Here's the next chapter for you all, questions will be answered and others will be asked. Note: I only own what characters i create, the names and places i invent and the ships and vehicles i seem to be designing in droves for this single story.

I would like to thank AlexanderD for all his help and i strongly recomend reading his story New Dawn. I hope he likes the character named after him Admiral Alec Xander.

For those of you interested in what some of the ships featured in this story look like here are a few sketches on photobucket: albums/ae166/Senrab_Nomis/

Please review and i will respond. Or alternatively post in the thread for this story in my forum. topic/84023/35075481/1/

Review Responses

AlexanderD: Your acknowledgment that i am being accurate about these things means a lot to me, my story would be a personal failure if i was misportrayed this. Standing between Todd and family, you better be an imovable object because he is an unstoppable force when he calls in markers and his own personal army.

BIG Z1776: Request acknowledged but OC's play a crucial part in my story so i can't simply leave them out, besides at one point everyone was an OC but i do admit i need to look in on our guys a bit more. A recon mission for the gang is impossible however since they don't do that anymore and they are too important to risk.

Shadows of Realm: Zarin's pissed so yeah he's going to bring the thunder.

Cdoctor: Kull armour does have some advantages over current tempest armour but also has numerous failings as well. It is also not something they have access to unfortunately since Tartarus was bombarded into the ground to wipe out the Kull.

Oddliver: It is a possibility, not very likely but a possibility.

Just a Crazy-Man: Thank you.

drewc: You're welcome, i think.

Guest: They wear tempest battle armour. For more information see chapter 28.

Dave Dent: Enjoy.

Jedi Carpet: Destiny is out of it for the mean time since they're in stasis. The Hebridians i've touched on briefly but i am more focused on Pegasus at the moment.

Kolumnar

The world of Kolumnar had undergone numerous changes in the past few years. Ever since a team of just four people had stepped through the stargate the natives lives had changed from a standard they had been accustomed to, if not happy with, for thousands of years. Taking up residence in the sole standing central tower of an abandoned city ship the royal family found they had the ability to utilise the cities control chair and the numerous drones in the cities stores and they used this ability to rule with an iron fist. Within two days of the arrival of SGA-1 though the monarchy that had had once ruled had become superfluous when an attempted coup coincided with a rebellion and forced the team to act. In order to stop a village full of innocents from being killed by the coup leader the team had drained the ZPM of the last dregs of power within it rendering the control chair and the drones it controlled lifeless. Eventually the team from Atlantis had gained possession of the control chair, the drone stores and even a few powerless puddle jumpers in exchange for supplies. Now in the monarchy's place a democracy had been formed with an elected individual acting as the leader of the numerous villages scattered across the lands around the city ship. With warnings of caution the people of Kolumnar had ventured out into the galaxy and made allies of their own. Quite recently they had become full members of the coalition of worlds and taken their place amongst the galactic community however doing so had come with a price. Knowledge of their world and what it possessed spread to ears that listened to whispers and a Genii Commander saw an opportunity to seize power by capturing a prize, and what better prize was their than a city ship built by the Alterans. For a time, a very short time, they had held the city and had even been in the process of having the Genii people defect to their cause until once again a team from Atlantis came to the world and liberated the people from their new oppressors. With the Genii Commander captured, humiliated and revealed to have taken the city by force from innocents the coup had quickly been quashed.

Over the years since the formation of the democracy the people had slowly been excavating the city ship, that they had named Kolumna, in the hope of finding more treasures in its remains. However Minister Petra had been forced to accept a hard reality, so long as the city ship remained the people of her world would always be in danger of someone with similar goals trying to take it by force. The loss of the city ship would be a terrible thing since it was an extremely valuable piece of technology even in its damaged state but it was far worse than that. The city could not be removed from the world by anyone who might even be able to take it which meant that it would become occupied and her people would find their world occupied. For the sake of her people she had set into motion her plans to sell the city to the Tau'ri. It had taken many, many hours of negotiation and deliberation but eventually an agreement had been reached. When the city had been fully excavated it would be handed over, in terms of control at least, to the Tau'ri in exchange for a large cache of supplies and a new capital residence for the Kolumnarians to call their own. The new capital building would be a shining tower of architectural excellence, built of highly durable materials it would weather the ages and act as a centre of administration. Surrounding this miniature skyscraper would be numerous expanding circles of houses and other assorted buildings designed to hold a large number of citizens but not the entire population. The Tau'ri had advised the Kolumnar people that keeping the outlying villages would allow their population to expand beyond a single settlement easily. The villages would also be upgraded to the same standard as the buildings in the capital and include running water and power conduits placed in tunnels that would connect the capital and surrounding buildings like an underground web. All of which would be of a simple design that the Kolumnarians could duplicate as their need for more space arose as their population grew. Using matter replication technology the new villages and capital could be completed in next to no time at all once the Tau'ri were able to take possession of the city ship.

Part of the deal though had involved security for the planet as the excavation continued. Call it paranoia or call it common sense but the Kolumnarians were adamant that they would excavate the city ship themselves. That way they could take what individual items they wanted from inside the cities halls without the Tau'ri getting to them first, at which point they could trade them for even more supplies or keep them for themselves. The Tau'ri though had agreed with the need for security for the city ship and for the planet itself. To this end they had made the Kolumnarians acknowledge the need for a better location to keep the stargate, to that end they had built a bunker complex to house the stargate and its DHD to provide some level of protection against a gate incursion. Although the complex built was similar in ways to the SGC an iris had not been provided, like the Asgard the Tau'ri were kind but they weren't foolish enough to give away something that could be used against them.

In an expansive forest there was a massive expanse where a large hole had been dug. Not being aware of the full size of the city the natives had dug an expansive circle that covered a much greater radius than the city itself and in the centre of this steadily deepening crater was its twisted and broken remains lay. The impact damage caused by the force of the crash had been so severe that only the base superstructure and the sole central tower had remained relatively intact. Ten thousand years of damage had taken their toll and the rest of the towers had quickly succumb to erosion and collapsed. The central tower was actually only barely standing as it was and had to be supported as more of it was uncovered.

Around this massive pit trundled numerous vehicles belonging to the Tau'ri operating in groups and individually. The one thing that had become apparent to the Tau'ri after all their years of travelling through the gate was that any incursions that occurred through the gate, or even by ship, always utilised ground troops and neglected to use vehicles. There were hardly any worlds that regularly used the stargate that had even considered the idea of a jeep to go through the gate, let alone a tank. There were reasons for this of course, a stargate is only so large and building a vehicle capable of fitting through it and is highly effective in combat is no easy task. Even modern day tanks like the M1 Abrams could not fit through a stargate and even transporting them from a ship to the surface would be difficult so an enemy would never expect to find they were facing one. Even the concept behind Titans was quite new to even the Asgard. However sometimes a technological edge allows you to overcome a problem and in this case the Tau'ri had the technology necessary to overcome this one. By setting up transport pillars on the other side of the gate after they established a foothold they could then deploy even the largest of vehicles with ease. However first a foothold must be established and to accomplish that for the past few years the Tau'ri had been developing a number of smaller vehicles for use off world. This is not as easy it may seem however as to survive off world they would need to be far stronger than the variants normally deployed. To survive on Earth tanks would have to be able to deal with anti-armour rounds and commonly, in certain parts of the world, RPG's but to survive off world they would have to be able to withstand high intensity plasma blasts. As such suitable modifications had been made to the vehicles with only the chassis remaining unchanged and so their outward appearance remained quite similar to the originals they were based off.

The smallest and most common vehicle, and one that was now available to every SG team, was a modified version of the X2CV FLYPMode. Designed to hold four people on average the compact and nippy, potential replacement for the hummer, was perfect for off world use. The armour plating had been replaced with trinium, the engine by an electric motor fed by a naquadah generator and mounted on top was an X-699. Thanks to a little advanced technology the already intimidating vehicle had become a whole lot more fierce. Similar changes had been made to the British designed FV107 Scimitar however since the Scimitar was a purely combat designed vehicle the armour plating was thicker, the X-699 of a much larger calibre and the naquadah generator larger, the last of which allowed it to support a shield similar to what the Titans employed. When the designers had realised the need to accommodate for the many variations of vehicles that would be needed on the battlefield they had quickly turned to an already well utilised gem of the armoured division, the IAV Stryker. With its modular chassis it was the ideal platform to base a variety of different designs off of so that the Tau'ri ground forces would have a vehicle option for whatever the situation called for, be it troop transport or medical evacuation. The basic chassis remained relatively unchanged aside from the now standard upgrades, which included trinium armour, an electric engine, a naquadah generator and a Titan shield. However unlike the others one version did not feature the same technology that could be found on a regular Stryker and this was the Mobile Gun System version. Instead of utilising a 105mm cannon the weapon had been replaced in favour of a weapon that the military had been dreaming of for years and was now possible thanks to technology and materials acquired using the stargate, a railgun.

In the eyes of Homeworld Command however while the Stryker was useful in that every version of it could actually fit through the stargate it still lacked the raw power that a front line tank could offer given the technology currently at their disposal. To that end the designers had produced one final design based off a well known vehicle of the American military, the M1 Abrams. Naturally of course this version had been heavily modified to make it stand apart from even the other modified vehicles. Instead of simple trinium armour plating the Abrams possessed a heavier trinium/naquadah alloy that made it far more durable even without the more powerful than normal Titan style shield it possessed. The 120mm gun had also been replaced, once again by a railgun and the secondaries with X-699's of varying sizes. As was standard the tank also featured an electric engine and a large naquadah generator to power all of its systems. The new tank was a fearsome weapon to behold and when the Kolumnarians had seen the first of them appear in a flash of light courtesy of the transport pillar in front of the stargate they had been absolutely terrified of the metallic construct that radiated hostility. Once they remembered the fact that these vehicles had been brought in for their protection however that feeling of fear would eventually turn to comfort at just knowing the power these vehicles possessed. So far they hadn't even fired a shot but the Kolumnarians felt safer just knowing they were there. In all honesty they hoped they would never have to see them firing a single shot since the idea of what these strange metallic constructs could be capable of was quite frankly terrifying.

Dozens of these vehicles were to found, scattered along the outskirts of the city ship and patrolling around the settlements. Meanwhile overhead floated the Asgard Beliskner construction fleet slowly building the new homes for the Kolumnarians and repairing the city ship. However by the time they had finished with the modifications city ship would not be an appropriate name.

With all the damage the city ship had taken only the main base of the superstructure was largely intact, which thankfully included the stardrive and the three drone launchers as neither of which were replicable yet. They intended to build upwards from the snowflake base structure and re-design the city ship structure to something that better met their current needs. When they were finished Borealis, which was the name of the city ship as indicated by an entry in the database, would be completely unlike her sister Atlantis in appearance.

Earth – Homeworld Command

In his office Jack O'Neill was doing paperwork. Normally this would be a task that he would ideally approach after all other avenues of travel had been well and truly trodden, in other words after he had done everything else that needed to be done. He knew his responsibilities required him to do paperwork and he had done his fair share in his time of military service but if he could do it later he would. He would ideally do it later rather than sooner but he would eventually do it.

Nevertheless he was actually enjoying doing paperwork and had been for the last two years due to one particular technological creation, ISIS. The Enterprise was his personal ship, as well as being the flagship of the Milky Way forces and as such was permanently stationed in orbit of Earth. When you combine that fact with an interactive holographic avatar that can be projected all the way from said ship to the planets surface and you have an electronic assistant like no other. ISIS was now responsible for all of his appointments, could provide him with all the paperwork he had to fill out in electronic and holographic form and, better yet, could project television and movies whenever and wherever he wanted. Having access to every episode of the Simpsons along with the movie thanks to the large media library stored in the ships database meant he was very happy. Normally he and one Rodney McKay didn't see eye to eye but in this particular case he was very grateful for him for creating ISIS and to the Asgard for creating the basis for the technology.

"Commander," said ISIS, who was programmed to call him that even when he wasn't working on his ship. "Miss Xaioyi is here to see you."

"Tell her to make an appointment and that I'm not free for a week," said Jack casually.

"That's what you said last time Commander," ISIS replied. "She is here for the appointment she made then."

Jack sighed. "Well I knew this would happen eventually, send her in."

A little while after he spoke the woman in question opened the door and strode into his office. He couldn't help but wonder if she had been listening at the door or if she had started moving before ISIS could even finish talking. He was guessing the latter by the way that Shen started talking before she even sat down.

"General O'Neill," she said. "It is very important that I speak to you regarding our latest acquisition."

"I thought you would say that," said Jack, with a neutral look and the hint of a smile replacing the sour expression he had worn a little while ago.

"Go on then," he encouraged.

Shen frowned slightly at the lack of resistance she had come to expect from the troublesome General.

"We need to appoint a suitable commander for the city for when it is repaired and put to use," said Shen.

"Ah so this is about Borealis," said Jack with a cool grin.

"I trust you see the importance of a suitable leader for the role of running a city such as Borealis," Shen continued.

"Oh I do," agreed Jack. "However I really don't think city ship is an appropriate name for Borealis at the moment."

With a nod ISIS created a hologram showing a three dimensional image of Borealis in the same state as when it had been fully excavated, before the Asgard started construction work. With only the central tower standing Borealis could hardly be called a city. If anything it was more of a giant metallic snowflake than ever.

"I'll admit that in its present condition Borealis is hardly capable of fulfilling its role as a city," admitted Shen. "But I am confident that once it is repaired and restored to its original condition it will be a fine addition to our resources."

Jack gave Shen a long stare, far from oblivious to the particular words she had been using.

"Why do I get the feeling a suitable commander would be yourself?" asked Jack.

Shen smiled. "Well naturally I am one of the people being considered for the role by the IOA and I already have Chairman Strom's approval."

"I'm sure you do," said Jack neutrally.

It was no secret that after the debacle with the coup on Destiny that Carl Strom's iron grip over the rest of the IOA was beginning to slip and rumour had it that Xaioyi and Coolidge had started to take on a quite a few of his responsibilities. It seemed that Strom now had to worry about a potential coup directed against him.

"However I think you aren't aware of all the details," said Jack, enjoying the look of puzzlement etched over Shen's features.

"Do enlighten me General, what details aren't I aware of?"

"Well for starters," said Jack with a grin. "You clearly don't know that we aren't rebuilding Borealis to its original specifications."

"Why not?" Shen demanded.

"Well for one we don't have the original blue prints for the city ship so rebuilding it isn't possible," said Jack.

He deliberately paused to give Shen a chance to protest. He wasn't disappointed.

"But surely a scan of Atlantis will enable you to produce those blue prints," Shen protested.

"As it happens no," said Jack, with a certain amount of cheer. "The geeks I have working for me are telling me, along with a number of structural engineers I might add, those scans cannot be relied upon to give an accurate picture. You see it's not as simple as producing a copy of what Atlantis currently looks like since we're talking about a three dimensional structure not a two dimensional image. Over the past ten thousand years plus Atlantis has taken more than a few knocks and they have left their mark on the city so any of those flaws could be carried over in the copy. Also since we are only looking at the end product we don't know how the pieces are supposed to be assembled so unless we can beam a whole city into existence we aren't going to be making a copy of Atlantis anytime soon. If we ever want a city ship we will have to design one ourselves. So we've been forced to go back to the drawing board and get a little creative."

"Nevertheless that just means that a commander for the city is even more important so that they can oversee the construction," said Shen.

"Oh you don't have to worry about that," said Jack, his grin still present. "I already know exactly who we need for the job."

"I'm glad to hear that General," said Shen, with a grin of her own. "Borealis needs a suitable leader to function properly."

"Indeed it does," said Jack, still grinning.

"I trust we are in agreement that I am the logical choice," said Shen, finally tipping her hand.

"Oh I don't think so," said Jack.

"What?" Shen asked in a low voice with an edge to it.

"ISIS kindly have Paul come over here please," Jack requested.

"Paul?" asked Shen. "As in Paul Davis?"

"Good guess," said Jack.

"The military should not be in charge of a city ship," argued Shen.

"I seem to recall a certain military officer who did very well at leading Atlantis," Jack pointed out.

"I hardly think a Lt Colonel is a suitable leader for a city such as Borealis," protested Shen. "There should be a clear command structure present which was one of the reasons for Lt Colonel Carter's replacement by someone more suitable."

"You're right," agreed Jack. "You're absolutely right about that."

That moment Paul Davis walked into the room, the stripes on his dress jacket being those of full blown Colonel and definitely not those of a lower ranked Lt Colonel.

"So I thought I should fix that problem," said Jack. "In my opinion he was well overdue a promotion for all the work he puts in."

"Borealis is not something the military should be in control of," argued Shen.

"Oh I think so what with the modifications we are going to be making to her," Jack stated plainly. "Modifications our allies very much approve of by the way."

"I thought you were simply planning on rebuilding the city ship using our own designs?" Shen asked with an air of suspicion.

"And as I said there were several things you weren't aware of," said Jack. "One of which would be that we aren't building a city ship of our own design but rather a base ship."

"A base ship," Shen repeated.

"A military base," Jack added.

"You intend to turn the city ship into a mobile military base?" Shen asked in disbelief.

"With our ally's approval," pointed out Jack. "The idea is that we have a military base that can move as the front lines of a conflict are adjusted. We plan on utilising Borealis for use by the allied forces in our conflict against the Zarasians."

"Paul why don't walk her through the designs," suggested Jack. "I think you'll be happy to hear Miss Xaioyi that the leader of Borealis is fully aware of what will be happening to his command."

"Of course sir," said Davis. "ISIS if you would bring up the final designs."

"Of course Colonel," said ISIS.

The hologram revolving over the desk flickered and changed to show a fully completed base ship and Paul launched into his explanation, pointing to specific areas as he went on. It was quite different to a city ship, with the only similarity being the general snowflake shape and the central spire.

Interestingly though there wasn't a single spire on the entire snowflake structure aside from the central one, however even that wasn't a proper spire. The top part of the spire which contained the control rooms and the jumper bay was definitely present and above ground. However the lower levels were now apart of a ziggurat like structure that stretched out from the central area and along the piers. It was almost as if a single building had been built on top of the snowflake base. This had in fact been done so deliberately to not only allow them to make the base more structurally sound but also allowing them to make it air tight so that they didn't need a shield operating when they were in space or traversing from space to a planetary atmosphere.

The six piers each had their own purpose or rather the two different types of piers had their own purposes. The smaller piers conformed more to the ziggurat like shape, with several levels that slowly descended the further out along the pier they went. The very top level of these piers contained an armour topped runway that would open up to allow entry and exit for fighter craft and small craft. The hanger area was divided into three sections, with the runway being the central area and on either side were numerous entrances to the long hanger bay with another entrance at the start of the runway. Despite the numerous entrances though the hanger was actually one single horseshoe shaped structure and like the entrances areas could be sealed off by heavy blast doors and shields. These hangers were each designed to hold at least two hundred fighter craft and that was just the top level for this pier structure, there were still many levels below all dedicated to different areas. General manufacturing, storage and barracks for troops could all be found in these levels and along with the central section these areas accounted for what you would typically expect to find on a military base. The three large piers served a wholly different purpose being entirely dedicated to one thing. They were essentially individual shipyards and were a single solid block whose levels were the same size throughout the structure. Each shipyard was shaped like the classical form of Mjlonir, otherwise known as Thor's hammer, since ironically this shape fitted quite comfortably on the Alteran designed pier. The central section was designed to hold any one of the heavy ships of the allied races, be it an O'Neill, Pegasus or Aror class. The two wings of the structure each consisted of a stack of three hangers for the races smaller capital ships such as Tau'ri battlecruisers or Averian warships. The section where two piers linked together was now the location of a large tractor beam emitter and transport array for whatever use they deemed necessary. One slightly radical change was the relocation of the control room away from the rather vulnerable central tower to a location deep with the central areas where it would be better protected. As such the control and gate room would now solely be a gate room.

The base ship featured the same standard technology as Celestia which included internal transporters, deep space sensors, Asgard transporters and matter synthesisers among other things. Power wise the base ship was being given an upgrade over even the upgraded city ships, as aside from three fully charged ZPM's the base ship possessed seven neutrino ion generators acting as a secondary power supply, with one on each pier and beneath the central tower. There were even a few naquadah generators dotted around the base ship acting as an emergency power supply. These generators on top of the ZPM's were needed to power the base ships rather impressive defences. Aside from the barrier style shield that could be found on a city ship, which admittedly was weaker than the original since they couldn't replicate the completely destroyed original shields for the city ship, there was a capacitor style shield that lay just on the inside of the barrier shield. The idea was that if the barrier shield was hit by a weapon capable of penetrating it the capacitor shield would take the damage and the base ship would be undamaged and the capacitors could simply be recharged. To compliment the impressive defences were some very powerful weapons. On each of the shipyard piers were a dozen ICT's while on each of the other piers were a Grodin, four APB's and an Alteran designed drone launcher. Each of the drone launchers linked to their own personal magazine which contained ten thousand of the Tau'ri designed NPD's, an impressive amount when compared to the mere two thousand total that the Pegasus class carried even with seven launchers. Since these were all designated to be heavy anti ship weapons there were dozens of computer controlled railguns scattered across the tops of the base ship for the purposes of point defence.

When Borealis was rebuilt, which would be very soon given the effort being put into the task, the base ship would be a veritable mobile fortress.

"You cannot be serious," Shen spluttered and in Jack's opinion personal opinion looking absolutely gob smacked. "You would waste something as potentially valuable as a city ship as a military base."

Jack shrugged. "Right now we need a decent military base and Atlantis isn't one. Besides like I said before we can't rebuild Borealis to the standards it used to be and once we finalise a design for our version of a stardrive then we can always build our own version."

"So why not just build a military base yourself and rebuild Borealis using your own city ship designs?"

"Because we need a mobile military base to help us fight a war much more than we need a city ship designed for civilians," replied Jack. "Besides we aren't even close to finishing the designs for our version of a city ship yet and given our lack of a need for one we probably won't be building one for a long time to come."

"The other members of the IOA won't stand for this," Shen protested. "We will not allow it without at least some concessions."

"The other members of the IOA don't actually get a say in this," Jack said sternly. "You seem to forget that the IOA don't have a say over the military matters of Homeworld Command despite your presumptions. You may have leveraged yourself some control over the SGC because of a threat and Atlantis because of the joint nature of the program but this is strictly my ball park and your authority means squat. Homeworld Command was established to deal with military matters and since it is not our resources but those of our allies that have allowed us to even build our first base ship the opinions of people without a clue is not relevant. So I suggest you keep your noses out of where they do not belong and let the professionals do their jobs. Am I clear?"

Shen just sat there stunned, as was the typical reaction to someone on the receiving end of an O'Neill special.

"I said, am I clear?" Jack repeated.

Shen's response was to stand up and flounce out of the room, the door slamming shut behind her.

"I think it was clear sir," said Davis.

Jack smirked.

"I think so as well," he agreed. "You packed yet Paul."

"Packed and ready to go sir," Davis replied. "Thank you for the promotion by the way sir."

"Don't mention it Paul, you deserve it. Besides I can't think of a better person for this position."

It was true. In the eyes of many Paul Davis was a super administrator who lacked the same combat experience of other officers, which was a possible reason for his lack of promotions over the years. Davis had been doing the same desk job for years and he was actually very good at it and had become a key member of staff that Jack knew he could rely on. Davis was perfect for the position as head of the Borealis contingent because it was a position that didn't require one to be fighting on the front lines but managing another key aspect of the military, logistics. Colonel Sheppard would be handling the tactical side while Davis would handle the administrative and logistical matters and together they would make quite a team. Couple this with the additional support of Celestia and Atlantis along with all the support of their allies and Pegasus would be certainly be looking at interesting times.

War had been declared on the Zarasians. Allied ships were currently roving the galaxy after Jakose had realised that Sovaer's tracking beacon was still on the Zarasian flagship and with its powerful battery should still be broadcasting. If they could get even the slightest trace of a signal they could eventually track down the ship and hopefully capture it, with the aim being to gain both intelligence on their enemy and Todd's sister.