Chapter 27
Bad Feelings
***Pegasus Galaxy (Lantean Territory)***
**New Lantea (Surface)**
*Atlantis (Control Room) [a few hours after Atlantis arrived on New Lantea]*
"Alternate realities," Landry said with a shake of his head. "I've had my fair share of dealing with them."
"I heard about that," Weir replied as she remembered reading the report on the situation in question. That many SG-1s in one place at once… that must've been a nightmare.
"Have they said anything about where they come from?"
"Nothing overly useful, no. All I've managed to get out of them is that they were stranded here after taking damage from a battle against three Cruisers. It would appear their hyperspace window was struck by an explosion and it forced them here… to be honest, the technical terms went over my head."
"And what are you doing with them?"
"Loaning them some supplies," Weir replied honestly as she stepped onto the balcony that overlooked the city. She had a tablet computer in her hands, the feed to Landry connected to it for convenience. "They're attempting to conduct repairs to their ship. Their CO, Colonel McMillan, says that they'll have to rebuild the hyperdrive virtually from scratch."
"McMillan?" Landry asked. "Walter McMillan?"
"You know him?" Weir answered his question with her own.
"We used to serve together," Landry replied with a distant edge to his voice. "Can you show me their ship?" Weir replied by switching her tablet's camera around before zooming in on the small ship that sat on the eastern pier. "Huh," Landry mused. "We have allies that use a similar ship design."
"The Mimner," Weir said with a nod as she flipped the camera back around.
"It would appear they're allies with them in their reality as well. That ought to settle a few nervous minds over at the IOA."
"So helping them is fine by you?"
"By all means, Doctor. They've done nothing to deserve ill contempt from us. Just remember, there's to be no trading of weapons technology without explicit permission from those with the authorization to allow it. If all they need is a new hyperdrive, help them get it made then send them off. They're doubtlessly needed back home."
"And what is the situation back home, General?" Weir asked as she walked back towards her office.
"We received a message from the Tok'ra informing us that the last two Ori Motherships in the galaxy departed for their own earlier last week. They've made the first move, now we wait."
"Is there any way to cutoff the Supergate and trap them out of the galaxy?"
"We've spent the last week trying," Landry replied in a frustrated tone. "The Odyssey just got back from our last attempt to disable the Gate a few hours ago. Hell, we even tried uploading a Furling computer virus into their systems and the AI told us that the Gate wasn't capable of receiving signals."
"Then how do they dial it?" Weir asked, more than a little stunned.
"Carter thinks the Priors use their minds to do it. That leaves us unable to cut them off without duplicating the Pegasus Project, but there's not even a guarantee that'll work. We got lucky the last time, and I doubt we'll get lucky again."
"Then it really will come down to a firefight."
"A firefight in orbit of Earth," Landry stressed. "Carter says that trying to hold them at the Gate would be a mistake. We tried that before, and it didn't work out in our favor. Even with the advances we have now, we don't know how many ships to expect. At least at Earth, they'll have the Artic Outpost to back them up."
"And the PDS will help," Weir agreed with a nod.
"So would Atlantis," Landry said as Weir walked through the Control Room.
"If you need us, General, we'll be there," Weir replied with a determined nod, her words earning her a few approving nods from the technicians at their stations.
"That's good to hear. We'll switch the Apollo out with the Daedalus and leave you with Caldwell so we can get the Apollo's weapons rebuilt. If the Ori show up in the next three days, being towed by Atlantis will get whichever ship is in the galaxy with you here faster than making the jump on their own."
"And if they come before then?" Weir asked, dreading the answer.
"You better pray they don't, Elizabeth. The Odyssey is the only ship we have that's fully upgraded. The Apollo was launched early to keep the Replicators from becoming a threat. If they had attacked us now…" Landry trailed off, shaking his head at the situation they were in. "The Daedalus is missing half her hull and the half she has is the part we're getting rid of, the Cursor is a week out from being completely upgraded, and the Apollo is missing half of the secondary systems we had slated for her upgrades in addition to the damage Doctor McKay's adjustments caused. If they attack within the next week and a half, our forces won't be ready."
"What about the Devastator and the Ares?" Weir asked, more than a little shocked by the timeframe they were operating under.
"There's only so much we can do to the Devastator. As disturbing as it is to think about, Ba'al was close to perfecting that ship before the Impolans stole it. As for the Ares… she's a fighter carrier, a troop transport, a means of invading a planet with overwhelming ground forces. She was never designed to take a fleet, much less a fleet of Ori Motherships. If she participates in the battle, it'll be to repel any enemy ground forces, and if it gets that far we'll be in trouble."
"We're going to have to disclose the Stargate Program, aren't we?" Weir asked, dreading the answer.
"Only if we do this right," Landry replied solemnly. "If we fail… there won't be an Earth left to disclose it to."
***Local Cluster (Sol System)***
**Earth (Surface)**
*Stargate Command (AI Room) [two weeks after SG-1's first contact with the Furlings]*
"What's the problem?" Landry asked as he walked into the room to find Sam lying on her back looking up into a holographic projection of the galaxy like a kid watching the stars. In the map above her, certain areas were highlighted.
Stopping mid-question, Sam looked up to Landry and hastily stood to her feet to stand at attention. "Sir," she said before Landry told her to be at ease. "It's not really a problem, it's just something that's been bothering me. We've gotten reports from the Free Jaffa Nation of a mysterious figure with three fingers on its hands and god-like powers taking down several minor Goa'uld. During the attacks, only one thing was missing worthy of notice, if only because it's the same thing every time."
"All of the minor Goa'uld were in possession of a small black box with an unknown purpose, and I can confirm that, to a race as brainwashed as the Jaffa, biotics would appear god-like," Pac picked up as his avatar replaced the map. "Master Bra'tac was kind enough to send us a copy of a scan they took of the one such device that was stolen from their own treasure troves a few hours ago."
As the AI said this, a small object appeared in his hand, obviously a projection… a projection of something Landry knew all too well. 'The Black Bunker,' Landry thought breathlessly to himself. Looking up to meet the AI's gaze, Landry asked, "And what's that?"
"As far as I can tell, it's a Furling data recorder. I keep trying to ask Widget what's going on, but he keeps shutting me out every time I do. Something has happened that's gotten him worked up, and from what I gained during a brief period of access to the Nex's internal sensors, Sieon is currently in a state of severe depression."
"How does he block you out?" Sam asked. "Aren't you, essentially, him?"
"It's like having a clone," Pac replied. "Just because you physically look the same doesn't mean you're neurologically identical. In this case, Widget is… AIs are supercomputers and Widget's mind is a city of server banks," Pac restarted when he realized his line of reasoning wouldn't be understood. A holographic image of the Nex's AI Core appeared in place of his body and Sam let out a low whistle at what had to be more processing power than all of Earth's computers combined. "And this is me," Pac continued as an insignificant dot appeared beside the servers.
"To attempt to hack his mind would be like a single person trying to control the entirety of Earth's World Wide Web. It's impossible because my mind is smaller and has significantly less processing power. I was designed to help you improve your ships, he was designed to organize the AIs, VIs, viruses, electronic warfare suites, and other computer programs of an entire species during a time of war. I'm trapped in one computer, he has access to a network of galaxy-spanning satellites. I'm stuck in a Human computer while operating under Furling code, he's in a Furling computer operating off of Furling code so his body is more compatible with his mind than mine is. He can delete me without exerting measurable effort. Blocking me out of his mind is nothing compared to what he could do to me!"
"You're afraid of him?" Sam asked, a little off put by the idea.
"Hell yeah I am!" Pac exclaimed as his avatar reappeared with a look on his face that said, 'why would you ask a question with such an obvious answer?' "I fear him the same way you fear the Ori. He can kill me and we both know it."
"Would he?" Landry asked.
"If I tried to breach his firewalls? Probably, but it'd be out of reflex. If I tried to kill an innocent person? Definitely, and he'd make my death as painful as he could."
Landry shook the funk of contemplating an AI fearing death out of his head and asked, "Can you get me a channel to the Nex? I'd like to know why Sieon's stealing from our allies."
"I've tried that already too. Whatever it is that happened has Widget shaken and Sieon depressed… I think that, when they went looking for the Furlings, they found the same thing you did. Empty worlds with no signs of life. It's the only thing I can think of that would have these effects on the two of them."
"You're saying the Furlings are gone?" Sam asked.
"I'm not sure," Pac replied sternly. "They won't tell me anything. At any rate, if the Furlings were gone, then Sieon would've come back to Earth to help you defend it. He's out there searching for something. I don't know what," he added when Sam was about to ask the question, "but it's important enough to him to warrant the attention that showing off powers no one's ever seen before tends to bring down on you."
***Pegasus Galaxy (Lantean Territory)***
**New Lantea (Surface)**
*Relentless Annoyance (Combat Information Center) [two and a half weeks after SG-1's first contact with the Furlings]*
The Relentless Annoyance was resting on Atlantis's East Pier, her repairs finally completed. "Doctor, we're ready to leave," Colonel McMillan assured Doctor Weir over the radio, the woman saying they didn't have to leave if they weren't done repairing the ships yet. "Whatever happened to your man, we'll figure it out."
"Godspeed, Colonel," Weir said, a note of worry in her voice.
"Helm, plot a course for the coordinates and take us out. Let's start her off at twenty percent and increase from there," Walter ordered.
Behind him, Doctor Rodney McKay paced back and forth nervously. The Apollo had left for Earth to finish her upgrades while the Daedalus was en route and estimated at two days out. Having a ZPM powering the hyperdrives of both ships really helped speed things along, but Sheppard was missing now and needed rescue now! With any luck, the Ori would hold off their attack long enough for things in Pegasus to settle down a bit. In the past week, they'd met some of Ronon's old friends, been attacked by an alien life-form that lived in a crystal and killed you in your dreams, and then, because that wasn't enough for one week, Colonel Sheppard had been abducted by unknowns on his way back to Atlantis. On the bright side, the Relentless Annoyance was, once again, hyperspace capable and Walter had volunteered their services. It was the least they could for the help given in repairing their hyperdrive.
"How's it going?" McKay asked nervously.
"The hyperdrive's performing within safe parameters. We're dialing it up now," the helmswoman replied. "At our current rate of acceleration, we'll reach top speed in a few minutes and be on site in half an hour. Let's just hope that Colonel Sheppard is either alone or with allies when we get there."
Twenty-seven minutes later, the small ship dropped out of hyperspace a few sub-light minutes from the target and engaged its cloak before going in at full speed. As the sensors got a clear image of what was ahead, the tactical officer started giving his report.
"Sir, we're detecting a shi…"
"What is it?" Walter asked when the man trailed off.
"It's an Aurora-class Ancient Warship!" McKay replied in the same, awe-filled tone.
"Chalk one up for Sheppard," Major Lorne said with a grin on his face, his team tagging along in case they encountered trouble.
"What's their status?" Walter asked.
"They've stopped broadcasting the distress signal, I'm picking up debris from a Wraith Cruiser nearby, strength of the radiation signature indicates a recent kill, and the ship has sustained heavy damaged on multiple fronts. It looks like the CIC has been completely destroyed, their subspace communications are damaged, and their main reactor is leaking high levels of lethal radiation," McKay rattled off.
"Sir, I'm detecting Wraith life-signs onboard," the helmsman reported. "Attempts to hail the ship are getting no reply, but it looks like the hangar is open and pressurized."
"Will we fit?"
"It'll be a tight squeeze, but yes, sir, we should."
"Take us in," Walter ordered. "Major Lorne, get your team ready."
***Pegasus Galaxy (Wraith Territory)***
**Dead Space (Edge of Unknown Solar System)**
*Unnamed Aurora-class Ancient Warship (Corridor) [a few minutes later]*
Larrin ran around the corner as fast as her legs would carry her and was rather embarrassed when she tripped over nothing. Oh, wait. That was a foot… Halfway between the beginning of her fall and her meeting with the ground, a pair of strong hands grabbed her by the back of her shirt and outright tossed her down the hallway. Another figure waiting at the end of her flight caught her in its arms and spun around a corner. Her back was pinned to the wall with a heavy metal suit of armor making escape impossible. Then her ears were assaulted by the firing of several high powered rifles.
When the firing finally stopped, the figure pinning her down let off the pressure and Larrin took in the sight of the eight, heavily armored and well-armed figures standing with smoking guns at the end of the hallway and silently swore to herself. These weren't her people.
That fact was confirmed when one of them touched the side of its head and a voice filled the ship's halls. They had hacked into the ship's internal wireless network with the press of a button!
"Colonel Sheppard, report your position," the voice demanded from both the ship's speakers and one of the figures before her.
"Who the hell is this?" Sheppard shot back. "Larrin, we had we deal!"
"This isn't my doing, Sheppard," Larrin practically growled in reply.
"He's in the Drone Chair Room," another of the metal-clad figures informed them. "Now he's moving to the Auxiliary Control Room. No doubt he's trying to shut off the ship's systems."
"Let's move," the leader of the group ordered. "Bring her," he then added over his shoulder.
Larrin spun on her heel and aimed high… only for her fist to meet a solid metal helmet covering the figure's face. That hurt. A lot! "Are you done?" the armored figure asked her in a deep, reverberating voice. Without waiting for an answer, the man twisted her arms behind her back and secured her wrists with a restraint before shoving her down the hall after the rest of the people on the ship.
"How far out are we?" the leader asked.
"Two minutes," another replied after looking at a small computer on their arm.
"And Sheppard?"
"Thirty seconds ahead of us."
"That's more than enough time to shut the ship down and lock us out," another said.
Larrin was beginning to think that maybe these weren't Sheppard's people after all.
"It won't be a problem," the leader assured the others.
They arrived in the Auxiliary Control Room just as Sheppard was finishing with the shutdown procedures. The lights across the ship blinked off and the generators died with an audible whir. Sheppard raised his stolen energy magnum threateningly, but the armored figures seemed to give him pause. The leader ignored the man and walked up to the console that controlled the ship's generators. He placed his hand on the console, and the ship immediately came to life around them. Stepping away from the console, the leader approached Sheppard while another of the figures walked up to the now active console and started bringing more systems online than just the lights and power.
Once again hitting the side of his head, the leader said, "We've secured the ship, Doctor, you can come aboard now. Make your way to the Auxiliary Control Room. We'll be waiting for you there."
"Copy that," a new voice replied from the speakers on the man's armor.
This voice had an effect on Sheppard that Larrin didn't predict.
He lowered his weapon with a look of shock and asked, "Colonel?"
"Do you know of anyone else with the ATA gene that would risk saving your sorry ass?" the leader of the armored figures replied somewhat darkly. Apparently Sheppard and this guy weren't friends.
"Sorry, sir, it's been a strange couple of days," Sheppard said in a respectful tone.
A few minutes later, a pudgy man arrived surrounded by more men with guns, but minus the suits of armor, and started working on the ship. At that point, Larrin was escorted to the Brig. Standing outside of her cell with a smile on his face, Sheppard asked, "Like your new accommodations? I picked them out myself."
"So your people got here first, big deal," Larrin replied darkly. "You're still outnumbered."
"Yeah, but I've seen your ships and you've already admitted that they're falling apart. I'm sure we can handle whatever you throw at us considering our ships are top of the line," Sheppard boasted.
"This isn't going to end well for you, Sheppard. My people need this ship. You just want it. We'll fight harder for it than you're willing to because this ship offers our people something we haven't had in a long time. Hope," Larrin argued.
"Yeah, but hope does jack-shit against weaponized plasma and ion cannons!" Sheppard replied angrily before leaving the room.
***Milky Way Galaxy (Ba'al's Territory)***
**Third Gas Giant from the Star (Lunar Orbit)**
*Zeta Site (Gate Room)*
"Unscheduled off-world activation! Defense teams to ready positions!" the leading Gate technician on the Zeta Site ordered. "Receiving IDC, it's Zeta-2."
"Open her up!" Oliver ordered at a shout, his rifle pressed to his shoulder. Not having grabbed his earpiece on his way here was obviously a mistake.
Nevertheless, the technician opened the Iris and Zeta-2 came running through the Gate. Predictably, Ry was the last person to stumble through the Gate, his body glowing as he projected a barrier to deflect the staggering amount of incoming fire away from his people. With a thud of force and a blur of motion, Jack was in front of him, her own barrier taking the strain off of his tired form. Ry fell to his knees as the energy left his body and the Iris slid back into place. Only then did Jack let her own barrier fall, a hand wiping a trail of blood away from her nose. There was the characteristic thud, thud, thud, of objects impacting the solid metal plates that served as their Iris. Finally, after ten minutes of near constant thudding, the Gate shut down and the Iris retracted again.
"What the hell happened?" Oliver asked when the threat was finally over.
"We failed," Six replied darkly.
"Ba'al now has an entire fleet equipped with nothing but the Needle Threader variant of Death Glider. His plan is to get a Gate past Ptah's defenses and send in an aerial assault that coincides with an attack from orbit. Such a strategy will be most effective given the current state of Ptah's forces," Ry explained further.
"It's worse than that," Gigi added. "Ptah's like Ba'al in that he realizes when he's beat. Right now, Ba'al is trying to keep Ptah from becoming a threat by eliminating him before he can mobilize, but Ba'al doesn't know what we do. If Ptah so much as thinks he's losing Memphis, he'll launch his flagship and disappear from the face of the known galaxy. He'll be a snake in the weeds and we won't find him again until he's mobilized against either us or Ba'al, but we know he'll move against Earth first to secure the loyalty of the other System Lords."
"When can we expect him to mobilize?" Oliver asked as he slipped his rifle back onto his back.
"Given that Ba'al will most likely blame this attack on Ptah himself?" Gigi asked rhetorically as she thought it over in her head. Logistics was one of her specialties and one of the reasons she was assigned to the Zeta Initiative in the first place. "Factor in the speed of Ba'al's ships, the need for a new Gate for the assault, what we know of his plans, leave room for a few unknowns thrown into the mix…" Gigi rattled off in a rushed and not truly legible manner. "It'll take Ba'al roughly a week and a half, to two weeks to get his forces ready. After that, it'll take another five days for him to get his fleet into position for the assault, so… anywhere from two, to two and a half weeks."
"Then it's time for us to get our allies moving," Oliver said.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Six countered.
"We need to get Landry to deploy the Ares against Ptah at the same moment that Ba'al makes his move. Ba'al will ally himself with the Tau'ri if it means the downfall of an enemy he despises even more than us, and it gives us a chance to give Ba'al a reason to leave us alone."
"You want to tip our hand before we're truly ready? And what about the Ori?"
"The Ori assault on Earth can happen at any moment. With any luck, it'll begin after we're done eliminating Ptah as a threat."
"And if Ba'al turns on the Ares the moment the joint mission is over? Landry won't deploy a carrier without a warship to defend it, and O'Neill won't authorize the launch of another 304 until the Ori have been dealt with."
"Then we'll be sitting in orbit under cloak. We'll hold off Ba'al's forces long enough for the Ares to get into hyperspace."
"And what if the Ori land ground forces?" Ry asked. "General Landry will not authorize the launch of a ship carrying Earth's most advanced ground forces when the threat of a ground invasion is as real for Earth as it will be during the presumed full-scale orbital assault."
"We're still assuming a lot there," Oliver countered. "For all we know, the Ori have fled this galaxy in fear. They might take years before they've built up enough of a force to take us on, and we'll be building up in that same time. Right now, our prime directive is the same as it's always been. Keep the Goa'uld and the Lucian Alliance so focused on each other they can't be bothered with Earth. Ptah and Ba'al fall under that mandate. If either of them makes a move on Earth while we are still preparing for an assault by the Ori, then our defenses will be stressed all the more. The Zeta Initiative was created to prevent that from becoming an issue. The Lucian Alliance has been quiet lately, but Ba'al is only getting more aggressive. We need to give him something other than Earth to think about right now, and Ptah is the perfect distraction."
"That doesn't justify sending our men to fight against Jaffa with Ba'al as backup and no warships to defend their carrier!" Six argued.
"The Savage Annihilation can take on Ptah's Ha'tak while outnumbered in the extreme," Gabi countered as she entered the conversation that had started in the Gate Room and continued even as they approached the shipyards. This meant that they passed her lab making a lot of noise and drew her attention. "Ba'al doesn't have the same advancements Ptah does, and we'll have upgraded the fleet to the fifth iteration by the time Ba'al's ready to move. They won't have one warships defending them, they'll have all the ships the Mimner is willing to spare in their defense. To the people at the Alpha Site, it'll be another act of kindness from a loose ally that's trying desperately to get on Earth's good side. To Landry, it'll be us doing our job."
"We're not in this for the glory, people, we're in it because…" Oliver began.
"Because half of us are criminals wanted by more than twenty countries on Earth and Landry offered us amnesty in exchange for service," Six interrupted him.
"Is that why you're here, Lieutenant?" Oliver asked as he turned to the man in question.
"Don't act like you're the one here with a high horse, Colonnello," Derek shot back venomously. "You're only here because you were blackmailed into joining. If you didn't join the Zeta Initiative, your son would be dead. That's the only reason you're here and we all know it. The difference between us is that I'm admitting that I'm here for less than admirable reasons. Even your dear Gabi was only brought in because she hacked Stargate Command's computers in the name of an eco-terrorists group!"
"'Beloved'?" Gabi asked with a confused look on her face. "There's nothing between me and Oliver!"
"And what does that have to do with the matter at hand?" Gigi asked, more than a little surprised at how drastically the conversation had changed. "We're discussing the logic of deploying a carrier with a cloaked fleet, not the reasons we're here!"
"Honestly, I can't see anything wrong with your plan, other than the fact that we might need both the Ares and the SRs to help defend Earth," Gabi added.
"EXACTLY!" Derek all but shouted.
"Don't act like that was your point!" Gigi shot back with an annoyed look on her face. "What you said had nothing to do with the topic up for discussion."
Derek mumbled something in Russian under his breath at that, but, by now, they were all used to being confused by his roundabout way of saying things. In all reality, what he had said made perfect sense… to him. It just didn't make sense to anyone else. Most of what he said was 'lost in translation,' so to speak, because English was a hard language for him to learn. Oliver could respect that. The English language was dreadfully confusing when compared to most others. There were too many words that all said the same things, and using different words with synonymous meanings was often frowned upon. The strictures on sentence structure made virtually no sense to a non-native speaker of the language and most Americans couldn't even keep up with their own grammar laws to begin with! No, Oliver much rather preferred the simpler languages like Italian, Latin, and Japanese. English was just too complicated.
"Where's Jeramie?" Oliver asked as he looked around their group and realized they were missing their resident tactician.
He then slapped himself in the face, a 'face-palm' as the Americans called it, and walked off in the direction of the lounge. When in doubt, always look for the nearest chess board. Sure enough, there he was playing against his 'not-wife.' Three years of being cut off from Earth and all of the regulations that were imposed on them had led to several rule changes. They kept the basic code of ethics that most of the Armed Forces of Earth used, but rules against fraternization had been thrown out the window. When there's only two-hundred people grouped together and cut off from their homes for a projected five years, you just didn't bother telling them not to get attached. You just made sure they had what they needed to keep kids from running around. That would be bad for a dozen different reasons.
"We need a professional opinion," Oliver announced as their group of nearly twenty walked into the room.
"His or mine?" Tara asked.
"All opinions are welcome," Oliver replied as he grabbed a chair and pulled it up to their table, the others taking seats around the room while Ry stood close behind Oliver so that the ranking military members were the ones clustered the closest together. "We're discussing talking Landry into sending the Ares up against Ptah at the same time that Ba'al sends his fleet to launch a dual, orbital/ground attack. With our help, Ba'al would succeed in defeating an enemy we know hates the Tau'ri. We'd also give Ba'al a reason to rethink attacking Earth."
"The Ares isn't a warship," Tara pointed out.
"That's where we come in. We'll send our ships along with the Ares under cloak since we all know Landry and O'Neill won't send a 304 with an Ori attack eminent."
"And what if the Ares and the SRs are needed at Earth?" Jeramie asked.
With a sigh, Oliver said, "That's where we met a stalemate."
"I say we let Ba'al slug it out with Ptah and assist Earth," Derek announced.
"He just didn't word it that way the first time," Gabi added.
"The problem there is that, if Ba'al succeeds in getting a Gate past the planetary defense shield and launches a swarm of Needle Threaders into the atmosphere, Ptah will launch his undestroyed flagship and either beat Ba'al if it's as powerful as Anubis', or he'll simply run and we'll never find him again until he's launched his own all-out assault on Earth," Gigi argued.
"Hmm…" Jeramie mused as he moved one of his pieces across the board.
Tara immediately countered by moving her own and declaring, "Check."
Jeramie moved his King out of the way, let his 'not-wife' make her move, then finally replied. "I see the point of both arguments, but what you're both failing to realize is that Oliver's plan is pointless if General Landry can't be convinced to launch the ship. If you want to declare a winner," he continued before moving his Pawn into position, requesting his Queen be returned, then declaring, "Check Mate," before finishing his train of thought. "Then you need to talk to Landry, Hammond, and O'Neill before you start making battle plans that involve assists that aren't under our ability to control. Short of stealing the Ares and forcing the crew to help us, Landry's word is the only way Oliver's plan is even feasible. Get Landry to agree with one party or the other, then we'll iron out the kinks in whatever plan we decide on."
***Pegasus Galaxy (Wraith Territory)***
**Dead Space (Edge of Unknown Solar System)**
*Unnamed Aurora-class Ancient Warship (Auxiliary Control Room)*
The tech specialists that had come over with Colonel McMillan's team were incredible! Even given that they were Alternate Realityinites (yet another 'amazing' name given to something by the infamous Lieutenant-Colonel Sheppard who just couldn't leave well enough alone), their equipment was truly advanced. They had computers strapped to the gauntlet of their armor that had more processing power than McKay's tablet, and Colonel McMillan's ATA gene was almost as strong as General O'Neill's. Given that it, just like Rodney's, was an artificial marker, for it to be stronger than Sheppard's natural gene was impressive. Clearly the sciences used by the Alternate Realityinites was better than their own. That would explain why the ship was coming online so much quicker than Rodney would've been able to do all on his own.
Only a couple hours into the work and already the radiation leaking from the drive core had been reduced to more easily manageable levels. This allowed the suited figures to enter areas previously sealed off due to the lethal levels of radiation. Between the reduced radiation and the armor they wore, the Alternate Realityinites could survive in the areas for a few hours at a time before their armor needed to be scrubbed clean with radiation absorbent materials that had been flash-forged on their ship by a matter converter. That was another really cool thing that the ship had that Sheppard wanted.
His train of thought was broken when an alarm started going off. "What's that?" Sheppard asked.
"Subspace ruptures," one of the Alternate Realityinites replied.
"Hyperspace windows," Rodney clarified. "Three ships just dropped out of hyperspace and are taking up position around us."
"We're being hailed," the Alternate Realityinite reported.
"Open a one-way channel. Listen only," Colonel McMillan ordered.
"Larrin, respond," a gruff sounding voice ordered.
"Can we fool them into thinking the transmitters are damaged?" Sheppard asked.
"Considering that they are damaged, I don't see why not," McKay replied.
"Hold on, I'm picking up another transmission signal. It's weaker than the ship-based one, probably a personal radio of some kind," one of the Alternate Realityinites reported.
She pressed a few buttons and a new conversation joined the first. "Larrin, it's good to hear from you again," a man said.
"Believe me, I feel the same way. How did you find us?" Larrin asked.
"We were monitoring communications before you jumped into hyperspace," the man replied.
"You knew he took the ship?"
"It seemed fairly obvious. We guessed his priority would be to contact his people, so we sent probes to all the Space Gates in the vicinity of our previous position. Eventually, we detected your energy signature."
"Can you jam the signal?" Colonel McMillan asked.
"I'm on it," the female replied as she frantically typed commands into the computer on her armor.
"Well done. Now, I want you to send over as many security personnel as you can. They've taken the ship in force and I don't know how many of them there are. The hangar bay should still…" Larrin's voice was cut off as a red line started to run up and down the woman's back.
"You have a jammer built into your armor?" McKay asked in a tone of surprise.
"Why not? It keeps your enemy from calling for reinforcements," the woman replied.
"You people impress me more and more with each passing hour," Sheppard remarked with a smile.
"Sir, they've responded to the signal being jammed by launching several boarding craft," the woman informed them.
Hitting the radio in his ear, because his helmet was currently sitting on a terminal in the back, Walter ordered, "Prep the ship for launch and beam me over on my mark." Turning to the woman working on the ship, he added, "Get the shields online and give them all the power you can. Focus your efforts on the hyperdrive and get the ship ready to move." Then he hit his radio one more time.
The Colonel disappeared in a flash of light and the doors to the hangar bay opened as the shield was brought to full power. "What are we looking at here?" Sheppard asked.
"Shields are at forty percent and that's all I the power I can give them. Everything's been shut off but the life-support in this room and the Brig, and your teams are on their way back to us now. Once they've reported in, the only rooms kept pressurized will be this one and Larrin's cell."
"What about your men?" McKay asked.
"Our suits have an independent oxygen supply. It'll last them long enough for this battle to end favorably. In case that claim ends up being false, they're moving to secure the hangar bay as we speak and the Relentless Annoyance is launching to counter their advance."
"I don't suppose there's a scenario in here that plays out with us not killing them?" Sheppard asked.
"That is entirely up to them," the woman replied coldly. "Colonel McMillan will only open fire if they don't respond favorably to his hails. You want there to be no bloodshed? I suggest you convince their leader to get them to stand down."
"What is one ship going to do against three?" McKay asked as their guardian rose to meet the incoming threat.
"You'd be surprised," the woman replied in a neutral tone.
"This is Colonel Walter McMillan of the Lantean Strike Craft the Relentless Annoyance. You will stand down or you will be fired upon."
"What can you hope to do against us, Lantean?" the male from earlier challenged. "You are one against many."
"Believe me when I say that you do not want to learn the capabilities of this ship the hard way," Walter replied in a threatening tone. The swarm of twenty shuttles approached the small ship that stood between them and the damaged Lantean Warship. At only a few meters away from the tip of her nose, they scattered and swarmed around it to open up the firing lanes. The capital ships opened fire, their energy cannons harmlessly impacting the shield of the much smaller ship.
With a world-weary sigh, Colonel McMillan ordered, "Prime the GARDIAN array and target their shuttles."
Red beams of hyper-focused, super-heated rays of light impacted the shuttles and simply melted the hull away until their reactors were breached by the beam of red death. Six of these weapons were mounted on the small ship, all of them on the part of the ship that curved like a half-cylinder and formed the main section. The other weapons were all on the wings except for the gun that was clearly coming out of the underside of the nose.
As the first ten shuttles disappeared in balls of fire and the Relentless Annoyance showed no signs of stopping its defense, Sheppard said, "They're only trying to get this ship because their people live in space and they need the room to expand! They don't have the resources to build more!"
"Then they should've headed our warnings," the woman replied in an uncaring voice.
"They kidnapped you and you're sticking up for them?" McKay asked, more than a little shocked. Then his facial features shifted and he asked, "She's hot, isn't she?" in an accusational tone.
"That's not the point, Rodney!" Sheppard argued. "They just wanted room to expand!"
"They shouldn't have taken our people to get it. If they wanted help, they should've asked," the woman shot back as the last of the shuttles slipped past the Relentless Annoyance as her guns entered a brief cool down cycle. "Three boarding craft inbound," the woman reported into the comms system that their suits were linked to.
Sheppard saw the logic in that. It kept Larrin from knowing her people were onboard. "You're going to kill them, aren't you?" he asked.
"Only if they refuse to stand down," she replied in that same, detached tone. This woman was obviously and disturbingly use to seeing an entire species die out.
"What the hell happened to you that you're so cold?" Sheppard asked.
"We lost Earth," the woman replied darkly, "because people like you wanted to make peace even after the enemy attacked. They came in force and all that was left of our people was sent through the Gate to live on Atlantis. That's how few there were leftover after people like you failed to do what needed to be done. The entire Human population could fit in one damned city!" the woman replied in a tone so dark it made the room feel smaller. "And I'll be damned if I let that happen again."
"People like me?" Sheppard asked indignantly.
"They trusted you with the weapons platform in Antarctica, but you ignored direct orders to open fire. Because of you, Earth was lost," the woman replied. Her tone was tight, like she was trying not to strangle him, but she had stopped advancing towards him. That only made the unspoken threat all the more menacing. "When we got through to Atlantis, Woolsey put a bullet through your head. We held an award ceremony an hour later and gave him a medal for his efforts in securing the future of the Human race."
Turning back to her terminal, the woman then added, "They can't get through the shield to board us, that's good."
"Not as good as you'd think," McKay countered. "They're retargeting. Incoming fire!" Impacts to the ship's shields caused the hull to vibrate under their feet. Sparks flew from a terminal nearby and Sheppard ran over to shut down the damaged system. "Shields are down to thirty percent."
"Can we boost the power?" Sheppard asked.
"I've already given the shields every last ounce of power this ship can produce without sacrificing all of your lives," the woman replied. "Should it become necessary, I'll disable life-support entirely to gain a few more seconds of shield power."
"Why are they attacking us? I thought they wanted the ship!" McKay shouted over the noise of another terminal overloading.
"They have to collapse the shield to board the ship and that's a risky move. As far as they're concerned, a few hull breaches just open up more avenues for boarding," the woman replied. Hitting her radio, she reported to her Commanding Officer. "Sir, I need you to take out their weapons."
"How are they going to do that?" McKay asked incredulously. To answer his question, the Relentless Annoyance, now being completely ignored by the larger ships, opened a hyperspace window.
"They're abandoning us!?" Sheppard accused. The glare the woman leveled on him was enough to make him visibly flinch.
A split second later, the Annoyance dropped out of hyperspace within the shield envelope of the first ship and opened fire with her particle beam cannons. Hyperaccelerated beams of particles cut through the limited armor on the ship and severed power lines, destroyed weapon emplacements, and carved their way through other vital systems. Two seconds after it began, the assault on the first ship ended as the Annoyance entered hyperspace once more and repeated the surgical crippling of the other attacking ships. One more trip through hyperspace and the last Traveler vessel fell to the guns of the tiny ship.
Retaking its position over the Lantean Warship, the Relentless Annoyance opened a channel to the Traveler Fleet, as Larrin had called her people. "Order your boarding parties to stand down, or they'll suffer the same fate as those that were sent before them."
Shocked by what had just happened, Sheppard and McKay just stood there as the shuttles broke off their attempts to board and returned to the ships that launched them. With only three boarding craft left and there being three ships, each boarding craft returned to one of each of the ships, undoubtedly to help in the repairs to their systems.
"Major, what's your status?" Walter asked.
"Christopher needs another two minutes to get the hyperdrive back online. Once I restore power the system, we'll be ready to move," Major Janie Frost replied.
"Then we'll depart once the hyperdrive is online. Make sure the ship is ready for a full-speed run."
"What about Larrin?" Sheppard asked.
"We'll send her back to her people," the Colonel replied. A beep on the nearby life-support terminal indicated that a life-sign had gone missing. One push of a button later and the Brig was powered down and depressurized. "Happy now?" the Colonel asked.
"Far from it," Sheppard assured him.
"Considering how little your happiness means to me, I'll fail to make note of your displeasure in my report," the Colonel shot back as the Relentless Annoyance circled her prey. "Status report."
"The hyperdrive has been repaired to partial functionality. I'm bringing it back online now," Janie replied. There was a humming in the floorboards as the hyperdrive came online. A second later they were jumping into hyperspace with the Relentless Annoyance in the hangar bay. "We'll be in orbit of New Lantea in just under five hours," she reported as her CO entered the Auxiliary Control Room.
"Send a message ahead with the Annoyance's subspace array to make sure Weir knows not to shoot us down," Walter replied. "This ship is banged up enough without taking a drone or an ion round to the hull."
***Pegasus Galaxy (Lantean Territory)***
**New Lantea (Orbit)**
*Unnamed Lantean Warship (Auxiliary Control Room) [five hours later]*
The yet-to-be-named ship dropped out of hyperspace in orbit of New Lantea to find the guns of the Daedalus immediately on them. Once the IFF they were broadcasting was confirmed, the Earth-made Battlecruiser that was now living up to its name powered down their weapons and beamed over the repair crew. As Doctor Weir and Colonel Caldwell came into the Auxiliary Control Room, McKay started complaining.
"No, it's not anywhere near ready enough to be sent to Earth," he immediately informed them. "The hyperdrive is barely holding together as it is. If we tried to send it to Earth in this state, it would take the ship a year and half to cross the void and another three months to reach Earth after it did. The hull needs to be repaired or upgraded depending on what materials we have available to us, the weapons systems are partially overloaded, the sublight engines are barely holding together, the core is still leaking radiation… Look, the list goes on and the short version is that, no matter how much O'Neill shouts, I can't get it battle ready before the Ori hit Earth. If I had a year to work on it, then maybe I could get it battle ready…"
"It's not a matter of 'you' getting it ready," Colonel McMillan countered. "You are one man. Earth has teams of experts who collectively perform better than you do singularly. Get the hyperdrive fully functional and Earth's shipyards can get the rest of the ship fixed. Stop being a child and acting like everything revolves around you."
McKay looked from the Colonel to Weir who simply shrugged her shoulders. She knew how this man felt about Rodney. In his reality, the man had sold their technology to their enemies. The hostility between them was to be expected… and she had to agree with his assessment. McKay did tend to make things all about him and what he could do. Still, the look Sheppard leveled at the Colonel was mildly concerning.
"Did I miss something?" Weir asked.
"Apparently I got blamed for getting their Earth destroyed," Sheppard replied in an annoyed tone.
"It's hard to shift the blame from yourself to another when you were the one sitting in the fully operational Drone Chair," Walter countered darkly. "Your guilt wasn't up for debate. Only your punishment was."
"Clearly I missed something," Caldwell stressed, very much confused.
"It's a long story involving alternate realities," Weir replied. "What about the hyperdrive? Can you get it online?"
"All of our spare parts were given to the Colonel and his team here," McKay answered while throwing a thumb over his shoulder to point to the man from another reality.
"Well then, if the Ori are on their way to Earth with hostile intentions, I am more than willing to sacrifice the hyperdrive on my ship in favor of the greater good. So long as the Relentless Annoyance is taken back to Earth in the hangar bay, then I have no problem with the hyperdrive being taken out and reinstalled onboard this ship," Walter offered.
"Nice offer, but the hyperdrive on your ship is too small to pull an Aurora through hyperspace," McKay countered.
"Then cannibalize it," Walter contradicted. "We once used the hyperdrive for an SR to pull an O'Neill through hyperspace after cannibalizing it for parts and the hyperdrive on the damaged ship wasn't even capable of opening a hyperspace window. This one is in far better shape so the results should only be better."
"I'm telling you it can't be done!" McKay argued.
"Doctor, if you cannot perform a task assigned to you simply admit your incompetence so that a more experienced technician can be assigned the task. My people have done this type of repair before, and we will do so again with or without your help. You can either disembark with the rest of your pathetically under-trained staff, or you can stick around, keep quiet, and learn from a few experts who got their titles the hard way instead of using their pompous attitude to persuade the ignorant of their own self-found value," Colonel McMillan said without looking at the man.
This went beyond simple animosity. Weir could tell that whatever had happened in this man's reality had left him cold. Then again, losing Earth would do that to any of them. Even she would be changed by such an event. "Let's calm down, now, shall we?" Weir said diplomatically.
"I agree with the Colonel," Caldwell stated.
"Of course you do," McKay mumbled darkly.
Hitting his ear piece, Walter ordered, "Beam Doctor McKay back down to the city. He's done here." There was a flash of light before anyone could argue and McKay was gone. That was the second time a new Colonel came along and started beaming him around without permission.
"Was that entirely necessary?" Weir asked, a little off put.
"He wasn't helping the situation, Doctor, you have to see that," Caldwell replied.
Weir leveled a look at the man, but Caldwell wasn't about to yield ground to a politician on a military matter. Weir hadn't been back to Earth any time recently. She didn't know how tense the situation was back there. They were racing against a clock that no one could see. They could hear it ticking in the background, but they couldn't see how much time was left on it. Just an endless ticking.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
"Earth is under imminent threat from an intergalactic superpower," Caldwell stressed. "We need every advantage we can get, and McKay is wasting time trying to make himself the star of the show. His skills, no matter how great, are always overshadowed by his attitude. He contradicts his own people, always has to have the spotlight, and slows everyone else down by whining whenever he doesn't get his way. Right now, that's the last thing we need. Earth is going to be hit and every ship we get into orbit adds to our odds of surviving the battle to come. Do you really want his need to be the only one worth getting credit for a find or fix compromising Earth's defenses?"
"This has effectively become a military situation, Doctor Weir," Walter added. "You may not feel so because you're a galaxy away, but the threat to Earth is very real. In my reality, we only survived the Ori invasion because the Asgard stood between them and us. Despite their best efforts, we lost every single 304 we had and only one O'Neill was left standing in orbit by the time the fighting finally stopped. One out of fifty, I might add, and it wasn't worth fixing after the fact. Thirty cities across the surface of Earth were outright destroyed and another twenty were being invaded by Ori ground forces. By the time we finally forced them off-world, they had unleashed a new version of their plague and Earth's population was cut in half overnight! If they get that far, Earth won't survive because you don't have the fifty O'Neills that we did."
Weir was taken aback by that. The Colonel had told her they lost Earth, but he didn't give this much detail. What he did say told her that they lost the planet to machines, which meant that Earth was invaded twice in their reality. His home truly sounded horrible.
Squaring her shoulders, Weir said, "Do what you deem necessary, Colonel."
Walter nodded in reply then turned to his people.
"It's more than just the hyperdrive, Colonel," Christopher, the team's Combat Engineer, reported. "Taking this thing to Earth for the fight won't be possible. Even with a new hyperdrive, the ship won't be ready for an extended hyperspace jump until the hull's been patched up and the Bridge having been destroyed is throwing some of the systems off. To make matters worse, the repairs that need doing aren't something we know how to do. We'll have to dig around in the Atlantis database to find what we need."
"Then get started," Walter ordered.
***Local Cluster (Sol System)***
**Earth (Surface)**
*Stargate Command (Control Room) [three weeks after SG-1's first contact with the Furlings]*
"Off-world activation!" Walter announced as the Gate finished dialing. "Receiving IDC," Walter reported as Landry walked up behind him. "It's the Tok'ra, sir."
"Patch them through," Landry ordered with a note of dread in his voice.
"General Landry, it is with great displeasure that I inform you that we have received word from our scout at the Great Gate," the Tok'ra Councilor reported. "The Ori have returned in force. A total of twenty-five ships have arrived in this galaxy."