Chapter 25
Location: Stargate Command, Earth
Date: May 14, 2022
Time: 1600
"Do we know anything new?" Carter asked the lead medical examiners of the OSI and NCIS who had been jointly assigned to the investigation and handled the unfortunate but necessary examination and autopsies of Colonel Reynolds and SG-3 to determine the cause of death and help associate suspects for the SGC to begin tracking down. The two had been on a plane to Cheyenne Mountain even before the Phoenix had arrived in orbit carrying their fallen Marines.
"Unfortunately nothing truly new sir, all bullets and fragments that were extracted are quite deformed. But we do have some more detailed analysis for these rounds," the white lab coat-wearing ME for the NCIS handling the lead for the autopsy stated and clicked on the remote he had, and showed several of the photographed bullet remnants with a ruler next to them for scale, "They are somewhere approximating 5.8mm to 6.88mm rounds, with a heavy core of tungsten with a jacket of hardened steel. These rounds were without doubt armor-piercing, but the notable presence of blunt force trauma on the bodies of all four Marines indicate that these rounds did not in fact penetrate their plates. All fatal wounds were traced to major arterial bleeding in the legs, armpits, and arms. The number of gunshot wounds is…frankly General it's bordering on overkill. It was like they were posted up in front a firing squad and both sides let rip."
"SG-3 managed to get shots off?" Carter inquired.
"Yes, yes they did. We confirmed powder residue on the hands and what was left of the uniforms of all members of SG-3, the residue makeup matches that of our standard five-five-six cartridges' propellants. We also took samples of a different set of powder residues, you have those chemical analysis reports yourself in the packets there," the ME pointed.
"And SG-3 appeared to have been subjected to an attempt at medical treatment?" Carter now asked, moving on through the report.
"Yes, there were packing bandages and tourniquets on all members, and their uniforms were cut in…what can frankly only be described as what any EMT would do to check for other bleeding. There were also minute fractures in the ribcage of Colonel Reynolds indicating CPR was attempted."
"So…Reynolds and his men get shot to hell, and then their assailants attempt to save them using standard first aid procedure by all account?" Carter asked for firm clarification from these experts in their field, "The initial report said they had packing bandages applied to the wounds?"
"Yes general, unfortunately we found no manufacturer's marks or anything that can identify them. They were artificial, plastic, no natural materials in them that can we can trace."
"That is about the sum of it, yes general."
"Thank you gentlemen," Carter nodded, knowing the basic facts, such as the very long list of specific locations for the gunshot wounds that had killed her team.
She then stood up, effectively dismissing the two from the briefing room as her other staff and several other SG team leaders were also present to hear and listen for what it was that had happened so that they had the relevant info for their new mission. A half dozen teams had been recalled, three American teams: SG's 18, 19, and 21, two British teams: SG's 26 and 27, and one Canadian team: SG-32. They were set to form a dedicated task force to hunt down the enemy that had killed SG-3, eighteen elite operators. All had been on the standby pool of SG teams in case of just such a contingency which was now activated. However, this contingency came with some caveats, they were restricted in terms of use to direct action aimed at neutralizing known threats. This circumstance certainly qualified, and a staff of investigators and technical subject matter experts were also present to give the shooters of the SG-Teams a firm support network on beginning their mission and Carter was set to provide the closing brief for this task force before they began their legwork on the subject.
"Okay, you've gotten your briefing on the cause of death, this ought to help give a clearer idea of what happened in regards to what we have also been provided by the debrief of SG-40 along with their subsequent report as well as that of the Jaffa who had been present on the planet for some time prior to our involvement. As of now we are operating under three theories that we will begin to investigate further. The first, and primary theory, is that the group of suspected insurgents made the surveillance team, ambushed the Jaffa and when SG-3 investigated, they were ambushed and subsequently killed in action. The second theory is the secondary theory which will be actively investigated is that a third party whose identity and intentions are unknown was responsible. The third theory is that local military or police forces to the planet were responsible for the incident. Stargate Command will be reaching out to the official government of the planet in question to ascertain if this third theory bears further investigation. The Free Jaffa are also pledged to cooperate with us on the investigation, two of their own are missing, whether they are dead or alive we don't know. Which is why we need to move quickly to track these aggressors down," Carter gave them a quick run-down before she flipped over to the next slide, a range calculator for the Gou'ald cargo ship, "This is a representation of the hyperspace range of a Gou'ald cargo ship with a running clock ongoing showing how far from P5Y-464 the ship is able to get. This particular ship is of Jaffa make, so it has certain set of markings analogous to a serial number on the hull itself. The Jaffa have provided to us this set of markings which the Fleet will be on the lookout for. The data is also on your own devices. Now, I do not need to make myself more clear than this, a potential adversary with access to a Gou'ald cargo ship presents an imminent threat due to the ability of a cargo ship to slip past even our most sophisticated sensors guarding Earth and our offworld outposts and bases is unacceptable. Your task force's assignment is to neutralize this threat to Earth and our allies and to above all bring the killers of SG-3 to justice. You'll have access to whatever resources the Fleet can bring to bear in pursuing this goal, wherever it takes you and against whomever you are able to track down."
Carter's speech was more of a send-off for their mission. They'd had their primary mission brief already, but were going to be getting briefings routinely as the SGC analysis teams and the Jaffa intel people started getting work done on the ground. The Tok'ra has also quietly pledged to aid the investigation on the grounds that their involvement not be stated to anyone. Even after years of being free of the Gou'ald and Ori menacing their very existence the Tok'ra were still incredibly conservative, albeit not unjustly due to them not having a queen, at least not yet. There were rumors of the Tok'ra attempting to use the DNA of Queen Egeria to clone her and her genetic knowledge to give the Tok'ra a second lease on life. But any offer of assistance from the SGC had been politely turned down seeing as the Tok'ra themselves had quite a few centuries left before they felt like they were in a rush. So Carter didn't press them, Earth had bigger fish to fry at the moment, and Carter was having to service all of these tasks with this additional issue now rearing its head. So, after the requisite and detailed question and answer portion of the final part of their briefing. Then, she had to do what she was finding the hardest part of the job, letting others do theirs without being present to manage it herself.
Sighing, she was now required to attend to the paperwork required for her next meeting, a briefing regarding their next big project. It was a joint civilian scientific venture, a long-term scientific presence upon Mars as part of an effort to see the viability of an offworld colony on a planet without a life-sustaining atmosphere while also ascertaining the requirements of a more major colony outside the solar system. A Martian colony had been a pet project of NASA for a long, long time, so much of the theoretical research had already been done, so the IOA had a lot of groundwork to build off of, and was beginning its preparations for the phase-by-phase establishment of this program, hoping to turn it into a scientific outpost. This new program was meant to be a flagship goal to be held in front of the world as disclosure got underway while the phase one colonies outside the Sol System were further explored and a suitable shipping capability to support these colonies was built up. By then, it was to be hoped that the institutional knowledge gained from the Martian colony would be enough to handle the new task of establish five new colonies outside their home system. However, this project supposedly had nothing to do with the SGC, but it indirectly did seeing as the SGC was the source for certain technologies slated for the project and would also assist with the research and development of the project.
The reports on her desk were filled with the timetables, manpower requirements, monetary projections, shipping needs, locations for potential placements for this outpost. There were lists of crops intended to be grown with specific acre-ages planned for each kind and how much of each was going to be needed to grow each kind. How much water was going to be needed for watering the crops and for the personnel to drink. There were energy requirements dictated in it for keeping outpost working, for computer systems, communications systems, a shield generator, life support, heating for water tanks, sensors ranging from weather radars to orbital proximity sensors, and recharging stations for vehicles and for laptops, tablets, phones, and other battery-operated devices. They even had plans for the initial installation, which was set up to be a collection of modular buildings to be built in parts and joined together in a more condensed and rapid manner than how the International Space Station had been. The facility map had habitation buildings, garages for effecting repairs and storage of ground vehicles, a sanitation facility, life support facilities, workshops, a pump house for water and accompanying water lines, solar panels and batteries and power lines, a wired and wireless internet network, storage facilities, laboratories, a row of water silos, and lots of large greenhouses.
The SGC was more interested in their contribution towards a naquadah generator, sensor hub, a fortified shield emitter station, and three ring platforms. According to the IOA's preemptive plans, the Martian outpost would, when completed in 2030, have the facilities to house a thousand people with the agricultural output to match these needs and cover an area of over twenty square miles complete with a spaceport for unloading bulk cargoes for the colony complete with reinforced concrete landing pads, warehouses, a control center, and a maglev rail line for transporting people and cargo to the main command center for distribution to the individual modular buildings via a system of sealed roads to be moved by utility carts and smaller rail systems and workshop for dealing with the maintenance for this.
Homeworld Defense likewise had a part to play in this, intending to build a multinational base of operations for long-range sensors, a 302 base, a back-up Stargate Operations facility, and the infrastructure to form a new global defense network. A garrison force of a multinational makeup would be slated to number roughly two thousand if brought to full combat readiness to protect a colonial population that was theorized to rise to the number of ten to twenty thousand people spread across the red planet in the first handful of communities to be established with many more to follow. The vast open spaces of Mars were intended to be used for potential commercial farming enterprises and industrial zones that would go on to shore up food security of the Martian colonies which would then help support colonization efforts further afield through garnering experience and developing tools and methods for optimizing the transport of various cargoes and people in a sustainable manner.
This was all a set of future plans which she was going to be involved in soon. Earth had a whole set of broad objectives and goals, all of them involving expanding Earth's domain. And one thing Carter was at least pleased to see was that the IOA was being careful and thorough with their plans to accomplish this, never expanding colonial projects further than they could realistically support through shipping and Stargate nor be able to protect with the resources of Homeworld Defense. The plan was measured, careful, and in keeping to the recommendations drawn from the SGC's many years of experience. But, this was a long-term plan, short-term the SGC was left hamstrung, instead, the Fleet was being strapped with most of the long-range capabilities to defend Earth's interests while most of the SGC was strapped with a support role for the disclosure preparations with limited resources given to their usual security and offworld exploration operations. And it was proving to be a problem.
Ring Security and Exploration Command, Aquaria
Major Black knew things were going to be tense between him and Admiral Queen. He'd just gotten into a shootout with an Earth team, and quite likely killed them. Not only that he'd just brought roughly fifty individuals to the Colonial military's most protected facility without authorization. In short, he had gone cowboy. Now he was going to need to explain himself in preparation for facing the music. But, he had also brought back to the Twelve Colonies an invaluable technological asset in the form of a Gou'ald cargo ship with a working hyperdrive, a cloak, and a ring platform alongside numerous Jaffa and Earth weapons and equipment and two Jaffa bodies for study. This was on top of the various individuals which Tyry had been allowed to bring back, and their knowledge was also sought after. So, he had that going for him. Tyry and his group had very willingly handed off all their weapons and equipment and complied fully with the security force's orders and were so far being remarkably cooperative and transparent. They'd wanted to come here, and were acting in such a fashion that indicated they wanted to earn a measure of credibility.
So, here he stood in Admiral Queen's office, awaiting his superior's wrap-up of a message meant to be hand-delivered to the President of the Twelve Colonies on Caprica. Such was the sensitivity of the information that this report was not to be entered electronically into any system and any wireless conversations regarding it were to be deemed too risky to Earth electronic interception to be allowed. This was also handy for political reasons, if it were learned of by the Quorum and the government were to be taken to task for the incident then there would be no hard proof that couldn't be squirreled away. Data and record entry and subsequent removal left a paper trail. Ironically enough, using only paper was the easier method to avoid a paper trail.
Standing in the Admiral Queen's secretary's side office leading into the CO's office Major Black was under close observation by a pair of security personnel armed with pistols. All of the offworld personnel were under similar observation given the declared details. The possibility of these elite operators being under some sort of mental or chemical influence was not off the table until full bloodwork was completed and verified by several unrelated medical doctors with different specializations. It was no small thing, there were many who were certain that the team was under some sort of chemical or mechanical influence. But the Twelve Colonies had gotten very good at detecting such anomalies in the Cylon War, and nothing was detected yet. So the powers-that-be had decided that it was time to move forward and deal with the situation at hand.
"Major, the Admiral will see you now," the lieutenant acting as Admiral Queen's secretary said calmly, and tapped the door controls and the door unlocked and he was allowed entry by the security personnel present.
"Major Black, reporting sir," the experienced officer said as he stood to attention before Queen's desk.
"Major…" Queen said and sighed through his nose, choosing his words very carefully, "I hope you know and understand what sort of shitstorm we might be in for now."
"Yes sir, I do," Black said, remaining at attention.
"I'd like to hear you say it, out loud, to me," the admiral ordered him, the sentence coming across as a growl almost.
"I was engaged with a Jaffa recon element of some sort, in exercising my own self-defense the Jaffa were killed. In the process we found ourselves in possession of potentially critical technology. I chose to stay, and attempt to take what we could but within a few minutes we were being approached in an aggressive manner by armed individuals with no visible uniform or identifiable markings. They conducted a kinetic breach against myself and my team with us unable to extract ourselves safely. We used nonlethal stun grenades to try to halt their progress and prevent a shootout, but they remained a threat and opened fire on us and pushed our position. We engaged, two of my men were wounded, and the four hostiles were neutralized. It was after clearing and securing them we found them to be disguised Earth military personnel. We had lost pulse on one man who showed signs of life, the others were dead or deemed lower priority for triage. The bodies were removed in a flash of light not long afterwards. It only lasted two minutes from first shots to the Earth team being…teleported away. We then chose to evacuate rather than allow ourselves and the civilian population to be subject to potential retaliatory action. Our offworld contact Tyry offered to fly the ship we were in possession of, he did so, we likewise evacuated his people who we now hold in isolation."
"And do you know how much damage this could do to relations with Earth? And potentially with the Jaffa?" Admiral Queen asked, "Colonial military personnel have engaged with Earth military personnel, however inadvertently. We're left with a set of bad options as a consequence. We can acknowledge a degree of responsibility, and try to salvage relations through honesty and transparency, or we can keep this under wraps, and maintain operational secrecy. Fortunately for you Major, the President and the Joint Command Staff are of the opinion that what you've done is not grounds for cancelling the program considering that you managed to come through with technology that the Twelve Colonies are in desperate need of working examples, namely this ship's cloaking tech and a working FTL system of the same type that it reportedly used by Earth warships. That's to say nothing of the tech Tyry's people handed over to us. Our research and development staff has all the work they can handle now, thanks to your actions."
"Thank you, sir," Black said, his voice etched in relief.
"I said your actions, I didn't thank you, Major! Your conduct of the mission is still open to question from this command. In the future, you'd do well to check yourself before doing else so reckless, do I make myself clear Major?"
"Sir?"
"Major the fact of the matter is you were given a shitty situation. Most people with a brain who understand our rules of engagement do not find negligence in your chosen course of action. But not all think this way, there are many pencil pushers on Caprica who wanted your head. I told them they could have it if they could explain to us how you should have dealt with the situation without endangering yourself and your team to an unacceptable degree, they couldn't, so the President told them to shove it, metaphorically speaking…" Queen leaned back in his chair, "I have a simple job here, get technology and intel that can go towards the ascertaining and improving the strategic situation of the Twelve Colonies relative the potential dangers that are out there. The fact is you've accomplished that mission. We now know that the Jaffa are not the diplomatic type, at least so far, and are to be treated with caution and suspicion. And we know that Earth will put its own people in the line of fire to protect them. Not only that, we now know that the Jaffa possess technology that is possibly comparable to that of Earth, with cloaking and hyperdrive technology that is completely out of our scope of knowledge. But, we have a working copy of both plus other technologies, including advanced weaponry. Don't let this go to your head Major, but you came through on your mission. Be warned, you're on a very tight leash now, don't hang yourself with it."
"Understood," Major Black responded, a bit of relief washing over him, "What happens now sir?"
"We'll be going over each of those people you brought back, the President will get the text and analysis of each interrogation and your debriefing and report. It'll be the decision of the commander-in-chief as to what we'll do with these people and in regards to…"
At this point there was an alarm that started to ring out loudly.
"Unscheduled activation, repeat, unscheduled activation. All security personnel to your stations. Level 4 Lockdown now in progress," the facility intercom called out, "Nonessential personnel are to stow all equipment and lock all computers and move to your quarters and shelter in place."
"What the hell?" Admiral Queen snapped as he stood up and made his way out of the office with Major Black right behind him with the two guards trying to stop him.
"Major you still-," one of the corporals tried to reach out to stop him.
"Don't be stupid," Black waved him off with a confident order. If he wanted to do something these two guards were not going to have the ability to stop him from doing it.
By the time Black and Queen were walking into the command center the gate was already halfway through its dialing sequence but the guards were in place, all twenty of them with their four heavy machine guns manned and pointed at the gate. It was a considerable amount of firepower facing this area.
"Commander, what's the status?"
"Unknown activation sir, nothing was scheduled on our end, all systems check green," the older commander in the headquarters dutifully reported to the facility commander with grim unease.
The Stargate then opened with a rapid whoosh as the now-familiar sight of the event horizon's outrush still made the security team flinch backwards. There was an uneasy few moments as the crew watched and waited, and then, it happened. Small olive green spheres were thrown through the rippling image and bounced with a hard clang on the ramp, a slight grayish smoke trail coming from them.
"Grenades!" one of the men in the area called out and the security team's ducked down into their raised concrete barricades or dove and scrambled out of the immediate blast zone. The explosions were powerful bright flashes that sent shrapnel everywhere and covered the room in blackened smoke.
Men were wounded everywhere to varying degrees of severity. Those hurt by the blast were dragged away as a new, different manner of attack now emerged from the gate, a large glob of plasma which impacted just underneath the left-hand HMG's pintle mount, blasting the weapon and its gun shield into the air and launching the Colonial troops around it away from this location.
"Permission to get our teams geared up?" Black asked urgently as the command staff recovered and started going into action.
"Go! This is the Admiral, we are under attack, commence evacuation of non-essential personnel, this is not a drill, I repeat this is not a drill!" he was interrupted by another blast which rocked the wall below them, causing the entire room's suite of equipment to shake as a handful of cracks appeared on their blast window.
Major Black was already sprinting out by this point as troops were rushing towards their cover positions and strongpoints, pulling on helmets and locking and loading their carbines. Admiral Queen then started giving the appropriate orders, with personnel rushing about trying carry them out. The security force in the gate room was still taking fire, explosions rocking the room throwing out dust and pieces of debris in all directions.
"Evacuate the gate room!" Queen said as he tapped the comm button, knowing his men were without a way to fight back due to the one-way manner of the wormhole, "Establish secondary lines of defense, lock down the gate room and draw the blast doors closed."
As he watched the group moving out of the room, he noted that a large metal barrel was now rolled in through the gate. It was the size of a large beer barrel, and rolled right into the center of the gate room as the security troops pulled out and the blast door closed. Inside was more than four hundred pounds of C4, which exploded with a massive concussive force that it blew open the cracked glass and the variety of instruments up against the glass were thrown off their mounts and the men and women with them. Anyone standing was launched as well before their thick blastdoor was lowered. Then, the gate deactivated, zipping closed and leaving all the evidence that could be asked for. Admiral Queen and his entire command staff were laying on the crowd, those stationed closest were lacerated pretty badly by the flying glass and other shrapnel. Meanwhile the equipment in the gateroom and the computers in their command center were badly damaged, almost entirely wrecked. It was a good thing the room had been evacuated, otherwise the body count would have been in the double digits. Instead, the Twelve Colonies had received their first taste of hostile intent from the outside galaxy.