Chapter 32 Springfield

12 JAN 2017

SOL 2 TERRA, SPRINGFIELD

USAF HQ

On the space station above Springfield. "Sir, long-range sensors are detecting two objects headed our way." the airman said. "They are huge and are coming in fast." The crew began to fly into action as the two contacts were detected in hyperspace coming in faster than anything they'd seen.

Coming to view the screen. "Sound general quarts. Scramble all squadrons and alert the other ships." Commanded Colonel Timothy Parish the commander of the new space station USSS Houston. He was an F-302 pilot during the battle of Antarctica. "Get me an open line to HQ."

Carter was at her desk reading the files on what had happened at Stromos. While the EC 200 Maine had crashed it was recovered and brought to New Angels for repairs. No one got injured thanks to the MBSS. Once the ship had crashed and was still intact. Alice had rematerialized the crew to start repairs. The two 302 pilots were found as well. One had relied on the BMSS while the other had chosen to eject causing him to get a broken leg and four broken ribs on impact. While it was an overall success she viewed it as a failure. Knowing that the inexperience of the crew was to be blamed. Reviews of this mission will be picked over for years to come. While reading she was unaware when a hologram of Jack O'Neill appeared. "Carter," Jack said.

Not looking up. "That's General Carter to you, Colonel." Smiling before looking. "What can I do for you…..Sir!" She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"Sir. Stop all that Jack is fine and just who did you think I was? The last we saw each other I was a General." Jack smiled "Though you seem to have a few more stars than I did. Congrats on the promotion by the way."

"Ah, thanks! So what do I owe the honor, Jack?" Sam barely had the words she had feared never seeing him again.

"Ho! Was in the neighborhood and thought we would drop by and say high. I am bringing you a late Christmas gift. By the way, you may want to inform the station Commander that we are about to drop out of hyperspace in a few minutes."

"We! Who's we?" She asked. "What's going on?"

"Me and Shepard," Jack said. "Trust me Sam you going to like it." Then he was gone.

Sam sat back in her chair a bit nervous. She had learned to be leery of anyone who said 'trust me' but this was Jack. It has been years since he left the SGC. She knew that he was Alterran now. But what does that fully mean? She had noticed little changes in Bra'tac but it was still the same man that she had first met. But there was no one she trusted more than Jack. She reached out pressed a button and opened a comm channel. "Get me, Colonel Parish"

"He is already on the comm calling for you." Walter said."You're a go General."

"General were tracking two contacts coming in fast and they are larger than anything I've seen. We've gone to general quarters and are preparing to scramble fighters." Colonel Perish stated. "What are your orders? Sir"

"Colonel, hold off on the fighters and stand down, but be watchful," Carter said. "They are friendlies. But we'll keep an open link just in case." Why two ships, not just one? What are they up to, she thought.

Moments later the Skywalker and Homer dropped out of hyperspace and settled in orbit over Springfield. Jack and Shepard beamed down to the surface to Sam's ready room where she and her staff were waiting. With a team of SOs standing by outside the door.

Jack looked around the table and saw a young colonel standing in a corner eyeing him. "Howdy folks you miss me?" Jack said with a smile.

"Welcome to Springfield Jack, John," Sam looked at each in turn. "What brings you to our little corner of the galaxy?"

"Well Sam, for starters I would like to inform you that we just took care of the Aschen weapon. That was destroying the stargates." John stated looking at Sam. "Plus we have brought back your three ships. Lorne is releasing them from the hangars of Skywalker now. They have had a few upgrades and are missing a few 302s. Most of the personal belongings have been placed back in the crew quarters where they came from." With that, everyone looked at one another.

"Well thanks! Please have a seat." Carter said while gesturing to the empty chairs at the conference table then she and the others sat down. "We had only just started to look for places it could be. Glad it is gone now. That makes one less thing to worry about." Looking at Shepard then at Jack.

"We are also here to ask for a favor. Nothing that should be too difficult" John said.

"I would love to help if I can," Sam told him. "I know we have asked a lot from you. Over the last few years."

"There are some folks back in Pegasus that would like to visit their families on Avalon. While not being arrested are detained." John told her. "As you know the ones on your ships hadn't planned on being gone for so long. They have a few things that need to be closed up."

"That shouldn't be a problem. President Kerry has given pardons to all personnel that defected to Atlantis. Those from other countries may be an issue." Sam said as she looked at her staff. "Give us a list of who wants to visit and who. We can make the arrangements."

"Great, I'll get Lorne on it," John said.

"Well Sam, I see that you have built those ships you were on me to build since before the Ori. So how many have you built so for?" He didn't want them to know they had pulled it from their mines already.

"Well, we have three task forces completed now with two more in various stages of completion," she told them knowing they could read her mind so no need to try and hide anything. "We are planning to build ten for now."

"They do look quite impressive, General," Shepard said.

"We are just unable to field all of the crews alone. So we have begone to recruit from our Offworld allies. Earth is still in discord after the second attack. We found that Goa'uld is running allied nations and are pulling the strings behind the IOA. Out here there is open war, we have only heard that China has attacked two Russian colonies. Just this past week they fired on us over Stromos. Causing our EC 200 Maine to crash. We have recovered it and brought it to New Angeles. They blew up two of their ships instead of surrendering to us. The IOA has all the nations at each other's throats. The ships they are putting out are subpar at best. They are trying to blend Goa'uld, Earth, and Asgard technologies. Which is still being done by hand in the Chinese shipyards on Earth and other planets they have. The one thing that is for sure is since they have been able to take control things have not been going well."

"That is another thing we came here for. We can not let the IOA continue to run things on Earth. It is in everyone's best interest to remove them from power. And they need to be held accountable for their actions over the last few years." John stated getting nods from Sam and her staff.

"That we all agree with, but we don't want a war back home. Captain Blair of the British Battleship Acheron found a symbiote in their Off-world Secretory Allard after he was killed in an explosion on board his vessel. They cleared the crew and come here to check with us on what to do. Since then two others have been found within key postings of their off-word colonies." Sam looked to Cam he nods then she continues "Ever since we pulled out of negotiation with the IOA. China has gone unchecked since Osser. We have no idea how many other worlds they hold. We have seventy-two at the moment five are colonies with our factories and shipyards with Springfield and Reach being the most populated. The rests are mining and research. None were populated and twelve do not have stargates."

Colonel O'Neill looked at Jack "My ideal spread them out, we have been hit hard by the Aschen. We think there is a leak but we can't find it. But it's been a while since they last attacked us."

"Ho! You, have a leak alright it's just not here or on Earth," Jack said with a smile. "Jonas Quin, he was captured by the Aschen two years ago when they took Langara. Which is one of the reasons why we are here."

Carter thought for a second. "He wouldn't betray us willing and he wouldn't know where our bases are. I haven't even spoken to him in years."

"Well, our source said that they were using him as an oracle or something," John said giving it little thought. "Apparently he can see the future or something."

"Nirrti" Sam said as it came to her. "She had Jonas in that DNA Resequencer it had given him the ability of clairvoyance. But Janet removed a tumor in his brain and his visions had stopped. So either it grew back are it wasn't the cause."

"How would the Aschen have even known of this or Jonas for that matter?" Cam asked.

"Well, it would seem the information came either from a captured Tok'ra or Goa'uld that was under Anubis. The Tok'ra have confirmed that they are missing a few operatives and are presumed dead or captured." John claimed. "That has been over two years ago before Osser."

"Ah the Tok'ra, I still don't trust them," Jack said.

"Do you know where he is being held?" Sam asked with concern in her voice. "Can we rescue him?"

"We do have a location. It is in a lab on one of their core worlds." John said with a grimace. "It is heavily fortified. Both on the ground and in space."

"General Carter you can't be thinking of mounting a rescue mission?" General Oberdine asked looking to Carter and then the Alterra. "I know that he is your friend and served on SG1 for a year after Dr. Jackson's transformation. There is no way we can mount such a mission at this time."

"We don't leave our people behind or in enemy hands." The young colonel O'Neill said from the back of the room. "He was before my time or after this is still confusing. But he was part of the team."

"You're telling me." Jack looks at his clone with a smile and laughs. "It gives me a headache thinking about it."

Carter raised a hand. "As much as I want to run in and rescue Jonas, the General is right. There's no way we can do it at this time." Looking at Shepard. "But we can not leave him their hands. If he is the leak we have no choice but to rescue him. It will be at least six months before the next two carrier groups will be ready. Even then we want to be in a position to mount an offensive ourselves."

"Well here is where we can help," Shepard said. "We can help you to finish building your ships. There are some concessions, however. We require your fleet after the rescue of Jonas and the overall defeat of the Aschen. As we speak the Asgard are starting to retake human worlds that are occupied by the Aschen."

"What do you mean by use of our fleet?" Cam asked before Sam could.

"We want you to serve as guardians over a sector of Avalon. No more than you have been doing just on a larger scale. Bra'tac and his Jaffa will cover another. We do not want any species that expand by employing genocide. Such as the Goa'uld and the Aschen even though they are humans. We will not exterminate them unless they give us no choice. However, they will be held liable for their actions."

"You want us to be what?" the Colonel asked. "Wait I've seen this movie. Do we get a talking raccoon?" He laughed.

"Well if you want but you'll have to teach it to talk," Jack said causing everyone to chuckle a bit. "But yes you heard right."

Shepard stared "There are a lot of other species out there not all were friendly. Ryan has made me his troubleshooter. There is a vast amount of space to look after. We will help you if required but we want you to quash any small factions or conflicts."

"Well, we will have to talk to the President. I feel that we can accept this on principle. There will need to be a treaty of sorts." Carter said looking to her staff getting approvals. "What did you mean helping build our fleet?"

"Now that things are slowing down in Pegasus. We can provide you with two thousand replicators and two thousand Asgard engineers." John knew that got their mouths watering. "All this and more can be yours if the price is right." He joked.

"There is still the matter of the IOA which we will let you handle but no upgrades to anyone not on board," Jack stated.

"We found an Alterran outpost station. That is almost like Atlantis but a third of the size. There are twenty puddle jumpers there but are locked out to us as well. We have managed to turn the lights on and the basic functions. I have a team there now trying to make repairs. Would there be any way you could check it out and unlock it for us? Dr. Rush believes that it will take an Alterran. We have had our people with the gene try but are getting nothing." Sam told them.

"Have you now! There are a few of those scattered across the galaxies. From my understanding, most were lost over the eons. I will unlock it for you to use but we will retain ownership of it. We want the antarctic base as well. We will rebuild it and stock it with Pesqua. By the way, there is more to it than what you have found. You will have control provided we approve of who it is." John told them.

"So you will let us keep it but you will retain ownership. How is that going to work?" Cam asked.

"Well, we will keep in safeguards so it can't be used against us for starters. While you are the fifth race. You are still young, and until you become a united world that speaks with one voice. You can not be trusted to do the right thing. Case in point the IOA." Jack said still feeling the anguish of his departure.

Sensing the way that they all agreed. "So shall we get on with it then? I'll go to the outpost to see what I can do there. Jack can go to Avalon to lay the groundwork there. So who is coming with me?" John asked.

"Sam, I think it would be best if you went to Earth with Jack. I'll go with John to the outpost. General Higgins, you hold command here while we take care of this." Cam said.

"I agree." Sam sees Colonel O'Neill setting back in his chair. She knew he was thinking of something. "Colonel what's on your mind?" she asked.

"I know we can't rescue Jonas at the moment but I will start to work out a plan to get him free. With your permission I would like to run some ideas through R&D," Jack told her.

"Go ahead but don't take them away from other projects," Sam told him. "Let us get underway then. General Higgins, find us some crews for our three ships. I will go let Homeworld Command know we are coming. Dismissed!" With that everyone got up to leave.

12 Jan 2017

Ardena

Alterra Outpost

As the Skywalker and the BC 550 Columbia exited hyperspace over Ardena. They came in orbit of the outpost. Beaming down both Cam And Shepard beamed into the control room. Where Dr. Rush was waiting for them. "Welcome to Ardena gentlemen I hope you had a pleasant journey."

"Dr. Rush this is John Sheppard formerly from the Atlantis expedition," Cam said gesturing to Sheppard who was standing next to a female replicator. "But I don't know she is."

"This is Laia, she will help me to get this platform unlocked. Laia gives me a full diagnostic." she never said a word just walked over to the console reaching out her arm and inserting it in as she disappeared. "This will take a few minutes. Shall we go to the chair room?"

"Wow, I have never seen that before. But yes let us head down there." Dr. Rush said as he started for the stairway. "So she is a replicator?"

"Yes she is, it is quite a site to see for the first time," John told them sensing both wonder and fear coming from them. After getting to the chair room he leaned back in the chair as it lit up. "This shouldn't take too long. There are some issues with the star drive. You were right to notify us of this. Your gene therapy would never work. This is old tech here it predates Pegasus and the Lanteans."

"I thought that Lanteans and Altarra were the same. They were the Ancients the gate builders." Rush said looking at Mitchel.

"That is what we all believed. The truth is all of the Altarra either ascended or died from the disease that plagued them. While a few left Avalona on Atlantis and went to the Pegasus Galaxy. They lived for a while which gave them time to seed the humans and the Lanteans. Most Altarra tech has a mental component to it while Lantean Tech only requires the gene. While only a few items have the mental aspect for the more secure tech." Sheppard informed them as he worked. His fingers were moving swiftly on the gel-like pads on the chair. After five minutes the chair spun around and he sat up. "I have unlocked the station and will have it reworked to respond to the Lantean gene."

Out of the nearby console, the replicator reappeared. "I have the information you requested. There is serious damage to the mainframe and power conduits. We have most of what is needed on the Skywalker. I can provide you with a list we can have the rest here within the day. It should only take 33 hours 27 minutes and 45 seconds to complete all repairs. How should I proceed?" she stated.

"Have the Skywalker send off for what is needed and begin the repairs using whatever means necessary. Have the chair room updated so it can be used by those with the Lantean gene. Have you accessed the navicula portas yet?" Sheppard asked.

"Yes, they are functional just need to be charged. The power conduit to the platforms has damage so it will be some time before they can be fully inspected," she said as other human-form replicators beamed into the outpost.

"As you heard the repairs will take 34 hours to complete. It will take time to get the jumpers charged and inspected. I will have them updated as well so you can use them. Let's head back to the control room to check on the stargate. You said that a stargate was brought to the planet." John asked.

"Yes, we brought it here once it was determined that this one wouldn't function," Cam told him.

"This gate will now take priority as long as it stays on this planet. If I got it to work that is." John said as they got back to the control room. He walked up to the stargate closed his eyes and placed a hand on it. He thought hard as to why it wasn't working. Then he was done. "Good news or bad news which do you want first?"

"Well give me the bad so that the good may cheer me up afterward," Cam stated.

"I knew we were like-minded," John said. "As you know this gate is old. The bad news is it only has power for a few more uses left. Depending on where it is opening up to. So it's pretty much useless. However, I have access to new ones. If you can provide us with the raw material."

"Just how many can you get for us?" Mitchel asked with his eyes getting bright.

John picked up on what he was thinking. "How many do you want? We are planning to replace a lot of them but haven't started making them just yet."

"We have gathered up all that was left over from the gate bridge we constructed. But we have been placing them on worlds without them now we are out of extras." Mitchel told him. "I think ten to twenty would put us with a good supply of them."

"I'll check into it and see what all is needed to construct them. But it shouldn't be a problem." John said.