Ace In The Hole
Chapter 50
"So" Alec grins dropping a pile of papers on the desk whilst smiling at Radek and Jeannie "This fighter, apart from being gate capable what is it you want out of it?"
"We gave you the full design brief yesterday when you went over our notes" Jeannie says looking a more than a little annoyed.
"Yes, I read the brief, but what I want to know is, are we building something that's for here and now, or are going to build something that is going to be around and in use years, decades, millenia from now?" Alec says leaning back on the desk with a smile.
"Honestly, I'd settle for something that's not going to get laughed at" Radek sighs looking at Jeannie who nods grudgingly.
"The problem with this..." Alec holds a pad up with their original design on it "Is that you are trying to build a gate capable 302" Alec drops the pad on the table and fold his arms.
"A 302 is the best fighter we have" Radek says frowning.
"Is it?" Alec smiles handing them a picture of a Jumper.
"You wanna build an pimped up Jumper" Jeannie says pulling a face.
"No" Alec laughs "But Jumpers are more advanced than 302's, for instance it has only one drive system that can fly in space, air and water, a 302 has 4 different drive systems and can only operate in two of those arena's"
"You wanna cherry pick the best bits" Radek says a small smile forming on his face.
"More like expand on what we know, from what I understand some of the 302's core components, its power core, guidance systems, are top class but others, the hyperdrive for instance"
"Has proven to be invaluable on numerous occasions" Radek says with Jeannie nodding.
"Yes it has, but it was designed to be able to make a long sustained hyperspace flight, the hyperdrive coils that currently take up this much space" Alec holds his arms out as far apart as he can "Could be brought down to the size of a shoe box and still be able to perform exactly the same jump function as it does now" he grins.
"OK, we're listening" Jeannie says with a smile.
"The weapons have to change, for the main guns instead of using heavy rail guns, we have to switch to energy based, Ion or Plasma, they will be lighter and won't require ammo"
"Energy weapons have been difficult to build" Radek says whilst fiddling with his glasses.
"So what's the P-91 that is now the standard Tauri and Lantian weapon of choice?" Alec says raising his eyebrows.
"On maximum power its rate of fire drops dramatically" Radek says "On the ground when its rarely used that way its not a problem but in a ship when that would become the standard setting, it would be hopeless"
"Unless?" Alec grins has Radek's eyes widen.
"You use more than one, firing sequentially" Jeannie says with a beaming smile.
"Precisely, and missiles for god's sake, you have access to drones and mini drones for that matter" Alec say jumping up excitedly and raring to go.
"So do you have an over all design in mind?" Jeannie says now equally excited, Alec finally hands them a data pad with a grin.
"Oh my" Radek says eyes wide.
"But that's" Jeannie smiles upon seeing her two comrades grinning.
"Cool!" Radek says with a smirk.
"This place is looking busy" Lorne grins at seeing the smile on Aiden's face.
"Colonel, it's good to see you, all of you" Aiden nods towards the rest of his team.
"Actually we come bearing gifts" Jake says carrying a large box out of the nearby Jumper.
"Supplies, med's that sort of stuff, Colonel Sheppard wanted to make sure each world that has a new Tok'ra base has a fully stocked and usable Tok'ra base" Ford nods with a smile knowing how protective his former C.O. Could be.
"Jaseen!" Ford shouts to a young man chatting to a group of women in the distance "There are supplies in there that need to be taken down into the shelters right away"
The young man nods polity to the women assembled before running over towards the Jumper grabbing a couple of men on the way "Jas will get it sorted" Ford grins before nodding towards the town hall behind them "This way"
Ford takes them through the busy town hall and quickly down to the basement of the large building, as they enter the torch lit room they are surprised to see that three of the walls are standard stone built walls but at the rear of the basement there is a solid stone face of a sloping cliff face.
"It's said that the rock is interpretable" Ford grins for a moment before taping a small device on his wrist, a solid looking
steel door shimmers into view.
"You have cloaking technology?" Lorne says caught off guard momentarily.
"Had" Ford says sadly "These are all that remain" Ford says nodding to the heavy set door way.
"I did say that the Galdoran's were smart people" Alex says from behind.
The door slides open to reveal a gently sloping corridor, the walls are clearly bare rock but as Lorne runs his hand over them as he proceeds downward he realises they are cut smooth as glass. The corridor goes down and down in a straight line for about 100 feet before coming out into a circular room with no obvious ways out.
"It's a dead end?" Jake says spinning around suddenly feeling claustrophobic.
"Is it? Ford says has he walks over to the wall and suddenly disappears.
"Cloaked again?" Tim says grinning.
"No" Lorne grins following Ford "Its just a false perspective wall, they built them in castles and old stately homes centuries ago"
As they walk forward they can see a thin wall covering the next tunnel, they pass through another heavy security door guarded by two men "We could have been killed at any point along the way until now" Ford says with a smug grin "The entry tunnels can have poison pumped into them"
Lorne and the others try not to look annoyed at the prospect as they walk down a short tunnel from the guard room that opens out into an enormous cavern.
"Jesus Christ!"
"Welcome to Galdora Salus" Ford grins
The Cavern is almost 400 foot across and easily twice as long the ceiling is high and has huge artificial lights suspended at intervals all along its length, a small stream meanders through the cavern crossing the whole cavern diagonally the floor and parts of the walls are carpeted in a grassy looking moss as numerous tunnels branch off in different directions.
"This is like something out of Jules Vern" Jake grins.
"This is the main shelter over there" Aiden point to the left "Are the dorm's where we sleep, those are for storage, cooking, rest room" Aiden grins "School"
"It's like an underground town" Lorne grins.
"This way..." he leads them across the main cavern crossing the stream over a small wooden bridge and into a small tunnel, they pass yet another guarded security door and head down yet another tunnel that leads into a wider tunnel running parallel there are men there laying tracks in the distance.
"The mines here are rich in Trinium" Aiden grins.
"How rich?" Lorne says picking up a few nearby rocks his eyes soon going wide "Wow"
"Very rich" Aiden grins, before pointing the other way "The Ancients helped the Galdorans to collapse the tunnel entrances ages ago to make us safe so getting it out that way ain't gonna be possible"
"How far is the gate from here?" Lorne says rubbing his chin.
"About three miles"
"Through solid rock" Tim chuckles.
"Actually we are only about 700ft below ground here" Ford says glancing at Tim before looking at Lorne once more.
"We beam it up" Lorne says with a clap of his hands.
"Or ring it" Tim adds.
"Either way, getting stuff in and out shouldn't be to difficult for McKaye to sort" Lorne says smiling.
"Wanna see our new Tokra wing?" Aiden grins wiggling his eyebrows
"Lead the way"
"Commander" Sheppard steps aside to make way for the British officer with a smile.
"Colonel Sheppard" She says with a nod and a smile in return.
"How did the mission go?"
"Good for the most part... we had a little wrangle with a Wraith cruiser over P978 but it was nothing we couldn't handle, thanks to the repairs and modifications we've undergone since coming here" She grins.
"Yes, well Colonel..." Sheppard sighs "Commander!" Richards grins at him "Commander Carter has said she expects the same treatment when she brings the Hammond here..."
"The Hammond received the latest ZPM produced didn't she?"
"Yes, but they're still having problems growing the new shield crystals..." Sheppard sighs "They're loosing more and more the longer it goes"
"Then perhaps Dr McKayes idea to rescue Destiny is more important than ever" Commander Richards says with a twinkle in her eyes.
"How so?"
"If Dr Cairns ideas are right, that Destiny is using a different type of crystal altogether, it could be easier to produce"
"Or knowing our luck it could be ten times worse!" Sheppard grins as they walk into the gate room.
"Can it be done?"
"Are you kidding?" Rodney glares "Do you even realise what your asking, beaming technology is class A, cream of the crop, top of the line, hell they won't even allow the Tok'ra or the Jaffa access to it and you wanna give it to the whole of Pegasus!" Rodney is almost ranting "Earth will have a fit!"
"Not if we put in safeguards" Lorne says smiling at Sheppard who just grins back.
"Safeguards? like what?" Rodney says crossing his arms angrily.
"I don't know that's your department" Lorne smiles but never takes his eyes off Sheppard.
"You're asking me to build a self contained device that has a Naquadah reactor, sensors and beaming technology, do you realise what an enemy could do with that technology? if the Wraith ever got hold of it" Rodney shudders.
"Focus McKaye!" Sheppard growls glancing at him.
"What if rather than putting the unit on each planet we have being mined we mount it on a jumper, use it as a mobile short range beaming platform"
"You know, that doesn't sound so bad, we could always lengthen a jumper to create a cargo version, that could work, get rid of all but the front compartment" Rodney says tapping on his trusty pad.
"How's the pilot supposed to get in and out without the rear hatch?" Sheppard smirks.
"Durr, we just move the roof hatch forward and you climb in and out besides the rear hatch would probably still stay, then we, and I, OK, hows that?" Sheppard and Lorne look at the elongated Jumper and smile.
"How much will it be able to carry?" Lorne grins ever the mining engineer.
"Enough, but gating into the city will be a bitch"
"Not if every time we were bringing ore through we beamed the active gamma gate in front of the cities gate" Sheppard grins.
"So you exit one and enter the other gate directly to, what are we calling it now?" Rodney sighs.
"In honour of your hero" Sheppard grins "We kinda thought Corellia Station"
"He'll sue when he finds out" Rodney snorts.
"Not if you offer to build him his own Millennium Falcon" Lorne chuckles causing them all to grin wildly.