Installation

The drone swarm was tearing towards the allied fleet. It was too late to run. It had been too late since the swarm first launched. The drones were simply moving too fast and the fleet couldn't bring their hyperdrives online in time. Most of them were coming at them from point blank range for crying out loud.

Then just as all hope had seemingly been lost, just as Thor was willing to say for sure that the end had finally come help had arrived. A massive vessel emerged from hyperspace, its main body shaped like a kunai and ending in arrow head section that formed the wings of the ship.

From both of the wings of the ship a single glowing white torpedo emerged from opened hatches and tore towards the drone swarm. The two torpedoes were massive compared to the drones but were themselves dwarfed by the sheer size of the swarm. Travelling at a significant fraction of the speed of light the two torpedoes were quickly swallowed up by the swarm, seemingly having no effect against the unstoppable tide. It appeared to be a final futile attempt to stop the swarm and it had failed. But of course looks can be deceiving, especially when it comes to the Fifth Race. Suddenly the drone swarm shuddered and shook as something happened deep within the swarm. The entire mass trembled as some unseen force struck them, and then they appeared. Two new stars briefly burned in the sky, their hearts having formed so close together they were practically one star. A star over two hundred miles across that had consumed the drone swarm almost in its entirety. It was amazing, Thor mused, how sometimes the most primitive of weapons could so easily overcome the most advanced. The drone swarm had been almost upon them but it had been stopped in the end by the two Mark IX nuclear warheads at the core of the Hellstorm rounds.

The allied fleet used the time bought by the explosions effect on sensors to move away from the death moon. Of course there was only so far they could move in order to avoid both the weapons on the moon and on the planet. While it was possible to move out of range of the beam weapons the same could not be said for the drone weapons. But now they had found an effective countermeasure for those.

"This is Commander Jonathon 'Johnny' O'Neill of the Thor calling Supreme Commander Thor of the O'Neill, we are here to assist you," the voice on the com continued as his face appeared on a holographic screen. "You know I've always wanted to say that."

"Hello young O'Neill," Thor replied warmly. "It is good to see you again after all this time."

"Yeah, my big brother finally let me loose with the newest of our ships," the young clone of Jack O'Neill replied.

While on a genetic, and to a certain extent even mental, level the two O'Neill's were the same their age difference and recent experiences made them more like brothers than the same person. They were so similar and yet different.

"I'm very glad he did. Although I do have to ask, what took you so long?"

Milky Way galaxy – A few days ago

The Thor, the most powerful ship the greatest minds on Earth had ever even conceived let alone built. The Thor was a warship, what the Tau'ri really considered to be a warship. More importantly she was a battleship, designed to dish out as much firepower as possible at any enemy vessel she turned her steely gaze towards. Her main body was shaped like a kunai, while her end section was shaped much like that of a Night Fury with slanted wings. Overall the ship was 1500 metres long, 600 metres wide and 300 metres high. Much like her namesake her appearance suggested that she was harmless, her hull sleek and smooth and lacking any apparent weapons. Her teeth were all concealed beneath the thick armour plating and wouldn't be revealed unless someone did something very foolish.

Sitting in this powerful ships command chair was Commander Jonathon O'Neill. There had been some debate as to whether a clone should be allowed to take up the position he had technically earned. The end solution had been to give him command of a ship and put those many years of tactical experience to good use.

"Status?" Johnny asked.

"We're about to drop out of hyperspace sir. All stations report ready."

"Weapons are armed and ready to be moved into position. Drones magazines are loaded and Hellstorm cannons are armed and awaiting targeting data."

"All crewmen to battle stations," O'Neill ordered.

They were about to enter a potential hot zone and he wasn't taking any chances. As the ship re-emerged into real space they were treated to the sight of two sizeable fleets facing off against each other. One fleet consisted largely of fighter sized ships and just a few large warships, which were acting as carriers for the fighters, and a single massive warship manned by the Aschen. The other consisted of a variety of vessels of different shapes and sizes, all of which were manned, and was under the control of the Hebridans.

The Hebridan fleet was standing directly between the Aschen and a beautiful garden world that would make a wonderful colony. Unfortunately for the Aschen the Hebridan weren't about to let them have it, they didn't approve of the means that they used to gain new worlds and this was their way of showing it. In this particular case the Tau'ri were actually acting as middle men and wouldn't be taking any particular side. Not unless the Aschen started firing at least. The only reason the Thor was being deployed was because it wasn't obviously aggressive but was capable of dealing with whatever the Aschen threw at them.

"This is Commander Jonathon O'Neill of the Earth vessel Thor to the Aschen fleet. We are not here to fight you. We simply wish to end this peacefully."

A sombre faced Aschen appeared on screen. "The primitive people of Earth have no means to challenge us. However since you are here you can pass on our message to those who stand in our way. We will not be encircled and denied our right to expand."

"No one is questioning your right to a place in this galaxy," Johnny replied, ignoring the primitive comment for now. "However we all know of the means you use to assimilate new peoples into your confederation. The Hebridans, and the Tau'ri, are willing to overlook your previous actions so long as you sign a treaty."

"Yes, we know of this treaty. The Aschen Confederation will not be denied the means to defend ourselves and if the Hebridans think they can stand against us even if we don't use our bio-weapons they are welcome to try."

"We only want peace here. In exchange for signing the treaty the Hebridans are willing to pull their ships back from around your space and hand over this planet."

The seemingly emotionless Aschen just looked down on the pitiful Tau'ri before him. He firmly believed that the Tau'ri were still just as primitive as when they had been encountered all those years ago, and the apparent lack of weapons and low power readings of the ship he was facing. The Aschen might not be as powerful as they had once been but they had been rapidly rebuilding and were capable of dealing significant damage to the Hebridans. While their encirclement method might appear to cut them off they could punch through it at will.

"We can take that planet if we so wish, now get out of my way before we destroy your ship and then move on to your precious Earth."

Johnny narrowed his eyes menacingly. No one threatened his ship and Earth.

"That would be a mistake," he said in a dangerously low voice. "If you attack this ship then we will respond in kind and if you even think about attacking Earth then you'll learn that the Ori were the least of your worries."

"The Aschen Confederation cannot be beaten by the likes of you."

"Actually you overestimate your abilities."

"We shall see."

The Aschen flagship fired a volley of plasma bolts at the Thor. Johnny was proud to note that the shields on the battleship, which were actually slightly stronger than those of an O'Neill, barely even dropped by only a few percent. The ship hadn't even shaken as the dozen or so shots impacted the shield.

"You know I do actually have somewhere to be so why don't I make this simple for you," Johnny said.

He nodded at the weapons officer, who returned the nod and started entering commands. It was time for a little gunboat diplomacy.

Across the hull of the Thor hatches that blended seamlessly with the hull depressed and slid open as numerous weapons rose into place. On the wings four hatches slid apart while the four side points of the kunai split open and massive domed beam emitters slid into position. A moment ago the ship had appeared harmless, but now she was covered in weapons. Her armaments consisted of 2 Hellstorm Cannons, 6 Grodins, 12 APB's, 16 ICT's, 76 Heavy X-699's and 6400 NPD's. Sensors were briefly blinded as the stealth technologies were overwhelmed by the massive amount of power flowing from the four large, most advanced, neutrino ion generators.

"This is what happens you go around threatening people's home planets and refusing very generous peace treaties," Johnny continued. "Especially my planet."

Targeting one of the drone fighter carriers the Thor let loose with her Grodins. Six beams of white energy briefly shot out and skewered one of the drone carriers. Even against such a short burst of raw power the Aschen built shields folded instantly and the ship exploded violently as the beams tore through it. The follow up act was even more terrifying. The two magnetic accelerator cannons in the wings each fired a single Hellstorm round. The glowing white projectile soared through space at an incredible speed, each one orientated to target a different drone carrier. The shields of the drone carriers were useless against these weapons. The Tollan designed phase devices briefly activated, allowing the weapons to ignore the shields, before shorting out. Then the high intensity plasma field, similar to the one used in drones, combined with the projectiles high speed allowed it to drill through the carrier's outer armour.

Finally the timer on the Mark IX nuclear warheads ran down and the Hellstorm rounds detonated. Two new stars briefly burned, consuming the carriers in their fiery embrace and leaving very little in the way of debris. In a few seconds a good tonnage of the Aschen fleet had been destroyed. The detonation of the two Mark IX's had even stretched beyond their targets to destroy a number of drone fighters.

"So," Johnny continued. "How does that treaty sound now?"

"The treaty includes a non-aggression pact between the Aschen Confederation and the Tau'ri I believe?" the unnamed Aschen asked shakily.

"Indeed it does."

"I think it would be acceptable."

"You see I knew we could come to an agreement," Johnny said with an ear to ear grin. "And no one had to die either."

In the privacy of his mind he remembered one of the crown jewels of diplomacy, when you've got them by the balls their hearts and minds will follow.

Present

Johnny winced. "Sorry about that, we got a little delayed in our departure. I had to ditch Rak'nor's care package for Bra'tac on the outskirts of the galaxy when I heard what was happening here. I'll tell you all about it later. You gave me a scare there for a moment."

"Thank you for rescuing me. You and your brother seem to have that in common."

"It's who we are. What's the situation?"

"The fleet is now out of range of the majority of the planetary defences, although the drones could still reach us. Colonel Sheppard is attempting to take over the facilities on the moon but is encountering resistance. The defensive measures are proving to be difficult to overcome. We are exploring other means," Thor finished, mindful of the AI's presence.

"You will not succeed," Caretaker stated. "I will see you destroyed before you can even gleam the slightest insight into what you are up against."

"Friendly little glow ball isn't he. Still we've dealt with worse than him."

"I doubt that Inferior."

Johnny raised an eyebrow. "Let me know if you want me to target the moon. I've got plenty of Hellstorm rounds ready to use."

"You will not be able to overcome the shields Inferior. Though it is a very capable weapon against large numbers of lightly protected targets an enhanced nuclear explosion is not strong enough to get through the moon facilities shields."

"We'll see glow ball," Johnny retorted, sharing a look with Thor.

"Hold your fire for now," Thor instructed.

"Will do."

"You know Asgardian my data files on your race suggested that your species was much intelligent than you have led me to believe," Caretaker continued.

"Is that so?" Thor replied, not really paying attention to the AI.

"Yes, however I now believe that that data has become corrupted. You cannot possibly succeed and yet you continue to act as though you have a chance of defeating the defences in place. Your weapons cannot possibly overcome the shields while they are active and yet you still persist. I can even tell you with some certainty that it would take dozens of drone weapons to make it through the energy matrix and yet you do not have such weapons at your disposal."

Thor just ignored the AI's ranting. He knew that it was just trying to goad him into giving away vital information about the Hellstorm rounds but he wasn't about to co-operate. The AI did have a point though about the effectiveness of Alteran drone weapons against the shields dense energy matrix but thankfully he wasn't planning on using them, not that he actually had any to use. Authentic Alteran drones were in very short supply.

"How long do you think it will be until the last of your soldiers die?" Caretaker asked casually.

Thor actually considered tossing the infernal avatar out of an airlock and using it for target practise and from the looks on some of the bridge crew's faces he wasn't the only one. At least in space no one would hear it whine…now that gave him an idea. The AI avatar was contained by a force field, which blocked air from passing through it but still allowed sound waves to travel. So with the twist of a control stone he vented the air from inside the force field and put a halt to its ranting. His only question was why hadn't he thought of that earlier?

"Rodney you better have something for me," Sheppard yelled over the sound of gunfire.

"Working on it."

Having finally pushed the androids back onto their home turf Sheppard was not in the mood to continue this fight any longer than necessary. He was literally in the lions den, the androids just kept on coming in a never ending stream and frankly he was beginning to wish he was somewhere else. True he was getting a constant stream of reinforcements of his own through the single ring platform and his soldiers were dropping like flies but it was a close thing.

Luckily though Rodney, and unknown to him their two Alteran helpers, were working on cracking this place's computer core and getting whatever useful information they could out it. Adding to that they had ringed up a scanning device that was even now feeding data about this place back to the fleet for analysis and things, by and large, could have been much worse. The only kicker though was that the android army didn't seem to be stopping in the slightest and if it came down to a war of attrition he had no doubt who would be the victor here.

It felt like they were being pinned, having not been able to make it much further than their initial entry point into the facility. The scanner readings they were getting though suggested that this place was much bigger than the underground facility but they weren't detecting many life signs, if any.

"Colonel Sheppard I believe I may have something for you," Thor interjected.

"Talk to me Thor."

"I have found several life signs in an area close to your location. They may be the humans we are looking for."

"How close?"

"Just beyond the central corridor."

Sheppard groaned. The central corridor was where most of the androids were coming from and the area they seemed to want to protect the most. They had actually made it deeper into the facility in the other areas but the guardian platforms hadn't budged an inch when it came to that area.

"I feel I should point out that any prisoners would be invaluable at this stage," Thor added. "The information they could provide would prove useful to us."

"Damn it you're right," Sheppard agreed, before he started yelling orders. "Okay people we're pushing forwards in the central corridor. I want everyone on full magazines and to stop pushing in other areas. All forces are to focus exclusively on pushing into this area until I say so. This is top priority."

It took a moment for the orders to spread to the other areas and for the necessary troops to shuffle around and reload. Finally though they were ready and Sheppard, backed by dozens of soldiers and even the SPECTREs, charged into the fire. Energy bolts and railgun rounds flew through the air as the allied forces stormed the gates of hell. There was only so fast though that new androids could replace those that had fallen and eventually all of the entry points that weren't corridors had been sealed, or rather blown up.

When Sheppard and the others finally pushed through to the room beyond they found a sight they definitely hadn't been expecting. The room held stasis pods, many of which had been removed from their housings and the rest were empty. Moving on they entered the next room and found it too completely empty. Once again the housings for stasis pods were there but the pods themselves were gone. They moved on again, down a corridor and found a heavily armoured door and two dozen guardian platforms guarding it. Needless to say the resulting fire fight had been brutal and the once pristine walls were now permanently marked. The floor was covered with the debris of destroyed androids, spent magazines and the debris of doors of alcoves that had had more than a few grenades tossed into them for good measure. The door however wasn't showing signs that it had even been aware that a near constant stream of trinium tipped rounds had been fired at it. There was hardly a dent on it, aside from a few scratch marks. When Vejovis had designed this door he hadn't been kidding around, if he wanted it to remain closed then it was going to.

"Alright, someone get me some X-699's down here to blast through this thing," Sheppard ordered. "I am not going to be stopped by a closed door."

"Yes sir."

"Rodney, what's behind this door?"

"I haven't been able to hack those systems yet," Rodney replied. "I'm working on…what…hang on a second he can't hear you…"

"Rodney?"

"Not you Sheppard…ok you can talk now."

"Colonel Sheppard," said a new and slightly familiar voice. "We are working on accessing the data registry for that room but we need time. However I am confident that by the time you breach what I believe to quite thick doors I will have an answer for you."

"I know this voice. Who is this?"

"Why Colonel I'm shocked that you don't remember me."

"He's Janus," a second, female, and familiar voice said.

"And she's Morgan," Janus shot back.

"What are you two doing here?" Sheppard asked incredulously.

"As far as you're concerned we're not here," Morgan replied.

"Why?"

"Because helping you is against the rules," Janus replied. "So we can't be here, ergo we're not."

Sheppard didn't even need to think about this. "Okay, makes perfect sense to me."

"Glad to hear it," Janus replied.

As this conversation was, against all evidence, not going on three X-699's had been set up in front of the door. Set to target the same small area of the door the three opened fire and started cutting into the apparently quite thick and tough metal.

"Anything in the computer?" Sheppard asked.

"Well I've found vague references in the database to an energy matrix compressor and fuser," Morgan said.

"Okay what's that?"

"No idea," Janus answered.

Sheppard sighed. "Anyone else know?"

"No," McKay and Morgan replied.

"Please tell me that isn't the best you have come up with."

"Do you want to try hacking what can only be called a two way data stream if you use the term loosely?" Janus asked indignantly.

"Sorry," Sheppard apologised quickly.

"We're working on it but we need time," Morgan said.

"Okay fine, just let me know when you have something."

By now the door was beginning to lose a large amount of its top layer, a little more continuous fire and it would be breached.

"Colonel Sheppard," Thor said. "I have something to report. The life sign count in the facility appears to be dropping."

"How many people have we lost?" Sheppard asked, fearing the worst.

"None, the life signs do not belong to our forces."

"The people behind this door?"

"I believe so. I cannot account for why though."

"We'll find out soon."

"Curious," Janus said as he examined the data being displayed on his screen.

"What's curious?" Rodney asked.

"I'm finding constant references to this energy matrix compressor and fuser device in the database," Janus replied.

"Testing logs, priority maintenance, numerous expansions," Morgan noted as she rifled through the data. "Whatever it is it seems to be important."

"So we know what is on the other side of the room but haven't a clue what it does," Rodney said. "Just great."

"Well we know it's important," Janus said.

"But what does it do?" Rodney asked.

"Hmm," Janus said thoughtfully as he rubbed his jaw. "Well let's look at the facts. It clearly has something to do with bonding two matrices together and presumably the aim is for the end matrix to be denser than the original. The question is why they need something like that and why is it so heavily guarded?"

"And what type of energy they are feeding into it," Morgan added.

"It could be anything," Rodney pointed out.

"True," Janus agreed. "In theory if you could maintain a stable matrix for its base form you could combine anything."

"Anything," Morgan echoed as her eyes started to widen.

"Anything," Janus said as realisation struck him.

Without saying another word both ascended started typing furiously on the control panels in front of them.

"Am I missing something?" Rodney asked.

"I hope not," Janus said. "Because this is one time I would very much like to be wrong."

"I don't think you are," Morgan said. "Especially if you're thinking what I'm thinking."

Janus frowned. "That's the problem. I am thinking what you're thinking."

"Do I want to know?" Rodney asked.

"No," Janus and Morgan said in unison.

"Hey Thor," Johnny said. "My guys are getting some strange power readings from that death moon. Are you getting them too?"

"I am," Thor replied. "I believe it indicates something is activating."

Power signatures on the moon were fluctuating every few seconds and the readings powerful enough to break through the sensor shielding. Whatever was happening, it was big.

"Supreme Commander," said an Asgardian. "I have found something you should see."

"On screen," Thor ordered.

The display changed to focus on a patch of the moons surface. It wasn't obvious at first but a long dark x shape was forming on the surface, and it took the onlookers to realise what it was.

"It's a door," Thor said out loud.

"A very big door," Johnny added.

Fully open now, the door revealed a dark pit going deep into the moon that was easily a kilometre across and possibly even two.

"Energy readings and life signs detected Supreme Commander. Something is emerging."

From the depths of the pit emerged a sight that had not been seen for a long time. An Alteran ship that was similar to an Aurora class. Unlike the Aurora, Orion and Tria or the former Traveller vessel this ship showed no signs of damage, nor any signs that it had ever been anywhere near a battle before. Her hull was pristine, completely unmarked and for all anyone knew the vessel could have been brand new. As she rose out of the deep pit her shields glowed as they touched with the defensive shield protecting the moon in its entirety.

"Damn it," Johnny whispered. "Hellstorm rounds are no good against that thing."

"I know," Thor said. "We'll have to either engage it in standard combat, or let it go."

Due to the nature of the Hellstorm rounds they wouldn't be effective against the conformal shields of an Alteran vessel. With the shields so close to the hull they would likely de-phase inside a wall and thus making the weapons useless.

"Thor with that door open our sensors can penetrate deeper into the facility," Johnny said. "Thor, there are only a few life signs in that facility that aren't ours, and they're dropping."

"They're evacuating," Thor realised. "That ship is a life boat. We need to stop it."

But no sooner had he said the word than the unnamed Alteran vessel jumped into hyperspace, fleeing the scene as fast as its engines would allow.

"Can we track it?" Johnny asked.

"They're blocking us somehow," Thor replied.

"For crying out loud!"

"Colonel Sheppard, we have a problem."

"I copy that Thor," Sheppard said. "I'm about to breach the door. I'll be taking prisoners."

The now burnt and battered blast door finally yielded to the combined might of the energy cannons directed at it and shattered inwards. With a few good kicks from a servo enhanced armoured boot the remaining twisted metal finally gave in as well and they were in. As they stepped over the threshold they were nearly blinded by a bright light emanating from a tank at the end of the room. Averting his gaze from the dazzling sight Sheppard took note of the dozen plus stasis pods in the room, each with a conduit leading to the central tank, some of which were occupied by a man. Just the one man, because every figure in those occupied pods was the same height, weight, age and even had the same face. There were only a handful of them that were occupied now but it was undoubtedly the same person in each of them.

From some unseen source a voice rang throughout the room and a question was asked.

"How does someone become stronger without changing themselves in any way? The answer…well that should be obvious by now."

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