The Alliance Wars

by vliegenvanger

this is a general continuation of BSG 16, Under Siege and TFS Ticonderoga. I have changed several other things. although this story is categorized as crossover, it will mainly deal with the SG side and a bit of BSG. now includes the Ori

18. Chapter 17

The next chapter, it took a bit longer than I had hoped, but it's also longer than I expected.

Thanks to Rudy Pena and just-a-crazy-man for the beta.

Enjoy!

Midway station

2200 hours March 10

He stood looking out of the same window as he did regularly. This time he wasn't looking at the piers that usually held a number of warships. Though some were still present, most of his heavy hitters were out; all 305's were deployed, as were all but one of his 304's. The only ships left were a trio of 306's and a bunch of traveler ships. Of course, there was the massive Ancient space station tethered to the midway station, but it was at the edge of his view. He was looking for something else, or rather, waiting for something else.

It was as much a surprise to him as it was to the rest of the universe when he got a flash message from Earth telling him of a 100 day cease fire with the Dominion. To him this was good news. In recent days the TFS Bellerophon and her task force had been gaining more and more intelligence on the resurfaced replicator threat in his galaxy.

Without warning they arrived. Led by the Enterprise and quickly followed by the George Hammond and Prometheus and their escorts. Also arriving were two full squadrons of battleships, nearly a dozen battle cruisers, and several 306's and as a finish the five Aurora's from General Ellis' advanced battle group. No doubt some of General Ellis' stealth- ships were already en-route to the Pegasus galaxy. These ships were 306 class ships and had advanced equipment, cloaks, phase shifting technology, some drone launchers, Atlantis grade sensors and some more.

The 306 class was originally called a space-based Littoral Combat Ship supposedly being a light frigate for work near the coast. But the LCS had developed into a much more versatile craft. Nowadays it was a scout ship, a patrol vessel, it aided Special Forces infiltrating hostile planets, and it worked as a submarine in space, raiding Dominion supply routes working in wolf packs.

The silence was pierced when the intercom activated and the officer of the watch reported in. "General Sheppard, the reinforcements from earth have arrived, General Emerson is requesting permission to beam to the station."

"Denied." Sheppard said after a moment. "Beam me over to the Enterprise, I'll be out of the office for a while, you can reach me there."

"Yes sir." Moments later Sheppard was beamed over to the Enterprise.

Flag Bridge, TFS Enterprise

"General Sheppard." Emerson said as Sheppard materialized on the flag bridge of the Enterprise. He had just been told his request for transfer to the Midway station had been denied. "You in a rush?"

"General Emerson." Sheppard said. "Yes I am." He walked to Emerson and they shook hands. "Just minutes ago we got news from the Bellerophon, they got some good intel from that ship we captured, mostly navigational logs and stuff, and they just decoded it. We're going to meet up with the Bellerophon and her task force at Asuras, or what's left of the planet anyways."

"Fine by me. What kind of intel if I may ask?"

"That ship had been making some stops at Athos, it appears that the ancient city ruins there contain something of worth to them, we don't know what, but we do know they've got about a dozen ships there, so we'll go in fast and hard."

"Jumpgates?" Emerson asked, referring to the jumpgates that were part of the midway station.

"Yeah, get it going, everything you brought."

"On it." Emerson said. His officers had been listening in and went to work quietly. Within minutes the fleet was ready to jump to Asuras.

"Are you gonna come with us?" Emerson asked Sheppard.

"Yeah, I don't wanna miss this. I want to know what's so special about Athos. Teyla will want to know too once she gets back from Heliopolis."

"Okay." Emerson said. "Ensign, make 'em go." He said to one of the dozen ensigns manning various stations. On cue the first ships moved between the pillars of the jumpgates and were sent to Asuras, the rest was soon to follow.

Hypathia, Tauron

0830 hours, march 11

The single desert camouflaged Humvee drove through the streets of the heavily damaged city. The recent fighting had made its marks on the city, marks it might never recover from. At places the Humvee had to stop to allow passage to vehicles moving in the opposite direction. The engineers had done their best to clear the rubble in the streets but at some places entire sky scrapers had been toppled over creating blockades that were hard to clear.

Overhead, two flights of four Vipers flew a CAP over the city, just in case. Raptors flew back and forth delivering personnel and supplies to the front and bringing back the wounded and dead. The war might have been put on pause, but the wounded could still die, and now was the time to collect all the allied dead and give them a proper burial, while the corpses of the Dominion were either returned to the Dominion forces opposing them, or burnt on massive fires.

Eventually the Humvee reached the entrance to a partially underground parking garage. The entrance was fortified with a few defensive positions, mostly made out of sandbags. About a squad worth of troops stood guard. They halted the vehicle and queried the occupants for their identity and purpose. They were quickly allowed to pass. The driver of the Humvee knew his way around the garage and steered the vehicle to the second underground floor. Along the way they encountered numerous trucks and military vehicles parked, sometimes with their crews nearby, sometimes with mechanics, sometimes unattended. Eventually the driver stopped the vehicle near a gathering of tables with maps spread out on them, and radios and other equipment nearby. Some of the nearby officers watched interested in who would be coming.

"You need some help with your gear Colonel?" the driver asked as the female Colonel stepped out. On the other side the driver and a second lieutenant got out as well.

"Yes please." She said. She got one smaller bag, this one contained additional equipment such as a tablet, an advanced radio and some more gear that could come in handy in addition to the gear that was attacked to the vest she was wearing. "Ryan, you're with me."

"Yes ma'am." Was the quick reply from the second lieutenant. He had grabbed his bags and looked up at the driver who shot him a nervous glance as he suddenly recognized the president's son.

The two made the short trip to the center of the tables where a group of officers were discussing their current deployment. Someone called the group to attention, but the Colonel quickly stood them down.

"Colonel Lundstrum, I'm Major Ter Wiel, your new XO." The major said. They shook hands. On his shoulder she saw the patch of the old Dutch Marine Corps with the text 'Korps Mariniers' fixed just below the patch of the Tau'ri Federation. It was still common to wear one's old, pre-Federation, national, branch or divisional markings below the official Tau'ri Federation markings.

"A pleasure to meet you major." Lundstrum said. "How 'bout we start by introducing ourselves." She said.

It took just five short minutes for her staff to introduce themselves to her.

"Okay, XO, what's going on around here right now?"

"I've ordered an inventory of all our equipment and supplies, apparently some of it got lost or we were never told about it, Charlie's even managed to get their hands on a Colonial tank, I only found out about that an hour ago when they drove by to pick up the ammo they apparently had ordered for the thing. I've also got a couple of squads out, looking for alternative parking spots for all our vehicles and supplies, right now our supplies are vulnerable, all they need to do is collapse this garage and all would be gone."

"Excellent, what else?"

"I've already asked for reinforcements, I see they already sent us one second LT, it's a start I guess."

"Yeah, you've got a platoon for Ryan?"

"Yeah, second platoon, Charlie Company." He looked at the lieutenant. "Ryan?"

"Yes, it's him, don't treat him any other way though."

"Not a chance in hell."

"Good. How's the cease-fire holding up?"

"Hasn't been breached yet. We've actually been clearing the battlefield of the dead together with some Dominion units. They've returned the bodies of some of our missing personnel. We're returning their dead to them as well. It seems they really want this to go through." Ter Wiel said.

"I know. I'll go take a look once I'm done here. I'll take Ryan to his first command."

"Okay, I'll have someone stow your gear away and get someone to show you where the front actually is."

"Thanks major."

Two minutes later a marine came and took the bags of the Colonel and brought them to her new quarters, or what passed for them. Another marine led them to the surface again, from where they walked all the way to Charlie Company's second platoon.

Second platoon's HQ section was camped out in a dug in bunker at the edge of a small strip of park that lined the river that crossed between the two parts of Hypathia and was about 50 meters wide. The other marines of second platoon were also dug in at various places along the part of the river they were supposed to cover, a nearly 150 meter long stretch of the river bank.

Since they had arrived at Hypathia over a month ago the marines had not only dug their foxholes, they had also reinforced them with sandbags, dug sleeping places underground and reinforced them with whatever resources they could get their hands on, this ranged from the few trees that used to stand in the park to steel beams from destroyed buildings. They had also created a network of trenches to allow easy resupply and movement of soldiers to and from the front units. Now that the fighting had stopped the marines had once again started expanding the trenches and the platoon sergeant had managed to get his hands on some concertina wire.

The platoon sergeant walked out to greet them; he had taken charge of the platoon since the platoon commander had been blown to bits by Dominion arty while taking a shit, just hours before the cease-fire had been announced.

"Colonel, Lieutenant, I'm Staff Sergeant Garcia."

"Staff Sergeant, I'm Colonel Lundstrum, I'm the new commander of the MEU. This is Lieutenant Ryan, he'll be in charge of this platoon." Lundstrum said as she introduced the lieutenant. "Ryan one piece of advice, listen to your NCO's, they're usually right."

"Will do ma'am."

"Okay, get yourself acquainted with the platoon. Sergeant, I'll be paying a visit to the other platoons, any mines or traps I should be aware of?"

"None sir. We haven't had much time to lay mines, those that are placed are remote controlled and currently disabled. I'll tell third platoon you're coming their way, they'll keep an eye out for ya."

"'Kay, thanks." She said as she started off.

Flag Bridge, TFS Enterprise

Near the remnants of Asuras

"Bellerophon task force is joining our formation." A lieutenant at navigation reported.

"Generals, we are being hailed by Bellerophon actual."

"Put him through." Emerson ordered.

The hologram of TFS Bellerophon's commander, General Flannigan appeared as a hologram in the center of the plot table. The three generals spent a minute exchanging greetings.

"Generals, one of General Ellis' scout ships has made a fly-by of the Athos system. They did this while phased and managed to get accurate and detailed readings of the replicator force in orbit." He reported.

"Okay, what've we got?" Emerson asked. Emerson and Sheppard had agreed that, while Sheppard was higher up in the chain of command, he was just a visitor, along for the ride, and Emerson would have operational control of the fleet.

"Twelve Aurora class warships, and two smaller types, guess those are something like destroyers or some sort of patrol vessel."

"Big difference between a destroyer and a corvette." Sheppard pointed out. "Doesn't really matter, we encountered some of them before, they've got drones and shields, 'nuff said."

"Agreed, let's just treat them as any other Ancient warship." Emerson said. "How were they deployed?"

"The Aurora's were in a close formation directly over the ruined city while the two patrol vessels were much farther out, near one of the other planets in the system. My comms officer will transfer the data momentarily." Flannigan said. Seconds later the Enterprise received the data that had been gathered by the scout vessel.

The hologram of General Flannigan was replaced by a lay out of the replicator fleet. The form of general Flannigan was moved to the side of the plot table.

"Okay." Emerson said as he gave it a good look. "We'll need real time intel on the position of those two smaller ships for my plan to work."

"The scout ship is still in system, they can relay any information we need." Flannigan commented.

"Good." Emerson said. "We'll jump the battleships in first, one squadron for each of those small ships. The idea is to blow them out of the sky before they can bother us. Then, the battleships form a single front line and the rest of the fleet jumps in behind them. We will only launch our drone fighters, no sense in using our manned fighters for this one. Nevertheless, the drone carriers will fire drones to protect the fighters, and to intercept any replicator drones coming our way. Meanwhile the entire fleet, including the carriers and drone carriers will advance towards the Aurora's and engage them. That leaves our own aurora's. At the very least the replicators will be forced to orient their fleet in our direction, and they might even abandon their position over the city to advance in the direction of our fleet. At any rate, this will leave their rear or at least one flank open to an assault by our own Aurora's, all five of them." While Emerson explained his plan a lieutenant tried to keep up and detail every ship movement and action on the holographic plot table.

"Like, this idea, I do." Sheppard said as he tried his best Yoda voice.

"So do I." Flannigan said.

"Only one thing." Sheppard said. "How bout we try and capture some of them, we've got a lot of toys left from before we blew up Asuras."

"Might not be a bad idea. Perhaps Carter's got some ideas." Emerson said.

A lieutenant got the cue and contacted General Carter wherever she was. Within a minute she appeared as a hologram beside the hologram of General Flannigan.

"Generals, what can I do for you?" Carter asked.

"We're about to go up against a bunch of replicators, we were wondering if you might have any toys from the good old days we might be able to use?"

"I heard about them resurfacing. Ehm, I think I've got something. I'll send you the files, but you'll need one of our Aurora's to pull it off. Basically, an Aurora can be used to send out an anti-replicator wave just like our AR-guns, but much bigger. Thing is, the target's shields must be down, otherwise the wave will not affect the replicators inside."

"Can this be done quickly? We're kind of on a schedule here." Sheppard asked.

"Yeah, it should take just about five minutes once they've got the correct coding. Shouldn't be too hard."

"Okay, thanks Sam. See you later." Sheppard said.

"Bye, good luck." Carter said before the connection was cut.

"Okay, slight alteration of the plan." Emerson said. When we advance to engage the hostile Aurora's, our battleships will first attempt to disable particular sections of the hostile shields so we can hopefully destroy the replicators, but not the ships. We'll need to place our marine boarding parties on stand by and be ready to send over some engineers and scientists." Emerson looked at Sheppard who nodded in approval. "Lieutenant, tell Ellis he's got some work to do."

The Lieutenant immediately went to work and within fifteen minutes Ellis reported the preparations were done.

Emerson turned to Sheppard. "Let's inform the captains so we can get this show started."

Twenty minutes later every commander was informed of the battle plan and all ships were ready for the coming engagement.

"Lieutenant Ryan, have we gotten the data package from the scout ship yet?" Emerson asked.

"Coming in now sir. Do you want me to distribute them to the battleships?" the Lieutenant asked.

"Yes, straight away."

The Lieutenant pressed some buttons and she was done.

"All done sir."

"Flannigan's requesting permission to commence the plan." A lieutenant reported.

"Granted. Once they go, start the clock, two minutes before we go." Emerson ordered.

The eleven battleships formed up in two formations, one of five and one of six before they opened a joint hyperspace window to make the jump to Athos. Meanwhile the remaining fleet also formed up, awaiting the go order from the Enterprise.

Ten minutes later the battleships exited hyperspace near Athos. Thanks to the good intel they were right on top of the unprepared patrol ships. The two ships were gone in less than a minute.

The two groups of battleships quickly converged on a predetermined position and mere seconds after they had joined together the rest of the fleet jumped in behind them.

"General Emerson, the fleet has arrived. The battleships report no damage." A lieutenant reported once the Enterprise had exited hyperspace.

Emerson just nodded and took a swig from his cup of coffee. "Signal to fleet, commence stage 2."

As one, the fleet increased its speed and started to close the distance between them and the Replicators.

"Falcons are preparing to launch." Falcon was the nickname of the DF-310, the remote/AI controlled fighters used by the Tau'ri carriers. The Tau'ri military also used the older F-302 and the new F-311, a joint venture between the Tau'ri and Colonial militaries, it was also known as the Viper Mk. 9.

Across the central hulls of the three carriers, pieces of armor plating seemed to retract into the hull before reappearing again, this time with a fighter sitting on it. In reality the piece retracted and turned around, the fighter having been placed on the back of the piece in advance, after which it was brought up again. The launch pads were located to the side of the ship, the top featured defensive weaponry, mostly CILS and some rail guns. The top side also featured the regular landing deck, here the other craft could land on a normal deck. Most of the facilities were located beneath the inner hull, but a few such as the deck control center were actually located on the outer hull.

"Replicator ships are launching a first wave of drones, approximately five hundred in total."

"Drone Carriers are launching drones to intercept." The Drone Carriers (DC-308) were a space based version of a guided missile cruiser, supposed to defend the carrier with its many drones. Most of the drones were Tau'ri built copies of the Ancient design, they weren't as powerful, but in numbers were just as deadly.

The Drone Carriers launched nearly a thousand drones. The drones were guided to their targets through reverse engineered drone chairs. Somewhere between the two fleets the two groups of drones collided with each other. Nearly half the hostile drones were taken out in the first blow, the rest pushed on, pursued by the Tau'ri drones. Five hundred more drones were launched to help intercepting the remaining drones.

"Sir, most hostile drones have been taken out, approximately one hundred remaining."

"What are their targets?"

"Mostly spread out across the battleships, some to the other ships, but mostly the 305's."

"CILS and CIWS engaging."

Both the projectile and laser version of the Close In Weapon systems engaged the drones, the projectile version had little to no effect on the partially phased drones, the short burst lasers were able to cut down over three quarters of the incoming drones.

A mere two dozen drones struck the Tau'ri fleet. At most it knocked a few percent of shield strength off of the advanced Asgard/Ancient hybrid shields of the capital ships. Though very powerful, one or two ancient drones wouldn't drain the multiple-ZPM powered shields.

"Launch retaliatory strike. Deploy the Falcons." Emerson ordered.

The six drone carriers, there were always two drone carriers for one carrier, launched a large swarm of drones, counting nearly twenty thousand strong sped forwards from the launch tubes. Simultaneously, the Falcons lifted off from their carriers, over 400 in total. In this instance the Falcons were controlled by human operators from aboard the carriers. The Falcons quickly formed up in squadrons and advanced behind a wall of drones.

The replicators launched drones to intercept.

Once the two groups of drones clashed the Falcons were able to push through and engage the replicator Aurora's. The Aurora's returned fire with their energy weapons, but had a hard time actually hitting the small, fast and nimble Falcons.

Meanwhile, with the drones engaged and the replicator Aurora's occupied, the fleet had advanced into range of the main weaponry aboard the 304's and 305's. As one, dozens of streams of blue-white plasma sped towards the Replicator ships. In seconds it had crossed the distance and the otherwise occupied Aurora's didn't see it coming until it was too late. The many streams slammed into the shields of the Aurora's, though none were taken down, they did take quite an amount of damage due to the simultaneous taxation of their emitters.

This caused the Aurora's to change their targets from the Falcons to the capital ships.

"Sir, the Hercules is requesting permission to retreat, its shields are severely depleted." Someone announced. The Hercules was one of the battle cruisers with the fleet.

"Granted, our standing orders are still valid." Those orders were to preserve ships whenever possible so they could life to fight another day. "Do we have those weak spots already? More ships will have to retreat soon." Emerson said as he glanced over at a status screen of the entire fleet, several ships reported weakening shields.

"Just finishing up on the last two."

"Call in the Aurora's, let's get them ready. Have Ellis fire the AR gun the moment we've breached all shields." Emerson said. "Tell all ships to concentrate on the detected weak spots, break 'em wide open."

Moments later the five Aurora's exited hyperspace. They immediately launched streams of drones at the Replicator aurora's.

General Ellis led his Aurora force from the Tria, a command version of the regular aurora's. The other four aurora's were late-war era versions, specifically designed for combat, the original Aurora class, such as the hippaforalkus, renamed Orion by Sheppard, was an all-purpose vessel, already several thousand years in use before the Wraith first emerged. These war-version ships were named for Pegasus planets, namely, Athos, Sateda, Hoff and Lantea. Since the five aurora's had been incorporated in the Tau'ri fleet, they had been heavily upgraded with all sorts of stuff, additional weaponry, extra power sources, improved shield generators which combined Asgard and Ancient technologies, better hyperdrives and an overall improvement in power efficiency.

Now all the weaponry came in good use as the aurora's could quickly find themselves outnumbered, though not so much outgunned.

The first streams of drones were intercepted mere kilometers away from the replicator ships by a massive launch of their own drones. This had left them undefended against the incoming fire from the rest of the fleet and within moments the first weak spot was pierced. Thirty seconds later two other shields were pierced, however, one of the aurora's suffered severe damage to its structural integrity and broke apart before anything could be done by the replicators. Within minutes the other ship's shields had been breached by massive concentrated firepower from the Tau'ri fleet.

"General, all shields are breached."

"How long till Ellis is ready to fire the AR?" Emerson asked.

"Thirty seconds."

"Sir! Over five hundred drones have broken through our perimeter and are heading straight for us." A lieutenant reported, the anxiety showing in his voice.

"Can we stop them?" Sheppard asked.

"Not all sir, a lot will get through."

"Calculate impact trajectories. Are they targeting one specific area?" Emerson asked. He had a bad feeling about it when he saw the swarm of drones heading for the ship's starboard side.

A major working the holographic plot table executed the calculations and sent it to the table while muttering an 'oh shit'.

"Paul?" Sheppard asked as both looked at the holographic projection. It showed what Emerson was afraid of. "Could you explain?"

Emerson didn't answer though, he ran over to someone manning the damage control panel. It left only a lieutenant with the general. "Sir." The lieutenant started a bit uncertain. She got an approving nod from Sheppard. "Those drones are targeting one of the Falcon launch/recovery platforms. And not just one, but one near one of twelve tubes that are used to bring the Falcons to and from their launch/recovery platforms to their maintenance bay. If those drones breach the shields and outer hull, which is likely considering the amount, they can maneuver to one of those tubes, and ride all the way down into the tubes and detonate inside the bays."

"Crap." Sheppard said after a few seconds. "There are no other safeties?"

"Well, each tube has 2 doors meant to be closed if the atmospheric shields fail, right now they're closed as well, but they won't hold back drones. And we've got an atmospheric shield to protect the maintenance crews from being sucked into outer space."

"Thanks Lieutenant…" He said while reading her name tag. "…Ryan." He said mildly surprised.

"You're welcome sir."

The PA Activated and three short beeps sounded followed by the XO of the Enterprise. "All hands brace for impact, starboard side Falcon maintenance bay, evacuate and seal off bay seven."

Over sixty meters deep inside the hull of the Enterprise the maintenance crews all hustled to their DC stations, those in bay area seven rushed to the evac doors to get out ASAP. To the side of the bay, which ran along most of the length of the ship the blast proof doors that could separate each of the twelve bays from one another came down and up closing each separate section. As a precaution the fuel was drained from their tubes and munitions storages were sealed shut and, in the case of the larger ones, internal shields activated to protect them.

The CILS/CIWS had taken out nearly a hundred drones in the short time they had, but it still left over four hundred drones.

The first hundred drones that slammed in the shields expanded all their energy to create a hole before bouncing off the hull harmlessly. The next hundred had little trouble getting through and ruined a Falcon launch/recovery pad creating several holes through which the other drones could advance. The next hundred drones took care of the two blast doors and atmospheric shields sucking the air out of bay seven as well as a dozen crewmembers that hadn't gotten out in time.

The remaining drones were free to cause as much mayhem as they could. Two grounded Falcons were torn apart, fortunately without their internal reactors blowing up. A rack of flares went off causing a chain reaction with a rack of air to air missiles tearing several bulkheads off their hinges and opening adjacent corridors up to space. The remaining drones either burrowed deeper into the ship looking for things to explode like reactors or munitions storages, or they tore into the blast doors opening the two adjacent bays up to space as well. The drones that tried to get to the munitions storages were halted by the internal force fields, but those that went for the adjacent bays were more successful and disabled any internal shielding and the blast doors, opening bays six and eight up to space as well, taking over forty people to their deaths as they were either sucked out into space, or killed by exploding ordnance and Falcons.

The entire ship was shaken by the many internal explosions in the starboard side hanger bay. All the way on the flag bridge they felt the explosions and had to hold on to anything that would provide grip to them.

The PA activated "Breaches of starboard side bays six through eight and adjacent corridors, DC parties to the access tube, atmospheric shielding is offline."

"Sir all shields are pierced, Ellis is ready to fire." A lieutenant reported as she took her seat again.

"Do it now!"

Ellis must've been reading his mind because that moment the Tria let out the AR wave. It quickly closed the distance and as it engulfed the first aurora it immediately cease operating. It quickly reached the second and third aurora, which both ceased operating. Within seconds it had covered all eleven Aurora's which were now all drifting uncontrolled.

"General, all ships have ceased firing."

"Good, what about their shields?" Emerson asked.

"The holes we made have grown a bit larger, and several more have formed as well. Perhaps they were adjusting the shield frequencies manually." An ensign suggested.

"All right, beam the boarding parties over, let's get us some new ships."

"Yes sir."

Several minutes went by as the boarding parties were beamed over to the aurora's and attempted to establish control of the ships.

"Why am I not getting reports of those ships under our control?" Emerson asked his command staff. All teams were well known with Ancient tech and should have been able to get control within seconds through the command chair.

"Sir, it appears that there are some safeties on those ships that prevent us from simply interfacing through the chairs, they're trying to come up with a work-around."

"At least tell me they're all going to stay in space for the time being." Emerson said.

"Sir?"

"Planetary pull, are any of the ships drifting towards the planet?"

"Checking sir." A lieutenant said with a red head. "Nine are safe, two are drifting to the planet."

"How long until we lose them?"

"The first in a minute or two, the other has about four more minutes before it starts entering the atmosphere."

"Any chance of gaining control of the ship by that time?"

"Not really sir."

"Then evacuate those auroras, no sense in losing our people on them."

The aurora's were quickly evacuated and left to drift. What they hadn't expected was that the first aurora did not break up when it entered the atmosphere. Though parts of the ship were burnt up, shields protected the inner compartments long enough. The remains of the aurora slammed into the ruins of the ancient city, destroying it.

"Ah fuck." Sheppard said as someone reported the bad news. "I wanted to take a look at that city, see what had the replicators interested."

"No luck on that I guess." Emerson said. "What about the remaining nine?" he asked as the other aurora was also reported gone.

"One of our techs has managed to crack the code on one of the auroras, he's currently walking the other techs through. Just a minute or two more."

"Good, let's tell the president the good news."

Hypathia, Tauron

1533 hours, march 13

Colonel Lundstrum was with her staff, going over the plans for a secondary line to be created several hundred meters behind the primary line. Since she had arrived a few things had changed, all the trucks and supplies were dispersed somewhat to make them less vulnerable and reinforcements had come in to bring the unit up to full strength.

"Sir, I've got a call for you." One of the communication techs said as he held up a headphone.

Lundstrum walked over and accepted the headphone. "Who is it?"

"The president, sir."

Surprised she put the headphone on and the tech activated the line. "This is Colonel Lundstrum."

"Colonel, please hold for the president."

Less than ten seconds later the president was on the line. "Colonel, how are you doing?"

"Fine sir, just settling in."

"And how's my son doing?"

"He's doing fine as well, I visited him this morning, and he's a quick learner."

"That's good to hear. As you might have guessed that wasn't why I called you."

"It had crossed my mind sir."

"Well, I wanted to give you a heads up. In about ten minutes a spacehawk will bring the Dominion general, named Willie to your location, you will then escort him across the river to the Dominion forces, they have been informed of the situation."

"Just drive him over the river and release him? Anything else?"

"Nothing for the moment, we've already gotten the coordinates for the POW's, ships are currently en-route to collect them."

"Very well sir."

"Good luck, and send my son my regards."

"Will do sir." Lundstrum replied and with that the line went dead.

"Colonel, I've got a black-ops chopper coming in, they're requesting instructions on where to land. What should I tell them?"

"Tell Charlie to clear a helipad ASAP, I'll be heading over, I'll also need an amtrack."

"Colonel, care to fill me in on what's going on?" her XO asked.

"I'm to deliver someone to the other side, you'll be in charge for the moment."

"Okay." Ter Wiel said, not really convinced.

"Nothing to worry about." She reassured him.

An amtrack came up from a lower level of the parking garage to pick her up. She exchanged a few more words with her XO before entering the amtrack and leaving the structure.

A few minutes later they had arrived at Charlie Company's CP, just forty meters away a LZ had been cleared and a marine was using some glow sticks to indicate to the pilot where to land. Four heavily armed Special Forces soldiers stepped out and escorted Willie to the colonel. She saw that the Dominion looked well and even had a sly smile.

"Colonel, Subject W, do you need us to escort you across?"

"No thanks, can you take those cuffs off?"

"You sure ma'am?"

"Yes." She said.

The soldiers took the cuffs off and stood back.

"Okay, you ready Willie?"

"As far as I know there isn't much to be ready for, unless you want to swim across this river?" Willie answered.

"Nah, we've got something for that. Come with me."

Together they walked over to the amtrack and entered it. Both stuck their heads out of the open top hatches for the duration of the ride.

A sergeant was at the wheel of the amtrack.

"Sergeant, drive, slowly, we don't want to get wet up here." Lundstrum ordered.

Immediately the amtrack started moving forwards. As it reached the bank of the river it slowed down and slowly moved forwards as it entered the water. Once they were in they sped up again.

"How 'bout you wave to them to show why we're crossing the river." Lundstrum suggested.

"Did your commander in chief not tell you we were expected?"

"Yes he did, but can't be too safe."

"True." Willie said. He waved a few times until they saw a Dominion on the other side wave back. "I guess we've got contact now." He said.

A few minutes later they had reached the other side and the rear hatch was lowered.

"After you." Lundstrum said.

Willie got out first and greeted the Dominion soldiers that had gathered. Lundstrum got out second and looked around a bit, looking for any kind of intel that could be useful, she didn't see much.

"So, are you okay here?" she asked.

"Yes, thank you for the ride." He said as he held out his hand.

"Can't take that." She said looking at his hand. "You and me being enemies and all."

"That might change soon."

"I doubt it, unless you guys are ready to leave this galaxy."

"Then not I guess." He replied. "Good bye." He said as she stepped into the amtrack again. The amtrack turned around and drove back to the other side of the river.

Stargate, Novantae

1422 hours, March 16

The stargate on this planet was of a new design created by the Tau'ri. More and more planets were equipped with the new stargate, even if it already had a stargate. The new design allowed the transportation of larger vehicles, such as the main battle tank of the Tau'ri Army, which helped with the rapid deployment of military forces. Today no MBT's came rolling through the open wormhole. Instead seven Humvees exited the wormhole. They immediately fanned out to secure a perimeter, within minutes twenty more Humvees exited the wormhole. Eventually all Humvees had formed a circle around the stargate and the soldiers had exited the vehicles. A lieutenant approached the captain.

"Sir, we've secured a perimeter around the stargate, we haven't found any signs of life except for the road that should lead to the city."

"Excellent Lieutenant. I want third platoon to stay at the stargate while the rest of the company moves to the city, let's find out what happened there." They were here to investigate the lack of contact from the city Novantae. The city was a colony of about thirty thousand inhabitants, created by a race named the Selgovae, a peaceful great alliance member. It was one of those relatively advanced, but pacifist nations. Being left alone by the Goa'uld and any other hostile creature in the galaxy, they had developed without interference from the outside. Their technology was a bit ahead of Earth's, if the stargate hadn't been discovered, but their military capabilities were virtually non-existent. They depended on the alliance for protection in return for medical, humanitarian and developmental aid to the smaller and less developed members of the alliance. When they had settled this planet they knew there was a local tribe present, but those had agreed to allow the Selgovae to settle.

The city communicated daily with its home planet. Recently the contact had ceased. Four technicians were sent to the city to help repairing the subspace relays, but nothing had been heard of these men since. This led the Selgovae to ask for military assistance from the alliance. It was decided to send a company of Tau'ri airborne soldiers, it would be a strong enough force to defend itself and was mobile enough to move out immediately, and without orbital support. The company sent was the famous E company/second battalion/506th PIR from the 101st airborne division.

"Attention all Easy elements. Easy three will remain on site to secure the gate, all other Easy elements will move towards the city, Easy one will take lead. Out." The Captain announced over the company's network.

The platoon commanders issued orders to their subordinates and within minutes a column with the first platoon in the lead made their way to the city.

The city was about twenty kilometers away from the gate on the other side of a low hill near a small river. It took the company about twenty five minutes to reach the hill that overlooked the city. Here the captain ordered the company to hold.

"Easy four, mortars and command elements will set up over watch on this hill. Easy one and two will enter the city and assess the situation. Out."

Affirmatives followed from the various leaders involved and the captains' orders were followed.

Easy one-one was the most forward vehicle in the column of fifteen Humvees that were about to enter the city. As they reached the city limits they turned the first corner and were stopped immediately.

"Easy one-six, one-one here, be advised, the road is blocked by trash." The sergeant in the first vehicle reported over the platoon coms as his driver brought the Humvee to a halt. He was also the team leader of the first team.

"Easy one-one, copy. Do you see a way to push through?" the platoon lieutenant asked.

"Negative, from my point I can see several I-beams and other construction materials, I doubt my victor can push through." The sergeant replied.

"Understood, wait one." The lieutenant replied before he switched to another channel. "Easy six, this is Easy one, victor one-one reports the road into the city is blocked please advise." He asked the company commander.

"Easy one, Easy six. Dismount your vehicles and proceed on foot. Leave one team from Easy one and Easy two to secure the victors, how copy?"

"Copy that, proceed on foot, leave two teams to secure the victors." The lieutenant replied.

He switched channels again to that of his platoon. "Easy one this is Easy one-six, dismount, team three stays behind to secure the victors, the rest will proceed on foot." he knew that his colleague from second platoon would give the same order.

The fifty or so soldiers dismounted and proceeded on foot climbing over the barricade. The city appeared abandoned, some of the doors were open, and in some cases appliances were still powered on.

"Team one, enter those buildings and find out if someone's still inside."

As team one entered several homes the rest of the two platoons slowly moved forwards deeper into the city.

A few minutes later the sergeant of team one reported back.

"Lieutenant, we found nobody. It does appear that the residents left in a hurry around dinner time, we found some unfinished meals, at least a couple of days old."

"Thank you sergeant. Continue on."

Some corporal drew their attention.

"Come on, fuck this." The corporal said as he tried to open the door of a residence. The door wasn't locked, but it was blocked by something on the inside.

"Put your shoulder into it corporal." The lieutenant suggested. The corporal did as suggested but after a few tries he still couldn't open the door.

"Sorry sir, it just won't budge."

"Then go through the window." The sergeant replied.

"Okay." The corporal said as he bashed in the window with the end of his weapon. The lieutenant and sergeant looked on as the corporal climbed in, followed by a private and went through a door that led to the front door. Seconds later the private came back, his face all white and gasping for air as he steadied himself on a chair.

"Sir!" the corporal yelled from the hall. "You're gonna want to see this."

"On my way." The lieutenant replied as he too climbed through the window, followed by the sergeant, who instead of going into the hall went to see the private.

The lieutenant stopped dead in his tracks as he turned to corner into the hallway. The sight made him happy to not have had a heavy lunch. He saw what appeared to be female, early twenties, murdered by several vicious cuts. She was slumped against the door, preventing it from being opened properly.

"Ah, fuck." The lieutenant said. "Easy six, Easy one-six."

"Go ahead Easy one-six."

"We found a female at my location, apparently murdered. Please advise."

"Easy one-six, mark the location and move on, nothing we can do for her now."

"Copy Easy six. Interrogative, any chance of our victors finding a way around the barricade?"

"We're launching a UAV, we'll keep you updated.

The group got out of the house through the window. "Alright first platoon, let's keep moving, we've got a lot of ground to cover!" the lieutenant said.

The second platoon had already advanced a few streets ahead. While they were clearing some houses and holding for a few minutes their lieutenant sought out the lieutenant from first platoon.

"Bill, I heard your call on the radio. We've found something similar."

"What've you got?"

"A family, two adults, three young kids. All appear to have been stabbed and cut to death, probably something with a long blade."

"Crist, what the fuck happened here?"

"Some sort of genocide?"

"I sure hope not. But where is the rest, we've found six, out of what? Thirty thousand?"

"Yeah. Let's go to the city center, perhaps there's more information there."

Both lieutenants were distracted as three soldiers stumbled out of an alley before falling to their knees and puking their guts out. Before they could get there a fourth soldier peeked around the corner and instantly turned around with a hand over his mouth trying not to vomit. As they both reached the soldiers one of them looked around the corner for a second.

"Aw shit." He said. "That's just fucking gross."

"What is it?" the other lieutenant asked.

"They… those mofo's… they put little kids on an iron fence, the kind with the spikes, they fucking staked them!" he said as he squatted trying to suppress the horror of it.

"This isn't looking good Bill, not at all."

"I agree Thomàs, tell the captain, I think we're gonna need more troops, and choppers."

"Will do." "Easy six, Easy two-six. We've found evidence that suggests that some sort of brutal attack took place, our suggestion is to call in additional forces and air transport, also get an investigative unit here."

"Easy two-six, can you tell me what you found?"

"I doubt I could put it in words Easy six. But if this is any indication as to what happened with the rest we might not require any MRE's for the coming days. Hell, I think there are more MRE's on the ground than in our gear."

"Very well, I'll make the call. Also, your transport is five minutes out, rendezvous is at the next intersection due west of your position."

"Copy, well head for the next intersection for our pickup."

They moved on, most trying not to let their curiosity get the better of them and have a peak. The few that did had great difficulty not to puke. A few minutes later they had reached the intersection and they could already see their vehicles approaching. Once they had arrived they mounted up again and advanced in the direction of the city center at a leisurely pace.

Along the way to the city center they found no more bodies, although some doors were forced open and had blood stained boot prints exiting them. They didn't stop to investigate but pushed on to the center.

"Easy one-one, Easy one-six. To reach the center you should take the next left, proceed for about four hundred meters and take a right, follow the road and then take a left, followed by an immediate right."

"Copy Easy one-six."

The first vehicle which held the leader of first platoon's first team came up on the corner and rounded it before coming to an immediate halt.

"Easy one-one, Easy one-six. What's the holdup?"

"Easy one-six, one-one here, there is a body in the road, request permission to dismount and clear our route."

"Granted, document the scene but make it quick."

Three members of the Humvee got out, one took out his tactical tablet and used it to photograph the scene before the other two carried the body off to the side of the road and covered it up with a poncho. With that done the three soldiers got back in the Humvee and the column got on its way again.

For the rest of the ride they proceeded pretty well, only having to stop once or twice to remove bodies from their path. As they got to the last corner the first Humvee stopped again. This time only the team leader dismounted and walked to the corner.

From about seventy meters away the lieutenant could see the sergeant's posture change, from his weapon at the ready to holding it with just his right hand aiming the weapon down. Beyond that he didn't move a muscle for a moment. He then got on his radio.

"Easy one-six, Easy one-one. We've got a massacre down here. The road's blocked." The sergeant reported as he shook his head.

"Easy one-one, understood." "Easy one, prepare to proceed on foot again. Easy six, do you copy?"

"Easy six copies. Proceed on foot, reinforcements are arriving as we speak, the first hawk should be there in about ten minutes."

The troops dismounted and walked to the corner, all were stunned by the sight. The park that was part of the city center and the surrounding streets were filled with bodies, at some places stacked on one another.

"Alright, spread out and check for any signs of life, let's hope some are still alive."

The soldiers did this immediately. Checking for a pulse wasn't always that easy, it wasn't just a massacre, it appeared that an event of mass torture, rape and killing had taken place. Some of the bodies didn't even have wrists or a neck that the soldiers could check for a pulse, not that it was necessary in those cases anyway.

First platoon's lieutenant was the first to reach the park. It was a simple grassy field with a pond and some trees. As he stepped onto the field his boots made a soggy sound. He lifted up his left foot to see what he had stepped in and the sight disturbed him greatly. Not only did a thick red liquid slowly drip from his boot, there were also some pieces of what could only be someone's internal organs. The entire field was covered with blood and insides, along with the bodies of the owners. As he took a closer look at the pond he could see that it was not only filled with bodies, but also a deep red from all the blood in it.

About twenty meters away the platoon's medic looked around in shock by the amount of death. He had seen what had happened with the lieutenant's boot. He swallowed a few times to keep his stomach from turning inside out. "If there's anyone out there you need to shout out so we can help you!" he yelled.

It had the effect of stopping everyone dead in their tracks to listen to a response.

To their surprise they did get some responses and everyone immediately ran to the nearest source of sound.

The medic and lieutenant had made for a boy near their position. He had barely been able to speak out but instead had raised his hand, it had already fallen down again but the two soldiers had seen it for long enough and within seconds they were at his location. The boy seemed to have been sheltered by his father, who had died from several stab wounds to the back. They gently lifted the father off and lay him aside.

The boy himself was covered with blood but at first it was unclear if it was his, or that of his father. "Where're you wounded kid?" the medic asked.

The boy didn't say anything though one of his hands did move a bit, it unveiled a large hole in his stomach and a deep cut leading away from it. The medic immediately went to work on the wound starting with an injection of medical nanites, they wouldn't heal him, but would give them a bit more time to get him to a hospital.

"Sir, I need a medevac yesterday." The medic told his lieutenant.

"I'll get on it." He stood up and looked around to assess the situation. The best way to get the kid out of there was to use a space hawk, but the entire area was covered with bodies so a hawk couldn't land there. The only option other than the Humvees was the rooftop of what appeared to be city hall, from where he stood it seemed to be flat. As it were, three soldiers were nearby checking on some bodies. He got their attention and told them to find a way to the roof, and if it could sustain a spacehawk.

"Easy six, Easy one. What's the ETA on those hawks? I have several badly injured civilians in dire need of a medevac to Nox Prime."

"Easy one, first hawk's coming through the gate as we speak, should be there in about eight minutes, do you have an LZ?"

"Working on it Easy six, will be done when the hawk gets here. Please make sure the gate's dialed to Nox P and they have some trauma teams on stand-by."

"It'll be done. Six out."

Nox Prime was the homeworld of the Nox, it was commonly known as Nox P. The system itself had four habited worlds, three of which were inhabited by the Nox themselves and one by refugees. Nox prime also held an enormous multinational medical complex which served as the primary hospital for alliance troops in need of medical attention. It was the most advanced hospital to be found in the galaxy and had doctors from all over the alliance, Nox healers, doctors and nurses from the Tau'ri, Colonies, Free Jaffa and many other powers. It also used technology from the Asgard, Ancients, Tau'ri and Colonials to treat its patients. Overall, of those that would reach the stargate in this hospital, 99 percent would survive, perhaps not always completely healed, but still alive and breathing nevertheless.

Seven minutes later the roof of city hall had been cleared of anything that could interfere with a space hawk. Six wounded had been brought up and were waiting for their evac. The spacehawk arrived a little bit later. It first circled over the square to search for the make-shift LZ. Once they had found the LZ the spacehawk approached and landed. Seven medics got out while three others helped load the wounded into the space hawk. The seven that got out followed the other soldiers and went to work on trying to find more wounded. The other three medics would fly back with the wounded and see to it that they would make it to the stargate.

Mess Hall, Midway station

1911 hours

Sheppard and Larrin were enjoying a late dinner in the mess hall. Sheppard had been back at the station since the Enterprise was undergoing repairs to fix the damage done by the drone strike. Several other ships were also being repaired at the midway station and two 304's had been sent back to Earth because of the extensive damage. The rest of the fleet was divided in two and was running down several leads on the revived Asurans. Also, nine new aurora class warships were docked at the station. A small crew of mostly technicians had already started working on getting the ships ready for combat and every day more and more crewmembers arrived. The ships had only suffered minor damage and even though their stores of drones were mostly depleted they were now being restocked with Tau'ri drones brought in from Earth.

"Mind if I join you john?" Emerson asked as he approached with a tray.

"Sure thing Paul. How are the repairs going?" Sheppard asked.

"The shaft will be out of business for a couple more days, but we've already repaired bays six and eight. Seven will take a couple more days, besides; we don't have the equipment to make it fully operational again. We'll ship that in from Earth, along with some buckets of paint." Emerson surmised.

"John, didn't you promise O'Neill not to scratch the paint?" Larrin asked.

"Which is why we're gonna paint the whole ship and keep all this damage out of the logs." Sheppard smiled.

"Too late for that, I just spoke to him this morning, he doesn't mind though, especially since we brought in nine Aurora's."

"Speaking about that, how far along are you with assigning commanders and crew to those ships?" Larrin asked.

"Pretty far, they're still looking for three commanders and about forty people for command staff functions, why? Fancy a new command?" Sheppard said.

"Actually, I think Katana might be well suited for a new command."

"She's the one that got this whole replicator thing started right?" Emerson asked.

"Yeah, she's been in command of her ship for ages and she's doing well."

"I'll put her name on the short list. Would she accept an XO or command staff function?"

"Probably."

"How about we get her in temporary command of one of the auroras? At least until an official commander can be confirmed." Emerson suggested.

A captain approached them and saluted. Sheppard and Emerson returned the salute and Sheppard accepted the file the captain offered him. Sheppard opened the file and quickly scanned the first few pages containing trivial information. Once he got to the real message he was quick to whistle. "Paul, looks like we've got lucky."

"Yeah, what's it?"

"We found the replicators. All of them bunched together at one planet."

"Are you sure it's all of them?"

"Intel suggests that the replicators keep close to their home assuming there is strength in numbers."

"Until we've got the numbers to match theirs."

"Well, there's one thing we can't match."

"Like?"

"A city ship."

"Ouch." Emerson said. "That might change things a bit."

"Perhaps. McKay's got a plan though."

"Like what? A superweapon?"

"He sure as hell has had enough time to come up with something new." Sheppard laughed. "Actually, it's a reincarnation of an old plan."

"Which one? The Fran thing?" Emerson asked referring to the Friendly Replicator Android used to destroy Asuras.

"Nope, he wants to use one of Carter's old plans. He wants to send a stargate, connected to one about to be swallowed up by a black hole, into the sun. This should make the star go supernova and take care of our problem."

"Interesting." Emerson said as he thought it over. He remembered the mission report written by then major Carter. The mission had succeeded in evacuating the Tok'ra, and had destroyed a large part of the Goa'uld fleet. Unfortunately Apophis and his mothership escaped. "Who's gonna do the delivery?"

"I'm gonna detail the Bellerophon and her escorts to this." Sheppard said. "McKay's currently rigging up a shield emitter, subspace drive and naquadriah generator to a stargate. They'll FEDEX it to midway and we'll bring it to the Bellerophon. It'll take a day or two until the whole thing is ready. I do want all ships at standby, if the plan goes wrong we might need to jump in and help them out, or clean up if some manage to escape."

"Do you want to risk the whole fleet to safe one task force if things go wrong?" Emerson asked.

"I want to have the option to send in the whole fleet, just in case. The replicators have shown to be resilient bastards in the past. If it comes down to a slugfest we might just survive if we deploy the whole fleet instead of just the Task Force."

"Why not just send in a phased 306 or aurora. Or deploy them cloaked at the edge of the system?" Larrin asked.

"Intel suggests they have deployed long range detection satellites just for this option. Also, the stargate has to connect to another stargate near a black hole. This connection can be detected, and we need a 305 to mask this connection until the stargate is near the sun, from then on the connection will be masked by the sun."

"The Bellerophon will pretend to accidentally stumble on the Replicator homeworld and try to gather as much information while trying to stay hidden. Once the going gets to rough they'll pull out." Emerson added.

"And by that time, the stargate will have reached the sun." Larrin finished.

"Exactly."

2322 hours

The president had been called for a late meeting by General O'Neill. Both had found a seat in the oval office, and something to drink.

"So what's this mess at Novantae?"

"We're not yet sure why, but their neighbors apparently wiped the Selgovae colony out."

"What are we talking about? How many people died?" Ryan asked.

"Out of nearly thirty thousand over twenty-nine thousand died. About one hundred people were found severely wounded, while an estimated 750 fled into the woods. We're currently trying to find and rescue them, but the dense forest is making is difficult."

"Why?" Ryan asked as he shook his head in sadness.

"We don't yet know, the local commander has requested permission to make armed contact with the neighbors to find out."

"How armed?"

"Armored Humvees and air support. About a platoon worth of airborne infantry."

"They want full control over the ROE?"

"Preferred, yes sir. I recommend giving it to them, they're Para's, they know when they're being threatened and can use force."

"Granted, tell them not to get to loose will ya."

"Will do."

"Now that you're here, I'd like to know how Sally and Junior are doing." Ryan asked. Sally was his oldest daughter serving aboard the Enterprise, while Junior was his oldest son serving with the Tau'ri Marines on Tauron.

"I haven't heard much about Junior, he joined his platoon the day the cease fire was declared so he hasn't seen much action yet."

"How about Sally? With the Enterprise being hit and all."

"From what I gathered she wasn't seriously wounded. She didn't report to medical, so at most some bumps and bruises." O'Neill said. "Hasn't she contacted you yet sir?"

"Just a short e-mail saying she was fine and had no time to make a call. Apparently she is heavily involved with the repairs."

"The Enterprise did suffer quite some damage, from what I heard everyone's pitching in after their regular shifts to speed up the repairs."

"I guess that once the fleet returns from the Pegasus galaxy she'll have some time to call home."

"Probably sir. In my opinion you shouldn't worry too much about your daughter, she's aboard one of the strongest, best defended warships in the fleet. Yes the Replicators damaged it, but that was a once off thing, Emerson will make sure it won't happen again. Once the shooting starts up again Junior will be in much more danger, he'll be on the front lines."

"I guess you're right. It's just, Sally's my little girl, and I feel as if she needs much more protection."

"I guess that's parental instinct."

"Must be. Talking about being a parent, I have to help KD with his upcoming economics test. So if you don't mind, I'll escort you to the door and let you spend what remains of the evening with your wife." Ryan said. KD was his youngest son Kyle Daniel.

TFS Bellerophon

1159, march 20

"General, all stations report ready. Exiting hyperspace in 20 seconds."

"Last update on our escorts?"

"All ready for combat."

"Status on the stargate?"

"The Chief says the gate is ready, the bay doors are open and clamps are engaged, thrusters are ready."

"Okay then. Let's do this."

"Dropping out of hyperspace in 3...2...1... Now."

The ship and its escorts exited hyperspace. There were no Replicator ships nearby as per their plan.

"Engage ECM and launch the gate." Flannigan said. "Also start sweeping the system, we need to sell the idea we've stumbled on them and are trying to gather as much info as we can."

"ECM activated, they can't see shit." Someone reported.

"Loading dock confirms, gate is away." Another person reported in as a screen showed the gate drifting out of the loading dock.

"Short range sensor grid at full power, we're getting all kinds of shit here sir."

"Sir, should I start compiling the data and send it back to earth? I we use short burst transmissions they would probably pick it up."

"Good thinking, do it right away."

"Gate is dialing." Someone reported from a control station. "Third chevron locked." He said, he continued the count up to number six. "Seventh chevron locked and engaged. We have a connection to the black hole."

"How long till the gate reaches the sun?"

"Six more minutes sir."

"Replicator ships are approaching our location. Six minutes away."

"Prepare the hyperdrive, divert power away from main weaponry to the shields."

The lights flickered lightly as power was diverted to the shields. A light shudder went through the deck followed by a soft alarm quickly followed by a beeping console and a louder alarm.

"Electronic countermeasures off-line!" a lieutenant reported as he tapped furious at his console. "Re-routing power through the forward grid!"

"Get it back up! What happened?"

"Auxiliary power relay couldn't handle the stress of the power transfer. It blew, taking the primary power line to the main ECM computer down. Back-up computer was too busy dealing with the energy surge to jump in and take over."

"How long till you get it back on-line?"

"Any second now." The lieutenant said. "Power rerouted, computer is back on-line, ECM activating."

"Did the replicators detect the stargate?"

"Possible, I don't know."

A new alarm went off alerting the crew to a tactical event.

"They've launched drones, thousands sir!"

"Activate CILS, take them down!"

"They're not heading for us. They, they're forming up into some sort of grid, a search grid?"

"They are looking for the gate, will they find it?"

"Checking… Yes, they will!" a lieutenant said after she had checked the trajectories of the drones.

"Crap. Okay, I'm declaring this mission a failure. Signal our escorts to come about and enter hyperspace at once, we're heading home. Once our escorts are gone activate the hyperdrive and get us out of here."

A number of 'yes sir's followed in acknowledgement. "Also signal Midway 'mission outcome: Downfall, say again, Downfall.'"

The ship's hyper drive engine trembled as its power usage increased hundredfold, before ceasing all activities.

"Hyperdrive is down!"

"Escorts report the same!"

"Have the escorts reform up on us. Set course for the far side of the sun, let's try to outrun them. Get me a direct line to Sheppard at Midway. Fix this shit!" he yelled as he made a gesture to a screen which had a red 'Hyperdrive off-line' flashing.

Ten seconds later Sheppard appeared on his bridge, as a hologram.

"General Sheppard. The gate's been detected and will be destroyed before it can reach the sun. My task force has also lost all hyperdrive capabilities."

"What are you doing now?"

"I've set course to the other side of the sun, I'm trying to put some distance between us and the replicator ships coming for us. They've sent their entire goddamn fleet." General Flannigan said. He was distracted by an ensign who approached him with a tablet computer. Afraid to interrupt the general, the ensign simple gave the tablet to the general.

"What is it general?"

"It appears that a powerful hyperspace distorting something is coming through the open gate. As long as it is open we won't be able to enter hyperspace." Flannigan said. "Sir, request permission to shut down or blow up the gate."

"Denied. You've got the better part of their fleet coming after you right." Sheppard said, he didn't wait for a reply. "Plot an entry point for the entire fleet, it's got to be just outside weapons range of the replicator warships. I'm gonna jump the entire fleet in, finish this before it grows any further out of hand. ETA 2 minutes. Will the gate survive that long?"

A lieutenant who was listening in quickly did some calculations and put the outcome on a screen.

"Just about, it depends on how many drones are required to blow up an active stargate."

"Well, make sure it's gone by the time I arrive, I don't want my ships jumping in anywhere near an exploding stargate."

"Will do, General." Flannigan said with a nod. He turned to the bridge crew. "Let's get that plot going and prep the gate to blow, if need be, we'll help it along a bit."

The crew immediately went to work. The tactical officers started plotting attack patterns and intercept routes for the incoming fleet.

1 minute and 50 seconds later the gate exploded. Just as the shockwave subsided the three carriers and their escorts exited hyperspace. Falcons and Vipers were launched immediately and were quickly joined by drones from the drone carriers. Next were the battleships and battle cruisers. The battleships and battle cruisers moved at full power to get into range of the Replicator warships. As the drones and fighters passed the battleships the first Replicator drone was fired. Seconds later ten thousand drones had been launched. Thirty seconds over a hundred thousand had been launched. The drones launched by the drone carriers were redirected to the incoming replicator drones. Meanwhile the battleships and battle cruisers got into range of the Replicator warships and opened fire with all they got.

Lieutenant colonel Adam 'Jolly' Banks, CAG Enterprise air wing, led from the front, always had, always would, till the day he died. He and the other pilots from the Enterprise were flying the advanced Viper Mk9/F-311. It was a combination of the best technology the Tau'ri Federation had to offer, combined with the best experiences of the Colonial fleet air arm. It made for one of the best fighters ever built.

"All Enterprise squadrons, this is Jolly, You're weapons hot, good hunting!" Banks ordered to his air wing. He himself activated his long range missiles, it might not do much good against the advanced shields of the replicator ships, but because of the 'low' yield of the missile, the replicators wouldn't do much against it and in numbers, it might just be enough to count.

"Red Zero, Fox One, Fox One!" he said as he fired his two long range missiles. Immediately a loud alert shot through his headset and the HUD indicated both missiles had malfunctioned. Fuck, my missiles failed, repeat, I've got bad missiles!"

He was pissed to say the least. Not only did he not fire his missiles, the things were still attacked to his wings, creating a larger target for any hostile fire. What truly shocked him, were the calls from his entire air wing, reporting the exact same.

"Enterprise actual, my entire air wing's got malfunctioning weapons, I repeat, long range missiles all failed. Going in for close range."

"CAG, Be aware, George Hammond and Prometheus air groups report the same, suggest RTB for examination."

"Negative, short range missiles and guns still check out, we can take 'em if we get close enough."

There was a short pause before a response came: "Good Hunting."

"Alright people, our drones are about to take out their first wave, watch out for any stragglers and maintain your spread!" Jolly instructed his pilots.

A second unexpected event happened. His fighter started to pitch up. Banks grabbed the stich tightly and pushed down to counteract. Once that didn't work, he started throwing switched in an attempt to override all kinds of protocols. "Enterprise, I've lost control of my bird, I'm going vertical, and override doesn't work!" he said as he cursed internally. Nothing worked, not even switching the engines off. Out of nowhere the cockpit was lit brightly by the flairs from the two long range missiles, together with the shaking that accompanied the launch. "Enterprise, CAG, my long range missiles just fired! They appear to be going nowhere!" He looked to his left and right. At both sides he saw the other Vipers go 'vertical' and launch missiles. "Enterprise, CAG, all Vipers appear to be going vertical and launch missiles, what the fuck is going on."

"CAG, Enterprise. All Vipers and Falcons are disengaging, we've lost all control, and we're trying to determine what's going on. We've ruled out the Replicators though."

Before Banks could respond his world lit up brightly once again. This time it wasn't a missile engine, it was the supposed class of the drones. Except, all drones were destroyed. Seconds later all energy and projectile weapons slammed into an invisible wall that had appeared between the two fleets.

Sheppard and Emerson both looked in horror as their fleet's weapons fire was reduced to nothing. Their fighters had somehow disengaged and some sort of massive shield had appeared between the two fleets. Fortunately this worked both ways.

"Replicator ships are intensifying their fire." Someone reported.

"Do the same, energy weapons only, hold the drones till we get through this… something." Sheppard ordered. "And find out what's happening to our fighters."

A number of 'yes sirs' followed, Sheppard walked over to a captain who was working on the fighter problem. "What's the problem?"

"I don't know sir." The captain said as he directed two lieutenants. "Propulsion and weapons have been shut down on all craft, including the ones aboard the carriers. We have found no signals going or coming from the craft. This shouldn't be happening."

"Well it is, can't we restart the fighters or something?"

"The chief tried, he pulled all connections and wires to the engines, they just wouldn't fire, same for our missiles."

Sheppard felt a hand settle on his shoulder, an electric current accompanied it, and he remembered it. He turned around in surprise. "Chaya?" he asked as he saw the glowing form of an ascended being turn into a solid, recognizable being.

"John, you've got to stop." She said as she looked over to a screen showing the Tau'ri fleet firing at the barrier.

Meanwhile the entire CIC had gone quiet and was watching the conversation.

"Why?" he said. "They're replicators. If we don't take them out they will take us out."

"Because they are our children, just like you are."

"Didn't stop you from trying to destroy them." Sheppard stated.

"It was a mistake, we now see that we have to take responsibility for the life we have created, and by that we mean both the human populations as well as the replicators."

"Replicator ships have ceased firing." Someone reported.

Sheppard stared at Chaya's face, trying to see any sign of deception. Reluctantly he turned to general Emerson, "Paul, all vessels, cease fire." He turned back to Chaya, "I want control over all my aircraft, now. I'll recall them into defensive formations once they are back under our control."

Chaya blinked once, "Done". Emerson turned to the major directing the Enterprise's squadrons and nodded. The major got the cue and recalled all fighters.

"What now?" Emerson asked, breaking the silence. "At this moment the Replicators are offered a proper peace offering."

"And what does that mean?" Sheppard asked sarcastically.

"For some time, the replicators have been yearning for one ability they have not been able to master because of their mechanical existence."

"Ascension? You're gonna ascend all the replicators? Are you nuts!" Sheppard burst out, shuddering at the ramifications. The possibility of ascension had already stirred up several new religions on Earth centered on ascending.

"No, you must remember the planet of the Cloister. The offer we extend to the Replicators is as follows: Cease all hostilities immediately, check. Once and agreement has been made with the Tau'ri, the Replicators' consciousness' shall be placed in biological bodies. Just like you did with Doctor Weir, remember. Once completed the replicators will settle on the planet of the cloister, the Tau'ri will provide any transport required, as well as any supplies required for the replicator community until such a time comes they can support themselves. At the Cloister they shall follow the local rituals and ascended beings will evaluate and aid the replicators. If a replicator is found to be mentally suitable for ascension he or she will be aided by the ascended. Once ascended, they shall retain a position in a sub-plain of existence where they will be monitored by the other ascended. Over time they may be allowed to rise to the full plane of higher existence."

"Just to get a clear picture, what kind of timeframe are we looking at? And how many Replicators are there?" Emerson asked, cutting Sheppard off.

"The replicators have already agreed to the terms, which leaves the Tau'ri Federation. Once you agree as well, the conversion will commence, this might take several months, simply because of the sheer number of Replicators, nearly fifteen million. Transport should not be so hard and will depend on the rate of conversion. After that, the Tau'ri Federation might be required to supply the Cloister settlement for anywhere between five and twenty years. That's in normal years, with the threat of the Wraith gone, there is no more need for a time dilation bubble."

"I actually meant the ascending and such, but okay." Emerson said.

"What kind of assurances can you give us the Replicators won't turn on you once enough of them have been permitted into your plane of existence? I'd rather fight an already powerful enemy now, than leave a nearly undefeatable superpower for my grandkids." Sheppard said.

"John, as you very well know, we can see into someone more clearly than they can themselves. Part of ascension is letting all grudges, all hatred go, we will know when someone harbors ill thoughts."

"I must first confer with the leadership, we'll remain in position until a decision has been made." Sheppard said.

"Very well, I'll give you some privacy then. One more thing. Tell General O'Neill, Daniel Jackson and George Hammond say hi and are of the opinion this is the best solution."

"Hammond's up there as well?" Emerson asked.

"Yes." Chaya said before fading away.

"Phew." Sheppard said. "Let's stand down to condition two, I want a reinforced CAP on patrol, bring the rest back. I guess it's time to make a call."

"Let's do that in my cabin." Emerson said. "Lieutenant, get us an emergency conference with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the War Cabinet."

Both walked the twenty meters to Emerson's cabin. They had some time before the JCOS and WC were ready.

"Shit john, you knows what this means?" he asked trying to think of all the things that could happen.

"All those people who think ascension is reserved for those who either make it their life purpose or who for another reason deserve it, such as heroic fighting, will now get the idea, that if they misbehave enough, and threaten to kill as much people as possible, the Ascended will give them a hand."

"I meant all that military hardware out there." Emerson said. "Aurora's, millions of ancient drones, a copy of Atlantis, god knows what else they've got down there."

"Shit, that could turn the war with the Dominion in our favor."

Sheppard stood up, "Chaya!"

Chaya appeared almost immediately, "You have not yet made up your mind have you?"

"No, I need to know something. Will we get all the ships, the drones, the city, everything the replicators have now? Will we get it all intact without contest?"

"I never figured you to be such a materialistic person John. What has changed?" She asked in surprise.

"We're fighting a war against an enemy many times stronger than the replicators here, we need any help we can get. All that hardware out there might just be enough to sway the reluctant members of the leadership in your favor."

"My favor? Yours as well I'd say." She blinked again. "Yes, the Replicators promise to leave everything to the Tau'ri Federation."

"Good, I'll do my best to sell this deal to the leadership, thank you Chaya."

You're welcome, see you soon." Chaya said as she disappeared again, but not before General O'Neill got a sight of her.

"Sheppard, which ancient are you hanging out with now?"

"Chaya Sar, sir. Remember I told you about her when we swapped stories about all the ancients we had met?"

"I remember the beer being very cold."

"It was in Antarctica, that beer had been buried in the snow for over ten years."

"Right." O'Neill said.

Meanwhile the other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the War Cabinet had joined in as well. Some had visibly just awoken to attend the holo-conference.

"Mister President," Sheppard started, "In our attempt to wipe out the Replicator threat in the Pegasus Galaxy we've stumbled on an unexpected third party."

"Don't tell me you've gotten us into another war Sheppard." Ryan asked.

"Eh, no sir. On the contrary sir, we might just be able to pack up here, and take a sizable collection of ancient technology home with us."

This got everyone's attention, and they all straightened up at the idea of gaining large amounts of ancient technology.

"Quit teasing and get to the point General." Ryan said. Wherever the president was, it was either very late, or very early.

"Sir, the Ascended have intervened. They are offering the Replicators ascension in return for an end to the hostilities and no more fighting and hatred against anyone else. In return we have to help them resettle and supply such a settlement until it becomes self-sustainable. And they will leave everything to us. Everything!"

The JCOS and WC members were shocked by the idea of ascended Replicators.

"John," O'Neill started, "At times I have been accused of having an overactive imagination, but I can't shake the image of tiny replicator spiders running rampant throughout the higher plane of existence, them destroying everything with unimaginable powers, before coming down to consume our plane of existence."

"I understand sir, and I agree. But I have been informed such fears are unwarranted, apparently General Hammond and Doctor Jackson are of the opinion this is the best, and safest way. The Replicators should only be able to ascend once they have rid themselves of all aggressive and hostile thoughts and intent."

O'Neill clearly had trouble controlling his emotions upon hearing two of his friends had ascended. With a shaking voice he was able to create a question, "Have you spoken to them personally?"

"No sir, Chaya Sar relayed the message. I don't think she was lying about it sir."

"Mister President," O'Neill started, "the ascended don't lie, they may disguise their answer in riddles and tales, but they never lie."

"General, what exactly is considered aggressive and hostile? To the replicators, replication may be the same as fornication is for humans. It would be neither aggressive nor hostile." Secretary of defense Ricker asked. Several others nodded in agreement with the question.

"Well, I can't speak for this once the replicators are ascended, I don't know how the ascended realm works. But for the time they spend at the cloister they would be using flesh and blood bodies, unable to replicate, except perhaps through fornication, not sure about that either though." Sheppard said, drawing some chuckles from the chiefs of staff.

"General Sheppard, is there some way we could speak with an ascended being? Perhaps doctor Jackson of General Hammond?" Ryan asked.

"I'll try sir." Sheppard said as he looked around, "Chaya?" he said.

Mere seconds later Chaya appeared. "What is it John?"

"We'd like to talk to Doctor Jackson or General Hammond."

"Give me a minute." Chaya said. Once she had disappeared the members started talking with each other about what it could mean for the war and ascension in general.

"Mister President." Someone interrupted. He appeared to be everywhere around them

"Daniel! How've you been? What's up? You don't call, don't write." O'Neill mocked.

"Sorry Jack, I've been busy writing the new rules for the ascended realm." Daniel apologized.

"Really, it takes you that long to copy the prime directive from Star Trek?" O'Neill said sarcastically.

"It's a bit more complicated, the ascended like their rules, and they want a rule for every single event. There are those who prefer guidelines, but it just wouldn't work."

"I'm sorry to interrupt your reunion, perhaps you can continue it later," Ryan said, "Doctor Jackson, what kind of assurances can you give us the replicators won't take over the ascended realm through non aggressive or hostile actions or intent?"

"Ascended beings cannot multiply in the ascended realm. Most of you will be familiar with the tales of Heracles, the son of Zeus. Zeus, in fact, was an ascended ancient, his mother a mere mortal being. Heracles was conceived in the lower plain of existence and could not enter the ascended realm on his own. The replicators won't be able to multiply while in the ascended realm, and any sort of buildup on the normal plane of existence by the replicators would be detected and stopped. But this is of no importance. The need to replicate, to multiply, is derived from programming, nothing more. This programming would first be removed, as well as the aggressive and hostile programming their creators had originally implanted." Jackson explained.

"So you're gonna make them peace loving, tree hugging, hippies?" Sheppard concluded.

"Well, let's just say we're gonna give them the ability to develop their own personality without the hindrance of any old programming." Jackson replied.

"Okay Doctor Jackson, thank you for dropping by and explaining this to us." Ryan said.

"No problem mister president, I really feel this is the best solution. The ancients who created the replicators really feel responsible, on a level I have never seen before, there's really a concentrated effort to make this end well for all parties."

"I think we understand Daniel. Say, you mind popping by once in a while? We've got some catching up to do you know." O'Neill said.

Daniel nodded before fading away.

"Okay people, I've made up my mind." Ryan said. "I want a show of hands of those in favor for this proposal."

Nobody stuck up their hands, all watching the rest looking for someone to follow. O'Neill was the first to raise his hand, he was quickly followed by the vice-chairman and the general of the space forces. The secretary of defense and the other chiefs followed soon. The directors of the TFSA, TFCIA and TFBI followed quickly and were followed by the secretaries of State and Treasury. President Ryan was last nodding in approval of the unanimous vote.

"Okay." Ryan said. "General Sheppard, you have my approval to accept the ascended proposal with regards to the Replicator conflict, if you need anything signed, you know where to find me." The entire conversation would have been recorded and archived somewhere safe for use in history books and documentaries.

"Yes sir, I'll get right on it, thank you." Sheppard said.

The various connections were quickly terminated once the president signed off.

Sheppard turned to Emerson, "I guess I've redeemed myself for damaging your ship, Paul."

"I guess so."

"Chaya." Sheppard said as he walked out of the cabin towards the CIC, Emerson followed him. By the time they reached the CIC Chaya had joined him.

"Chaya, the president has accepted the ascended proposal to end the hostilities between the Replicators and the Tau'ri Federation, as well as the plan to relocate all replicators to the planet of the Cloister where the replicators can prepare themselves for ascension. The Tau'ri Federation will do its best to support these actions with provisions, transport and other means." Sheppard said formally.

"Thank you John. I suggest you join me and some others on the replicator settlement to confirm this solution and get started."

A lieutenant reported the ascended wall had disappeared and the replicator warships had stood down all weapons and shields and were returning to the settlement.

"Okay, I'll meet you there in, say, fifteen minutes?"

"Yes, you will be able to beam down to the control room once you are ready, I will await you there." Chaya said before she disappeared.

"Signal to the fleet, Stand down from battle stations, safe all weapons, set condition three, recall all fighters and set shields to minimum." Sheppard ordered. "Have the Enterprise and her escorts make for the settlement. The rest of the fleet is to assume a non-aggressive posture and remain on station until told otherwise."

A chorus of 'yes sir's' followed and not much later the Enterprise, her two escorting drone carriers and five battle cruisers were underway for the replicator settlement.

"Paul, I need a detail ready to assume command of the facilities on the surface."

"Sure thing, do you need a marine escort?"

"Ceremonial only, no more than half a dozen. Also contact Midway and have Larrin prepare a more extensive command team to be sent by stargate."

"You've got anyone in mind to command such a team?" Emerson asked.

"Larrin. It's not like she's got much to do anyways."

Ten minutes later the Enterprise had assumed a geostationary orbit over the replicator city.

"Sir, we've got a lock on the destination, are you ready for beam transport?"

Sheppard checked the team which had assembled around him. "Yes."

The team, which included six marines in ceremonial uniforms and about a dozen officers ready to interface with the ancient technology in the control room, was beamed away. They appeared in front of the stargate. They were awaited by Chaya and two other ascended as well as Oberoth with several replicators.

"John." Chaya greeted.

"Chaya." He replied.

"I believe you've met Oberoth, the leader of the Replicators."

"Yes. Unfortunately." John replied.

"Perhaps we can forget what happened between our two people's." Oberoth suggested.

"It's hard to forget someone sticking a hand in your head and screwing with ya."

An eerie silence followed.

"John." Chaya encouraged him.

"Fine, I guess we can move past it."

"Excellent." Chaya said with a smile.

"I see you've brought a team with you to assume command of the facilities on the surface." Oberoth said as he indicated the people standing behind John. "Perhaps we should get started with giving your people access to our main systems."

"That might be a good idea, lead the way." John replied.

John's earpiece activated as someone tried to contact him, "General Sheppard, this is Enterprise Actual."

John tapped his earpiece to answer the call, "Go ahead Actual."

"We've got four large hyperspace tracks bearing down on the planet, ETA 10 minutes, they are very large."

"Copy, I'll find out what it's about. In the meantime I want you to retreat to the rest of the fleet and leave one battle cruiser in orbit."

"Understood, Actual out."

"Oberoth, would you know anything about four objects bearing down on us?" John asked cautiously.

"Yes, I'll show you, come with me." Oberoth led Sheppard and Chaya to a screen showing the schematics of the entire city. It was much larger than Atlantis, even with the shipyards and facilities. As Oberoth tapped the screen it highlighted four empty areas within the city.

"When our recent conflict started to take on larger proportions we decided to secure the survival of our species by sending some of it away to lay low far away, waiting for a time where they could once again come to grow. As you know, the best base for a colony is a fully functioning city."

"What are you saying, what's coming?" Sheppard asked.

"We sent out four copies of Atlantis, they are now returning home."

"I see I've left you speechless." Oberoth observed.

"Quite." Sheppard managed. He tapped his earpiece, "Enterprise actual, Sheppard here."

"Enterprise actual here, what's up?"

"We've got some friends inbound, make sure all ships know we're friends now and they are to stand down."

"Copy that sir." There was a pause, "Sir, we just received word from Larrin. She's got a command team ready and is requesting permission to gate in."

"Granted, I'll make sure she's welcome. Sheppard out."

"Oberoth, you'll be receiving a wormhole any minute now, it's a larger command staff who'll establish a proper command of the facilities here. They will also help you transfer into flesh and blood bodies and take care of your transport to the cloister."

"Very well."

As on cue the stargate activated and once the wormhole was opened Larrin radioed in.

"Sheppard, are we clear to come through?"

"Yes Larrin, all clear."

Larrin stepped through the stargate no more than ten seconds later. She was followed by a dozen heavily armed marines.

"Nice company you keep." Sheppard said as he indicated the marines.

"S.O.P. Mister general." Larrin said mockingly. "Federation rule something something, all Federation military facilities need to have a permanent contingent of armed and trained military personnel."

"Right." Sheppard said as more people stepped through the stargate, most were technicians and were carrying their equipment with them which ranged from wrenches to tablet PC's capable of interfacing with ancient tech.

Oberoth stepped up to meet Larrin. "I am known as Oberoth, will you be the Federation commander of this facility?"

Larrin looked up at Sheppard who only nodded. "I Guess so. I'm Larrin, would you mind if my techs go run free through the city?"

"They are free to do so. I must point out there are several ships about to land within the city, they might want to hold off on straying too far from the city ship until after the other ships have landed."

"Okay. You're putting your Aurora's down? We can take control of them in orbit you know." Larrin said.

"He's not talking about Aurora's, nor any other warships."

"Then wha…" Larrin stopped once she realized what he meant.

"Four city ships are about to land." Sheppard said. "Now that the both of you have been introduced I suggest you get to work while I enjoy the sight of a city ship landing."

Sheppard didn't wait for any response and simply walked to the balcony at the back of the control tower.

As Sheppard entered the balcony he saw the first city ship hover at about a mile height, it had already slowed down and was slowly settling down. It reminded him of the landing he performed with Atlantis, it wasn't exactly as controlled as this one though. A loud boom signed the entrance of the second city ship entering the atmosphere, he could see the glowing shields of the ship as they cooled down from the entry.

"Beautiful isn't it?" someone asked.

"Chaya." Sheppard said as he turned around. Chaya approached him and kissed him. "Hello to you too."

"I've been wanting to do that for a while."

"I can tell." He said as he smiled.

"Really?"

"Yeah, must be that connection lingering around from last time."

"How 'bout we make some new ones?" Chaya suggested.

"Great idea." Sheppard said. He looked over at the crowded control room. "My place, ten minutes?"

"I'll be there." Chaya responded before she disappeared.

Sheppard walked back into the control room and started down the stairs. "Larrin, dial Midway, I'll be there if you need me. Once you get settled in prepare an initial report for me so I can update the brass."

"Got it Sheppard, give me, eh, 48 hours."

"Make it 72." Sheppard said after he glanced at the balcony. The stargate opened and he immediately walked through.

"My my, what a generosity." Larrin muttered to the shimmering pool.

Colonial presidential bunker

Government plaza, Caprica City, Caprica

14.40 hours, March 26

"Bill, you're not going!" Roslin yelled as Adama stormed out of the president's office.

"Why huh?! Why can't I go retrieve my son's body?" Adama replied.

"It's to fracking dangerous! Think about Lee's children, they've already lost their father, you want them to lose their grandfather too?"

"I'll bring my flight suit! And a medic. And a secondary raptor!" Adama replied.

"That's not what I'm talking about and you know it!"

"I've got a chance to get my son back so I can bury him, give him a proper send off to the gods. Give his kids a grave to mourn their father!" Adama said with tears forming in his eyes.

"Thousands of families want to bury their little boy or girl but can't, why do you have to when it's so dangerous!"

"Because I can, that's why. Because I'm an Admiral with the colonial fleet and have the opportunity to do so."

"Well," Roslin didn't know what to say, "If you're going, so am I!"

"What the hell for!?"

"Ehm, ehm" Roslin didn't know what she could say. As she scanned the room for clues she saw a picture of the two of them, taken at a Cylon war remembrance, they had placed a wreath to remember the dead. "To place a wreath at the CIC, to remember the sacrifice the crewmembers of the Pegasus, and all other ships in the fleet we lost up there, made."

Adama sighed. "My raptor's leaving in twenty minutes, you better hustle to get into that flight suit. I'm not gonna wait."

"Damn you!" she yelled as she scrambled to get a secretary to arrange a wreath and a flight suit for her. Once her secretary had gotten the order she hurried after Adama, her protection detail following close, the lead agent objecting vigorously.

Fifty minutes later the two raptors approached the battlefield. It was a carnage consisting primarily of a dozen Dominion battle cruisers, but also the distinct wreckage of the Pegasus. The Pegasus had been split in three distinct parts due to the central location of the self-detonated nukes. One hanger bay was flung into a Dominion light cruiser, which had stopped the hanger bay, but destroyed the cruiser. The other hanger bay had been flung away from the battle and was still on a course for nowhere. The third part of the Pegasus, the alligator-like head which contained the CIC had rammed a Dominion battle cruiser head-on. The back half of the battle cruiser was still stuck into the front of the Pegasus.

As the raptors got closer they had a close up view of the remains. The forward section was covered with breaches as hostile weapons fire had punched through the armor and hull. The dozens of breaches made entry a cakewalk.

Adama, who was seated beside the pilot, gave the pilot instructions to circle the ship to search for the best entry point. As they neared the observation deck Adama instructed the pilot to take a closer look. As the neared to about ten meters the pilot held steady. Adama activated the searchlight and aimed it at the observation deck. Some trash appeared to be floating inside the deck. Without warning a face floated in view, quickly followed by the rest of the body. The crewmember appeared to be dead. Adama leaned in to have a better look, "Strange," he muttered.

"What do you mean?" The pilot asked.

"What's a deckhand doing at the observation deck during a battle? With a marine carbine?"

"That is... Whoah!" the pilot called out as a Dominion body also floated into view, bumping the Colonial out of the way.

"Perhaps from that battle cruiser." Adama stated. "Raptor two, commence a thorough life signs scan of both Pegasus and the Dominion cruiser, start with Pegasus."

"Affirmative Admiral."

"Let's continue the search for the best entry point." Adama said.

Eventually they reached the aft part of the wreckage, where the rest of the ship used to be. The sight surprised Adama, the CIC destruction shelter had protected the CIC and adjacent corridors and rooms against the damage from the detonating nukes. The destruction shelters had long been a part of Colonial Battlestars. At first, only the medical ward was located inside a destruction shelter. Since the discovery of lighter and cheaper, as well as stronger materials, the CIC and Flag Bridge, engineering, and the four main crew areas were all located within their own destruction shelters. The Engineering section appeared to have been destroyed by internal explosions, probably the reactors, while the crew areas were all vaporized by the detonation of the nukes aboard. Only the CIC was far enough away to not be destroyed by the detonations.

"Raptor one, this is raptor 2. We're getting very strong interference here. So far we've only been able to get down one or two decks on Pegasus, all clear so far. The battle cruiser's got some pockets of air, but none with life."

"Copy that raptor 2. Group up with us and prepare for boarding at a breach near dorsal gun turret three, we'll enter there and make our way down to the CIC." Adama said.

"Copy, we're on our way."

A couple of minutes later both raptors had touched down just a couple of meters away from the breach which was just three meters across. Both raptors decompressed their compartments and opened their hatches. Adama, Roslin and a dozen marines clad in flight suits got out leaving only the pilots. All marines carried the standard Marine carbine, while Adama only had the standard Colonial Fleet sidearm. Roslin only carried the wreath.

Eight marines led the way, Adama escorted Roslin and the other four marines secured their rear. As they stepped through the breach Adama warned Roslin for a blob of plasma which hadn't exploded yet. Once they were through the breach and onto the deck of a corridor they activated their magnetic boots. At Adama's instructions the lead marines made for a hatch, not twenty meters away. They turned the wheel on the hatch, but the hatch wouldn't open. They pulled as hard as they could, but got nowhere.

"Now what?" Roslin asked.

"Plan B." Adama said, he walked over to another hatch, this one had CAUTION stamped on it.

"What's in there?"

"It's where the rounds for dorsal gun turret three are loaded into the elevator that will bring them to the guns from the elevators which bring them up from the magazines."

"And that will get us where?"

"Deeper down into the ship. There's a small shaft for emergencies. It would have allowed the crew to lift rounds to the guns from the magazines in case of a power failure to the elevator. It's usually closed for obvious reasons, but we should be able to open it from this side." Adama explained as he opened the hatch. As he climbed into the room he was surprised as he saw the opened shaft. He looked down it to see of all hatches had been opened.

"You already opened it? That was quick." Roslin said in surprise.

"No, it already was which is strange." Adama commented. Four marines started climbing down the shaft. "Pegasus didn't suffer any power loss to her forward sections, these guns were fully operational until the nukes went off." He explained. "Let's go down." He motioned for the hatch as several more marines climbed down.

The first marines had already cleared the exit of the shaft, just one deck above the main forward magazine, they had also cleared the adjacent corridor and waited for the Admiral and President.

"Where to now sir?" A marine asked.

"Aft. We'll go through the C-deck small-arms locker, the adjacent firing range, a mess hall and an aid post, which should bring us just four frames aft of the CIC, and four decks below. Just twenty meters further there are stairs which should bring us to the same deck the CIC's on. From there it should be a cakewalk."

They made it to the small-arms locker without incident. Once they got there though they saw plasma marks on the hatch. Adama sent two marines around a corner to check it out. Once the marines got back they reported two dead Dominions, killed by small caliber rounds, most likely those from a Colonial fleet service weapon. They didn't find any dead crewmembers though.

Two marines opened the hatch to the locker and went in followed by four more marines to clear it out first. Once they gave the all-clear Adama and Roslin entered the locker as well. The locker itself appeared to have been cleared out. Some bullets were lying on the floor, but all cases had been removed or emptied.

While Roslin and Adama were surveying the locker two marines were at the hatch to the firing range, it wouldn't open.

"Sir, the door's locked, the gauge says there's still some air in there."

Adama walked over and took a look at the gauge. It showed yellow, but very close to red. He got a flashlight from his vest and turned it on before aiming it through the window which was built into the hatch. The bundle of light searched the room before finally resting on several dead crewmembers.

"There's no one alive in there, override the lockout." Adama ordered.

The marines did as asked and they managed to get the door open. A gust of wind rushed out as the air was emptied from the range. Several marines first cleared out the range while two marines checked the dead crewmembers. "Sir, they appeared to have either suffocated or passed from dehydration."

"Poor souls." Roslin said.

"Must've gotten stuck in here without supplies or a way out. We may find many more like this."

Roslin just nodded. She got the way out Adama offered her. She didn't take it.

"Let's push on." Roslin said, pushing the horror that might be coming out of her mind.

As they exited the range they got into a corridor which led to the mess hall. Again they found several crewmembers dead. Some of them appeared the have been killed by Dominion weapons fire. The dead were composed of aircrew members, pilots, a CIC officer and two cooks, indicating a Dominion boarding action and somewhat organized counterattack. The rest appeared to have suffocated quickly. At the end of the corridor they found the hatch to the mess hall. It wasn't locked and the marines were able to open it to secure the area. They were confronted by a mix of dead Dominion and Pegasus crewmembers. Some on both sides had been shot but nearly half appeared to have suffocated.

They quickly crossed the mess hall and entered another corridor. At the end of the corridor they neared a staircase. It wasn't the one they were looking for, this one led down, but they did have to pass through. The marines tried to open the hatch but once again found a pressurized area.

"Sir, the gauge shows green, there's still plenty of air behind it, what do you want us to do?"

Adama grabbed a hammer from one of the marines and banged it on the hatch. He did it a couple of times and they waited a couple of minutes for a reply to come. Eventually none came and Adama ordered it opened. Instead of overriding the safeties and getting a gust of air in the face the marines placed a small charge at an overhead vent. Once it blew the air was quickly vacated without harming any of them.

The marines opened the hatch and entered it. There they found a dead crewmember. One of the marines rolled the crewmember over to search for injuries.

"Sir, she blew her brains out." The marine reported as Adama stood over him.

"All hatches show red on the other side, she must've been trapped in here for a while before the thirst and hunger got to her."

"How long do you think she was trapped in here?" Roslin asked.

"Probably not so long. Most of the air was still good so she didn't use much of it. Probably did it after a day or two, with no way of getting out you're dead anyways, might as well take the easiest way out." A marine commented.

"Let's get moving. Marine take that hatch." Adama said.

The marine and some of his comrades opened the hatch indicated by Adama and pushed on.

They quickly found the aid station, it had been raided for supplies but no dead or wounded appeared to have been there.

Not much later they reached the staircase they needed to get up to the same deck CIC was on. The staircase itself didn't show any sign of damage or combat. Once they opened the door and got onto the corridor leading to the CIC they were surrounded by the signs of battle. Dozens of bodies lay across one another, both Dominion and Pegasus personnel. Scorch marks on the walls indicated the ferocity of combat and amount of grenades used. Some of the dead appeared to have died of suffocation after being wounded.

"Watch out for unexploded ordnance, hands gripping grenades and shit." The lead marine warned.

Despite the warning the marines made good progress heading for the CIC, where they arrived not much later. The only thing that separated them from the corridor adjacent the CIC was a security door. Currently it was closed and the glass was somehow darkened, light wouldn't penetrate the darkness at all.

A couple of marines had gathered at the door while waiting for Adama to arrive and order the breach. Instead of ordering a breach Adama pulled out a keycard. The marine, somewhat stunned, swiped the card and got a green light indicating an accepted card. As the doors slid open a Dominion towered over the marine who had just turned away to return the card. Before anyone could do anything, the Dominion fell upon the marine taking him down to the ground with him. The other marines didn't waste a second and opened fire at close range. After over a hundred bullets had turned the Dominion's head and back into mush Adama got the sense to call cease fire. The marine was pulled from underneath the Dominion unscathed and the Dominion was turned over. The Dominion soldier appeared to have suffocated a long time ago.

As everyone recovered from the fright they pushed into the corridor adjacent to the CIC. Dozens of bodies lay across their path. From the quick glance at the area Adama concluded it had contained quite a number of people camping out, clothes and rations lay everywhere. The doors giving access to the CIC had been destroyed, the glass shattered into thousands of pieces. Surprisingly there weren't any bodies in the CIC, only piles of clothes. In the back of the CIC a secondary access hatch had its window blown out by Dominion weapons fire. Two marines who cleared the corridor behind the hatch reported there had been a hull breach there.

"Where are all the bodies?" Roslin asked.

"Sir! I've got Admiral's insignia here." A marine said as he held up a jacket with Admiral's insignia on the collar.

Adama immediately made his way over to the marine. He grabbed the jacket and immediately noticed the blood stained hole in the stomach area. The marine had grabbed the nearest pair of pants and searched the pockets. He got some stuff from it. He held it out for Adama, "Anything familiar sir?"

"Adama searched through the stuff, he found a lighter. "Yes, these are Lee's belongings. This is where he died." Adama said as he held the lighter in his hands. Eventually he transferred the lighter to one of the pockets on the flight suit. He did the same with the viper wings, battlestar commander badge, advanced tactical training badge and the admiral's insignia. He'd give those to Lee's kids once they were old enough to earn them.

"Where are the bodies?" Roslin asked.

"I don't know, they should've been here. All his belongings are here." Adama said as he looked around trying to get a feel for the last moments of his son. "I guess the CIC was being attacked by those Dominions," Adama said as he pointed at a group of dominion near a corner. "In the battle, someone must've shot the glass of that hatch, removing all the air. Lee and the rest either died because of the battle, or the lack of air."

"That doesn't explain the lack of bodies around here." Roslin said. "Unless, you think." She started but didn't finish.

"No way. He couldn't have. Do you think he did it?"

"What? Ascended? It is the only explanation for what happened." Roslin said.

"Perhaps. But why didn't they help that crewwoman in the staircase?"

"Perhaps she was too quick with blowing her brains out? Perhaps those who remained here could have saved her?"

"Doesn't matter now anyway." Adama said. He turned to a marine holding a camera, "Are you about done?"

"Just one more minute sir." The marine replied. Another marine retrieved the hard drives containing the logs and navigational codes from a storage bay. Adama emptied the safe which contained the handwritten logs, some reports and a handwritten letter by the president. Het put it all in a pocket of his flight suit.

Roslin sought a place to place the wreath.

"Okay everyone, let's move out. Same route and formation as the way in." Adama said.

The way out was uneventful, some more photos were made.

Once they got to the hull they entered the waiting raptors and headed back for Caprica city.

Atlantis

SigInt division, Defense Intelligence Agency

0942 hours, May 1

The SigInt division was tasked with gathering and understanding all kinds of signals and digital information. It included operating a large amount of secretive satellites, as well as operating in cyberspace. Most of the twelve thousand members of the SigInt division were housed somewhere on Earth, but a small elite group of experienced analysts and operators were stationed on Atlantis. Atlantis offered an immediate connection to all satellites in use, as well as the information contained in the Ancient database. Furthermore the same database could be used to decode, translate or interpret information. Atlantis was also the place where all intelligence agencies worked together, no boundaries were present which made working together and sharing information much easier. It was also the only fully neural workplace in existence, users simply logged on using their ATA gene. The neural environment was actually similar to a normal office floor, except for the lack of computers or any means of data input, everything was done by mental command. Beyond that the staff still walked around and made small talk at the water cooler.

All separate intelligence divisions had their own division watch commander who reported to the general watch commander, usually a Colonel.

One of the SigInt officers was reviewing a data stream coming in from Caprica. The data had been recorded by a very old satellite, somehow it had remained invisible to the Dominion, survived all battles and debris and was still operational. It appeared to have caught a holographic conference between some Dominion on the surface and some aboard a mother ship. This wasn't so unusual, holographic transmissions between Dominion warships in orbit and on the surface were quite common, but this transmission carried a special kind of encryption which grabbed the interest of the officer. Furthermore, the mother ship in question had arrived just a few days ago and appeared to be escorted by two other mother ships and a fleet of smaller warships.

The officer downloaded the data to his personal space and had the server decrypt the data so he could load it into a simulation program. The process should have been near instantaneously, but after a minute the server returned a 'Decrypt failure'. Only slightly surprised by the result he made a request to his division watch commander for time on Atlantis' database for decryption. The request was almost immediately approved. The Atlantis database was capable of handling thousands of requests at once, it would take quite a lot to create a cue.

Within a minute the data was decrypted and loaded into the simulation program. The officer entered the simulation and activated the translation. He now had the entire conversation at his hands, he could walk through it and listen in to everything that was being said, and a special program translated everything into English. The Dominion was formal to each other. One of the Dominion from the surface appeared to be explaining upcoming offensives on the twelve colonies. The SigInt officer immediately flagged the conversation as important and added several tags. He also started a facial recognition program to search for the identities of the Dominion. Though the database on the Dominion was small it did include several million faces, including high ranking military and civilian leaders.

The Dominion speaker appeared done and took a seat. A dominion form the mother ship drew the attention of the others. He started explaining a route of sorts. The SigInt officer didn't have the required knowledge to positively identify the galaxies and galactic clusters being mentioned. He made sure a more knowledgeable person would take a look at it. The speaker also included a file to his conversation. Fortunately the file was intercepted and the SigInt officer attached it to the transmission, he didn't understand what it was about, but it seemed important enough.

After about twenty minutes the conversation ended and everyone greeted one of the Dominion on the surface before disconnecting. The SigInt officer checked the facial recognition program and nearly let out a 'fuck'. He added a priority one classification and sent the entire conversation off to his superiors.

War cabinet meeting

1705 hours

The daily war cabinet meeting had been postponed twice already and a third postponement seemed imminent as the president was already five minutes late without anyone knowing where he was exactly.

A marine at the door called everyone to attention as the president walked in at a brisk speed. "Take your seat." He said as he loosened his jacket. "Sorry for the delay, that peace coalition's a real pain in the ass."

Ryan ordered some of the papers which had been prepared for him and found the agenda for the meeting which he looked over briefly. "Okay, first order of business. State, what's going on with the Selgovae and Novantae?" Ryan asked secretary of state Audrey Keller.

"The reports brought by the army about the events on Novantae, the lead up, the massacre and the somewhat disastrous armed recon by the para's, has brought about quite some public uproar with their citizens." The armed recon by the para's had gone wrong pretty quickly. The para's had been in town for just long enough to learn a new leader had taken over after the last one passed away. This new leader did not appreciate the Selgovae settlement and as a way to 'entertain' his new minions had organized the slaughter of the colony.

"Let me guess, they want us to bomb them from the Bronze Age back into the Stone Age?" General Jumper of the air force asked.

"Actually, no. they want the exact opposite. The Selgovae are quite strong believers of rehabilitation instead of pure punishment. Despite the shock of the brutality and size, the Selgovae wish to reeducate the tribe which carried out the attacks."

"How the hell do they see this become reality?" Ryan asked. He understood a race could be peaceful, but everyone had their limits.

"If we were to provide about a battalion of troops to act as guards and security personnel, they would be willing to take care of the rehabilitation side of things. They also offered to pay for it all, including the housing and maintenance of the troops." Keller said.

"Is this even legal?" The president's Chief of Staff asked.

"It's never been done before if that's what you mean." Keller said.

"He's on to something. We can't just lock up an entire tribe, that's no due process, no fair trial and whatnot." Ryan said. "We'd need either some sort of conviction or an Alliance mandate to carry this out."

"The Alliance Criminal Court?" O'Neill suggested.

"Hasn't worked yet, it's basically a joke." The secretary of justice joined in. he had been searching for some sort of law or regulation to allow such a thing. "The Selgovae could file a claim with the General Council against this tribe. It would be more like a political trial but it would be fast and efficient. It would also allow a wide range of sentencing options."

"Keller, I'd like you to inform the Selgovae of this option. We will support this sentence and are willing to provide the troops once an alliance ruling has ordered so. In the meantime I want you to inform the Nox, Asgard, Colonials and the Jaffa and ask them for their opinion."

"Yes sir." Keller said as she made some notes.

"Alright, next order of business. General O'Neill. That's all it says."

"Yes sir, it was a bit of a late addition, but an important one. Earlier today an old satellite over the Colonies picked up a conversation between a number of high-ranking Dominion leaders. The conversation was partly about their plans for their Colonial campaign and their campaign against Earth. The other part was about their itinerary back towards the dominion controlled territories. Normally this wouldn't be so important, except for the campaign plans. But it's who were present which makes it so important. We've positively identified General Willie, five of the Emperor's sons, as well as 75% or more matches on another seven sons of the Emperor, and the Emperor himself. These ID's, combined with the three extra mother ships makes it more than likely the Dominion Emperor is in fact at the Colonies as we speak and we have his full itinerary for the next four months."

"You wanna kill him." Ryan guessed.

"Yes sir." O'Neill said. "Considering the current political climate my staff has drawn up plans to engage the three Dominion mother ships after the cease fire is over. Unfortunately, this limits us to an attack outside our own galaxy, and it brings some more risks."

O'Neill stood up and walked over to a screen, it projected the course the mother ships would take. "The last time the targets are in subspace is here, at the N45-RA Nebula, beyond that point we have no way of attacking the Dominion mother ships. Therefore we have to create an opportunity. At this moment, and with your approval, General Dex is assembling three, 100 men strong strike forces who will embark on three stealth and phase shifting capable Littoral Combat Ships, modified 306 class ships belonging to the 160th 'Night Stalkers' special operations aviation regiment. These ships will set course for the Nebula and shift out of phase while waiting for the mother ships to arrive. Once those mother ships arrive, which is at the fourth of June, 2 days before our referendum, each LCS will dock with a mother ship at a location from where they can easily strike at the Hyper drive engines and capture or kill the high value targets aboard each ship."

"If we destroy the hyper drives on all three mother ships simultaneously they will drop out of hyperspace into normal space, where we can attack them. If we plan this right we can have our fleet there to attack them. The only problem being, by the time the cease fire ends, at June 11th, the mother ships are already 70 million light-years away from earth. The only way to reach them is to have our fleet jump to the ambush site, we simply cannot match the speed of three mother ships in hyperspace. Next problem, when the Dominion first invaded our galaxy, General Carter took out a mother ship by blowing up a hyper drive core with a ZPM. This has made the entire region unstable, making FTL jumps dangerous. To jump our ships over 70 million light-years away we need to use the jumpgates we've constructed at the center of the galaxy, only there we can provide enough power, unfortunately, the trajectory leads us straight through the damaged region, and we need to jump around it. This leaves us only a few options and my staff has worked out the most feasible one." O'Neill pushed some buttons and a map with the strike plan appeared.

"Operation Longbow has set us up with ten Drone command Ships in the Hydra supercluster. This is in fact close to the path the Target is taking. July 17th is the date the Dominion motherships are passing near the area currently being patrolled by our Drone ships, designated as waypoint Bravo. If we use the jump gates to send our fleet close by we would only need to spend about two weeks in hyperspace to reach the location and execute the ambush, the jump insertion point is indicated as Alpha. In order to extract our forces we'll need to set up a jump gate at a wormhole capable of giving us the required amount of power. The nearest one is indicated as Charlie, it is approximately eleven days away by hyperspace. Once we have confirmation from the fleet that they are in fact underway to waypoint Charlie we will send some supply ships with escorts to set up the jump gates. From waypoint Charlie we can jump our fleet back home. Total mission duration, 26 days assuming all goes well and no major delays are encountered, date of return, August 12th."

"Isn't that right around the revised arrival schedule for the Dominion fleet? How will this influence our plans?" Ryan asked.

"Yes, we expect the Dominion to make a dash for the Alpha site the moment the cease fire ends. Their first scout and probe units would arrive during the second week of July, with the first large assault somewhere around the 15th. Our current plan, which is to gradually increase the amount of ships to lure in more and more Dominion ships will have to be scrapped. At least until the fleet returns from their mission we will have to avoid combat with the Dominion fleet, and let the ground forces take care of any landings. All major cities have been equipped with city shields and ample troops for defense. Earth has its own planetary shield in addition to the numerous city shields currently being used as back-ups. Only after the return of our fleet can we go on the offensive and clear the local systems of Dominion units."

"How many ships do you want to send General?" The secretary of state asked.

"Our current plan calls for the use of the Enterprise, Hammond, Prometheus, Hayes, Sumner and Arizona Carrier Battle groups as well as their escorts. Also required are the first through eight Battle Groups, the Aurora Group augmented by as many Aurora's currently being upgraded at Midway due to their recent acquisition, which should be around the ten."

Everyone, including the chiefs of staff with the exception of general Allison from the Space Forces, took a minute to let it sink in. At the moment the Tau'ri Fleet consisted of exactly six Carrier Battle Groups, eight Battle Groups, a number of unattached smaller ships and a number of Aurora's.

"Perhaps I should ask which ships you're not sending into this one, that list would be shorter I think." Ryan said.

"That's correct. Only about two dozen battle cruisers and the same amount of 306's as well as a single 308 will remain in the local galaxies. We're even pulling the third Battle Fleet out of the Pegasus galaxy into this." General Allison jumped in.

"What about our orbital defenses? Defense satellites, weapons platforms etcetera?" General Maynard asked.

O'Neill looked over at his successor as Chief of Staff for the Space Forces. It was something they had missed during the planning of the mission. All the space based defenses would be destroyed without cover from the fleet. Those defenses were a crucial part in the defenses of the home systems.

Seeing that neither had an answer the Secretary of defense offered an option. "Would it possible to cloak or phase those defenses? Perhaps bring them closer together if there aren't enough cloak systems on hand."

"That might actually be a good idea, though indeed, the amount of cloak systems would probably be the bottleneck." O'Neill said. "I'll have Carter sort it out."

"General O'Neill, I'd like to get back to the amount of ships we'll send." Ryan said. "What are our expected losses, and how will this influence our ability to combat the Dominion in the Milky Way galaxy?"

"Operation Valkyrie, which is a temporary codename, will include 148 ships, ranging from 306 class ships up to the carriers and including 14 Aurora's, and nearly 400 squadrons of 302's, Falcon's and Vipers. The amount of crewmembers and pilots aboard all the ships is over the 100.000. We'll be facing three mother ships, and several hundred escort warships. We hope that because of the distance the Dominions will not be on their guard, and with the surprise on our side we will be able to overwhelm their defenses and take them out while losing less than half the fleet. This is a worst case scenario if, in fact we have the element of surprise. Best case, we'll lose ten percent or less. If we do not have the element of surprise, if the Dominion find out, we might lose the entire fleet, and the war with it." O'Neill said.

"And by loss you mean gone, destroyed right?" the secretary of state asked.

"Yes, that's not including damaged ships. Most ships will be damaged to some degree, although the figure does include those ships which will require more than six months to repair." O'Neill said.

"How about the defense of the Sol system and the other local systems?" the SecDef asked.

"If we lose more than 30 percent, we won't be able to project power beyond the Sol system, if we lose 50 percent or more we won't be able to project power within the Sol system without outside support." Allison said.

"Outside support being the Asgard and Free Jaffa, correct?" Ryan asked.

"Asgard, Nox, Free Jaffa, Ancients, Ghost Empire, and hell even the Colonials would need to help us." Allison said.

"Why not just break the truce early and attack at our earliest convenience?" Arnie van Damm, the President's Chief of Staff asked.

"Aside from the president's impeachment the next day?" the Secretary of state asked.

"If that's what it takes to deliver them a serious blow I'm willing to risk it." Ryan said.

"That's not it sir." O'Neill said. "In order to execute this strike we need to eliminate the hyper drives of the Dominion mother ships. This has to be done from the inside. If we don't disable their hyperdrives they may just run once we start winning. That's what the spec. op assault is for, to prevent their escape, and find the Dominion leaders for a 100 percent confirmed kill."

"We'd also run the risk of Dominion reinforcements being called in from nearby systems." Allison added.

"I get it. General O'Neill, you spoke of multiple options, which other options are there?" Ryan asked.

"The next available option is in November, and the one after that is in July next year." O'Neill said. "However, we cannot be certain the Dominion will completely keep to their itinerary. As it is, we are running a risk, but it's one worth taking, and with our ships attached to theirs we can be updated on their positions."

"And our fleet would have been engaged for a while." Allison added.

"I understand." Ryan nodded. "What's the security on the operation?"

"Sir, operation Valkyrie will be classified Top Secret-black. Only the people in this room, General Emerson, General Dex, the commander of the support group and a small team of planners will have clearance for the mission itself. We won't inform the house or senate until after the strike is completed. No one may know about this, not our secretaries, confidantes or spouses. The battle group commanders will be given orders orders for a rendezvous at the jumpgates. Once the jump is completed they will be briefed by General Emerson. CICC-MW and CINC-PEG will only be informed about the requisition of their fleets. If the Dominion find out what we're doing we are screwed."

"So this is it." Ryan said.

"Yes sir."

Ryan looked at the secretary of defense, after a second he got a nod from him. He moved on to the Secretary of State whom also nodded. He went round the table and everyone confirmed their agreement with a nod.

"Okay, do it." Ryan said. "Operation Valkyrie is green-lit."

Private quarters, CINC-PEG

Midway station

0423 hours, May 3

General Sheppard was woken by the chime of a top secret message arriving at his console. Assuming it to be important he put on some pants and a shirt before taking a seat at the console. As his authorization was verified and the message decoded and opened he grabbed a glass of water. He took a sip and nearly spat it all out as he read the message.

"Anything wrong john?" Chaya asked form the bed.

"Kind of yeah. They're taking the third battle group as well as any and all Aurora's we can make operational within a month. I'm gonna call O'Neill." Sheppard said as he got a jacket from the floor before he walked out of the room.

Two minutes later he returned.

"What did O'Neill say?" Chaya asked.

"Top secret, that's all he would say."

"I'm gonna have to check in with the Ascended council today, you want me to ask them if they know anything?"

"I doubt it would matter much. If O'Neill wants to keep it from me he has a good reason for it." Sheppard said. "When are you leaving?"

"I'm ready now, and it's only for an hour or two. Are you going back to sleep?"

"No, I'm already awake, I think I'll go for a run and a workout at the gym."

"Okay, see you soon." Chaya said.

Chaya started to glow in order to ascend, but she didn't change into an ascended being.

"Anything wrong?" Sheppard asked.

"I can't ascend, I don't know why" she said as she took a step towards the bed.

Before Sheppard could react she fell down, halfway on the bed.

"Chaya!" Sheppard said as he rushed over. She moaned softly in response. Not satisfied, Sheppard picked her up and made for the door.

On their way to the infirmary the few people who were in the way were told to get out of the way. After a minute or two he reached the medical center and the nurse on duty immediately called for a doctor. The doctor arrived quickly as well as several more nurses. Chaya was placed on a bed and a medical scanner was brought in position.

"What happened general?" the doctor asked.

"She collapsed as she tried to access the higher plane."

"Is she ill?"

"No, nothing I'm aware of."

"Okay, we'll figure out what she's got. Just take a seat over there and I'll be back to you when I've got something." The doctor said.

Sheppard did as asked and a curtain was placed around the bed.

Twenty minutes later the doctor walked up to him.

"How is she?"

"She's fine. She's conscious and responsive. Her physiology made it somewhat difficult for us to ascertain what caused the fainting, but we've found out eventually."

"What was it?"

"Well, apparently you haven't been obeying your own rules, more specifically the Rubber Law."

"Come again?"

"She's pregnant general. Congratulations, you're gonna be a dad." The doctor said.

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