Chapter 13: Road to Atlantis

"You've got to be kidding me?" President Hayes said, almost screaming down the phone to doctor Weir in the commanding officers office at the SGC.

"I'm not sir." Weir confirmed wincing slightly from the Presidents near shout. "The Goa'uld are requesting permission to send a delegation to negotiate a treaty of sorts with us. The request came in just a few moments ago."

"Not a chance in hell!" Hayes responded venomously. "Those snake-heads let Anubis damn near blast us back to the stone-age, and if it hadn't been for the fleet, the Archangel and SG1's eleventh hour save we would be no better than hunter gather's again right now trying to survive. Tell them to go screw themselves doctor."

"Mr. President I believe that we should at least be willing to hear what they have to say, if only to find out exactly what it is that they want and they are offering in return. It's at best worth a shot." Weir said hoping that she had convinced the man that it was worth the risk.

"With both barrels." Hayes said, before calming down. "Ok… fine, but doctor if they so much as look the wrong way I want them gone. Understood?" He said calmly.

"Completely crystal clear sir." Weir responded with a nod, although Hayes couldn't see it on the other end of the phone line.

"Good. Keep me posted." Hayes concluded before hanging up the phone at his end.

"Well it could be worse I guess." Weir sighed heavily.

"Just another day in the SGC." Jackson shrugged moving to leave general Hammond's old office before being beamed out by Thor.

-{[]}-

"Chevron seven locked." Lieutenant Simmons says from the control room as the gate activates behind the closed iris. "Receiving a transmission… it's the Goa'uld."

"Here goes nothing…" Weir muttered under her breath, "let them through." She ordered as the iris quickly retracted while a short message was sent through the letting the team know that they were safe to let Goa'uld know that it was safe to proceed. A second later three men and a woman stepped through the gate escorted by SG9. "Welcome to Earth. I'm doctor Elizabeth …" Started Weir.

"We are not interested in your name." States Camulus dismissively as his eyes glow.

"Really?" Weir said sarcastically, "I generally find that it tends to make things go a lot more smoothly if people all know ones another's name." She says as the System Lords move down from the deactivated stargate.

"We would prefer to just present our offer so that we can spend as little time on this miserable little rock as possible." Amaterasu, the only female Goa'uld in the group, says as Weir looks at Reynolds who just smiles knowingly.

"Well shall we," Weir says as she indicates the way to the conference room above the embarkation room. A few seconds later the group is seated around the conference table in the briefing room with the Goa'uld's sitting at one end and Weir and Reynolds around the other with two armed marines standing by the entrance, while Yu's first prime Osha, stood near his master.

"Your unexpected victory and defeat of Anubis has created an unstable situation among the System Lords." Amaterasu said once everyone was seated around the table, in the typical double flanged voice of a Goa'uld. "In order to avoid open war it was decided to divide up his territories and forces equally."

"How civilised of you." Reynolds snarled having faced off against multiple Goa'uld and even killed a few of them himself, but the sarcasm was lost on the three Goa'uld.

"Yes. Unfortunately one among us has broken this agreement and started to attack the rest of us." She continued as if she had not been interrupted.

"Let me take a wild guess," Reynolds said jokingly, "it was Ba'al right? He always seemed like the most level headed of the all of you."

"He was able to locate the planet on which Anubis had created his Kull warriors." Camulus explained calmly.

"He gained access to Tartarus?" Reynold's asked shocked, having heard through the SGC grape vine how much of a fortress that planet was.

"Yes, he not only managed to capture the fortress but has also reprogramed the warriors their and elsewhere to serve him." Amaterasu practically spat with her anger causing her eyes to flash. "In battle these warriors are far superior to that of the Jaffa, and given enough time he will be able to conquer the galaxy. If that was to happen no one, not even the Tau'ri, would be safe from his forces."

"While this is all very enlightening I fail to see how or why we should care?" Weir said trying not to sound to shocked that earth was once again in the cross hairs of a Goa'uld. "We have a way to destroy those drone troops, and if we managed to destroy the fleet that Anubis sent several days ago, a fleet of seventy Ha'tak class, two hundred Al'kesh and the attached glider wings plus Anubis' flagship, I can't see his former lackey doing any better."

Yu quickly gestured for his first prime to come closer so that he could talk without the other hearing him. "My master wishes to say, it is well known that the Tau'ri possess a powerful new weapon, something which is far beyond your current level of technical knowledge." Oshu said carefully so not as to anger his master.

"Actually it's not that far out of our regular tech level these days." Weir counted without giving too much away, "In fact we've had access to the technology that is on par with that of the gate-builders now for almost a Terran solar year now, and have already used it to defeat Anubis, and we destroyed half of his fleet before we used the weapon that you just mentioned just to destroy the remaining ships including his dreadnought class flagship."

"WHAT!" Amaterasu shouted, "Where did you get such technology?"

"That's for us to know and for you never too, like I said before, Ba'al or anyone else amongst you wouldn't last very long in a fight with us." Weir counted smoothly shocking the Goa'uld delegation, as they tried to come to terms with what they had just heard.

"Still with the weaponry at your command you could prevent Ba'al from becoming a threat to the rest of the galaxy, if Ba'al manages to defeat us, as the combined might of the System Lords, how long do you think it would be before he turns his attention to you?" Camulus said calmly but threateningly towards the SGC members.

"Perhaps, however there are other worlds within this galaxy that are without the protection of the advanced defensive systems which your world now processes." Amaterasu said with an air of knowing arrogance.

Reynolds narrowed his eyes, praying that these snake-heads weren't on about what he was thinking. "What are you getting at?"

"We couldn't help but notice that the Asgard did not come to your aid when Anubis was attacking your planet, in fact we have heard very little from them for some time now." Amaterasu explained watching the pair at the other end of the table.

Reynolds chuckled at that, while Weir merely smiled. "Funny that you would mention that since we talk to them all the time. In fact SG1 and one of our ships are at their homeworld right now discussing the Protected Planets Treaty and the possibility of a technological and cultural exchange."

"WHAT! That is an outrage and a clear violation of the treaty!" Camulus shouted as he sprang to his feet in anger.

"So was allowing Anubis to attack earth with a number of different means over the last few years." Reynolds shot back, waving the guards to stand down. "Since Anubis was a Goa'uld we asked the Asgard to remain on standby and not to interfere with our defence plans. That way it would be you who broke the treaty and it would allow the Asgard to compensate us with some of their older technology."

"We also requested that they protect the other planets which fall under the treaty, just in case some of you decided to attack them while we were dealing with Anubis." Weir explained catching on to what Reynolds was doing.

"Not that it matters," Amaterasu said trying to keep the meeting on track, and away from the level of technology that the Tau'ri now had in their possession. "Ba'al has formed the conclusion that the Asgard are no longer able to or willing to enforce their obligations with regards to the treaty.

"Perhaps a short recess is in order." Suggested Weir, having only read about a third of the files regarding the SGC's history in its first few years.

"Agreed." Camulus said as Yu's first prime picked up the chair that Camulus had knocked over as he stood up, before sitting back down.

"Exactly how many planets are covered by this treaty?" Weir asked as she preached edge of her desk.

"I think that doctor Jackson told me once it was around twenty-six, maybe twenty-seven." Reynolds said closing the door to her office. "I'm certain that he said that they range from a population of a few hundred thousand to half a billion or so."

"So what good is the treaty if the Asgard aren't around to enforce it?" Weir asked in total disbelief at the situation.

"At one time they were, but thanks to the replicators, their forces are getting stretched rather thin. Them and us have really just been trading on the treat, kind of like poker, even when you don't have a winning hand you still bluff trying to win."

"Great," Weir said in frustration as she pinched the bridge of her nose, "and Ba'al is about to call it for Earth and the others. I know we defend Earth but what about the other worlds?"

"I have no idea ma'am." Reynolds said shaking his head before glancing over his shoulder at the Goa'uld still sat around the briefing room table visible through the sound proof glass which had star map printed on it. The pair thought about it for a few moments before Weir had an idea.

"I've got an idea but I'm not sure that commodore Hudson or the President are going to like it."

"What would that be ma'am?"

"Earth is about to make one hell of a commitment." Weir said sighing as she stood back up and gestured for Reynolds to do the same and the pair retake their seats at the briefing room table. "While we thank-you for your intelligence on what Ba'al is up to, we won't interfere in what is clearly an internal matter for the Goa'uld." Weir said once she was sure that the Goa'uld where listening to her, "if Ba'al breaks the treaty then he will suffer the consequences, that's all there is to it."

"Unfortunately we do not share your faith in the Asgard, we must stop Ba'al before that happens." Yu said as he slammed his fist onto the table in anger.

"The Asgard won't be the ones upholding the treaty we will." Weir declared with her best poker face and voice.

"You!" Amaterasu asked as her eyes went wide due to her surprise.

"Yes us." Weir confirmed as Reynold's gave her a questioning glance. "We will be the ones whom are enforcing the treaty from now on, so if Ba'al is dumb enough to break it, well you've seen what our four man SG teams can do."

"You don't have the forces to do that." Sneered Amaterasu.

"That's where you're wrong." Reynolds said, "An SG team is designed to be a fast moving scout unit, add in our fleet assets and well our forces are more than enough to do just that."

"We know that the Tau'ri have the ability to build space going warships, however without a viably hyperspace technology you cannot possibly reach the other planets which are covered in the treaty or to strike back at your enemies. Plus you also have a limited number of ships at your disposal." Amaterasu sneered, unknowingly falling into the trap that Weir had set for her.

"Actually all of our ships are equipped with Human/ Zentron hybrid hyper drives, and once the negations with Asgard are concluded we shall have access to their hyper drives and other technology. It's predicted that within the next few short years we will have a number of taskforces patrolling the galaxy." Weir said smiling, thinking how easy the Goa'uld had fallen into her ploy.

"Surly there is something with which we can give you in trade for your assistance in dealing with Ba'al?" Camulus inquired hoping to steer the conversation back in a more favourable direction once again.

"You don't have anything that we want." Weir simply said.

"But…" Camulus started, before being interrupted by Weir. "If that's all then, we're done here." Weir concluded giving a very visible nod to the guards by the stairs, as she stood and walked back to her office with Reynolds, stopping before entering she turned back and faced the three System Lords. "Thank-you for the intelligence but don't expect us to help you in your fight with Ba'al. We'll just wait until you have finished fighting each other by then we will have a fleet which will be able to withstand anything he can send against us." She motioned for the guards to escort them out. "You are free to go."

"This isn't over Tau'ri!" Amaterasu spat before being escorted back to the embarkation room.

Once the two saw that the Goa'uld and Oshu where at the base of the ramp waiting for the dialling sequence to finish. "You do realise that you just committed earth to the defence of around thirty planets, ma'am." Reynolds asked with an arched eyebrow.

"I know," Weir nodded as she moved back from the observation window, "Thankfully the Archangel's dry-dock has finished moving into orbit and the next batch of ships is nearly complete including those new D-305 Acidalium class destroyers and the two AS-306 Dulfim class assault ships Independence and Freedom."

"Yeah, I've seen the designs for both of them." Reynolds said dreamily in understanding having seen the plans for both classes. "Those new destroyers are packing as much firepower as the Nelson class but are half the size."

"I've got a feeling that we're going to need them rather soon." Weir said grimly as the Goa'uld delegation stepped through the event horizon of the active stargate, before it disengaged and shut down.

-{[]}-

Seven days earlier the world was a different place, thought general Hammond as he listened to the President, and his old friend, give his address about the limited disclosure about his former command following the massive battle that had taken place in orbit with Anubis and his fleet.

-{[]}-

"This is commodore Hudson," Hudson said, his voice giving weight to the grave situation they were in, "as you know, today was meant to be a historic day, we had finished construction of the first battle group for the humans of Tau'ri earth and trained them in modern space warfare tactics. Unfortunately, this isn't the case." Hudson said moving from the command chair, bringing the comm's earpiece over to the tactical station and studied the sensor readout displayed on it. "Our cousins of this galaxy have now reached a point in their development where they can move into space, but this has brought the attention of the Goa'uld. These Goa'uld have surrounded the planet which has given us sanctuary with a fleet of at least fifty capital class warships, and are even now are launching fighters." Hudson said, "and moment's ago, the Goa'uld Anubis contacted earth and demanded their surrender. There answer was NO!" He finished slamming his fist onto the console. "I've never given up, never surrendered to anything in my life, and I'll be damned if I'm about to start now."

As the commodore cast his gaze around the Archangels bridge he saw that everyone there, from the MACO guarding the entrance, to Cochrane and Campbell, to Welsh, Granger, Newman and even Dvorak were nodding their heads in agreement.

"So long as I command this ship we will never surrender it to an enemy force, we took an oath when we joined the ESMF 'to defend the earth and her colonies' and though this isn't home it is still Earth," He said, "so stand to your stations! Watch out for your shipmates! You've trained for this… you're ready for this. We may be from a different galaxy but we are the best in the Macross Fleet and imperial Star Fleet, and these Goa'uld are about to find out what happens when you piss of either."

The bridge was silent for a moment after Hudson had finished. Then it started, one pair of hands clapping in rhythm… then two, soon the whole of the bridge was clapping as the rhythm picked up speed until it finally reached a loud rancorous applause, complete with shouts of determination.

Inside his heart, Hudson knew that this might be a hopeless battle, more so if his Varauta came out in the heat of the battle, that they were about to enter into and everyone might be heading to their deaths, he also knew that these brave souls would follow him into the afterlife and the fields of Elysium without a second thought.

"XO." Hudson said over the noise, "Let's show them what happens when you piss off a Macross Fleet battlefortress class starship."

-{[]}-

John 'Marauder' Andrews looked out through the canopy of his Thunderbolt Durandal at all of the crescent shaped fighters and pyramid shaped motherships that were arrayed in front of him and shook his head. "Boy we're in it deep this time." He mumbled.

"Marauder, Snips." Came the voice of Kevin 'Snips' Waltfeld. "Dragons are in position and holding."

"Roger that." Marauder replied switching over to the command frequency for the Archangel's air wing. "Command, Marauder. All wing are at red-com one."

"Copy that Marauder," Came the voice of captain Hill. "Be advised that 'Ice Queen' has finished her re-fuelling and equipping of a FAST pack and is en-route to you at this time."

"Copy." Marauder replied, he would be a lot happier when she re-joined the rest of the air wing arranged in defence of Earth, he still wasn't used to the idea of leading a squadron, much less the entire air wing.

"Marauder, Red Demon!" Came the anxious voice of ensign Del Rio. "I have movement on my left flank."

"Easy kid." Replied Marauder flipping over to the fighter control channel. "CAG Did you copy?"

"I copied." Came the cold and steely voice of major April 'Ice Queen' O'Neill, the Archangel's air group commander, "I have lead again, Marauder take your flight and fall back to position Delta an get eyes on what he is talking about."

"Copy that," Marauder responded as he pulled back on his stick and touched his throttle, causing his Durandal to do an end over end flip. "Crowbar you're with me." He said getting his wingman and their ghost fighters to form up on him.

Moving quickly, the mark seven Thunderbolt, Durandal and six Ghost drones made their way to the left flank of the defensive line towards the rear of the archangel over the middle of the North Atlantic. "I'm in position." He said and started to scan the area with his fighter's sensors and his own eyes. "It looks the enemy are trying to probe the line."

"Stay on position." Ice Queen ordered over the fleet wide fighter channel. "We're still on weapons hold."

"Why aren't we attacking?" The pilot known as Crowbar asked.

"Infernum if I know, I guess that the commodore is trying to work this out diplomatically." Marauder replied as he gave his instruments the once over for the tenth time in two minutes. "Doesn't want to be the one to attack first."

"Think it will…" Crowbar asked as he looked over at the SGC's armada of Star-wolves', Starmax's and their own F-302 fighters on the defensive line.

"Attention all fighters." The voice of Ice Queen said cutting Crowbar off. "Command has received word that negations had failed. Stand-by to engage."

Immediately, Marauder began activating his active target systems. "Alright kid this is it." He said to Crowbar. "Follow my lead and watch my ass."

"Got it." Crowbar replied.

In front of them Marauder saw the line of enemy craft begin to move forward and the targeting alarm begin to ring in his helmet signalling that someone was tracking him. "BREAK! BREAK! BREAK!" He shouted as he pitched his fighters nose over rolling to the right, narrowly avoiding a plasma shoot that passed through the space he had just been occupying. "Phoenix squadron weapons free!" He commanded as he slammed the throttle forward. Like a scalded animal, his fighter leapt into the fight with Crowbar and the drones close on his wing.

"Now you've pissed me off." Marauder growled targeting the small cluster of fighters which had shot at him. "Let's see how you like this!" Hearing the locked on tone inside his helmet he thumbed the selector switch to change his offensive weapons from his HPA-01A heavy quantum beam gun-pod to the integrated Fuel and Sensor Tactical packs on the tips of his wings. "EAT THIS!" he shouted as he fired a dozen micro-missiles that streaked away from his fighter like angry bees.

Looking out of his cockpit canopy he watched as the crescent shaped fighters attempted to evade the micro-missile storm coming their way to no avail, he smiled as he watched the three fighters that he had targeted come apart in flash of oxygen enhanced explosions before being snuffed out by the vacuum of space.

"Scrap three!" He announced, looking around he saw that the two distinct groups of fighters had merged into one big jumbled mess of a melee, bullets, beams, missiles and plasma disrupted the darkness of space as the fight gained momentum.

Outside of the fighter melee, the seven ships of Earths small defence fleet moved into a firing position to attack the Goa'uld armada.

And then the Archangel opened fire with her full arsenal of weapons, minus her main over technology super dimensional energy cannon.

-{[]}-

"Have batteries three, five and seven concentrate fire on the nearest vessel. Let's take it out of the fight if we can. Co-ordinate with the rest of the fleet so we don't double up." Said Hudson as he pointed to the highlighted image of the nearest of Anubis Ha'tak's, "And get that representative up here immediately." He said to Granger, "He might have some insight as to what weakness these vessels might have."

"By your command." Granger replied giving Hudson a traditional Hansa salute.

"Sir batteries three, five and seven have a solution on the nearest ship." Said Welsh from the tactical station.

"Sir! CAG reports that the enemy fighters have been fully engaged!" Captain Hill reported from the flight-ops station.

"All Thunderbolt's weapons and modes free!" Hudson commanded. "XO, send a tight beam to the SGC fleet, to initiate the battle plan which we coded to them earlier."

"Right" Dvorak replied picking up a nearby comm.-unit.

"Sir, the enemy capitals are manoeuvring on us." Welsh reported, "Weapons stations and Destroids are requesting instructions."

"Range on target vessel?"

"One thousand thirty sir." Welsh replied.

"Just outside medium range," he mumbled to himself before turning to face Welsh, "Hold all weapons until they reach seven hundred fifty then clear the sky. I want to see what kind of range they have on those flying pyramids." He replied as Ares ships had jumped them at a much closer range than what Anubis had jumped his fleet in at.

"Yes sir." Welsh replied.

"The SGC capitals are moving into a defensive formation around the Prometheus now." Dvorak said as she re-joined Hudson at the tactical plot table, "General Hammond says to leave something for his ships to practice their ship-to-ship combat skills on."

Hudson acknowledge the report with a small nod, his mind having gone completely to focusing on the coming battle, and pointed to the display on the wall. "There trying to flack us to bombard the surface."

"That's what I'd do." Dvorak agreed sheepishly. "The question is, what are we going to do about?"

"Range is seven hundred fifty sir." Welsh announced interrupting the conversation between the senior officers.

Hudson looked up from the display to Dvorak who was watching him intently. "Watch this." He said turning to Welsh, "All batteries and Destroids. FIRE!"

Outside, the huge muzzles of weapons batteries three, five and seven belched out plasma from their high-energy magnetically accelerated Gottfried cannons at their targets along with the excess energy of electric discharges from the monster class destroids as they fired four VLC 10 projectiles that they had loaded. The rounds looked like streaking meteor as they shot across the vacuum of space.

All six beams of green tinted energy slammed into the outer ring of the Ha'tak's, causing massive sympathetic detonations inside their hulls. The motherships seemed to stagger and come to a halt before exploding as their reactors went critical.

"Direct hit!" Welsh announced happily. "Visual sensors and scanners indicate massive damage, there are massive internal detonations, there going up."

"Get to the life-pods." Newman mumbled just as the three targeted Ha'tak's went up.

"What are the rest of the ships doing?" Dvorak asked curious.

"Enemy ships are moving into an attack vector, to counter us." Welsh reported after glancing at the tactical read-out.

"I didn't think it would work twice." Hudson shrugged. "Alright, all forces weapons free, I say again fire at will!" Just before dozens of supper heated low-powered plasma bolts impacted the forward shields.

"Goa'uld ships have opened fire sir!" Welsh announced as the ship rocked slightly while the shields blossomed with a kaleidoscopic rainbow of orange and red hue from the weapons fire.

"Range?" Dvorak asked.

"Eight hundred, ma'am." One of the comm-scan officers announced from the lower bridge.

"So that's their maximum ship-to-ship range." Dvorak said, "Now we know."

Nodding Hudson replied. "Yes, now thought it gets ugly."

-{[]}-

"That's six-teen!" Marauder announced to his wingman as he flew his Durandal through the exploding cloud of debris that was once an Al'kesh, "Better get with the program Crowbar or you'll not even make the boards tonight."

"Can't do much sitting back here looking at your birds shiny new ass!" Crowbar joked in reply as he took out two gliders closing in on them.

"Both of you shut the Pedicabo up!" Ice Queen's voice said inside their helmets. "Marauder, what's your squadrons status?"

"None down and three damaged but hanging in there, all FAST packs are bingo missiles." Marauder reported firing the TW2-MDE/ M25 twin concealed-type MDE beam cannons at an Al'kesh that was making its way towards the bridge of the Japanese Nelson class Yamato. "Enemy fighters are clearing out of this sector and are pushing in towards the portside ARMD cruiser."

"Send half your group to pursue and take the rest to bolster the Dragons." Ice Queen ordered as another of the Ha'tak's exploded in the distance neat the two Nelson class battleships.

"Solid copy." Marauder replied, "Phoenix two, take Phoenix twelve through twenty four and go hunting, the rest of you slug-heads come with me." Marauder barely heard the acknowledgements of his pilots as he focused his eyes on the area off the bow the Archangel, where Dragon squadron was fighting for its life. "Deculture!" he breathed as he took in the unfolding fur-ball off his home bases bow.

The entire fighter battle looked like a huge ball of crescent shaped fighters surrounding a smaller ball of battleoids and fighters that were doing everything in their power to avoid being hit by the massive amounts of plasma being fired at them.

"Pour it on Kids! The Dragons are in deep shit!" Marauder said realising that Dragon squadron was out of range for the ships CIWS and point defences, he jammed his throttle to max red-lining his after burners.

Marauder's Durandal led the way as half of Phoenix squadron shot towards the massive fighter melee that was steadily moving away from the Archangel and towards Anubis's dreadnought.

-{[]}-

"Milord, several of the Ha'tak have lost all power and fires are encroaching on their power cores, and the glider fuel storage area!"

Anubis nodded to acknowledge the Jaffa's report. "Inform the commanders to evacuate their ships and send several Tel'tak to pick them up, immediately."

"This isn't going as planned." Said Ba'al from behind Anubis.

"Calm yourself Ba'al, everything that has transpired has done so according to my design." Anubis replied calmly. "Her'ak, have the third force of Al'kesh move to cover the rescue operations of the destroyed Ha'tak's."

"Yes milord." Replied Her'ak, moving to carry out his gods will.

"According to your design?" Ba'al asked incredulously. "Was it also in your design to lose several of your Ha'tak's against the Tau'ri?"

Anubis cocked his head sideways in a thoughtful gesture, the shrugged. "There are always losses when fighting the Tau'ri, Ba'al." He replied nonchalantly before turning his attention back to the battle visible from his dreadnought's Pel'tak. "Her'ak my gliders are concentrating too much on the group around the Tau'ri banner ship, tell the second and third groups to attack their landing areas, while the rest of the gliders and Al'kesh concentrate of their attack craft."

"Milord, group's three to ten are gone." Her'ak reported.

"Really." Anubis said, and if he still had a physical body would have arched and eyebrow in surprise. "How many gliders and Al'kesh have been lost so far?"

"Fifty-eight milord." Her'ak replied, "We still have one hundred ninety two which can still fight."

"And how many Tau'ri craft have been destroyed?"

"We have ten confirmed kills milord." A lower standing Jaffa at a sensor station said.

"Almost a one to four ratio!" Exclaimed Ba'al "You fool Anubis! That's outrageous! Anubis I demand…"

"You will demand NOTHING," Anubis growled, spinning on the host of Ba'al and pinning him against the bulkhead with his ascended powers, "and while you are on my ship you will maintain the proper decorum. Am… I... Under… Stood?"

Ba'al swallowed hard in the face of Anubis' barely controlled anger and nodded. "Of course Anubis. My apologies for letting my host emotions to overwhelm me."

Anubis stared at him for a moment longer and then released him from his iron grip and allowing him to stand on his own, satisfied that the other Goa'uld was now in his place. "Of course, Ba'al. We all have our moments."

Turning back to the battle Anubis spoke directly to his first prime. "Her'ak, tell the second wave to begin the next phase of the attack."

"At once milord."

-{[]}-

On the bridge of the Archangel, the tension in the air was thick as the deck reverberated from the impact of the Goa'uld's attack underneath the feet of the command crew, while the crew relayed their commands to their various section heads in hushed but urgent tones, everyone doing their best to keep the bridge a calm environment so that the senior staff could think.

"Sir, two of the motherships are closing in on us." Welsh reported from the tactical station, breaking the low level of noise on the bridge.

"They're trying to get inside the flack envelope to engage us at point blank range." Hudson said as he studied the display on the main tactical display on the forward main holo-screen, "Have all batteries and monsters switch to salvo fire. Target Lohengrin's alpha and beta on to the lead vessel."

"Yes sir," Welsh replied tensely, as she began to co-ordinate with Hill to have the fighters clear the attack vector.

"XO, what's our damage?" Hudson asked as another hit shook the deck beneath his command chair.

"Mostly shields and armour so far." Dvorak answered as she studied the damage reports on the main damage control board. "None of their plasma torpedoes have gotten through the pin-points, so we're lucky on that front, but their long range cannons have made some impact. There are hull breaches on decks fourteen and fifteen, we've sealed them off with emergency bulkheads forward of section twelve and aft of section six. We have some damage to across the portside dorsal intercooler that might comeback to bite us if we need to fire the main cannon."

Hudson considered Dvorak's report for a moment. The ship was only lightly damaged, and if they fired the main gun they could clear the system of these Goa'uld spawns of Khyron, but it would leave them at a tactical disadvantage if they had to face any more motherships, and retreat was out as it was antithetical to his nature, it was a quality that his mentor, admiral Bernard, had praised him on before she was killed in the war and his transfer to the Archangel. "A good commander must know when to hit hard, and not be afraid to do so, but a great commander knows when to wait for the right moment then hit them with a knock-out punch." Bernard had once told him, "More importantly, never doubt yourself. If you do then your opponent has already won, so long as you don't doubt yourself, no matter what the situation you are in, you'll always be one move ahead."

"We're not firing the main gun," Hudson said coming out of his memory. "Lieutenant Newman left full rudder, twenty degree up angle on the bow planes. Bring us head to head with the mothership at orange two one nine, tactical instruct Lohengrin's alpha and beta to fire as they bear."

"Aye sir!" Came the chorus of responses from the two officers.

"Sir," Sub-commander Dvorak said leaning in close so she could whisper in to his ear. "We have no idea as to what he has in reserve. He could have reinforcements on the way Kira."

"He doesn't." Hudson replied with a smile.

"How do you know?" His XO asked curiously raising an eyebrow.

Turning, the commodore looked at Dvorak in the eyes and gave her a reassuring half smile. "Because I know him. He showed his hand when he jumped in."

Dvorak looked confused and Hudson pulled her aside, out of earshot of the rest of the bridge staff. "You saw how he jumped his forces in."

Suddenly, like someone flipping a switch as a light went on in Dvorak's eyes. "He arrayed them so that he could capture us. He's gaging us, evaluating our responses seeing what makes us tick. He had already decided to attack long before he ever entered the system. That explains his piecemeal strategy too."

"Exactly." Hudson replied pointing to the main view screen, "He's probing us, seeing what kind of defence the Earth can mount and how it's employed by them."

Dvorak nodded in understanding and the two stepped back to the command chair as Granger re-entered the bridge with doctor Knight in tow.

"Commodore," He said gesturing at the SGC doctor, "doctor Knight, as ordered."

"Thank-you executor." Hudson replied facing the tactical expert from the SGC. "Glade to see you up and about."

Knight nodded in response, "Sorry about the damage I caused." He replied as the deck shuddered under their feet. "Glade to be up and about, though it seems that you're a bit busy just to be checking up on me however, I assume that there was a reason I was asked to come up here?"

"There is." Hudson replied, I was wondering how much you know about Anubis, and about the forces arrayed against us?"

"And what makes you think I am going to give you any answers, or that they will be the truth." Knight asked crossing his arms over his chest.

Hudson smiled slyly, "Because if you don't then I'll tell general Hammond about the fact that you're a spy for the Furling's. We could have very easily turned you over when your friend in the brig smashed up the hanger deck but we didn't."

"Oh, and as if they would believe you." Knight replied, his own sly smile crossing his expression, "The moment that the SGC and Anubis got scans of, and a look at your ship here, that sort of thing became a secondary concern, and you know it. So again, my question is, why should I tell you anything?"

Hudson shrugged, "I assumed that since you were in this predicament due to Anubis' actions, he would be your enemy as well. The enemy of my enemy is my friend and all."

"He may be my enemy," Knight said, "but I still don't trust you, and though you're helping the Tau'ri now you could be setting them up. If that's the case then I don't want to be the one to help you destroy the Fifth race."

"I understand your concern." Hudson replied, "I wouldn't want to be the one to explain to supreme commander Thor why I blew my cover."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Knight said with a chuckle, "but what makes you think that I'm a Furling. I could just be a human from another planet or dimension. There is a distinction."

"Indeed there is." Said Hudson, finally understanding where it was that Knight was heading with the conversation. "So ask the question that you want to ask."

"Where are you really from?" Knight asks without hesitation.

"We're from Earth, just not this dimensions Earth." Hudson replied.

Knight watched Hudson for a long moment, scanning his face for any sign of deception. It was only when lieutenant Welsh announced that the Lohengrin's had a firing solution that the alien that had been hiding at the SGC for close to five years finally nodded, accepting that what Hudson had said at face value.

"We have somethings to talk about then commodore, but that will have to wait." Knight said as he pointed to the main tactical display on the forward viewscreen. "For now we have a planet to protect."

-{[]}-

"Milord. The Tau'ri banner ship has moved from attacking multiple Ha'tak's to the ones sent to attack their orbital station." Her'ak reported

Anubis nodded. "As I thought they would." He said as he looked out of the pel'tac's window, "This Tau'ri commander has a keen grasp of space warfare. By attacking those ships, he hopes to divide my force."

"That's nice to know." Ba'al mumbled angrily from behind Anubis.

"We wouldn't have known this until it was too late had I not probed his defences Ba'al." Anubis replied turning and walking back to his throne. "But I believe that I have discovered something of even greater value."

"What would that be?" Ba'al asked as he stepped closer to the throne.

Anubis continued to study the holo-display of the visual feed showing the Archangel's defences, ignoring Ba'al. He knew it would anger the other Goa'uld, but Anubis knew that the other Goa'uld was now well informed as to his place on the ship and that he wouldn't give another outburst. After a few moments in which several small explosions could be seen in the distance, Anubis finally spoke. "They have a shol'va on their ships who is giving them information."

"How so?" Ba'al asked, his voice betraying the fear he felt.

"Look," Anubis said pointing to the view being displayed of the reports coming in from the ships attacking the Archangel. "They are targeting the thermal exhausts ports."

"So?" Ba'al snorted, "What does that have to do with anything?"

Anubis, if he still had a body would've smiled at Ba'al much like a parent would who was trying to explain something to a particularly dense and young child. "You see Ba'al," he began his voice dripping with scorn, "all Ha'tak's, be they yours, mine or that old fool Yu, have one major weakness… it doesn't have enough heat sinks to dissipate the heat generated by the massive engine power plants we use. Thus by targeting the exhaust ports they are seeking to cause the Ha'tak's engines to overheat and shutdown."

"And if that happens?" Ba'al asked already thinking how he could redesign his own fleet of Ha'tak's to compensate for this major flaw.

"Then they will be powerless and be destroyed."

-{[]}-

"It's working sir!" Welsh excitedly announced from the tactical station. "Targeted ships engines are over heating! They're breaking off!"

A massive cheer went up on the bridge as Welsh made her announcement, but it was quickly cut off by Dvorak. "Stow that SPAWN!" She shouts angrily over the raised voices. "We've only turned back two ships, and you are acting like we've defended Earth from the whole fleet! Get your minds back in the fracking game and focus on the remaining ships!"

The bridge was silent for a moment as everyone reeled from Dvorak's tirade, then as one they began moving again with their subdued sense of urgency.

"Sorry about that sir." Dvorak apologized.

Hudson waved it off, having dealt with her temper during the war. "You did the right thing sub-commander." Turning back to face Knight who was stood to the right of him by the communications station. "Seems you were correct. Their thermal exhaust system is susceptible to attack, even with their shields." The commodore said his expression still serious.

"Of course I was." Knight replied with a cocky smile of his own. "But it won't work twice. Anubis is a fast learner, he won't let you use that on him a second time."

"Think he will continue to press his attack?" Dvorak asked as the bridge shook from a monster class destroid firing from its station next to the command and control tower.

"Oh you can bet on it he wants to keep the outpost in Antarctica from being used by the Tau'ri as he knows it would end the rule of the Goa'uld in the galaxy. Only when he is defeated with his ship being blown out from under him will this attack end." Knight responded.

"Then I guess we'll have to do just that then, won't we?" Hudson said with an evil looking little smile on his face. "Comm's send on coded channel two four alpha to general Hammond, Minmay's curtain call in five."

"Aye sir." The communications officer replied as they sent the message to the Prometheus fighting over with the Nelson and Yamato over New York.

-{[]}-

"That's forty-eight heavies!" marauder announced as he flew his Thunderbolt Durandal through the remains of an Al'kesh making an attack run on the Yamato's bridge. "Keep pushing ladies! We're not letting them take down Earth!"

"Marauder! Snips!" Came the voice of captain Waltfeld, "I've got it under control on my end now. Thanks for the assist."

"You owe me a bear when we land, kiddo." Marauder joked as he chased a pair of gliders tracking a lone 302.

"My pleasure." Snips replied as he snap fires a pair of micro-missiles at an Al'kesh.

"Ok cut the crap!" Came the harsh voice of Ice Queen over the channel. "Give me your Arms, Casualty and Expendable reports."

"Phoenix squadron is amber on internal ammo, red on FAST packs, two casualties and twenty two Thunderbolt's who are hot and bothered." Marauder reported.

"Dragon squadron is red on internal ammo, Winchester on FAST packs, six casualties and eighteen Thunderbolts ready to kick ass." Snips reported.

Marauder winched at the number of downed pilots in his counter parts squadron. He knew that if Angel was commanding them then the number would probably have been less, but she was commanding one of the Starmax flights. Still it couldn't be blamed on Snips, he was new to command and unexperienced. This battle would be a lesson he wouldn't soon forget.

"Ok. Phoenix lead take you fighters…" Started O'Neill before being cut off by captain Hill breaking into the channel.

"Attention all Archangel force's. Commence 'Big Wednesday' formation! I say again 'Big Wednesday' formation!"

"Dragons rotate through the Minerva's for resupply everyone else form on the Archangel. NOW!" Ice Queen said as two Durandal's multiple Thunderbolts and Ghost's moved to cover the Archangel.

-{[]}-

"Milord!" Her'ak said pointing to the holographic tactical display. "The Tau'ri banner ship and half their fighters are disengaging!"

Anubis shook his head sadly. "No my loyal first prime," he said in a soft but patronizing tone, "they are falling back to cover the tel'tak that has just come out of hyperspace."

"How do you know that milord?" Her'ak asked.

"That is the ship that I gave to Ronan to take the Shol'va's and SG1 across the galaxy. If it is here they must have what they are looking for. Ready the planetary assault weapons."

"Yes milord!" Her'ak said bowing slightly.

Anubis chuckled and then turned his gaze back out the window. Behind him Ba'al slowly left the Pel'tak and headed for the nearby ring room to ring to an Al'kesh that was cloaked underneath making his escape.

Seconds after Ba'al Al'kesh had jumped into the safety of hyperspace, a constant stream of Alteran smart plasma drones began to tear apart Anubis' dreadnought, Ha'tak's and all the smaller battleships without any trouble.

-{[]}-

Marauder sighed in relief as the canopy rose up and allowed his ground tech to attach a small ladder to his fighter while taking his helmet off. "Weapons on safe, engine ports closed. FAST pack systems safe, reactors on stand-by." He announced to the crew chief.

"Fighter is clear sir, welcome home." The chief replied as he entered the data into a PADD.

"That was along patrol." Marauder said as his feet hit the deck. "If I see another glider today I'll lose it."

""Yes sir." The chief replied absently.

Marauder smiled as he tucked his flight helmet under his arm. "Any word on that SGC pilot 'Shaft', from the rescue Argo's."

"Wolf found all twenty pilots and crews that punched out, only one Starmax crew didn't make it though." The chief said referring to the small force that had been jumped by several gliders and an Al'kesh remains of the Goa'uld fleet two days after the attack on earth.

"Oh," Marauder said, his feeling of a safe return from a long patrol draining. "Shaft?"

"Sorry sir, no news yet?" The chief replied quietly.

Marauder nodded feeling his heart break inside, Shaft, major Cameron Mitchel had been a promising young pilot with a big carer ahead. "Deculture!" He said kicking over a tool cart and sending tools flying across the bay.

"Whoa." Came a voice from behind him, causing him to spin around.

"WHAT!" He snarled as he spun ready to hit something or someone, only to find his counterpart from Dragon squadron captain Jenny 'Angel' Revell's eyes locked on him. Taking a few deep and calming breaths to relax before he spoke again. "Sorry." He said somewhat softer.

"Its alright." Angel replied just as softly. "I've been there."

They both stared at each other uncomfortably for a long moment, while the deck crew continued to clear and refuel the many aircraft on the hanger deck, before Angel finally broke the awkward silence. "You did good out there."

Marauder nodded, his expression stoic and unchanging. "Not good enough." He mumbled just loud enough to be heard over the noise of the hanger.

"Yeah, I heard about Mitchell, he's alive but they reckon he won't be able to walk for the next six months." Angel said.

"First pilot I've ever had seriously injured." Marauder said sighing.

Angel looked at Marauder's face for a long time. Inside she felt his pain and wanted to reach out to him, but the memories of her own experiences with him years ago jaded her thoughts so much so that she let her anger get the better of her. "Well get used to it, Captain!" She spat. "Because it doesn't get any easier."

Marauder nodded absently, ignoring the vailed reference to their failed academy relationship. In his mind, all he could see was that young eager kid whom had been flying on his wing less than an hour ago. All he could think of was how he wouldn't be able to share that post mission drink that he had promised him and how it somehow felt like it was all his fault.

Seeing that Andrews was in a world of his own, Angel turned and walked off without saying another word. She had come to comfort him but once again she had let her own bitterness and anger over their shared past to cloud her judgement. "Someday," She muttered to herself as she entered one of the turbo-lifts from the hanger. "I'm going to keep my big mouth shut."

-{[]}-

Commodore Hudson, weary beyond words from his days of action following the battle of Earth, collapsed into the chair behind his desk inside of his quarters and pinched the bridge of his nose. "What's the final count?"

Sub-commander Dvorak took a seat directly opposite of him and looked down at the PADD with the final after action reports from the various section chiefs. "Including the pilots, ten dead, thirty-seven wounded, two in ICU, but the doc's say that they will all live. Of the air wing, we lost a third of the Ghost drones, and five of Thunderbolts have been declared a total loss and three are going to be down for third stage repairs for at least two weeks."

Hudson nodded. "Have the deck crews bring the float Thunderbolt's on-line to replace those we lost. Also begin looking through the records of ships personal to determine eligibility for flight training, include the members of the crew from the Haze, since we're going to need more pilots to replace the ones we lost."

"Aye sir." Dvorak replied typing the search into the ships records for all personal, both fleeter and Imperial, whom had ever logged time in a veritech, talon or raptor. "I'll also set the Luna base to work building new Ghosts to replace the lost ones."

A ringing of the door alert interrupted Hudson and Dvorak's conversation about the ships air wing.

"Come in." Hudson said dropping a PADD onto the pile on his desk.

Marauder, now dressed in his duty uniform, entered as the sliding doors closed softly behind him and he came to attention just in front of Hudson's desk. "Captain Andrews reporting as ordered sir." He said snapping off a salute.

"At ease captain." Hudson replied as he returned the salute, "I've been going over your performance from the battle the other day. You did a good job."

"Thank-you sir. The guys worked hard the other day, they're the ones that deserve the praise."

"Indeed they do," Hudson replied looking at one of the many PADDs on his desk, "But you did a good job of keeping them tight and reigning in their bad habits. Not a single bird from your unit had to refuel or rearm, and you only lost two pilots. That says something about you captain."

"That's still two too many sir." Responded Marauder.

Hudson looked into Andrews eyes and when he did he saw something hauntingly familiar in them, he also knew what it meant instantly recognizing the danger that lay there in. "John, you can't blame what happened to lieutenant Corbin on yourself."

"He was my wingman, sir. I…" he paused as his voice began to crack as he began to chock up. "I… I, should have been there for him."

Hudson nodded and stood, walking around his desk to where Marauder was standing. "That's what I thought too when I lost the first person under my command. I thought 'I should have been there for her, I know I could have done something.' The truth is thought, that she would have died even if I had been there."

"But he was my wingman sir!" Marauder hissed, almost sounding as if he was being insubordinate. "I should have been there for him."

"Then the crew of the Daedalus would be dead." Dvorak said as she stood up alongside commodore Hudson. "The fighter you took out while he was covering you was on a suicide run at their portside fuel cell. They had just taken a hit there and there armour system was weakened enough that if he had hit, it would have set off the fuel bank and caused a chain reaction destroying the ship with all hands."

"You saved them captain, and Paul died knowing that what he did by keeping that bomber off you while you dealt with the attacking fighter." Hudson said.

Marauder considered the commodores words for a moment before nodding, accepting what the two senior officers where telling him. "Then sir, the truth is that he not only saved me but also the crew of the Daedalus, sirs."

"Yes," Hudson replied, knowing that he had gotten through to the younger man. "From a certain point of view he did."

"I would like for his record to reflect that sir, that way if we ever get home, his family will know how he died." Marauder said. "That he died saving others from an attack which would have hurt a lot of people."

"I see no problem with that." Hudson replied making a note to add it to second lieutenant Corbin's service record, "Now go and get some rest, I'm sure you'll want to be rested for President Hayes address tomorrow."

Marauder saluted, realising that he was being dismissed and Hudson returned it, letting the captain leave. When the door had closed behind Andrews, Hudson turned to face Dvorak who had taken a seat on the couch underneath the window with the orbital dry dock they had constructed on the far side of the moon moving in to view as it was transferred into earth orbit. "That kid is one of the best fighter jockeys that I've ever seen." He said as he moved to sit back behind his desk, and the piles of PADDs.

"He's turning out to be a not-so-bad leader too." Dvorak said opening her uniform jacket.

Hudson nodded, agreeing his XO. "You know the CAG and I gave him command of that squadron to slap some responsibility into him following the jump, it's amazing the change which it has brought out in him."

-{[]}-

"Ladies and Gents we have a problem right now." General Hammond stood at the very end of the table which he and the other ship commanders from the other nations, in the new central briefing room at Homeworld Command Centre under the pentagon. "We're down to less than half of our fighter and warships assets. The remaining ships we have operational will rotate from their orbital positions back to the surface periodically. The other ships remaining are both out of action for the foreseeable future. Colonel Chekov?"

"Thank-you general, the Korolev has been secured in her dry dock in Vladivostok, the repair estimates by the engineering teams and her ships engineers put the repairs at least two months, provided we can get the materials from the United States government. The bases current stocks will allow us to continue these repairs for the foreseeable future. In addition the majority of our Starmax's and Star Wolves will be operational within the next three weeks, our losses have been severe but we are continuing with construction and the Leonov and her sisters Stroganov and Gnosis should be ready one month from now." Chekov said as he leant back in his chair. "The supplies we have on hand are enough to complete our current ships and commence repairs but not much else. The squadron losses for the Starmax and Star wolf squadrons have been immense leaving us woefully vulnerable if there is another attack."

"The bottle neck of supplies we have will be redistributed to the allied forces as and when they are needed by each county. The Prometheus and Nelson are in as much need of repairs and upgrading as any of the capital ships." Hammond calmly replied. "Commodore Sector?"

"Nelson has taken some damage to her power and shield generation systems. The incomplete field stabilisers allowed some of the impacts to dangerously degrade her shields. In addition a number of their heavier plasma rounds made it through the gaps in the coverage. It has put her construction and commission back by at least three weeks, she'll be fully ready for action in about two months. The good news is that the Drake class construction bay will be ready in the next few days, and the other squadrons of Starmax and Star Wolf's will be operational around the same time as the Nelson is completed. However, we've been forced to scrap almost half of the fighters and bombers that made it back, it's those components that have been salvaged which have allowed us to increase our production rate."

"Good that means that both of our ships should be operational at around the same time." Chekov said. "I am afraid that after construction and repairs, what we have left even with the resources that the United States we will be at least nine months to a year away from commissioning any more spacecraft after the Leonov and her sisters. Our surplus parts will be essential to keep our vehicles flying, leaving nothing to construct new ships."

"The French, Chinese and Japanese allies have sent us their own information, it seems," Sector spoke up, "after we had enquired about the possibility of using what spares we have to construct new fighters or smaller Drake class ships. It would seem that even though the Chinese held back somewhat they weren't lying about the amount of forces they have. The Chinese forces are unable to accelerate their production due in part to the weapons and munitions based embargo's that the UN has levied on them. Their forces have been badly mauled leaving them no choice but to decommission the majority of their force and use the parts to repair the air wing on the Sun Tsu. The French and Japanese are even worse off, the craft which returned will give them both nations two squadrons of fighters but only one flight of six bombers and some spares, they'll need to keep everything running."

Hammond stood up and stopped behind his chair. "The fact is gentleman is that we're pretty much screwed. We don't have the parts or the pilots to build up our forces. The United States own space forces have been cut down by a third, the Odyssey and Daedalus air wings are down to half and the Prometheus main weapons has to be repaired by the Zentradi and our own people which will take at least a week. Like everything else it's going to take time for us to mine, refine and build the parts that are needed to build even a few planes. Now the Goa'uld haven't hit us again… yet. The Asgard and the Zentradi are picketing the system and deploying some sensor and defence platforms but they won't know that the Goa'uld are here until they are almost on top of us."

"Their FTL is impressive. I've seen the basic theories from the briefing packets but seeing it in action was something else entirely." Sector said. "Yet it also makes them dangerous. One ship in the right place at the right time and the Earth would be destroyed. Has the SGC ever encountered anything which could block their passage in hyperspace so close to the planet?"

"Nothing I'm afraid, but the Asgard and the Zentradi are working with the scientists at the SGC and Area 51 to develop something. Damn thing is that Anubis only jumped in that far out because he didn't see the risk that the fleet was or if we had the outpost actively running, US Army specialists are questioning the Jaffa that surrender, but as to what they were thinking beyond 'my god is good, the Tau'ri are bad…"

Hammond's briefing was brought to a halt by a flash of blueish white light, as it receded it left Thor and SG1 in its wake.

"Greetings Thor, SG1. Any news?"

"I am afraid I have unfortunate news." Thor said, "The battlegroup which was dispatched to protect your world by the Asgard high council has been recalled to the homeworld immediately. As the fleet commander it is my duty to return too at the head of the fleet. My use of the Daniel Jackson was only a temporary one, and as such I am afraid I will be leaving within the next twenty hours."

"I see," Hammond said a little dejected, "are there any chances of us being sent any replacements?" He asked politely, while silently hoping inside.

"That's the good news sir." Carter explained. "The ships which are being recalled are the newer O'Neill class battleships and Teal'c of Chulak destroyers, we have however managed to convince the high council to release a squadron of older Baliskirnir class motherships to bolster our planetary defences for a while at least until the fleet is back in the air."

"We, the Asgard, as a race own much to the humans of Earth, but we are in the process of construction on our new homeworld which has been cleared of Replicators. The ships which we are detaching to you are no match for even one of our newer ships, but are more than a match for anything that the Goa'uld could ever field. I am sorry that we are unable to do more than this but it is a very inopportune time for both of our races but I don't have any options in this matter."

"Thank-you for your assistance Thor. Good luck with the reconstruction of your homeworld and with whatever it is you are doing."

"I shall return when it is possible for me to do so." Thor said before another flash of blueish white light filled the briefing room as Thor was beamed back to his ship, leaving the seven humans alone again. Hammond turned to the other officers and dismissed them from the meeting realising that he would need to inform everyone about the change in operations due to half of the Asgard force leaving and the replacements would only be six Baliskirnir's.

Once the other two senior officers had left with an airman showing them to the mess hall, he gestured for SG1 to take a seat. "Tell me people how are things over at the SGC?"

"Not good sir." Carter said as she took a seat along with the rest of SG1 around the briefing room table, as if they were in the SGC's own. "It has somehow leaked out that Cheyenne mountain is the head, or at least part of Project Blue Book. No one is sure where the leak has originated from, but I'm not sure that the SGC will stay undisclosed for long now that the entire planet know and are watching the movements of all the IOA member nations. The Prometheus and Nelson have been positively sighted as have a number of the space fighter airfields."

"I knew about the Prometheus, we were attacked on final approach to the landing facilities."

"What happened sir?" O'Neill asked.

"Some idiots launched a shoulder mounted missile directly into the underside of the ship at close range. It damaged some of the anti-gravity emitters, though the explosive head didn't manage to piece the hull armour, it will however take longer to repair then we originally estimated."

"Damn!" O'Neill exclaimed, "I'd bet that Ronson was mad, sir."

"He wasn't happy and neither was I, since I was in command of the Prometheus for the battle against Anubis. The culprits were discovered when we scanned the area and have been taken into custardy by the FBI."

"Great, that's the last we'll see of them. Anything else gone wrong?" O'Neill asked as he began to doodle a ship design based on the Alteran knowledge still within his subconscious mind.

"It's just what we have been expecting." Jackson told them having seen more of the news, "Anti-war protesters are out in force around the areas which have been confirmed as IOA related bases. A few dozen people have been arrested due to their actions. SG12 and SG15 have been injured at the main gate due to protesters that opened fire as they tried to rush entrance to the mountain. Not to mention the number of alien and UFO hunters that are converging on every confirmed position."

"It is only going to get worse." Teal'c said more as a statement than a question.

"Very probably, a number of the Middle Eastern countries along with North Korea are getting very… vocal, about the fact that we have orbit capable warships and fighters, and more than a few are demanding access to the technologies used to build the fleet," jackson said.

"Well, they know what they can do." O'Neill joked, "I'd trust most of them with Teal'c's staff weapon about as far as I can throw them and even less with the tech in the fleet, sir."

"Agreed colonel, the ships of the fleet are the property of their home nations, and as such they have no right to them what so ever. Looks like the IOA are going to be busy."

"I wouldn't relax too much Jack, that's only the tip of the ice burg. While you were frozen Greenpeace made a play for the outpost, backed by some of the non-IOA countries, and when they couldn't get within twenty miles they launched a legal challenge." Jackson said sharing a look with Hammond, Carter and Teal'c, before he continued, "It seems that they want to charge you with both war crimes for your actions against the Goa'uld and breach of the Antarctic Treaty article one since they figure that the drones fired where a part of a military operation."

"They WHAT!" O'Neill screamed as he shoot to his feet.

"It's true sir." Carter says having been told by Jackson while O'Neill and Thor had been addressing the UN. "A few of the European, Middle Eastern powers, African nations and North Korea have all demanded that you be removed from command prior to war crimes hearings at The Hague."

"This has got to be a joke." O'Neill says as he sits down again and cupping his hands on his head and shakes it.

"I'm afraid not colonel, but the President has said that, at this moment we are at war and no officer will be prosecuted for any war crimes until the conflict is ends." Said Hammond, softly to his second-in-command. "He also told the delegation that you did what was necessary to protect the planet and it would be a cold day in hell before he let you take the fall. It would seem that Henry likes you colonel."

"Thank god for small mercies." O'Neill said before he mumbled, "Fuck! How do I get myself into these situations?"

"No clue Jack, you're just gifted that way."

-{[]}-

"Run that by me again doctor!" Hayes asked through the speaker phone in Weirs office.

"It was the only thing that I could think of that would get them to leave without much trouble." Weir responded without hesitation. "Sir if Ba'al breaks the treaty and the Asgard don't show up to stop his violation, then he will launch a full scale assault on Earth, and while I do believe that we could repel such an assault, it would also severely cripple the fleet again and possibly further harm the planet. I think that our best choice at the moment is to keep the fighting out of the solar system, this way if Ba'al attacks one of the planets under the treaty he should think that he Asgard are letting us do their job for them, which isn't really that far from the truth."

"She's right mister President." Weir heard general Hammond say through the line. "As long as Ba'al and the rest of the Goa'uld think that the Asgard can still enforce the treaty then the Earth will remain safe, yet if he even suspects that this isn't the case then he will attack."

"How long until the fleet is ready again and the new ships are launched?" Weir asked not knowing how bad the fleet had been hit.

"Most of the fleet will be ready in a few days, but the Nelson, Korolev and Sun Tsu are going to be in dry dock for at least two months, and the next batch of ships are at minimum six to nine months from launch." Hammond said.

"Well then we had better speed up construction," Hayes replied, but everyone knew that it was an order and not a suggestion. "something tells me that we will need them soon."

-{[]}-

The Heracles, the first of the Zentron built Minerva class ships built for the Earth in half the time it would have taken the earth dry docks, had been in the solar system containing the protected planet of K'Tau for the last week. Colonel Prendergast's mission had been a simple so far as the deployment of a constellation of Asgard designed monitoring satellites to allow earth to monitor all of the systems which fell under the Protected Planets Treaty to make sure they weren't attacked by the Goa'uld.

"Sir, I'm detecting a vessel in hyperspace on a path for this system. Estimates on the course show that the approaching craft will exit hyperspace near to K'Tau's outermost moon." Said the long range sensor operator.

"Very well. Helm, plot a course and give me full sub-light. Tactical bring us to level two battle stations and deploy all weapons." Responded Prendergast.

At full sub-light the Heracles was only minutes from the predicted interception point, and as she close she deployed her full array of armament, minus her bow mounted positon cannon. Almost as if on cue a large purplish blue tinted hyperspace window opened and two Ha'tak class motherships exited.

"Ha'tak vessels, this is the Tau'ri Defence Forces ship Heracles. Your presence here is a direct violation of the Protected Planets Treaty. I highly advise you to re-enter hyperspace and return to safer pastures." Prendergast said sending a subspace message to the two Ha'tak's, before they could even register the fact that they had company in the system.

"Sir, they are raising shields and bringing weapons online." A sensor operator reported detecting the in power transfer on the offending ships.

"Ok people, they want to do it the hard way. Shields up and target both ships." Ordered Prendergast as the command deck lowered into the armoured bridge below.

The large holographic view screen switched to an active comm-link from one of the Ha'tak's. clearly these vessels belonged to Ba'al as it was he who was on the other end of the link.

"Tau'ri vessel, I am Ba'al. It would seem that the rumours where true, but that is of no concern. I hereby lay claim to this system, and it is you who are in violation of the treaty, leave now." Ba'al ordered in a condescending tone.

"I'm afraid I can't do that Ba'al. This system is under the protection of both the Asgard and the Tau'ri defence forces. Again I advise you to leave this system immediately." Responded Prendergast as out of a hyperspace fold the truly massive form emerged. The SDF type two battlefortress easily dwarfed the other three ships combined. In seconds the vessels shields where raised. Aboard Ba'al's Ha'tak's preparations where quickly made to fire on both vessels in their sights.

"This is commodore Hudson of the Zentradi Macross Fleet vessel Archangel." Hudson said breaking into the channel. "This system is under the protection of races allied with the Zentradi, and whom are technologically superior to your own ships. It is highly inadvisable to dispute this fact, if you value your lives be somewhere else."

"The Zentradi are nothing more than a Tau'ri deception, it is you who will be defeated." Spat Ba'al in typical Goa'uld fashion.

"If that is what you think then you are a fool. Your technology is no match for the Heracles let alone that of the Archangel. Ignore this final warning and you will meet the same fate as that of Anubis and know that it was you who that deceived." Confidently stated Hudson, as the Archangel's massive secondary one hundred and seventy eight centimetre rail cannons moved to target the two Ha'tak class ships.

Ba'al may have been brave by Goa'uld standards, but he had seen how powerful the two ships facing him were, and if the rumours where to be believed the Archangel had taken out Ares entire fleet with one shot. With a simple order, Ba'al ordered both of his Ha'tak's to re-enter the relative safety of hyperspace and leave this system quickly.

The people on the planet below where safe never knowing that their freedom had been at risk. K'Tau was safe.

-{[]}-

On Earth a single Argo class transport ship is flying over the frozen landscape south of the McMurdo base, in Antarctica, escorted by a pair of Starmax bombers towards a small dome and about half a dozen small out buildings and some Zentron rapid deployment base modules, namely barracks, control stations and medical stations. Sitting in the co-pilots seat major John Sheppard was taking in the controls of his new posting while he chatted with one of the passengers, the recently promoted brigadier general O'Neill as they began moving over the mountains near the base.

"Apache, Black Hawk, Harrier, Cobra, Osprey…" Sheppard said glancing once more at the controls.

"That's a lot of training for the Antarctic." O'Neill quips, making the other pilot in the cockpit smirk.

"Until six months ago it was the one continent that I'd never set foot on."

"It's my least favourite continent."

"I kind of like it down here." Sheppard says causing O'Neill and the primary pilot to look at him.

"You like it down here?" O'Neill asks, his eyes going wide in surprise at the younger man statement.

"Yes sir, it's kind of relaxing and calming." He says as he checks his instruments again. "We should be at the site in about ten minutes."

-{[]}-

Meanwhile at the outpost several scientists and Zentradi are working on analysing one of the drones as doctor weir, who had been transferred from the SGC by the IOA, walks by working on an iPad and nods to the project lead, Peter Grodin.

"Doctor Weir."

"Peter." She says as she walks past, heading towards the main part of the excavated Alteran outpost, the drone interface and control chair where the vast majority of the site is and can hear the almost shouting accents of the Canadian physicists Rodney McKay and the Scottish medical and sites CMO the, doctor Carson Beckett.

"You see? Nothing." Beckett says as he gets up out of the chair and starts to walk back towards to the infirmary that had been set up down here, since it was a ten minute trip to the surface.

"Carson! Get back here!" McKay shouts as he begins to chase after him.

"I could sit in the bloody thing all day and it wouldn't do any good. It's a waste of time. Excuse me, doctor Weir." He says as he walks past her continuing his escape to his domain.

"He's not even trying." McKay says pointing to the retreating form of the Scotsman.

"But he was the one who discovered the gene which this technology responds to."

"Yeah, well, he said that he wished that he never had it."

"Really?" Weir asks somewhat shocked, and with a hint of sarcasm.

"I know, can you believe that?" McKay says incredulously not hearing her sarcasm, causing Weir to smile.

"We could always test you again for the third time Rodney." She jokes.

"Funny." He responds as he rolls his eyes.

"We have only found a handful of people that who are genetically compatible with the Alteran technology and despite your heroic efforts with lieutenant Cochrane, to interface our technology with theirs, we need every single one of them to sit in this chair, and that includes doctor Beckett."

"What am I supposed to do?" McKay says shrugging, "He's afraid of the thing."

"This chair controls one of the most powerful weapons known to anyone. I'm afraid of the thing, but every time someone sits in it we learn something new about the Alteran's who built this outpost, and why they built it. Doctor Beckett should be proud that he is genetically more advanced."

"It's not more advanced." McKay huffed as he pouted. "It's a random characteristic of…"

"This really bothers you, this whole gene thing huh?" Says doctor Morse having snuck up on the pair.

"Oh I'm clearly overcome with envy." He says sarcastically, as Jackson comes around the corner from one of the information vaults that they had discovered near the chair.

"Just the people I need to see." He says before turning and walking away again, leaving the trio confused for a few seconds before he returns and says "Come with me." Which gets the other three to follow him to a small lab just down the ice covered metal walls of the outpost. "We've gotten closer over the last month to finding the location of the Lost City of Atlantis, and it turns out we've been looking in the wrong place."

"Now, we thought that we had the stargate address, yet when I ran them through the Archangel's astrometrics lab computers in an effort to pin it down the results we inconclusive." Says lieutenant Campbell as she draws on a wipe board in the lab the point of origin symbol for Earth.

"That's the point of origin for Earth." Weir says.

"That's not it." Jackson says looking like the cat that ate the canary.

"Then your address must be incorrect." McKay says not noticing Jackson and Campbell's faces.

"No sir, it's not incorrect." Campbell says, drawing a new symbol in between the earth symbol and the symbol before it. "Just incomplete."

"What are you two saying?" Weir asks as Campbell labels the last two symbols.

"It's an eight symbol address. What we are looking for may be further away than we ever imagined, but it's not out of reach."

"Atlantis?"

"Atlantis, we may be able to go there." Jackson says with a grin like a little kid.

-{[]}-

"Look, we've been through this, I'm not your man." Beckett says as McKay and Cochrane half carry half push him back towards the chair.

"Keep moving." McKay orders giving him a small push.

"I'm a doctor, a medical doctor." Beckett protests.

"There's nothing to be afraid of." McKay says as Beckett turns to run off again.

"You don't understand. I... I break things like this."

"Take it easy doc," Says Cochrane reassuringly as he pulls out his field scanner, "this thing has survived for millions of years intact, I'm sure that it will survive you for five minutes, now just sit down, close your eyes and relax."

Sighing in frustration Beckett does as he's asked, putting his hands on to the control pads on the arms briefly. "And again nothing." He says as he tries to stand up.

"This time, just try to think about where we are in the solar system." McKay says pushing him back down gently.

Beckett sighs again as he recloses his eyes, staying like that for several seconds. "I think I feel something." He says as he reopens his eyes and looks at the pair. "I think it could be launch related."

"Shut up and concentrate." McKay jokingly says while Cochrane rolls his eyes smirking.

Beckett just looks at the two for a moment, then closes his eyes. After a few seconds of nothing happening the lights on the back of the chair activate and the chair reclines which causes Beckett to panic. Nearby the drone which Grodin is working on with a few other scientists' powers up drawing power from its own internal micro ZPM, making the team jump back in shock as everyone near it turns and stares at it for a second before it shoots off the examination table and flying around the cavern and then straight up the shaft towards the surface and through the roof of the dome.

"What's happening?" Someone shouts as a console sparks near them, as Beckett just stares in shook.

"What did I do?" He panic's as the drone shoots up the ice shaft past the lift rocking it with its energy wake.

"GET US BACK DOWN THERE!" Weir screams as she stares back down the shaft.

-{[]}-

"Attention all inbound craft, we have a rogue drone that could seek a target on its own. Land immediately and shut down your engines. This is not a drill. I repeat…" Says the local air traffic controller over the radio.

"It's too late. Hang on!" Sheppard shouts as he swings the Argo out of the drone's way, while the two Starmax's pushed their thrusters to max as they dived to the snow covered ground below. The drone circles around the three craft to at them from behind, forcing the trio to break apart as it grazes the wing of one of the Starmax's causing it to trail smoke from the damage caused, while the drone swings around again and heads back towards the Argo.

"Break right!" O'Neill shouts from the rear passenger cabin.

"Yes sir." Sheppard says as the Argo banks hard to the left.

"I said right MAJOR!" Screams O'Neill.

"Yes sir, I'm getting to that, sir." Sheppard says as he swings the Argo hard over to the right into a nose dive as the drone whizzes past them again.

-{[]}-

As the elevator reaches the cavern again, doctors Weir and Morse look around at all the damage the drone had done before dashing to the control chair where Beckett is still sitting and looks at her with her with very sad eyes and look upon his face.

"I told you I was the wrong person for this." He says almost begging to be pulled out of the chair.

"It doesn't matter now, just do something!" Snaps McKay while Cochrane scans the chair trying to find the controls interface to shut down the chair.

"Like what!" Beckett pleads for help.

"Carson, just concentrate on shutting the drone down before it hurts anyone." Weir says softly and calmly to the panicking doctor, who closes his eyes and takes a deep calming breath as he concentrates on shutting down the drone.

-{[]}-

"I can't see it." Sheppard says as he and his co-pilot/ gunner continue scanning the area looking for the highly advanced smart weapon. "Pull up! Pull up! Pull up!" shouts O'Neill from the back transport, having somehow sensed where the drone is.

Instantly Sheppard puts the transport into another nose dive as the drone over shoots them by a few inches, and swings around and down to hit them from underneath.

"What about now?" O'Neill asks.

"Now's good." Sheppard says as he brings the transport in for a landing and pulling the emergency shutdown handle. "Sir what the hell was that?"

"Wait for it." O'Neill says holding up a finger, as the drone smashes through the snow bank in front of them and heads directly for the transport which is still shutting down.

"Out!" Sheppard shouts as the crew unbuckle their safety webs and make a dash for the door out of the transport at the rear of the craft. As the three reach the back Sheppard and the gunner dive out of the back, just as the ZPM powering the drone to switches back to stand-by as its internal lights switch off and skims across the ice and snow stopping a few inches across from O'Neill who is sitting on the snow under the wing. O'Neill and the others just stare at it for a few seconds before cautiously sitting up on the ice on the ground.

-{[]}-

"I think I did it!" Beckett sighs as he gasps opening his eyes seeing everyone staring at him, before the cavern erupts with a cheer and Weir sighs in relief.

-{[]}-

Back on the surface Sheppard, O'Neill and the co-pilot all walk back into the transport as a pair of Laser Rapid Assault Trackers are deployed from the escorting Starmax's as a pair of star Wolfs drop off a couple of the new troop/ cargo variant Snowrams to take the drone back to the outpost. The two pilots sit on the opposite side of the troop bay, a little breathless and stunned by what had just happened.

"That was different." Sheppard says covered in snow, as the co-pilot just nods in agreement absently.

"For me not so much." O'Neill shrugs popping a small hard boiled sweet in his mouth, and tossing one to the flight crew of his transport.

-{[]}-

"Major Sheppard is reporting that the drone appears to have been incapacitated." Reports as United States marine, lieutenant Ford, causing those gathered around Beckett, who is still in the chair, to sigh with relief. "General O'Neill's transport is unharmed and on its way again. ETA six minutes."

"Thank god." Weir says with genuine relief in her voice.

"Holy crap!" Beckett says slumping down in the control chair as a hologram of the solar system pops up above his head.

-{[]}-

"Jack!" Jackson says as he walks over to the lift where Sheppard, O'Neill and a handful of scientist step out of it, annoying several of the SF's nearby due to the fact that he had just called a one star general by his first name so casually.

"Daniel!" He says in greeting, "What's with the warm welcome?" He asks in a mock serious tone.

"Wasn't me. Erm, how did you manage to, uh…?"

"Keep my ass from being blown into orbit?" He says as he gestures over his shoulder to Sheppard who was looking around at everything like a goldfish. "The exceptional flying skills of major John Sheppard." He says in praise before saying in a joking tone. "He likes it here."

"Exceptional." Jackson says as he looks at Sheppard in surprise. "You like it here?"

Sheppard just shrugs as O'Neill turns Jackson to avoid him walking into a pair of MACO's carrying a workbench towards the lift. "What say we skip to the part where you start talking really fast?"

"What? Oh right." Jackson says snagging a pair of rackajino's off a counter near them. "Weirs in here." He says as he hands O'Neill one of the cups and leads him down towards the astrometrics lab that had been set up.

O'Neill pauses briefly and turns to face Sheppard. "Hay." He says to get the young majors attention, "Don't touch anything."

"Yes sir." Sheppard says as he moves to the counter with the coffee machine on and looks around a little bewildered, at everything he is seeing, "And I thought that aliens attacking was as weird as my life could get." He mutters as he takes a sip of his coffee.

A short while later Jackson showed O'Neill into the mobile astrometrics lab where Weir, McKay and lieutenant's Campbell and Cochrane where waiting for the general to arrive.

"Jack as far as we've been able to tell from the outposts data banks, the Alteran's, as they called themselves, packed up their entire city and left somewhere around five to ten million years ago." Jackson says.

"Their flying… city?" O'Neill asks with barely contained smirk.

"What?" Jackson asks knowing his friends mind and what he was thinking about it.

"Flying city." O'Neill says holding back his laughter.

"Can't wait to see his face when he sees the images of an island cluster colonization ship in the Archangel's databanks." Mutters Cochrane to Campbell in Zentron causing her to giggle.

"Well keep in mind that this is the race who built the stargates," Jackson said, "they did everything, well big."

"So why did they leave?"

"Why'd they leave?" Jackson says taken aback that O'Neill was acting like Hammond in the briefing. "Um, who knows? We know the Alterans' here on Earth were suffering from a plague, doctor Beckett's team are looking at that data. Um, maybe some of them were trying to start over seeding new life in a new galaxy, maybe that's what they did. The point is we know where they went."

"Pegasus."

"Yes sir." Says Campbell, "It's the name of a dwarf galaxy which makes up the local galactic cluster."

"After all this time, what are the chances of actually meeting them?" McKay asks the question that is on everyone's mind.

"Who knows," Jackson says shrugging, "But isn't that a good enough reason to go?"

"I've been choosing members for this expedition for months, doctor. I'm not the one who needs convincing." Weir says with a happy tone of voice and a smile as she looks at O'Neill.

"Oh I'm convinced." O'Neill says as he looks over at Jackson. "Have fun."

"Uh," Jackson says shocked by O'Neill's response, "It's a little bit more complicated than that."

"We need the Zed P M to power the gate." Says McKay quickly before Jackson can elaborate.

"The what?"

"The Zee PM. He's Canadian." Jackson says to O'Neill.

"Before you ask sir," Cochrane says, "It's the power module that you recovered from Taonas and is powering the base and the weapons."

"The answer is no." O'Neill says knowing that he and the joint chiefs would say. "That is the only one we have to defend the planet now that a third of the fleet is in dry-dock under repair, and the other two thirds are patrolling the planets of the protected planets treaty."

"Jack." Says Jackson as he begins to plead his case for using the ZPM, "You know that gating to another galaxy requires an enormous amount of power."

"Yes I do." Agreed O'Neill but unwilling to concede the point. "Find another way."

"There is no other way Jack, even the Zentron reactors on the fleet aren't anywhere near powerful enough." Jackson says as the two Zentradi officers in the briefing nod in agreement with him.

"Ok, and you think that you'll find more of these Zee thing on Atlantis?"

"Yes," Jackson says, "but who knows what else we might find there? This isn't just some other civilisation we're talking about, these are the gate builders, the people who seeded the galaxy with life."

"The potential wealth of knowledge and technology, it outweighs anything we've come across since we stepped through the stargate or we meet the Zentradi." Weir says in an attempt to swing the general's opinion favour of using the ZPM to power the gate.

"Well, with the amount of power you'll need to make this trip, odds are you'll be stuck out there until we get the fleet up to strength." O'Neill says pointing out a flaw in the proposal.

"Yes, my expedition members are all aware of this, but the benefit to the human and Zentron races is far greater than the risks, general, and it is a risk that every single member of the expedition is willing to take." Weir said as she and McKay look at O'Neill with a hopeful expression.

O'Neill thinks about it carefully, looking at the five other people in the lab with Jackson, Weir and McKay looking like lost puppies, when he hears the sound of a Scottish man shouting for doctor Weir.

"DOCTOR WEIR!"

"Yes," She says as Beckett bursts into the lab, "What is it." She asks knowing that Beckett's department was looking at the data about the plague.

"You need to come quick, you to general." He says as he lends them back to the chair.

"Who is this?" She asks as she follows Beckett into the chair room with O'Neill and the others not far behind her.

"I said don't touch anything." O'Neill says as he realises that Sheppard has sat in the chair and activated it.

"I… I… I just sat down sir." Sheppard stutters out in shock at his unexpected reaction with the Alteran technology.

"Major, think about where we are in the solar system." McKay instructs the unwitting test subject.

For a few seconds Sheppard is confused by the request until he shrugs and thinks about a map of the solar system as he remembered it in his old high school science classes. Instantly the computers in the outpost use the sensors to scan the solar system highlighting the ships in orbit as friendly and a structure out at Pluto, and displaying it all as a real time hologram over Sheppard's head. Everyone gazes up at it as Sheppard just looks at it frowning. "Erm, did I just do that?" He asks puzzled.

"What's that out by Pluto?" McKay asks pointing to it causing Sheppard to look at the planet as it zooms in to fill the map with a label in Alteran, causing everyone to look at Jackson since he is the most proficient in reading Alteran.

"It says, spatium unum lapathum." Jackson says reading the label before translating it for everyone else, "Erm, I think it translates to space dock one." Shocking everyone.

-{[]}-

A short while later Weir is walking with O'Neill back through the outpost having lost Jackson and McKay in the records room as they begin searching for more information about the recently discovered space dock in orbit of Pluto.

"We could be on our way to discovering an entirely new civilisation. Best case scenario, we will meet actual Alterans who are willing to help us, but if we don't…" She trails off realising that O'Neill isn't paying attention to her. "The truth is general, we need him."

"I'm sorry doc, I need Jackson here." He says as he shivers having seen the cryo-pod as he and Weir continue walking towards the lift.

"I'm talking about major Sheppard." Weir says interrupting him.

"Oh," O'Neill says shocked, "Don't you already have a couple of dozen or so people who can use this technology?"

"Yes with concentration and training they can make it work, but with major Sheppard, its natural almost as it was an extension of his body."

"You know I checked into his service record."

"I know all about the whole supposed black mark in Afghanistan." Weir says picking up a coffee from the table near the lift. "He was trying to save the lives of that black hawk crew."

"Disobeying a direct order in the process."

Hearing that Weir smiles at O'Neill's words. "Don't forget that I have read your own file general."

"Right." He says stepping into the lift glancing at her uncomfortably, before letting out a long breath. "Ok. It's your expedition, you want him, you ask him."

"That's the thing, I already have."

"Really?" O'Neill says holding the doors to the lift open.

-{[]}-

"This isn't a long trip." Says O'Neill as he watched Sheppard go through his pre-flight checks on the transport as O'Neill stands by a seat in the troop bay of the Argo that was being used to transport him and several scientists back to McMurdo, "So I'll be as succinct as possible."

Sheppard continued with his pre-flight checks for a few seconds, then looks at O'Neill as he says nothing further, but just looks at him. "Well, that's pretty succinct."

"Thank-you."

"I told doctor Weir that… I'd think about it."

"And? So? Well? What?" O'Neill asks as Sheppard fires up the transports engines."

"With all due respect sir, we were just attacked by an ancient missile, then I found out that I have some mutant gene that lets me control this Alteran technology, not to mention there's these expeditions to other galaxies two months after I learnt about the fact that the government has been in contact with aliens for nearly two decades."

"You know," O'Neill says switching tracks, realising he was getting nowhere with his current plan, "this isn't about you major. This is a lot bigger than that."

"Right now, at this very second, whether I decided to go on this mission or not seems to be about me." Sheppard says as he pulls his helmet on.

"Let me ask you something." O'Neill asks before realising that Sheppard has placed his helmet on so he picks up a headset from the rack next to the hatch so he can continue talking to him. "Why did you become a pilot?"

"I think that people who don't want to fly are crazy."

"And I think that people who don't want to go off world are equally as whacked. Now if you can't give me a yes by the time that we reach McMurdo, I don't even want you."

-{[]}-

"Good evening, our top story today is the censure and request by a number of countries worldwide for the arrest and imprisonment of brigadier general Jonathan J. M. O'Neill. The head of Project Blue Book is being accused of a number of war crimes against the Goa'uld Empire, conspiracy to defraud the general public, murder, genocide and numerous counts of minor crimes."

"General O'Neill headed the defence of this planet during the short-lived battle against the Goa'uld Anubis almost two months ago. During this time general O'Neill was responsible for using a number of unknown weapons of mass destruction against the beings of that fleet. According to a number of international conventions regarding the use of these sorts of weapons, the fleet under the United States Air Force and directly under the command of O'Neill constituted a willingness to cause mass murder against the human race."

"With more on this we go to Harold Gainsborough outside the American embassy in London."

"Thank-you Carol. As you can see behind me a number of protesters have begun to congregate around the gates to the US embassy here in London. Several hundred supporters of the war effort have begun to converge here in respect for general O'Neill. Many believe that the general did what was necessary to keep the planet from capitulation against an unknown force possibly hostile to our way of life."

"Other members of anti-war and nuclear disarmament groups have also been making noises around not only the American embassy, the Chinese, French, Russian and Japanese consulates and in parliament square during the last week. In a number of incidents the police have had to forcibly separate members of both sides during near riots at the news that general O'Neill may be arrested for his actions in the battle."

"It is currently unknown just how many nations have made the request that general O'Neill explain his actions against the Goa'uld, including the use of some form of extremely heavy nuclear ordinance which were capable of being seen from the surface of Earth as well as several hundred strategic nuclear weapons being fired killing at least 10,000 people aboard those ships which were destroyed in the attack. A spokesman for Project Blue Book has denied that the International Oversight Agency has refused to allow changes to be brought against general O'Neill. Pentagon officials have not released an official statement nor has general O'Neill answered the charges brought at The Hague."

"A statement however has been release by the office of the President of the United States wherein the President has placed his full political weight behind his officer resulting in a small number of countries with the statement and putting their own support behind O'Neill…"

"This just gets better, doesn't it?" General O'Neill asks as he and Jackson sit in his office at the SGC listening to sky news.

"It's just noise Jack. People want to get under the skin of the current administration and you are the perfect target in their eyes."

"I've saved the planet I don't know how many times," moaned O'Neill jokingly, "doesn't that actually count for anything anymore?"

"You've never cared before." Says Jackson trying to keep the mood light.

"They weren't trying to hang me before."

"It's all hot air Jack. There's nothing anyone can really do for the moment."

"It's the 'for the moment' part that I'm worried about Danny boy, I blow up a few ships and they decide that I need to be busted for it."

"It was more than a few ships O'Neill." Says Teal'c as he enters the office with major Carter in tow.

"Somebody was trying to enslave the planet. AGAIN!" He shouts letting his frustration out while his former team just smile at him. "What did they want me to do, let them land on the white house lawn and take over?"

"I doubt it sir."

"Then why am I getting it in the neck?"

"People hate the US military on principal. You're just the most visible member at the minute. You knew you would get this kind of thing when you took the job. It's not like being on SG1 anymore."

"No at least then I could shot the people who were trying to hang me."

"Look do you want me to join the delegation they're sending to sort this out?"

"They're sending a delegation?" O'Neill asks shocked.

"Erm, yeah. There was a memo… never mind."

"What? I read my memos."

SG1 look at him all with a look that says we know you, causing O'Neill to shift uncomfortably. He knew that the trio in his office knew him all too well to let that one slip without any comeback.

"Ok, some of the time."

"Jack."

"Walter reads them and puts them in a report okay."

"Which you leave in your 'in tray' for a week or more."

"No," he says grabbing the file with the memo about the delegation to The Hague in, "see its right here on top. Delegation to The Hague, major Davis commanding the team… alright fine, I hadn't read it." He says throwing the file down in frustration.

"So you want me to go?"

"Well as much as I want you to, your need here. The negotiations with some of the other core members of the United Nations and NATO are due in a few days. Davis will have to deal with it with Weir before she goes to Atlantis."

"You know I could go to Atlantis in her place?"

"And lose the only one in the archaeology department that knows when 'not' to touch something." O'Neill says air quoting around the last part. "No the mission will just have to stay on hold for the time being. So any other ideas?"

"Nope." Jackson says a little down hearted.

"Didn't think so." He says lightly banging his head on the desk a few times, "I. Am. So. Screwed." He mutters as he bangs it a few more times, before finally regaining his professionalism, "Did the FBI get anything out of those idiots that fired on the Prometheus as it was landing?"

"Indeed."

"It seems that they are some kind of political anarchists, against what they see as the military conspiracy, which is keeping the people of America in the dark and are hiding the truth about what is really going on." Says Carter barely hiding her smirk. "It seems that aliens and spaceships were as far away from what they believed was going on was funny."

"Let me guess, secret weapons, genetic experiments and mind control?"

"Pretty much?" Shrugs Jackson.

"This is embarrassing." Says O'Neill face palming. "We need a better class of terrorist."

"So what's going to happen?"

"Well, they've been arrested and thrown into a maximum security prison for attacking a military target. Probably for the rest of their lives."

"That's not what I'm talking about."

"What can I do Daniel?" He said sounding very disheartened, "I can give up and watch as thirty years of service goes down the drain, or I can keep playing the game and let the Goa'uld attack us again. The IOA haven't removed me from command of the SGC yet, so I'll do what I always do and beat the enemy."

"I hope your right sir."

"General?" a voice from the doorway to the briefing room said, interrupting the conversation and causing the group to turn towards the sound and see Harriman stood there. "The White House just contacted us, the President is requesting yours and doctor Jackson's presence as soon as possible."

"Thank-you Walter. In form the White House that I'll be there momentarily." O'Neill dismissed the man that after Siler, knew more about the base than most, with a nod and turned to his friends. "Well considering my day so far, this could either be very good news or possibly the worst news since Sara's solicitor sent me the divorce papers. Come on Space Monkey we've got an appointment to keep, this part I love." He says as he pulls out a small radio from the charger setup behind his desk next to a picture of the very first team that stepped through the gate and several of the Abydonian's, including Kasuf, Sha're and Skaara, all those years ago. "November two this is Sierra Golf Command actual, me plus Sierra Golf Delta Juliet direct beam to Castle security section."

"Understood." Said the comm.-officer on the Japanese Nelson class Yamato. "Sierra Golf Command actual plus Sierra Golf Delta Juliet direct, transport underway."

The two men in that had been designated where enveloped in a flash of blueish white light and reappeared sixteen thousand miles away within the heavily secured 'Box' under the back lawn of the White House. The specially designed shielding system allowed the fleet to beam through the heavy anti-beaming shielding which had been recently been installed at all major military and governmental buildings of the IOA allied countries. As they materialised they were met by a number of heavy weapons emplacements, a mix of machine guns and salvaged staff cannons from the armouries of the damaged Ha'tak's in orbit. A small contingent from Seal Team Six backed up the weapons behind thick ship grade metal plating and Tok'ra one-way shields leading towards a narrow door way out.

"Place any weapons you may be carrying into the receptacle to your left." A voice said from a concealed speaker.

O'Neill placed his side arms as well as a pair of short knives, a butterfly blade and an old battered Swiss Army knife from the ankle holsters and hidden compartment in his belt buckle. Once he was done he moved aside and was stunned when Jackson placed not only his standard issue Beretta sidearm that he had been carrying since the day of worldwide disclosure but two small knives and a smaller Walter P99 as well.

"Daniel?" O'Neill askes with a raised eyebrow.

"What can I say, I've been working with you and Ferretti for the last decade." Was all that the other man said shrugging, and before the older man could respond the voice of the security controller spoke again.

"State your name, password and clearance code then standby for an identity scan."

"O'Neill, Jonathan, password 'Peek-a-boo', clearance code Sierra Golf Charlie Actual one nine six seven two Alpha Tango."

"Jackson, Daniel. Password 'Frasier', clearance code Sierra Golf one zero one zero seven six two three one three Alpha."

"Stand by for security scan."

O'Neill looked at his friend, "Frasier?"

"What?" Jackson says blushing a little.

"Nothing. I'm not complaining."

The scanners swept over the two men as they talked, checking for any concealed weapons, infestation of any kind or hidden bugs. The possibility of the two men having been replaced was a fact not being discounted, and for several long minutes every piece of identification verifying technology that the SGC had managed to beg, borrow, steal or create of their own volition. Everything from their cloths, their bodies' right down to their very DNA was scanned by the mass of sensors surrounding them. Finally the system shut down and the force shield protected door swung open and the four navy seals placed the safeties their weapons and saluted as O'Neill and Jackson walked out.

"General O'Neill, doctor Jackson, the President is expecting you. If you'll follow me." Said an S.H.I.E.L.D. agent just past the four navy seals.

"Lead the way." O'Neill said straightening his tie.

The two men were surrounded by a group of agents and the SHEILD agent who was dressed in a skin tight dark navy cat-suit with the SHEILD logo on the arm, marching them through the heavily reinforced tunnels beneath the White House. They were stopped by another security check point which used a modified Tok'ra Za'tarc detector which was used on the SHEILD agent, who identified herself as Agent Melinda May, and the agents and the two men as they passed through before entering into the lower levels of the brightly lit corridors of the actual building.

Once again the group was stopped just short of the oval office by several more agents the nine men that were stationed here were the last line of defence against anyone attempting to harm the President of the United States. Finally after this last checkpoint they were escorted into the oval office, with the guards leaving them and returning to their posts and leaving the security to the highly trained secret service agents and the SHEILD operative. "We're here to see the President, I understand that we are expected."

"Yes general. He is expecting you in the Presidential briefing room." Says the secretary just outside of the oval office.

"If you will follow me sir."

The secret service agent, who Jackson had learned called Hilling, escorted Jackson, O'Neill and May through the main doors of the 'core' of the White House. The walls and doors had been modified and replaced with Titanium-A armor, small force field generators and a life support system which made the oval office one of the safest places on the planet. The refits had been built into the White House within hours of the attack by Anubis, with a number of other political residences and major military bases within the allied countries had likewise recently undergone the same upgrades. Passing through the secretary offices of the President. Hayes however wasn't alone as he had called in a number of other senior officers from all branches of the military and several governmental officials to hear the report coming in from the Heracles that had been sent on a raid against one of Ba'al's major shipyards. Gesturing to the gap left for them at the central table in the situation room, Hayes turned back to the newly installed sub-space communicator that was set up.

"Heracles, this is the National Command Authority, go ahead."

"Mister President. The raid on the enemy position was a success, in excess of forty percent of the expected enemy capitals and escorts under construction have been destroyed with a possibility of more destroyed or crippled within the detonation range of the surface station. The entirety of the anchorage has been destroyed including fuel tanks, munitions stores and glider bays. Tactical analysis is one hundred percent loss of the base and everything within a hundred kilometers."

"What were the casualties, colonel?" O'Neill asked worried that his enemies might use this against him.

"We lost eight Star Wolfs across the three squadrons. We managed to pick up five of the pilots, the rest were killed as their aircraft went up. I regret to inform you sir that flight lieutenant Childs and lieutenant colonel Taylor are among the casualties."

"Two more of the senior officers down." Vice-President Kinsey, earning an evil stare from O'Neill and May which would have killed him if they had been armed.

"The Heracles is returning now to earth as we speak Mr. President. We should be there within the next few hours."

"Well done colonel. We needed a victory and you have brought one home to the people of this planet. Let's hope that this will allow us the breathing room that we need to build up our own forces without risk of attack. Report directly to the SGC upon your arrival colonel. I want a full debriefing from you, your first officer and the senior surviving pilot of the fighter contingent." Hayes ordered. "Then report to general Hammond for redeployment."

"Understood Mr. President."

"White House out."

The screen blanked out as the President turned back to his officers and staff, all with grim smiles on their faces. Hayes more than most understood the facts of this war, one navy officer looked particular unhappy at the actions that they had been forced into this day. "Admiral Pilling, you have a problem?" Hayes asked noticing the troubled look on the admiral's face.

"In my opinion sir, this was has just escalated. I agree with this attack on principle, however this was just a single attack on a single naval station, from the intelligence that we've recovered from the downloads of the computers on the hulks still in orbit and general O'Neill's command indicates that this attack will only set them back a small amount of time."

"Time that we badly need," General Anderson, of the Army, said speaking up in support of O'Neill and the SGC, "with luck we will have a decent sized force before they can recover from the loss of so many ships and construction facilities."

"Yes with luck, we don't know just how many ships in reserve they have or how many slips that their shipyards that can be brought online, our intelligence wasn't totally conclusive on that, most of the Jaffa we've managed to question don't have that kind of information. I do however think that the ships we've destroyed both here and at Delmak, should hold them off as well, I just don't think that we have the time we wish we did, not with our forces as depleted as they are."

"He may be right Mr. President." Said O'Neill giving Kinsey a near heart attack. "The Asgard won't be able to keep defending us continuously, they need the ships in orbit for their own reasons. Granted that the Asgard have sent us six ships to assist with upgrading our own defenses for as long as we need them but even then, they are rebuilding their civilization and if something happens they may well recall them."

The President sank back into his seat and surveyed the faces of the joint chiefs and senior advisors, before sighing as he looked to O'Neill and the only none-human in the room, commodore Hudson. "Alright I need answers and quickly, it's going to take time to gain the resources and equipment to begin construction of Drake, Nelson, Minerva and Prometheus type two class ships. What can we do to start building up our defenses?"

"We believe Mr. President that we have a decent amount of resources to hand we can use to build smaller ships that are just as powerful as the X-304 class we slated to start production before we met the Zentradi." O'Neill said nodding to Hudson as he passed a folder to the President, "The materials and electronics can be recycled and used to at least form the majority of parts for the design that the people at Area 51 have come up with, and we'll still need a certain amount of off world supplies."

"You are joking about this, right?" Hayes said looking at O'Neill and Hudson. "That is a graveyard gentlemen, not a resource pool."

"Sir, with all due respect sir, it's something which we can't pass up." Hudson said calmly having had this debate with the other leaders of the IOA, "There are billions of tons of refined metals what else that would be useful for any new designs or defense platforms that the design teams can come up with. The Acidalium class will be the first generation of dedicated system defense ships, the kind of thing which can be constructed fast and in numbers by any decent size slipway or aircraft manufacturing plant on the planet."

At this Anderson spoke up. "The commodore has a point sir, not to mention that we are at war now and none of our treaties encompass the Goa'uld Empire. Their fleet is now open salvage. We can remove the bodies from the ships and return them to their people in some way if you wish, but that fleet is a resource we can't afford to lose."

"I'm not comfortable with using those ships in that way. However I do admit it is a useful resource to have as a whole. How long before you can begin the salvage and reclamation operations."

"Within the next few days Mr. President, the construction can start a few weeks after we get the first wrecks out of orbit. The Acidalium class should be ready for production by then." Hudson said having worked out the majority of the logistics with the SGC and the other sections involved in the construction.

Hearing this O'Neill grimaced a little. "And as much as I hate to admit it sir, we are going to need to source out the design to any country that can build them be they allied or otherwise. If we try and keep this within the IOA then we won't have a chance of building up the force we need. In addition Mr. President we may need to source out the railgun designs and begin construction of new nuclear weapons to arm these ships."

"That's a tall order general. We are still limited to the size of the nuclear arsenal which we can legally create due to treaty limitations." Hayes said pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. "We can release the vast majority of the land based warheads for conversion as a quick fix but it'll take time before we can begin to rebuild our stocks."

"Then we need to make it quick Mr. President, otherwise we won't have much to fight back with when we do build our ships. If that happens then we may as well roll out the red carpet and let the Goa'uld walk in because there will be absolutely nothing to stop them,"

-{[]}-

"Hello and welcome to this special report from ZNN. I'm Julia Donovan." She smiled as her camera pulled back to show an unfamiliar room. "Currently I am sitting in the forward observation lounge on the Zentron starship ZSMF Archangel." Her camera man turned the camera to show a rugged, if young looking man in a white jacket with blue trim and a green turtleneck under it. "Joining me today for this special edition of !nside Access two months after the attack on Earth, is the commander of this impressive allied starship, commodore Kira Hudson. Commodore, welcome to the show."

Hudson smiled nervously into the camera, while wishing he could be anywhere else, even cleaning the main thruster exhaust manifolds, than talking to this reporter, but it was a condition of the deal for constructing their dry dock and upgrading the Prometheus. "Actually welcome to you Ms. Donovan, and your viewers, to the Zentron Macross Fleet's battlefortress Archangel." He said with the skill of fleet admiral Britai or high advisor Exedor proud.

Julia smiled, knowing that this one interview would make her the most popular reporter on the planet. Plus she had to admit that she found the man she was interview rather handsome and he just and he just radiated power. It was hard not to notice him when she'd first entered the room. He toward over her and his gray eyes seemed to draw her in. Though she instantly felt that the green collar of his uniform didn't suit his appearance and had found herself wondering what he would look like with a dark red collar instead. "Julia please, and thank-you commodore for allowing us to come on board." She said smiling as she paused as a way to lead into her first set of questions without it seeming planned to her viewers. "Actually, forgive my bluntness, but you seem a little young for your rank."

Hudson frowned slightly as he answered. "Unfortunately I was promoted following the death of most of the senior staff a year ago, along with a number of other crew during our jump to your galaxy."

"My condolences." She said meaning it, despite the fact that it was over a year in the past.

"Thank-you." He said as a slight smile appeared on his face, and Julia's producer told her to get him to smile more, and while he didn't know it yet, Hudson had just attracted a small following on Earth, due in no small part to his towering height and alien origins and one of the questions which had been sent in repeatedly was to ask if he was married or involved with someone, and getting him to smile would only enhance that attraction, and bring in more viewers as well.

"Now commodore, if you please, could you tell me a little about yourself and your ship."

Hudson nodded slightly as he started speaking, "The Archangel, is a Super Dimensional Fortress type II Macross class battlefortress which is designed to serve in a multitude of roles, from combat, to first contact and mass rescues. As such at full complement she holds a crew of 35,000 split one to four between officers and enlisted personnel."

"And what is her current crew compliment?" Julia asked from the list of questions she had to try and ask, from the senior commanders of several of the allied nations, as well as a ton of scientific questions from the scientific community worldwide. Current crew size was on the less critical list, but still something that the military forces around the globe wanted to know.

"I'm afraid that's classified for now." Hudson said as he tried not to smile too much as he already suspected what information that Julia had been told to inquire about. "Though it is at slightly less than standard for a ship of this class, and our ability to maintain and defend the ship has not been compromised."

Julia smiled at the diplomatic answer, and her opinion of the commodore went up a few notches as she realized he wouldn't be an easy nut to crack, and she enjoyed a challenge. "So tell me about yourself then commodore. Where is it that you are from?"

A frown crossed Hudson's forehead as the memories of what had happened during the war back home, came flooding back. "I was from an orbital colony called New Hibernia, which had a population of around three thousand who had left Zentron following the second Robotech war." He paused not wanting to go into detail about the truth of why his people had left the Zentradi Earth in their home dimension.

"And what's your home like now?"

"An orbiting grave yard and debris field." Hudson said with an unreadable expressions, but the pain in his eyes told Julia that this was a hard subject for him to talk about. "It was destroyed during the Disruptor war."

"The Disruptor war?" Julia had seen mention of it in the information she had been sent as background research, but it lacked any real detail.

Hudson looked down as he remembered the horrors he'd seen on Eden Prime, in the battles both in orbit and on the surface, and the news of the death of his people. "Yes in twenty-three seventy three the Disruptors declared war on the ZSUN and our allies the Zodiac Republic, one of our closest allies. The Hansa Imperial Star Empire joined the war two years later when one of their Senators was killed returning from a diplomatic trip. The war lasted for nearly ten years and we only barely managed to survive." He looked away as the memory of his dying commander and the promise that he had made as she died in his arms, came forward in his mind. "I spent most of the war trapped behind enemy lines after the ship I was on was destroyed over a planet called Eden Prime."

"I'm sorry to hear that." She paused, a little unsure of how to continue. "But judging from the fact that you and your ship are here now, I would assume that your forces won the war."

Hudson smiled at the reporter's choice of words as he answered. "I thought you knew not to assume Ms. Donovan," Julia smiled a little in response, "but yes, I guess you could say that we won. Though it was more that our enemy's leadership was trapped and cut off from reinforcements than us out-gunning them and winning the majority of the battles." He paused as the memories of the war, and what was lost, came back once more. "Anyway, that was several years ago and the ZSUN is healing, slowly."

Julia nodded, glad that the subject hadn't ended the interview and quickly changed the subject. "So how did you and your ship arrive in our solar system?"

Hudson used the console in front of him and brought up an image of a large, black cube on the holographic display in the center of the table. He'd realized that the local races lacked even the most basic of vocal command systems for the most part, so he had decided to avoid using the system in front of them too much. While it wasn't a critical issue, they needed to have a few tricks up his sleeve. "The Prometheans."

"How… how big is that ship?"

Hudson looked at the cube and had to fight the urge to get angry. "Computer, show the cube in relation to the Archangel." The image of the cube moved to one side as a smaller ship appeared beside it. "While the SDF type II, of which as I stated earlier the Archangel is a member of, have an overall length twelve thousand meters, the Promethean's standard Saratoga type 3 cube is a perfect cube with each dimension being fifty kilometers with an internal volume of 125,000 cubic kilometers."

Julia audibly gasped at the size of the cube, it could swallow the whole of New York with ease, and somehow she suspected that its weapons were beyond scary. "Why… why did they attack?"

"The Prometheans believe in improving themselves through the forceful assimilation of other cultures and using the acquired technology to improve both their ships and their selves. They are a cybernetic race that are connected through a group conscious."

"How powerful?" Julia asked almost in a whisper before gulping, not really wanting to know the answer, but her producer had told her to ask through her ear piece.

"The first battle against them happened just over 7.8 light-years from the Zentron homeworld, where Macross Fleet command deployed fifty vessels of various classes including two Macross III class dreadnought and several prototypes, to stop the Prometheans from assimilating Zentron." Hudson paused as he accessed the files via his table interface, the Saratoga type cube vanished and another image was displayed on the screen behind the pair. "This is the aftermath of the very first ship which arrived on the scene two hours after the battle."

While Julia knew nothing of Zentron vessels, using the image of the Archangel as a base she was able to identify hundreds of pieces of debris. "How bad?" she asked clearly shocked.

"Forty-nine ships and their respective fighter wings destroyed with the loss of all hands, a quarter million personnel and civilians all died in an attempt to stop just one Saratoga type cube."

"Good god!" Julia stared at the image of all the floating debris and the aftermath of the attack for a full minute, in an attempt to comprehend such a disaster.

"I'll arrange for all non-sensitive or classified information on the Prometheans, our various battle and encounters with them, and our relevant details to be made available to all the relevant agencies later today, it will be up to them what, if anything, to release to the general public." Actually the IOA had already been given the data months ago, but were beyond scared when they had been confronted that the Replicators could actually become even remotely like the Prometheans. Hudson had gave the information to them in the hope it would force them to start working together more incase such a threat existed somewhere within this dimension. He pushed a button and the recording of the battles for sector one and Lantea came up.

Julia stared at the recordings of the various Promethean ships, Cubes and the truly massive form of a Key class in various battle shrugging off attacks by Zentradi, and other ships which she didn't know, like they were flies. She even watched as a ship that looked like the Archangel turned into a giant looking robot and began to fire a massive beam before being destroyed by a cube with only a short blast of its weapons.

"How have you managed to survive against such odds?" She asked, her producer hadn't spoken at all since the images of the first attack had been shown, he was obviously as shocked by these images as she was.

"Luck, hard work and a ship named Macross." Muttered Hudson with a slight smile as the MACO behind the film crew suppressed a laugh at the really old Macross Fleet joke about the ZSMF Macross, before Hudson shut down the display screen returning it to the seal of the ZSUN, which had been modified to have the standard lettering be written in Zentron. "But I doubt that you came up here to hear about our enemies…" He said leaving the sentence hanging as Julia took a moment to compose herself.

"Indeed." She said looking at her notes for her prompts she'd been put off badly by the images of the Prometheans, and the ease with which they had swatted aside the Macross Fleet vessels. Considering what she had seen of the ship when she had come aboard and in the research information, she could barely begin to comprehend the power of the Prometheans and other enemies of the ZSUN, after being on the Prometheus when rouge NID agents had stolen it with a Goa'uld. "Can you tell me about your crew?"

"What would like to know?"

"Well what races are present in your crew?"

Hudson pondered how to provide a breakdown of the crew without giving the out actual numbers. "Well Julia, around sixty percent of the crew is Zentradi or has Zentradi ancestry. We also have a large contingent of Trojan's, Invid and Hansa personal. There are also a smaller number of Drajon's and Deltan as well."

"I'm a little confused, aren't the Hansa your enemy?"

Hudson tried not to smile at how obvious the question was. "Not exactly, while the Hansa Imperial Star Empire and ZSUN aren't exactly enemies, we aren't exactly on a first name basis either." Julia nodded in understanding. "They arrived here during the same battle that proceeded our arrival in your galaxy."

"You seem comfortable enough with them on your ship, isn't that a major security breach?"

"Yes it would be normally," He concluded, "but the only other options would have been to either space them or lock them in ships brig. Neither option was worth the effort when we arrived." He smiled at the mental image of a certain Imperial locked in the brig that came to mind, or how much spacing him would please a few other Imperials and thus might be worth the effort. "I also worked closely with a number of them during the war when our two governments were allied."

"Ok, so moving on. In what ways does your galaxy differ from our own?"

"Well Julia…" Hudson started only to be interrupted by the ships address system. "Bridge to commodore Hudson." Came the voice of lieutenant Welsh. "Forgive me Ms. Donavon." He said as she gave a brief nod before her camera man moved to the window to take a shot of the Earth with some of the various fighters patrolling in orbit, as well as the Minerva class Minerva, floating nearby. "This is Hudson."

"Sorry to bother you sir," Welsh said, meaning that Dvorak was probably off reassuring a certain executor moron or threatening the repair teams to work faster. "but we have an issue. I'd recommend that you come to the bridge."

Hudson sighed, this time two years ago he had wondered what it would be like to command a whole battlefortress cut off from the rest of the fleet, now all he wanted was to go back to being the gun-sight commander and Fleeter security chief shooting at the baddies. "Very well lieutenant. I'm on my way," he replied as he turned to face Julia. "I'm sorry Ms. Donovan but I'll have to cut this interview short, duty calls."

"I understand commodore, but would it be possible to get a recorded tour of your ship as this isn't a live broadcast."

Hudson paused for a second, then he pressed the intercom, for the ship wide channel. "Hudson to crewman Chambers."

There was a short pause before the person in question answered. "Yes sir."

"Can you come to the forward observation lounge to give Ms. Donovan and her group a tour of the ships none critical areas, including a sim-deck and the Little White Dragon."

"Yes sir on my way." She replied before closing the comm.-link, as he returned his attention to face Julia. "Again my apologies but duty calls." Julia nodded in understanding having interviewed several members of the military in the last two months as Hudson exited the conference and headed for the bridge leaving Julia and her crew with her MACO guard while they waited for crewman Chambers. After a few moments he arrived at a transport tube which would take him to the command tower before he could take a lift up to the bridge. "What have you got lieutenant?" he asked as he waved the MACO guarding the hatch to stand down as he entered.

Welsh turned from the tactical station, having chosen not to take 'The Chair', and walked to the tactical situations display halfway between the tactical and flight-ops stations. As the ship was used for both ground and fighter operations, it had a large multi-purpose display stood in an alcove behind the two stations with various readings from engineering, tactical and flight-ops. In the last five years that Hudson had been on the ship, with the last one before the jump as the gun-sight commander and fleeter security chief, he had only seen it used three time.

"One of the recon parties is late checking in." Welsh stated as an image of the outer solar system appeared on the display. "The Yamato, Prometheus and Minerva have all tried to contact them, but no response." She said as the screen zoomed in on the area around Pluto, it continued zooming in until it showed a trench in the northern hemisphere. "they reported that they were moving into investigate some strange readings coming from Charon, when we lost contact with both the Ghost drones that where escorting a pair of Starmax's."

"How long ago was that?" Hudson asked as he studied the display.

"We lost contact twenty minutes ago and contacted general Hammond immediately, though his office said he was in a meeting and wouldn't put us through." Welsh said bringing up an audio file with a simple repeating message. "We received this message on the VHF subspace band, around five minutes ago."

"Code Omega. Code Omega. Code Omega."

Hudson clenched his fists, digging his nails into the palm of his hand cutting them with his anger. "Get me Hammond on the comm's. Now!" He said through gritted teeth.

"And if he's still busy sir." Welsh asked walking back to the tactical station to avoid the death glare that was coming from her commanding officer.

Hudson marched to his seat, the veins in his neck visibly clear. "Then beam O'Neill directly to the bridge. So. I. Can. Talk. To. Him!"

Welsh started to open a channel to homeworld command, when another signal came in. "Incoming signal from the SGC."

"On screen," He almost spat.

On the screen a rather tied, and exhausted looking general O'Neill appeared. "Greetings commodore. I'm calling about…"

"The missing patrol, yes sir I was just about to call you. I'm requesting that SG1 be sent up as none of my people can read let alone understand Alteran."

"And why do you need them?" O'Neill asked sending a silent signal to Harriman to have SG1 gear up.

"Well, if this is what I think it is we may have a way to increase the size of your fleet for the next to no cost."

"That's got me sold." Said a new voice on O'Neill's end, causing him to turn and see President Hayes. "A politician never turns down something that is next to or is free." Hayes said chuckling at the small joke.

"Yes sir Mr. President." O'Neill and Hudson replied. "We'll have SG1 depart right away."

"I can have an Argo outside the mountain in fifteen minutes."

"It will take them at least that long to get geared up, knowing Jackson, never mind the surface or outside the mountain's entrance and the landing pad." O'Neill said as Hayes, the Joint Chiefs and the core members of the IOA were lead up to the briefing room by an airman in dress blues.

"Very well." Hudson said since he could see that he was interrupting something important at the SGC. "Have them meet the Argo topside in thirty minutes, or they will have to walk to Charon." He jokingly said.

The signal cut and Hudson slammed his fists into his armrest, breaking the small console built into it in the process.

-{[]}-

"Hanger reports that the Argo with SG1 on is aboard and secure." Reported a crewman from the lower level of the bridge.

"Thank-you D'Arag." Hudson said turning to face Cochrane, "lieutenant Cochrane I want a full scan of the system, if these Alteran's left an outpost on Earth and it identified a station in the outermost regions of the system, who know what else they've left in system. Newman set course for the outer system full sub-light." Hudson ordered as SG1 walked in with major Sisko escorting them onto the bridge.

"Sorry to keep you waiting commodore." Carter said as she took her first look around took her first look around the bridge properly since the meeting which had proceeded the upgrade to the Prometheus.

"Don't worry it's just that I've only ever heard of a code omega twice and both times it was trouble." Hudson said, calmly, but holding the arms of his chair which were bending them up with anger. "Each time it meant problems for the system it was declared in."

"How bad where they?"

"Command made use of Nova bomb's." Dvorak said shocking SG1 who had read up on the weapons used by the Zentradi and their Hansa allies.

"Sir, I'm picking up multiple signs of multiple dry docks, mining sites, manufacturing facilities on the third moon of the first gas-giant in the system." Said a comm-scan officer from the lower level of the bridge.

"How old?" Asked both Jackson and Cochrane at the same time.

"Scan show it to be somewhere in the region of five and ten thousand years old, same age as the outpost planet side, sir."

"Ok dispatch two Starmax's with laser R.A.T.s in the hold with Ghost escort to investigate the site." Hudson ordered.

"Aye sir." Said the flight-ops officer filling in for captain Hill.

"ETA to recon 319's last known location is ten minutes sir." Newman said from the helm, glad to be moving again and not just sitting in orbit or combat.

As the ship got underway SG1 and the command group to plan for when they arrived at Charon. "I don't get how we could have missed something as a large complex as what we've just found on Ganymede." Said Carter as she looked over Welsh's shoulder at the data coming in from the Starmax in route to investigate the site. "I mean we've sent probes out there since the 1970's."

"Well from the data we've discovered in the outpost in Antarctica, this supposed station and the complex where buried in a nondescript section of the database. In fact we only found out about the Charon station thanks to major Sheppard when he sat in the control chair, it is possible that the Alterans compartmentalized the information or that they took it for granted that everyone with a need to know already did." Answered Dvorak trying to calm Carter down.

"Indeed." Replied Teal'c in his normal mono-tone voice.

"Ok, up on arrival we'll hold at six hundred thousand kilometers and try to make contact with the recon team, hopefully the recon team had the Ghost's send the code omega as all other long-range communications are down." Said Hudson. "Let's pray that the case, as I don't want to explain to general's O'Neill, Hammond, Maynard and your father major, how we ended up killing their flagship team." Joked Hudson relaxing now that he knew that they had a new mission.

"Sir, the hanger deck reports that the Argo with the news crew from !nside Access has departed and they are secure." D'Arcy said earning a small smile and a sigh of relief from all of those on the bridge, even SG1 who had the odd run in the press over the years.

Breaking orbit the majestic form of the Archangel accelerated to full sub light, slicing through the vacuum of space like a great white shark. It would only be a short trip, but they always where these days. In minutes the Archangel crossed the distance which would take the rest of the fleet hours, and that just five years ago would have taken mankind decades to cross. Humanity had come so far in a few short years, from those first tentative steps through the gate to having interstellar capable space craft and plans being drawn up for a mission to the near-by Pegasus dwarf galaxy to locate the lost city of Atlantis was breathtaking, and Carter, Jackson and Teal'c had been there for every step of the way. What the next ten years would bring nobody knew, but SG1 wondered.

-{[]}-

"I understand, but I'm not willing to allow hostile countries access to the more advanced technologies that Blue Book has managed to develop over the last few years. Until they can prove that they are more trustworthy and friendly to the members of the alliance nations. I will not authorize the release of anything." Hayes said as he looked at the group of ambassadors sat in front of him in the Oval office. "The truth is that several of your countries are antagonistic to our allies and even your own populations. That kind of thing is not going to be tolerated for much longer, we have a hell of a lot more things to worry about in the way of problems with the Goa'uld than we do with the countries on this planet."

"But you have shared this information with the Russians, Chinese and the Japanese. The US has long been enemies of both the Russians and the Chinese, and both have been working with you to defend your interests." One of the ambassadors said in protest. "My president wishes to join with the defense force to allow our country to stay free."

"As we do, Mr. President. Our country has long been a friend of America since before the First World War. We woo would appreciate the chance to fight against these Goa'uld." Said the other.

"True, however both of your regions are currently undergoing severe upheaval and intense problems, and to allow any kind of advanced technology into the region which could destabilize what little order that has been kept. The fact is that not only are both of your countries aggressive to their own people with obvious human rights violations, of which both of countries used to adhere to, but you are also antagonizing to the members of the International Oversight Authority as it is. Without a clear confirmation that you will not decide to use this technology against our own people, I can't allow the US to release this technology, and I highly doubt that even if I was to approach the IOA with it would pass without a veto."

None of the ambassadors where too enthused by this turn of events. The problems that the IOA were having with manpower, materials and equipment should have meant that their countries would have been willing to allow them to join the IOA and to garner the technologies that had been created or discovered by these off world operations, they also knew that several of best scientist and military experts had been granted asylum for them and their families by the IOA in the last two months, at their own request, however neither government were willing to let this go.

"Mr. President," Stated the Iranian ambassador, "several of our best scientist and specialists have been abducted with their families by American agents, and yet even more seem to disappearing out of their very homes even while under protective custardy. The only way that it is possible is if the IOA is actively interfering. President Khatami understands that you need these people and we are only too happy to allow this, but it must be done through the correct diplomatic channels," he said, "our national boarders are there for a reason sir, the sovereignty of these people of Iran is a fact that many do not enjoy but we are free people and wish to serve and protect that freedom and this planet."

Hayes barely managed to conceal his grunt of disgust at the transparent lies that the other man was spewing. The actions of many of the governments represented by this mixed group of Middle Eastern, African and South American ambassadors were well documented by the intelligence services of the IOA and numerous independents worldwide. He knew if any of the groups got hold of the advanced technologies used by the fleet they would use them to not only crack down on the public in their own home nations, but would also attempt to take by force what they wanted even if it resulted in the deaths of a substantial number of their own people.

On the other hand, the IOA was not the be all and end all of the power on the planet, and resources were problematic to start with even the six core members of the IOA. However the decision had already been made by Hayes and the heads of state of the other powers that several of the more aggressive nations wouldn't be included within their sphere of influence.

"That is for the diplomatic teams to work out. I don't know anything about these 'kidnappings' of your people ambassador but I will find out. If there has been anybody who has been removed without their consent, then I will personally return them and their families along with the people that took them directly to your countries myself." Hayes was reaching the end of his tether. Things were starting to unravel quicker than he would have thought. "Gentlemen for the moment I think that we are at an impasse. I suggest that we need to take a break and reconvene later on this next week, perhaps then we can make some headway with this, thank-you all for coming."

Accepting that they were being dismissed the group of ambassadors left the room escorted by a trio of secret service agents who were waiting for them for the long and complicated walk back to the outside world. When the last agent closed the door behind him Hayes reached up and loosened his tie a little, while leaning back in his chair. The consent quibbling with the different nation blocks that had sprung up following disclosure who all wanted a piece of the pie was taking up more and more of his time, even with the vast majority of it had been foisted off on his staff and the ambassadors which he had managed to pull together from the SGC, it was starting to get increasingly difficult to keep everything straight.

His British, Chinese, Japanese and Russian counterparts had likewise been inundated by the countries within their spheres' of influence, both within Europe or had ties to their former colonial possessions. The IOA had continued to grow as the number of trusted allies had been brought into the fold, the majority of them being former members of the old British Empire or members of the later Commonwealth nations or protectorates of the British, while others had been long time allies that had finally been admitted to the IOA. Unsurprisingly, the European Union countries now involved in the war effort had grown from the nations of those that had been devastated in the eastern regions that had joined up in order to avenge their lost ones.

America's own military was in the slow process of disengaging and returning to the US from overseas postings or patrol routes, much was the same for the British, Chinese, Russian and Japanese Self Defense Force which where all returning home so that they could assess the capabilities that each nation could bring to bear.

"Mr. President, ambassador Goulden has arrived." Said an aide over the intercom to the Oval office.

"Show him in please."

The door opened again and Sir John Goulden walked in, and just through the door Hayes could see two members of the ambassadors own SO6 protection detail facing his own protection detail, having a staring contest at each other. Strolling in Goulden smiled at his friend as Hayes stood and met him by the two coaches in the middle of the room, shaking his hand and gestured to the twin sofas.

"So, Sir John, what are you doing here?" Hayes asked as he poured two drinks of scotch for him and his guest.

"I heard that you were meeting with a few of the more problematic block nations that have sprung up today, so I figured that her majesties government should lend you some support." Goulden said accepting the offered glass of scotch.

"Things going that bad over at the British embassy then?" Hayes said with a slight chuckle.

"Bustard huh?"

"I don't blame you as your government has most of Europe and the Middle-East knocking on your door, as opposed to us, Russia, China and Japan. Now that the French embassy has begun turning away ambassadors, it's you that is the more open of our allies out there." Hayes said. "Once we get the Germans and Dutch are up to speed we should be better off." Hayes said swirling his scotch a little, "How is the overall picture looking?"

"Sixteen of the major first and second world countries have signed on, in addition to the original members of the council." Goulden said, "More than a third of the UN have asked to join or are being pressured by their allies. The new South American coalition don't seem to give a damn one way or another. Basically only the UAE, North Korea and Argentina have been putting out feelers over what's happened. On the plus side we have upwards of a few hundred thousand more soldiers on our side."

"Enough to make up the losses we've taken so far."

"More or less yes, the biggest problem I can see is the training side of things. Her majesty's navy has enough cross trained personal to man another three Nelson class and a Minerva class. The next batch of personal will not be ready to for the next nine months to a year even considering that the member nations no longer have to hide what we are doing."

"The first batch of the class two Minerva's have begun construction along with the first squadrons of the new Acidalium class destroyers."

"So they classified them then?"

"Given the size difference and weapons load outs, calling them a destroyer seemed the best option, but I was in the Air Force not the navy," Hayes said grinning having seen the load outs for the ships and that they were smaller than the Prometheus spec-two. "They've begun melting down the debris from the ships in orbit, but even with the help of the Asgard and Zentradi, it's still going to take time to build the first batch. Once it's confirmed that they will work as advertised the new homeworld defense command will begin dissemination of the plans, but until then we need to continue the training and production of what we have."

"Well that's one of the things I came to tell you Mr. President, the damage to the Nelson wasn't as bad as first reported. Thanks to the worldwide disclosure the secrecy and materials which have been sent by Project Blue Book means that we've cut the amount of time she will be in dry-dock by three weeks. She will be able to rejoin the fleet by the middle of next week." Goulden said smiling having been on the ship for a tour when she was still under construction. "In fact the Starmax and Star Wolf squadrons' repairs are about week or two ahead, and new craft construction is three weeks ahead of construction also, but as you said we don't have enough supplies to outfit any more squadrons at all."

"That's an awful better than nothing. The Prometheus will be active within a week as well, but the real problems are the Korolev and Sun Tsu." Hayes said looking over at his guest. "They're not going to be space worthy anytime soon, in fact they won't be active for the next six months. The damage to their home grown systems is the worst of the damage taken, and will take the most time to repair before we can even think of fixing the damage to their hulls and more advanced systems."

"You want to sequester the supplies to a different shipyard?" Goulden asked shocked. "Our main slipway still has the Nelson on."

"I know, but I'm agreeing to Prime Minister Blaire's request for a transfer of equipment which was earmarked for our next Minerva class slipway to your government. The Isle of Man base has been authorized, correct."

"Yes, both the three slipways and the new Air Pad for the Starmax's and Star Wolves, but the slipway isn't even half complete."

"We need the ships Sir John, and I've decided that there is no space anymore for the politics of this situation. I'll deal with the problems this brings up later if I have to but we need a secure base. We'll make a deal with both Ireland and Iceland if we have to, although I dread to think what they'll want in return." Hayes said sighing as he looked at his friend. "The US has only four active slipways including the Prometheus ready and in use, if we can get another ship off the construction line at the same time as the rest then so much the better."

"You know Mr. President that the Japanese, Chinese and Russians are going to be ever so irritated by this."

"That's what I love about you Sir John, you have such a gift for understatement that it's unreal." Hayes joked. "Yes I know, but facing facts very few countries, including the European Union, can build their infrastructure to begin the construction of ships which we so desperately need, for now the six major countries involved in this project will continue with the buildup of the fleet with financial and resource help from the other countries."

"What are we looking at Mr. President? A full worldwide war production increase, even with every able hand on this planet and the more advanced technology we have access to?" Goulden asked with a raised eyebrow. "I don't see us winning this war, if what I've read from the translated documents is right then we are outnumbered ten to one. It only takes one of the Goa'uld capitals at sufficient velocity to kill one of ours and the new Acidalium class will be even worse off against the Goa'uld fleet."

"So what are we just going to give up?" A shocked Hayes said. "Have you being talking to my vice president?"

"Oh hell no, and he is a smuck how you let him on your election ticket is beyond me." Goulden replied just as stunned. "We give up and they'll take out their frustrations on the population at large. Technical superiority only goes so far, Henry, even with the assistance we've been given by the Asgard and the Zentradi. Oh that reminds me, admiral Hood has informed the British ministry of defense that one of the Asgard's engineers who was looking over at the Nelson has said that they'll be placing cannons similar to their own on all the active ships. It'll bring them up to par with the Prometheus in terms of fire power."

"Good, we will need the fire power." Hayes said leaning back. "Six billion people, Sir John. Six billion and we have less than one percent of that under arms across the entire planet, and even less than a hundredth of that number in any way affiliated with Project Blue Book or any of the subsidiaries which we've been using to build up our forces. Our ground troops and atmospheric pilots are in ready supply as are most of the scientists and personnel needed to put together colonies or outposts, but like everything it's going to take time to get any new personal up to speed to allow for any real form of fleet expansion."

"There's nothing we can do about it Henry, we always knew that holding back might cause problems a long time ago, but the IOA council agreed to keep it up under our hat's until something finally came up and bit us in the butt. You're right that we can't do it right now though, but we have the ability to hold this planet from enemy attack easily enough. The simple answer old friend is that we wait and build up, we wait until we can hit them then start doing it."

"Taking your cues from history I see."

"It worked for my father's generation during the Second World War so now we get to see if it can work for us. Oh we can send raids' if we want but to be honest we don't have even the slightest chance of winning this war in our current state. As far as we know there defenses will be on full alert now, and I highly doubt that even one of our allies ships could break through and do the kind of damage we're going to need bring them to the table. We are talking about psychopathic that think they are gods here, Henry. You think they'll just bow down if we tell them to even at the point of a gun?"

"Not usually no, but the thing is from what we can gather from their database there is something of a fifth column, of rebels which started about seven or eight years ago. What's more it seems that they have one of their own that's gained access to all of Anubis technology and foot soldiers."

Hayes considered his friends words, the majority of the religions on Earth were based on what had now been confirmed as powerful alien races, and not mythical beings that they were believed to be by stargate command reports that Hayes had read, confirmed that different religious pantheons where Goa'uld or other alien races in the guise of 'Gods', some even using the persona of Satan as a basis.

"I don't see us managing to persuade any of them that the Goa'uld are possibly behind their entire culture." Hayes said rubbing his eyes. "As you know the Jaffa are stronger than most of the humans in the galaxy, with a few exceptions. Even so the vast majority still believe that we're the enemy and that their boss is in the right."

"You think that one of them might try and launch a sneak attack?" Goulden asked, having not read some of the more highly classified files from the SGC.

"No I don't think so. It's not really the style of most of the Goa'uld and even if they were, most of the Goa'uld are like magpies and show no ingenuity when it comes to improving their stuff. No if anything they will fight each other over Anubis's stuff before they will try and attack covertly so as to not piss off the Asgard, after all why would we blame them if an asteroid was to hit the Earth."

"You sound like you've been thinking about this for a while, Mr. President."

Rubbing his eyes, Hayes stood up and walked back over to the small liquor cabinet he kept in the room, placing down the glasses he poured two more glasses of scotch before placing them on the table next to him as he passed the other to his guest, then began to wonder around the room really looking at it for the first time.

"I've been thinking about a lot of things old friend. This war could go either way for us at the minute. We have access to their secrets, technology and information in their ships computers, but considering the galaxy at large you have to wonder what the hell the Goa'uld will do if or when they start to use comparable tactics, from what we can gather they don't have any knowledge of holding actions, defense strategies' or snipping. Their tactics consist of sending in wave after wave of Jaffa until they either win or are over whelmed and defeated or killed." Hayes said, remembering what Teal'c had said in one of his earliest debriefings at the SGC.

"And if they do then we're in for a world of hurt, they may be fixated on using medieval tactics, but if they manage to work out even the basics of a modern defense strategies then we've lost." Goulden realized with a start. "I think we might be in serious trouble here. One planet against an empire that spans the galaxy, isn't good odds. Even if we managed to build one Minerva class per Ha'tak, if they put even a simple anti-air system on them then we are screwed from the get go."

"Exactly so you can see my problem, until now the Goa'uld have had no reason for too much in the way of exploration or rapid scientific evolution. Now they know that we're one world with weapons to hold off a fleet twice the size of that one. They'll also be expecting us to build up and to increase our own technological lead."

"Except that we can't without outside help. What help can we expect from our off world allies?"

"The diplomatic team has just returned from Hebridian and they have dispatched some supplies to help with our immediate problems and the Zentradi have begun construction of a number of orbital stations that they call SMAC which can double as hangers and space docks for the ships in the fleet." Hayes sighed with frustration as he rubbed his eyes in frustration, "Apart from that there is bugger all in the way of useful weapons or defensive measures along with the Alteran outpost and the science teams have a few leads on ways to improve our sensor and power systems, but that's it."

"Then we need to find something to help here otherwise by the time we managed to build up enough of a fleet it may as well be too late." Goulden said looking uncomfortable. "I know you don't want to go through to total war with this Mr. President, god knows that the prime minister doesn't want to murder an entire race for the actions of a few but what happens if we do try and sue for peace and they agree? What then? Allow them to come back around later and start another war, allow them to come around later and start another war, allow them to have free rain through our space as terrorists?"

"I don't know GOD DAMN IT!" Hayes shouted, as Goulden leaned back in his seat as Hayes deflated as his anger began to sub-side, "I'm sorry Sir John, and you didn't deserve that."

"I know you were having a bad week, I can't have helped I apologies."

"You didn't say anything that I haven't already thought about Sir John. We're in the middle of a war less than a year after I pulled the US out of the Middle East and now we're facing another idiot that thinks he can make us bow down and God knows what else is out there ready to bite us in the butt." Hayes said slumping back exhausted. "If I'd have known all this was coming I would never have gotten in to politics."

"You've only known about the project for what, eighteen months? The fact that nothing was said for the five and a half years before your administration, says something as well. You're doing as well as can be expected Henry. We're all under pressure here and god knows what we're going to go through before this is over."

"I know. I just hope that we're still here to see it."

-{[]}-

On the very edge of the solar system was Pluto, once classified as a planet, the reclassified as a micro planet, was nothing more than a life less ball of rock and ice orbited by its sole moon Charon. The Archangel having had to wait in orbit around Jupiter's moon of Ganymede for the Yamato which was carrying a dedicated science team to investigate the complex that they had discovered before moving to the edge of the solar system and was now sitting at six hundred thousand kilometers from the small ice and rock moon while they conducted scans for the missing recon flight. There was no energy signatures, no life signs and no signs of the recon team, in fact there was nothing but ice and rock. The Alteran's were it seemed very good at making things disappear, even themselves, so it came as no surprise to the crew of the Archangel or SG1 that looks could be deceiving.

"Scans are showing nothing commodore." Said Cochrane for his station at the back of the bridge.

"I expected as much." Said Hudson sighing, and tapping the comm-link button on his command chair, "Bridge to Echo 147, SG1 and Devil Squad you are clear to go."

Down on the hanger deck of ARMD two a single Argo launched through the opening that was protected by an atmospheric protection barrier and out into the cold unforgiving void of space. Not knowing what to expect both SG1 and Devil Squad where geared up for a recon in full air tight suits aboard the Argo outfitted for full combat recon, search, rescue and combat evacuation.

"Okay, once I'm within seventy-five thousand kilometers start scanning for the recon mission Doc." Said Welsh from the co-pilots seat behind Newman calling back to the cabin of the Argo.

Speeding away from its mother ship, Argo transport Echo 147 approached the 1200 kilometer planetoid which was Pluto's moon. Once they were within range Jackson began to scan the surface looking for the missing two Starmax transport bombers. Suddenly the sensors came alive with a mass of readings and the micro planet seemed to change in the view port out the forward cockpit windows. It wasn't a planet at all, but an artificially constructed celestial body.

"Um boss, I'm not in the driver's seat anymore!" Moaned Newman as the transport moved towards an opening which had appeared in the massive object. Approaching the gigantic opening a force field visibly dropped to allow the Argo on autopilot to pass through a hanger filled with numerous Alteran vessels, sitting at anchor like the sentinels of old that they were. Many of them seemed to be complete or nearly finished while others seemed to be either in various states of construction while even more looked to be under repair.

"This is amazing! It must be a giant shipyard!" Jackson practically shouted bouncing around like a hyper child on Christmas morning full of sugar.

Slowly the transport headed towards the upper portion of the massive hollow sphere and gently touched down on the landing pad across from the missing Starmax's and Ghost drones, after a few moments there was a bang on the rear hatch before it was lowered with everyone pointing their weapons at it.

"Easy folks," Said one of the pilots from the Starmax's. "I'm on your side, plus I think we just hit the jackpot." He said as another man walked up with the other pilot.

"Greetings citizens, I am Anoke. Your arrival is most welcome and much anticipated." Said the other man standing at the rear of the Argo, with a slight flicker, making Devil Squad and SG1 both realize that he was a hologram.

"Anoke, I am doctor Jackson of SG1, this is major Carter, Teal'c and Devil Squad. Are you a graphic representation of this facilities creator?" Asked Jackson.

"No doctor I am not. I am the stations automated command system. I am detecting an unknown warship within range of this facilities defense weapons array, and several more near Terra will you authorize the activation of the defensive system?" Asked Anoke innocently like a child.

"No, no, no, no, Anoke!" Everyone practically screamed, before Jackson said calmly. "That, that won't be necessary. The nearby ship and the others are allied with us." Stammered Jackson. Anoke processed that answer for several seconds before the display showing all of the Earth ships, Asgard and the Archangel changed to show them all labeled as friendly in Alteran underneath.

"Very well doctor. I was instructed by high councilor Moros to halt construction and repair of all ships in port as well as materials before Atlantis removed itself from the Terra system. Do you authorize me to continue the resumption of my duties?" Anoke asked curious.

"I think we would like to have a look at what you've got here first Anoke." Laughed Rockwell looking at a type of drone craft that looked like McCloud's Skybolt heavy combat bombing assault system crossed with an older model Thunderbolt.

-{[]}-

The Odyssey's refit and rearming had been a priority once the newly constructed weapons systems had been completed, it was a task which had been made quicker thanks to both the orbiting dry-dock of the Zentradi and the Asgard's mater creation technology on one of the Daniel Jackson class science ships that had been dispatched by Thor to help with Earth's recovery. Already her M10 'Isolde' 42cm triple cannon had been replaced with a new 50cm triple cannon railgun for her main solid armament.

Ammunition and spares had also been transferred aboard the Odyssey as they had been constructed although with heavier armament and larger type ammunition the magazines had to be reduced to allow for the changers. Requests to allow the reduction of the missile capacity had fallen on deaf ears with many of the IOA and its people convinced that the nuclear weapons should be left in place as a deterrent. Both normal and heavy Tungsten and the new more powerful 'Lucifer' rounds had been loaded with a four to one ratio. The more powerful but difficult to construct Potassium-Naquadah rounds were still being constructed in small numbers to supply the active ships and new surface to orbit defense guns and orbital stations which where springing up around the world.

"Odyssey this it 'The Mountain' be advised that we are tracking fifteen separate hyperspace tracks coming your way. ETA five minutes at current speed." Came the voice of sergeant Ferrus from the SGC using the codename for the base in case somehow their comm-links had been breached.

"Mountain this is Odyssey," Responded the newly minted colonel Emerson. "We've got them, requesting reinforcements."

"Daedalus copies and is inbound at this time colonel. We're not receiving any communications at all. Hold one." Ferrus said as someone passed along some more information to the young sergeant. "Odyssey we have confirmation of the multiple Tel'tak and Alkesh class sized vessels, no heavy warships detected trailing in their hyperspace wake."

"Copy Mountain, we're reading them." Emerson reported mentally switching into combat mode. "Battle stations set level two throughout the ship."

Around the bridge the various officers began barking out orders as the alert klaxon bleared and the three alert fighters launched from the ship to form up with the fighters from the Daedalus, as she and two of the Asgard ships vectored in for long range fire support if needed. Both Tau'ri readied their weapons and loaded up anti-ship missiles, and all the nearby fighter squadrons which had been repaired since the attack by Anubis.

"Unknown vessels are slowing, sir." Reported the comm-scan officer. "They'll dropout of hyperspace rather close to us, well within range for both of us and them."

"See if you can pin down their exact drop location and feed that data to tactical and aim all weapons into that sector."

"Aye sir."

A few seconds later, the approaching cluster of signatures reverted to normal space just over one hundred million miles from the two Minerva class, two Asgard ships and around forty Star Wolves, Thunderbolts and Starmax, the Alkesh sized escorts sat to the flanks of almost two dozen smaller ships of a similar design. The fighters from the two Tau'ri ships closed on the warships as the handful of Thunderbolts that had stayed behind from the Archangel and Starmax's swung around to cover the flanks.

Aboard the Odyssey information scrolling across the overhead screens informed Emerson that his ships new Isolde railgun and Tristen cannon's had deployed and locked onto the incoming ships. More scans showed evidence that no known weapons of the usual weapons or defenses were active nor were they making any attempt to move from their position in front of the fleet while the fighters actively buzzed them at close range to the unknowns now that they could make out the seams of the hull plating, it was odd however that there was no Goa'uld signals coming from the fleet of unknown ships.

High above the assembled fleet a second group of ships dropped out of hyperspace, this group of three ships where bigger than the first group's escorts and where led by a cruiser size ship around the size of an Ha'tak class, but its more graceful lines were a far cry from the pyramid ships that the Goa'uld use or the designs of the Tau'ri's own small space fleet. The entire group came to a stop a thousand miles from the Tau'ri fleet with their bows pointed towards the Odyssey.

"That's a big ship." Muttered someone on the suddenly quiet bridge, which had lowered into its reinforced and armored alcove.

"Major?"

"No active weapons or defenses detected colonel, but if these readings are right she's around half the size of the Archangel and could easily take on a dozen Ha'tak's or three of our own Minerva class with ease sir."

"Incoming transmission from the big one sir." Said the communications officer from behind Emerson to his left, interrupting the Odyssey's XO at the tactical station. "It's coming through in English."

"Patch it through." Emerson ordered.

"Warship Odyssey this is captain Merakin of the Hebridian Alliance escort ship Kobayashi Maru. I believe that we are expected and are carrying a few things which you might be interested in, sir." The man smiling on the large forward view screen, his almost human like face belying his status as a Serrakin. "Tell doctor Jackson that his request has been approved by the Hebridian council."

"Kobayashi Maru this is the Odyssey, colonel Emerson commanding. As you are no doubt aware we have scanned your ships, would you care to explain why your ships are carrying so much refined material into our solar system?"

"Of course colonel. The Hebridian Alliance has agreed to the terms of the treaty that has been offered to us, these ships are carrying the first shipments of materials we have to trade with your world, we are also aware of the attack upon your world and we are here to help."

"That's a nice gesture captain, what's the catch?"

The Serrakin chuckled at Emerson's words. "I understand your reluctance to trust us sir. If it was you who was within weapons range of my planet in a warship with cargo holds full of unknown goods, I would more than likely shoot first and ask questions once all the photons had fired. However as we are not, I shall have my ships maintain position well away from your world and its moon until either doctor Jackson or general O'Neill can verify the reason for our presence within your space."

"Alright then, standby. Odyssey out." Emerson said as he turned to face his comm-officer, nodding to her to switch the channel back to the SGC. "Mountain, did you copy all that?"

"Affirmative sir, we're tracking down general O'Neill or any other member of SG1." Ferrus's voice came from the overhead speakers. "We know that doctor Jackson, Teal'c and major Carter are off-world on the Archangel investigating something… found him. Sir, general O'Neill is currently looking at the specifications of the new Acidalium class in the Nevada shipyards."

"That was fast, sergeant."

"It's my job sir, master Bra'tac is with him."

"Thank-you sergeant, we'll bring them up. Odyssey out." Emerson said as the channel closed, and he turned to the scanner operator behind him since he was facing the communications station. "Lock on to their locator beacons and bring them up major."

"Aye sir." Grant replied, knowing what the colonel was planning to do to the general.

A second later the normal blueish white light of a transporter beam filled the reinforced command bunker appeared and disappeared as the two man appeared in front of the bridge crew. Once the momentary disorientation had cleared and they realized where they were O'Neill turned to Emerson.

"My apologies for bringing you up general, but we have a situation up here." Emerson said pointing to the main viewer which was locked onto the Hebridian ships.

"That's fine general." O'Neill blinked as he looked at the small fleet still being buzzed by the numerous Star Wolves. "Hum, what seems to be the emergency?"

"We've got a few ships here that have just dropped out of hyperspace, they claim to represent the Hebridian alliance and are carrying supplies that we have apparently said that we will trade for sir, and they have asked for you by name."

"Thank-you colonel, looks like I need to kick someone in the butt." Jokes O'Neill, causing several of the crew to snigger, "I was under the impression that everyone who needed too had been informed, open the channel."

"Comm's, re-open the channel to the Maru."

"Aye sir." The comm-officer said as he re-opened the channel, "Channel open general." As the forward view screen returned to the view of the Serrakin male on the command deck of the Kobayashi Maru.

"This is general O'Neill, to whom am I speaking?"

"Ahh, general O'Neill sir. I'm captain Merakin of the Hebridian space forces, I believe that you have been expecting our arrival."

"Thank-you captain, I'm sorry for the slight mix-up, but the recent attack and the damage it caused has made communications between our forces problematic at best. I'm assuming that your presence here means that the treaty we proposed has gone through."

"Yes. The treaty is being ratified by the council as we speak, the generous offers of technology exchanges that your people offered to President Hagan has been accepted. The cargo holds and cargo ships in this fleet are packed to the bulk heads, and the cargo ships are ready to pick up the first shipments which we have been promised after they have off-loaded their own supplies, oh also we are going to be leaving three of our escorts and two supply transports as part of the deal." Merakin said smiling. "And I will be staying in system with the Maru to act as a command ship for our forces for as long as you need us, the rest of the ships will be returning to the homeworld with the remaining cargo ships."

"That's generous of your alliance captain. I'm sure that doctor Jackson told me that it wasn't in the treaty that he hashed out on your homeworld."

"It wasn't, but citizen Finn made a very strong argument that the ruling council decided that it was in our best interests to at least assist the Tau'ri with the defense of their world. I mean after all if the rumors are true and the Asgard like you then there has to be something about your people and planet. If you can transmit us the details for where you want us to land, we shall off-load the cargo and pick up our payment." Merakin said diplomatically, "Our crews are the best at what they do so they'll be quick, after all we don't want to alarm your general population any more than they already are do we?"

O'Neill laughed a little at that, thinking it might be nice to let the captain and Kinsey be in the same dark room. "Thank-you captain, I'll have the SGC send up the landing coordinates as soon as possible." O'Neill said quickly as his mind started to picture Kinsey in a dark room with Chaka beating him to a bloody pulp. "Your effort is greatly appreciated. Thanks for the help."

"I'll admit that you Tau'ri are a strange bunch, but I'm not complaining. We shall await landing instructions. The screen switched back to the view of the Hebridian ships, leaving O'Neill feeling slightly relieved that something had gone right this week.

"General sir?"

"Colonel?"

"If you don't mind my asking sir, what was all that about?"

"Help colonel, help from some friends."

-{[]}-

A month after exploring the Alteran space station the size of a moon on the edge of the solar system the Archangel had ferried SG1 back to earth, and now the team, Welsh, Campbell and Dvorak where sat listening to one of the members of the almost ready to deploy Atlantis Expedition, Rodney McKay, as he explained about what they had found and how they were upgrading the both the Archangel and their own small fleet using the resources on hand at the station and in the mining station discovered on Ganymede.

"… and with the assistance of the Alteran shipyards AI we have made leaps and bounds above the current capabilities of all the ship classes in the fleet, and have even repaired the Archangel to what her chief engineer says is just of the production line status. Combining both the Zentradi and data we have accessed we have found a way to use the best of both. Unmatched firepower, unequaled defensive capabilities and unparalleled power generation, this new class of vessel, will be similar to that of the Archangel, will create a paradigm shift in balance of fleet power, in our little corner of the galaxy. The embarked number on this class has risen, compared to that of the Minerva classes compliment of 60 Starmax and 120 Star Wolf's, to 120 Starmax and 240 Star Wolfs as well as a new class based off the scans that the stations AI took of both the Starmax's in the initial recon flight and the Argo that SG1 and Devil Squad used to enter the station. Imagine if you will a Minerva class ship intermixed with an Asgard O'Neill class and a bit of the Archangel thrown in for good measure." Said McKay to the assembled members of the IOA council and the heads of the military in the core members of the IOA.

"Is he always this smug?" Asked the British representative in hushed tones.

"He sure is." Whispered O'Neill back, getting a small smile from Cater.

Smug as McKay might be, the design which he had created after only three days of coffee fueled work promised to be an amazing design. With everything performing as promised the new vessel was easily more powerful than anything that the Goa'uld had created or dreamed of in their wildest dreams.

Her hull was composed of a carbon, Trinium A and Naquadah composite. This was the strongest blended alloy known to the Zentradi. Her firepower was made up of six 'Gottfried' type two 225 cm high energy plasma beam cannons mounted around her forward section, 38 vertical missile launchers within the main body, 16 infer red galaxy anti-air class lasers, 18 photon cannons, 34 CIWS rail guns, two Tannhäuser positron siege cannons and an armory of stocked with 2500 Wombat anti-ship missiles and 1000 of the new Dispar anti-air suppression and interception missiles rounding out her armament would make her one of the most heavily armed beasts of the space ways. The same type of Asgard hyper drive used on the Prometheus was being fitted along with an Asgard shielding system. Powering all of this was ten neutrino ion generation plants and three naquadah enhanced reflex reactors.

Design changes had also been given to the Star Wolfs, a second naquadah reactor had been added to them to power both there shields and a new fighter grade turbo plasma cannons.

"Asgard ships possess the ability to travel from Earth to their homeworld in the galaxy of Othala in under a day, and once the first of this new class is complete we will also. These capabilities are in direct proportion to the mass increase of the ship through. This class will be roughly three times the size of a Minerva class and after intensive simulations we have found that the design is without fault. These simulations have also shown that a single ship of this class could, in theory, could go toe-to-toe with the Archangel and have a ninety percent chance of victory with high expectation of success with only moderate amount of damage."

The IOA members began to question how long it would take to put the design into production, they were less than pleased when they were informed that both general Hammond, of the newly created homeworld defense command, and general O'Neill had already ordered construction of the design three weeks ago. It had also been decided to make use of what the shipyards AI had said were Magellanic class heavy cruisers, Eternal Vigilance class long range surveillance ships to use patrolling the solar systems of the Protected Planet's Treaty, and Fingers of Dawn class supply and maintenance ships would be kept in system to help with the construction of the orbital defense facilities and dry docks, freeing up the Minerva's for the mission to Atlantis which was slated to depart within the next few months. The new class was destined for use outside of friendly territory, and as a command ship for a small battle group.

Nothing that the Goa'uld have ever built could compare in any way to them in terms of raw firepower, and with a total build number for the first batch of this class set at twenty it would allow the earth to project their power if needed, like the aircraft carrier had for America during World War Two and beyond.

As far as the name for this new class, general O'Neill was disappointed as he was once again as they were to be called the Mississippi class dreadnought.

-{[]}-

"Each chevron tells the gate to look for a point in space, six points to locate another location in space with a seventh used to plot a course within this galaxy, and in order to make a lock on a gate outside of our galaxy we need an eighth chevron, so we won't actually know if we can make a connection to the gate on the other end until we can establish a lock." Jackson says walking into the gate control room explaining the basics of gate travel to one of the new scientist that had joined the stargate program following disclosure, as he approaches doctor Weir who is watching the chaotic activity taking place in the embarkation room.

"Are we there yet?" Asks general O'Neill as he comes down the stairs that lead to the main briefing room and his office, clapping his hands together.

"We're just waiting on McKay and Siler."

-{[]}-

In the main power room which fed the main feed for the stargate, which despite being upgraded to run off three naquadah generators and a single Vibranium naquadah hybrid arc reactor so as to cut the power requirements for the base and provide a measure of independence following the meeting with the Zentradi, sergeant Siler is putting the finishing touches to the cradle which had been created based off of the scans which the teams had taken of the ZPM housing unit on the chair in Antarctica to boost the amount of power available for the gate.

"That should make it work now sir." Siler says as he stands up closing the fuse box on the wall he had been working on.

"Ok sergeant, let's give it a shot. It should light up when it senses the connection to gates power grid." McKay explained as he removed the ZPM from the case which it had been transported in from the outpost and inserts it gently into the cradle before pointing to Siler who crosses his fingers and throws the switch for the circuit breaker for the gates power feed. After several long seconds, which the ZPM interface programs runs an internal diagnostic working out how to interface safely with the primitive conversion cradle that it was currently placed into, before it lit up. "Oh I'm good!" McKay says smiling not realizing that it was the ZPM that had done the hard work.

-{[]}-

"Could I have everyone's attention please?" Weir call's out as she fixes her pack onto her back. "In the next few minutes we will attempt to make a connection to the Atlantis gate. We have been unable to predict how much power this is going to take, therefore once we have established a connection, we're not going to risk shutting down the gate." She said as she stands on the bottom of the ramp that lead to the in active stargate having moved from the control room so that she could address the expedition, as Jackson stands up from the controls for the stargate in the control room and stands next to O'Neill as the pair look into the embarkation room as Weir continues. "We'll send a recon drone through to check for viability and life support and then go. Everything in one hit. Now, every one of you has volunteered for this expedition and you represent the very best that this planet has to offer. You are the world's best, and in light of the adventure we are about to embark on, you are the bravest. I hope that we return someday having discovered a whole new realm for humanity and our Zentradi cousins to explore, but as you all know, it will be at least six months to a year before any of us might be able to return home. I'd like to offer you all this one last chance to withdraw your participation from the mission."

Several of the members of the expedition looked around at each other, but nobody moved to leave. Weir smiled as she looked out at the assembled group then nods to the technicians in the control room. "Begin the dialing sequence." She orders as she looks up into the control room.

After several long seconds in which the military members of the mission finished checking their equipment, the gate locked in its eighth symbol for only the second time in the history of the stargate program, but the first time that the SGC had actually planned to dial another galaxy, causing a cheer to ring out from the group in the embarkation room and a collective breath to be released from the Weir, O'Neill and Jackson.

"Lieutenant send the drone." Ordered O'Neill and the machine gently lifted off its transport rig and floated up the ramp and through event horizon of the active stargate, two seconds later and three million light-years away the mark three mobile analytical laboratory probe, or M.A.L.P. for short, emerged out the other side into a large two level chamber.

"Telemetry coming in now sir."

"There is a breathable atmosphere, scans are showing that there is an energy barrier of some kind is holding back the water, however energy readings from the power generators are bare minimum levels and the shield is at less than ten percent." Said McKay as he looked at the MALP's on the screen to the side having come to the control half way through weir's speech.

"So if we go…" Weir asks unable to turn away from the visual's being transmitted by the MALP as it moved up to a window showing the city sitting on the edge of an underwater cliff that looked as deep as the grand canyon while the depths of the ocean where being held back by the shield.

"The shield will collapse and the ocean will flood the city. Yes." McKay said sighing in frustration, looking with the others in the control room at the visual feed from the MALP.

"Then I'm going to…" Started O'Neill before being interrupted by McKay.

"I wouldn't be so hasty." McKay said glancing at the readings that the MALP. "I've been looking over the operating systems of the ships which we found at the Charon station. I'm sure that I may be able to disengage the clamps that are holding the city to the sea floor and raise it up to the surface."

"It can float?" Asks a technician monitoring the local air space and surface conditions shocked.

"It can fly." McKay says reminding everyone that it's a ship. "Remember that this was the race that built both the stargates and the Charon station. Atlantis is what they classed as a fortress colony ship, which is capable of intergalactic space travel."

"How much time would you think that you'll need?" O'Neill asked curious. "More to the point do you have that much time?"

"I don't know, a few minutes once I access the main controls and as long as no one leaves the embarkation room on the other side, then the shield should hold long enough. Let's go." McKay said quickly.

"Alright then…" O'Neill says as the Canadian scientist quickly headed out of the control room and towards the embarkation room. "Doctor Weir you have a go, just remember that it might be a while until we can get any relief out to you, so try and survive until then."

"No promises general." Weir said smiling as she followed her chief scientist to the active gate where the first of the fifty strong security members and McKay where just stepping through the event horizon of the wormhole.

"Jack it's not too late for me to…" Starts Jackson, as he and O'Neill watch the expedition members and equipment move up through the gate.

"No." O'Neill says interrupting his friend.

"I… I… I, could just grab my…" Continues Jackson determined.

"No." O'Neill says again with a small smile on his face laughing inside at his friends determination to go on the expedition.

"… kit." Jackson says under his breath, as the members of the expedition slowly but steadily moved through the gate along with their equipment and several of the new Laser RATs and two M-6 rail-gunner anti-air vehicles exited the base through the gate for their new home in the Pegasus Dwarf galaxy three million light years away.

-{[]}-

Lieutenant Aiden Ford was among the first group to step through the gate and into the Alteran designed control and embarkation room for the lost city of legend, and his first thought was of how awkward the silence was, as he moved to cover one of the several exits as several more personnel, and the first of the equipment came through, quickly followed by doctor McKay.

"Anybody see any controls or consoles?" McKay asked taking a quick look around the semi-dark room after he had come out the gate with a Laser RAT close behind him.

"There are some up here!" Major Sheppard called out from the upper level.

"Ok just give me a minute to access the systems." McKay said as he runs up to where Sheppard had called out from the upper level of the room.

"Secure the area!" Ordered the head of the military contingent of the soldiers who had through the gate already, just as Weir steps through the event horizon.

"Rodney?" Weir asks walking up the stairs towards the scientists.

"And that should just about do it." McKay said with a small nod, as a low rumble began to echo through the room as the ship the size of the island of Manhattan left the floor of the ocean and began to surface. After a few minutes the city-ship breached the surface for the first time in ten-thousand years and climbed a hundred feet into the air and allowed the water to empty out of the sections that had flooded, before slowly lowering its self and settling down. "We're on the surface." McKay said as the last of the expedition members came through the gate. "I'm lowering the shield, now." McKay said as the energy barrier which had held back the depths of the ocean for ten thousand years disengaged.

"SGC, this is Atlantis station, we offer you greetings from the Pegasus galaxy. You may now cut power to the gate." Weir said into a radio. A few seconds later a single large champagne bottle rolled out of the wormhole and across the floor as the gate shutdown. "Good work Rodney." She said as she bent down to pick up the bottle and read the attached note around the neck, 'Bon Voyage!' and was signed by O'Neill. Smiling at the gift she turns and looks up towards Sheppard and McKay on the upper level, too which Sheppard just nods.

"Doctor Weir, colonel Sumner, we've found something you might want to see." Ford called out on the radio, "were two levels down from the gate level."

-{[]}-

"We found it just a few moments ago." Ford said as the group entered into a room with a raised pedestal at the other end.

"It came on the second that I stepped up to the pedestal." Said a Marine as he guested towards the paused hologram of the almost human looking woman in the center of the room.

"It's a recording." McKay stated.

"Aye. This is second time through it." Said Becket as he un-paused the recordings play back.

"In the hopes of spreading new life where there was none." The hologram said. "After a time this new life bloomed and prospered. In time a thousand worlds bore fruit of the programed design. Then one day our people stepped foot on a dark world where a terrible enemy slumbered. Never before had we encountered beings with powers and technology that rivalled our own. In our over confidence, we were unprepared and outnumbered. This enemy fed upon the defenseless human worlds like a great plague until finally only Atlantis remained here on Zion. This fortress-city's mighty weapons and shield was powerful enough to with stand their terrible weapons, but here we were besieged for many years. In an effort to save the last of our kin, we submerged our last great ship into the ocean. The Atlantis stella porta was the one and only direct link back to the lactea via lactea and Terra from this galaxia, so those of us that remained left this city returned to the world that had once been our home. There the last survivors of Atlantis lived out the remainder of their lives, and this fortress was left to slumber, in the hope that our kind would one return."

The hologram ended and Beckett stepped down from the hologram control podium as the room was stunned into silence.

"Huh, so the story of Atlantis is true." McKay commented as he looked at the space where the hologram which had been replaced it a hologram of the fortress with several area's on the outer areas flashing red. "A highly advanced city, that was lost due to war and sunk beneath the waves into the depths of the ocean."

"It just didn't happen on earth." Weir added nodding.

"My guess is that Plato must have heard it from one of the Alterans that came back to Earth." Mused McKay.

"I don't like the fact that they got their butts handed to them." Sumner said, his mind going ten to dozen with tactical and worse case scenarios, which he had been briefed about or had experienced at the SGC before the mission had left.

"Sir, I'd highly recommend that we don't use the stargate until the fleet arrives." Sheppard suggested placing a hand on the podium, and thinking that it might be a good idea if they had some heavy weapons and that they had better check the ammo levels for the cities own weapons as well. "We don't need another enemy right now, not with what's going on back home." He finished as he sub-consciously had the city send a hyper-subspace data pulse to Anoke station with a resupply request for everything from plasma drone torpedo's and phase shifter quantum missiles and Drone Strafer star fighters, along with updates on the status of the city's internal systems and stores levels unbeknownst to everyone in Atlantis.

"Agreed." Sumner said, acknowledging that it was a sound and wise tactical plan. "No need to announce our presence here before we can defend this position properly."

Just as Sumner finishes one of the other scientists come running through the door and heads to McKay and whispers something into his ear.

"Let's hear it from the…" States Beckett as he moves to re-watch holographic history of the great city of Atlantis.

"Stop! Turn it off!" McKay as he pulled Beckett off of the podium. "Power levels throughout the city are dropping like a stone."

"Rodney?" Weir asked with concern. "What does that mean?"

"It means that even though we are on the surface, we need to stop everything we're doing and get the Vibranium naquadah hybrid arc reactors online. The city is designed to run off three ZPM's running in parallel and right now we are only working on the one and it's at around five percent and slowly draining away to nothing, less than when the shield was up."

"Do it." Weir said as the two scientists ran from the room and back up to the control room to remotely shut down as many systems and have teams tie in as many Vibranium naquadah hybrid arc reactors to the power grid as fast as they can and save their only remaining ZPM until they could find more. "Colonel you need to tell your people to stop exploring the city until we have the power situation sorted out." She said as she turned to the man in question.

Sumner nodded and reached up to his radio's ear-mic to relay the orders. "Attention all survey teams, this is Sumner." He said as he activated his all channels over ride onto the comm-system. "Fall back to the embarkation room immediately."