Neither Stargate nor Battlestar Galactica is mine. Otherwise, we'd have seen more Tau'ri ship designs!
Red Death: I've checked and rechecked the rules and guidelines and I don't see the restriction you're referring to. That said I answer publicly posted questions publicly because others might be interested in the answer as well. Thanks for the feedback!
tco99123: YMMV. Fact is that the Hak'tyl have representation on the Council. I'm just playing with it.
Everybody else: Thanks for all the feedback. I apologize it took so long to get this chapter posted, and even then, it's not really all that meaty for an update. That said, we're moving into the endgame, and I hope to pick up the pace. Thanks for all the continued support!
"Welcome aboard the Legacy of Selmak class Star Cruiser Pride of Egeria." Malek smiled at the Tau'ri officers as the transporter rings retracted back into the floor. "I believe you already know Anise? She is acting as my second for this mission."
"Glad to be here." Paul Davis replied. "You already know Sam and Cam. Colonel Gant currently commands the Odyssey, with her is Captain Ambrose. Captain Satterfield is one of Sam's officers aboard the Hammond. Admiral Adama of the Battlestar Galactica commands the small fleet holding position outside, while Lee Adama represents their civilian government."
"I believe you already know my son, Rya'c and Ishta of the Hak'tyl." Teal'c spoke, introducing his own companions.
"Admiral, Mr. Adama, welcome." The Tok'ra smiled at the newcomers before turning to the others. "If you will all follow me, I've arranged a short tour."
"Selmak," Cameron Mitchell mused as they walked away from the ring transporter. "You named it after General Carter?"
"Indeed." Anise replied. "In fact the plans for this type of vessel was found among his personal effects. He had apparently been working on it in private prior to his demise. Along with plans to upgrade most of our space fleet. Sadly, the only ones completed was for this vessel and an upgrade kit for the Deathgliders."
"Selmak's rationale was simple." Malek explained. "For thousands of years, the Ha'tak had been an instrument of Goa'uld oppression, fighting their wars and transporting their armies. Endeavors which the Tok'ra are not interested in. Hence, to further distance the Tok'ra from this legacy, Selmak envisioned a new class of vessel to replace the Ha'tak as a frontline warship."
"While the Ha'tak was still useful in support roles, particularly due to its cargo capacity," Anise continued. "Selmak intended the new warship to be the new face of the Tok'ra. Identifying us clearly to friends and foes alike."
"It is very compact compared to the Ha'tak, only an eighth in size, nevertheless it is more powerful." Malek spoke, pride evident in his voice. "Forty-two upgraded staff cannons similar to those Anubis fielded are spaced around the hull to provide all around coverage. Eighty-four rapid fire plasma repeaters provide protection against smaller fast moving craft."
"I remember that being a problem for Ha'taks." Cam quipped.
"Indeed. But not for this ship." Malek smiled before continuing. "Then there's our primary armament. Six heavy Ion Cannons patterned after the Tollan design."
Somebody whistled. The long gone Tollans had been a powerful and advanced people until Anubis turned their arrogance and isolation against them. Up until then, Ion Cannons capable of destroying Goa'uld warships with contemptible ease had been the lynchpin of their planetary defense system. SGC scientists later found that the Tollan design shared several similarities with the Asgard one. While that had raised many eyebrows, the fact remained that producing either one was beyond Earth's capabilities without the use of the Asgard core.
"This is all interesting, I'm sure." Lee Adama spoke up in an attempt to direct the conversation towards something he considered useful. "But what do you know about the unknowns our recon flight tangled with?"
Admiral Adama remained silent while the others exchanged uncertain glances. Finally, Malek answered.
"Very little, I'm afraid. We suspect them to be Lucian Alliance. The fact that they operate Goa'uld equipment, and the fact that neither of the other two major factions we know to do so is claiming responsibility, is telling. We have also ascertained from our spies that the Lucians have a hidden base in this sector. But that is all. We have no definitive proof."
"So what now?" Lee Adama asked again.
"We're still waiting on our own intelligence assets." Colonel Davis explained. "At this point we're somewhere around ninety percent sure it's the Lucians. But with unidentified factions, it can't hurt to be a little more sure. In any case, we've already put the word out. Three more of our ships should be on their way."
"It will be a formidable war fleet." Teal'c mused.
Lee did the math and could not believe his ears. "Six ships is a formidable war fleet?"
"It's more than most factions are able to come up with." Ishta observed.
Admiral Adama saw that everyone was being honest and decided to rein in his son. "That's enough, Lee. Earth has been lost for a thousand years, already. It can wait a few more days."
The silence stretched for a few seconds before he spoke again. "You were telling us more about this ship."
Paul Kay, or Delta as he was known to his fellows at the Lucian Alliance, stood up and stretched his back. The past few hours had been extremely busy, but to him, well worth his current tiredness. After almost a year with the criminal organization he was finally here. Point R was one of the most closely guarded secrets of the Lucian Alliance.
A hidden base that acted as an anchorage and staging area for the Alliance's growing star fleet. It was a singular honor to be here. And ironically it wasn't by his efforts that he was finally here.
An unknown ship arriving and leaving by some unknown form of faster than light drive had spooked the higher ups. While unlikely to be the hated Tau'ri and their unstoppable warships, the Council had never the less decided to err on the side of caution and had increased the number of fighters on the base in an attempt to reinforce it. Most of these 'soldiers' were barely more than thugs in his opinion.
He had gotten in with a batch three or four hours ago and he had been busy ever since, getting the equipment his group had been shipped with squared away. His group had arrived with guns, ammunition, explosives, all manner of useful items in case the space station came under attack.
The space station itself was huge. Bigger than he had anticipated. He had also been surprised at the number of ships. He had not expected the Lucian Alliance to have so many. Fortunately most were showing varying amounts of damage. He suspected most had been liberated from the various battlefields of the Replicator War. He was not sure how many were currently functional. He would need more time to check. In the mean time, his shift was finally over.
Following his team leader to the hatch of the weapons locker he looked over the racks of weapons one more time. There were racks upon racks of the Intratec knockoffs they were assembling somewhere and using as standard issue submachine guns. The stockpile also included AK carbines. Actually clones of the Yugoslav Zastava M92, modified to fire the NATO 5.56 round the Lucians had stockpiled, and therefore technically converted to Zastava M85's, they were shorter than the regular AK, useful in the cramped confines of a ship. There were even a few of the QBZ-97 bullpups the Chinese had been selling to anyone with the cash for it until several of the rifles turned up being used against the Tau'ri SGC and the IOA. The Chinese government had subsequently cracked down on exports to unverifiable (read offworld) parties soon afterwards.
The changeover was significant. While the QBZ can also trace its ancestry to the AK and in fact had much the same firing mechanism, it was constructed of polymers and required a certain level of technology to manufacture parts for. The Zastava clones by comparison could be handbuilt in any machine shop even in the ass end of nowhere. This factor had likely contributed to the Russians licensing their own AKS-74U to the Langarans and a number of other less advanced nations the Tau'ri were allied to.
He could not help but smirk at the thought. Mikhail Kalashnikov might not have long to live, but his legacy of cheap, durable and easy to produce assault weapons was undoubtedly assured, and now seemed poised to spread throughout the galaxy as well.
The tour had taken the better part of an hour. Everyone had found it fascinating, the Colonials more so. This was the most they had ever seen of a modern warship's inner workings. Not even the Tau'ri had shown as much of their ships as the Tok'ra had. Malek had shown them everything, from the modest hangars with the upgraded Deathgliders to the compact yet enormously powerful naquadah cores.
The tour ended at the bridge, which the Tok'ra referred to as the Pel'tak. Roughly triangular in shape, it was set at the base of the pyramid-like superstructure, with wide floor to ceiling windows displaying the space in front of the ship. The entire room was dominated by the captain's chair, set on a dais that gave it a commanding view of the rest of the room.
Two consoles were set immediately ahead of the captain's station where two crewmen sat. Malek identified those as the helm and weapons stations. Ahead and between them, and clearly visible to the captain, was a globe that showed a three dimensional view of the ship's immediate surroundings. Above and behind the globe was a transparent screen that acted as a Heads Up Display.
The Pel'tak was actually two levels. Below all these was a larger area with even more consoles, not all active. Anise identified them as fighter operations, along with dedicated sensor and engineering stations. Further questions were cut short when the helm console beeped.
"Report," Malek barked.
"Ship approaching over hyperspace." The helmsman replied. "ETA thirty seconds." In front of him, a section of the globe's outer surface was glowing. Showing the approximate direction the ship was approaching from.
"We're just in time, then." Anise observed.
"Just in time for what?" Cam asked just as Ambrose and Satterfield raised their hands to their earpieces, no doubt receiving updates from their own ships.
In response Malek simply motioned to the Heads Up Display, now showing a view of outer space. Presumably where the unidentified ship was expected to emerge from hyperspace.
The ship, when it emerged, was unique. At just over two hundred meters long, if he was interpreting the display correctly, it was small, only slightly larger than the obsolete Prometheus class. Ovoid, was the closest word Cam could come up with to describe it. A rounded, organic looking elongated shape with a narrow nose and rounded wing like protrusions aft. It was a design he had never seen before. Nor had it ever been reported by any SGC asset.
"We're being hailed." At Malek's nod, the Heads Up Display changed once more. Intelligent eyes now gazed at them from a square jawed face with a long, thin nose and dark curly hair liberally streaked with gray. It was a face Stargate Command had thought dead for almost a decade.
"Narim" Sam breathed.
"Greetings, Sam." The Tollan smiled faintly before continuing, "and to the officers of the Stargate Command and their guests."
"But how?" Sam asked, visibly perplexed. "We heard your distress calls. There was nothing we could do."
"Just as well." Narim replied. "Embedded in our distress calls was a coded message warning ships from our other colonies to stay away. That the enemy was insurmountable. You must remember, however, that it was not the first time our people has endured a planetary scale catastrophe."
"Our fleet was decimated and our cities devastated, but enough time had been bought for many more of our people to retreat into underground shelters. Tanith tried landing warriors a few times, but we used our technology to evade his forces. And in the end he had to be content with just bombarding the planet from orbit. After a few days his ship was needed elsewhere and recalled."
"We first discovered them when we visited Tollana hoping to salvage some Naquadah and Trinium. Imagine our surprise when instead we found a fleet of heavily armed warships." Malek mused.
"We had always intended to reach out to our previous allies eventually, but we had been preoccupied with relocating our people and establishing a new home. We decided to Tollana as a fleet base and gateway to the Stargate network. We had been preparing for the Ori conflict, but it ended so abruptly that our plans to contact you and offer assistance were derailed, and the Curia determined that it was in our best interest to remain hidden for a while longer."
"Your people aren't angry at us, are they?" Paul asked, his brows furrowed in concern.
"Many were at first. But as time passed, and particularly after the truth about Omoc's fate came out, most agreed that as the more advanced people, the greater responsibility should have been ours." Narim replied. "That is also the reason we are here. The Curia has come to the conclusion that the best way to protect our people and prevent such a catastrophe from happening again is to build closer ties with our old allies and increase our vigilance against those that could eventually pose a threat. There is even some ongoing debate distinguishing preemptive action against confirmed threats from offensive war."
"That's... progressive." Sam could not really come up with any other word for it. The prohibition against offensive war was one of the Tollans' highest laws.
"Wait, ongoing debate..." Cam frowned. "So you're not sure yet about preemptive strikes?"
"Regrettably, no. It is a new way of thinking for our people. And realistically, the Lucian Alliance is unlikely to pose much of a threat to us at the present. Not that that might not change in the future. We are however prepared to offer our assistance in other support roles, and we are of course allowed to defend ourselves if attacked."
"Well then," Paul remarked. "I'm sure we can come to some sort of arrangement."
Cam and Daniel, the former on station as Duty Officer, were both on the bridge when two Hyperspace windows opened to disgorge two Daedalus Class Deep Space Carriers.
"It's the Hood and the Korolev II." The sensor officer called out. "They're hailing us."
Cam and Daniel looked at each other, and the Air Force officer savored the moment before replying, "On screen."
The forward HUD was filled with three faces, two men and a woman, all of whom apparently knew them enough to greet them by name.
Daniel half-frowned half-smiled at the woman, "Captain, no, Major Voronkova, it's been a while." The Russian woman had been supervising the construction and shakedown of the Korolev II
"Yes, it has been, Doctor," the woman smiled back before motioning to the man beside her. "This is Colonel Yuri Lebanov, he has been appointed as commanding officer of the Korolev."
"Congratulations," Daniel greeted him, but the other man simply shook his head, smiling.
"Thank you, but what Major Voronkova isn't saying is that the appointment does not become official for two more weeks. Until then, she's in charge, while I supervise the training of the fighter squadrons. Which is just as well. I have two squadrons all dressed up and ready to go, and I hear you're throwing a party."
"Lucky buggers." Captain Gerard Grant of the Hood groused. "Our own Fleet Air Arm pilots aren't up to snuff yet, so I had to make do with a squadron of RAF Crabs. I did bring double the usual number of Royal Bootnecks, though."
"You're just in time, Captain." Cam reassured him. "We're still waiting for our own Swab Jockeys to get here."
Once the Proteus arrived, the senior officers met together and quickly hammered out a plan. With a viable plan finalized, the countdown was set as the gathered Tau'ri ships made ready for the operation.
Colonel Davis was on the bridge of the Odyssey, designated flagship for the task force, observing Colonel Gant as she oversaw her ship's preparations. With him was Colonel Mitchell, who would lead the combined fighter wing with Colonel Lebanov as his second. Cam was just fresh out of a drill with the fighters. The five Daedalus class ships and their fighter squadrons had all been running continuous drills. Trying to minimize the margin for error just that little bit more.
"Message from Galactical Actual, requesting to beam aboard plus two," the communications officer called out.
Colonel Gant nodded, and the communications officer relayed her approval to the one in charge of the beam transporter. Presently, the bridge was filled with the flashes of three people beaming in.
"Admiral." Colonel Davis greeted the older man, flanked by the younger figures of Lee Adama and Kara Thrace.
"Request permission to come aboard Colonel?" Admiral Adama greeted the Odyssey's commander. The formal greeting and request somehow common to both Tau'ri and Colonial traditions.
"Of course Admiral, welcome aboard. How can we help?" Colonel Gant smiled graciously.
"Colonel, I will be direct. I would like to request the inclusion of two Colonials as observers in your task force." Admiral Adama spoke plainly.
"Are we to understand it will be these two specifically?" Paul asked, gesturing at the two younger Colonials. "May I ask why?"
"I have a feeling our journey is about to end. One way or another." The Admiral explained in that gravelly voice of his. "If we are to settle in this region of space, we need valuable intelligence on how the locals fight and what sort of threat they can pose. I believe first hand observation is the best way. My son was a Battlestar Commander at one time, before going into politics. He was handpicked by the President for this. Major Thrace will represent the CDF."
The Tau'ri Colonels shared looks before Gant and Mitchell both shrugged.
"We have no objections, as long as they don't get in the way."
"We'll be as unobtrusive as possible. You won't even know we're here." Lee said, arms raised placatingly.
"Thank you very much." The Admiral thanked the Tau'ri as he turned his gaze to look out the viewports. A few squadrons were still out, conducting last minute drills. "How soon until you commence the attack?"
"In just over an hour." Paul replied. "The planet has a twenty-two hour long day. We intend to strike at exactly two hours past local midnight from their perspective."
"Response times are usually most sluggish at that time. Assuming of course that they follow the daily period of the planet they're on. We have reason to believe they do. They orbit at a low enough altitude that they should feel the difference."
"My only concern is the fleet's safety."
"You're in good hands." Colonel Gant reassured him. "The Tollan are noted for their powerful weaponry. They always take matters of defense seriously."
"If you're sure. Their ship is even smaller than yours."
At just under two hundred and fifty meters long, the Tollan Omoc class destroyer was even smaller than the Pride of Egeria and the similarly sized Daedalus class. It was roughly oblong in shape, with a blunt nose, rounded wing-like protrusions aft and bulging, organic looking lines that Teal'c had once likened to a Mon Calamari Star Cruiser from the Star Wars franchise.
"The Tollan ship is actually more suited to this role. Their sensors are a match for ours, while their medical bay is even more advanced. We're truly glad to have them with us."
"Considering the last time we had to deal with non-Colonial doctors, I don't really think that would count for much." Starbuck quipped, and the rest shifted uncomfortably.
"Very well." Admiral Adama chose not to press further. The Tollan were a new variable and it worried him. The ship while likely as powerful as the Tau'ri made it out to be did not have integral fighter support. But the Tau'ri trusted them and he would have to accept that. Perhaps he could have Helo double the CAP. "If you would kindly beam me back to my ship, I will not take too much more of your time. Good hunting."
"Well then," Cam spoke into the void left by the Old Man's departure. "Now that that's over with, come along, Major Thrace."
"Excuse me?" Kara asked suspiciously, not sure whether she should take being singled out as a good sign.
"You wanted to observe the battle, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"Well then, come along. I have a distinct feeling the view from the bridge isn't what you really have in mind."
"You mean..." The look on Kara's face could best be compared to that of a child left with an unlimited credit in a candy store.
Lee rolled his eyes, but noticed that the other Tau'ri only looked bemused. When Kara shot him a look asking for permission, he just waved her on.
"I swear she never grows up."