A Long Walk in the Dark - Arc 1

by Ghostrider21

After being fitted with an experimental drive system the crew of the Borealis is sent on a blind jump to another reality. Damage sustained leaves her lost and unable to return home. This is the story of her crew and her CO's mission to return them home. At all cost.

5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Show and Tell

Hey guys, Ghostrider21 signing back on a little early this time. Finished this chapter a little earlier and since I'm going camping tomorrow; I won't be able to post till Sunday so I put this up earlier. Please let me know if it's too long. I own nothing but my OCs and the story, everything else belongs to their respective owners.

Previously

501st JFW, Runway

Eila rubbed her shoulder before holding her hand out, "Hello Colonel Christopher Allen Vought, My name is Eila; I can see into the future."

Jumper 1, rear bay

Ross tuned out Vought's conversation as he watched Sokolov converse with his men. "Wonder how Grant is doing?

May 10, 2018 2300 Hours – Atlantis Conference Room

"And that gentlemen, was the end of our first week." Vought took a drink as he finished speaking.

Sheppard raised his hand, "So about the no pants thing."

"No colonel, he already explained it; we are not going over it again," O'Neill deadpanned, looking at Sheppard. "Besides most of them were under-aged." He looked at Chris as Beckett checked him over; both of them looking tired.

The briefing had been going on almost continuously for the past seven hours. Besides a few breaks, the colonel pounded on ahead stopping only to answer questions. Serenity and Vought had a quick reunion as O'Neill convinced her to finally hand over his video log. Augmented with video and images, the colonel soldiered on; the only interruptions being Dr. Keller updating them on the conditions of the crew.

"Alright then colonel let's start up again bef-" O'Neill began before being interrupted by Beckett as he stormed over to him.

"Sir with all due respect, No, we will not be continuing tonight. Chris is dead tired and needs his sleep. Remember he is still weak." He stared Jack straight in the face, "I seem to recall Jack, last time you died you got the week after reviving off." Jack sighed in defeat; he knew when he had been beat.

"Fine we will resume tomorrow at 0800 hours, dismissed," he called as the shutters opened showing the multitude of people stacked up beyond them; they scattered as O'Neill and Landry left the room.

Beckett walked back around the table that ringed the room to begin wheeling Vought out as Sheppard stood up stretching. "and I thought Rodney was long winded, well g'night Chris, glad to have you back; see you in the morning." Sheppard yawned as he walked out.

"See you Sheppard and likewise," he replied while smiling.

"Alright colonel time for bed… again, you need it and you know it."

"Fine but first take me to the balcony; I want to see my night sky once again."

Atlantis Central Spire

"I can't believe we made it… guys, I wish you could see it," Vought sniffed as he stared up at the clear night sky; tears rolling down his face as he remembered his fallen comrades. "I said we'd make it back and damn it, you all promised you wouldn't die. This isn't fair, it isn't fair…" He wiped his tears away before spinning around to face Beckett, who had been pretending to study the city. "Beautiful night huh?"

Beckett nodded, "Aye it is Chris, come on let's get you bed, you need your rest."

Vought nodded and allowed the doctor to roll him back inside.

May 11, 2018 0630 Hours – Atlantis Infirmary

Shake

"mumble,"

Shake, shake

"mumble, mumble,"

Shake, shake, shake

Growl, "Matt if you don't want me to dislocate your arm again I suggest stopping."

"Aye, aye sir,"

"Thank you,"

'Massive blink,' Vought opened his eyes and stared at CDR Ross as he grinned from his bedside. "Ma-Matt?"

"Yes sir; it's good to see you again,"

Vought grabbed him and pulled him into a tight hug, "Damn it Matt we did it."

"No sir we didn't; you did," Matt pushed him away holding him at shoulder length, "Sir we wouldn't have been able to hold together as long as we had without you. We made it home because you believed we would even when everyone else began to lose hope. We all owe you a debt we can never repay."

Vought sat there with his head down, "But what abou-"

"No if or buts sir, they wouldn't have wanted you to kill yourself over them."

As he began to think about it, another voice sang in, "He's right Chris; you should listen to your friends more often."

Vought nodded before he froze; his eyes growing wide. Twisting to the side he stared as he began to tear up again, "Jean…" he whispered.

1 Hour later – Atlantis Conference Room

"Stupid mornings, why the hell did I say 0800… I'm old… should have chosen later," O'Neill grumbled as he walked towards the conference room, coffee in one hand and his folder in the other. Entering he made he made his way to his chair, everyone going silent around him.

"Alright then let's get started; Colonel you we-," he began before noticing something.

"One, two, three, four,… five, six, seven, eight?" he counted as his sleep addled brain processed the information. "McKay? Lorne? Ross? Zelenka? What are you doing in here?" he looked around, "and where's Landry?"

The assorted group looked on in amusement as Lorne saluted and left causing the general to shift his attention to McKay. "Rodney," he growled, "don't you have something better to do?"

McKay shifted his gaze between the door and the general before responding, "Jack, the whole reason they got lost was because I failed to think ahead. I NEED to sit in on this; to hear what went wrong."

He turned, "And you Zelenka?"

Radek pushed his glasses up his nose, "O'Neill sir, I want to sit in on this; the colonel, is currently a patient in my city. While I know Atlantis is part of the SGC it still has its own command structure and I am a civilian." He calmly stated, "Besides, the more people who sit in on it, the less he has to re-explain later."

The general sighed as he dropped his head to the table, "it's too early for this; fine you two can stay as long as that ship is at the Alpha Site. Where the hell is Landry?"

"Right here Jack; sorry I'm late, I ran into someone and started talking. I decided to let her tag along." General Landry replied as he entered the room, closing the shutters behind him and his guest.

"Her?" inquired the general as he pulled his head of the table. Looking at the guest O'Neill realized who it was; the woman Vought referred to as his wife.

"Uh Jean right?" she nodded. "It's good to see you awake." Ross coughed causing O'Neill to glare at him and then Vought. "You know I think your crew has been around you for a little too long colonel."

"Sorry sir I'll try harder to beat discipline into them next time. Jean what are you doing here? I thought you would be resting?"

She shook her head; her ponytail whipping back and forth. "Nope sorry big guy, I'm awake now and you're not getting rid of me that easily," she stated while smiling. "Besides, you could use some help explaining all of this."

Now he was curious, "Just how much are you able to explain ma'am?"

Her smile grew wider as she answered, "I believe general the word I'm looking for is "Spoilers"."

Jack's interested look shifted back to anger as he whipped his head back to Vought. "You didn't," he growled out.

Vought shrugged a nervous look on his face as he refused to make eye contact with the general. "Um she may have um… found it and um, watched some."

"How much is some?"

"…Uh all of it."

O'Neill let his head hit the table once again. "Too damn early." Without lifting his head, he waved at the colonel, "continue."

"Yes Sir"

July 15, 1945 0900 Hours- Borealis Bridge, Unmarked Island 250 miles off the coast of Rome

Just over one month; that was how long the Borealis had been in this reality. Since then, work crews had made amazing progress; plugging the hull breach, repairing the shields, and bringing the weapons and sensors back on line.

"Weapon status?"

"Uh… railguns responding to commands sir; same with the energy turrets."

"Drones?"

"Uh… no. But we did get another engine back online."

Well almost all the weapons.

Vought shook his head in disbelief; he just couldn't catch a break. "And why not?"

"Because of this," stated Dr. Lansby as he walked onto the bridge clutching something in his hand. Walking up to the colonel, Evan showed him the crystal.

"You know what this is sir?"

Vought looked it over, "It's a control crystal for the circuits' right?"

Lansby nodded, "This is one of two major crystals that failed during the attack; it's completely cooked and we have no spares."

"We have no spares? If it's so important why not have any extras?"

Lansby shook his head, "No idea sir, it seems SOMEONE decided that both of these circuits wouldn't fail at the same time and we could just use the core to produce more."

Vought sighed, "McKay?"

He nodded.

"Stupid idiot, I'm so going to kick his ass we get back. Anyway what does that mean? Can we not get the remaining systems back online?"

"No but I have a temporary solution; we need to find a large enough piece of quartz, about this big." Evan began indicating with the burnt crystal. "We get a piece that big and I can get Serenity back online long enough to have her create replacements."

"Looks like something to add to our growing list of supplies… Minna is going to kill me."

"We still on schedule then Evan? I told Minna we would be moving to the base for us to show off to her boss." Vought inquired, eager to move the 3-km ship away from this bare, sad excuse for an island.

The doctor nodded while grinning, "Engine 3 is back online so while we can't break orbit, we can still move in atmosphere."

"Comms, recall the work crews and launch the fighters; we are moving."

As the bridge sprang into action, Vought thought back to the conversation he had with the young witch Eila, in the Jumper one month ago.

She rubbed her shoulder nervously before she held out her hand to him, "Hello Col. Christopher Allen Vought, my name's Eila and I can see into the future."

Vought nearly crashed the Jumper right then and there when she said that; it was completely crazy yet a look into their eyes showed that it was in fact true.

"…The future huh, last time we dealt with someone like that, they were a time traveler… anyway is that the real reason how you knew we were coming?"

She nodded, "I had a vision, a vivid one that showed a large ship from the stars coming to our aid. This ship was capable of much and it could protect us; the vision showed peace finally achieved if we helped it."

He sat there taking it all in, "Is that why you agreed to an alliance with us so easily?"

Minna nodded, "We've learned to trust Eila and her visions and if she said we could trust you, then we would."

The front of the Jumper was silent as Vought thought about her response, "Well thanks… that actually means quite a bit."

Eila smiled before she grew nervous again, "there was more though to it; I saw an unidentified man, a badge that the letters "N" "I" and "D" or something, and he was standing over a body bleeding on the ground and the next part showed a mushroom shaped cloud in the distance. Does this mean anything to you?"

Vought frowned knowing immediately what she was talking about. He didn't answer as the Jumper made it back to the ship.

Vought shook his head as the bridge informed him they were ready to launch.

"I hope Sokolov's man can find this Trust operative before anybody dies. I will not let Armageddon come to this reality."

July 15, 1945 1200 Hours – 501st JFW

"So Commander I'm glad everything is fine here but why call me out here? You could have just told me in your next report?" Vice Air Marshall Adolfine Galland inquired. "What is so important that my presence is required here; I'm an extremely busy woman."

"It's a demonstration ma'am and it will be ready shorty, it is extremely important that you see it in person," stated Minna as she glanced at her watch. "He better be here or I'm going to wring his neck; if Mio doesn't remove his head first." "Ah Maj. Sakamoto there you are; you remember Vice Marshall Galland right?"

Mio and Galland turned, sizing each other up before Mio saluted, "Maj. Mio Sakamoto ma'am it is good to see you again."

Adolfine looked at the major before breaking out in a grin and wrapping her in a hug. "Damn good to see you major; and yes it has been awhile?"

As Mio struggled in her grip she managed to respond, "Thanks ma'am that means a lot."

"So major how have you been? We can catch up while we wait for Wilcke's demonstration."

Continuing her pretty much one-sided conversation, she noticed Minna answering her radio. Watching, she witnessed Minna nod and whisper a response before turning to her and Mio. "It's time ma'am let's head upstairs to the balcony."

501st JFW Base, Balcony

"So Commander, what's this big demonstration?"

Minna beckoned towards the speaker, "here it comes."

"Pescara control this is Reaper-1, requesting permission to buzz the tower."

"…Uh I guess so Reaper-1, permission granted."

Galland gave Minna a strange look, "Who's Reaper-1?"

She pointed as a low rumble was heard coming from the sea. Looking out she saw an unidentifiable craft making its way towards them at high speed at wave top level. Reaching for her neck she grabbed her scope and activated her magic bringing the target into view. "A fighter?"

The fighter increased speed as it pulled up away from the waves heading straight towards the castles' tower. Right before Galland threw up her shield to protect herself, the pilot pulled up; no more than a foot separating them, and began a ballistic climb above the base. Watching as the fighter rolled inverted, another one appeared and began to dance around the sky in ways she had never seen before. "What the hell was that Commander and was that all?"

"No ma'am, I believe that is the end of it," Minna stated while pointing up.

It was at this point in time that Galland noticed that the rumble from before had not subsided and as she looked up, she was finally stunned. Like a ripple of water in the sky, a massive grey form appeared out of nowhere, slowly drifting over the base and towards the ocean, the name Borealis visible on its side.

As the ship began to lower itself into the sea alongside the base, Galland turned to her subordinate, "Commander what the hell have you been up to?"

Minna shrugged before looking at her superior, "Remember that carrier type from a few weeks ago?" Galland nodded, "Well we kinda had a little help with it," she stated as a large door opened on the ship's side; men and trucks exiting the hull.

"Minna you never cease to amaze me; I have yet to regret my decision to reform the 501st. Tell me everything."

Minna beckoned Adolfine forward, "I'll explain along the way; let's go meet our new allies shall we?"

501st JFW- Pescara, Venezia

As soon as the ship's engines shut off, the crew immediately opened bays 1 and 2 and began unloading the equipment they promised they would use to defend the base with. As trucks drove off the ship, US Marine Captain Edward Thompson stared in disbelief at what was leaving.

"Sure I'll jump to another reality, no problem; work with Russian troops, again no problem. Watch them operate their latest and greatest SAM system right in front of me; I don't know what to say." Thompson mumbled to the private standing to his left as the Russian Air Defense System rolled past, truck by truck. Leaving the ship were the vehicles that composed the surface-to-air missile battery; the command truck, power truck, acquisition radar, targeting radar, and six TEL (transporter erector launcher). Once leaving the ship the vehicles broke off from each other and headed towards their predetermined positions.

"Never thought I'd see a Growler this close, unless of course I was attacking it." Glancing to his right, "Sorry sir no offense."

Major Volkov shook his head, "Hет captain, no offense taken. I would have thought the same had our situations been reversed." Watching the gathered men and witches he observed both colonels walking towards CDR Minna and Maj. Sakamoto with an unknown taller woman in tow. "I must go meet the officers, до свидания captain," and with that the major strode off.

Watching him leave, Ed shook his head, "Come on private, we need to get the LAVs out."

Borealis disembarking point, 501st JFW

Glancing up at the four taller men, Galland took in as much information as she could before speaking. "Afternoon gentlemen I am Vice Air Marshall Adolfine Galland of the Karlsland Air Force. Who the hell is in charge here and what the hell is that equipment?" she demanded with her hand out; her eyes darting back and forth in awe of the vehicles driving around.

Vought and Sokolov shared an amused glance before answering, "Good afternoon ma'am, Colonel Christopher Vought, Stargate Command; I'm the one in charge of this ship." He threw a quick salute before grabbing her hand, "my god her grip is bone breaking." As he continued his handshake, he introduced Sokolov. "This is Colonel Vitaly Sokolov of the Russian Federation; he is the commanding officer of the Russian troops assigned to my ship and is my counterpart. As for the equipment… I'll let Col. Sokolov explain."

Galland dropped her hand and turned to the big Russian as he began to address her, "Good afternoon ma'am it is a pleasure to meet you. As for the equipment, you are looking at the pinnacle of air defense systems; the S-400 Триумф Surface-to-Air Missile battery. Using its acquisition radar, the system can detect an object the size of a…" he noticed the interested look on Vought's face; he smiled before continuing, "Well a small size up to 600 km away." He watched the amazed looks appearing on the witches faces. "Sorry colonel I can't reveal all my countries' secrets."

Vought sighed; no Russian military secrets for him today.

"Anyway once detected the targeting radar picks the targets up as they hit the 400 km mark and can instruct the launchers to engage the target(s). Recently, upgrades allow it to hit something small and maneuverable such as a…" Sokolov cut himself off as he noticed the frantic head shaking from Vought and Ross. Fortunately for them, none of the witches noticed as they processed what they had just been told.

"400 km engagement range… that's beyond belief. Think of what we could do with that… the lives we could save," whispered Galland as she imagined that power at her fingertips. She steeled herself before returning to the two colonels, "Alright then you've made an impression on me, now I need an explanation."

"Right this way ladies."

July 15, 1945 1640 Hours - Borealis Briefing Room

Galland sat back in her chair; stunned from the information she had received. "Bah, wha, how?" She turned to Minna, "You knew all of this? You managed to keep all this from me… from the world for a MONTH! Think of all the good these people could do, they could help us eliminate the Neuroi once and for all."

"I'm sorry ma'am but it wasn't her fault; it was mine. I requested that she keep us secret for as long as possible so we could repair our ship," Vought began. "We suffered major damage to critical system and I would not put my men in needless danger. While we can fight, our primary weapon system is damaged; we need a temporary fix so we can create the part we need."

"What do you need? I can try my hardest to get it to you. Anything to get you to help us; name it and it's yours,"

Vought shook his head, "Sorry ma'am but it's not that simple; the part we need is a very pure piece of clear quartz about this size," he indicated with a destroyed crystal.

"Quartz? It can't be that hard to find? I'll get somebody on it; just give me the info on the size and chemistry. We will find what you need."

"Thanks ma'am but-"

Before continuing the ships alarm began to blare. Vought jumped up activating his radio, "Report."

"Sir unknown contacts detected moving south, altitude Angels 10, speed 400."

He left the room; the witches in tow as he made his way to the bridge. "Estimated targets?"

"Group 1 is heading towards Rome and Group 2 is heading towards us. ETA is approximately 32 minutes."

Vought glanced at the ladies, "Well then about that demonstration…"

"Do it, Minna be ready to alert your witches. Let's see what our new friends can do."

He nodded as he sat down in the control chair, "Understood; лучник what's your status?"

"готовый"

"Cleared to engage," Vought ordered as he activated the chair; the witches watching the scene with interest.

501st JFW

"It's no fair, why can't I go inside. I just want to look at their stuff again, maybe convince someone to let me fly one of those 302s…" complained Shirley as her and the other witches watched the men set up their equipment.

"Yeager, stop complaining; it's unbecoming of an officer to complain in front of their subordinates."

Shirley rolled her eyes, "Your no fun you old stick in the mud, lighten up. Besides it's only fair; we gave them a tour of our base they should give all of us, not some, a tour." She turned to Gertrud, "You really need to relax Trude."

"Afternoon ladies; how are we all today?"

The grouped witches turned to find Capt. Grant and Lt. Burns sitting down on a set of folding chairs; lounging back and smiling at their fellow crew setting up equipment. The two air force officers grinned at the sour expression the men were giving them, they loved being pilots.

"Hey Carl, Sarah; I'm doing well but Trude here is being a spoil sport."

Trude glared at Shirley while the others made their way over.

"Hey Miyafuji, Bishop, Hartmann, Litvyak, and uh Jul- no um, Jun…uh…"

Eila sighed, "Just call me Eila; it's a lot easier to remember."

"Will do ma'am so how are you d-."

"What about me?"

"Sorry Miss Clostermann didn't see you there. How are you today? It's actually nice to finally… wait, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight… we're missing one. Where's uh Lucchini?"

"I don't k-EEEE."

"Found her." Shirley stated while smiling; it had seemed that Francesca had managed to sneak up on the unsuspecting Lt. Burns, giving her a little, "check."

"What the HELL, get off me you little squirt, sir, help me" Sarah begged as she tried to pry the energetic Ensign off her chest.

"Um…hmm… hey what's that over there?" Inquired Grant with a red face as he refused to make eye contact with anyone; looking at the crews setting up the SAM. "Sorry Zippo but you got herself into this… somehow… you can get herself out, I hope."

"Don't worry about her Carl, she does that to any women that comes near here. She like to compare them and she has yet to find anything too match these." Shirley indicated grabbing her breast.

Grant went redder as he jerked his head away from Yeager; eyes closed. "What is wrong with the kids?"

Opening his eyes Grant watched as Yoshika and Lynette attempted to pry Burns' attacker off her with Hartmann cheering them on and Perrine screaming at them to act civilized. "They are strange," he thought while looking at them with a smile, "but they are good kids."

Lucchini finally relented, releasing her captive as her and the two pulling her, flew back and landed in a pile. As Yoshika and Lynette groaned on the ground, Lucchini grabbed onto Lyn with toothy grin as she checked her out yet again.

Carl groaned as he went red yet again with Shirley laughing at him, he just couldn't win. "Come on guys I'm ri-"

Grant and Burns jumped up as the Borealis began sounding the alarm; its warble echoing across the base. Men and trucks began heading towards their positions or the safe bulk of the ship. Reaching for his radio Carl swore as he realized he left it in his 302. "Shit I need to know what's up NOW." Noticing an approaching Russian sergeant, Grant waved him over. "What's the situation sergeant?"

The man began to babble at him at in Russian as he explained the situation. "Damn it why Russian, why not Spanish that I can understand," Grant thought to himself.

"He is saying that the ship has detected inbound targets," a quiet voice spoke from behind. Turning around Grant found Flying Officer Sanya Litvyak, the witch who escorted him one month ago, standing behind him. "You understand him Sanya?"

She nodded, "I'm Orussian, our languages are the same. He is saying that Air Marshall Galland authorized Col. Vought to attempt to destroy the Neuroi as a demonstration." She continued to listen, "He says that Archer will attempt to destroy the Neuroi first; if it fails, the colonel will launch fighters to intercept. If they fail, we will launch to destroy them." She stopped, "Who is Archer?" she asked as the soldier ran off.

"That is," indicated Grant as the SAM burst into action.

July 15, 1945 1645 Hours – 501st JFW, Pescara, Venezia

The moment the alarm sounded the men of the anti-aircraft group ran to their positions as the controller started the system. The S-400 Triumf, NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler was the worlds' deadliest and most advanced anti-aircraft system. The moment the Borealis initialized the attack, the high powered acquisition radar locked onto the targets and began transmitting data to the launch computer. Calculating the distance to the targets at 313 km, the attack radar swiveled into position and alerted the control cab what it wanted to do. Reviewing the computers recommendation, the controller agreed and launched.

Outside the truck, the two largest TELs warbled their launch warning as they began their system checks. Finding nothing wrong they started the attack. With a muffled pop and a burst of white smoke, the 420kg missiles popped out of their tubes one at a time. Once clear of their tubes the missiles lit their solid rocket motors, tilted over and raced into the distance; quickly reaching their top speed of Mach 12. 10 seconds from impact the missiles activated their active radars and choose their targets completely obliterating the unfortunate Neuroi that had attempted to attack. Total time from detecting the bandits? 82 seconds.

As the smoke from the launch cleared, the TELs lowered their eight tubes, four per, so they could be reloaded. The personnel of the 501st were stunned with what had transpired; receiving a transmission from CDR Minna, they learned that all of the Neuroi had been completely destroyed. "Wha-What was that…" whispered Barkhorn.

"The horrors of modern war," muttered Grant as the sight of all the smoke reminded him of another battlefield.

Borealis Bridge

Vought deactivated the chair after confirming the bandits were no more. Standing up he observed the three witches standing in front of the window, silently staring at the launchers. "Well did that dazzle you?"

Galland slowly turned; a glazed expression on her face, "Colonel, is this how combat is in your world? Death and destruction from beyond sight range?"

"Ma'am…"

"Sir, Capt. Grant is launching."

"What? I didn't authorize anything. Recall him now."

"He isn't responding sir."

Vought marched over to the window, "What the hell up with Grant… Shit I know what's wrong." Noticing the smoke over the field, he realized what the issue was. Spinning around he began to march off the bridge.

"Sir?"

He ignored Ross as he continued his march towards the 302 bay, "Commander, can I borrow Capt. Yeager? She is the only one who seems to have a connection with Grant."

"Sure but why?"

Vought sighed as he stopped and turned around, "Grant is remembering Afghanistan; it wasn't a good time for him."

"What happened?" Adolfine asked.

"His plane got shot down on a mission and his back seater was killed. It wasn't his fault, it was an unfortunate accident." He sighed running his hand down the back of his head, "He never really forgot it; the SGC just helped cover the pain." Vought looked right at her, "Yeager is going to help me bring him back in one piece, even if it means kicking his ass."

15 Minutes Later

A 302 fired out of the Borealis and immediately went supersonic as it chased down the rouge fighter. "Alright Yeager here's the plan; I'll I need you to do is start talking to him the moment we get in range. If we can slow him down enough we can try to convince him to return. We need to correct this now or it will kill him. Do you understand?"

"I think so sir but why me? You're his CO shouldn't you be able to do this?"

"Shirley listen; Carl left his kid sister back home and the two of them were close. From what I've seen of her, the two of you look quite similar. If anyone can knock some sense into him it's you."

Shirley nodded to herself; her new friend needed her.

"Borealis this is Crosshair, where is he?"

"Uh Crosshair, Reaper-1 is 120 miles downrange at Angels 90, his current speed is Mach 6."

"Understood Borealis, plot me a position in front of him."

"Roger Crosshair coordinates sent, good luck."

With the coordinates locked, Vought activated the 302s hyperdrive, opening a hyperspace window, and entering it.

Reaper-1, Capt. Carl "Edge" Grant, 90,000ft over the Mediterranean

Images flashed through his mind as he flew as fast as he could; tears falling down his face as he remembered the day he got shot down.

His F-15 streaked through the valley; Anti-aircraft fire on the horizon. A marine company under fire requesting air support. Cresting the ridge he saw the target designated and dropped his bombs. Pulling out, six lights appeared in the sky; his threat receiver warning him of a missile launches. His back seater dropped flares as he threw the plane into a bank. A bright flash of light and a roaring explosion followed by nothing as the critical hit killed the plane. He called over the radio to eject and pulled the t-handles throwing him out of the stricken plane. Witnessing no one else exiting the plane he watched as it pancaked into the ground, bursting into flames. He watched the plane burn as he slowly drifted down; screaming himself hoarse. Drifting down he landed in a tree knocking him out cold.

Grant sniffed as he remembered waking up in the field hospital the next day, the day his back seater and friend 2nd Lt. Sam "Bones" Richardson was declared KIA. Weeks later he learned that the black box had been recovered; Bones had pulled the handles, but the seat refused to fire. The box also registered that his seated hadn't fired; he should have also died that day. As he reminisced about his lost friend, his fighter shook; shields flashing and warning lights lit.

"Damn it captain, get your ass back here."

Grant looked up as he witnessed a 302 dropping from above him; plasma beams firing. He juked and rolled as he tried to maneuver around his attacker, trying to place the voice on the radio. "Who is this? Identify yourself."

"Carl I swear I will shoot you down if you don't cooperate," growled the attacking 302.

"Oh shit I'm so dead," thought Grant as he desperately tried to escape his now identified attacker.

Vought pressed his attack as Chris realized how much trouble he was in. Before joining the SGC, Vought had started in the air force as a Combat Controller (CCT); jumping behind enemy lines to designate targets for the first wave of allied bombers. He had joined his initial squad as a spotter; however due to his abnormally high marksmanship skills he was sent to the Marine Scout Sniper school to hone them. Graduating from the school Vought was reassigned back to CCT. His first mission out of the school resulted in the death of his commanding officer and executive officer when their Humvee was destroyed in an IED attack leaving him the only officer remaining. Completing the mission he returned to be promoted to the rank of Captain and given his own team. Rising quickly through the ranks, Vought became one of the youngest officers to make it to the rank of Lt. Col. since WWII at the age of 26. One year later he found himself in front of General Landry telling him about a little object called the Stargate and the promotion that awaited him.

Grant recalled all this from the reports him and some of the other pilots had snuck out as he went inverted and performed a split-s to escape his pursuer; another hit told him his attempt failed.

Thinking back to the report, Grant remembered the important part. Before being assigned an SG team, the colonel had requested permission to learn to pilot the F-302 which had fascinated him. General Landry agreed and he was sent to training. The result had stunned all the SGC personnel; Vought had exceeded all of the 302 pilots and began throwing the high performance fighter to its absolute limits; breaking every record that had been set by it. He was such an effective pilot that Landry was forced to ground him. Given the call sign Crosshair by the CCT, the SGC gave him another nickname; and he was currently living up to it. Having no other option Grant began activating his hyperdrive.

"Carl please listen to me."

He stopped and began to slow as the other 302 came alongside him, "Shirley?"

The back seater in the other fighter nodded, "It's me Carl listen; Chris here told me about… your past. I'm sorry but we couldn't let you do anything stupid."

He snorted and shook his head.

"Well too stupid, listen Chris here is going to shoot you down if we don't return now."

Minutes passed as they waited for a response.

"I'm sorry sir… I was acting unbecoming an officer of the US Air Force. I will follow you back now sir and I will accept any punishment you see fit."

Vought smiled as the two 302s banked around and began a descent, "Home Plate, this is Crosshair, Reaper-1 and Crosshair are RTB at this time." "He is so going to get it when we get back."

Shirley look out the canopy at her friend wondering what could have caused that emotional of a response to smoke. Sure she had seen men suffer from stress before, but nothing to this extent.

"Colonel… What makes a man act that way? He said something about the horrors of modern war before he ran off. What did he mean by that?"

Vought stayed silent trying to think of a way to get around answering her but he saw none. "Shirley, we will explain everything when we get back. The explanation is long and not very pretty but we can't hide it from you guys any longer."

Shirley frowned as she processed his response glancing over at Grant. What happened in these peoples' past?

20 Minutes Later, Borealis

Grant sat in his cockpit nervously as he noticed the armed men waiting to escort him back to the ship. As Vought and Shirley walked up Carl opened his canopy, carefully and slowly lowering himself to the ground as the other men and witches watched. Standing at attention he saluted.

"Capt. Carl Grant, reporting and awaiting punishment sir."

The gathered men and women watched as Vought just stood there; not making a sound as he observed the pilot. "Do you know what you did captain?"

Grant nodded.

"You do know desertion is punishable by courtmartial and jail time correct?"

"I understand sir."

Vought nodded, "Good I'm glad you understand," he stated as he drew his sidearm and shot Grant in the chest. Energy discharging across his body as he dropped to the ground with surprised look on his face.

"CARL!" Shirley yelled as she rushed towards her fallen friend as the witches' men aimed at the colonel.

"What is the meaning of this colonel; you just killed your own man," Galland stated as she drew her own sidearm.

"Did I?" responded Vought with an unamused glance. His particle magnum glowing red indicating the last shot fired.

Processing the colonel's words, Shirley turned and felt Carl's pulse to discover that… "He's asleep?"

The witches and their men lowered their weapons confused at this turn of events. Minna turned to Chris, "I assume there is a justifiable meaning to this sir?"

Vought nodded, "I was never really going to punish him; he needed to that out of system." He stated while glancing over at the sleeping captain. "I'm going to confine him to his quarters for a day; the stunning was from making me chase him and it won't cause any lasting harm." He holstered his weapon, "Galland ma'am, commander, could you gather the witches and meet us in the briefing room?"

Adolfine tilted her head, "sure but why?"

He glanced at Shirley who realized what was going on, "We are going to reveal some of our history." He looked at his men, "From this time period till when we left and I'm sorry to say that it isn't going to be pretty."

"Why is that colonel?"

He looked staright at her, "Because it is vilolent and despiciable. Our history is paved with blood."

July 15, 1945 2000 Hours - Borealis Briefing Room

Vought collapsed into his chair as he looked upon those gathered to hear and explain their world's history. Gazing at the impassive faces of his officers and the nervous expressions of the girls, he began one of the longest and possibly painful conversations he had ever had to.

"First things first; does anyone have any questions?"

"Actually I have one," Minna asked with her hand up.

Vought nodded.

"How was it Capt. Grant wasn't killed when he was shot?" All the witches nodded at this; they were interested as well.

Vought drew his sidearm and popped the power cell; sliding it across the table to Minna. She picked it up as Barkhorn and Galland crowed around her observing the silver pistol. "What you're holding there is a Traveler Particle Magnum."

Yoshika tilted her head, "Traveler?"

He smiled, "Yep Traveler, a race of humans we met in the Pegasus Galaxy."

All the witches looked at the weapon in Minna's hand in awe, "So this weapon is technically… alien?"

"Yep"

"… Interesting; so is it a stunning weapon, designed for non-lethal attacks?"

"Not exactly," Vought replied as he got the weapon back, sliding its cell back in. "Right now the chamber is glowing red, see? When red this thing will knock the target out although thick enough armor will dissipate it." He flicked a switch on its side changing it to white, "When white however this thing will cause damage, normally lethal with one shot. When clear however… it will burn a 25cm hole through just about anything with a single shot." Spinning the magnum he dropped it back into his holster as he dropped back down into his chair.

"Anything else? Last chance till the end."

Silence met his ears as he looked at all them.

"Fair enough, here we go."

"In the year 1914 global relationships reached the breaking point as countries broke off ties with one another and started creating alliances, the Allies, and the Central Powers. The Allies consisted of the United Kingdom; what you call Britannia, France; what you call Gallia, and the Russian Empire; which you call Orussia. The Central Powers consisted of Germany; Karlsland, and Austria-Hungary; Ostmark."

He watched the girls looking at each other, "On July 28, 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by a man wanting independence. Austria then delivered an ultimatum to the country of Serbia; I have no idea what you would call it, and this set off a war which would never be forgotten. The Great War, the First World War, World War I, take your pick… this war cost the lives of more than 10 million combatants."

The girls gasped when they heard this, it wasn't possible was it? Yoshika shook when she heard this; Lynette grabbing on to her as they both tried to comprehend that much devastation.

Vought shook his head before continuing, "In 1917, the US; Liberion, finally entered the war and helped push the Central Powers back. The war continued for just over 4 years finally ending on November 11, 1918. This conflict…"

The colonel went on and on explaining the war and the horrors it held, from the development of the machinegun and the tank, to the combat use of aircraft and chemical weapons. He explained the terrifying concept of trench warfare to the ladies and the conditions of the battlefields.

Gertrude slammed her hands on the table, "Karlsland would never do that to anybody, we are proud and honorable."

"Relax captain, while this is concerning your right; we would never do anything like that… ever." Galland calmly stated, with concern showing on her face.

"I'm sorry captain but it is true, my country alone lost nearly 3.5 million and an additional 4 million wounded," Col. Sokolov stated sadly.

Sanya was silent at this; she wasn't expecting that.

"Is that… is that everything," asked Perrine?

"No… not even close."

2 Hours Later

Vought beckoned to Dr. Pierce to continue, "Hello everyone; I'm Captain Frank Pierce, the ships medical officer, you can call me Doc. After WWI there was a time of prosperity throughout the world; exceptions being Russia, and the Central Powers." He sighed, "On October 29, 1929, 11 years after the end of the war, the global stock market crashed."

Galland rocked in her chair, "Are you serious?"

He nodded as he went on to explain the Great Depression and its outcomes. The others chimed in as they saw fit pointing out the growing stress the world was once again slowly building up and a man named Hitler's rise to power. Perrine looked at the ground; unable to believe what she was hearing. In the back Eila just sat there listening and trying to comfort Sanya; who was still shaken by Sokolov's explaination of what happened to her country. All the witches tried to ignore the images being shown to them on the walls.

Minna processed all the information and the images as she pieced together what they had been leading up to, "All of this led to something big again didn't it?"

Pierce passed the conversation onto CDR Ross, who cleared his throat before speaking, "This buildup in tension finally shattered when on September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland."

The four Karlslandic witches stiffened as the other witches gave them surprised looks.

"Th-that isn't possible."

"No…"

"Why?"

"I'm sorry but it's the truth. If you wish for us to stop w-"

"No… you need to finish this. We've heard the beginning; now we need to hear the end," Adolfine responded slowly, her fist clenched.

Ross nodded, "Alright then, after taking Poland, Germany continued to expand months later, as it began its invasion of France." Perrine stiffened and looked up in horror as Lynette and Yoshika tried to console her. "In France, the French and British defenders were unprepared for an assault through the Ardennes Forest and Paris fell on June 14, 1940. On the 10th of June, Italy also declared war on France and Britain as they too invaded France." Francesca started crying at this as Shirley wrapped her in a hug; she continued to listen, a growing dread forming in the pit of her stomach, "What of Lib- the US?"

"At this point in time, the US was still trying to remain neutral. We didn't want to get involved; still remembering the outcome of WWI; we were however providing the Allies with weapons and supplies. Russia was the same way, going as far to declare a truce with Germany as long as they didn't try to invade."

Sanya looked at the Karlslanders before looking at the floor. It just didn't seem like her people to act that way. "On June 22, 1941 Germany initiated Operation Barbarossa and invaded the Soviet Union." She glanced up in alarm as Eila rushed to console her yet again.

Ross gave into Sokolov and Volkov as they continued to explain the Germany invasion of their country. Then it came full circle back to Vought. The girls looked at him wondering how things could get any worse.

He refused to make eye contact as he stood up mumbling and looking at the images on the walls; Minna caught bits of it, "… date which will live in infamy."

He turned to look at them as an aerial image of Hawaii appeared on the wall. Everybody gasped in horror; Hickam Field and Ford Island NAS were burning. Yeager was almost panicking at this. "On December 7, 1941 at 7:55 am, the Japanese launched a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, finally drawing America into the war." Mio slammed her fist into the table yelling about how dishonorable it was while Yoshika once again broke down in tears.

Shirley steeled herself as she continually listened to Vought's explaination of the attack. She almost cried, she knew people at Pearl.

The officers of the Borealis went on and on explaining the war, in gruesome detail, as they advanced. When they finally got around to explaining the German's treatment of the Jewish people and the Holocaust, Minna and Galland finally began to cry; it was almost too much. Vought and the others took a break before moving on, allowing the witches to calm down a bit.

0002 Hours, July 16, 1945

Vought looked around at the tired faces in the room; the witches looked terrible and it killed him to continue but they wanted it. The girls looked up as he cleared his throat, "Alright so Germany finally surrendered on May 7, 1945 while the war in the pacific continued." Yoshika looked at the ground while Mio continued to mumble about the dishonorable acts of the kamikaze attacks.

"The US knew that the Japanese would never surrender and that an all-out attack on Japan would result in millions of casualties on both sides. After taking Okinawa and Iwo Jima the US Army Air Corp B-29s began unrestricted firebombing of Japanese mainland cities. Planners were realizing that this wouldn't be enough and something else had to be done…"

The room darkened as a video began to play on the wall, "On July 16, 1945 at 5:29 am, the world entered the nuclear age." A massive explosion filled the screen blinding the camera; as the light cleared, the room was silent as a large mushroom cloud appeared on the screen. Eila just stared as she realized what she had witnessed.

Vought turned back to the girls looking downcast as he struggled to speak, "… On August 6, 1945… the US dropped the atomic bomb Little Boy on Hiroshima completely obliterating the city. The deaths, final after all injuries, reached 70-80 thousand." The girls stared in horror with Yoshika crying out loud. "Japan still refused to surrender so on August 9; Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki killing an additional 40-70 thousand. On September 2, 1945, Japan finally signed the surrender bringing an end to the war. The final total reached 50 to 80 million deaths."

A pin could be heard dropping in the room as the girls realized what these men had explained to them and they were shocked. Vought looked on in disgrace; he felt like shit. A glance at his men confirmed that they felt the same.

Galland cleared her face, her eyes red as she sniffed before speaking, "…I- we th-thank you for telling us this. While it wa-was indeed quite shocking, it gi-gives us some insight to your world. If you don't mind, we can continue anything else in the morning." With that she got up and left, the other witches following her in various states of shock.

Vought turned to the others, "Well that went well; come on I need a drink and I know all of you snuck a little something onboard. I know I did."

Another chapter down and wow was this one a long one. Had to pull out my old history books for this one to make sure I got it right. I wanted to thank everyone who has reviewed; as this is my first story, it means a lot. The next chapter will have some history as well as some new faces. I had gotten some emails requesting longer chapters but I didn't know how I felt about it until I realized a little late just how long this was so here it is. I want some feedback on this chapter length; please let me know if you guys think this is too long. Anyway so long and see you next time, Ghostrider21 signing off.