twenty minutes ago, that wasn't a valley, but in fact a mountainous region with an average height of about 2500 meters." O'Neill said. "The Dominion used some sort of WMD to evaporate our battalion, a peak of 4500 meters and all ground and rock in a two mile radius."
"Shit." Was all Ryan could manage.
"We are sending in the 21st National Guard Army Corps, it contains two armored divisions and two mechanized divisions, they are the reserve forces on Tauron. With this hole in the line, the Dominion could potentially reach the city of Hypathia, cut off ninety thousand soldiers from their supply depots and be in a perfect position to cut our forces in two." General Moore, the Chief of staff for the Army said.
"Have you place one of the Rapid Reaction Forces on stand-by?"
"Yes sir, the 18th Rapid Reaction Corps has been placed on stand-by. They can depart from the Alpha site in hours and be ready for Corps sized operations within a day. The 12th MEU can be in Hypathia within four hours, once the orders are given."
"Will they be necessary?"
"Not as it is now, but if any other units get hit the same way we will need them. The 10th Mountain division is already preparing to fall back a couple of miles, this way they'll have more time to spot and intercept the Dominion WMD, assuming they can identify it. They are currently awaiting the results of the 21st corps before they'll take any such action."
Ryan just silently nodded. "How many?"
"Excuse me sir?"
"How many souls in that battalion."
"Approximately 850 men and women. We'll have a list ready in a couple of hours, we'll need to check if anyone was evacuated shortly before the blast."
19th armored division (NG) 'Black Cats'
140 kilometers north-east of Hypathia
3 miles south of waypoint Yuma
The Black Cats was one of the many National Guard divisions in service with the Tau'ri Federation's army. Since the Dominion's arrival numerous reserve units had been called to active duty. Ever since the unification of Earth into the Tau'ri federation the army had tried to merge all the reserve forces into one cohesive uniform force. But because of the very nature of reserve duty this had been hard to do. Most reservists had needed nearly half a year of continuous training to get up to speed with the most modern of weapons that they would employ in case of war. Eventually the reserves were split in the active, and inactive reserves. The active reserves were represented as the National Guard, state sponsored military units which could be used for state duties as well as for federation duty. The other part, the inactive reserves were those that would only receive training one week a year until they departed from the military altogether. Now, with the war in full swing, most of the National Guard had been called to active duty and had been trained and equipped just as well as any regular unit in the Federation army, and would be part of front line units as well. All that separated them from the regular units was experience and a bit of discipline.
"This is Buldog-6 to all bulldog units. Hostile forces have been spotted at two miles past phase line Yuma, once you have a visual you are cleared to engage and destroy any and all hostile targets." The Battalion commander announced over the radio. One by one the company commanders replied.
Lieutenant Wicks reported to his company commander that his platoon was ready for combat. He himself sat in the turret of the M1A5 Schwarzkopf tank. He raised the advanced binoculars to his eyes and scanned the horizon. Unfortunately they were in a long and low valley so he couldn't find the Dominion yet. In the far off distance he could hear the sound of the self-propelled artillery pieces of the division firing. He knew there were supposed to be helicopters and bombers flying in from all over Tauron to halt the Dominion advance and hopefully stop the gap. But so far he hadn't seen or heard any.
"This is Bulldog 2-6 to all Bulldog 2 units, increase speed to 55 KPH and let's clear this valley, once we've reached the high ground, slow down to 15 KPH while the rest of the battalion catches up." Wicks' company commander ordered.
Quickly the five companies, three armored, two mechanized, charged up the other side of the valley.
Lieutenant Wicks' tank was the first vehicle to reach the high ground and what he saw made him crack a smile. "This is Buldog 2-3, enemy spotted, we're engaging." He reported. Moments later his gunner reported he had a target for an anti-infantry round.
"Gunner, fire at will, loader activate autoloader and get up here to man the 7.62." Wicks himself activated the systems for the M2 .50 BMG.
The tank jumped up a bit as the first round left the barrel. It sped towards a cluster of dominion. At an altitude of about three meters the round exploded over the Dominion, it showered shrapnel everywhere downing nearly twenty Dominion and wounding many more.
Wicks used the advanced systems of the M2 to find and accurately target the enemy. Het let loose a few bursts, quickly followed by the loader next to him. Other tanks and vehicles also made it on to the high ground and joined in.
As usual, when dominion infantry meets Tau'ri armor it quickly turns into a one way slaughter. This time some Dominion actually managed to get some AT weapons set up, though few shields were disabled before any such weapons were blown to smithereens by Tau'ri armor and artillery. Eventually the battalion ran over about a division worth of Dominion forces. They advanced another ten clicks before halting and waiting for the rest of the division to catch up with them. About half an hour later they were ordered to advance again.
"This is Buldog-6 to all bulldog units. Advance to phase line gamma, 25 KPH."
"2-3 copies." Wicks replied. He looked up to see a flight of A-10D's pass overhead.
They drove on and listened in on the chatter from other units currently engaged. A couple of minutes later the A-10's returned, minus one while another was trailing smoke.
"There goes our air support." Wicks' loader said.
"Yep. I wonder if they'd hit something."
"Something did hit them, that's for sure."
Somewhere to their left a Schwarzkopf fired a round at an unknown target. Immediately everyone was on their guard again. Wicks scanned the horizon more intensely.
"Gunner, is thermal working?"
"Sorta, bodies are hard to see, but engines and fires are clear. You've got a target?"
"Yeah, check your eleven, at about 3800, I'm illuminating."
"I see what you mean, but I couldn't say for sure."
Suddenly out of nowhere the sun seemed to appear from behind the clouds brightly. As Wicks raised his arm to shield his eyes he faintly saw a blue-greenish mushroom cloud rising high above the units on his left flank. As he gasped in awe the shockwave passed them and violently shook the tank while all kinds of objects were thrown around. A heat wave followed and though the shields held most out he could feel it. All around him chunks of greenish blubber fell down to earth. Where the chunks landed they either exploded or remained. Once he saw a Bradley drive against one such blob, the blob immediately exploded, destroying the Bradley and showering the area with smaller blobs of blubber. Some just remained on the ground where they impacted, while others hit shields and in some cases destroyed the vehicles but in most cases depleted the shields.
"All units, avoid those plasma charges, they destroy anything!" Someone Wicks didn't recognize ordered over the wireless.
Momentarily chaos erupted over the channels as everyone reported something. To add to the confusion some units started firing into the distance. Wicks checked the horizon and to his horror a mass of soldiers and even a number of vehicles approached them.
"Gunner, Targets, twelve o'clock, fire at will, focus on vehicles first!"
Seconds later the tank jumped back as a sabot round was underway to a place of soon to be destruction. The return fire was sporadic, most Dominion vehicles could not bridge the distance. The Dominion artillery was able to hit the Tau'ri formations moving forwards.
"All Buldog Units, advance, advance, advance!" their CO ordered. All vehicles surged forwards at speeds nearing the hundred KP/H. Thirty seconds later a massive artillery bombardment hit their previous positions.
Unfortunately their rapid advance had brought them within a thousand meters of the Dominion lines. This brought them well into the range of Dominion weapons. The now more or less dispersed Tau'ri units were unable to quickly reform into something more cohesive and the amassed firepower of the Dominion brought down shield after shield. After a few minutes a few A-10D's came in and dropped bombs on the Dominion forces, but damage was only limited to small parts of the line.
Wicks was lucky in that he had managed to find cover in an old creek, most of his tank was covered from direct fire while only his turret was sticking out above the creek. Somewhere along the way his shields were depleted and for the first time since being mobilized he felt really threatened. Already two Bradleys had joined his position and had deployed their infantry. Most of the units that Wicks could see from his position were pinned down and unable to advance any further because the enemy was attacking in force. His own position was quite defendable, he had clear line of sights and the two bradleys were great at cutting down groups of infantry. He had his gunner target anything that the bradleys couldn't handle, which wasn't much. He himself was using his M2 .50 to target any cluster of Dominion infantry. He tried to stay as low as possible, numerous times, blasts passed by his position, sometimes barely missing him. He also checked the AIVIS (Advanced Intervehicular Information System) for the positions of the rest of the tanks under his command. Apparently, out of 4 tanks, including his own, only two were left combat worthy. One had been destroyed outright, its transponder having disappeared, the other having been taken out, it's crew killed when an artillery round fried them in their seats. From what else he could discover on the AIVIS display he surmised that nearly half the brigade had somehow been disabled. The hostile troops that were indicated in red were so numerous that he in fact didn't believe them.
Even now, frantic calls came in from every unit involved, either asking for orders, or giving them. Unfortunately, over half the commanding officers had perished already. Despite the massive force in front of them, most of the damage was done by the Dominion artillery. Normally the Fortress shields would force the Dominion artillery to approach the Tau'ri lines, which would make them susceptible to Tau'ri artillery. Now, the Dominion forces were operation far within the Tau'ri shields that were supposed to protect the entire region against the dominion.
Wicks tried to contact his CO but didn't get a response. Even when he tried the XO of the company he didn't get a reply. Eventually he tried something else. "This is Bulldog 2-3 to any command authority! Take down the Dominion artillery, we're getting slaughtered out here!"
To his surprise the reply came in quickly.
"Copy Bulldog 2-3, rounds are underway."
Seconds later the first rounds flew over soon followed by many more. Within minutes the Dominion artillery ceased fire. Whatever remained targeted the Tau'ri artillery, but not very effectively. After the first two or three minutes the Tau'ri artillery units moved to other firing positions just in case their positions were plotted by Dominion artillery radar units.
"BCT 2, prepare to collect your dead and wounded, BCT 4 will take over your positions and cover your withdrawal." Someone ordered over the brigade network. Once again, Wicks didn't recognize the voice, though he was sure it wasn't the brigade commander, nor the division commander or his XO.
About five minutes later a platoon of Bradley's, as well as two Schwarzkopfs joined his position and the highest commander told Wicks to gather his men and get back to the rally point, twenty-five kilometers back.
Fifteen minutes later most of the Dominion had been taken out or at least suppressed so that all the dead and wounded could be collected and evacuated before BCT 4 also retreated the full twenty- five kilometers, behind the protection of a defense line made up of BCT's 1 and 3.
Situation room, Atlantis
Ryan and the Joint chiefs were still watching the UAV feeds depicting the battle on Tauron. They had watched in horror as the entire advance had gone to hell and had listened to the desperate calls over the network. To them the situation was much cleared than to the commanders on the ground. The initial blow, the Dominion WMD had taken out both the corps commander, the division commander and the brigade commander instantly, basically decapitating the 2nd BCT and the 19th armored division. It had taken a personal call from General Maynard to direct every artillery tube and aircraft towards this particular battle.
Eventually the commander of the 4th BCT had pulled everyone together and had sent his brigade forwards to help the battered 2nd BCT in their retreat. For this he had earned a commendation and field promotion to Major General and command of the 19th Armored. Ryan had waited in horror as many soldiers were killed or evacuated to military hospitals. It would take a few hours before any definitive numbers of KIA/WIA/MIA were available.
Ryan looked at general Maynard. "Do it." He just said. He was referring to the deployment of the 18th Rapid Reaction Corps.
The general picked up a phone and gave the order. Within a few hours the 12th MEU would be on the planet and start with fortifying the area around the river running through the city of Hypathia. They would take care of the bridges and any shallow places in the river. Throughout the night, the rest of the 18th RRC would arrive, it consisted of 1st and 6th Airborne divisions, as well as the 11th airmobile division and the 14th Light infantry brigade. They would set up their defenses along the river to protect the supply lines while the 21st NG Corps would retreat and establish new defensive lines and help evacuate the civilians. Several other units would also have to retreat and establish new defenses. The 10th mountain would retreat as well. The city of Loutoufio would be evacuated, it would become the new frontline of the war.
TFS Charles Beckwith
February 18
Alros, Rim planets
The Charles Beckwith was one of twelve special made 306 class warships. They were designed to serve the TF joint special operations command and were all assigned to the 160th special Operations Aviation's Regiment 'Nightstalkers'. For instance, over a quarter of her insides had been gutted to make room for a landing bay, now, instead of two, it could hold eight space hawks, or twelve Colonial raptors, of course, a combination of both or other craft was also possible, but the space hawk and raptor were the most used by special forces. In addition the ships also had ancient cloaks and phase shifting technology at their disposal. For this specific mission its bay held six space hawks, four for transport, two as armed escorts.
The mission of the Beckwith was to deliver the ground assault unit for Operation Fantastic, part of the Galactic Counter Terrorism Campaign. The core of the GCTC was the response to the galaxy wide assassination wave last year. But other targets were also included, mostly states or groups that had been terrorizing alliance members for ages. On Alros, one of the rim planets, a dictator was helped into power by the Dominion, a small but capable resistance was supported by the Tau'ri. The dictator provided weapons and other materials that were used in the attack on the Alliance council. Several days ago eight teams of Delta sniper recon teams had arrived to scout out their latest mission, the dictator and his regime. For this purpose, the rebels had overrun the guards at the stargate so that the Delta teams could arrive. Now the sniper teams were located around the government complex that was supposed to hold a regime meeting.
The Beckwith had arrived in the morning so that the group had the entire day to prepare for the mission. At noon the Beckwith had landed and contact was made with the local rebels. The six space hawks were readied and supplies were delivered to the rebel forces. If the attack was successful the rebels would be in a prime position to take over control of the capital, and with that, the rest of the planet. The Beckwith had its own command center for special operations. Today a colonel was in command of the mission, he wasn't your average Tau'ri Colonel, for starters his hair was long and he didn't really wear a Tau'ri uniform. Nevertheless, he was one of the best in the business and his sight commanded respect from everyone who had ever heard his name.
"Colonel Dex, Team 2 reports that the tangoes have arrived at the target location, all are present." A lieutenant reported.
"Good. Launch the strike team, tell the snipers, show time approximately 19 minutes from now." Ronon Dex replied.
Each space hawk carried a force of sixteen soldiers, four delta, and twelve rangers. The delta units would enter the compound and capture or kill –their orders weren't particularly clear on that subject- the Alros dictatorial regime. The Rangers would secure the perimeter and aid the Delta operators wherever necessary. The two armed space hawks would first destroy the guard barracks on site and then proceed to support the ground units wherever necessary.
Almost twenty minutes later the space hawks were on final approach to their target. According to the sniper teams no one had raised an alarm so they went on as planned. As the first sniper team picked up the sounds of the ultra-silent space hawks, the order was given to take out all visible guards. They were actually so quick that no one was able to raise the alarm. This made for the very slight change in plans for the escorts not to take the barracks out but to remain in an over watch position, ready to take the barracks or any other threat out.
In the lead helicopter the four Delta operators did a last check of their weaponry and equipment. All four operators had the rank of sergeant-major. Once the helicopter touched down the lead operator jumped out immediately followed by the second operator. The third and fourth operators exited the helicopter at the other side. They immediately ran through the entrance where the guards were already dead. Meanwhile the rangers debarked and four of them made for a nearby guard building, they would kill the guards with grenades, it would only be a matter of minutes before they were discovered.
Inside the complex the lead operator, codenamed Dirt Diver led his team down hallway after hallway. He didn't have time to clear every single room they passed, another team was not far behind them and they would clear the rooms and watch their backs. Their own job was to overrun the regime's guards and basically kill everyone present. They knew where they had to be because the rebels had a number of spies inside the regime which provided invaluable intelligence. Their advance was nearly unhindered, they managed to kill anyone who got in their way. After about a minute of this they suddenly heard an explosion quickly followed by gunfire and more explosions. Seconds later one of the Rangers called in and reported that they had taken the barracks out and had secured the ground floor area for the moment.
Dirt Diver and the second operator, Cool Breeze hugged the left wall as they advanced while the other two operators, Betty Blue and Red Cap stayed close to the right wall. Once the explosions started security personnel tried to rush to the surface, every time the team encountered any personnel they took them out using their silence weapons. They didn't stop for anything except when they rounded a corner or exited a stairwell. After a minute or so they reached the hallway leading to the room where the dictator and his cronies were supposed to be holed up. They held up just outside the hallway and Dirt Diver used a small spy camera to take a peak around the corner. He saw only two guards guarding the doors. He used hand signals to tell his teammates what the plan was.
He used his fingers to do a countdown from three. Once he had reached one he charged forwards with Cool Breeze right behind him. Before the guards knew what was happening each had two holes in their chest and one in their head. The entire team now sprinted for the door. It was a race against the clock because there were security cameras outside so they would be detected in a matter of seconds. The first two operators took up position on either side of the door and were quickly joined by the other two operators, who had already prepared the breaching charges they would use to blow the door wide open. Red Cap and Betty Blue placed the explosives at the right points and took up position behind the other two operators.
Once again, Dirt Diver did a countdown, this time starting at five. At three, the charges detonated. At two a powerful variant of the flash bang was thrown in. at one the flash bang detonated and it was immediately followed by Dirt Diver.
Dirt Diver entered the room first, he immediately turned left. He saw his first target, a guard still dazed by the flash bang. A double tap took care of him as he ran along the wall for the corner. He took out another guard that stood in the way as well as two aides that happened to be standing. He reached the corner in about a second and a half. There he turned around into the room to take out any other targets that were in his area of responsibility. Cool Breeze did the exact same for the right side of the room. Betty Blue and Red Cap entered the room two seconds later and took out any targets they could find from their places at the door.
Once they were sure all the guards were dead they were joined by two other Delta Teams. Together they cuffed their new prisoners and after a minute or two, once they were sure none of them had any weapons on them they proceeded to escort the prisoners to the surface.
At the surface they got some bad news. One of the space hawks had hit a power cable and had crashed. It's crew was safe but the craft would never fly again. This created a problem because together with the sixteen snipers that they were supposed to take with them there simply wasn't enough room aboard the three remaining space hawks, and reinforcements were already underway from a nearby garrison, making it impossible to make two round trips.
"Metal 0-6, this is Dirt Diver, we've got the package and a number of additionals, but we've also lost one hawk and won't be able to take everyone with us. How do you want us to proceed?"
"Dirt Diver, this is Metal 0-6. You know your orders, bring your men home, that's the priority." The reply came back. To an outsider it was unclear what was meant, but for Dirt Diver it wasn't. his orders were to kill or capture the targets and the president himself had been very clear about it, if the targets were in fact killed, it didn't really matter how they were killed.
It wasn't really something Dirt Diver was happy with. True, he was paid to kill the enemies of the Federation and had done his fair share of killing unarmed soldiers, but never people with their hands tied behind their backs. He knew his team was listening in on the transmission and as he looked at them he knew they had accepted what they had to do. They had sixteen prisoners, some were merely aides but were nevertheless part of the regime. The four operators took out their side arms and proceeded to put a bullet in each head.
Once they were done Dirt Diver grabbed a pack of cards from a pocket of his vest and started throwing a card on every minister, he saved the ace for the dictator himself. These cards weren't normal playing cards but actually had the patch of Delta Force on the back. It was a sort of calling card, there to claim the kills and to make sure everyone would knew who had killed them. It was part of the GCTC, at every hit the units responsible would somehow leave a number of cards behind to show why the hit had taken place.
A few minutes later the last of the sniper/recon teams were aboard the Space Hawks, and together with their two escorts they made for the Beckwith. Two hours later, the Beckwith, with the five craft and all the soldiers aboard, fired up its engines and made orbit within minutes. There it entered hyperspace heading for Earth.
The following morning the Alros rebels attacked the capital, without their leadership the security forces surrendered after a few hours of intense fighting. For the next few weeks heavy fighting would occur at random places but eventually the rebels overthrew the government and installed a temporary leadership. They also contacted Earth to petition for protection against any Dominion reprisals and were quickly granted this. The Tau'ri Federation was glad that they had once again, gained another ally in a hard to manage area of the Galaxy, which would help with any further attacks in the region.
Flag Bridge, TFS Enterprise
Hyperspace, near Earth
March 1, 2025
"General Emerson, we're about to exit hyperspace near Lunar orbit." A lieutenant reported.
"Very well, once done send recognition codes to Atlantis and request permission to dock the Task Force."
"Yes sir."
Less than a minute later the Enterprise and her escorts exited hyperspace near the moon. Within five minutes the task force commenced landing procedures, the ships would have a few days in the yards to bang out some of the dents that couldn't be fixed while in space. Emerson, however didn't wait for the ship to land, he had an appointment to make. He had beamed over once the ships had received permission to dock
War room, Atlantis
Emerson wasn't the first to arrive. A number of other generals had already arrived. He knew most of them and had served with a number of them. They all stood around waiting for the show to start. Over time other generals arrived as well, though every general was at least a two star general, most were at least a three star general. Over three quarters were part of the space forces and held combat commands in the Milky Way galaxy. There were a few maps around and they all showed the same, Earth's interstellar neighborhood.
"Generals, the President of the Tau'ri Federation, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff." Someone announced. At once everyone stopped talking and came to attention as the president walked in closely followed by the Chiefs. Some other members of the war cabinet also followed not much later.
General Landry, the Commander in Chief for the Milky Way galaxy (CINCMW) stood next to the largest table, it was a holotable. "Mister President, Secretaries, Generals. Today I will specify the plan for the defense of Earth. In recent months rumors have leaked about the Alpha defense line. You all have some advanced knowledge about this, but today you will find out the complete plan for Earth's defense."
It got all the attention from those present. Landry activated the holotable. It showed the interstellar neighborhood. "Ladies and gentlemen. This is our neighborhood. We've got Earth, Epsilon Eridani, Alpha Centauri, 51 Pegasi, Tau Ceti and most important, the Alpha site. Despite that the media already knows the name, they haven't been able to make the connection between the Alpha defense line and the Alpha site. The Alpha site is directly between the Dominion main thrust and Earth, the last major planet between the Dominion and Earth."
"The Alpha defense line is made up of a number of fortified planets. These planets are the Alpha site, GJ 785, HD217107, HD 189733, GJ 777, Mu Arae and Tau Centauri in the outer regions and Procyon, Altair, 61 Virginis, Sirius, Denebola and GJ 1214 in the inner regions. Each planet, or system has its own defenses, mostly defense platforms and mine fields. This is in addition to other, planet specific, defenses. In addition, the fleet will be divided in two and spread between Alderamin and Zosma. When the ships are necessary to aid the defenses the ships will be dispatched from one of these two planets. Each planet has its own fighter and bomber force, and the Alpha site and GJ 1214 have their own drone chairs. The Aurora fleet, as well as the Enterprise, George Hammond and Prometheus Carrier battle groups, and the soon to be operational Henry Hayes, Arizona and Marshall Sumner Carrier battle groups will remain in reserve at Pollux."
"All other planets in the region will either be evacuated or be given fortress strength shields to protect their population. We expect that the Alpha site will be the first planet to be hit and that it will also remain the main focus of the Dominion advance. Eventually they will try to flank us which is when we will have to fight a sort of maneuver war, using the planets as strongholds for our defense. The supreme command for this sub-theater will be carried out from Atlantis, where a number of General officers will take shifts in order to always have someone ready to respond. Final command will be with me, in the field normal rules with regards to same-rank seniority."
"Since the start of the Colonial siege the Dominion have changed their tactics for advancing. Now, instead of moving on until they hit something hard, they make jumps. They advance a number of light years before holding for a few days. During this pause their scouts will recon the space ahead of them and other, slower units will get a chance to catch up as well to make sure their supplies are filled to the brim. Our tactic for the first engagement will be to draw them out and get them involved in a several day long battle. Once their advanced scouts get to the Alpha site they will only find part of its planetary defenses and a small fleet, seemingly having been caught off guard. The Dominion will call in a few battle groups to finish off this easy prey. Unfortunately for them, most of our defenses will be powered down, placed out of sight, or cloaked. Once those battle groups have arrived we will disclose another part of our defenses, making sure we constantly have the upper hand. Assuming the dominion do as the dominion always do they will send in extra forces to face the growing threat. We keep adding forces and keep pulling our damaged ships back for repairs and a recharge before sending them back in. It is my intention to keep the Aurora fleet and the drone chair as a last resort, or when a mother ship arrives." Landry said. The holotable kept up with him showing the numerous units and their intended actions.
"After this battle we think the dominion will keep a respectable distance to lick their wounds and return a few days later. In the meantime we will retreat most of our units as well so they can repair and be ready to counter a possible Dominion flanking action. If we find the space, time and resources we will carry out hit and run attacks on vulnerable positions. In addition, the Free Jaffa have offered to take over more of our obligations elsewhere and the Asgard have indicated that a cataclysmic battle may be imminent in their galaxy. If this battle goes our way we may very well receive reinforcements from the Asgard galaxy as well."
"Finally, we estimate that the Dominion spearhead will reach the Alpha site somewhere in July. In the meantime we will reduce all our attacks on their advance to give them a feeling of safety. Most of the planets between the current Dominion lines and the Alpha site have already been evacuated so we won't have to fight any delaying actions. In the meantime all ships that are assigned to Earth's defense will take turns at a shipyard getting up to the latest standards, for most it will be small stuff so it's nothing to be worried about."
"Does anyone have any questions?"
"Yes." An army general said. "What's the plan for ground combat. I know that Earth has a planet wide shield, but the moon does not, nor do any of the other planets as far as I know."
"True, but all population centers have city wide shields and a defense force. This force should be able to deal with any Dominion attack for a short period of time and can easily be reinforced through the stargate. If the fleet won't be able to regain orbital dominance relatively quick we do have the ability to evacuate through the stargate. In the case of Atlantis such an evacuation would be impossible because we would give up our shipyards. Therefore we have fortified the city and shipyards and constructed additional defenses. We have a force of about 250,000 marines and soldiers, in addition to the normal defense units, ready to defend the city at all costs."
"General Landry, my apologies for interrupting." General Ellison ( Chief of the Space Forces) said. "We have just received a priority message from the Asgard."
"What does it say general?" Ryan asked.
"They request immediate help in the form of fleet support. That cataclysmic battle General Landry just informed us of just started and the Dominion have deployed a large number of smaller craft capable of eluding most weapons fire from the Asgard warships. As you know this is the one weakness for the Asgard and its why we have deployed a large number of 304 and 306 class warships in their support. Unfortunately the Asgard fleet has been caught off guard and our units were unable to join up with the Asgard fleet."
"What are they asking for?" O'Neill asked.
"Mostly carrier support, if possible a squadron of battleships, but their O'Neill II's are quite capable in ship to ship combat."
"Alright, which carrier do we have available? I assume we are going to come to their aid." O'Neill said.
"Sir, They asked for all three CBG's (Carrier Battle Group)." Ellison said. This raised some eyebrows, it wasn't like the Asgard to ask for so much assistance, especially when Earth needs it fleet so much as it does now.
"How long do we have to make a decision?"
"The faster the better sir." Ellison said.
"Alright, two minutes for pro's and con's, in the meantime I want to order sent out for all three CBG's and two battleship squadrons and escorts to prepare for immediate deployment through the Titan jump gates." Ryan said. Immediately several lower ranking personnel that operated the systems in the war room, sent the orders to the relevant units.
"We'll need them in three months, if we lose a carrier we lose part of our firepower." A general suggested.
"But if we destroy the Dominion fleet in the Asgard galaxy we open the way for them to support us and we know how strong their O'Neill II's are."
"Even if we lose a carrier? We only have three of them. Consider the impact on the morale of the soldiers if we were to lose a carrier three months before the battle for Earth. And even if we are successful, what is to guarantee us that the Asgard will dedicate forces to our defense, their track record isn't exactly perfect on that issue."
"You and I both know that the Asgard have always done their best to help us. Those times you refer to were during the replicator wars, we never knew how busy the Asgard fleet was, never mind how large. But during the Wraith siege they were there, in force. Same for the second colonial war and during the punitive campaign against the Vanir and Wraith in the Pegasus galaxy." O'Neill struck out.
"Thank you gentlemen, I have one last question, what's the chance of getting our ships back in time?" Ryan asked.
"The Asgard have their own jump gates, and our carriers and battleships each carry two jump gates, just in case. If a jump gate for some reason wouldn't work it would take the carriers, drone carriers and battleships only two weeks to get back home anyways."
"Okay, General Ellison, deploy the carriers and two battleship squadrons, as well as their respective escort units."
"Yes sir." Ellison said as she pushed a few buttons. "Generals, you have your orders." She said to several generals present, they immediately left for the transporters, they had a flight to catch.
Flag bridge, TFS Enterprise
Emerson arrived at the Enterprise's flag bridge in no-time. The crew was rushing to battle stations. The holotable displayed an organized chaos. Ships from all piers and yards at Atlantis and in orbit were rushing for the moon orbiting Jupiter. The Enterprise had been on final approach when the order came in to prepare for immediate deployment so they had aborted their approach and returned to orbit.
"What's the status of the CBG?" Emerson asked as he spotted his XO.
"The Independence and Freedom are on our tails, the rest is less than a minute behind." The XO said. "We also received a message from General Ellison, you will be in command of all units sent to the Asgard."
"Thank you Colonel. Have the Freedom and Independence been able to top off their drone supplies?"
"98 percent full." The XO said after he checked the reports. "Sir what is going on? All I was told is that the Asgard needed our help ASAP and that we should prepare immediately."
"The Dominion seem to have launched an all-out offensive against the Asgard fleet. Unfortunately our forces assigned to the Asgard fleet were out of position and are now unable to provide proper aid in anti-fighter support. As a result the Asgard fleet is outmatched and has requested us for carrier support. The President has decided to deploy all three CBG's and two battleships squadrons."
"Okay, We'll arrive at Titan in about two minutes, do you want us to jump straight away or first form up with the rest of the group?"
"No, we'll jump immediately, deploy all fighters once we've jumped and once the Independence and Freedom have jumped they are to take up covering position between us and the Dominion fleet."
The XO acknowledged and the Enterprise prepared herself for battle. The ship quickly approached one of Titan's jumpgates. Other ships were already making room for the warfleet heading for the gates. The Titan Jump station held nine jumpgates, all connected to a single station which housed the numerous ZPM's required to operate the gates. Despite its size, it wasn't the main base for intergalactic jumps, only when time was an issue it would be used for such jumps. Any planned jumps to either the Pegasus Galaxy, the Asgard galaxy, Midway station, Destiny or any other destination outside the milky way galaxy were performed at the Halo station, near the Galactic core, where it was tied into a black hole for unlimited power.
Once the Enterprise reached the station a short conversation with the station's operators made sure that the coordinates were correct. While this happened the Enterprise came to a halt inside the jump gate which had already powered up. Once done the Enterprise jumped to the Asgard galaxy.
Asgard Fimbulvetr system
The Fimbulvetr system was one of cultural and historical importance. Many of the old Asgard believed that if the system were to fall into enemy hands the fate of the Asgard race would be sealed. Already during the replicator wars the system was fought over multiple times. Every time the Asgard had somehow been able to repel the replicator advance. Because of this the Asgard believed the system to be vital to their survival. Therefore, once the Asgard high command had received word that a massive Dominion fleet was underway to the system it had deployed all its available forces to its defense. Unfortunately, when the order was given the Asgard made an unusual mistake. Instead of using its official coordinates as used by all the alliance members they used the planet's historic name and when the Tau'ri general in charge had seen this, he assumed it to be some kind of code for the planet in question. After a minute the database had miraculously cracked the 'code' and most of the Tau'ri fleet made best speed for the wrong planet.
Once the Enterprise arrived they encountered pure destruction. Over a dozen O'Neill class warships were already destroyed, and their remains floating in space. Dozens more ships were also destroyed, mostly Dominion, but also some of the smaller Asgard classes. The Enterprise was the first to arrive. First thing they did was launch their fighters and drone fighters. The vipers and 302's would clear the Asgard formations of Dominion fighters and bombers while the drone fighters would make for the Dominion warships to start harassing them. Once all craft were launched the Enterprise turned away from the battle and moved out of range from the Dominion warships. Eventually she found a safe place behind a cluster of Cylon baseships, bombarding the Dominion forces from a distance.
Despite the fact that the Cylons were exiled and mostly disarmed they had been allowed to rearm once it became clear that the Asgard would have to fight again. Nevertheless, they were under strict supervision of the Asgard to prevent them from turning on the alliance.
Seconds after the arrival of the Enterprise the Freedom and Independence arrived. They too moved back in order to avoid Dominion weapons fire while launching their own weapons from a distance. The other escorts of the carrier took up position near several Asgard warships to free them up for fighting against the larger Dominion warships. Within minutes the George Hammond and Prometheus carrier battle groups arrived and they followed the same routine as the Enterprise did. The fighters were launched, mostly against the Dominion warfleet and the carriers took cover in the rear. At the same time, the two battleship squadrons arrived, they totaled nine battleships and because of the surprise effect were able to flank the Dominion warfleet and did considerable damage before they were forced to either return to the Asgard lines or be surrounded and separated by Dominion battle cruisers.
A hologram of an Asgard suddenly appeared on the flag bridge, it wasn't the old style Asgard nor was it human like, it was something in between, still as thin, but a lot taller and their hands now sported a small fifth finger, not quite developed into something useful, but it had some potential. It had been a while for Emerson to have seen an Asgard so he didn't recognize this one even though Asgard did not look alike anymore, their bodies had become more personal.
"General Emerson, I am Supreme Commander Thor, thank you for your timely arrival, it is most certainly needed." The Asgard said as he made a slight bow and blinked his eyes.
"Supreme Commander Thor, thank you, I've been place in command of the Tau'ri fleet elements here, do you have any specific requests?"
"Not at the moment, just keep on fighting, together we may destroy this fleet."
"No doubt about it. Any sign of a Dominion mothership?"
"There is only one available in this galaxy, the Tau'ri and Colonial fleets have been very good at keeping those away from our galaxy."
"That's for sure, it has cost us though, let's just hope that our combined fire can take it down quicker than we did at the Colonies, they really took their toll back then."
The hologram looked to the side for a second and said something in Asgard. "It appears that it is inbound, it will arrive within two minutes."
"Then we must prepare for it." Emerson said. He turned to someone beside him. "Have Gold flight return to the carrier and receive their mother ship killer load-out." The four crews of Gold Flight were part of less than 200 crews experienced enough to be trusted to take down a mother ship with specialized nuclear packages and to fly the aircraft used for it. "Supreme ommander, your battleships should take up position behind the entry point of the Dominion mother ship, it is lacking weapons there, and if we could take out their engines its stranded here, even if we fail it's still neutralized as a threat to the rest of the galaxy. My ships will be required to aid Gold Flight in their attack run."
"I shall trust your judgment General Emerson."
The Asgard warships did not immediately move into their new positions. This was partly because of the damage done to some of the ships, but also because some Asgard did not have faith in the Tau'ri General and had to be convinced by Thor.
Minutes later most ships were in position. Four had lagged behind for no apparent reason. They were too late. The massive hyperspace window generated by the mother ship formed ahead of them. Three impacted the horizon and disappeared, not a trace left. The fourth was hit by the mother ship as it exited hyperspace. The ship exploded in a giant fireball, doing considerable damage to the mother ship. Asgard and Tau'ri warships alike opened fire at will, even while they were still under considerable fire from the other Dominion fleet units. The hyperspace window tried to close but experienced trouble doing this. Blue blots of what looked like lightning sped out to the mother ship, tearing into its aft sections, doing massive damage.
The mother ship seemed out of control. It didn't complete its deceleration and quickly outran Tau'ri and Asgard units and left the battle behind it trailing debris and taking the incidental hit. It made straight for the planet without showing any sign of maneuvering away or decelerating.
On the flag bridge the crew was stunned as screens around them flashed warnings of impending disaster on the planet below. Emerson quickly sought contact with Thor. "Thor, how many people do you have down there?" he didn't wait for an answer and told his second in command to start beaming out anyone who was near the calculated impact zone and whom they could get a lock on.
"Nearly twenty six thousand in the projected impact zone and another seventy thousand spread out across the planet. There won't be enough room on our ships to house all of them." Thor stated.
"Emerson turned to one of his lieutenants, "How much drones do our drone carriers have left?"
The answer came back quickly, "An average of 45% sir."
"Thor, we may be able to fit a lot more people aboard our drone carriers, the orders for them to aid in the evacuation will go out momentarily."
"The Asgard council would be very grateful."
It was only a matter of minutes before the mother ship would drone carriers came closer to the planet to speed up the evacuation. The Asgard were being beamed into the empty holds of the large ships. There wasn't much to see for them, only the empty racks that once held drones. At first they were disoriented, but soon enough Tau'ri personnel came in to inform the evacuees of their situation. By the time the mother ship entered the atmosphere most Asgard within the direct impact zone had been evacuated.
With its massive size and high speed the mother ship didn't even slow down on its way through the atmosphere. The impact was unlike any ever seen. It shook entire tectonic plates and slammed one against another. Mountains were formed and destroyed in a matter of seconds, deep trenches appeared where plates moved away from the other and lava spewed out of the trenches. It didn't take so long for the mother ship to plow deep enough into the planet before whatever remained of the outer hull started melting. Soon enough the outer hull was fracturing and its inner hull was melting as well. Once the inner hull was failing, the intense heat of the planet's core ripped into the gut of the mother ship, until it reached the core of the ship.
From space it seemed as if a star was born within the planet. Through every hole that was created in the planet's crust a bright white light came up and blinded everyone who looked at it with the naked eye. The planet scattered and debris was spread far and wide. More importantly, a wave of plasma along with debris approached the two fleets dong battle in orbit.
"Lieutenant, can we survive that?" Emerson asked someone.
"We can, yes." He said after some hesitation.
"Have all ships that cannot survive that jump out now and recall all fighters immediately. Copy to the Asgard."
Quickly numerous warships turned away from the battle and entered hyperspace while fighters broke off contact and attempted to return to their carriers before they would be fried by the coming storm. The Dominion fleet had been a bit slower in turning around and jumping to hyperspace. Nearly half the Dominion fleet winked out of existence as they were consumed by the dying planet. Unfortunately several Tau'ri and Asgard warships were also destroyed. Also, nearly thirty percent of the fighter and drone fighter force was destroyed and numerous pilots got hit by dangerous amounts of radiation.
The only ships capable of withstanding the storm were the battleships, carriers and drone carriers as well as O'Neill II class ships. Even so, several ships suffered damage to their hulls as shields neared failing point.
After a minute or so most of the storm had passed, though several large chunks of planet were still flying around at high speed.
"Status report." Emerson ordered.
"Enterprise and Hammond are fine. All drone carriers report light thermal damage to the outer hull, nothing bad. The Prometheus is reporting some damage to its outer hull, they had a localized shield failure, which was quickly covered by backup shield generators. Asgard vessels and battleships report some hull damage, none destroyed or severely damaged. We've lost three battle cruisers and two LCS' to the storm, and another four battle cruisers to the battle itself."
"Show me the Prometheus." Emerson said as he pointed to the main screen. "Any human casualties?" the Prometheus appeared on screen, it quickly zoomed in to the part of the hull that stated its hull number, name and the CBG's motto. Now, only it's motto, Wings of Freedom, was visible.
"Prometheus reports none killed by the storm. We haven't received word from the ships sent away, but an early count estimates nearly 2200 killed, including the crews of the lost battle cruisers and LCS', due to damage aboard other ships and among the pilots."
"Okay, how many Asgard did we safe?"
"We've got about 55,000 aboard. The Asgard are sending us coordinates on where to drop them off."
"Good." The ship suddenly started to tremble and it felt as if the ship dived down steeply. The screen changed to an outside view and it showed a massive part of the planet on a direct course to the ship, it had started to evade it. Normally the steep dive shouldn't be felt because the inertial dampeners would cancel it out, but someone had decided to transfer power from the inertial dampeners to the shields, in case the evasion wasn't successful.
"How about we put some distance between us and this debris field before we get the hell out of here."
"Yes sir." Some lieutenant said.
Seconds later the Tau'ri fleet maneuvered away from the destroyed planet and the Asgard fleet soon followed. Less than an hour later the entire fleet was back at the Asgard home planet and the rescued Asgard were being off loaded and a list of casualties and damage was made up.
A day later the Tau'ri fleet left for home, this time with some friends, eight O'Neill II class warships accompanied the fleet and were to be the first of a number of groups sent to Earth to aid in its defense.
Hypathia, Tauron
March 3
Since the Dominion advance over four weeks ago, the Tau'ri and Colonial forces had been in constant battle with the Dominion forces. At first, they were able to hold them off at the western bank of the river. After a week of constant battle, all civilians had been evacuated to the eastern side of the city. Meanwhile, engineers, together with civilians, had been building trenches and defensive positions all along the eastern bank of the river and further into the city. Of the original 1.7 million inhabitants, over 1.1 million still remained in the city. The city itself was under sporadic artillery fire from Dominion batteries across the river. Most of the buildings in downtown Hypathia had received some sort of damage, though very few had collapsed because of the artillery fire. However, several buildings were in danger of falling over and were destroyed by engineer units.
Overhead the Tau'ri and Colonial pilots battled daily against the Dominion fighter wings. Meanwhile friendly artillery was pounding Dominion troops everywhere they were discovered. Only a few pockets of resistance remained on the other side of the river and most would be destroyed in a matter of hours, a day at most. One of these pockets was a company of colonial marines cut off at an old metro station. They had been evacuating civilians from the bunkers and collection center located at the metro station when they were cut off by rapidly advancing Dominion forces. Eventually they had managed to evacuate the civilians using trucks driving through the old metro tunnels to the other side of the river, but along the way their defensive position was cut in two and a platoon was cut off a couple hundred feet from the entrance to the metro station.
For over an hour, friendly artillery had been pounding the perimeter in the hope of clearing it of Dominion so that the platoon could evacuate to the metro station. It didn't help. The Dominion kept up the pressure and the platoon could not evacuate their position. Time was of the essence, Dominion artillery was almost done clearing out other pockets and it wouldn't be long before they changed their fire to the metro station and collapse it in on the defenders. two dozen strykers were currently in the tunnels waiting for the marines to mount up for evacuation. The local commander however, refused to leave until either the cut off platoon was rescued, or destroyed.
"Sir." A marine said as he stopped near the CO, a captain.
"What is it son?" the Captain asked as his attention was diverted to the marine.
"Sir, I grew up a couple blocks away from here."
"I'm sorry to hear that, your family make it out alive?"
"Yes sir, but that wasn't what I was talking about."
"Well spill it already!"
"Sir, that metro line runs all the way to Colossus street, and it passes straight underneath the school where third platoon is housing in."
"Are you sure?" the Captain asked as he got what the marine was trying to tell him.
"Yes sir, every time a metro passed the windows would shake, up to the day that line was closed. There was a ventilation shaft in the courtyard."
"Excellent son." The captain said as he yelled to a lieutenant to get over to him. "Listen to this marine, take a squad and get our guys out."
The lieutenant quickly complied and a minute later six strykers moved into one of the tunnels to evacuate the platoon.
Inside the tunnel the strykers were moving in single file. Once they reached the shaft they radioed the platoon to come down. Immediately they started rappelling down. Half way through the Dominion caught up and entered the tunnel at the next station. They made their way down the tunnel and were greeted by the mounted mk. 19 which was sending grenades down the tunnel. Meanwhile the rearmost vehicle was the first to be loaded and had could return to the station, it had to reverse all the way because it was too narrow to turn around. The vehicle turned around at the station and entered one of the other tunnels back to friendly lines.
Inside the tunnel a heavy firefight had broken out as Dominion forces attempted to advance on the strykers. They were held back by the firepower put out by the strykers but one by one the strykers were filled and retreated to the station. Meanwhile the troops at the station also embarked their strykers for an evac.
As the last of the soldiers from the cut off platoon made it to the strykers, the two remaining strykers started backing up. The most forward one exploded as it was hit by a large caliber plasma weapon. The other stryker didn't have the chance to stop and search for survivors. Once they reached the station they turned around and chased after the rear lights of the other strykers, everyone else had already left the station. Minutes later a massive artillery strike landed atop the metro station, it destroyed everything and just to be sure the engineers blew a hole in the ceiling of the tunnels that ran under the river, flooding them with water.
The battle for West Hypathia was over, had the allies lost? Perhaps, but once again they never meant to hold the city and were able to evacuate most of the civilians and most troops could make an orderly withdrawal to the eastern side of the city. One thing was sure, the Battle for East Hypathia would be bigger, nastier and deadlier, and would be one of the most important battles on Tauron since the second Colonial-Cylon war.
Okay, that's it for now. i'll be uploading a new story in a few days, its a spin-off to the alliance wars.