Ace In The Hole
Chapter 61
"This is cool" Lt. O'Neill can't help but grin when he sees the row of modified 302 fighters lined up on slip way three of the Corellia Station. Sheppard nods at a nearby group of engineers causing one of them to look up and smile.
"Colonel Sheppard" Coulson says by the way of a greeting as he proceeds to dust himself off and walk over to join them.
"Alec hope you don't mind us dropping in on you unannounced, this is Colonel Paul Davis and Lt. Jonathan O'Neill" A small frown flits across his face at hearing the name but he quickly smiles and offers his hand.
"Its good to meet you gentlemen, you will be happy to hear that we have just begun modifying the last batch of 302's Colonel"
"Modifying?" Davis asks with obvious interest
"The 302 still has a few years left in her" Coulson laughs "now that we have ripped out the old drive and weapons systems and replaced them with the same ones being installed on the new Starfighters" he says with pride.
"The same Starfighters that I have not even been allowed to see yet?! Let alone test fly" Sheppard grouses
"You lost the bet" Coulson laughs "As forfeits go I think Colonel Lorne was right on the mark with that one"
"Long story" Sheppard sighs noting the amused looks on Davis and O'Neill's face
"I wasn't expectin..."
[Alec]
Coulson suddenly breaks into a dazzling excited smile
"Yes dear?" the two visitors frown until they notice Sheppard shaking his head in obvious amusement.
"I think Cal" Sheppard whispers pointing to the ceiling "has a soft spot for him, or she has adopted him, what ever it is, they are developing a rather strange relationship if you ask me" Sheppard shakes his head with a smile.
[An Atlas Has been requested on Hukorus]
"Thank you Cal" Coulson shrugs "sorry about this" he mumbles before taping his radio "Yensen?"
[Already on it boss] as the words come over the radio they see a strange looking jumper rise into the air from half way down the length of the bay, although clearly no wider or higher the vessel looks to be easily over 100ft long, Sheppard can't help but grin at seeing the look of surprise on Davis' face
"Atlas class jumper" Sheppard says sounding blasé "We currently have eighteen of them, used for haulage"
Davis watches as the long craft heads speedily for a Stargate sat at the end of the bay "Gamma gate" Sheppard says guessing the unasked question
"Gamma Gate?"
"There's only two of em at the moment" Sheppard shrugs "But we're working on it"
"Doesn't it cause problems, you know with the gate on Atlantis?"
"Nope" Sheppard shrugs effectively ending the discussion rather none noncommittally.
"So you said that you had something that you think can help" Davis says finally tearing his eyes off the Gamma gate to look at Sheppard.
"I said McKay had an idea for a ship that could do the job" Sheppard says cryptically leading them over to a data terminal where he quickly keys in a few commands causing a ship appears on screen.
"The X-305?" Davis says with a surprised frown
"It's tiny" O'Neill grouses, The vessel has a wedge shaped front and is clearly not much wider than a puddle jumper, half way back the sides of the craft widen out clearly making it incapable of using a stargate, two almost square wing like structures jut out either side making it almost resemble a blocky aeroplane or space shuttle.
"The 305 was originally envisioned as a scout recon vessel, but advances in technology made it a little pointless from the get go, to be honest the SGC became a little nervous about loosing advanced technology if ever one were overpowered and captured" Davis says glancing at O'Neill.
"There is always going to be an element of risk no matter how powerful you make a ship" McKay says as he saunters over" he taps a few commands and parts of the craft become highlighted "But this baby is a very different beast to the original that the SGC proposed, That design was basically dumbed down as much as possible with the least amount of advanced technology they could get away with"
"Limited shields, no beaming technology, single nose mounted Gatling gun" Davis says with a sigh "Felger's quip about them stuck and people soon began calling it the Lemming class" Davis almost groans "In the end no one, not even the SGC would commit to using them"
"Well" Sheppard grins "We, are thinking of taking things the other way with this baby"
"Hyperslip drive, coupled with a Lantian cloaking device and beaming technology mean you would be able to go anywhere you need with next to no chance of being detected"
"What about?"
"If you are discovered somehow?" Sheppard asks knowing Davis' concerns
"The original 304's shield crystals are being fitted as we speak, it should be quite a powerful shield, though of course with only a couple of small generators to power everything its not going to be able to last to long in a fire fight"
"It just needs to last long enough to escape should anything go wrong" O'Neill smirks "What kinda weapons is this thing gonna have?"
"Basically the Starfighters and retrofitted 302's all have a two Octagonally Mounted, rotary firing P-91's" McKay preens.
"Pulse Cannons" Sheppard says with a smirk and a shrug causing McKay to glare.
"The plan is to have turrets mounted above and below each wing each housing dual pulse cannons"
"Eight in total" Davis says his eyebrows rising in surprise
"Nice" O'Neill finally smiles.
"And then we have 16 of..." McKay shudders "Zalenka and Jeanies new Skipjacks"
"Skipjacks?"
"Small one shot missiles" McKay mumbles causing Davis and O'Neill to momentarily look less than impressed.
"Rodney" Sheppard rises his eyebrow knowingly "He's just pissed that they came up with the idea"
"Fine!" he sighs "Not only are these missiles equipped with the latest in Ion micro drives but they are also fitted with a Lantian drones guidance and evasion system control system"
"Lorne, Gedren and I have flown 27 separate missions so far and we have only managed to shoot down 2 of these bastards before they hit their target and that took all three of us working together, its like they know where you are gonna shoot and just jump out the way, hence the name"
"The micro drives are designed to alter its course instantly in any direction if a threat is detected, they appear to jump out the way randomly, I have to admit it has been amusing to watch Sheppard repeatedly getting his ass whipped" McKay grins.
"Add to that they can carry enough fire power to knock out a cruiser...and with tweaking could even be loaded with a small nuke" Sheppard shrugs.
"Could these work on the warden class?"
"Of course, they aren't any bigger than the standard TRC-17 missiles that are planned for it, we are already replicating them on mass for the modified 302's"
"Obviously they aren't as good as drones, but they are the next best thing" Sheppard says with a smile.
Just as Sheppard stops speaking the Gamma gate activates. The hull of the elongated Atlas jumper slips effortlessly through the active gate and slows to a hover over an empty area of the slip way, there is a brief flash of an Asgard beam and racks and racks of neatly stacked missiles are deposited on the deck, the slender craft then drifts effortlessly off to land further down the slipway where it had launched from earlier.
"I thought it went to get ore?" O'Neill says with a frown.
"What?" Sheppard says glancing at O'Neill then the missiles before realising the question "It did and then he would have gated to the hub unloaded his ore before picking up what ever is ready, in this case missiles before bringing them back here"
"The hub?"
"Having 5 separate Nautilus stations to defend was just to difficult to coordinate so we moved the other four to Lantia and connected them all up" Sheppard grins
"We've built a gate room and control section big enough to take an Atlas there directly, it saves a lot of time" McKay says without looking up.
"Wallis and his palls are not going to like any of this" Davis sighs
"We are all on the same side for Christ's sake" McKay says finally pulling his eyes off the screen "Everything we do to strengthen Eden and Pegasus as a whole ultimately benefits Earth, its not like we aren't sharing technology"
"Unfortunately, I think Wallis and his friends just want to control it all for themselves"
"Look we are happy to help and we are more than willing to share the benefits of this technology equally with Earth, but we are not going to be pushed into doing what the council wants this is our home now, they either play fair or not at all" Sheppard says determinedly.
"Out of the question!" Teyla growls as Davis relays the message to Teyla in front of the whole assembly "We will not become a puppet state left to rot on the outer fringes"
"Your leaders have to realise that what they are suggesting is totally unreasonable" Larin says leaning forward in her seat anxiously.
"To be quite honest ma'am, I think that most people just don't understand" Davis sighs "You have to realise that almost every person on every world in this galaxy has as known of the gate network all their lives, known that there are real aliens out there that mean you harm, there are as many people on my world that would blindly shake hands with a wraith as would shoot it"
"Then you admit your world is ignorant to the truths of the universe" Halling says
"Most citizens, Yes sir they are, the truth of the stargate network and our technological advances were not made common knowledge to the general public until earlier this year"
"It was deemed necessary to keep it quite until the time was right" Sheppard explains.
"Then why this demand?" Tamar asks sternly
"Control" Ladon says with a shrug "Its the oldest most basic urge mankind has, this Wallis guy clearly wants what we have"
"Though I don't like to" Sheppard sighs "I have to agree with Ladon, I'm guessing it sticks in the councils throats that we currently have so many resources especially considering that the population in Pegasus as a whole is so low" Ladon merely nods and smiles as a flicker of unity passes between them.
"He's jealous" Teyla says realizing.
"Colonel Davis?" Larin looks at him "What does General O'Neill say about all this?"
"Supreme Commander O'Neill" he finally says with an amused smile "Is as annoyed and frustrated as you are ma'am, the task force has not left Earth orbit since their return from Pegasus, the council have demanded they remain in place to protect the planet" he shakes his head "We can't find out who or what destroyed the Apollo without investigating and we can't investigate any further without the councils approval"
"So what do you want us to do?"
"Nothing" he smiles at their obvious confusion "Wallis may be gung-ho as we say, but I don't believe he is stupid or brave enough to force your hand, in the mean time we merely ask for your support, the prototype ship that Colonel Sheppard and Dr McKay is providing will allow us to covertly find the evidence we need without the council knowing, it should hopefully give Commander O'Neill the leverage he needs"
Teyla looks around the room at the delegates and nods "O'Neill has our support on one condition" Davis nods "All information gathered will be shared, your enemy could one day become our enemy Colonel" at Davis' nod in agreement Teyla straightens up and looks to everyone assembled "Officially we will severe all ties with your people until they come to their senses, we will not be bullied into putting the worlds of this galaxy at risk for one man's vanity, unofficially however we remain as committed to the partnership of our people as ever"
With nods of approval from almost everyone assembled Davis breaths a sigh of relief "It's much appreciated ma'am"
"The Atlantis Expedition your people sent to us as given the people of this galaxy hope where once there was none, your world may have forgotten that, we haven't" Teyla smiles.
"This world truly is beautiful" Davis says as he stares at the slowly setting twin suns that are just dropping below the top of the snow dusted mountains far in the distance to the west, he turns around slowly peering down at the huge landing pads that are currently home to the almost repaired traveller ships currently sat there, he can't help but smile as the last rays of sunshine suddenly disappear turning the ocean to the west a shade of dark cobalt blue.
"Told you the view from the top of the North west tower was the best" Sheppard says to a chorus of nods.
"Eden is in the Paleozoic stages of development somewhere around the Devonian period" McKay says with an all knowing smirk.
"Like you even know what that means" Sheppard frowns.
"Hey!" McKay scowls "I happen to listen to my wife" Rodney says emphasising the word wife.
"How many times do I have to tell you? Lorne is not my wife!" Sheppard growls causing Davis to laugh at McKays grin at getting a rise.
"Actually it just means that the planet only has some very basic sea life, fishes and such... nothing that we could call truly complex" Jennifer says sliding her arm into Rodney's "We were planning to begin a controlled introduction of Earth species" Jennifer sighs sounding slightly defeated "It was Dr Drakes idea, you know a safe haven for some of the more endangered and at risk Earth species, of course you cant just drop off a few tigers and hope for the best, they'd need prey animals that in turn would need other animals but still..."
"It could still happen" McKay says optimistically as he throws a supportive arm around his wife's shoulder.
"Big endeavour" Davis shrugs "You know..."
"For a bunch of animals?" Sheppard says guessing his train of thoughts
"Well, if you want to put it bluntly" he shrugs
"I don't know, I kinda like the idea" Sheppard smiles "You should try asking Alex what he thinks"
"Do you think he would think it a good idea?" Jennifer says suddenly excited
Sheppard merely grins causing Rodney to burst out in fits of laughter "Voyage home" he manages to get out between chortles "You know Star Trek 4, the one with the whale, Alex cried like a girl"
"I think he might like the idea, Eden certainly has the space" Sheppard shrugs as the sky darkens.
"Are you sure about this?" Davis asks as the gate begins to dial Earth directly.
"Absolutely" Sheppard says with a look of grim determination that causes Paul to merely smile and nod.
"Always remember you are welcome here Colonel Davis" Teyla says with a warm smile.
"Thank you ma'am" he looks to O'Neill who is stood off to one side.
"I'll check in as soon as I'm able" O'Neill says with nod, at that Davis heads home.
"Chuck did you send the message?"
[yes sir]