1980
35 years later
Siberia
The journey to this part of Soviet territory had been incredibly uncomfortable, a lengthy hardship Konstantin Danyev had been forced to endure with no reason given. It had taken him three days to travel from KGB headquarters in Moscow out to this frightful place, using trains, planes and finally a helicopter which had managed to shake his bones more thoroughly than any device of torture. It had carried him to the middle of nowhere, a tiny landing pad that was completely deserted except for a tracked snowmobile waiting on the thick snow that covered what was probably a road deep underneath.
Danyev was cold, he had been so cold for so long he had forgotten what warm felt like. The helicopter had minimal internal heating that was symbolic more then anything else, considering the -40 degrees Celsius nominal temperature, never mention the freezing wind that added to the perceived coldness, resulting in his breath icing right before his eyes.
He was wearing the biggest coat he owned, two separate scarves, thick gloves and a thick fur ushanka hat, all in black as befitted his station. Danyev was a Captain in the KGB, the feared and respected secret service of the Soviet Union. There were other agencies of course, other intelligence departments, but the KGB always came first and always received the tasks of greatest responsibility. To serve them was an immense honour, and Danyev had been plucked from the Air Force academy base don his impressive test scores to be trained with the best and brightest in the Motherland. He had considered it a humbling experience to be handpicked like that and he had put in as much effort as he could, almost always performing at the top of his class. He had hoped he would be destined for great things, an assignment to Washington, London or Paris perhaps, maybe the UN. He had dreamed of becoming a great spymaster, the bane of the Capitalists, but somehow, somewhere it had all gone horribly wrong.
He had no idea what he had done to end up out here, only that getting assigned to Siberia was usually an extreme form of punishment for mistakes in the agency. He was still perplexed, more so because his questions had been rebuffed with the same answers.
'Don't ask, just go.'
So he went, and allowed himself a moment of gratitude that there was at least some transportation waiting and he wasn't expected to walk to his new post.
The helicopter touched down, and the crew chief at once cranked open the door with a friendly nod.
"Condolences Comrade." He shrugged. "Hope she was worth it."
It was a common joke that young men like Danyev usually ended up with these kind of postings after dallying with the daughters of senior party officials. Unfortunately he couldn't even claim that satisfaction.
"Keep warm out here." Danyev thanked the man as he stepped onto the icy ground. "Safe flight."
He scuttered away as the blades thrummed in the icy air, picking up the bulbous helicopter and turning it away in a sparkling cloud of kicked up ice crystals. He watched it for a moment, quietly lamenting his predicament, then headed for the vehicle waiting for him. Nothing ever went to waste in Soviet Russia, as he easily recognised the chassis of a T-34 tank, converted to a civilian personnel carrier.
With the turret and armour stripped and replaced by a cabin, large, somewhat comfortable, and foremost warm, they were common enough, often used in the far north, be it by scientists stationed in the Arctic or engineers working where depth of the snow was measured in meters. Many, many meters.
As he approached the rear door opened and a man emerged, tall and broad in a white arctic uniform. The clothing was no mere convenience of temperature either, his build and poise marked him as a professional apparently in his forties with a weathered face and narrow eyes.
"Captain Danyev I presume?"
"That is right, I hope you have not been waiting long?"
"Not long." The man replied. "I am Colonal Ilya Ivanov, and we have places to be."
He went back into the warm inside, Ivanov clambering in beside him and slamming the door shut.
"Alright driver, let's go."
With a crunch of snow the tracks started moving, turning onto the road and leaving the pad behind it.
"Cold one today." Ivanov groaned. "Normally I don't mind cold weather, but you picked a nasty one to arrive on."
"So it's usually warmer than this?"
"Usually, but I doubt an urbanite like yourself would tell until you've been out here a few months." Ivanov smiled. "You get used to it, I hardly notice anymore."
Everywhere was white, wherever Danyev looked it was just plain white as far as the horizon. There was snow and just a few clouds in the amazing pale sky, but it was easily the coldest place he had ever been, and as a native Russian that was saying something.
"I love this place, untouched." The Colonel beamed. "One of the last great wildernesses, no one comes out here."
"Can't say I'm surprised."
"No." Ivanov chuckled a bit. "But that suits us of course, we don't really want visitors. You've seen yourself how hard it is to get out here."
"Very much." Danyev readily agreed.
"We are very self sufficient, we need no external supplies." The Colonel informed. "Our little base out here is a community in itself."
"Self sufficient." Danyev considered. "Where do you grow your food?"
Ivanov barked a laugh. "Ah Captain, you will love the answer to that one!"
As they drove on he began to notice bumps in the flat fields around him, slight curves in the snow.
"Yes they are." Ivanov followed his gaze. "Bunkers, machine gun nests, anti tank sites, and a good deal of surface to air missiles. All linked underground through tunnels."
"Must have been hard work."
"Very, but worth it." Ivanov said. "We'll be coming up on the base shortly, it's at the heart of this network. Everywhere except this road is mined and trapped, stray off the road and you'll be very dead very soon."
The KGB agent nodded, then turned back to the Colonel.
"Colonel Ivanov, if you cannot answer I understand, but why am I here?"
"You are here because you were requested, by name, by the local commander of KGB forces."
"But why? Why me? Why out here?"
"Well that's going to be for her to tell you. My job is just to give you the tour."
"Of the base?"
"Something like that." He grinned. "And speaking of…"
He nodded towards the front of the car, and there ahead was the base. Or more accurately a twenty foot high concrete wall topped with barbed wire and dotted with watch towers and machine gun nests. It was massive, the wall extending hundreds of metres left and right of the wall before angling back to match the perimeter of the facility.
Directly ahead was the gate, a massive riveted steel door more at home in a naval base than out here. It slowly squeaked open running backwards on rail tracks, retracting into the wall.
"Welcome to the Ice Fortress." Ivanov spoke with relish. "The most secret facility on this planet."
The snowmobile passed through not one, but three gates, each equally massive and each part of a solid concrete wall. Danyev was thoroughly impressed by the heavy triple layered defences, and just a little concerned that the defences on the inner wall were facing towards the base rather than away from it.
"I should probably have mentioned this earlier." Ivanov began. "But a job here is a job for life. You may have free time of course, and you'd be surprised at the resorts we have access to, but once you start working here this is your life now and forever. The facility is too secret, no one can leave, no one can return."
Danyev swallowed a little, his nerves beginning to show.
"According to our files you are single with no living relatives. No one to miss you." Ivanov stated.
"Like everyone here Comrade, your life has ended and is just about to begin again."
The vehicle passed down a central street revealing a large but ordinary looking town. There were houses, flats, shops, even bars. He also noted some shops dealt in fresh produce and displayed recently butchered meat in their windows. He was going to ask how that could be when Ivanov drew his attention away.
"This base is home to over seventy thousand people, a mix of soldiers, scientists, a few diplomats and their families. It is the size of a moderately sized town, with all the facilities you would expect. Plus we have a major army base, an airfield with the latest warplanes and a first rate research centre. But all of that is just to support our main project."
"What is that?"
"In time." Ivanov smiled. "Over there we have our nuclear power station, and there our satellite uplink to Moscow. You'll see some radar stations on the far edge of town controlling the local air space. Though they're mostly for the show."
"Why is that?"
"To fool our American friends of course!" He grinned and pointed his finger up. "Spy satellites."
Danyev nodded. "Of course, you can prevent people from walking or driving out here, but there are still satellites."
"We couldn't hide this place from above, far too large." Ivanov nodded. "So we simply dressed it up a little. The Radar dishes make it look like an early warning station, part of our missile detection network. We also have our research station here send up a few rockets now and again, make them think we are using this place to develop the next generation of ICBM's. The Army base and the airfield are here to make them think we're here testing military equipment under extreme conditions."
"But we're not?"
"Not in the way they assume. No, the truth behind this place is far more exciting." Ivanov replied jovially. "If the Americans ever learned the truth they'd have the worlds biggest collective heart attack!"
The KGB agent was more intrigued then ever. Perhaps this wasn't the punishment he had thought it was, though the security and secrecy seemed rather over the top even by KGB standards, and that was telling.
"So nobody ever leaves?"
"Nobody." Ivanov nodded. "One or two try, but they don't last long." The officer shrugged. "Don't think about it, when you see what I have to show you then you'll never want to leave anyway!"
The Colonel was doing an excellent job building up anticipation, though whether it was worth it or whether he was about to feel very deflated wasn't a question Danyev could answer yet.
"Here Captain, you'll want to see this." Ivanov pointed at a small black building the size of a house. It was pitch balck and had no windows or doors.
"What is that?"
"That Captain is a two hundred and fifty megaton bomb."
Danyev's expression was exactly what Ivanov hoped for.
"It's perfectly safe." Ivanov laughed. "Little old of course, dates back to when this base was founded in the early sixties, a sort of final fail safe to make very sure nothing here was used against us and no one could ever take this place intact."
"Is it still armed?"
"Oh yes, fully operational." The Colonel nodded. "And don't doubt that if the time came the General would not use it. What we do here is vital, but also very dangerous. We do not take chances."
The left the black obelisk in the distance, Danyev's eyes locked on it as they drove on. That bomb was five times bigger than any other nuclear weapon officially in existence, far too large to ever be moved and probably extremely expensive to maintain. It raised a lot of questions and Danyev found himself ever more eager to finally learn what this place was.
"Ah, to the front Comrade." Ivanov stated. "We're here."
Rising up before them at the centre of the facility was an immense concrete building, looking like a cross between a hangar at an airport and a submarine pen. It was huge, hundreds of feet wide with a large steep concertina door recessed into its near side. The roof looked thick enough to stop a carpet bombing mission, gently curving to the ground left and right. It was covered in snow from a previous blizzard and guarded by bunkers and towers.
"We keep all our operations indoors." Ivanov said. "We can time when the American satellites come over but sometimes they can still surprise us, send up an SR-71 or the occasional RB-70 on a Mach 3 reconnaissance flight. The air force usually intercepts them, but sometimes we allow a mission or two to get through, let them look at this place and see what we want them to see."
The door cranked open, creating a small gap which was actually more than sufficient for their tracks to pass through. The sheer scale of the building was truly immense, like nothing he had seen before. It was no less grand inside, lit by thousands of lights hanging from the roof and containing dozens of simple buildings, structures and vehicles.
"This will be your new place of work." Ivanov said. "Driver, this is far enough."
They slowed to a halt.
"From here, we walk."
It was almost as cold inside as out, the cavernous interior impossible to heat in any meaningful way so simply left at ambient temperature. Scores of people were crossing the facility in cold weather clothing, some civilian and some military. A utility car passed by with several soldiers crowded in, padded jackets forcing them to squeeze together in the relatively small truck as it crossed from one building to another. One of the first things he noticed was four lines of tanks parked alongside the inner wall, some eighty vehicles in all representing a sizeable military force.
What struck him as odd was that each platoon sported a different camouflage – winter was obvious enough, but what was the deal with woodland and desert of all the things ?
"Part of the Ninth Guards Division." Ivanov informed. "T-64s, very effective vehicles, lot of time and effort goes into maintaining them. Much better then the T-72's but we expect some T-80's by the next spring. For now though, it's the best tank for the job."
He pointed out another group of vehicles.
"Now those are a bit more special."
Danyev raised an eyebrow. "You mean those BMP-1s?"
"Yes, we use them widely. With the BMP-2s filling the ranks of line units, we've got no shortage of those to tinker with." Ivanov grinned. "But only a few are normal ones, most are homebrew variants, adapted as the situation develops: some are flame thrower equipped, others are self-propelled mortars, or fitted with the Yahushev gatling guns for close range fire support. You see, we don't get to deal with enemy armor much, mainly light infantry with fire support. And we've got the Shilkas for that. For the odd heavy jobs we use either or self-propelled howitzers, they are stationed deeper in. Very, very useful for clearing landing sites before we go on our little trips."
"What little trips Colonel?" The whole situation seemed more and more bizarre by the minute.
"I'm just getting to that."
They walked on past the ranks of military vehicles and around several concrete buildings, their doors marked with names like 'Briefing room' or 'Decontamination' which made increasingly less sense to Danyev. He passed one more named 'Control room' before Ivanov finally brought them to a stop.
"And that Comrade, is why you are here."
Danyev was under whelmed. He had expected to see something exotic with all this security located in the middle of nowhere. Some type of amazing new fighter jet or cutting edge space ship, maybe even a crashed alien vessel. But no, instead all he saw was a large upright sculpture in the shape of a ring. It was quite a let down.
"Colonel, what exactly does that have to do with my job?"
Ivanov checked his watch. "Hmm, Draguv is late as usual."
Whatever the dark ring was it appeared to be well guarded. A ramp led up to it with large articulated metal clamps holding it upright, thick cables running to electrical transformers gently humming in the back ground.
A pair of concrete bunkers fitted with old-fashioned flame throwers and Shipunov gatling machine guns of all the things pointed at the peculiar ring.
Even more out of place was the single Buratino, a 30-barreled Multiple Rocket Launcher on a T-72 chassis, placed as if to shoot straight through the ring, and flanked by two BRDM-2 armored cars, just as the bunkers fitted with a Shipunov gatling gun each, instead of the usual 14,5mm and 7,62mm machine guns.
As pointless as it seemed, all stood silent and unused, as if waiting for something to happen.
"With respect Colonel, I'd like to know the real reason I…"
The ring clanked, suddenly moving into life with no apparent reason. An inner circle slid around within its design triggering orange lights around the edges in sequence. The men bunkered down in front of the gate went on alert, training their large machine guns on the moving ring and waiting patiently.
"Colonel…"
"Keep watching, this is the best bit."
The last light came on and from nowhere a blast of blue energy burst from thin air between the ring, like an inverted splash it billowed out and then retracted forming a smooth pool inside the ring like a calm moonlit lake. Danyev had barely registered the event when a man walked out of the pool, completely dry and wearing desert camouflage.
"Gah! I'd forgotten how damn cold this place was!"
Four more armed soldiers in similar uniforms marched out, then another four, and another, and so on until an entire platoon stood in front of him, with the pool then suddenly evaporating behind them.
The gun crews stood down and a couple of other military personnel trotted up and provided heavy coats to the new arrivals.
"Welcome home Maxim!" Ivanov bellowed, walking forward while Danyev remained rooted to the spot, eyes wide and jaw slack.
"Ilya, tell me there is something hot in the mess!" The leading soldier answered. "Hopefully that young Lieutenant, Zofia yes?"
"You've been back on Earth three seconds and already listen to yourself!"
"Priorities Comrade!" Maxim Draguv laughed. "But it is good to be back, three weeks in that sand bowl is enough for anyone."
"The General wants a briefing in three hours after you refresh and have a properly cooked meal." Ivanov said. "He'll be chatting to our new agent first."
Draguv looked over Ivanov's shoulder at Danyev, still gawping. "Vasily's replacement eh?"
"When he regains the power of speech, yes."
"Hey new guy, welcome!" Draguv cheered. "I'm sure you'll last much longer than the last KGB guy. That was just a freak event, I'm sure you won't end up like him."
Ivanov drew his hand over his brow. "Well done Maxim, that'll make him feel really at home."
"I don't think he heard me, he looks like you did when you walked into the girl's shower room by mistake back in Cuba, you remember?"
"Good times, even if I did nearly get my eyes scratched out." Ivanov grinned. "Latin women eh?"
"Good times." Draguv nodded. "Well I need food, we'll catch up this evening my friend, tell me what we've missed."
"It's going to be a short conversation." Ivanov slapped his friend on the shoulder, then headed back to his new charge.
"It is called a Stargate."
Danyev turned his head, still wide eyed.
"At least that is what the Germans called it, and I suppose the name stuck."
"…What…"
"What is it?" Ivanov interpreted. "A gateway that creates a wormhole in space and time, a bridge to other gates identical to itself on other worlds. You step through at this end, and step out immediately after on another world."
Danyev just shook his head and stared.
"We use that pedestal there to enter a code, with each seven digit code relating to a specific gate. Like a telephone number or letter address. Took us a while to figure out how it worked exactly, we still don't know some of the specifics, but we can travel between worlds across the galaxy. We've been doing it since 1949."
"But that's… thirty one years!"
"I told you it was a big secret." Ivanov beamed. "There is a lot more to tell, but I think it is best left for the General. He will want to brief you in person. Come on."
They entered the nearby building labelled 'Control Room' and at once felt the benefit of heat. These smaller buildings were heated and the staff within wore their basic duty clothes, almost all of them being military personnel. Danyev hung up his winter gear and revealed a plain black suit beneath.
Ivanov did not change, he wasn't staying.
They walked past a bank of consoles manned by a mix of males and females watching information filter through. He recognised them as communication and radar stations, fairly standard for command centres across the nation. Their path took them away from the more busy areas and into a series of offices, with the door at the far end of the building being their destination.
"Well, here you are." Ivanov nodded. "Good to meet you Comrade Captain, I'm sure we'll speak again later."
"I just don't know what to say, about any of this." Danyev admitted. "This is just…"
"My reaction exactly." The Colonel nodded. "You'll fit right in. Good luck with the General."
Ivanov headed off to his other duties leaving Danyev alone at the door. He took a breath to steady his nerve, pushed the incredible new knowledge out of his mind for now and focused on the immediate task at hand. He lifted his chin, clenched his fist and knocked firmly on the wooden door.
"Enter."
Danyev walked into a normal enough room, plainly decorated in beige tones with a wooden desk in the middle. Pictures of tanks lined the wall and a pair of flags stood in either far corner, the familiar red national flag and a dark blue banner he did not recognise, presumably the colours of this secret branch of the military. Behind the desk was a well decorated General, his khaki uniform well decked in gold and his chest heavy in ribbons. He had cropped grey hair and a lined face but still projected an aura of power and efficiency. Most notable of all however were the three gold stars hanging above his board of other decorations.
Those stars were the highest decorations for bravery and inspiration the government could bestow. It was a supreme honour to earn one, to earn two was almost impossible, to own three? Only a handful of men had achieved that, Marshal Zhukov being the most well known. Each medal bore a suitably imposing title, a clear statement of what the symbol represented and what the individual or wore one could claim to be. Hero of the Soviet Union.
"I am Colonel General Viktor Necheyev." The officer spoke with surprisingly quiet tones. "I formally welcome you to Stargate Command, and offer you a drink."
Danyev was a little taken back, lingering a moment before responding. "Thank you Comrade General, and, err, yes, I think a drink is called for right now."
Necheyev flickered a brief smile. "You have seen the gate then?"
"I have General. I just have to accept what my eyes saw."
"Please, sit down." He gestured, taking a bottle of clear Vodka from his desk draw and a pair of glasses. "I assure you it is real Captain, as is the responsibility we all have here to protect and manage it."
Danyev took his seat and gratefully accepted the drink, downing it swiftly. He regretted it for a moment, the Vodka was a particularly potent brew, but today he needed a bit of a release.
"Has Colonel Ivanov explained what it is?"
Danyev nodded. "He explained General, but I cannot say I understood."
"Doesn't matter Captain, the important thing is it works." Necheyev took a drink of his own. "There is an interesting story behind it, ready to listen?"
"Completely General."
"We found the gate in 1945 as our soldiers stormed Berlin. Actually I found it, my unit was responsible for clearing an underground facility where this thing was held. We didn't know what it was at the time, and when I explained what I had scene no one believed me. Until that is they duplicated the German rig that powered the gate, and started trying out symbols."
He poured more Vodka for Danyev, who happily accepted.
"A lot of them did not work, we knew that it worked through a code of seven symbols but it took a particularly radical thinker to decide exactly how to input them. In 1949 we successfully contacted another world and sent a team through. More amazing still they came back using the same method. Well, after three weeks of trying."
"This is just remarkable Comrade General."
"It is isn't it?" Necheyev nodded. "The project was naturally classified at the highest levels, and as a proven soldier and leader who already knew of the project I was asked to start leading expeditions through this device. Our aim was to explore the worlds this gate led to, and if possible to locate any Fascists who had used it to escape at the end of the Great Patriotic War."
"Where did this gate come from sir?"
"It is alien in origin, brought here by a race of beings far older than us. It is made of a material unknown on this planet, a substance we now know as Naquadah."
"So aliens are real?"
"Very real, we have met many of them." Necheyev informed. "And many humans who had been kidnapped from this world as slaves by an alien power named the Goa'uld."
Danyev had no idea what to say, so just listened.
"At first we thought they were advanced humans, we met them two years after we started travelling by gate. They were immediately hostile and we suffered several early defeats but eventually brought one back for dissection. The truth is these Goa'uld are like small snakes that invade a body, attach themselves to your brain and take control. Like a pilot in a jet fighter. They use us like vehicles and rule over millions, probably billions of our brother humans who are slaves to them, or brainwashed into being mindless soldiers."
Necheyev tautened his jaw a little.
"The leader of the Goa'uld was named Ra, he and his kin took the names of ancient human gods, perhaps were the origins of these myths themselves. He ruled all lesser Goa'uld through fear and when he learned we were using the gate, he sought to invade us and conquer the Earth. He sent his best forces through the gate, seizing our facility and establishing a foot hold. He led legions through in person, landing his ship just outside our original base and bringing tens of thousands of warriors through the gate."
"Previous base General?"
"On an island in the arctic circle." Necheyev said. "But he underestimated us, he did not count on the determination of the Soviet People or our willingness to sacrifice. While a division of ground forces attacked Premier Khrushchev sent in our mightiest weapon. Ivan, what the Americans call the Tsar Bomb. Everyone thinks it was a test detonation, but it was no test, it was our final defence before Ra could call in more starships and easily defeat us. He may have claimed to be a god, but even he could not argue with fifty megatons of Soviet power. He died, his unshielded ship was ruined, his army vaporised along with ten thousand Soviet heroes. Their sacrifice kept Earth free."
"What about space ships? You mentioned a fleet?"
"The Goa'uld are feudal in nature. With Ra dead they fractured, broke into smaller kingdoms and began to fight one another for power and territory. They bicker and war over Ra's realm and we are content to let them. We've been watching them squander their resources for decades battling one another, sometimes moving ourselves to make sure the balance does not tip in favour of one or the other. A secret war, but a dangerous one."
"Playing our enemies against each other." Danyev guessed.
"Exactly, until we are ready and strong enough to move ourselves." Necheyev grinned. "And that day is fast approaching. These Goa'uld are the main enemy of our people and we are committed to defeating them, but there are others. One of our longest fights has been with the Fourth Reich, the survivors of Adolf Hitler's elite."
"The Fascists that escaped?"
"Records were scarce, but we knew Hitler had a fascination with ancient relics, an obsession with proving the superiority of his chosen people. It seems this gate was acquired as part of that obsession and used for a year or two in the war. By great luck they never managed to engineer advanced weapons to use against us, but when they fled they quickly established a large power base and have often attacked our teams. They even established a base on the Moon which we had to remove."
"All of this is just remarkable General. I would not have believed it!"
"Good. Very good." Necheyev nodded. "It shows we have done our job well and the secrecy of the project remains intact."
"If I may ask, why keep this secret?"
"A good question." Necheyev nodded. "It is our belief people are not ready for this. They are not prepared to know what truly lies out there, threats which can end all life on this world overnight. One day they will be, we discretely encourage our scientists and writers to speculate on alien life in space, to promote such ideas amongst the population, but we need more time. For now we play a dangerous game of chess with our enemies, a game we play at a disadvantage. Until we can defend ourselves we cannot speak of this. Never."
"What about the rest of the Warsaw Pact? The UN ? And lastly NATO ? " Danyev asked. "If this is a threat to all the world maybe we should call for a global mobilisation?"
"Would you trust the West Comrade Captain?" Necheyev asked. "Would you trust them to respect Soviet policy regarding the gateway? To not try to import their dishonest capitalism to developing worlds and exploit them? Do you expect them to keep their word and not try to take the gate for themselves? Use it to further their own greed and ambition?"
"With respect General, what are we using the Gate for?"
"We use it to fight the enemies of the Soviet Union." He answered simply. "The aliens and fascists. We liberate worlds, free the working classes of the galaxy from slavery and introduce them to equality of true Communism. Our goal Comrade Captain is to develop a defence for this country, and then this planet so that Mother Earth will never again be exploited by tyrants and elitists."
"We have influence on other worlds?"
"A great many, they aid us in our fight." Necheyev nodded. "Our enemies are the Goa'uld and the Fascists Captain, and we will prevail."
"What about NATO?"
Necheyev barked a laugh. "Forget them! We can shoot down their missiles and bombers the moment they launch! We have the power to level every capitalist city from orbit! But we do not, because we do not start wars Comrade. Our focus is on those who can hurt us, the west cannot so we are content to leave them to their own devices. The Soviet military machine is not built to fight America or Europe Comrade, it is built to fight an alien invasion which I pray never comes. We have prevented an attack succeeding so far by being proactive, and that continues to be our goal."
The General shook his head. "No Comrade, our concern is not here on this world, but out there on hundreds of others. Such diversity Captain, such wonder and majesty. Today we fight for these worlds, they are battle grounds, but tomorrow they will be our paradise, our reward for the blood shed freeing the workers and deposing the feudal lords and the autocrats. The human race belongs out there, it is our destiny, our prize, and we will claim it from those who seek to steal and subvert the children of Earth.
We are Russians Captain, we understand everything must be earned and that this future has its price of blood and tears, everything does. We are unique in understanding that reality Comrade Captain, The Americans did not understand it, nor Europe, only the Fascists seemed to have some comprehension
which is why we were natural enemies."
He sipped his Vodka slowly.
"Many thousands have already died just to maintain our position, to keep the Goa'uld off balance, divided, warring with each other. But very soon Captain we will start attacking. We have gathered our forces, slowly and carefully these past twenty years we have been preparing. We will soon be able to face the Goa'uld directly and in part you can thank the Americans for that."
"What did they do sir?"
"They exist." Necheyev grinned. "The Soviet military is the mightiest on this world, quite possibly the best on any world. But it costs money and resources, to maintain such a force and develop new weapons is not cheap. We cannot justify this cost by announcing the truth to the nation, they are not ready, so we need another excuse, another powerful enemy to array our forces against. Fate has given us NATO."
"Meaning we can keep our forces prepared for full scale war at all times."
"Exactly." Necheyev confirmed. "Another reason why we have not simply rolled over the West, they serve as a useful distraction for our people, a believable excuse for the massive budget allocated to our defence. Of course, it suits their purposes too. Their military-industrial complex would bankrupt without the perceived threat of our tanks rolling over the Western Europe."
"Do you still not believe we should tell NATO General, even if just privately?" Danyev frowned.
"With our combined resources we can do more that us working alone."
"It is not an issue Captain, the decision has been made at the highest level." Necheyev said. "This is our responsibility, we have taken the risks, paid the price, and we will receive our reward."
The General shrugged slightly.
"I do not mean ill will to the West, I believe they are misguided, decadent and corrupt, blind to their own plight and unable to realise they are being exploited by the Capitalist machine. It would give me great pleasure to liberate them from oppression, to free the chained masses and encourage the workers to seize power for themselves as we did. But it will always be their choice Captain, we can try to influence them, show them what they are missing out on, but we should not interfere. In time when we win the war and reveal our true power then people in the west will see Capitalism has failed and only through a true Communist Utopia can humanity truly reach the stars. That Captain is my firmest belief and my greatest dream."
"A worthy vision Comrade General."
"I hope so. But right now it is more important we help our brothers and sisters under the Goa'uld. They are suffering more than the workers of the west and deserve our help first. We begun this war to defend ourselves, liberating those few small worlds we could. Now though Captain you join us at a time when we will go on the offensive. It is an exciting time, a moment when we begin to reach out for our rightful destiny."
Necheyev stood, prompting Danyev to do the same.
"Once again I welcome you Comrade Danyev, welcome to the front line of the Soviet Union."
He stretched out his hand which Danyev shook firmly, the General maintaining a strong grip.
"I will not fail General, I am ready to serve Mother Russia."
"Good, very good." Necheyev nodded sharply in approval. "The future begins now."