Ace In The Hole
Chapter 51
"OK, I would like to thank you all for coming today for this first look at the designs of the PX-101" Zalenka says with a grin.
"Stop stalling Radek!" Rodney barks earning himself a glare off everyone in the briefing room.
"Some of you may be wondering, why build a dedicated fighter? When the puddle Jumpers are already effective" Teyla nods.
"Jumpers are just transports that can fight" Sheppard shrugs
"Precisely, though the jumpers are good in combat they are predominantly transports. With that in mind the PX-101 has been designed to incorporate every piece of advanced technology currently at our disposal" Zalenka smiles giving way to Jeannie to continue.
"They will be powered by a class 3 Naquadah reactor and will utilise a Puddle Jumpers primary drive system giving them unprecedented manoeuvrability and control" On the monitors all around the room the reactor and drive pod appears as the ship slowly begins to take shape.
"The single drive pod mounted at the rear gives us stability and control and by introducing two Ion drive units either side you also gain unprecedented speed, the pod itself will also incorporate the Jumpers anti grav and inertial dampening system" Jeannie grins nodding to Alec.
"The weapons will consist of four nose mounted cannons that in themselves consist of six to eight heavy energy weapons... by firing in rotation no single weapon risks over heating and rate of fire is maintained close to the levels of current 302's but at almost ten times the destructive force" Alec notes the smiles on everyone's faces except McKaye who is frowning at the monitor as the parts slowly continue appearing on screen.
"We have managed to maintain the 302's hyperjump capability and have room in the design to include both a shield emitter and stealth field generator" Alec smiles.
"How strong will the shield be?" Sheppard asks leaning forward.
"Enough to handle several direct hits but it will of course be susceptible to the disrupter type weapons but I seriously doubt the cruisers will be able to lock on to them that easily" Zalenka says "We are planing utilising two models to begin with a third possible variant later on"
"The First will be a standard two man layout carrying an arsenal of around 80 mini drones as long range protection... we have determined that a single mini drone is more than capable of taking out enemy fighters" Jeannie says with a smile.
"The second single pilot heavier version will have space to carry up to 12 full sized drones as well as 40 standard mini drones... making it capable of taking on much heavier targets" Alec sees Rodney now frowning deeply and smirks when he finally bursts.
"I'm guessing that the last variant... is going to be a four man sort of, fast escape shuttle?" Rodney asks causing Sheppard to look at him strangely.
"Actually Mer... If... we can get the scaled down slip stream drive working it could be used as a tactical insertion vessel" Jeannie says trying to sound like she knows what it means.
"Scaled down slipstream drive?" Cairns says leaning forward curious.
"We found the schematics in some of Janus's old files that Cal forwarded to Atlantis last week, although slower than hyperspace the slipstream drive is capable of extending a gate locked ships range considerably Doctor" Alec says.
"And are the white spandex uniforms going to be standard?" Rodney sighs the faint glimmer of a smile tugging at his lips.
"What the hell's he on about?" Sheppard sighs glancing at Rodney before noticing the grin forming on both his and Jeannies face.
"Oh nothing really, they're just planning on building my favourite space ship ever!" Rodney finally grins almost bouncing up and down on his seat.
"I don't understand?" Teyla sighs glancing at the other looks of confusion.
"Two variants... The Lightning and the Thunderer Starfighter" Rodney says has he jumps up to look closely at the design "Son of a... oh that's cool!"
"High praise indeed" Jeannie grins as Lorne and Sheppard come over as the finished full render appears on the monitor.
"Oh... I know that" Sheppard starts snapping his fingers.
"Wilma Deering" Rodney sighs with a strange far off look on his face.
"You wanna build Buck Rogers fighter?" Lorne chuckles finally understanding what he's looking at.
"Why not?... its sleek practical... stable... fit's through the gate with ease... it has all the stat's and manoeuvrability you could wish for" Alec is grinning.
"That doe's look kinda cool" Alex says gaining everyone's attention from his seat next to Teyla.
"You think?" Lorne frowns "Don't you think it's to... you know... Sci-fi?"
"You live in a flying 5million year old sentient city built by Ancient aliens... how much more Sci-fi can you get?" Alex chuckles and nods to Teyla as he leaves the room.
"The man has a point" Sheppard grins.
"This is bad, like really really bad!" Rodney says pacing back and forth in his lab not an hour later.
"I'm sure it's not meant to be a competition doctor" Cairns says with a small smile glancing over the top of is laptop at the fretting scientist.
"Not a competition! Are you crazy?" Rodney says stopping only long enough to glare before once more resuming the pacing.
"I just meant..."
"We so have to up our game!" Rodney groans glumly as he drops down on the couch staring at the laptop sitting on the desk across from him.
"Up our game?" Cairns says as he shuts his own laptop to stare at the manic scientist "Why?"
"Why? Did you just ask why?" Rodney stares at him slightly aghast "Did you see what kind of fighter they are planning?"
"Of course but how you can get excited about a T.V. Prop from some tacky 80s sci-fi series is truly beyond me" the look of shear annoyance flares across Rodney's face.
"Out of every fighter that has ever been shown in sci-fi, that was the only one that I ever thought looked like it could actually fly" Rodney says his annoyance giving way for a whimsical far off look "That and Wilma Deering, I was hooked even I wanted to be a pilot just to get in to one of those, then I realised it was just pretend and..."
"I get it" Cairns grins.
"So! we need to up our game" Rodney nods "I want to make a ship worthy of carrying my dream"
"So this really is nothing about being competitive with Dr Zalenka?"
"Well, of course it is" Rodney shrugs a small smile tugging at his lips before he frowns "Him and Earth"
"Earth?" Cairns says with a surprised frown.
"Well the 303 and 304 design teams actually" Rodney shrugs
"Ah"
"No, I want the Deering class to be"
"Deering Class, really?" Cairns grins.
"Good a name as any" Rodney grins "Besides the names not really the point, like you I've seen the spec's for the 305 and 306 and all I will say is that you can tell an American designed it" Cairns eyebrows raise slightly but a smile begins creeping across his face "Big is good!" Rodney shakes his fists in the air causing Cairns to laugh.
"There are some benefits in having a bigger ship"
"True, but both the Achilles and Icarus 306 designs depending on which one they finally decide to go with have a ZPM powering the same shield configuration as Odyssey they'll be bigger sure but better?"
"Hardly" Cairns sighs
"Sure they'll carry a bigger fighter compliment and have better weapons"
"Tollan Ion cannons" Cairns says with a smile.
"Really?"
"So I believe, the first one was completed by Avalon's Nautilus, Dr Weir managed to find the blueprints in the Asgard core"
"See that just opens up even more possibilities" Rodney chuckles "I suppose they'll find a way to install them on the 304's at some point" Cairns shakes his head.
"Planetary and asset defence"
"Asset defence?"
"Apparently as well as using them to protect the lunar base and off world sites they are going to use them for guarding allied planets Chulak, Dakara, and Langara are to receive them to bolster the Guardian satellite network already protecting the planets"
"Sounds like Earth's setting up it's own little protection racket" Rodney grins
"Hardly,with Bra'tac's televised address to Earth thanking SG1 and the planet at large for freeing the Jaffa from slavery" Cairns smiles at Rodney's frown.
"Why haven't I heard about any of this?"
"It was in an e-mail"
"Like I have time to read them" Rodney shrugs with a smile tugging at the corner of his lips once more.
"Right, anyway we've digressed" Cairns grins "The ship?"
"Right, small, fast, powerful"
"The Royal Navy way?"
"If you want, we are never going to match Earth for numbers but we can easily surpass them in technology"
"Careful Rodney, wars have been started that way" Cairns says suddenly serious causing Rodney to frown slightly "The first world war was basically caused by an arms race"
"What? But we're allies"
"So was England and Germany but it didn't stop them going to war in the end"
"Really?" Rodney smiles "You think we could go to war with Earth?"
"Arm's races tend to lead to unforeseen consequences"
"I seriously doubt that one Mr Pessimistic, Jeez I thought I was the only neurotic one in the room" Rodney smirks causing Cairns to sigh "Earth can have the plans to any ship they want, once we have built it of course"
"So" Sheppard offers Coulson a beer "Missing Earth yet?"
"No not really" Coulson takes a swig of the beer and glances out the windows of Sheppard's quarters to the numerous Traveller ships currently being refitted "The design labs on the Corellia are amazing, you know we actually got about six months work done in a single day"
"I heard that you were having fun" Sheppard grins causing Coulson to nod.
"Understatement of the year" Sheppard laughs as he drops down on to the couch opposite the now seated Alec.
"Look Alec, there's a reason I asked you here tonight" Alec suddenly looks serious.
"Problems?"
"No" Sheppard grins "I'm just going to get right down to this, you and your company have certain skills that could help us here in Pegasus" Alec smiles "You're honest, and for someone with as much clout as you have you have never abused it, almost everything you have created has been for the benefit of mankind, sure you got rich in the process but I don't think you are after the money somehow"
"Got me all figured out have you Colonel" Alec nods still smiling.
"Well lets just say I know my way around the board room" Sheppard smirks causing Alec to frown before his eyes widen.
"Sheppard? As in?"
"My dad's company, well was Dave's now I guess"
"I met your father once, good man, ruthless in the boardroom though"
"Yeh"
"Sorry to hear, you know?"
"Thanks, anyway" Sheppard takes another slug of his beer "There was another reason for inviting you here, how would you feel about staying?" Alec just smiles non-committally "Corellia needs an engineer in charge and we could use your expertise.
"What about my company?"
"We were kind of hoping that you may be able to get some of the best and brightest to join you here, we are so short on skilled people you wouldn't believe"
"Can I think about it?"
"Sure" Sheppard smiles.