Stargate Millennium: Legacy

by StargateMillennium

Earth knows about the stargate. A plan to form a new Alliance of great races is now in motion. Tensions between allies are at an all time high and threaten to destroy what they've built. An old enemy has returned. And with Millennium reconnected with Earth, Wolf Pack will need to try to preserve the legacy of the heroes who came before them.

6. The Storm (Part II)

"Murder rates across the country are at a fifty year record high. Clashes with police can be seen in every city as businesses are forced to close in response to keep their employees safe."

"The UN is meeting today to vote on what is to be done with the SGC and the stargate."

"200 horsepower engine, 60 miles per hour, but it's not the crash that kills you. It's the sudden stop. Air bags have done wonders to reduce this. But what if we can do better? Introducing Amax: the first civilian inertial dampeners. Government starships can go from zero to half the speed of light and their crews survive thanks to these things. Now these are smaller and weaker, but we only need to go from 100 to 0. Now this head-on collision that would've killed this family of four…is nothing more than a speed bump."

-.-

Chen watched as Anise picked up a bottle of wine and poured herself a glass. Her lab was very organized and she kept her own cabinet of wine and wine glasses away from all her equipment.

"Care for a drink?" she offered, gingerly picking up the delicate glass in her hand.

"A Tok'ra with a taste for fine wine," Chen observed. "But I'll pass." Frankly Chen hated the taste of alcohol. He never understood the appeal. Tastes like crap and you feel like crap later. A pleasant buzz was not worth those two things.

Anise returned to the table with her glass before taking a seat. Now that he had a good look at her face, Chen could see the resemblance to Anise's photo even with the hair dye. New uniform. New hair. Everything but a new face.

"So, tell me," she said. "Why have you come here?"

"I thought we could talk in private," Chen replied. "If I want information on what's going on, I can only get anything from Mercer. But he'll pick and choose what he lets me know."

"And you assume I won't?"

"I'm hoping you won't. Because unlike Mercer, you're not a head honcho in charge. You're like me, a subordinate, left to get pushed around by people above them."

"That is hardly a reason for me to betray my people," Anise remarked.

"Hardly a betrayal. Think of us as liaison officers."

"Liaison?" Anise repeated. "For what reason do you think we would even attempt such a thing?"

"Because thanks to the bumbling of you and your Council, I'm pretty sure the Tok'ra-Earth alliance is on the fritz," Chen scoffed. He had injected a bit more venom into that statement on purpose. He was hoping he could get an emotional reaction out of Anise. But she didn't jump to any defense, at least not how he thought she would. He figured that Anise would be hard to crack, a member of a resistance movement specializing in subterfuge and all, but he had to try. It seemed the only thing she reacted to was being called Goa'uld, but even those reactions were subtle.

"I do not believe I should hold the blame for the decisions of my Council," Anise replied, remaining composed. "Though, if you really wish to glean more information, perhaps you should try asking if you really wish for us to work together."

Chen smirked. Not only did his attempt not work, but she also pieced together

"Alright then," he said. "How do you feel about the decision to upload viruses and malware onto Earth ships?" Anise didn't say anything, but she didn't have to. Chen could read her face: 'what makes you think I'll tell you that?'

"You're the one who told me to ask my question," Chen stated simply.

"It is not my place to question the decisions of the Council," Anise answered.

"I'm not saying you have to or even should disobey. I'm just asking for your opinion."

"Do your people not have regulations against speaking against your superiors?"

"Within certain limits."

Anise turned away, considering his words.

"I do not agree," she said. "It was a brash decision made out of fear. This is not the first brash decision they have made."

"It sounds like you've been harboring frustrations for a while. Something you want to say?" Anise looked up at Chen again as if to protest but considered what he said earlier.

"I once approached your people with a recent archaeological and scientific discovery," she stated plainly. "It was an earnest desire to advance our knowledge. The Council wished to utilize my find against the Goa'uld. There were unforeseen changes to the behavior of the associated personnel who were nearly killed disobeying orders and conducting the mission. I was left to bear the scorn of your people as well as reprimand from my Council for losing devices."

"See, we're making progress," Chen remarked. "So maybe we can be open on this information exchange. I'm not saying you need to spill every Tok'ra secret. I'm just saying next time you fear something done on behalf of the Tau'ri, you come to us instead of putting malware on our ships."

Anise looked at Chen suspiciously.

"I will need to discuss this with the Tok'ra Council," she said.

"You mean the local council or the high council?"

Chen could see Anise's surprise that he knew about the local council. The Tok'ra High Council wasn't going to come to another galaxy, so they needed agents to form their own council to serve as the local leadership and report to the high council. He knew the IOA were doing the same, using local agents to monitor and make local decisions while reporting back to their superiors thanks to the communication stones. The two local bodies were probably even collaborating.

"I will consult the local council," Anise said. "But this decision will ultimately be up to the high council. You will also need to consult General Mercer of this action. They will ultimately decide whether or not this exchange is appropriate."

"Works for me," Chen remarked.

-.-

Nova has never seen Ha'kar so silent before. It was evident that this idea of attacking The Castle was bothering him. He stood in there meeting chamber, his hands behind his back but his face stern. Peterson was eyeing him nervously. The dark gray stone chamber and the orange lights simply made the stern face look all the more serious. When the self-proclaimed funny one was serious, that meant something was wrong.

"What is it?" Nova asked.

"This invasion…" Ha'kar said. "I still feel strongly against it. I cannot imagine why the Council would agree to this."

Nova could. Her mind went back to the virus. The Tok'ra putting a virus in an Earth battleship was bad news for them. They were the ones that revealed the truth about The Castle, probably in a desperate attempt to smooth some very ruffled feathers. She doubted the Tok'ra and Earth would go to war. At worst she could imagine them severing relations. Then again, she knew nothing about diplomacy. She was only guessing this openness was an attempt to make amends.

"Regardless, we need to plan from here," Nova said.

"Very well," Ha'kar said. "What is our next course of action?"

"Next," a voice from the door called out. Nova turned around to see Colonel Mitchell. "I take a look at what we have and report back to General Landry."

As Mitchell walked in, Nova immediately stood at attention.

"Colonel Mitchell, sir."

"At ease major," Mitchell said. "Landry sent me to see what we have and see if we need help devising a plan." Mitchell clapped his hands excitedly. "So, let's get started."

Mitchell did take a moment to take in the room. It was a modestly sized stone room, various chest pieces adorning the wall each with a symbol engraved on it, various swords and spears also part of the décor. Columns protruded from the wall on one side and on the other side the columns was part of the windows. Gems in the ceiling shone the light on the golden computer at the center, a pedestal with a massive red gem at its center.

"Very well," Ha'kar stated, taking a data crystal out of a pouch on his belt. He went up to the computer. Meanwhile Nova leaned in to whisper to Mitchell.

"Sir," she said quietly. "With all due respect, shouldn't attacks like these be planned by officers and military tacticians?" It wasn't that she doubted Colonel Mitchell's strategic mind. She doubted her own. Leading a small squad was one thing. But this was something that needed an army or a fleet.

"Well, it would be," Mitchell whispered back. "But the IOA has requested Athena help strategize. Goddess of battle strategy and all that."

"What?!" Nova hissed, trying to keep her voice down. "Are they nuts? The jaffa will absolutely lose their minds if they find out we have Athena. Besides, she's still a Goa'uld!"

"I thought you asked for her help during Operation Typhon," Mitchell pointed out. Nova stuttered, not sure what to say. Mitchell caught that. Truth be told she did it out of desperation. They weren't desperate so she had to question the wisdom of trusting a Goa'uld of all people. "Look, that's why Landry wanted me to come first, see if we can get this planned out without involving Athena."

"Colonel," Ha'kar said, turning around. Nova and Mitchell immediately stepped apart to hide that they were whispering to each other. "Shall we?"

"Right!" Mitchell said, walking forward. Nova let him go first then followed. Ha'kar had brought up a holographic image of the planet in question. Text scrolled past in the corner, listing out the details about the planet like the different biomes, the thickness of the atmosphere, the radius, distance from the sun, and such.

"The Tok'ra have handed in their data," Ha'kar said. "This is the planet where the Lucian Alliance has its headquarters. It used to be a Goa'uld prison planet."

"Prison planet?" Nova repeated. She's heard of slave planets and mining planets but never prison planets before. Normally Goa'uld justice was a simple execution for failing their god.

"It is not as pleasant as it sounds. It was used as a punishment. Jaffa and humans were sent there where they would take part in gladiatorial matches."

"Bad," Mitchell remarked. "Was actually expecting worse."

"Many times, their opponents would range from the worst criminals to beasts they could find. We believe Kabal was one such criminal. Perhaps even their reigning champion before the demise of the System Lords."

Another hologram popped up, one that showed the mountainous landscape, a network of tunnels beneath the surface and towers above. There was faded color on the hologram, but Nova could make out golden pyramids with rougher gray machines and facilities. Black saucers jutted out of the side of mountains. There were golden pyramids and golden towers. There were flat strips of land for ships. And there were smaller golden towers with staff cannons on them.

"This is the prison in question," Ha'kar explained. "The Lucian Alliance refer to it as: The Castle."

"I can see why…" Nova said in awe. "Look at how many staff towers there are."

"It was our intent to bide our time, to make sure we could launch a successful strike against the entire Lucian Alliance leadership. However, the Tau'ri have made it clear they wish to hasten the plan."

"It's not that you boys haven't done a good job," Mitchell clarified. "But the longer we wait, the more people die. And I get that what we're doing is a risk, but sometimes you have to gamble if you want to get anything done."

"Sorry if I'm missing something," Nova said. "But, what are you all afraid of? With the Jaffa Nation fleet and a few 304's, we're guaranteed to win the battle."

"It is not the victory we are concerned about," Ha'kar said. "If even a single Lucian ranking officer escapes, they'll relocate and reform the command structure, one that'll be harder to track and monitor. He will effectively ensure all Lucian Alliance cells are undiscovered."

"Then nuke it from orbit," Mitchell suggested. "It's the only way to be sure."

"That was our intent if we are to attack," Ha'kar said. "Korush'nai has been declared. Such an order is not given lightly."

"Ok, I'm a little rusty on my Goa'uld," Mitchell admitted. "But isn't Korush'nai a bit extreme? I mean, jeez, when I said, 'it's the only way to be sure', it was a hyperbole."

"What's korush'nai?" Nova asked.

"Think of it as an extermination order," Mitchell explained. "We're turning an entire planet into a radioactive crater."

That did not sit well with Nova. There were seven billion people on Earth. How many people were they killing if they wiped out the whole planet?

"If you're worried about casualties, the Tok'ra assure us there are no villages on the planet," Ha'kar said. "The only structures are the Goa'uld strongholds and prisons all of which are havens for the Lucian Alliance. We are free to do with this planet as we please."

"But why?" Nova asked. The knowledge that they weren't going to just extinguish several billion lives made her feel marginally better. Bu they were still going to turn a habitable planet into an uninhabitable rock. What about the animal life?

"These are not conventional foes. These are cowards who hide in holes in the ground. We can never be sure we have eliminated them all."

Ha'kar pressed a button on the control console and an image of a mountainous landscape appeared.

"The Lucian leaders meet at The Castle. However, between meetings they separate. They will reside in bases scattered about the planet, or even in ships in orbit. And the Tok'ra cannot get the exact time of their meeting. It was their hope that they could lure the Lucian leaders to begin residing in The Castle between meetings and thus allowing them to wipe them out at once. Their ships will survive bombardment long enough to escape the atmosphere and enter hyperspace. And that is assuming their bases are not shielded."

Nova gritted her teeth. Short of dedicating exuberant amount of resources to this, she could not think of a way to wipe out all the leaders. The 304's alone could probably win the battle. But winning wasn't enough. If a single Lucian Alliance leader left, then the head of the snake could grow back and learn. And even with Jaffa Nation motherships, she didn't know a good strategy that would stop Lucian motherships from just jumping away once they clear the atmosphere.

"How many ships can we expect from the LA?" Mitchell asked.

"Approximately twelve ha'tak on the planet," Ha'kar said. "Three in orbit. We cannot be certain of what other ships they have at their disposal or in what quantities."

"Alright, so let's park the biggest fleet we have over the planet," Mitchell suggested.

"What about the other side of the planet?" Nova asked. "What's to stop a ship from just skipping across the surface of a planet, reach the other side, and just leave there?"

"Alright, we're gonna need some help with this," Mitchell declared. Yup, this battle was too big for them to plan this on their own. They needed strategists and tacticians.

"Our best battle masters are ready to coordinate with yours," Ha'kar said. "The jaffa council has already contacted the Z'tou of the Jin clan for his aid. Who will he be working with?"

"Yeah…about that," Mitchell said awkwardly. Nova didn't want to dump more fuel on the fire. This was going to be hell to explain. "Allow us to contact our superiors to contact their strategist."

Close call. Now someone else can reveal the bombshell.

The next five hours were…chaotic. Nova, Peterson, and Mitchell headed back to the SGC, promising their superiors would reveal the identity of the strategist.

As the trio walked down the ramp, Nova's eyes widened when she saw a familiar face standing at the bottom.

"Jackson!" Mitchell called out. "What're you doing here?"

"Good to see you too, how's life?" Jackson replied sardonically, clearly picking up that Mitchell was busier asking why he was here and not being happy that he was.

"Sorry," Mitchell said, grasping Daniel's hand for a firm shake. "It's good having you back. But I thought you were at the UN."

"Well, the guys at the UN are taking some time to cool their heads. Landry called me in because of…well…the Athena thing."

Nova felt some comfort in this. Daniel Jackson was perhaps their best negotiator so he was probably the only person who could calm down the jaffa when it all inevitably goes to hell.

"Doctor Jackson," Nova spoke up. "It's a pleasure seeing you again."

"Major Nova, right?" Daniel asked. Nova felt a little flutter in her heart. She met Daniel once before. He knew her name because her team has just recently met the Furlings. She was flustered that he still remembered her.

"What about Athena?" Nova spoke up.

"She's already been informed about what's going on and is busy coming up with a strategy," Daniel explained. "Landry apparently has also contacted Colonel Dalton of the Olympus." Jackson gestured at the control room with his head. Through the window Nova could see a man with a buzz cut and chin curtain talking to Landry. "Who are the jaffa sending?"

"Some guy name Z'tou of the Jin clan."

Jackson nodded, clearly impressed by this little selection.

"The Jin clan is mostly made of Jaffa who used to serve Yu," Jackson rambled. "Yu's old guys will have a lot of good strategists and scholars. I mean, they helped keep Yu's empire together even when he was going senile."

Nova listened in awe. Mitchell wasn't part of the OG SG-1 team. She's only worked with Mitchell once. It was O'Neill who started most of the legends. But Mithcell was still SG-1. Hearing him and Jackson go back and forth, was this what it was like listening to a meeting of the gods? But, Nova also knew she was fangirling.

"Mitchell!" Landry called out, walking into the gate room. "Should we expect things to hit the fan?"

"Yeah, that's a good assumption," Mitchell said. "They already didn't want to do this. They'll want it even less once we tell them we have Athena."

"Speaking of which, Jackson, you're up," Landry said. Nova remembered the wormhole was still open so that they could reveal the identity of their strategist. Jackson gritted his teeth, sighed, then walked out of the gate room.

"Permission to check in on Athena," Nova requested. "I'd like to see what she's come up with."

Landry nodded, giving her permission. Nova walked out of the room. She was going to turn in her weapon and take her gear off before checking in Athena.

-,-

Landry waited in the back patiently at Daniel handled the negotiations.

"K'tan of the Free Jaffa Nation," a voice on speaker announced. "We reach out to the Tau'ri for a joint invasion of the Lucian Alliance headquarters."

"Um…this is Daniel Jackson," Daniel greeted nervously, still trying to think of how to gently drop the bomb. "We have prepared our strategists and are ready to work with your battle masters."

"We are sending Z'tou of the Jin clan. Who shall he be working with?"

Here goes nothing.

"We have Colonel Bruce Dalton and…Athena…"

There was a distinct crash on the other side, like a wooden chair falling over. Since Daniel could hear a dozen or so other chairs scraping back quickly, he assumed one of the jaffa got up so fast he knocked his chair over.

"What?!" one of the jaffa roared. Something must be happening on their end. The jaffa in the council quickly quieted down.

"No," K'tan said firmly but calmly. "We demand you turn Athena to us now to have her face judgement."

"We can't do that."

"And why is that?"

"We made a deal with her. In exchange for her service and sharing her host's body, she is allowed to live."

"That decision is not up to you. Athena must be made to pay for her crimes!"

Daniel could tell every jaffa in the room was furious. It was rather awing to see the human being the calm one. But Daniel's mind was already doing an Olympic sprint to try to resolve the situation.

"We can't do that," Colonel Dalton said next to him. "Athena is a valuable source of information. We need to milk her for all her knowledge."

Daniel his hand up to tell the Colonel to be quiet since he was clearly not helping the situation.

"Alright, you want Athena to pay for what she's done," Daniel said. "She has no slaves, she has no armies, she has no power. She's now working for humans, a race of being she sees as inferior. She is now in service to those she would once enslave. This is the biggest humiliation a Goa'uld could face, maybe even worse than death. If you let us keep her we can not only make sure other Goa'uld that are on the run and hiding can be brought to face justice but we are punishing her at the same time."

"She is not yours to punish."

"Look, we will share whatever information we get from her but we ask you let us keep her," Daniel pleaded exasperatedly.

The jaffa councilors began whispering among themselves. They were clearly angry, angry enough that Daniel could not help but feel they would not buy it.

"Very well," K'tan said. Daniel exchanged shocked glances with Dalton and Landry. He wasn't going to complain but he didn't expect this turn around. He had just begun thinking of different things to give them in exchange.

"Really?" he stuttered by accident.

"We'll permit this so long as we may take advantage of her services as well. It will be pleasure to press into service one who once enslaved us."

"I'll have to bring it up with my superiors," Colonel Dalton said.

"But I can't imagine why they would say no," Daniel added. It wasn't a lie. At least it probably wasn't. It was a positive statement that would reassure the jaffa while technically not guaranteeing anything.

"We will send over Z'tou within the hour," K'tan concluded. With that, the gate deactivated, the water inside the ring evaporating and the water dying down.

-.-

The Jaffa Council. At one point of time they were comprised of the most powerful warlords in the Jaffa Nation. Their government has since been restructured, their leaders elected instead.

At the head of the Jaffa Council was K'tan, former slave of Camulus. Now, he helped guide the Jaffa government.

On Ithryll, the Jaffa Council was still in shock. K'tan had ordered a recess to let him think and to keep the pace. The balding jaffa stared at the wall, his hand stroking his chin, the sleeves of his robes hanging from his arms. But two members remained. One was Kal'lel of the Hak'tyl clan, elected for another term. Her curly brown hair hung in front of her white robes, her tiara obscuring Moloc's symbol. The other was Janaab of the Cho'ol Clan, former slaves of Zipacna. His mark was hidden by his long black hair, his face round yet not plump, wearing a gray tailcoat with golden trim.

"I am not comfortable with this," Kal'lel whispered.

"Neither am I," K'tan replied. "It is one thing to glean information from a Goa'uld. It is another to have one control your forces in any capacity. I fear Athena intends to lead our ships to their demise."

"That was not my fear. I was fearing that she would intentionally give us a flawed strategy so that the Lucian Alliance may win the conflict."

"We could prevent such a scenario by allowing our battle masters to analyze the strategy given. But if Athena has any plans that could wipe out our fleet, then we would not realize until it is too late."

"Surely, she would not dare try to sabotage these plans while a prisoner of the Tau'ri."

"The Tau'ri are too soft on her. What has to fear in their custody?"

"We must also consider the possibility that she is not lying," Janaah said. "We are to be launching an attack on The Castle regardless. Sabotaging our own efforts will prove costly, especially if she ends up being sincere."

K'tan growled quietly, taking in all the information.

"K'tan," Janaah said. "I understand we wish to mend relations with the Tau'ri, but is our alliance worth this much? The mistake was not made by us. We should not suffer the consequences. And we should not bend the knee to anyone just to appease them. Athena MUST be brought to justice."

"You cannot be possibly suggesting we take her?" Kal'lel scoffed.

"Why not? Gerak found Ba'al on Earth using the same method."

"A meaningless action because of his cloning. We are not the System Lords. We do not force our will on others."

"Thank, both of you, for your council," K'tan interrupted. "In terms of what shall be done with Athena, we shall put it to a vote later. For now, I wish to speak to Z'tou in private."

-.-

Athena looked at the map incredulously. She had her own questions as to why the Tau'ri insist on using flat screens when they have holographic technology. But her mind was on the battle.

"I know I am a goddess, but you ask the impossible," she scoffed. Nova knew she had worked with Athena twice before, but it still felt strange.

"Aren't you the one who's always bragging how a single mothership can wipe us all out?" Mitchell asked. "Look, a deal's a deal. You help us, we let you live. Or we can give you to the Tok'ra."

Athena glared at Mitchell before turning back to the holographic projection. She growled before turning back to the screen.

"If you dial the planet you will effectively cut off their means of escape through the gate," Athena thought aloud. "However, you must find a means of exterminating all the leaders across the planet wherever they may be hiding. You said the Jaffa have called for korush'nai?"

"They have," Nova confirmed.

"That may be the only way you can assure that all Lucian Alliance leaders are exterminated. Unfortunately, the longer this takes, the more likely one will escape. You will need to purge the planet as quickly as possible."

"What about HORIZON?"

"Denied," Mitchell said. "The request already got turned down. With the how the political climate is now, no one's going to want to be remembered as the one who released a two thousand gigaton WMD.

"You mean the politicians are handicapping us for the sake of appearances," Nova translated bitterly. They were going to wipe out the planet anyways. Done in a few giant explosions or hundreds of smaller ones, it still gets wiped out. But the politicians don't care. They want to look good even if it means making the SGC's job harder.

"Hey, frankly I'm surprise we got the green light on this anyways. Wiping out a planet and all."

Nova wasn't around when the SGC had full autonomy, but man did she wish they did. She was beginning to see what Martin was so worried about when it came to oversight.

"Enough!" Athena commanded. "I request you two step outside and allow me to devise a strategy."

Mitchell waved Nova to follow him and she did just that. As they stepped out, Nova spotted Dalton walking in with another man. It was a bald jaffa with Yu's silver emblem on his forehead wearing a red cuirass. He was clearly not happy but the two of them went into the room Athena was in.

"Hey, make sure they don't kill each other," Mitchell whispered to the airman in front of the door.

Once she and Mitchell were alone in the hall, Nova ran her fingers through her hair and groaned.

"What is happening to this country?" she moaned. "To this planet? I thought the stargate would be that uniting factor. You know, bigger fish to fry out there and all that."

"It is doing that," Mitchell assured. "It just taking the long way around."

"Long way around?" Nova repeated.

"Earth's always had a long list of things they put on the backburner. Cease fires, temporary treaties, territories that want to be recognized as countries. They know the planet's gonna have to unite, so they're afraid their issues are going to be permanently shelved."

"So, they're trying to get it solved as quickly as possible now."

"That and history is definitely going to remember this moment. Before the stargate, politicians always tried to divide people so they can be in charge. Whoever gets to take charge now gets first dibs at the history books so they're gonna double down on that. Look, things are going to get worse before they get better. But if I've learned one thing, it's that you have to have faith things will get better."

Nova looked back at Athena, pacing around the holographic map of the planet, deep in thought with Z'tou and Colonel Dalton.

"I hope you're right," she said.

-.-

Two days later, things were going down. Nova was called in early. Earlier than normal. She got dressed in her green uniform, which she was still trying to get used to again, before heading back to the SGC. There, the place was crowded. Technicians ran around. Carts full of supplies were on the move.

It wasn't just that though. There were jaffa.. Some wore robes. Some wore uniforms. Others wore armor. But there were jaffa in the SGC. And from the looks of their clothing, they were clearly all high-ranking military officials. Battle masters. First primes. Praetors. Primuses.

"Peterson!" Nova called out when she spotted him "So they have a plan? The invasion is underway."

"That's what I heard," Peterson said, still walking. "They have me doing 302 logistics."

"They called me for the debriefing," Nova said. "Headed there now."

So the invasion was going down. The only other military act of this scale she could think of was the Attack on Asuras. That was before her time though. Would this count as a larger than that? Either way, this was certainly the largest undertaking she was going to be part of. And this would be a new experience too. Her 302 experience mostly came from her tour of Atlantis, flying against wraith darts. Death gliders will be something new.

Nova went to the briefing room where she was handed a thick folder. The folder had all the relevant documents as well as a notepad and pencil for her to scribble anything else she wanted to note.

The room was crowded. The table at the center was completely filled with someone occupying every chair. There were also people standing around the room, leaning against the wall or just standing.

Nova stood near the General's office, trying to make herself comfortable. There were at least thirty people here. Jaffa. SGC personnel. Even a few members of the IOA.

Nova could see Mitchell in the crowd. She also saw Ha'kar, perhaps the only jaffa conversing and making small talk with SGC personnel.

Nova could already feel adrenaline in her system as she got antsier and antsier.

Finally, Athena and Colonel Dalton entered the room, both of them in the standard SGC uniforms. They took their folders, the lights dimmed, the projector turned on, and the briefing began.

Though, it did feel…wrong. Having military leaders even if they were jaffa, that was normal. But having Athena there? Having her brief the soldiers? She took a risk trusting Athena in the past. Were they ready to trust Athena with something this big?

But it didn't seem like Athena was leading this briefing. Colonel Dalton was.

A diagram of a jaffa mothership appeared on the board showing different statistics like its size, the number of death gliders it held, and its armament.

"This is your standard issue Goa'uld Ha'tak class vessel, also known as a mothership. They are the mainstay of the Goa'uld Empire and now the Jaffa Nation. One Ha'tak has the firepower to wipe out all life on a planet. Its only two limiting factors are time and orbital defenses."

Nova scribbled notes in a notepad. Paying attention during a briefing was always required but she was now doing it out of curiosity and excitement. The Goa'uld mothership was something often talked about during the dark days of the galaxy. Alternate realities had Earth being conquered by anywhere from one to four motherships. Hell, their Earth was attacked by two Goa'uld motherships during the early days. Even when Earth began building ships, they still could not stand against a mothership. But with the Asgard upgrades, the fear of the ha'tak had become a thing of the past.

Still…

Nova's pen paused as she thought about it. A Lucian Alliance hata'k was destroyed trying to do a hit-and-run on Earth. Two bolts hit the ocean, causing a tsunami. Three bolts hit in the middle of nowhere. But a few of the bolts hit towns and cities, leaving nothing but massive craters behind.

"These ships will be both your enemy and our allies for the upcoming fight," Athena said. "You will be attacking The Castle, the heart of the Lucian Alliance. Once you exit hyperspace, four ha'tak will take up positions in orbit above the planet. I will transmit you the coordinates for exactly where they should be positioned. From this position you will cover the planet in fire."

Nova didn't know how this sort of thing was calculated but she believed it. On the hologram the ships extended a green sphere to indicate the fields of fire. The spheres were like light and the planet blocked it.

"For the first phase, the qua'rac will move to the front and form the primary defensive line and protect the motherships," Athena continued. "The Tau'ri vessel Olympus will not have a single position. They will try to draw the fire of enemy vessels and orbital defenses while using their weapons to target any ships that pass the qua'rac. This will form a blockade over the planet." The image changed to the image of another ship. Even though the hologram was the same size, Nova could tell this was a much larger ship.

"The qua'rac class ships will be our heavy hitters," Colonel Dalton said. "Once we're in orbit and cleared out anyone in space, the jaffa motherships will open fire on the planet while the qua'rac engage any ships. Fighters and bombers will be deployed to assist in the screening. These will include the death gliders, the 302, al'kesh, and 306's. The capital ships' primary target will be the motherships, al'kesh secondary. Al'kesh will be the primary target for the fighters, 306's, and bombers. If you see a cargo ship, that takes precedence even over al'kesh. We cannot let them cloak and get away. Olympus will run interference, try to take the heat off the other ships. The Lucian Alliance knows we have the plasma beam so they'll want to steer clear of us. If a qua'rac falls, Olympus will switch roles and take its place."

"The Tau'ri will dial the planet," Athena added. "Escape will only be possible via their ships. The ha'tak have until the connection expires to complete their bombardment. They will then transition to stop any ships from escaping."

"Colonel," one of the pilots spoke up. "I was under the impression our target was going to be a single former Goa'uld prison."

"The Castle is the meeting place of the Lucian Alliance leaders. While we can get the general date of their meetings, we cannot get their exact schedule. Their leaders are scattered across the planet either in shelters or in their ships. And we don't know exactly where. The only way to be sure is to completely level the whole planet and evaporate the oceans."

"Victory is assured," Athena said. "However, victory in this case is not enough. You must allow no survivors from this conflict."

"What of the rest of the planet?" a jaffa asked. "A ship can easily travel along the surface of the planet and escape from the other direction."

"Odyssey will be patrolling the other side of the planet," Dalton said. "And the ships will be running scans of the planet. If they see a ship trying to travel along its surface, they treat it like any other ship. Cloaked cargo ships will also leave a distinct heat signature in atmosphere. Their only choice would be to cloak in orbit. But regardless, cargo ships are a higher priority than al'kesh."

"With all due respect," another pilot said. "And no disrespect to the jaffa, but why do we need them? Can't our 304's handle this?"

The Colonel clicked his remote and an image of a 304 appeared.

"It is true that with the Asgard upgrades the 304's shields vastly exceed that of the ha'tak. But our weapons are limited. The only weapon effective against a mothership are the Asgard beam weapons. Our nak-nukes are only effective against unshielded ships and the railguns will only do superficial damage against a ship's hull. If they decide to fight us, we can take them on, but we won't be able to stop them if they decide to run."

"Your greatest concern is the possibility of certain structures on the planet being shielded or perhaps protected by some other point defense weapon," Athena said. "If at the end of the bombardment there are still intact structures, we begin the second phase of the attack." One cue, the hologram changed again. The qua'rac and ha'tak switched positions while the Olympus moved to the back. "The ha'tak will form the primary defensive line while the qua'rac take positions behind. The Tau'ri ship will retain their roles. Fighters will go to the planet and finish what remains."

"If a fleet of ha'tak haven't cracked the shield yet, what makes you think a few fighters can?" a pilot asked incredulously, no respect shown. There was still animosity when it came to the Goa'uld.

"For the bombing, the motherships will have to have their weapons calibrated for maximum explosive radius," Dalton explained. "They'd have to recalibrate them for penetration to crack the shield. Al'kesh should be enough as long as they calibrate their bombs accordingly."

A hologram of a death glider appeared including specs on its weapons and engines.

"Jaffa gliders will establish kill zones with overlapping fields of fire. The 302's will use air to air missiles to funnel their gliders into ours. Fighters will be broken down into two wings. The forward wing will plow the way for the secondary wing which will begin making runs on the buildings. Once we're on top of the Castle, first wing will cover the second wing. Any questions?"

The room was silent.

"Excellent. Dismissed!"

-.-

The Castle Siege. That was what they were calling it. The biggest military undertaking since the Battle of Asuras.

Regardless, ships were being prepped. The 304's were being loaded with extra rails for the railguns and engineers were calibrating the shields to maximize strength. Jaffa were in the SGC to discuss how to coordinate with each other and Nova and Peterson were on another jaffa planet to do the same.

Nova looked up at the ha'tak. She never got to appreciate just how massive they were until now since she was standing right before one. The massive ships had triangular black structures like oversized scaffolds surrounding a central structure. Most of the ha'tak had massive golden pyramids as its central structure. But she also saw ones with massive white domes that reminded her of Roman coliseums and domes that reminded her of ancient Chinese temples. It made sense to her that each Goa'uld would stylize their motherships to their own culture.

This close to a ha'tak, Nova could see the details on the hull, the dull charcoal black metal surface with a few windows with light pouring out of it. With so many windows it created a beautiful mosaic of light against the black. Nova could see enormous single-gun turrets on the ship, each gun attached to a stout rectangular base. And there were dozens of them all across the ship.

But the ship Nova was headed to wasn't a ha'tak. It was one of those qua'rac she heard about in the briefing. Her destination was a stepped pyramid that the massive qua'rac had landed on. Ha'tak were already the size of mountains and this ship was even bigger.

"Holy crap," Peterson remarked. "Look at that thing!"

From the base of the pyramid, they could see the qua'rac above. They still possessed the familiar pyramid with a triangular frame around it. But everything was bigger. The pyramid was bigger. And the black frame around it was much bigger to the point that it almost enveloped its pyramid. But rather than having the extensions on the sides like a ha'tak, this ship had massive triangular extensions on each of the tips instead, each one so large that together it made the superstructure look like a much larger triangular shape that was inverted in relation to its pyramid. There were three extensions on each side of this larger triangle instead of two, the center extension being notably shorter.

Even from this distance they could see the sheer number of weapons all across the ship's hull. There were more guns on this thing than a regular mothership. And she could see several very large ones placed around the outside of the frame, perhaps the largest staff cannons she's ever laid eyes on. She could also see what she initially thought were giant bricks attached to rotating turrets as well. But on second look, she realized those 'bricks' were bundles of barrels like a multi-rocket launcher.

"Alright, we still have a hundred floors to go before reaching that thing," Nova said. They went inside the pyramid and took the moving platform to the top of the pyramid like an elevator. The jaffa at the top opened the door. Stepping out, she could hear the muffled sound of wind. She had reached the top of the stepped pyramid, the golden room pyramidal with four massive doors leading outside. Looking around, she could see she was now outside the pyramid, in the concave at the bottom of the qua'rac. From the side of the triangular interior of the concave were ramps extending from massive doors. Though 'doors' made it seem smaller than it actually was. These doors could fit a C5 Galaxy. And all these ramps reached the pyramid, the base of the ramp reshaping so it could fit perfectly against the side of the four-sided pyramid it was landing on.

Nova set foot on the ramp. She could hear the metal clank under her boot as she shifted her weight so she could adjust for the incline.

The wind outside was howling at this height and became an updraft. Nova made the mistake of looking over the edge of the ramp. It was a long fall to the bottom. What did the jaffa have against guard rails?

Walking down the ramp was Ha'kar. He was back in his armor and his spear weapon in his hand.

"Major Nova," Ha'kar greeted as his helmet retracted. "I was told to expect you. I was not told why."

"Colonel Mitchell and Dalton want us to help program IFF beacons on your ships," Nova remarked. "That way we'll be able to know who's who in the fight."

"What of the other ships?" Ha'kar asked.

"We have people doing the same with them."

Ha'kar paused to take in everything.

"Follow me," he said. He tapped his spear on the ground and headed back up the ramp. Nova and Peterson followed closely. The bottom of the ship looked to be some sort of cargo area. She could see storage crates neatly stacked on top of one another. The place was built like a huge garage, spacious with a few orange columns contrasting the gray floor and ceiling. It was nearly the width of a football field but she could see the other side of the pyramid, and she could see the wall. It wasn't orange like mothership walls usually were. This looked dull with grooves in them. Looking down, she realized those were ramps, just like the ramp she was walking on. Those ramps could let out an army within minutes.

Ha'kar led the two to the elevator, the golden doors sliding open. Like the ones in Ithryll, it was a shiny cylinder. She guessed there was a slight slant so this elevator could travel up the side of the pyramid, so slight that she couldn't even see it. She stepped in and, like any other elevator, she could feel the elevator begin to move. Guess there was no need for inertial dampeners inside the elevator.

It took a good minute to reach the top floor and Nova felt her ears pop from the acceleration. But once they slowed to a stop, the doors open and the three of them stepped out. They were at the top of the pyramid, on the same floor as the bridge.

Nova was used to the hybrid aesthetic of Ithryll by this point, so it was strange seeing the clearly more advanced interior of the ha'tak. Yes, there were torches but those seemed to be for decoration. She could tell the lights came from actual lights in the walls and ceiling. While the medieval aesthetic was still present, it wasn't like she was walking through a castle anymore. There were columns reminiscent of the castle brick walls, but only reminiscent. It was clear that the bricky design was etched to the surface rather than being composed of actual brick. The floor was dark, almost marble, and the doors were hexagonal.

The ship was also a lot more decorated than she was used to. The 304 did provide a lot of crew comforts like wide corridors and individual quarters. But it was still made to be very function and pragmatic. Very little decoration. This ship was the opposite. It felt like she was walking through a giant temple or palace.

The bridge was a lot smaller than she expected. Despite the advanced technology present with holographic displays and control consoles literally rising out of the floor, it still felt like she was standing in a temple rather than a spaceship. Perhaps a magic temple since the technology here was so advanced it definitely looked like magic.

The helmsman stood at the front with an empty weapons control console for a gunner. A technician was at another control station in the far corner. She looked at the jaffa in throne at the back, his gray robes hanging over the sides. She recognized the eagle emblem tattooed on the man's forehead, matted brown hair on his head.

"Major Terra Nova of the United States Air Force," she introduced, holding out her hand. The jaffa on the throne didn't just take her hand but seized her entire arm with a firm grip.

"I am Praetor Ad'anna," the jaffa said. "For what reason have you been brought board my ship?"

"The Tau'ri are coordinating the usage of unique identification signals for battle," Ha'kar explained. Ad'anna looked at the jaffa in the far corner.

"Jaffa!" Ad'anna barked, the technician turned around, having listened to the conversation and ready to let Peterson do his job.

"Peterson, get to work," Nova ordered as she looked around the room.

"Ha'kar," Ad'anna said, continuing to give commands. "Prepare the weapons. Maximize the yield and calibrate them for maximum penetration."

Ha'kar pressed his fist against his chest and bowed before marching to the weapons controls, putting his hands on the two glowing blue domes.

"Prepare for launch!" Ad'anna announced. Nova just watched as he gave the commands, armored jaffa going about their tasks. Ha'kar was in his spartan guard armor but the other two wore dark vests with metal pauldrons.

Through the view screens at the front, she could see the motherships began to take off. She knew she was in a bigger ship but that didn't make the motherships any smaller. And it was aweing seeing something the size of a mountain suddenly lift up off the ground.

"Tell me, what role will you play in the engagement?" Ad'anna asked.

"I'll be a pilot for one of our fighters," Nova explained. "I'll be part of a squadron led by Colonel Mitchell."

Ad'anna let a 'hmmmm', letting her know he understood what she said. His face was stern even for a jaffa.

"I assume you aren't a fan of this attack either," Nova concluded.

"My opinion of this decision is irrelevant. The Council has made their decision and I will obey."

"Obey or not, I don't think the Council will forbid you from having an opinion."

Ad'anna looked around as if to make sure no one was listening in.

"I feel this decision is ill-advised," Ad'anna admitted. Nova fought the urge to roll her eyes. During the Dark Era of the Milky Way and the Jaffa Rebellion, jaffa eagerness was well known to the point it was a running joke at the SGC. Even though this was before her time, she's heard all about the jaffa's reputation. The jaffa were always so eager to take down the next goa'uld that they would often forgo guerilla tactics and hit-and-run strategies just to take the next one down. But now that they weren't fighting Goa'uld and it wasn't jaffa being enslaved, now of all times was when they decide to be cautious. "I also do not feel comfortable taking any military advice from Athena."

"She is a military strategist with thousands of years of experience," Nova pointed out.

"True," the Praetor sneered. "And it brings me great joy to see her brought low and humiliated in such a fashion."

"Praetor," the jaffa from the front announced. "I am receiving a transmission from the Tau'ri ship, Odyssey."

"Answer," Ad'anna ordered.

Nova looked forward to see an image appear on screen, a bald man standing on the bridge of a 304.

"This is Colonel Dalton of the Earth ship Olympus," the man said. "I've been contacting the individual ships for a status report."

"I am Praetor Ad'anna," Ad'anna said. "We are ready. Your people have merely been giving us one of your identification signals."

"What is your status, Lieutenant?" Dalton asked.

"Just finished, sir," Peterson reported, standing back from the computer at attention.

"Then we shall prepare for launch," Ad'anna announced. The helmsman put his hands into the crystal slots.

"We're beaming our people back aboard," Dalton said. Nova knew what that meant. She and Peterson both stood together in the middle of the bridge.

"Ready!" Nova announced.

Nova closed her eyes as the world was engulfed in blinding white light. Even with her lids closed she could see the light penetrate the thin layers and into her retina. When the light died, she opened her eyes and she saw the 304 bridge. It was much better lit than other 304's she's been on.

"Major," Dalton greeted. "Welcome aboard the Olympus. I want you to get geared up and head for the hangar."

-.-

In orbit, two Tau'ri 304's hung in geosynchronous orbit. The Olympus was certainly the shiniest of the Tau'ri fleet, especially since it sat next to the Odyssey. Not much later, ships from the planet joined it in orbit. Two qua'rac and four ha'tak soon joined it in orbit.

-.-

With the capital ships prepped and on their way, all pilots had to get ready too. All major preparations were done before the ships were even launched. They just needed to get the personnel in place. Pilots got geared up and headed for the hangar

Nova geared up in the locker room. The gear for the 302 was a lot looser than a normal fighter jet, thank god for inertial dampeners, but that didn't make it comfortable. And frankly her voluptuous body shape made it worse.

As Nova walked out, she looked at the faces of every pilot who passed her. A lot of these people weren't coming back from this battle. Frankly, she didn't even know if she was going to. She might die in a different galaxy away from her family. There was no spell or magic enchantment in place that made her any less liable to be shot out of the sky. She had her skills to rely on but luck was always a factor too. She might join the corpses floating in the dead of space.

Nova's fist tightened. She refused to die. Not yet. Her family was waiting for her back on Millennium and she was going to see them again.

Still, that didn't change the fact a lot of people were going to die. All the Lucian Alliance pirates were going to die. And plenty of pilots and jaffa will join them.

In the hangar, everyone was hard at work. Pilots were running to their 302's. Flight crew pushed pallets of cargo out of the way.

Nova and Peterson climbed the ladder to the cockpit, Nova getting in front. Nova had to climb with a hand occupied since she had her pubs bag with her. Two members of the flight crew were at the cockpit to help them. No matter how many times you do it, getting into the cockpit was weird and Nova, once again, found her shins getting bumped against the metal frame. She handed the bags to them and sat down as they began to strap her in. She lowered her head so she could put on her helmet, the free-hanging mask bouncing against her collar.

Nova reached down between the seat and cockpit frame and pulled out a clipboard with the preflight checklist.

Something the air force discovered when it came to flying a jet was that making sure everything was safe and in place was too long a task for human memory. And hence the preflight checklist was created. Anyone who wanted the pleasure of flying a spaceship also needed to contend with a MUCH longer preflight checklist. All the other checks had been completed by the flight crew, so she just needed to make sure everything else was in place.

There was so much adrenaline in her system that her hands were shaking as she picked up the board. The storm was coming and she would be at its center.

-.-

The space around the planet lit up like a Christmas tree. Hyperspace windows opened up, tiling the blackness of space with shimmering azure. Ripples were sent out across the fabric of space time as clouds seem to seep out of the glowing formation. Ha'tak came zooming from the shimmering portals, particles clinging to their hulls like droplets of water that got flung off as the ships decelerated. The ships scattered around the planet, forming a blockade. Two massive qua'rac ships exited hyperspace and took positions in front of the ha'tak. Finally, a 304 emerged, the BC-304 Olympus. As the rest of the ha'tak took positions around the planet, Olympus began its patrol.

As the ha'tak maneuvered themselves into formation, a rain of orange bolts of energy poured onto the planet. Each time a plasma bolt was fired there was a brilliant auburn flash. Each bolt glowed like a small sun. With so many ships firing at once, the blackness of space was lit up with an epileptic storm of flashing lights, a mad lightning storm that didn't cease. Each bolt was hurtled at the planet, disappearing into the distance. It took a few seconds, but it finally struck. And at maximum yield and maximum explosive capacity, the thing was like a bomb.

Even from high orbit, the massive blasts could be seen. Light would flash from the surface before a crimson shockwave would emanate from its source. Dozens of these appeared all over the continent.

And if the hellish torrent from the ha'tak was aweing, the sheer destruction unleashed from the qua'rac was indescribable. Almost three times as many staff bolts rained upon the four Lucian ha'tak in orbit. There were small staff bolts being fired at an automatic rate. Larger staff bolts were fired at a slower rate but were several times more destructive, not exploding on impact but tearing through the ship and carving a blazing trail of devastation like a wrecking ball through a house of cards. Plasma charges were launched and looked like crimson comets and steadily pounded the enemy ships, enormous clouds of plasma swallowing the ha'tak they hit. The Lucian motherships didn't have enough time to pull their shields up and were swallowed by the onslaught of weapons fire.

Two Lucian ha'tak melted before the firepower set upon them, one of the ships being completely engulfed by flames. The remaining two were able to bring up their shields but they were still heavily damaged by the attacks. The Odyssey swooped in, a blue beam of plasma shooting out and punching straight through one of the ha'tak.

Inside the hangar, Nova and her crew were ready. She was already in the cockpit of her 302, Peterson in the seat behind her. She could hear all the communications over the radio.

"This is Ad'anna. We've arrived in orbit and have begun bombardment of the planet."

"You heard him boys," Mitchell's voice said over the radio. "Lock and load!"

"Templar One, you are clear for launch. Templar Two stand by," the control tower ordered through the radio.

Nova watched as Mitchell's 302 pulled out onto the runway. A massive jet of flame shot out of the back and it took off into space.

"Templar Two, you are clear for launch. Templar Three, stand by."

Nova carefully maneuvered her 302 onto the runway. There was so much adrenaline in her system that being cooped up in a cockpit felt like being caged. Her body wanted to thrash and kick like a trantruming child.

She lowered her visor.

"Wolf Pack, wish me luck," she muttered.

With the press of a button, the engines behind her fighter craft roared to life. She felt herself get thrown back in her seat as the hangar flew past her, her fighter going from zero to a thousand almost instantly. Within the blink of an eye, they were out of the hangar in the void of space. Even with the inertial dampeners she could feel herself getting pushed back in her seat as the fighter accelerated to speeds that could kill a person. In space there was no speed limit. She could accelerate to the speed of light if given enough time. But however much time and energy she puts in going in one direction was how much she'll need to stop going in that direction. Meaning if she goes too fast, she will lose control.

The moment she was out she veered her fighter away from the ship, a swarm of other 302's and allied gliders joining her.

Space was completely silent and all she could hear was the sound of her radio and the sound of her breathing. But she knew that soon enough she would near nothing but the sound of battle.

-.-

Kabal growled as he stared out the holographic screens, reading the data being sent to him. He knew that the Tau'ri, Jaffa, and Tok'ra were mobilizing against them. As powerful as the Lucian Alliance was, they still were no match for the raw might of all three of these galactic powers. Inheriting most of the territory left behind by the goa'uld, the jaffa had power and numbers. The Tau'ri were small but their technology was unrivaled. And the Tok'ra were masters of subterfuge. And all three had their eyes set on them.

"It seems what is inevitable is coming to pass," a voice remarked behind him. Kabal didn't bother turning around. He was still fuming as his criminal empire was now in the crosshairs of the trifecta that took down the Goa'uld.

"You knew this would happen…" Kabal growled.

"Of course!" Moebius chuckled. "Your kassa operations have doubled. Your empire has been increasing in power. You have been expanding your influence. Did you think there would be no consequences?"

"It will only be a matter of time before they make their move against us," Kabal muttered, stepping away from the computer.

"That is assuming they haven't already begun," Moebius pointed out. "Tell the men to prepare for evacuation and maybe you can save your little operation."

Kabal's eyes widened in rage. He gritted his teeth, trying to keep his temper under control.

"I don't take orders from you..." he snarled.

"No, you take orders from your ego," Moebius mocked. "You don't want your operation to fail. To be the laughingstock amongst the leaders of the Lucian Alliance. No, no, you want to be remembered as a great and powerful man, to have people tremble at your name. Which means you will do what it takes to engrave your name in history, even if that means obeying me."

Kabal stormed up to Moebius, getting up into the face of the masked man.

"Remember," Kabal growled. "I brought you in. Not the other way around."

"You brought me in because of the losses inflicted by both the Tau'ri and the rebels. You made a deal with the devil." Moebius placed a hand on Kabal's shoulder. He couldn't see it, but the masked man was smiling. "You need me."

Kabal snarled at Moebius. For a moment, it was impossible to tell if he was going to begrudgingly accept Moebius's words or kill him where he stood. Kabal would never find out which he was going to do. At that moment, a Lucian pirate burst into the room.

"Kabal!" he said urgently. "We've detected a fleet of Jaffa motherships in orbit. They appear to be escorting an Earth battleship."

As if to confirm what the pirate just said, a monstrous roar could be heard outside followed by a boom that shook the building. They all went to the window, watching as great bolts of orange hellfire rained from the sky, hitting the landscape. Bubbles of dirt and flame burst forth from the ground like bubbles from the surface of boiling water, shooting up into the air before falling back down. The bolts peppered the ground like hail. But that was just the light cannons. The main event finally came. A flash of light from outside caught everyone's attention. They watched as a mountain in the distance exploded. Everyone covered their eyes form the blinding flash. Moments later, the light died down, blocked out by a massive wall of smoke that was sweeping across the land. No, it wasn't smoke. It was dust and debris. A wall of debris had exploded forth from the mountain, throwing up everything in its path. The wall of dirt was biblically enormous. Leaves and grass were instantly stripped from the land by the wind preceding the pressure wave that swept across the landscape like an all-consuming monster. Dirt and debris was kicked up and joined its massive form while everything else was just consumed. About three kilometers out, the bubble finally hit a shield. A glowing wall of energy appeared, blocking the shockwave as the dome darkened from the debris flying over the shield encompassing the base. Everyone heard the entire facility rattle, all sunlight completely covered by the dust.

The room trembled, the bookshelf and all its contents shaking. The windows could be seen warping.

A fully charged heavy staff cannon blast had hit over a dozen kilometers in the distance, calibrated to maximize the explosion. And there would likely be hundreds more shots coming down at that moment. And right on cue, they could hear the roar of more ha'tak orbital shots. They weren't operating like the Goa'uld. They weren't firing intimidation shots to show their might. They had skipped that phase and went straight for the main event. The jaffa had only one thing on their mind: extermination. Both light and heavy cannons were being fired. Every inch of land on this planet was to be bathed in flame.

Kabal's face turned red with fury. His expression of rage was enough for the pirate to run from the room in fear. Kabal glared back at Moebius. Finally, he took in a breath and let it out, calming himself down.

"We'll continue this conversation later, Mister Moebius," Kabal said, walking from the room. Moebius smiled from underneath his mask.

"Oh, I look forward to it," he chuckled, following the Lucian leader. They walked swiftly to the next room. Moebius stepped out onto the balcony, looking out at the army before him.

The Lucian Alliance were composed of countless humans. They weren't like the jaffa who spent their entire lives training for battle. But what they lacked in training they made up for in tenacity, unpredictability. And more importantly: numbers. The strip of land in front of them was carpeted in both death gliders and their respective pilots, always ready at a moment's notice to take off.

"Glider pilots!" Kabal boomed. "Take your position. A battle in the skies is upon us."

Upon command, the pirates went to work. They leapt into their death gliders, each starfighter lifting off the ground before taking off into black sky. Within moments, the skies were filled with gliders and al'kesh like a massive flock of birds taking off into the night.

-.-

"Templar One," one of the pilots said. "We are detecting multiple ships coming from the surface. Repeat, multiple inbound bandits."

"Confirmed," Nova said. "Multiple squadrons of gliders and al'kesh. I'm also detecting twelve Lucian motherships. Colonel Mitchell, do you copy?"

"Copy that," Mitchell said.

She could see them on her sensors: dozens upon dozens of gliders and alkesh dotting the glowing planet like specks of dust. And a dozen Lucian ha'tak rising out of the atmosphere were coming to join the battle.

"Tally multiple gliders and al'kesh," another one of the pilots said. "Nose, three hundred kilometers. Motherships at twenty thousand kilometers and closing."

"Alright people, here we go," Nova said. "Good luck everyone." As she looked ahead at the swarm of ships coming at them, knowing they had to make sure not one of them escaped, she muttered under her breath, "We're gonna need it."

"Prioritize the al'kesh!" MItchell ordered. "Templars, reference one two zero."

"Templar two, one two zero," Nova parroted through the radio. Her grip on her stick tightened, her thumb pressing the select switch to choose her AIM 260's.

"Templar one, Fox Three."

"Templar two, Fox Three," Nova said, pulling the trigger. In her radio she heard the other pilots in the squadron announce their call signs followed by Fox Three, the call sign for launching radar-guided missiles at the enemy.

A wall of fire entered her vision as several dozen missiles were launched ahead. At the same time the sensors read the death gliders flying with them firing their staff weapons. But there was something else her sensors picked up.

"This is Templar Five, we have incoming fire."

"Take evasive action!" Mitchell ordered.

"Jink right!" Peterson yelled from behind her. Nova jerked the stick to the right, tilting her fighter. Then she pulled up, weaving them to the side. A storm of orange bolts flew past her. At least one of those Lucian gliders had a weapons lock on her, she was sure of it.

Within moments those specks in the distance were upon them, gliders turning from black dots to massive ships swooping past before, a torrent of orange bolts of energy flying past as Nova flew straight into the swarm. She felt her 302 shake now not only from the roar of the engine but the gliders swooping past.

The moment she was through the swarm of death gliders, she rolled right and pitched up, turning her ship around. Fighters were now zooming in all directions. Missiles and staff bolts filled the void.

Adrenaline shot through her. At any moment one good staff bolt would tear her fighter in two. She wanted to go crazy with her weapons but knew she couldn't. She had a very specific job to do. Even with inertial dampeners, she could feel herself being shoved in a direction as she maneuvered, the inertial dampeners being the only thing stopping her from turning into paste. The straps tying her to the seat were kept tight for that reason. 302's didn't have artificial gravity so anything floating free would be bouncing around the cockpit. She was literally tied to the chair as she veered her fighter through the battle space. Every time a staff bolt flew past, her canopy shook, making the only sound that could be heard. She could hear herself breathing heavily into her mask as she navigated the storm of weapons fire.

"Contact," Peterson reported. "Al'kesh headed for the line."

"Tally one," Nova confirmed, maneuvering herself behind an al'kesh making a beeline for the ha'tak, or rather the gap between them. These mountain-sized behemoths were massive, but they also had to leave massive gaps between them, perfect for the al'kesh to maneuver through. Nova locked on with her missiles and fired. "Fox Three."

She watched the missile head for the al'kesh. But before it could hit, the staff turret on the bottom whipped around and shot the missile. The auburn bolt ripped the missile in half, destroying the warhead and leaving nothing but molten metal scraps. Nova jerked her fighter to the side to avoid the al'kesh staff turret as it soon turned its fire on her. Every time she pitched or rolled, she felt her body try to change in motion and stay behind. She fought to control her fear. If that thing hit her there was definitely no coming back. Her only hope was to try to outmaneuver the turret. But she couldn't just sit there. She needed help taking this thing down.

"Jaffa gliders on our wing," Peterson reported. "They're firing on the al'kesh."

As described, two jaffa gliders soon came up beside Nova, shooting at the al'kesh. The first several volleys were blocked by the shields but they kept the barrage.

"Switching to railguns," Nova said. She used the select switch to select railguns before pulling the trigger. Nova fought the urge to simply hold down the trigger of her rail guns. She would expend all her ammunition within moments and be left with only a few missiles.

She fired controlled bursts, each round of the railgun hitting harder than a 12 inch Mark 7 cannon and this thing was automatic. The combined firepower of the staff cannons and the rail guns soon depleted the shields and not long after the cylindrical engines came flying off the al'kesh. Nova's visor blocked the light of the explosions to keep her from being blinded but Nova could still tell just how bright those explosions were as flames swallowed up half the ship. Nova veered out of the way of the debris which flew past her faster than a bullet. Her safety harness strained to keep her body in place. The entire back of the al'kesh fell away and the remains flew out of control.

Target neutralized. It didn't need to be obliterated. Half a ship couldn't do much.

"Pitching back right," Nova announced.

-.-

Aboard Ad'anna's qua'rac, they could see the ha'tak still coming from the planet. They had already opened fire. And the Lucian motherships was shooting back. They could see orange bolts hit their shields, orange shockwaves rippling across the surface from each impact as the energy was absorbed. Whenever a staff bolt hit their shields, their ship shifted to the side so quickly that, despite the inertial dampeners, they would be rocked with each hit.

The qua'rac was providing cover fire for the ha'tak bombarding the planet. The plasma charges continued filling space with explosions of superheated plasma that threatened to destroy any fighter close to it. But the plasma bolts fired from staff cannons that were also destroyed when they hit the cloud of plasma. The bolts were moving so fast that it was hard to keep track of them with the naked eye, but the sensors could detect where a plasma charge flew at a cluster of staff cannon bolts before exploding and engulfing the bolts. And the lingering plasma cloud acted as a temporary net that caught any other bolts traveling on the same trajectory.

The jaffa all lurched forward as more bolts hit the shields.

"Shields at forty percent," the helmsman said. "We cannot keep this up much longer."

"We need only hold until our brothers have completed their bombardment," Ad'anna explained. "Evasive maneuvers but hold this line."

"Lucian ha'tak closing in from the right," Ha'kar reported.

"Concentrate your fire and close in!"

"Yes, Praetor." Another impact against the shield lurched the ship while the lights flickered.

There was no cover out in space and technically the range was unlimited. The real determining factor was distance and accuracy. Even a half a degree off and a hundred kilometers out and the shot will miss. And they were dealing with thousands of kilometers. The ships will move in to try to get a higher hit rate then pull out to minimize the rate in which they got hit. They might try to fool each other, feint a charge to try to get the ship to extend itself. Or they might commit to a real charge, landing more hits than the other ship. They might maneuver just out of the way of a charging ship to trap it away from its fleet. They might feign retreat to get the enemy ships to overextend themselves. Perhaps he could move slightly away to lure a Lucian ha'tak to overextend, then close the gap, effectively cutting it off from its own fleet and allowing him to destroy it. This was not just a battle between ships the size of small cities. This was a battle for control over the battlespace and the minds of every other commander.

That Lucian ha'tak thought they could quickly get in some hits then run away. But they could always give chase, make sure they get in some good hits. And with the qua'rac's heavier firepower, they would win a battle of strength.

As the Lucian mothership got closer, the qua'rac landed more and more hits now that its focus was on the mothership. The mothership's orange shields blocked the destruction, but it strained under the pressure. Finally, the mothership broke away, heading back to the planet to recharge shields.

"The ha'tak has broken off," the helmsman reported. Ad'anna wanted to pursue. He could've destroyed that ha'tak if he did. But he would leave a hole in the line that he could not afford.

"Get us back in position," Ad'anna said. "Ha'kar, continue searching for targets."

Ha'kar directed the smaller point defense cannons to target the al'kesh while all the heavier staff cannons began shooting at the Lucian ha'tak again. The helmsman directed their ship to patrol the area in front of the ha'tak both to evade weapons fire and to make sure their section was covered.

The Lucian ha'tak kept making passes by the blockade, retreating back to the planet the moment the focus was turned on them. They couldn't safely open a hyperspace window this close to the atmosphere. And they could not reach the proper distance without getting destroyed.

"Another al'kesh is attempting to make it past the line," the helmsman reported.

"Direct fire toward that al'kesh," Ad'anna ordered.

"Yes, Praetor," Ha'kar said as the ship shook again. Ha'kar could see it on his targeting computers. A few heavy staff cannons and light cannons aimed at the al'kesh. The first few shots missed but a light cannon hit the al'kesh and sent it flying out of control. Another hit took down its shields. The third hit ripped through the al'kesh like a wrecking ball, the ship turning into a hundred flaming fragments and sent flying across space.

"Contact Adun," Ad'anna ordered. After that order, an image of a young female jaffa appeared on screen. "Adun, our evasive maneuvers are drifting us too far apart. We must close our line."

The woman nodded before calling "Jaffa!" to crew offscreen.

"Praetor," the helmsman reported. "One of our ha'tak have begun to lose shields."

"Lucian Alliance ha'tak have begun to concentrate their fire on the ha'tak," Ha'kar said.

"Move our ship between our ha'tak and theirs," Ad'anna ordered. This was what he feared. He had asked why weren't the qua'rac used to bombard the planet. Two qua'rac had superior firepower compared to four ha'tak. But two qua'rac meant two targets. Lucian Alliance ha'tak could concentrate fire and if a single qua'rac fell, then the attack would fail. But if a ha'tak fell, the three remaining ones would struggle to make up for the loss but it was still doable.

"Yes, Praetor," the helmsman said. The qua'rac was not as maneuverable as the ha'tak but it wasn't stationary either. Two Lucian ha'tak closed in on the jaffa ha'tak. But soon the qua'rac rose up in front of it, eclipsing the fire while bombarding the two motherships with its own. The two motherships soon retreated.

"Ha'tak have withdrawn," the helmsman reported. "One ha'tak's shields are critical."

"Pursuit course," Ad'anna said. "Concentrate all fire on that attack vessel."

Ha'kar obeyed. Heavy cannons and light cannons shooting at the retreating mothership. The ship's shields flickered out. The next bolt tore through its hull, leaving a flaming trail of destruction. It sheared part of the hull right off the ship.

"Praetor," the helmsman said. "We're are moving too far from the line."

"Take us back," Ad'anna commanded. With that the qua'rac went back to the line. They couldn't overextend. Doing that would leave either themselves or the ships in their fleet vulnerable. Sometimes it'll do both.

The next shot had all the jaffa falling over. Lights all across the ships flickered. A jaffa from down the hall screamed in pain and terror as a power conduit overloaded then exploded. The helmsman was the first to get up, looking up to see orange staff bolts hitting the hull of the ship. There was a small fireball from the explosion, but the bolts would tear through the ship, punching a hole in the hull, the frame contorting and melting from the strain. He could actually see the depth the bolt penetrated as entire floors were incinerated, the flames bursting out of the seams of the area like water from a leaking pipe. The armored hull could take more damage, but it still wasn't good.

"Shields are down!" he yelled. "We have multiple hull breaches. Armor integrity is decreasing."

"The ha'tak return," Hak'ar said after he got up. "They intend to force us to retreat or finish us."

"We will not abandon our brothers!" Ad'anna declared. "Divert power to weapons. Concentrate all fire on the weaker ha'tak. Make the enemy pay in blood."

"Praetor!" the helmsman called out. "We're picking up a broadcast from one of our own ha'tak."

-.-

The destruction of the planet was obvious even from high orbit. Most of the planet was now covered by a thick ash cloud from the weapons fire. Though, some of the flashes of the explosions could be seen through the dust clouds. Had she not seen it earlier she would never have thought this to be a habitable planet.

"Major, look out!" Peterson called out.

"I see it!" Nova said through gritted teeth. One of the Lucian Alliance ha'tak had lost its shields and taken several direct hits to its superstructure, a massive fragment of its triangular body falling off and drifting away. Her flight path would have taken her by the ship, but with the giant section falling off, she would have to fly around it or between it. She veered between the separated section and the rest of the mothership, avoiding the larger pieces of debris while the tiny pieces from the size of pebbles to the size of applies bounced off her ship. As she flew between she could make out the two hundred or so floors in the black structure of the ship. She could even see a few Lucian pirates floating lifelessly through space.

Past that the remains of an already destroyed al'kesh drifted past.

As she veered back to the line, she could see a Lucian mothership that has passed the qua'rac. Nova knew she couldn't do anything. Short of a Mark IX, their missiles weren't getting through those shields. Suddenly a blue beam tore through space, a blue beam that hit the shields of this golden flying mountain. The orange field was big enough to engulf a small city but it struggled to stay lit. A second beam hit the ship, the shields collapsing and the remainder of the beam tearing apart the front. The third shot was just a coup de gras finished it off, punching a hole straight through the ship.

Nova felt her fighter rock from the explosion, the blast sending out particles through the void of space with enough speed that it was like a small blast wave. The fireball didn't even completely consume the mothership and it already looked like a small supernova.

As Nova flew under the flaming remains of the ship, she remembered that her and the other fighters were nothing but insects in the face of titans duking it out around her. If it wasn't for how large space was, she would've been annihilated in the crossfire.

"This is Va'dar of Free Jaffa. We have completed our bombardment of the planet. It appears our hypothesis was correct. The Castle possesses a shield. We will now commence the second phase of our operations."

Nova knew what this meant. Surface bombardment was complete for the most part which meant the ha'tak now prioritized making sure not a single ship escaped the planet. But if The Castle had a shield that protected it from staff cannon fire, that also meant she and the jaffa al'kesh were going to head down there and finish the job.

"You heard what Darth Vader said," Michell said over the radio. "Let's get down there and crack some skulls. Lock-in coordinates."

The qua'rac and ha'tak began moving, switching spots. The ha'tak took forward positions. Now with their weapons calibrated to penetrate shields, they fired upon the Lucian motherships. The damaged qua'rac took the proper positions behind the ha'tak, keeping their heavier fire.

"Coordinates received and locked in," Peterson reported.

"Plotting course," Nova announced.

Nova steered her 302 toward the atmosphere. She's never done a transition before. She's been assured that she doesn't need to worry about her angle when entering the atmosphere, but that didn't comfort her in the slightest. She's heard enough stories about shuttles exploding.

"Approaching upper atmosphere, one hundred kilometers," Peterson reported.

Nova let out a sigh as the sensors began to alert that she was approaching the atmosphere. She felt herself lurch forward as her 302 hit the atmosphere, the atmosphere slowing her down. Though lurch may have been an understatement. If it wasn't for how tight the straps were, she would probably have slammed her face against the controls.

The silence of space was soon replaced with the deafening cacophonous rumble, the entire 302 rattling so badly Nova was surprised her fighter hadn't shaken apart. The entire canopy was surrounded by red and orange. Her grip around the stick tightened as if to find some comfort over the violent rattle. The windows were rattling so loudly part of her was expecting flames to just seep through. Finally, the rattling ended but rather than be replaced by the silence of space, her ears were now filled with the roar of wind outside.

The canopy was engulfed by dark clouds. But Nova could see black smoke mixed with the gray vapors. It was so thick that her only means of navigation were all the sensors on the fighter. It wasn't so bad. It was the same during space battles, each fighter so far apart and each ship moving so fast only a computer could tell what was going on. But still, it felt disconcerting that she couldn't see past the black smoke screen.

When she broke through the clouds, she felt her breath get taken away. Three words described what she saw: Hell On Earth. The ha'tak had done a serious number on the planet's surface. If she had not seen images of the planet before, she would have assumed it was some sort of volcanic planet.

In the distance she could see countless still rising clouds of smoke and flame from the largest impacts. These were massive columns that connected the ground with the sky, holding up the ceiling of cloud cover like a pillar and so thick a gated community could fit inside. The ground below them was dotted with craters and pools of some glowing liquid. Nova couldn't tell if it was lava or superheated plasma or what. But she could tell there were pools and even lakes of it everywhere, rivers flowing across the landscape. They hadn't reached the mountains yet so this part was still a forest, or at least it used to be. All the trees were knocked over, all vegetation cleared from the landscape. Random patches of the ground were still ablaze.

"Reestablish formation," Mitchell ordered. Nova could see the blips of all her allied ships. She paired up with another 302, placing themselves between the gliders and al'kesh.

In space, it was hard to tell what speed you were going. In atmosphere, the clouds made it every obvious. She could see them whooshing past so quickly that they looked like gray streaks against the canopy.

"Templars," Dalton said. "The SGC has reported their gate has reached the 38 minute mark. They have been trying to reestablish a connection but have been thus far unable to."

"Could the gate have been destroyed?" a pilot suggested.

"It wouldn't have needed the 38 minutes if it was," another one pointed out. "It's probably been buried."

"Until our operation is finished, the SGC will continue to try to reestablish connection," Dalton said."

"Templar One, this is Dagger One, we've detected an enormous energy signature, nose one thousand kilometers."

"I can confirm," Mitchell said. "Contact. Boys and girls welcome to The Castle."

"Nova, we have bogies nose five hundred kilometers," Peterson reported. "Scratch that, bandits 495 kilometers."

"Templar One," Nova said. "We have bandits, nose 490 kilometers and closing. Tally 25 Lucian gliders have reentered the atmosphere. Twelve o'clock high."

"Pick your targets and establish your kill zones," Mitchell reminded. "Fire at will."

The air in front of her was once again filled with fire of both missiles and staff bolts. Lucian gliders took evasive action, dodging the missiles. But they would end up flying into the storm of glider bolts from the jaffa. But she knew it wouldn't last for long. She had eight missiles in total, four wing mounted AIM 260's, an additional two and two AIM 9 sidewinders in the weapon bays. This was her fourth missile launched meaning she was already halfway through her ordinance and she had been using a lot of munitions from her railguns. She was down to the ones in her weapon bays.

And in moments they were on top of each other. The Lucian gliders were minced as they passed through the kill zones in an attempt to evade the missiles.

"We're 500 kilometers from the castle," Mitchell reported.

"This is Neervis of the Free Jaffa. Our al'kesh are ready to begin our bombing run."

"We've detected incoming weapons fire," another jaffa reported.

"Evasive action!" Mitchell ordered. Nova jerked her fighter to the side. These had to be the staff towers. She didn't know if a tower had locked onto her but she wasn't taking chances. Even if one hasn't, she was going to make it as hard as possible to lock on.

She knew there was no point in firing her missiles at those towers until the shields were down.

At long last The Castle came into visual range. It looked like a city built into the mountain range, spires and building peeking out of the landscape. She was fifteen kilometers above the ground but it was very obvious where The Castle was. The entire surface of the planet was a scorched hellscape but the shield protected a section of the mountain, the trees and the snow untouched.

"Al'kesh begin your bombing run," Mitchell said. On cue, the al'kesh beside her began releasing their payload. It wasn't a true carpet bombing. The release of the bombs was rather slow in fact. But each bomb was powerful and calibrated to direct all their energy into a tiny focal point instead of exploding.

Nova used the select switch to select the railguns before quickly squeezing the trigger a few times. The oncoming Lucian gliders flew to the side to avoid getting blown out of the air.

"I'm picking up fluctuations in the shield," Peterson reported. "Shields are failing. And shields down."

"Templar One," Nova reported. "Shields around The Castle have fallen."

"Castle shields are down," Mitchell reported. "Have at it, boys."

-.-

The orbit around the planet was aflame. Three more Lucian Alliance ships had fallen, literally falling apart.

From the bridge of a qua'rac, Ha'kar and Ad'anna were watching another two ha'tak make a beeline past the blockade. The first one was torn apart. The moment its shields were down, the staff bolts began tearing through, punching holes through the hull with fire and debris erupting from the exit.

While one ships fell apart at the seams, the other one kept going.

"Shield have recharged to 30 percent," the helmsman read.

"Praetor," Ha'kar reported. "A Lucian ha'tak has breached the blockade. They are powering hyperdrives"

"Concentrate your fire on that ship!" Ad'anna ordered.

"The Odyssey is attempting to intercept," the helmsman reported.

"I'm detecting a hyperspace window," Ha'kar added.

The space warped and distorted with shimmering waves of blue. As the ha'tak approached this distorted window, a blue beam of energy suddenly punched through what was left of its shields. The auburn field of energy blocked a chunk of its energy but the beam soon overcame the shields and went into the hull. A column of fire erupted from the ship. A second beam finished the target off, the entire ha'tak engulfed in flames.

"Praetor," the helmsman said. "We are being contacted by one of the Lucian Alliance vessels. They wish to surrender."

-.-

"My, my," Moebius remarked, seeing the al'kesh begin to appear high in the sky. "This is quite the unfortunate turn of events."

Kabal wasn't listening. He had already retreated back into the hangar, yanking off the tarp to a hidden starfighter. It wasn't a death glider. Instead of a glider's forward swept wings, its wings were twisted into a partial cylinder around the ship.

"Keep talking and I'll leave you to deal with them by yourself!" Kabal snapped, opening the cockpit. "You can put on a little play for them!"

"Fear not, Kabal. You are not the only one who knows how to worm their way out of tight situations." The masked man reached into his long coat, pulling out what looked like a detonator and pressed the button. He chuckled as he returned the small hand-held detonator to his coat.

Moebius calmly walked up to the ship and got in. He pressed a button and the canopy enclosed the cockpit. He began to startup the fighter, the machinery humming to life.

"This is your starship?" Kabal asked.

"One of many," Moebius said smoothly. "I made some improvements to the original design."

-.-

Nova had brought her 302 low. The gliders and al'kesh could fire at the buildings. Their staff cannons were powerful and they didn't need to worry about depleting their ammo. So she ran interference for any enemy fighters that got in the way. Everyone always thought because 302's had missiles and were faster than gliders the 302 was superior to gliders in every way. But gliders still had plenty of advantages. They had superior maneuvering, the staff cannons beat railguns, and their weapons didn't run out of ammunition.

Volleys of staff bolts hit the mountain side, entire buildings exploding from just a few, each bolt hitting like a ton of TNT. Some gliders had gone into a hover to get better aim at the buildings.

"Nova, got a newcomer on the right," Peterson said. Nova looked at her sensors and knew what he meant. A new fighter was rising out of one of the hangars.

"You recognize that model?" she asked.

"It's one of their interceptors," Peterson said.

"I'm bringing us around," Nova said. "Locking on target."

Suddenly there was a boom and the interceptor took off in the opposite direction, leaving Nova and Peterson staring wide eyed.

"That thing just went from zero to hypersonic!" Peterson gawked.

"Hang on!" Nova ordered as she veered her fighter back around. Once she had made her 180 degree turn she slowly increased her speeds. The interceptor was already far ahead of her and she needed to build up speed.

"Olympus, this is Templar Two, we have a Goa'uld interceptor" Nova reported. "Bandit has gone hypersonic along planet's surface and is exiting the combat zone."

"Roger that, Templar Two. We are ordering you to pursue and eliminate the target. We will divert assistance."

"Roger that," Nova said, clicking her radio off. She was jolted back into her chair again as she went after the ship.

"We're not going to catch up to him," Peterson pointed out.

"We don't need to," Nova said. "He's out of range of the rail guns but he's in range of our missiles. Acquire lock."

Nova couldn't see the threader. She was relying only on her sensors and scanners.

"Weapons lock," Peterson announced.

"Templar Two, Fox Two," Nova said. She pressed a button on the side, a missile on the bottom of the fighter dropping and launching at the target. One of many advantages the 302 had were fire and forget weapons, missiles that will track the target after firing. She watched the missile shrink until it was only the exhaust of the engine and the smoke was visible.

Suddenly, the sky was lit up with red. Nova's eyes widened in shock. A curtain of blindingly bright red spheres had been launched from the back of the threader in all directions until it looked like a giant flower of light had suddenly bloomed. The missile dove for one of the spheres, exploding the moment it reached one.

"What the…flares?" Peterson stuttered. "Since when the Goa'uld use those?"

"They don't," Nova said. "And neither do the Lucian Alliance." She gritted her teeth. She knew she's been gone but she didn't expect things to change this much. "Olympus, bandit has deployed countermeasures. Switching to AIM 260's."

The interceptor was veering left and right and Nova had to maintain line of sight. She had to keep weapons lock.

"Templar Two, Fox Three," Nova said, pressing the button. Another missile launched. Once again, it shot at the interceptor in front of her. But just as it got close, Nova saw an entire curtain of flares shoot out from the back of the ship as it veered away, creating a wall of smoke trailed behind the shimmering orbs. Instead of following the ship the missile seemed to go after another target and flew right through the cloud of smoke.

"Those aren't just flares, are they?" Peterson asked.

"Chaff flares, that's the only explanation. Going to reacquire lock."

"We have a slammer and a sidewinder left. We miss with those we're empty."

The missile wasn't the only thing struggling to keep lock on target. They were moving several times the speed of sound. A slight shift in angle may not sound like much but turn half a degree and travel a hundred meters and you'll find yourself way off course from where you want to be. She and the threader were spiraling through the air.

"This Olympus," Dalton said through the radio. "We just got word from Stargate Command. There has been an off-world activation from an unknown source. The SGC cannot dial the planet. We're reaching out to the jaffa to see if they can do it instead."

"You don't think that has anything to do with this, do you?" Peterson asked Nova.

"I don't see how," Nova said. "They couldn't dial in so the gate's either destroyed or buried."

"Could there be a second gate?"

Nova felt her blood chill.

"Olympus, this is Templar Two," she said. "Could there be a second stargate on the planet?"

"Major," Peterson said. "I'm detecting an energy signature fifty kilometers ahead, its readings are identical to a stargate activation.

"This is Templar Two, requesting immediate aid," Nova yelled. "We're one hundred kilometers east of the castle!"

"Major, it's too late," Peterson said. "It's gone."

Nova felt fear run down her spine. That didn't just happen. They couldn't have screwed up, not that badly.

"Nova!" Peterson exclaimed. "Bandits on our six!"

Nova jerked her fighter to the left but it was too late. Nova felt her world explode, a deafening bang so loud it felt like the sound alone was tearing through reality. She felt her head slam forward into the dashboard, the glass to her visor cracking.

"Damn it!" Nova cursed. "Peterson, eject!" Peterson immediately complied. She heard the canopy above her pop. Suddenly, the entire cockpit was filled with the roar of air. She could feel the seat behind her launch Peterson out and away. She reached down and yanked the ejection lever. She heard the pop. She felt the seat jerk. But she didn't fly out of the cockpit.

"This is Templar Two. Mayday, mayday. My ejection seat is jammed, I am flying deadstick, and I have two bandits on my six."

"I'm on your wing, Templar Two."

Nova could only place her trust in whichever pilot said this. She had no engine and her right wing was nearly blasted off.

She looked to the side, hearing the sickening crunch of metal. She watched as the last of the bolts holding the wing in place finally gave way. Correction: the wing had been blasted off. Nova gripped the stick in front of her, but she knew it didn't make a difference. She watched as the ground grew closer and closer until her world spiraled into blackness.

It hurt.

Everything hurt.

Nova's eyes cracked open. She could only see a swirl of red and black. She thought her vision would clear up but it didn't. She soon realized that she was surrounded by smoke. Where was the cockpit?

Nova lifted her head but felt pain shoot in her legs. The back of her head was throbbing. She was still strapped in her chair but her 302 was nowhere in sight. The ejection seat must've finally decided to work at the last minute.

Nova fumbled with her seat straps, trying to get free. It still hurt but she could still look around. And she could see a glowing liquid flowing down the hill in front of her. Molten rock was flowing down the hill toward her.

She leaned her head back, still trying to get free when she saw an al'kesh swoop in, hovering over her before a set of rings descending around her. As the bright light took her away, it faded to be replaced with darkness once again.

She didn't know how long she sat in that darkness. But soon she saw, or rather felt, a glow come from beneath her. It was impossible but she could fee the light the same way a person could feel the wind. She was back in the Other Place, but why? What could the Furlings want with her?

Her feet barely sank an inch into the water before it stopped on a solid surface like glass, but there was nothing beneath her but water. And ahead of her was a person. Or at least she thought it was. She couldn't focus on them. It was like trying to read etchings on a lightbulb while it was on. It just hurt her eyes.

She could also feel the person talking to her. The air whispered but there was no sound. She just knew what the person was saying. Or rather she knew what the person wanted her to know.

'We're coming.'

The next thing she remembered was steady beeping. It sounded like a heart monitor. As she cracked open her eyes, she could hear someone walking around the room.

"Doctor Fraiser," a man said. "She's awake."

Nova wanted to sit up but everything hurt. Frankly, aside from the pain, it was way more comfortable just laying here.

She looked over to see Peterson sitting in a chair in her room. When the nurse called that she was awake, Peterson leaned over her bed side.

"Hey, you lived," Peterson remarked. Nova reached up to put her hand to her head.

"How long was I out?" she groaned. That question made Peterson's face sag.

"Five years…" he said. Nova bolted up in her bed, looking at him in horror. Five years? How could five years have gone by? What happened after the battle? What happened to her team? What…was so funny to Peterson?

"Funny…" Nova sighed in relief while Peterson wiped the smirk off his face.

"Alright," a stern voice said. "Visiting hours are over. She needs rest." Nova could see a young woman with dirty blond hair tied up in a bun walk in. She was short but her pace was brisk but exuded confidence. "Out."

Peterson looked at Nova one last time before complying and walking out.

"How do you feel?" Doctor Fraiser asked.

"Like I want to vomit," Nova said truthfully. Her stomach didn't hurt per se. But if it could talk it would be screaming 'I don't feel good'.

"You're still suffering from radiation poisoning," Frasier said. "Goa'uld weapons leave behind radiation as a byproduct of orbital strikes. You're lucky an al'kesh picked up when it did."

Most people on Earth still had their brains fried from learning about the stargate. But here this doctor was talking about it like it was nothing. Even the hospitals that had clearance usually didn't know the technical detail, least of all the specs behind Goa'uld weapons and al'kesh.

"You seem to know an awful lot about this stuff," Nova remarked curiously.

"My mother used to work at the SGC," she said. "Good news is, you'll be out of here soon enough. You've been out for two days which meant you were out through the worst of it."

"I guess that's good," Nova said, laying back in her bed.

The storm was over.

She could rest now.

-.-

"Four motherships. Four motherships rendered an Earth-sized planet uninhabitable in 35 minutes. And, at the moment, the United States possess a fleet of ships each several times the power of these motherships. China, England, and France have each built one of their own. And Russia has recently completed the construction of two. The power balance of this planet favors only a few privileged countries with the United States as our planet's center. Members of the UN, as you can see from this demonstration, the powers we have unlocked through the stargate far surpass any we have ever seen in our planet's history. For ten years, the United States nearly brought this sort of destructive power to our doorstep. We could have been wiped out and never understood why. And even today, they still hold the power. Members of the UN, however we approach the galaxy it is evident we must make a change in the possession and usage of the stargate. The time for talk is done. We need to vote now."

-.-

A/N: Hello. Sorry for the wait. As always, thank you again taleanaomi for beta reading this chapter. So a few things. One of my gripes with stargate is that things are always as powerful or as weak as the plot needs. Remember when a single mothership posed a threat to Earth? Remember when we see them tank a gigaton nuke? Remember when one camped in the chromosphere of a blue giant? Then we see them bombing planets and it looks like theyr'e dropping artillery shells. If that's the limit of their destructive capability they're not a threat, they're a headache. And how are they busting each other's shields if their guns aren't that much more powerful than an Abrham's cannon? So this sets the standard. The fleet sizes are kept small. I've read stargate fanfic where the space battles are between fleets of hundreds of ships. But in stargate it's always been small so I kept it small. The Battle of Dakaara only had like 60 ships. Battle over Asuras had the allied fleet being made of only a dozen ships. I also tried to introduce some tactics when it comes to space battles.

Yeah, Korush'nai is going to be the jaffa exterminatus.

Side note, the 2k yield for the Mark IX I calculated from Mitchell's statement of vaporizing everything in a 100 mi radius. In order to get a fireball of that size, you need over 2k gigatons. Also, I did a lot of nukemap consulting for this.

Little Trivia. The Castle was basted on The Castle from the Stargate Worlds game. In the game, the SGC set up an off-world prison to send Earth's worst. This idea has issues in my opinion. One is unless the stargate is public, not sure it's worth not only making prisoners vanish but also become aware of the stargate by transporting them to another planet. Another is that the prisoners managed to take over the prison, stargate their own stargate program, then pose a threat to Earth. How many prisoners did you freakin send there? You telling me they can't park a 304 over the prison be like 'surrender or we turn you into a crater'.

So I did consider alternate strategies for The Castle Siege. Like using the qua'rac as the means of bombing the planet but, as mentioned in the story, I thought it would be dangerous having only two ships that could be focus fired be the backbone of the attack. I considered whether or not I wanted the 304 to use their nak-nukes to fire on the planet. But I don't think they have enough so the motherships have to complete the job anyways. Better use those nukes on unshielded ships. That reminds me, I am also setting the standard for Tau'ri technology against goa'uld. I often hear how the Goa'uld were so weak the Tau'ri steamrolled them the moment they could make ships. But that's not true. The 303 only ever went against Anubis's mothership and neither 303 nor 304 never destroyed any Goa'uld ship. Also, in the pilot of SGU, we see Hammond fighting three Lucian motherships to a standstill and even taking damage when she couldn't use the plasma beam weapon.

There were a few details that I struggled to add. I managed to squeeze in the comment about cloaked cargo ships. There was that one ep where Jacob tried to land on a planet in a cloaked cargo ship and the gliders picked up his heat trail so that's why the Lucian Alliance didn't just use a cargo ship to sneak out. The motherships could pick up the same One thing I struggled with squeezing in is why no hyperspace in atmosphere. In the series they always go to hyperspace in orbit. And the one time they go to hyperspace in atmosphere, it was not recommended. I struggled to find a good place to put it but I think it's because atmosphere will interfere with hyperspace travel. With how big space is, you'll want to know exactly where you are. And going to hyperspace in atmosphere will not only damage your drive but throw you off course leaving you lost and with no way to go anywhere.

Finally, WHEWWWW. Action sequence is over. I'm actually going to abuse this new story format for the next few chapters which will have more focus on exploration.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think.