Robotech: The Stargate Saga

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and universes that I am about to mangle around and mash together for my own demented author amusement – sadly all Robotech and Stargate characters and concepts remain the property of Harmony Gold and MGM respectively – I am merely borrowing them and make absolutely no profit from their use. As a result, please keep the legal attack dogs – also known as lawyers – firmly muzzled and on a leash as I have no money to give to anyone.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Rick Hunter stumbled as he emerged from the Caloran Stargate. Man, that journey had been a rush unlike anything he had ever experienced in his life before which, considering all the things he'd been through and all the things he had seen since arriving on Macross Island, was saying something. Had he been able to breath during the transit he was certain he would have suffocated, not to mention pulped by the gee forces, as his incorporeal, but still somehow fully aware, self was shot through a glowing superluminal tunnel that twisted and turned at angles that made even the craziest of pre-Rain roller-coaster designers look like the sanest people in the world.

Recovering his wits and balance he looked around. To see that a portable structure made from titanium-hypercarbon composite panels had been built around the Stargate and it's dialling device by the team of combat engineers sent through a few hours earlier. They had even dug out the snow and ice that had started to build up around the gate and the dialling device since this planet was, well, in an ice age. Which had allowed them to put in heaters and raise the temperature in here to a far more comfortable level, letting people work more easily.

"Captain Hunter," Colonel Ferretti said as he came up, his helmet off and held at his side. "Welcome to Calora. I take it you weren't harmed by the passage through the Stargate?"

"It is good to be here Colonel," Rick replied as he approached the taller, older, and far more intimidating due in no small part to his black armour, man. "And no, I'm not harmed though going through that thing was quite the rush."

Ferretti chuckled. "It is at that," he said recalling how he had thought that every time he had stepped through the thing so far. It was always an utterly incredible thrill ride and one that he hoped he never got tired of. "If you'll follow me my Cheetah is waiting outside for us. I'll fill you in on everything that's happened in the bunker while we're on the way there – and a few complications that might still develop."

"Senator Messyr," Rick asked as he started to follow the STORM commando, expertly dodging some of the people moving supplies around ready to be hauled to the Caloran 7bunker. For someone like him who was used to the organised chaos of a starships flight deck such obstacle avoidance was as natural a skill as breathing. "He was mentioned in the report you sent to General Richards."

Ferretti nodded. "Him and one or two other members of the Caloran government," he replied slipping his helmet back on and sealing it before they stepped out into the deep-frozen ruins of the city, over which a light snow was beginning to fall from a frigid grey sky. When Ferretti spoke again it was over helmet comms. "They're making an enormous stink about us being allowed to even see the ship. Messyr practically started foaming at the mouth when President Jowmart said we would be allowed aboard it. They seem to believe that the Ancients meant the ship for the Caloran people and nobody else."

"Politicians," Rick commented with a faint hint of exasperation in his voice that made the other man laugh in agreement as they arrived at the Cheetah and climbed on. Ferretti taking the controls and driving position while Rick sat behind him. "Has anyone pointed out that if the Ancients had meant for them to have the ship, they would have been able to use it?"

"I did," Ferretti admitted a slight smile on his hidden features which turned into a mildly concerned frown as he recalled the reaction of Messyr to being reminded of that fact, "Messyr just went off on one about the Caloran people needing to prove themselves worthy, typical political extremist diatribe. He went even redder in the face when General Pemblake reminded him and everyone that they've never actually been able to get aboard the warship only gaining access to some of the data feeds in the hangar itself and draw some power from the hangar which itself is drawing power from the ship."

Rick resisted the impulse to shake his head in irritation. This Senator Messyr sounded far, far too like some of the more irritating members of the United Earth Government, especially those who thought soldiers to be programmable killing machines, that he had dealt with on and off over the last two years. Some of whom made the likes of Lynn Kyle, who he had wanted to introduce to the business end of a GU-11 gunpod more than once when they'd been back on the SDF-1 and fighting the Zentraedi, look reasonable where the military were concerned.

"Think he's going to be trouble," he asked.

"He might be," Ferretti admitted as he started the Cheetah's engine which hummed to life in the way protoculture-powered devices usually did, "though the Calorans have few working weapons now so I don't think he will really be able to do anything foolish. Still, we're prepared for it as you know what fanatics can be like."

"Yeah, I do," Rick agreed knowing full well what some fanatics could be like. He had encountered more than a few in the last two years, especially in those states who had broken away from the United Earth Government during the months of chaos that had followed the Rain of Death. More than once he had been menaced by fighters from one or two of them, Gilead which had grown in the old southern and bible belt states of North America was especially notorious for it. One time they had tried to get him to follow three F-22 Raptors back to a base of theirs – no doubt wanting him as a hostage as well as getting their hands on state of the art robotech weaponry like the latest generation of the Stiletto missile which had seen the war-time high explosive warheads replaced with newer Zentraedi-style plasma warheads as well as changes and improvements to propulsion, guidance and tracking capabilities – only for their pilots to back off when he responded to their targeting scans with ones of his own. The former US Air Force pilots had known that even the F-22 was no match for a Valkyrie and had wisely backed off as he had made it clear over the common air comm channel that if they shot at him, he wouldn't hesitate to blow all three of them out of the sky. Later Gilead had claimed it was all a misunderstanding, though everyone knew what they had really been attempting to do.

Thankfully they had never tried that stunt with the likes of Miriya or any other micronized Zentraedi who had joined the United Earth Defence Forces. None of them, thanks to residual programming inside them from the Robotech Masters, would have been anywhere near as merciful or restrained as he had been. They would have shot the Raptors down and certainly gone on to whichever airbase they'd come from and blown it sky high to boot. No doubt in the process starting a war that neither side really wanted.

He pushed aside the thoughts of what could have, what would certainly have, happened if Gilead's pilots had been stupid enough to harass a Zentraedi pilot. Instead, he turned his attention to watching the blasted, frozen landscape around them as it whizzed past as they made their way across the wastelands – that once had certainly been fertile farmlands, before the Goa'uld attacked the planet – towards the last of Calora's bunker complexes.

Unaware of the confrontation brewing in orbit a few hundred thousand kilometres above their heads.

Goa'uld Nar'kesh Frigate

Approaching Caloran System

A Few Moments Earlier

"My lord we are entering the Caloran system."

Sitting on his throne at the back of the frigates small pel'tac Ship Lord Tethoc allowed a small smile to grace his face at the report from the Jaffa Prime manning the main console. Finally, he thought as he straightened up somewhat on the throne whose design was not to his liking but a low ranked Goa'uld like himself didn't get a choice with these things, they just had to put up with their lieges' whims. As he did so he wondered just who was nosing around this punished planet after all this time. Scavengers from other races, especially those ever-troublesome lizards the Tlak'kahn – really they should have wiped them out all those millennia ago when they'd stopped using them as hosts and abandoned there homeworld, that oversight had allowed the lizards to advance to become the spacefaring society and a rival to the empire that they now were – had picked the place clean years ago taking all technology that Ba'al hadn't which wasn't much to be honest.

After a moment he shrugged. It didn't matter who was nosing around Calora now or why they were doing it. He would put a stop to it and bring any surviving scavengers back to Lord Ba'al. Who if they knew what was good for them would apologise and plead for mercy from their god for daring to trespass in his domain. Thus, be put on his calm, determined face before speaking up.

"How long until we drop out of hyperspace?" he asked.

"We are dropping out now my lord."

Tethoc nodded as through the pel'tac viewport the purple and blue tunnel of a Goa'uld hyperdrive generated hyperspace conduit flashed and dissolved, being momentarily replaced by a slipstream blur of indistinct colours and images until the cutting in sublight engines overcame the effects of hyperspace inertia. Normal space reappeared with the steadily freezing globe of Calora visible in the viewport. Tethoc felt no small amount of pride at the sight of a world so thoroughly chastised – to the point that it would be millennia before it was habitable for most species again – for its former human inhabitants daring to defy and stand against those who they should worship as their gods.

"Move us into orbit and then scan the area around the chappa'ai," he ordered, "find the intruders."

"Yes, my lord," the Jaffa announced, giving the order to the sensors. Invisible beams of energy immediately reaching out from the frigates sensor arrays as they settled into orbit. The beams swept over the surface and immediately detected an anomaly. "My lord sensors show an artificial structure made of a combination of titanium and an unknown carbon compound has been built around the location of the chappa'ai. We are also detecting several small vehicles moving back and forth between the chappa'ai and a location in the mountains northeast of the city."

"So, someone is establishing a base here are they," Tethoc commented with a scowl as it was the only thing that made sense. Someone, some unknown party, was looking to establish a base here using the mountains as cover. It was a good shrewd move as establishing a base here would put whoever was behind this within quick striking range of several major resource rich systems in Ba'al's domain. "Launch our gliders, tell them to commence an attack on both the ground facility and the moving targets. I want most of them eliminated, then prepare to land to pick up any survivors for interrogation."

"Yes, my lord," the Jaffa acknowledged a moment before the sensors came alive with an urgent warning. "My lord a hyperspace window is opening on a bearing of zero two one mark zero three zero. Distance one hundred thousand kilometres, one vessel is emerging. It is Asgard."

"What! Show me."

Immediately the holographic HUD activated over the viewport showing the image of the Asgard warship settling into orbit directly in front of them, its hammer shaped bow – and with it the vessels primary weapons arrays – pointed directly at them. Tethoc immediately felt a chill of deep fear fill him as he beheld the likes of a warship that would give even the great Ra himself nightmares. However, he was experienced enough as a ship lord to immediately spot several differences between this Asgard warship and those encountered by the Goa'uld in the past. The HUD confirmed that it was a bit larger and wider, and its weapons arrays looked both different and more numerous.

Its power signature was also different, higher, than any Asgard ship seen before. Clearly this was a newer model and he had to wonder just what that was out there the Asgard would decide to build such a heavily armed and high-powered monster.

"We are being hailed," the Jaffa reported looking over at Tethoc for authorisation to accept the incoming message from the Asgard vessel. The Goa'uld for his part merely nodded, prompting him to enter the command to accept the transmission.

Immediately the HUD changed from the view of the powerful alien warship to the image of an Asgard backdropped by the glowing column of yellow-white energy that was the dominant feature of the Asgard bridge. In much the same way that braziers and statues, not to mention hieroglyphic encrusted gold walls, were dominant features of any Goa'uld pel'tac.

"Greetings," the Asgard said, "I am Audun, commander of the Skuld. You have no business in this system I invite you to withdraw."

"Commander Audun I am Ship Lord Tethoc. This system belongs to Lord Ba'al," Tethoc answered knowing he could not just turn tail and leave, not that in the end there would be much choice as the only alternative would be to attempt to engage the Skuld in battle and that would be foolish in the extreme. "Our sensors have confirmed the presence of trespassers on this world. I will remove them."

"You will not," Audun told him firmly. "They are here recovering something at the behest of the High Council of Asgard, something of ours that was lost long ago. Once the recovery is complete, they will leave as will we. Now I offer you again the chance to withdraw, I will not make the offer again and if you require proof of my words." The Asgard turned slightly and nodded at someone on the bridge not in line of the camera pickup.

A second later the deck beneath Tethoc's feet shuddered as a pair of high intensity energy beams erupted from the Skuld's forward particle beam cannons. The beams passing directly above and below the Nar'kesh, passing close enough for the ion backwash of the beams to make the frigates shields flare but not enough to do any damage. Well beyond violently rattle the frigate and with it Tethoc's nerves. Tethoc scowled angrily at the Asgard at the not very subtle warning shot.

"Fine," he said at last even as, thoroughly intimidated, he gave the Asgard commander an extremely angry glare, "however the High Council of the System Lords will hear of this violation of our sovereignty Commander Audun. There will be consequences." He gestured for the Jaffa to close the channel which he promptly did. "Take us into hyperspace and move us to the outer edge of the system. We will watch the Asgard from there. Then contact Lord Ba'al immediately."

"Yes, my lord."

Asgard Battlecruiser Skuld

Sitting in his command throne Commander Audun watched calmly as the Goa'uld frigate turned away, with its metaphorical tail firmly tucked between its equally metaphorical legs and opened a hyperspace window. A moment later it vanished inside fleeing before them. He resisted the impulse to sigh he did not enjoy having to be threatening or menacing, no modern Asgard did not even the Vanir, but it was the quickest and easiest way to get the Goa'uld ship to withdraw. At least for now as he didn't doubt that the frigate would return with a sizeable detachment of Ba'al's fleet to force them away from the planet.

Something that the Goa'uld would have a good chance of doing if enough of their ships came. After all, while the Skuld was an immensely powerful warship even they could be taken down by superior numbers. A dozen Goa'uld motherships and frigates all firing upon them at once would be too great of a force for the Skuld to take on alone and survive for very long. Fortunately, they would not be alone themselves for very long as soon a squadron of Zentraedi ships would arrive from Earth to provide them with more than a little backup, which would be downright strange should a battle erupt given the previous very adversarial relationship the Asgard had had with the Zentraedi.

"Commander the Goa'uld frigate has dropped out of hyperspace at the edge of the system," sensors reported. "We are picking up a heavily encrypted subspace signal being broadcast from the vessel; it is being directed towards Ba'al's throneworld of Hadad."

"Understood keep an eye on our long-range sensors I want to know the moment a Goa'uld fleet is detected coming this way," Audun ordered. Hopefully a battle wouldn't erupt and the Terrans would be able to recover the Ancient warship, which from its description was certainly one of the Aurelius-class destroyers the last class of warship the Ancients had designed and built in their war with the Wraith. It was not something that they would want the Goa'uld to ever get their perfectly manicured hands on, especially as it was – if their records of that time were correct – equipped with the final evolution of some of the Ancients most formidable and powerful weapons.

"Yes commander."

"Do you believe that the Goa'uld will send a fleet to try and force us away," Briar asked from the first officer's station.

"They will," Audun answered, "Ba'al like any other high ranked System Lord will not want to give the impression of weakness by allowing us to force one of his ships to abandon a world in his domain without a fight. He will come to at least register his displeasure, though I do not believe that Ba'al will be foolish enough to open fire on us. He will be aware of the consequences of doing so."

Briar nodded in agreement. The last time a Goa'uld System Lord had fired upon an Asgard ship the retribution from the Asgard Fleet had been both swift and devastating. The offending System Lords fleet had been destroyed, as had several of his outposts, leading to that Goa'uld's downfall. Ba'al would not want to be on the receiving end of such a 'visit' from an Asgard Fleet, especially as their warships were now more powerful than ever before due to the need to defend themselves, and others, from the expansionist tendencies of the Robotech Masters.

"Still, we should be cautious commander," he pointed out. Audun nodded in agreement as if Ba'al did come he knew better than to underestimate him. After all the Goa'uld had fought the Asgard to a standstill in the past, it was out of the stalemate of that war that the Protected Planets Treaty had sprung. A treaty that had ended what would otherwise have certainly into a very long, very costly war for both sides.

"Commander we've just received an advisory from Earth," communications reported after a few moments of silence, "a squadron of Zentraedi warships has just folded out of orbit on course for Calora. They will arrive here in approximately thirty minutes. The fleet is under the command of a Commander Neleya."

"Isn't that the Zentraedi who led the attack on Elysium," Audun asked looking over at Briar for confirmation even as he was somewhat comforted by the information already provided. If Ba'al did show up here with a fleet of frigates and motherships it would be nice to have a powerful if still only partially – as it would take a long time for both their species to get over their mutual distrust and fear of one another – trusted ally at his back.

"Indeed commander. Supreme Commander Thor noted that she is both a very gifted and disciplined commander," Briar replied.

"High praise indeed from Thor," Audun commented, aware that Thor was not one given to giving out praise where it wasn't due. It was one of the things that made him so good at his job.

"Indeed."

Deciding to turn his attention to the reason why they were here Audun turned to look at another Asgard on the bridge. "Sensors have you located the Caloran bunker complex," he asked, "and can you confirm the presence of an Ancient warship?"

"We have commander. We have also confirmed the presence of a small Ancient warship of the designs favoured by the Ancient tribe referred to as Lanteans," sensors reported, "as the initial reports from Colonel Ferretti indicated it is a destroyer weight starship of the Aurelius-class. While we cannot be certain from here the vessel appears to be completely intact just running in low power, standby mode."

"Enough to maintain the integrity of the containment fields on its reactors and to keep the self-repair system working?" Audun asked knowing that was the normal docked mode for all manner of Ancient starships. Especially those that like the Aurelius-class were designed entirely for war and which as a result used gravitic reactors as their primary power source.

"Yes, commander the vessel is reading as fully functional. It is likely the Lanteans landed it here after they retreated from the Pegasus Galaxy after losing their war with the Wraith," sensors speculated.

"Very likely we know that the surviving Lanteans did try for a time to rebuild their civilization after returning here to this galaxy," Briar commented, "constructing such facilities as the supervisory station so recently discovered over the planet our Terran friends refer to as Mars but ultimately gave up and choosing to leave this plane of existence."

Audun nodded in agreement with his first officers' assessment. It made sense as the Ancients had tried one last time to rebuild their once great civilization after returning to this galaxy only tired and worn down by defeat, shamed by the abandonment of the great cityship Atlantis and facing the rising power of the young Goa'uld Empire to give up. Give up and choose to ascend to a higher plane of existence leaving the galaxy to the Goa'uld and the other rising civilizations of the time. If only they had swallowed their pride and asked us for help, he thought, they would still be ruling this galaxy as they had done for tens of millions of years and the Goa'uld wouldn't have the strangle hold that they do.

"Commander we are receiving a message from the surface," communications reported, "Captain Hunter and Colonel Ferretti report that they have reached the Caloran bunker and have been met by the Caloran president and a military officer. They are heading for the ship now."

"Understood. Sensors isolate their biosignatures and follow them until they reach the ship."

"Yes commander."

Presidential Bunker

Calora, That Same Time

Rick Hunter felt like he had a nest of rattlesnakes performing a mating dance in his stomach as, accompanied by Colonel Ferretti, he followed the Caloran president a Stebran Jowmart and a Colonel Karenic through the bunker towards where the Ancient warship was docked. He believed that he had a very good reason to be nervous as this would be his first time attempting to power up let alone fly an Ancient warship. Plus, he just knew that Senator Messyr – and his allies – were certain to try something stupid should he get the vessel to come fully online. It would be something to really be expected of his kind of political extremist.

He would thus do his best to be prepared for the man's interference. Though he also hoped that much like the Mars supervisory station – which everyone had started to refer to as Phobos Station after the asteroid it had appeared to be for their entire history – the warship would have a friendly AI onboard that he could work with. From what little they had seen of the Ancients technology so far – which truth be told wasn't that much – they had been quite fond of using very advanced and sophisticated artificial intelligence programs, that put the ones they used themselves having reverse engineered the coding from the SDF-1 during her reconstruction to shame, some of which were outright sentient in the way Primus was. If such an AI was present it would certainly enable him to deal with whatever jingoistic, nationalistic nonsense that Irvanto Messyr could come up with.

He put aside those thoughts for now as they arrived at the section of the bunker that had originally been built by the Ancients. The moment they entered it he felt something stir within him, something written into his families very DNA, that made him feel completely comfortable and at ease in these surroundings. I wonder if it's an ancestral memory of some kind, he mused recalling that one of the more esoteric discoveries about biology that had come out of studying data found on SDF-1 was that people could retain certain memories, certain instincts and awareness in their very DNA and pass them to their descendants. Given the Ancient DNA in him he was willing to bet that this feeling of comfort – which now that he thought about it, he had felt on Phobos Station as well – was indeed some deeply coded ancestral memory.

The arrival at the hangar brought him out of those thoughts as well. Instead, the moment he saw the ship he felt a surge of familiarity as though he had had seen it sometime before, sometime long ago. Or rather whichever Ancient or Ancients who had interbred with his very distant ancestors had seen it. He scanned the hull with his eyes and saw her name plate, the characters were naturally in Ancient but thanks to Primus, he could read them and thus instantly knew the ships name Aurelius. Like the design of the ship, he felt like he had seen and heard it before.

"Captain Hunter are you alright," Ferretti asked seeing Rick looking at the ship, a strange almost faraway look in his blue eyes as he gazed upon the tan metal – with silver highlights here and there – of the hull.

"I'm fine," Rick replied giving himself a mental shake. "It's just a feeling."

"A feeling," President Jowmart asked.

"Yeah, like I've seen this ship before," Rick answered before he shrugged. "Don't ask me to explain as I can't but it's there."

"Interesting," Jowmart commented wondering if the Ancient DNA the Terran apparently had – he wished they could check but their DNA sequencing and reading devices had broken down years ago needing chemicals and materials to work that were simply not available anymore – something to do with it. Maybe it was a race memory of some type. Who knew? "This way."

He resumed leading the two Terrans into the hangar with Colonel Karenic bringing up the rear and keeping a careful watch for any sign of interference from the supporters of Senator Messyr. They had been officially warned by bunker authorities not to interfere – just as Messyr had been told very sternly not to even think of doing something – but nobody trusted those idiots, including the Senator who still thought he had more power than he did, to behave. Thus, he had been issued one of their few still operational ion pistols just in case.

It only took another few minutes to reach an airlock on the side of the Artefact. An airlock that, despite centuries of trying, the people of Calora had never been able to open to gain access to the interior of the ship. They had tried everything and not once had they breached it and any damage inflicted to it always repaired itself in moments. "This is as far as any of us have ever been able to get," Jowmart said, gesturing to the outer door. "Even after centuries of trying we've never been able to open this door."

"Let's see if I can then," Rick replied walking up to the door and taking off one of the gloves of his environmental suit. After a moment of hesitation, he reached out and put his hand on a recessed crystalline panel, which immediately glowed under his hand. Rick immediately felt something probe the outer edges of his mind before stepping back and giving the impression of both acceptance and patient wait for orders. He immediately thought open.

The response was immediate. With a humming and a whirring sound, the airlock door dropped back into the hull, in the same manner as a hatch on a pre-Rain commercial airliner, before splitting in half down the middle and moving in opposite directions leaving the airlock within visible. Soft, warm lights immediately coming on inside the airlock. Rick got the distinct impression of encouragement that the ship itself was waiting for him to come inside.

He didn't hesitate to step inside, the other three men hot on his heels, the inner door of the airlock chamber opened revealing a hallway beyond. Taking the lead, following the feeling now tugging at his mind, Rick led the way down the corridor before coming to a door that opened automatically at their approach revealing a chamber with the Ancient version of spacesuits in it.

"The bridge is this way," Rick said without hesitation, not sure how he knew where the bridge was but knew he did. He began walking down the corridor, lights coming on all around as they walked and there was a faint humming through the ship as though it was beginning to power back up from a very long slumber. The other three men hurried to follow him both Jowmart and Karenic getting more and more convinced that the Terran that Colonel Ferretti had addressed as Captain Hunter did indeed have some deep connection to the Ancients who had built this vessel. A vessel that seemed willing to share its secrets with him. They just hoped that the Terrans would be willing to share all the ships knowledge and secrets with them.

Ten minutes and five decks later the four men stepped onto the darkened bridge of the Aurelius. It was quite a compact bridge with three workstations at the front and two at the back against the walls. Through the wide window that seemed to make up the entire one wall they could see the hangar outside and the upper hull of the warship.

Rick for his part immediately made a beeline for the vaguely throne-like chair in the centre of the room on a slightly raised dais. He hesitated for a moment then sat down upon it, immediately a light came on shining on him and he felt a presence enter his mind and begin scanning him. For a second or two nothing seemed to happen then the presence seemed satisfied and the data stream interface unfolded inside Rick's mind, and he could suddenly feel every system on the ship. He gave a thought command to power up to normal operation level and felt the ship immediately respond, the output of the destroyers three gravitic reactors suddenly increasing for the first time in ten thousand years and doing it seamlessly without any issue whatsoever.

As he felt and saw the ships systems powering up and going through their normal start up functions Rick noted something blinking for his attention. He focused on it and suddenly everything seemed to change much like it had on Phobos and he found himself standing alone in a strange blue void. But not for long as a man, who looked somewhat like him Rick noted though he was much taller and had the same massively muscular build that Nathan now sported, wearing an odd cream and tan coloured uniform appeared. Blinked then smiled at him.

"Hello Captain Hunter," he said, "I have waited a long time to see if what I was told was true and I am pleased to say that it is."

"Who are you," Rick asked. "Are you an AI of some type?"

"No, I am a neural interactive recording of the previous and only commander of the Lantean Guard destroyer Aurelius. My name is Bonran and from what I was told I am also your very distant ancestor. I left this recording here for you to provide you with instructions on how to operate the Aurelius and her many systems as they are far more advanced and complex than the robotechnology-based systems you are familiar with."

"So, what your Ancient warship one oh one. How do you know all this?"

"In a sense yes though the correct term is Lantean not Ancient," Bonran replied, "as to how I know about you to create this recording for you, well that is a long story and we do not quite have time for it now. Right now, you need to turn your attention to the internal security system."

"Um why," Rick asked before the world changed again and he found himself bake in his body with the normal datastream interface filling his head. As Bonran had suggested he concentrated on the internal security system and cursed as he saw several people coming in through the airlock, all but one holding weapons and from the sensors they were all working. "We have company," he said aloud. "Internal security systems are detecting intruders boarding."

"Intruders who," Jowmart asked though he had a good idea who it was. Messyr I will make you pay for this if it's you, he thought a moment before a holographic screen blinked into existence showing the man he'd just been thinking about and six soldiers coming down the corridor from the airlock doors. "Messyr."

"Sensors confirm all six soldiers have working ion particle beam sidearms," Rick added reading the sensor data running through his head, "I can stop them."

"Can you do it non-lethally," Jowmart asked.

"Yes," Rick replied mentally activating a force field blocking the path forward through the airlock vestibule. When Messyr and his people stopped he turned on another field behind them. Simultaneously he opened a hidden hatch in the ceiling and a cone shaped device dropped down. It momentarily glowed and all seven men dropped unconscious to the floor, the device retracted into the ceiling, and he deactivated the force fields. "They're down. They'll be out cold for several hours."

"That was easy," Jowmart commented as he gazed at the hologram amazed that the Terran had been able to defeat Messyr so easily. "But why do I get the impression you could have killed them if you wanted to."

"I could have according to the system the neural jammer can also emit a destructive energy pulse capable of instantly destroying the nervous system of any humanoid species. It's part of the ship's defences against hostile boarders… ugh oh."

"What is it," Ferretti asked not liking the way Rick had just said ugh oh.

"Main sensors just came back online," Rick replied, "a fleet of twenty-nine Goa'uld warships, I read three Sha'ha'tak-class motherships, twelve Ha'tak-class motherships and fourteen Nar'kesh-class frigates has just dropped out of hyperspace in orbit. The Asgard ship is turning to face them, but they're outmanned and outgunned."

Silence greeted that announcement with the Caloran going pale in horror at the thought of such a large Goa'uld fleet here again though he didn't recognise two of the classes that Captain Hunter had just named. It was almost as big a fleet as the one that had destroyed their defences and ultimately transformed Calora from a once thriving planet into the frozen wasteland it now was. It was Ferretti however who gave a simple, but effective, word to what they were all feeling.

"Oh shit."

Authors Notes: Well, another chapter bites the metaphorical dust. I hope you all enjoyed it as it was such fun to write, especially giving you that cliffhanger ending. What will happen in the confrontation between the Skuld and Ba'al's personal fleet – which includes his flagship which has already replaced its conventional staff cannons with the new plasma beam weapons created by Tharos though its heavy and superheavy guns remain the standard Goa'uld plasma bolt weapons – and how did Captain Bonran know about Rick and know to leave a neural interactive simulation of himself behind to act as a tutor. Will the Zentraedi arrive in time to help drive the Goa'uld away? As while the Skuld is more powerful than even Ba'al's upgraded ship in a one-on-one confrontation even an Asgard warship can be brought down by such superior numbers. You'll find out next time.

Finally, Gilead mentioned earlier in the chapter is indeed a reference to Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale and the award-winning MGM television series of the same name. They exist in this reality instead of the fascist state the Commonwealth of York that appears in the RPG and while they are aggressive and somewhat confrontational with the United Earth Government they have held off on going to war since they know that that would be a fight they couldn't win since while the ex-US military equipment and weapons they have are formidable they are no real match for modern robotech weaponry and equipment – hence why they wanted Rick's plane.