Stargate: Immortal

by Seraphin2011

Book III: The Ori gone, Aschen imprisoned, Wraith changed and pacified, yet the Alliance is threatened once more. The Vargas are coming and no one knows how they are going to survive an enemy that spans throughout the known universe and had done so for billions of years. By closing the anomalies, they have postponed the invasion by more than two years, but will that be enough?

25. Liam's Return - Part I

Author's note: Happy New Year! Well, that's all.

Thanks to my beta, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well.

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Young enjoyed watching the blue, swirling spectacle in warped space. It had a calming effect on him, allowing his thoughts to wander undisturbed. Today was the long-awaited moment when he would finally get in touch with his people, and thus spending a few minutes alone with his thoughts was what he needed right now.

There was a lot that they needed to do before meeting their people. It should be simple to establish a connection, but he knew it wouldn't go that easy. Separate blocks had to be brought into this galaxy and joined into forming the supergate, and that was it. But unfortunately, many things could go wrong during the five-minute-long procedure, which meant they needed to prepare for all eventualities.

First, they had to gather their people. Although they didn't plan to travel back home, they still had to pick up their away teams if the decision to leave unexpectedly came. Second, many preparations had to be made to the stargate because it would have to transport individual blocks of the supergate to this galaxy. Since seven hundred million light-years separated them from their colleagues who, he guessed, had already prepared everything on their end, their engineers needed to put extra effort to ensure a steady power flow into the gate. Fortunately, Adria had handed over enough knowledge on efficiently drawing power from a black hole, thus leaving less room for errors.

However, that still wasn't everything they needed to do.

The biggest hurdle was in providing security. They were in a hostile galaxy where strange aliens with glowing blue eyes stalked them constantly. Or there were the Reapers to worry about, lurking behind any corner. While the weird aliens always knew their location when they used their FTL drive, the Reapers routinely detected when a stargate activated. The chances of the Reapers not catching a stargate dialing another located in a distant galaxy were nil. And the moment that happened, they would rush toward that source of energy at max speed.

Although mediocre opponents, the Reapers had two advantages that made them dangerous. First, they had Vargas hyperdrives. Ships with these drives could catch up quickly and without warnings. Second, they had the numbers. No one knew how many, but they expected the Reapers had grown unobstructed for many years, stopping only after reaching a specific number.

He estimated millions of Reapers were present in this galaxy, probably many times in neighboring ones. No wonder they found no other intelligent life forms, no matter how many planets they visited. The Reapers brought all species native to this galaxy to extinction. Only after completing their relentless genocidal task did the machines fall into a deep slumber, waiting for the day when new prey would again stumble upon their territory.

The other aliens were even more annoying. Recently, several of their ships joined those already there from a neighboring galaxy. Every time the Destiny came out of FTL, a dozen ships would be on top of her in mere minutes. Confronted by such force left them no choice but to re-enter FTL rapidly.

It was even more dangerous now. Once they started connecting with a distant galaxy, the Destiny would have to protect the supergate until fully operational. Young knew there was no better way, but he still hated not having a safer option. It was dangerous, and he felt that too many things could go wrong, even after taking all thinkable precautions.

"It's a bad idea," Young heard Eli mutter from behind.

"You don't need to say it," Lora replied, angry that Eli kept repeating himself.

"No, no, I don't think you understand how bad this idea is," Eli said.

"I'm confident I know exactly how risky it is. Besides, why are you the one complaining?" Lora asked, annoyed. "You suggested it!"

The two had occasionally been arguing for the last hour, for some annoying reason, while standing unnervingly close to him. He came to the promenade to clear his head before the big event, but it was hard to collect his thoughts while these two were quacking incessantly behind him.

The idea sounded dangerous to him too, but unfortunately, he had to side with Lora on this one.

"We decided to do it. There's no going back now," Young said, hoping his words would shut them up for at least five minutes.

"But I made new calculations, and it's worse than I thought! We could seriously damage the Destiny!" Eli said.

Lora grabbed the pad Eli was holding, swiftly skimming through the data. "I see the same calculations we did before; you just took a more pessimistic approach!"

"I disagree, Lora. I'm confident I used a realistic approach!" Eli retorted.

"I've hoped you two would stop at one point, but sadly I think that won't happen soon enough," Young said deflated, unsure if any of them even listened to what he'd just said. "It doesn't matter; I decided to go with the plan. So, unless any of you has a brighter idea, it's time for the two of you to shut up!"

Both thought for a moment before agreeing. The plan was risky, but they needed an edge no other strategy they thought of gave them. Their predictions spoke clearly. There was no way they could stop near a black hole, contact their people in another galaxy, and set up a connection with a stargate to ferry pieces of a supergate before being swarmed by enemies. Those weirdo aliens with blue, glowing eyes were always on their tails! It was just a question of how many ships would pop seconds after the Destiny reverted into normal space. They tried many times to mask their drive's signature to no avail. The aliens were always on top of them, just as if the Destiny had a tracking beacon stuck somewhere on her hull, squawking her precise location.

In his opinion, that royally sucked, and it was pretty unfair. But one had to live with the cards dealt and not expect a miracle to happen just because they needed one. Hence, Eli had devised a new plan to give them a few precious minutes of respite before the weird screeching aliens showed. Eli came with an idea, and Lora agreed. Young was happy that she did. Unlike Eli, Lora was a sensible person, never endorsing a plan that would get them killed. Although, in this instance, she appeared a little too eager. Perhaps she was more interested in trying a new thing than considering the consequences if the plan failed. But, in the end, no one came with a better idea, so he had no choice but to go with Eli's plan and Lora's endorsement.

The idea was simple to understand but challenging to put into practice. While passing close to a black hole, they would use their FTL drive to bend space. The drive could do it, but the calculations had to be precise, or bad things would follow. By modifying the generated warp field, the ship would trace a curved path.

When told the idea, he asked the most obvious question. What would that give them?

As it turned out, apparently a lot. The pursuing aliens couldn't predict Destiny's maneuver, which meant they would overextend. Even if they understood the plan in time, the aliens still couldn't correct their course because it would put them in the path of the black hole. No ship could survive passing through a singularity, no matter the dimension they were in.

Furthermore, after overshooting, they would have trouble pursuing the Destiny. It was near impossible to open a hyperspace window so close to a black hole, much less when the distances involved were so short. They would have no choice but to backtrack at sublight speed, forced to cross millions of miles at a crawling pace.

That would give them the few precious minutes to set up the supergate.

With that, they would get the respite they needed, at least when it came to the uber-stubborn aliens. The Reapers were a different story, but they would only notice something was afoot when the gate established a connection. That would tell the Reapers where they were, but Young was sure only a few could reach them before the supergate was assembled.

"How much longer?" It was Eli who asked.

Lora tapped at her pad a few times. "Ten minutes. We should go to the control room."

Without saying anything, Young began to walk. The other two followed him to the control room—the room that had changed the most. They had installed new consoles and holo-monitors to improve control over the ship. It seemed to him the Ancients hadn't paid much attention to it when building the ship, as if a crew would hardly need a control room. It looked much better now, with all the ship's functions at one's fingertips.

Adrienn, already inside and at the helm, was responsible for steering the ship. While Lora immediately sat down at communications, Eli did the same at the science station. From there, he'd monitor the overall condition of the vessel. Last, Young sat at the tactical console. In addition to orders, he would control the weapons.

"We are on our final approach," Adrienn said. "Scott and Aris informed me they are ready to take off."

"Good. Eli, any surprises with the Destiny?" Young asked.

"All is in the green," Eli replied.

The ship's status and the already activated subroutine returned a green light. If there were no surprises, the subroutine would automatically kick in at the right time, forcing the drive to create an asymmetrical warp field. No human could be that precise, which meant the computer would have to do it all automatically.

"ETA?" he asked.

"Four minutes and twenty seconds," Eli informed.

The closer they got, the slower time seemed to flow. This wasn't an effect associated with their proximity to the black hole—they were still too far away to feel the relativistic effects. The cause for the supposed discrepancy in the flow of time was the tension that kept growing as they approached the main event. Young was frantically going through all the ways it could go wrong. They did many simulations over the last few days, and now he was repeating them in his head. He was trying to anticipate the opponent's every move while practicing his responses.

But none of that would help him much. If he hadn't learned everything he could thus far, he wouldn't learn it in the next four minutes. But he just couldn't help himself, constantly trying to figure out if he might have missed something.

The scenario he liked best was when the aliens overshot the Destiny for at least five million miles and had to crawl back at STL speed for ten minutes just to get back to the place where the Destiny came out of warp. Of course, during that time, the Destiny would further increase the distance while moving closer to the black hole. But in the end, they'd eventually have to stop and activate the gate, giving the opponent a chance to catch up.

Time slowly trickled by, with the tension in the room steadily growing. He wasn't the only one feeling the pressure. Looking at the people around him, he realized that Eli was the most nervous. Since it was his plan from the start, if the warped space damaged the Destiny during the maneuver, he would blame himself for months.

He wanted to make the people on the bridge relax but didn't know how. People like Jack O'Neill used humor expressed through a few silly words to reduce the tension. However, the audience in front of him wasn't suitable. Adrienn was too serious and Eli too nervous. Lora would probably understand what he was trying to do. Still, there was no guarantee she would follow his example, which would leave him doing all the hard work. Aris would have been great, but he wasn't here.

And most importantly, he was terrible at it. He had trouble getting involved most of the time, even when others started with the jokes. It was nearly impossible now that he had to be the one to start with the meaningless banter, especially in front of such a demanding audience. Still, he had to do something; otherwise, mishaps could happen.

He stared at the person that concerned him the most. "Eli."

"Yes! What?" Eli almost jumped from his seat.

"You have to relax. If the process fails, we'll enter FTL and try again with the next black hole on our list. There's no need to worry so much," said Young.

"Young's right, Eli," Lora snapped. "We have taken all precautions to ensure the ship's survival even in case the plan fails. If there are any problems, we will continue to travel safely in FTL."

"Yes, the subroutine will stop in case something goes wrong," Eli replied, deeply inhaling while trying to calm down. "Still, it would be great to succeed on the first attempt. The aliens will realize our plan and be prepared for it next time. "

"Let's not focus on what it could be and first see how it goes. If it fails, we will address the crisis then," Adrienn added his five cents before delivering an important piece of information. "The subroutine will activate in twenty seconds!"

It was time to stop with the lively conversation. Although he told Eli it wasn't a one-time thing and they could do it again, he knew this was their best shot. He also wanted to connect with their people as soon as possible. After so long, he felt he had to spend at least a few weeks on Earth to recharge his batteries.

"Here we go," he whispered.

The subroutine activated, forcing additional energy into the FTL drive. At the same time, the warp field began to fold space on the starboard side and expand it on the port side. The space around the ship was no longer symmetrical, twisting slightly to the right and thus forcing the vessel to follow a curved trajectory. However, that wasn't the only thing that happened. Since space wasn't the same on both sides of the ship, intense pressure was exerted on the hull, trying to bend it.

Furthermore, the ship had sharply slowed down. The goal of the maneuver was to get out of FTL just behind the black hole, or otherwise, they would fly too far and have to crawl back at sublight speed for many hours. That would allow their pursuers to catch up. The weirdest thing was that the whole maneuver lasted barely two seconds. Within that time, the ship followed a sharp bend around a black hole before abruptly dropping back into normal space.

The ship shook so much that Young almost fell out of his seat.

"We dropped out of FTL!" Adrienn informed.

"Status!" shouted Young.

Eli frantically checked the situation on his console. "Hull integrity has dropped by twenty-eight percent on the starboard and by twelve on the port side! Several secondary systems are unresponsive, but it's nothing too serious. All primary systems are still showing a green light!"

That meant they could proceed with the plan.

"What is our position?" Young asked.

"One hundred thousand miles further away from the black hole than planned," Adrienn said, looking annoyed. Although the central computer had done everything, he was still responsible for navigation, and he considered every failure in that department his.

"It's not great, but it isn't the end of the world. We continue accordingly. Turn us around and push towards the black hole at full thrust!" ordered Young, a little annoyed by the delay exiting further away than planned would cause them.

The Ancients didn't build the Destiny for speed. While the aliens had proven they could push their ships to above four hundred gees, the Destiny could barely attain three hundred, even after the repairs. He also didn't know how far behind the aliens were. Destiny's sensors were undeniably insufficient when used to detect vessels traveling in hyperspace.

Minutes passed, Young watched with anticipation if any ship emerged from hyperspace. The closer they came to the black hole before the bad guys came, the more time they would have to prepare the supergate.

"How long before we are in optimal range?" he asked.

"Nine minutes and forty seconds," Eli replied. He was very good with numbers, so he should receive credits for that.

"The aliens have just arrived!" said Lora. "Three unknowns eight hundred thousand kilometers behind us."

They were still unknown because the system had barely registered them, but they knew who they were and what kind of ships it was since the Nakai had only ever shown one type. Their point of exit was also a surprise. They predicted the aliens would exit more than a million miles away, but instead, they were closer by half that much.

But then, he noticed the number of ships. "I only see three ships."

"There's more coming out now, but they are three million miles further away," Lora said.

Three alien ships fared far better than expected, but the rest did worse. Their ships were now divided into two distinct groups. "Give me the timeline for their two groups and us. How long before reaching the supergate's deployment location?"

Eli calculated it quickly. "Nine minutes for the Destiny, fifteen minutes for the nearest three alien ships, and twenty-one minutes for the remaining thirteen ships from the second group."

Young didn't know what was worse. The number of vessels in the second group or both groups being on top of them only twelve minutes after reaching their destination. But that wasn't all, as more bad news kept piling up.

"Our sensors are detecting the formation of hyperspace windows within nearby systems," Lora said.

"How many?" Young asked, already predicting what those were. He hoped there weren't too many.

"Assuming they use Vargas hyperdrives, one hundred and twenty-eight hyperspace windows opened close enough for their ships to reach us within the next thirty minutes. There are more windows opening, but those ships should take longer. Hopefully, by then, we'll already finish setting up the supergate," said Lora.

"How come the Reapers are already aware of us? We haven't used the gate yet," he asked. They knew the Reapers would detect the gate establishing a connection, but that should have happened later.

"They can indeed detect a gate dialing, but that doesn't preclude them from sensing other bursts of energy. For example, if close enough, they could have detected the Nakai opening a hyperspace window," Eli explained.

"Did we by any chance choose a bad place? Or are there really that many Reapers in this galaxy?" he said, clueless on why so unlucky. They didn't know the exact number of Reapers in the galaxy, but this many seemed too many.

"I believe it's just bad luck," Lora replied. "Otherwise, it would mean there are billions of Reapers in this galaxy alone."

Young was no stranger to bad luck. He had lived side by side with Murphy's Law through most of his life, always rearing its ugly head when least expected. Yet, even when accounting for it, the number of Reapers nearby was concerning. As far as they knew, the Reapers had a directive that prevented them from growing above a specific number, which should preclude an exponential growth ending with a population numbering in the trillions.

It didn't matter now. They had to work with the cards dealt, which at this moment meant first fighting the strange aliens with glowing blue eyes and then settling the score with the Reapers. Or at least keep them busy until the supergate connected with the black hole.

"Lora, are you sure we can't get any information from the aliens we captured?" Young asked, thinking of the two they caught as they tried to sneak onto Destiny. It was too late now, but he still wanted to know why they failed to extract any information.

"Unfortunately, no. Their brains are too different to connect telepathically, and a mental probe didn't work on them either. If I had a few months, I might modify the probe to make it compatible, but right now, I can't make heads or tails out of their brain signals. "We could accelerate the process by combining human and Nakai DNA, that way creating a hybrid. It would bring results faster," Lora said.

Sometimes Lora sounded like a crazy scientist, solely focusing on results while disregarding moral principles. But then, she would suddenly show concern for the tiniest creature she found on some barren planet. It sometimes made him think that she had a multiple personality disorder. The story of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hide suddenly came to mind. "Let's not make any hybrids. That, too, would undoubtedly take time. "

"Not at all! With our cloning technology, I can make a hybrid in one day!" Lora said, looking excited.

She repeated something rather disturbing without flinching even a little. She would create new life but use it exclusively as a tool to bridge the minds of humans and Nakai. What would she do with the clone after that, one might ask. Judging by the way she said it, she probably intended to throw the hybrid away, as if it were a pair of old socks that could no longer serve their purpose. "As I said, we won't be doing that. As long as we succeed in connecting with our people, I don't care what the Nakai want or do?"

They were getting closer. Five more minutes and they could launch a stargate taken from a nearby planet. While taking it, ten Nakai ships attacked, and they had to wrap up that mission hurriedly and go back into FTL. Now there were even more ships they needed to face. That worried him terribly.

He checked the status of the ship's systems several times in a row. They made many changes to the Destiny. The biggest was connecting most systems to the ZPM they brought, but unfortunately, they couldn't connect the shield and FTL drive. These were the only two systems still powered by Destiny's original energy capacitors. He was worried because the shield wasn't connected to the ZPM, knowing that the little device could provide more power. But at least the pulse cannons and drones were now powered directly from it. He hoped the recently charged capacitors would be enough for the shield to withstand everything the Nakai and Reapers threw at it.

"Eli, is everything ready on your end?" he asked.

"I modified the shields and weapons to be the most effective against the Nakai, and I think it's best to keep them that way until the Reapers get involved. I already know the modifications needed for our shields once they join the battle so that I can adjust them in seconds. The weapons can remain at the same settings," Eli explained but then frowned. "I must point out once again that our hull suffered moderate damage on the starboard side. Although it isn't serious, I would like to keep that side away from the enemy if at all possible."

What Eli said made sense, but pointing it out was also meaningless. While they were only one lonely ship, the enemy had more than a dozen capital ships, and that was without counting the armada of Reapers that were yet to appear. There was no chance to hide the starboard side from so many enemies. Still, he knew Adrienn would do his best, even in such an unfavorable situation.

"Adrienn, I know you can't do much to hide the starboard side, so don't try to do the impossible," he said.

"I agree and, don't worry, I won't. But there's something that could help us here," Adrienn said. Seeing Young's nod, he went on to explain. "Reapers are the enemies of all, which means they will attack everyone, including the Nakai. It would be best to place as many Nakai ships between them and us as possible. Since we are only a single ship, the Reapers should go after the Nakai first, believing they are a greater threat. The Reapers could be more helpful to us than we think."

"It's a smart idea. But, as far as I know, the Reapers always go after the strongest energy source," Young said.

"Not just energy," Lora added hurriedly. "Their decision-making process in determining who is the bigger threat is far more complex. They decide whom to target primarily by comparing the type and strength of their weapons and shield systems, then the number of units, and finally their energy readings. If they decide that we are probable to lose the battle against the Nakai, even though our energy signature is stronger, they would still go after the Nakai first."

"But it also means the opposite could happen for a different reason. Perhaps, if the Reapers think we have the advantage because of our technology, they could come after us first even though the Nakai have more ships," Young said.

"There are many reasons why they could come after us first," Lora said.

"Let's give them as fewer reasons as possible then," he said. "We have about five hundred drones. The Mark II is high-tech and powered through a high-frequency subspace band that I'm sure the Reapers can readily detect. If we use them against the Nakai, they'll think of us as superior adversaries. Especially since they don't know if we have five hundred or five thousand drones in reserve ready for launch."

Young would love to have thousands of drones—and, after connecting with his people, he finally would. But they were only able to make five hundred in a hastily built production line and the meager amount of precious materials they managed to scrounge from a couple of planets. They couldn't win a battle against so many adversaries with so few drones, no matter what clever stratagem they employed.

That sucked. Big time!

He wanted to beat himself up for allowing Lora to influence his decision on how many drones they should produce. They should have turned the Destiny into a veritable warship. But now it was too late, and nothing good would come out of mulling over what could or couldn't have been. He'd made his decision and would now have to live with the consequences.

"It's possible. Even if we hide behind the Nakai ships, the Reapers might decide to circumvent them and come at us first," Lora said.

"That means we have to refrain from using everything we have for as long as we can," Young said.

"We are one ship fighting against sixteen Nakai cruisers. We can't hold back!" Eli shouted.

"We can, and we will!" He stared at Eli resolutely. "If we don't, we'll be the target of choice of a hundred Reaper motherships!"

Eli wanted to protest, but Adrienn stepped in. "Eli, the commander is right. The situation isn't in our favor, and our best choice is to force the Reapers to go after the Nakai."

"And how should we achieve that?" Eli asked the right question.

How can they even survive against so many cruisers? Not only that, but they need to keep close to the gate and protect the blocks flying out of it. Only after the Supergate was complete could they freely evade incoming attacks. "We're not alone because we have two more vessels available."

Eli gave him the 'are you kidding' look. "Are you kidding! They are regular shuttles!"

"Don't undervalue them that much. I know they're not capital ships, but after all the changes we've made, the two shuttles should be able to keep the enemy at bay for quite some time," he said confidently.

Eli continued to look at him with the same gaze, perhaps even more intensely than before. The shuttles were small. However, they'd given each a micro-ZPM and decorated the hull with as many shield emitters as feasible. They used the remaining space for the weapons, sensors, thrusters, and whatever they could think of to make them more deadly without rebuilding them anew. Young was sure that as long as the shuttles didn't go straight into their capital ships' cannon fire, their shield would hold as long as the micro-ZPM had energy in it. Against the smaller Reapers and Nakai fighters, the fight would be a breeze for the two shuttles.

"While battling against sixteen capital ships? It's suicidal!" Eli said, shaking his head. "Am I the only one seeing it?"

"No, we all see the danger, but you're sometimes a little too pessimistic," Lora said. "The commander is trying to come up with a successful plan, no matter how small the chances are of him succeeding. He has to devise a plan in the next five minutes, even if, in the end, it turns out to have been a bad plan."

Young was unsure if Lora advised Eli or trash-talked about his plan. In the end, he decided to trust it was the former and move on. "That's right. We have to have a plan, and it has to be good enough to keep us alive until the supergate becomes operational."

"I think I can help with that," Adrienn said. "If we go hard against the first three ships and destroy them before the others reach us, the Nakai in the second group might become more cautious in their approach. They might even decide to form a wall formation and keep pushing closer more slowly. I could try to keep my distance if that happens—their ships aren't very maneuverable either. Later on, they'll surely plan to attack harder, but the Reapers should already get involved by then. The Nakai will have no choice but to fight on two fronts."

Adrienn had made a lot of assumptions, which Young didn't overly appreciate. He didn't like to gamble with the lives of the people under him, definitely not on the poor chance the Nakai would behave precisely the way Adrienn predicted. But, unfortunately, he didn't have a better strategy at this moment. Pouring cold water over Adrienne's idea would also serve nothing but further worsen the team's mood.

"Okay! We'll hit the first three ships hard while keeping them away from the gate, and we're gonna do it without using the miserable number of drones we have in our stockpile. We can deplete all five hundred of them in less than three minutes anyway. Much better to keep them for when we really need them," he said.

"Two more minutes before reaching the deployment coordinates," Lora said.

"Is everyone ready in the other room to use the stones?" he asked.

"They're waiting for our signal," Lora said.

Three people sitting in a separate room were prepared to use the marvelous communication stones to contact their people across extraordinary distances. Meanwhile, three people patiently waited to swap consciousness with them in a distant galaxy. They'd prepared everything to keep the delay to a minimum. The moment they notified them, people in the other galaxy would dial the gate and, upon establishing a connection, immediately begin sending parts of the supergate.

Looking at the monitor, Young waited for the right moment before speaking. "Adrienn, turn off the engines; Eli, start with the deployment. "

The two mentioned people immediately went to work. Meanwhile, he kept observing the screen giving him detailed information about the situation outside. While the Destiny turned off its engines, the Nakai cruisers still accelerated hard. These three ships would achieve a zero-zero intercept with them in precisely four minutes. They had a small window of opportunity before the second much larger group of Nakai ships arrived. The most important part now was to use the given unhindered time properly.

"It will be tight," he said.

"The gate is in place!" Eli shouted.

"Lora, inform our people to start using the stones," he ordered, then turned. "Adrienn, position us between the gate and the Nakai cruisers."

Time was passing as the crew did what they needed to. Meanwhile, he thought of ways things could go wrong. Enemies usually did the exact opposite of what they would like them to do. The Nakai weren't as stupid as the Goa'uld, whose ego had always worked contrary to their benefit. Although, the Nakai did often scream like deranged roosters even when asked the most straightforward question. Astonishing and utterly unexpected behavior for a species capable of constructing intergalactic ships. However, these weren't humans but strange aliens with oval heads, glowing blue eyes, and probable descendants of an aquatic species. When a species is as distinct from humans, one should refrain from casting judgment.

He simply had no reason to question their intelligence because their achievements speak for themselves. It was only a matter of time before they deviated from Adrienn's anticipated plan.

The question now was what to do when that happens.

"Lora, tell Scott and Aris to take off. Eli, is everything ready on your end?" He asked because Eli was making a weird face. The guy should stop playing poker. That's what he told him after the last time they played, and Eli lost everything, including his pants. Lora won the most, including the pants. He still didn't know if she gave them back or kept them.

"Now that the Nakai ships are close enough, I'm able to detect a slight change in their shield's emissions. I believe it is an attempt to boost their performance against our weapons," Eli said, still glued on the monitor. "I'll keep a close eye and see how they perform once we start exchanging fire. It might be necessary to modify our weapons to be more efficient against their new configuration."

Young hated the whole story with the configuring of shields or weapons, mainly after realizing how much of a difference it could make during combat. Luckily, they had Eli on the team, who was exceptionally good at such things. He could modify their weapons incredibly quickly, negating any Nakai's effort to improve their shields. He made it look so easy, but Young knew the job was anything but.

"They should have modified their weapons as well. Will you be able to do the same with our shields?" Young asked.

"Perhaps, it depends on the extent of the changes. It's dangerous to make big changes while we are under fire," Eli explained.

"Monitor the condition of the shields and, if possible, plan for a change before the next thirteen enemy cruisers come into range. Adrienn, please plan a maneuver to give Eli enough time to modify our shields safely in case there are enemies nearby." He thought he had given his crew all the necessary instructions without overburdening them. He knew that too many instructions could result in the opposite effect to the desired one.

"The first three Nakai ships will be in range in twenty-two seconds. Scott and Aris informed us they are in position and ready to intercept every little spacecraft the Nakai launch," Lora informed before glancing back at her screen. "The gate has opened."

"It's great news; it means our people on the other end haven't fallen asleep," he said.

Now it was time to start shipping the 80 pieces of the smaller version of the supergate. Unfortunately, the blocks of the larger version of the supergate were too big to pass through the stargate. To form the larger supergate, as the only solution, they would have to send parts through a smaller supergate. Awkward, but there was no other choice.

With only four hundred meters in diameter, no ship larger than Damocles could pass through the supergate, let alone the Destiny that was 518 meters wide. The crucial part was to form the smaller supergate first. Assembling the larger one was a task left for the future.

The first piece that flew through the stargate made Young smile.

The first energy bolt from the Nakai closest ship that hit Destiny's shield made him grit his teeth.

The race against time had just begun.

"Nakai ships are launching fighters," Lora informed.

Young listened to Lora as he operated the ship's long-range weapons. There was no point in waiting. Since they had already fired at them, they should respond in kind. He fired a fully loaded barrage from the main cannon located underneath the Destiny, releasing the strongest blow the ship could give. A plasma bolt flew, hitting the nearest Nakai ship.

"I'm detecting fluctuations in their protection," Eli said. "They came prepared, but we still managed to shave off eight percent of their shields."

It was going to be a protracted battle. Although he still had enough energy inside the main cannon for successive firing, he decided not to overdo it. Weapons tend to overheat when overused, and it would then take precious time before they could fire again. It wasn't ideal, but Destiny had other smaller weapons ready to use, unlike the Nakai ships that had fewer weapons for some unknown reason.

He decided to keep harassing the same ship with the smaller cannons.

"Will you be able to improve our weapons' penetration ability?" Young asked as he prepared the next salvo.

"I will. I just don't know exactly how much," Eli replied. "But at least our shields are working flawlessly against their weapons, even without needing any modifications."

Destiny continued to bombard the same Nakai ship. The other two cruisers added their fire, increasing Destiny's shield load. However, with all the other systems powered by the ZPM, the shield was the only one to siphon energy from the ship's main energy capacitors. Their fire wasn't even close enough to break through the shields.

He had to admit that their engineers had done an outstanding job restoring the ship, yet the Destiny was still far from her original state. Some systems worked at efficiencies higher than 80 percent, and in his book, that came close to a miracle, especially considering how old the old gal was.

"I've discovered hundreds of ships entering hyperspace, and I fear there are many more doing the same but are out of range of our sensors. Their drives are giving off the same signature as all Vargas ships," said Lora.

"So, a lot more Reapers are coming our way," Young said, deflated. "Will they be here before we finish setting up the supergate?"

"Only a few are near enough to reach us before that. "Most will need at least an hour," Lora explained.

Many Reapers had been delayed for one reason or another. It probably took them a while for their fighters to land inside their motherships. The worst part was that they had no way of knowing when they would reach them. That was because ships with the Vargas' hyperdrive were impossible to track. Their propulsion system could give one hundred percent output and still keep the vessel undetectable. Lora's was only an estimate using experience from previous encounters with ships with the same hyperdrive. But whatever it was, they would need to add hundreds of motherships to those they already knew were coming.

Young suddenly felt a stronger than usual blow to the shield. "What was that?"

"All three ships are focusing their fire on a single point," Eli explained.

"I believe they realized how ineffective their previous attacks had been," Young said.

He glanced at his console and noticed that the shield's power had dropped by a small percentage but improved quickly. Even with three ships concentrating their fire, they still couldn't exhaust their refurbished shield. Only after the ship's reserves were depleted or if the emitters sustained damage could they pose a threat. Glancing at the other screen, he noticed that their two shuttles were doing a great job of keeping the Nakai fighters at bay, even though vastly outnumbered.

After all the improvements, the shuttles could keep up with the enemy's maneuverability and maintain a clear superiority in shield and armament. They had frontal pulse cannons from before, but they had added two omnidirectional plasma lances, one at the top and one at the bottom of the spacecraft. That gave them the ability to target multiple enemies at once, not just the one directly in front, unlike the Nakai fighters who didn't have such an ability.

Aris marked the start of the battle with an instant first kill, but Scott soon took the lead by destroying two Nakai fighters in the short span of twenty seconds. The front pulse guns, modified to work best against Nakai shields with a micro ZPM to power them, showed remarkable results. It was clear to anyone that the shuttles had a clear advantage in a dogfight. But the problem was that, even when pitted against the fighters from only three Nakai ships, the two shuttles had too many targets to go after. Each Nakai cruiser had launched twelve fighters, and it had created quite the disproportion on the battlefield—an imbalance that would only grow after the remaining thirteen cruisers joined.

Satisfied with what he saw on the screen, Young switched to monitoring the flying pieces of the supergate coming out of the stargate one after the other. About twenty pieces were already on their way to forming a perfect circle, and every ten seconds, a new block popped out of the small gate. The Nakai should have noticed those weird blocks racing toward the black hole. Even if they didn't know what they were, they should still believe that destroying them would be in their favor. However, passing near the Destiny and its cannons wasn't an easy task for the little fighters—a job made more difficult by the two shuttles chasing after them.

"The targeted Nakai ship is sustaining damage," Eli said. "Their shield emitters are deteriorating... they're trying to escape in hyperspace!"

It was dangerous enough to enter hyperspace while near a black hole, and it was several times more dangerous doing it while under fire. However, it was utterly suicidal to attempt it when the Destiny broadcasted a signal to destabilize the hyperspace window.

Unfortunately, the Nakai didn't know about the last part.

The Nakai ship began to accelerate while the hyperspace window was still opening. But, the moment the ship was about to jump into hyperspace, the window inexplicably collapsed. No shield or armor, no matter how strong, could ever prevent a ship from breaking apart in such a situation. The window swallowed half of the vessel in, while the rest broke apart and exploded, instantly turning into scattered debris.

They had destroyed one ship; two more were still on the battlefield.

Young thought it was the perfect moment to fire the next big salvo. A bolt fired from a pulse cannon hit the starboard side of the nearest Nakai ship. While waiting for the main gun to reload, Young continued firing from the three-barrel pulse cannons from the ship's top. The aliens must have been stunned, probably still trying to figure out what precisely happened to one of their cruisers. While it was dangerous to open a hyperspace window close to a black hole, they should quickly realize that something else caused their ship's destruction. He thought it was a great moment to fire again, not giving them time to think. Consequently, when the primary cannon was charged, he fired, further shaving strength off the targeted shield.

"By now, they are likely to realize there is no escaping into hyperspaces," Young said. "Hopefully, that should make them more cautious in their approach."

With sixteen ships at their disposal, the Nakai probably thought they could freely harass the Destiny until a ship truly came in danger. The same as the ship that had just been destroyed had tried, they felt they could always escape in hyperspace, leaving those that remain to fight until the damaged vessel could at least fill their shield back to full. Then, they would return, ready to go for another round.

In such a battle, the Destiny would have no chance of winning, and the best they could hope for was to flee before suffering crippling damage. Maybe the Nakai thought luck finally had smiled upon them because the Destiny had to protect something crucial and thus couldn't move freely. No matter what they thought, they would now have to reconsider their plan of action, knowing that a few too many blows could mean their demise.

"Commander, we have found it pointless to try to understand aliens who are too different from us. Whatever we believe is the best course of action, it has little to do with what the aliens think," Lora said.

She was right, of course. It was easy to push their preconceptions onto others—people did it regularly. Thus there was no reason they wouldn't apply such thinking in the current situation, even when the other side was an unknown species with a different way of thinking. "You're right. As far as we know, these aliens will react exactly the way Adrienn predicted."

Adrienn seemed annoyed by his last remark. Admittedly, his words implied humans would never willingly do what Adrienn wished them to. He decided he should stop watching Adrienn and pretend that nothing had happened.

He did it at the right moment because he immediately noticed several fighters going wide. "What are they doing?"

"They are trying to get around us. They are probably interested in the flying blocks, "Eli said. He continued after realizing he wasn't reacting. "Shouldn't we stop them?"

A quarter of the supergate had been put in place by now. There was no reason for the aliens not to realize that the flying pieces were forming a circle with a specific purpose. Knowing about the existence of the gates, the Nakai might have even guessed what they were trying to achieve. And if they were able to assume that much, they should also think something much bigger than mere blocks would come out of it once it was completed.

"There's no point. There are too many of them and too few of us. Besides, only six fighters are on their way to the supergate," Young said as he pressed the button that activated the main cannon again. He really enjoyed pushing that button. "We will keep focusing on what lies ahead. Eli, give me some readings."

Eli was taken aback a little but decided to answer regardless. "The shields of the other ship are at fifty-five percent. They are still trying to modify them, but I can easily compensate. The third ship remains undamaged."

He knew they had three more minutes before the other ships arrived. He really wanted to destroy the two remaining cruisers before that happened, but the remaining time seemed too short.

As he continued to observe the screen, he noticed the undamaged ship suddenly changing course. "Adrienn, the undamaged ship is trying to protect the other one. Don't let it."

"I'm already on it," Adrienn said sharply, still looking annoyed for some reason.

If the undamaged ship could protect the other, not only could they fail in destroying all three ships, but they might even fail in destroying two. No matter how one looked at it, that would be close to a complete failure.

Destiny turned to the side, pushing its engines at full thrust. That allowed the other ship to hit Destiny's starboard side, which caused Eli to show an irritated face. However, there was no better way. They needed to outwit the opponent, and the first thing to do was take down the second ship no matter what. Still, more and more people seemed to show faces of displeasure as time went on.

The large four-barreled main cannon followed the target until a clear shot was possible. Young didn't dally, immediately firing two shots in quick succession. The undamaged ship was trying to impose its hull, but the firing had been appropriately timed. Both plasma bolts flew true and struck the alien ship in the same spot, with the second bolt going through the severely weakened shield. The alien shields were decent, but their hull was pathetic. One-shot from the main cannon caused devastating damage to their starboard side.

With their shield down, the ship became vulnerable not only to the Destiny's large cannons. The two shuttles, sensing their prey was open to all kinds of attacks, abandoned their current dogfight and swiftly lined up and dropped a pair of missiles. The shuttles, unfortunately, didn't have launchers in the classical sense but had a hastily installed Wraith storage system that would materialize the projectiles under the shuttle. The poor design made the projectile's initial velocity slow and allowed the enemy to aim at them immediately upon materialization. Unfortunately, the Nakai didn't take advantage of that weakness—a mistake they would pay dearly. Two warheads carrying antimatter accelerated, flying straight toward the wounded Nakai ship.

Two large explosions blossomed in the emptiness of space, leaving only debris behind.

"Two down, one more to go," Young said, glancing at his watch. It was going to be tight.

Without waiting, they went to work, all pouring as much firepower as possible on the last cruiser standing. They intended to fulfill the alien ship's wish to serve as a punching bag.

The bolts struck the ship at regular intervals each time it did, reducing its shield's strength. Young enjoyed watching the indicator that showed strength as it fell. He liked less to look at the thirteen exposed icons that were inexorably approaching, now mere minutes away. It would have been nice to get some respite after this initial exchange, but somehow he knew it would be too much to ask for.

Something else was going on at the same time inside the battle theater. Six fighters had reached the supergate and opened fire at the nearest blocks. The supergate hadn't yet been formed and couldn't sap energy from the black hole, but that didn't mean the blocks were helpless. With just so little firepower, the chances were minimal that six fighters could destroy even a single block. After all, they were devised by the Ori—a psychotic bunch, no doubt, but their knowledge was unquestionable.

The impenetrable forcefield around the targeted block easily repelled the weak energy the fighters fired. Only weapons at the capital ship level could hope to break through their defenses. However, several abruptly changed course as more blocks flew from the gate. They charged at the fighters with minimal warning, still busy shooting those already set up blocks. Only two fighters were fast enough to evade, while the other four simply turned into dust, leaving little behind.

Young went back to watching the big fight. The last Nakai ship was a stubborn bugger. A part of its shield was gone, but the ship was still twisting and turning, always putting a part of it that still had a sliver of shield protecting it. Damage was pilling up on its hull, but nothing crippling, allowing the ship to keep fighting until their companions came.

"That ship will rotate again once we fire, yet again imposing a shielded area. Instruct Aris to launch an antimatter torpedo on the opposite side when that happens," he ordered.

With fewer fighters to fight, the two shuttles had more leeway. If they squeezed the last capital ship in a pincer attack, something was bound to happen.

Expecting the Destiny would fire, the Nakai ship began rolling. Aris launched a warhead just seconds before Destiny's main cannon barked again. With the timing and distances timed perfectly, the torpedo and plasma bolt impacted the ship on opposite ends simultaneously. The shield was already at its limit, letting the antimatter detonation burn the ship's port side.

It began spinning uncontrollably.

Even though not destroyed, the third ship couldn't fight anymore. However, the people on the bridge still couldn't heave a sigh of relief. The second group was nearing weapons range, and they weren't alone.

"Detecting twelve hyperspace windows one hundred thousand kilometers from our position," Lora said. "The first wave of Reapers is here."

He could see it on display. His tactical depicted a pretty grim picture. The Nakai were the closest, barely outside of weapons range, and the Reapers were a little more distant, coming from their starboard side. Looking closely, one would discern the Reapers were closer to the Nakai but only slightly. With the current disposition of the players involved, it was difficult to predict what would any of them do.

"This can go in too many different ways for me to have peace of mind," he said. "We are going on the defensive, providing resistance when possible and slowly retreating when the pressure is too great. Our goal isn't to win this battle but to forestall the enemy until the supergate becomes active."

The crew knew what to do. Their shield was in good shape, with no shield emitter damaged or strained. Destiny's energy capacitors were at 79 percent at the start of the fight and were now at 74 percent, plenty of energy to go around. The primary weapon was running a little hot, but nothing serious. The enemy fighters hit the two shuttles only a dozen times, which their shields brushed off with relative ease. All in all, they were as good as when they started the fight.

However, it would be wrong to think that they were winning. The genuine hurdle had just begun, and the Nakai now had a greater understanding of their abilities, at least those they chose to show them. It was good to have some hidden cards to play in reserve, just to surprise the enemy when he least expects it.

At this point, more than a hundred Nakai fighters were flying along the way. Thirteen capital ships formed a wall formation, just as Adrienn had predicted. There were also a hundred or more Reaper fighters of various sizes. While the smallest fighters were no threat and the medium-sized ones were on the level of a nuisance, the heavy Reapers were those that could damage not only a shuttle but the Destiny herself. When it came to the Reapers, a positive side was that motherships rarely got involved in combat. They would merely provide limited support to their smaller vessels. The motherships didn't have extensive weaponry, which could be considered a small blessing. But there were also downsides to it. The Reapers would sometimes choose to charge their opponents, not caring about the pilots' lives simply because they didn't have them. They certainly had the numbers for employing such tactics, with a hundred spacecraft in the air and who knew how many ready to launch. There would be more in the air soon. Many times more.

"I'd like to know the schedule for the remaining Reapers," he asked.

"With Vargas stealth hyperdrives, we can only speculate," Lora said.

"If we take the time it took the first wave to arrive, we add places where we discovered the opening of hyperspace windows, and then with the help of Gaussian distribution, plus a little pessimism never hurts—" Eli began to explain.

"Do you have a number for me, or do you just enjoy hearing your voice?" Young said. He didn't usually mind Eli's chatter. Still, now it was different, and he needed that information now, and not in half an hour.

"Yes, um, their number will increase significantly in the next six minutes, and I estimate that fifty motherships will join us by then. Furthermore, since the Reapers are already here, they will inform the rest of our exact position. They'll be able to get out of hyperspace much closer to us, probably right outside of our long-range weapons. Then in the next ten to fifteen minutes, the remaining seventy ships will join us in several waves," Eli explained.

"Yes, the next group has just arrived," Adrienn was the first to notice. "Five more motherships came out of hyperspace much closer."

Things didn't look good. As the number of Reapers snowballed, they'd probably decide to go as much after the Nakai as the Destiny. It was only a question of how many the Reapers would send to face each side.

"It is impossible to come up with a strategy with so much uncertainty. The constant increase in the number of enemies at irregular intervals and the guessing how Nakai will react to that makes it impossible to formulate a solid plan," he said.

Young took a deep breath. Honestly, there was only one thing he could do at this point. He pressed the button to shoot the nearest Nakai ship. Destiny's guns had the most extended range, but they couldn't remain at a safe distance because the Nakai ships were faster. Destiny would soon begin to suffer fire from thirteen ships.

That, in his opinion, royally sucked!

"The Reapers are splitting into two groups. Seventy percent of their fighters are going after the Nakai ships, but the rest is coming our way, "Lora said.

"What about the Nakai fighters?" he asked.

"They're coming at us as well," Lora said.

"That's odd. Their capital ships aren't the best against smaller vessels. I can barely see any point defense systems on their hulls, and the main cannon is useless against fighters. What is their goal then?" he asked, no one in particular.

Lora thought of an answer. "They are pushing it, thinking that once in range, our weapons can provide cover against the Reapers."

Once near them, it would mark the beginning of a battle on three fronts. The Nakai may have detected the Reapers entering hyperspace and knew their numbers, hence had devised such tactic.

As he pondered, the first of the Nakai ships fired at them. Soon the second ship joined in, and then the third. "It's starting."

The blows began to rain down on Destiny's strong shield, forcing Eli's frown to deepen more with each impact. Right now, Young wished they had Borealis' shield. It was a long time ago when he witnessed Borealis' shield withstand an onslaught from a swarm of twenty thousand Leptinian spacecraft, without him feeling even the slightest tremor. Here, he wasn't sure whether the shield would endure the current attacks, much less after the Reapers joined in.

Still, the indicator fluctuated but never went below ninety percent. There were no signs of overload in the energy banks, conduits, or shield components. The Nakai ships kept approaching, sometimes switching positions. Those with a damaged shield would move to the back, while the others would cover them.

The Destiny also returned fire but would take up to three minutes to completely strip the shield from a single Nakai ship, even when they didn't split their fire. It was doubtful whether they could destroy even one more ship with the current strategy. But, it wasn't like they had a better idea on how to deal with all the opponents present and still survive to tell the tale at a later date. They had a few surprises up their sleeve, ready to be used, but even that would be far from enough to achieve victory.

"Six more motherships have joined," Lora said.

The number of people with frowning faces was increasing. His face would probably tell the same story if he had a mirror to look at. No matter what play they concocted, this battle was impossible to win. On the other hand, leaving to try another time to deploy the supergate should be left as a last resort, and it wasn't something he even liked contemplating over. The Nakai would be better prepared next time, while with the Reapers, it was more a matter of luck. It was a pure lottery if there were fewer Reapers near the following black hole or they stumbled upon a massive beehive.

It was a foregone conclusion they would try their best until the situation became desperate.

"I think the situation is getting hopeless," The designated pessimist had to say.

"How can it be, Eli, when there's still not a single scratch on our ship?" said Young, hoping Eli would understand his point and shut up.

"Destiny has scratches that go back millions of years. It has a damaged starboard side from the last maneuver, and all these blows to the shield are straining it considerably. I wouldn't say that the Destiny doesn't have a scratch, and the longer this lasts, the more enemies are going to be over us, and—" Eli lamented.

"Eli!" cried Lora.

Eli turned abruptly. "What?"

"Shut up!" Lora said.

Eli was still too anxious. He was doing a proper job but being so jittery was influencing the whole crew, not just him. Another barrage impacting the shield refocused Young on what was important right now. The display showed the shield only briefly dropped below 90 percent, but that brief moment had shown him what was to come. They couldn't keep up with this for long.

"The Reapers are opening fire at the Nakai ships!" Adrienn said, seemingly as the one most focused on what was happening outside.

Indeed, the Reapers had reached the Nakai and, without delay, attacked. The Nakai ships had point defenses, but fewer than a Terran vessel of equal size would ever have. It was okay to disregard the smallest Reapers. Still, even the Nakai ships could afford to pay no mind to the larger ones. Sooner or later, their shields would start to feel the strain from their weapons, especially since more Reapers were rushing their way.

However, the Nakai weren't the only ones the Reapers were after. Only thirty seconds later, both the Nakai fighters and the second group of Reapers entered in weapons range of the Destiny. Weapons of various sizes and colors flew in all directions. Young simply put Destiny's cannons on auto, letting the computer do the hard part.

"Adrienn, use the reverse thrusters a bit more," he said.

They still had room to breathe before reaching the supergate. That would give the Reapers and Nakai time to clash with each other before inevitably turning their full attention to the Destiny. And indeed, the Reapers and the Nakai began a fierce exchange. Even the Nakai fighters were busy fighting the constantly growing Reapers, leaving little room to direct attacks towards the Destiny or the two elusive shuttles.

Destiny's weapons barked plasma bolts at a constant rate, sometimes targeting a Reaper and others a Nakai fighter. It was the best way to maintain balance in a three-pronged struggle. The shields, however, inevitably fell to 85 percent and refused to go back up. That percentage might seem like a lot, but Young knew that number would start to plummet like a rock if all hostiles turned against them.

Part of the Reapers broke away, now on their way to the supergate. It would be strange if the peculiar and never-before-seen device that remarkably resembled the regular gate but was hundreds of times bigger didn't attract the Reapers' attention. The division of their forces wasn't an issue due to the constant increase in their numbers; they had plenty of fighters to go around.

"Tell Aris and Scott to chase after them. There's nothing they can do here anyway," Young said while addressing Lora.

The two shuttles had to keep their distance most of the time, not wanting to risk being surrounded by hundreds of fighters. Their micro-ZPM powered shield gave them a massive advantage, giving the craft the chance to endure colossal punishment without breaking. However, a hundred opponents were a little too much. Two dozen Reapers going for the supergate were a much safer choice. Perhaps, the shuttles would even be able to score a few kills.

"Forty blocks are in place. We are halfway there," Eli said.

Young was focused on Destiny's shield and the lack of success in damaging the enemy ships. But, he suddenly smiled after seeing a medium-sized Reaper blew up. It was the first kill since the start of the second round. As a thank you, the Reapers focused even more on them. The outcome had by no means been desirable, much less favorable. He decided to focus on the Nakai, soon realizing they made zero progress on that side either.

"I have a feeling they're turning their attention towards us more and more," Lora said.

"We are ten thousand kilometers from the forming supergate. At the rate we are going, it will take us three minutes and forty seconds for a zero-zero intercept," Adrienn said.

"Yes, we have no choice but to slow down," Young said.

There was no point in speeding up if they ended up overshooting the damn thing. It was time to perform a sudden deceleration, giving the aliens a chance to coordinate their attacks on the Destiny better. They would soon have to play their trump cards, too, or else risk sustaining severe damage. There were already forty Reaper motherships, and the number of launched fighters exceeded a thousand. He believed that even the Nakai crapped their pants after seeing so many Reapers joining the fight. Maybe at this point, they were cursing the Destiny crew for emitting an interference signal that prevented creating a stable hyperspace window. From what little he knew about these aliens, he imagined them on their bridges screaming like disturbed roosters, with their eyes gleaming menacingly. They should blame themselves for chasing after the Destiny so stubbornly, even going so far as to travel to other galaxies solely with that purpose.

The quake brought Young back from his daydreaming, allowing him to refocus on what mattered and ignore what didn't. And no doubt, imagining what the strange aliens did belonged to the latter.

"What was that?" he asked.

"A dozen of their ships targeted the same place on our shield at the same time, almost overwhelming it!" said Eli.

Young looked at the shield indicator showing the shield strength had dropped below fifty. Still, he wasn't worried about the percentage. Several emitters near the targeted area had been strained beyond their ability to cope and consequently had suffered damage. They were also overheated, which had significantly reduced their efficacy. A similar salvo targeting the same place could pass through them even while they still had abundant energy in reserve to supply the shield generators. The Nakai had targeted the starboard side for a reason, further lowering the hull's integrity in that section.

"We lost another ten percent integrity," he said.

"I told you it would be good to keep that side away from their attacks!" Eli protested.

Of course, he was entirely correct, but the battle was so fierce, and the number of enemies grew with every passing moment that there was no way to fulfill Eli's wish. Likewise, enemies weren't here to cooperate, and they knew exactly where to target Destiny to achieve maximum damage.

"The aliens know the damage Destiny has suffered," Young ordered. "Adrienn, do what you can, but don't try to do the impossible."

"Another wave of Reapers is coming inside weapons range. We now face six hundred of their smallest, three hundred medium-sized, and fifty heaviest Reapers. Still, it's difficult to say accurately how many are attacking the Nakai and how many are after us. Some are going straight for the supergate," said Lora.

Enemy ships circled the Destiny, randomly targeting them or the nearby Nakai ships whenever they had a good firing solution. As expected, the Reapers weren't doing what they wished or had envisioned. Instead, they targeted all the ships present in a purely first-come, first-served fashion. They didn't think of the Nakai as a more significant threat, which sucked—a lot!

Although the Reaper's weapons were weaker than the Nakai, their numbers compensated for that weakness and added some. The shield indicator refused to rise above fifty percent, something he had wished ever since the Nakai's last major attack.

"All right, we are ready to use our trump card. We start in exactly one minute," Young ordered.

He thought they could survive another minute going like this, but not much more than that. Still, they would have to reduce somehow the shield's strain or risk Destiny suffering extensive damage. There was another side that also bothered him. The number of Reapers going after the supergate had increased significantly. Their two shuttles could maybe bring down a few of the smaller and medium-sized Reapers. However, there were almost a hundred Reapers on the way, and some were already firing at the blocks. Still, one incident made Young smile again. One heavy Reaper decided to crash into one of the blocks—a tactic that the Reapers sometimes liked to employ—which looked ridiculous to anyone who knew that the blocks often used the same tactics to destroy much larger ships. Suffice it to say that the Reapers immediately stopped doing it after the first failed attempt in which their heavy fighter burst spectacularly without achieving anything.

"We will be in optimal position in 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... now!" said Eli.

Every mine around the Nakai and Reapers decloaked and quickly emptied their payload on the closest victims. Blue energy arcs struck the ships, often bouncing once, twice, or even three times to those nearby. After several hits, the smallest Reapers fell the fastest. A captain in the Terran Navy once commented as he watched Leptinian spacecraft turning fried by the zat-discharges that popcorn was born in space. There wasn't much difference here, where not even the heavier fighters or those with shields could pass unscathed. As their internal systems became inoperative, ships began to spin lifelessly.

It was great to watch as suddenly many attackers turned into helpless prey ready to be knocked down by Destiny's cannons. However, the number of mines wasn't endless; it was what little Destiny could build in the time available, which wasn't all that much.

"There is no time to be stingy. Firing the drones!" Young ordered.

He couldn't send all the drones; he had to keep a few in reserve, knowing that the Reapers would turn their full attention on them after this stunt.

The situation changed abruptly. The relentless drones quickly finished off craft disabled by the zat-mines. Only the spacecraft with still active shields proved to be a challenge, small as it was. It may have taken a few more drones to break through the protective screen, but it was easy for them to ravish the spacecraft afterward. Even the Nakai cruisers didn't have a pleasant time. A swarm of drones would storm the spacecraft and expand into multiple branches inside, damaging the ship's interior. It would usually end with a dozen drones exploding near several critical systems, completely devastating the vessel.

But, as Young had predicted even before they fired the drones, the Destiny didn't have enough to destroy all the enemies present, especially not the Reapers. The Reapers would soon renew their numbers and then further increase.

"We've destroyed eight Nakai ships, along with eighty percent of their fighters. Reapers have suffered even more casualties. From one thousand and one hundred, they fell to less than two hundred fighters," Lora said.

"It went well, but we still haven't made it," Young said.

It didn't make sense to shoot at the Reaper's motherships, which was why no drones went after them. The Nakai were no longer such a huge obstacle, but even 400 drones hadn't been enough to finish them off completely. But a timid smile still formed on his face as he listened. There hadn't been any blows to the shield for a while, and the indicator showed a steady rise. Already 57 blocks had arrived at their destination, and most of the remaining 23 would be there soon. It was a matter of minutes before a complete circle was formed, allowing the supergate to finally activate.

"Captain, our two shuttles are in trouble!" Lora said.

Young quickly shifted to watch the situation near the gate unfold. Indeed, the two shuttles had trouble fighting a growing number of enemy fighters. Most were Reapers, but there were also Nakai amongst them. The worst was that now both had decided that Destiny and her two shuttles were their common enemy and had redirected all their efforts to bring them down.

The situation was terrible, with the two shuttles fighting against a hundred enemies. While leaving the supergate for later, fighters madly dashed at the two shuttles. The indicator on the monitor gave a gloomy picture, with their shields in precarious conditions. Scott's shield had another 28 percent and Aris's 35 percent strength. Scott's spacecraft had about thirty fighters on its heels, and Aris's had twice as many.

It was Aris's spacecraft that occupied his attention the most. The situation just wasn't good, more so since the Destiny had no way to help, not until they got in range. If they could shave twenty to thirty percent of the enemies off the shuttle's back, it might be enough for their shields to recuperate from the constant harassment.

Time slowed down again, preventing that damn minute that separated them from their people from finally elapsing. Scott managed to separate himself from his companions by a strange maneuver, but Aris wasn't as lucky. He had a much harder job, with almost twice as many fighters in arduous pursuit. Suddenly, Scott swerved abruptly and was unexpectedly on a direct course toward the fighters coming after Aris. He would attack them from their left flank if he continued like this. Young knew at once what Scott was planning. Scott knew his shuttle was insufficient to damage enough Aris's pursuers to matter since there were sixty of them. Still, he probably wanted to disturb them sufficiently to at least briefly weakening the fire Aris was under. By now, his shield had reached a dangerous level.

Fortunately, he succeeded, and more than two dozen enemy fighters, all belonging to the Nakai group, gave up the chase and turned toward him instead. The pressure on Aris dropped drastically, significantly lessening the strain on its critically weakened shield. The Destiny would be close enough to provide support in less than thirty seconds. Scott was also in a good enough position to survive for a short time it would take them to get there, as his shield's strength had risen to above forty.

Before Young could smile, though, he spotted trouble coming from the opposite side, roughly in the direction Aris was moving. That was the direction where there were more enemy spacecraft—those that had previously chased after Scott—a group of Reapers that he knew sometimes liked to crash into their opponents.

Aris, surprisingly, managed to avoid the first five Reapers rushing at him but failed to evade the sixth and seventh, of which the last was a heavy Reaper. His already weakened shields couldn't withstand such unfair punishment and consequently collapsed. The follow-up lasted only a few seconds, the time it took for more fighters to finish Aris's shuttle off until the only thing left was scattered debris.

Aris had been one of the good guys, one of those who loved to help others while never asking for anything in return. It was simply that his character made others in the same room immediately feel better just because he was there. The thing was, he couldn't remember the last time he saw the man laugh. Nonetheless, people around him responded positively to his humor, filled with sarcasm.

That was more or less all he knew about the man, except, of course, the information he read in his personnel file. In his book, that meant he didn't know enough about Aris, and he certainly didn't know him the way Lora did. Unlike him, Lora knew Arisa exceptionally well. They'd applied to join the Guardians together, and later they jointly decided to become members of Destiny's crew.

Lora wasn't saying anything. Her hair hid most of her face, preventing Young from seeing it. But he knew what she felt. Sorrow. Disbelief. Anger. He wasn't sure which of these emotions occupied her mind the most at the moment. He knew he would sense them all at one point or another if in her stead. However, he was sure it couldn't be easy for her.

"We're in range of the enemy fighters," Eli said, realizing that Lora wasn't in the right state of mind to do her job.

Eli didn't look his best either. He may not have known Aris as Lora did, but the two became good friends during their stay on the Destiny.

"Let's clean up all the enemy fighters standing between the supergate and us," he said before firing fifty drones. He didn't know Aris well, but that didn't mean he wasn't angry. Whoever harmed a member of his team had to pay the ultimate price.

The drones raced toward the hated Reapers, tearing them apart in no time. With the road ahead cleared of enemies, the only problem now lay in the growing number of Reapers coming after them. Or that was what he initially thought, but he realized he had made the wrong assumption after closer scrutiny. The Reapers didn't follow them. Instead, they were going straight for the supergate. Maybe they realized how bad it would be for that device to become operational.

Unfortunately for them, they were out of time.

After losing so many of their ships, those Nakai must have been in shock. They must know their chances of achieving anything today were bleak. Even if they miraculously managed to harm the Destiny, they would still be left at the mercy of the Reapers. They certainly wouldn't have enough time to board the Destiny and take whatever they came for; the Reapers would turn them into pieces before then.

However, for some unknown reason, they didn't abandon the chase. Since the Reapers were wholly preoccupied with the Destiny and the supergate, even moving away from the battlefield at sublight speed should be enough to escape. They had to have a different brain than humans to stay here and fight a losing battle when there was a safer option.

Young smiled, happy to see the Nakai weren't running away. Their decision to stay would allow them to send them to hell along with the Reapers.

"Let's keep the Reapers busy until the last couple of blocks is in place," he told no one in particular. He would target the heavy Reapers first because they were the only ones with a chance to damage the blocks.

Destiny's guns kept firing, taking down nearby threats. Meanwhile, Scott circled the smaller Reapers, destroying many in righteous vengeance. A new wave of Reapers was coming, too big for the Destiny to block them all, but they would reach them far too late.

"The last piece just sat in place!" cried Eli.

He glanced at Lora, who was supposed to announce the news, but she didn't react. It didn't matter now. They could do the last part without her.

"Finally!" he replied. "Now that the supergate is fully formed, we need to focus on our defense. Adrienn, get us away from the supergate. If the Reapers want to keep going after it, they are welcome to do so."

The Destiny changed direction, leaving the Reapers a clear path to the supergate. As expected, most continued towards it, while only a few rushed after them.

"The stargate has shut down," Eli said.

"Okay, what about the supergate?" he asked.

"It's still in the initialization phase," Eli replied. "It should start connecting to the black hole soon."

"What about our shields? I'm especially interested in the emitters on the starboard side," he asked.

"Shield's strength is at sixty percent and rising, and we no longer have any overheated emitter. But those on the starboard side are working with barely forty percent efficiency. We should be fine as long as we keep the Reapers and Nakai away from that side," Eli explained.

"I didn't even notice the Nakai sneaking upon us," he said after looking at his monitor. He had been so focused on the Reapers and supergate that he hadn't noticed these weird aliens furtively changing course. "Why are they so persistent? They must have realized the chances of achieving anything are near zero. "

"Don't know why, but they seem desperate to me," Eli replied.

Young nodded as he watched individual blocks of the supergate begin to crack with electricity. One by one, the components became charged until the whole circle crackled with energy.

The wormhole finally began to form, going from the edges toward the center.

"Yes, they can't do a thing about the supergate becoming operational. It's also time for them to pay the price for staying far too long," he said just when the event horizon broke out.

Moments after the event horizon settled into a water-like surface, ships began appearing. Since it was the smaller version of the supergate, the vessels that came through were Cherubim-class heavy cruisers. The latest model resulted in a slightly smaller ship than the Terrans Hercules-class heavy cruiser. That was because the Guardians, just like the Asgard, had to work extremely hard to make ships that could function with a smaller crew. Unlike the Terrans, they didn't have a population that numbered billions. It was much more challenging to make, and it had to have a lot of automation in it. Still, because of it, the Cherubim had turned more compact than the Terran counterpart, giving it a few advantages.

The Cherubim anti-capital ship was known for its exceptional maneuverability and excellent attack power. They immediately demonstrated that by quickly positioning their hulls in front of the Destiny to protect them against possible attacks.

After a dozen Cherubim-class ships, AI-controlled Echelon ships followed closely behind. The third version of the vessel underwent many changes, but essentially it stayed the same type of vessel. Unmanned and always working in a group of four, the ship served to support other crewed vessels.

"We have an incoming call from the lead ship," Lora said hoarsely, speaking for the first time since the tragic event occurred.

"Put it on screen," he said, happy to see Lora coming around.

An image of Aenea appeared in an instant. "Commander Young, I'm glad to see you're still in one piece."

He was also extremely pleased about that fact. "I'm glad to see you too. The situation became too dangerous for my taste. Unfortunately, I cannot say that we all have survived the conflict."

Aenea instantly became serious. Sweeping with her eyes across the crew, she paused at Lora. No wonder, as her expression looked the worst.

The sight alone was enough to make Lora speak. "The Reapers destroyed Aris' shuttle. Aenea, Aris is dead."

"I see, so the Reapers killed him," Aenea said, showing anger in her eyes for a moment. She turned quickly to Young. "Let's be brief—we can talk about the details later. It is now imperative to clear the immediate vicinity of the gate to set up the Fortress Shield. "

Erecting the Fortress Shield made sense only if there were no enemies within its perimeter, or otherwise, the satellites would be exposed to attacks from the inside. Therefore, the most important thing was to first clean the vicinity of the supergate from all the pests and then close the whole area with an impenetrable shield.

"I agree. The sooner the Fortress Shield becomes active, the better." He knew that once the Fortress Shield began siphoning power from the supergates, there was nothing the Reapers or Nakai had that could break it.

"And later, we can go hunting those Reapers until we are satisfied that we killed everyone involved in this tragedy," Aenea replied sharply.

Judging by the look in her eyes, she wouldn't stop until a fair portion of the Reapers in this galaxy were gone. The Nakai wouldn't fare any better, as she blamed them just as much as the Reapers for Aris' death. Aris was a good friend of hers and one of the first Edenians she turned into an Alterran.

The connection ended abruptly, and Destiny's crew had nothing else to do but to begin watching the ensuing massacre. The Reapers' algorithm responsible for determining the threat level probably began returning the answer 'Run! We Are Doomed!'.

From the event horizon, thick golden streams broke into smaller ones, attacking all the Reapers on their way. It didn't matter whether they were heavy, medium, or light Reapers. They would all be dying today anyway.

Meanwhile, powerful plasma lances from the Cherubim ships pierced the Nakai's vessels. As they persistently meddled in other people's business, now was the time to pay the price. No matter how different their brains were, they should have started screaming a long time ago, 'Run! We're Doomed!' and attempt to escape from this place, no matter how futile that attempt would be.

And lastly, from the rear, groups of four Echelon ships formed their well-known formation with one at the front and three at the back. From those ships in the back, beams struck the lead ship, causing it to fire a massive energy beam. It was easily capable of reaching even those distant Reaper motherships that were convinced they were far enough and thus safe, relentlessly slicing them into pieces as if they were made of butter.

It took only minutes to clear the immediate vicinity, leaving no enemy within a radius of a hundred thousand miles alive. The satellites had already come out of the supergate and immediately began spreading in all directions. It was true that after the Fortress Shield was erected, no one could harm them, but from what he'd just witnessed, they wouldn't even need it. There was no one around who could threaten them. Even if all the Reapers that rushed into the system teamed up for one last massive attack, he was sure that it still wouldn't be enough. They would only make Aenea happier because they wouldn't need to chase after them.

Finally, pieces of the larger supergate began to fly out of the event horizon. In no time, the second supergate began to take shape. The swap was also quick. The smaller supergate shut down, and the larger one connected only moments later, finally allowing a much larger ship to pass through.

"Is that..." Young began to speak but stopped.

"Yes, it's the newest Archangel-class warship that incorporates all the technology currently available to us," said Adrienn, obviously fascinated by it.

It was a behemoth that had taken much longer to develop than anticipated. However, the result was astonishing. According to what little he knew about the beast, it was on par with the twenty-percent-bigger Valhalla. Still, since it went much later into production than the Valhalla, it also contained some technologies that the others did not. It was a shame how little he knew about it. He hoped to get a chance to tour the ship now that it was here, but honestly, he also had a more urgent matter to attend to. Even a pleasant holiday on Earth, preferably in time for Christmas, was higher on his priority list.

As tensions dropped sharply, the crew faded back in their seats, only marginally keeping involved in monitoring the ship's systems. No one could harm them anymore, and even the shield climbed back up to eighty percent. They had successfully protected the ship until help arrived, and now the only thing left to do was to finally deliver the goods that went under the name of Liam.

Many people eagerly awaited his arrival, and Aenea was just one of them.

---

"Nice tree!" Jack shouted as he entered Sam's office.

"It's a hologram," Sam replied.

Jack wasn't convinced; it looked too real. Arriving in front of the tree, he touched a branch with its sharp leaves. To his surprise, his hand didn't pass through. "It's solid!"

"Yes, we have had the technology for some time. If we have emitters nearby, we can make all kinds of pseudo-matter with the help of photons kept together with the right amount of forcefields," Sam replied.

Jack smelled the Christmas tree. "It doesn't smell like anything."

"If it did, I'd be deeply stunned," Sam replied.

"Now that you mention it, making smelly holograms shouldn't be easy," Jack said.

"Or useful," Sam replied.

"Or useful," he agreed. "So, what's the story with the tree? It's not like you do it every year."

Sam glanced at the tree with a hint of sadness. "I'm swamped with work, so I had to cancel my plans to spend Christmas in New York with Cassie."

"Oh, so she's still in New York?" he asked.

"For now, yes," Sam replied.

"For now?" he asked.

"Well, she broke up with her boyfriend—the main reason she stayed in New York at all. Now that she isn't bound anymore, she's considering joining Daniel's team," Sam explained.

"I never liked that boyfriend of hers," he retorted.

"You never even gave the guy a chance! But now I don't like him either," Sam concluded.

"Why?"

"He cheated on her," she said.

"Oh, let me teleport him here so that we can have a nice little chat!" he said angrily.

"No need. Cassie took care of it. He made the guy bounce around the room like a pinball," Sam replied, proud of her niece.

When Cassie gets angry, it's best to disappear. After Genesis, her telekinetic powers skyrocketed. She could bounce her boyfriend like a ragged doll from one corner of the room to another until she got bored. In fact, her boyfriend was a complete moron. Who in his right mind cheats on a girl capable of crushing him with the sole power of her mind?

That guy was an imbecile.

"Well, that sucks! For her, I mean. So, is she planning to spend Christmas in New York alone?" he asked. She had friends there so that she wouldn't be truly alone. But it was different from spending Christmas with family.

Or with a boyfriend.

"No, since I'm stuck here and she doesn't like the Big Apple as much as she did two days ago, she decided to visit. You should join us; she'll spend Christmas and New Year's Eve here," Sam said.

"Spending Christmas here is fine, but spending New Year's Eve with us old folks instead of people her age means she's depressed," Jack said. "I will tell her about my adventures as I traveled through the past. I'm confident that will get her mind off sad things, at least for a while."

"Yes, we have to do our best to cheer her up. I included Daniel in that as well. She's considering joining his department anyway, so talking to him should help distract her from her stupid ex," Sam said.

Cassie had expressed a desire to become a diplomat or join the Peace Corps—she was happy with either option. But then she found a boyfriend and decided to stay in New York, where he lived. Jack didn't think she had made the wrong decision or anything like that. He just didn't appreciate the passive nature of the guy. The boy had stayed in New York his whole life, never going anywhere, much less expressing the desire to visit distant planets. Cassie was different. She wanted to see the larger universe, which, at least in his opinion, made her choice of boyfriend odd. But in the end, it was still her life—a long life in which she could make a few mistakes and still get her life back on track in time.

Just like it was happening now.

"Anyway, did you hear the news?" he asked.

"I've heard a lot of news, but to which are you referring?" Sam asked.

"Liam's on his way!" said Jack.

"Yeah, I know. It looks like he'll be back for Christmas," Sam said, smiling.

It was excellent news. He had missed him these couple of years. To him, it felt as if the main character of a story went AWOL all of a sudden! He was definitely needed back.

"Yes, at least physically. However, he won't be among the best talkers," said Jack. Liam's memory was still on the fritz, something they hoped would change with time. "I'm sure hanging out with friends will help him remember. Aenea, many Edenians he knows well, Adria, and even Thor are coming to Earth. The people Liam knows best will all gather in one place."

"It will help, both Liam and Cassie," Sam said, glancing at the holo tree. "That's why I have a tree here. Cassie will spend time here, and I want to make the place a bit homier."

Sam had to work, even though it was Christmas time. Naval R&D was growing, taking on more and more work from the civilian side of the Terran Federation's research department, currently headed by McKay. The civilian side would soon stop researching military hardware altogether and dedicate exclusively to exploring theories to help improve their society.

"I bet Rodney's happy to be free of all the military research," Jack said.

"That is mainly because the deadlines for military projects are the worst. Instead, Rodney will now have the time to devote to theoretical research in which no one will criticize his work as long as he shows even the slightest progress," Sam said, frowning. "The exact opposite of me who has to deliver on time even though the deadlines are ridiculously short!"

"Well, that's what we need most right now, and I know that's not going to change any time soon," Jack said. "But when that happens, and that's after the war is over, you'll have all the free time you need."

"I'm aware of that," Sam said resignedly. She knew the war wouldn't end within a year or two.

Although Sam's department has grown significantly in the last two years, the work has grown even more, always having more projects to work on than people available. But the Vargas won't wait for them to slowly devise new weapons, shields, armor, or whatever else that would give them an edge. So they had to push development with all their might.

They had countless theories from many sources, including databases from the Ancients and Asgard and a massive knowledge base of the Ascended stored inside the Clava Thessara Infinitas. Now was the time to put that knowledge to use against the Vargas. It wasn't an easy task—honestly, they had too many theories to choose from—but the only way to secure a decisive advantage was to invest in increasing their technological superiority. They would never have the Vargas' numbers, a fact they were painfully aware of.

So Sam got stuck at work, perennially busy, and barely able to dedicate a few hours to Cassie even now during the holidays. Fortunately, more acquaintances were coming to Earth, people that little Cassie—not so small anymore—knew very well and wouldn't mind spending time with. Thinking a little more about it, Jack also found that he wouldn't mind seeing those same people he hadn't seen in a long time.

Daniel should also be happy that Adria was finally returning.

"Adria is close to finishing her work in the Ori galaxy, so Daniel will be happy that his girlfriend is back," Jack said.

"I didn't know that. I was convinced that her job wasn't going well," Sam replied.

"Honestly, I'm not interested in that part, so I don't know much, but it seems that Adria has managed to improve the shields of those toilet ships the Priors drive around," he replied.

The Ori made an incredibly advanced ship, especially its energy source and the shield. A glance was enough to conclude that the shield was the best candidate to modify so that it became immune to Vargas' energy weapons. He didn't know precisely how or why, but it seemed their ability to absorb some of the weapon's energy was responsible for gradually weakening its draining effect. But, as was usually the case, modifying them proved to be a real challenge, and they were already afraid it would turn up as a complete waste of time. Fortunately, two weeks ago, encouraging results began to appear, which finally allowed Adria to take a few days off to visit her boyfriend, whom she hadn't seen in almost six months.

"Yes, that's great news. Too bad it won't be so easy to pass these modifications onto our shields," Sam replied, frowning.

"We already have a solution for our ships. It may not be perfect, but it still gets the job done," he replied.

"Alternating the use of separate shield generators doesn't solve the main problem, their constant draining. If we manage to solve that, I predict we could last twice as long in battles against the Vargas," answered Sam.

"First, let's try to apply these modifications to our Fortress Shield. It should go much easier," he replied.

"I wouldn't bet on it. We'll probably have a lot of work there as well. But yes, it will certainly go faster than modifying the primary shield of our capital ships," she replied.

Once upon a time, he believed that all shields were similar and modifications required nothing more complicated than transferring a few crystals from one slot into another and maybe shooting them with a zat-gun. But now he knew better, and the job of applying the same patch that worked flawlessly on the Ori shields, on theirs might prove so complex that it would require them to rebuild the whole damn thing anew.

But Sam was now telling him that it could prove to be a hassle to do it on the Fortress Shield as well. That forced him to reconsider his priorities and perhaps develop lower-priority projects earlier. "Well, at least now we can count on the Priors to help in battles even when it comes to the Vargas. Also, I've heard that their relationship with Adria has improved."

"It's not at all strange considering that Adria is their only hope if they wish to solve their infertility problem," Sam said.

Since the Ori created them with the sole purpose to serve them until Judgment Day, there was no reason to leave them with the ability to reproduce. The Priors didn't protest either, no doubt not seeing anything wrong with it because their goal was to rise to a higher plane anyway. Why would they care if they couldn't have children?

But the truth had now come to light, a reality in which no Prior would be able to ascend with or without the help of the Ascended; the Ori made sure of that. The Priors were now looking to correct their genetic defects, especially their inability to have children and rise to a higher level of existence. The Ori effectively maimed all the people they'd transformed into Priors, and now there was no easy way to fix it.

Adria was the key, or at least their best bet. She didn't know the procedure—the Ori never taught her how to correct the genetic defects they'd introduced, leaving her no alternative but to seek the answers independently.

Nevertheless, even though she was a member of the hated Ori race, if she could give the Priors hope in a better future, they would probably be willing to accept her, perhaps even take her as their next leader.

"Yes, Adria could even become their leader one day," Sam mirrored his thoughts, but then she seemed hesitant. "Although, I don't see anyone ever appreciating her as a religious figure. It's funny to think that what the Goa'uld and Ori did is now pushing people to stay away from anyone who preaches what God is supposedly asking of them. That's why it's near impossible to start a new religion in our or the Ori galaxy."

"I can't blame them. Whoever comes to them saying they are God, or that they know what God wants from them, will end up stoned to death," Jack said but stopped abruptly. "Let's not talk about that."

"You're right. Where were we?" Sam asked.

"Adria is coming back, which means Daniel will be quite happy. Also, if Adria is coming, Vala won't be far behind. But I'm not sure about Teal'c. He likes to celebrate Christmas, and no one in the JFN does it. I think he might stop by for at least a day or two," he said.

"He sent me a message saying he's thinking about it, but that was before the Jaffa started shooting at each other," Sam said with a measure of disapproval.

The incident involving the two most notorious TIA agents had pushed the already shaky situation between the JFN and the Jaffa Empire into a fully-fledged war. The footage sent to the Emperor as evidence that Teal'c had justly won the battle against his son Ro'nel didn't bear any fruit. A few days after the clash, the Jaffa Empire declared war, immediately retaliating by attacking a JFN border outpost. Fortunately, the JFN was ready for it, knowing exceedingly well what the Emperor was like. The well-defended outpost successfully resisted the assault, forcing the enemy into a protracted battle until reinforcements arrived.

After a fierce first battle in which the Empire had no choice but to withdraw, the war turned into many petty skirmishes aimed at finding weaknesses in the JFN's defensive line. But finding such flaws was no picnic. The JFN had a relatively small number of planets to defend, allowing them to build sophisticated defense stations aided by many defense satellites.

The Terrans gave them satellite blueprints they could use against the Reapers and other enemies. The JFN immediately decided to put the Terrans generosity to good use, aggressively thickening their defenses with all kinds of systems. In addition, because their star systems were close, it was relatively easy for them to deploy their ships so they could timely jump to the rescue. Reinforcements could arrive in less than an hour, giving the Emperor's forces a short window of opportunity in which to win or, if not, perform a hastened retreat.

Conversely, the Empire had no choice but to keep its ships scattered in the multitude of its systems for fear the JFN might make sudden incursions deep into their territory where their defenses would otherwise be too scarce to suffice. The space was too vast, making it impossible to create a defensive line capable of blocking ships from traveling deeper into their territory. The JFN's job was easier, with less space to watch over, which vastly negated their numerical inferiority.

"Still, I wouldn't bet on him coming this year," he concluded. "More importantly, I would like him to accept our offer of help."

"You know what Jaffa are like. Although the JFN is more progressive than the Empire, they too will think of themselves primarily as warriors, something I'm sure won't change for generations to come. Besides, it's not that we currently have the assets to help them resolve this crisis," Sam said.

She was right. Most of what they kept in the Milky Way was to protect their planets. The rest were a bunch of obsolete ships they used to train young crews through periodic patrolling of the galaxy. They weren't planning to use these ships in any war. However, Jack still thought that if Teal'c accepted his offer, he would find a way to end this conflict sooner and with far fewer casualties.

"I would also really like for our two troublemakers not to cause such a stir every time! Don't they know the basics of covert operations," he said, incensed. He was an expert on the subject and could testify that Peter and David did the opposite of a covert operation.

"You are the first never to leave anyone behind. You can't blame David for organizing a rescue mission, especially since he knew diplomatic channels wouldn't have worked," Sam said.

"I'm not blaming him for that; I blame him for not doing it more quietly!" he replied.

The two caused a diplomatic incident that would be a hassle to unravel. Not only did David involve the Jaffa, but he also angered the Big Whale—or, as the group called itself these days, the Union of Planets. They instantly severed the little diplomatic relations with the Terrans and the JFN. But that wasn't the worst part. The Union had sided with the Jaffa Empire for unknown reasons. Maybe he could understand why they were angry at the Terrans. After all, their two agents had clashed and, in the process, killed their people. As for him, they had it coming, but he could at least understand their reaction in their regard. But he couldn't comprehend their position regarding the JFN, much less the Jaffa Empire.

Why condemn the JFN when all Teal'c did was attack a ship that belonged to the Empire?

The Union and the Empire weren't close enough to suddenly sign a pact in which the Empire unilaterally could send ships through their territory, and yet they did. It simply didn't make sense unless the Terrans weren't aware of something unsavory beneath it all. Perhaps the Empire had strong enough leverage to force the Union to agree to unreasonable requests.

Still, David could have avoided the whole mess had he done his job a little quieter.

"You know as well as I do that such missions rarely go according to plan. David had to fight without support against the slaver and his goons, the local guards who had sided with the slaver, and even against the Jaffa from the Empire. He achieved an incredible outcome, managing to save Peter from a difficult situation while thwarting the slaver's operation," said Sam. The last missile he fired took care of the slaver and most of his goons, effectively eliminating the whole gang.

Of course, she was right, but he had to deal with some of his pent-up frustration. Some corner of the Milky Way always saw some action, though that shouldn't be the case. He was sure that after the defeats of the Goa'uld, the Ori, the Lucian Alliance, the Aschen, and the Wraith, he would have to focus exclusively on the Vargas as the last and strongest bad guy. It was supposed to be a grand finale in which only the war against the Vargas was worth mentioning. Instead, he had daily reports of numerous crap, utterly unrelated to the big final boss, happening everywhere.

"It's all clear to me, but there is so much bad news coming from our galaxy that I'm starting to develop a perennial headache that comes right in the morning when I get in my office and won't go away until I'm home again and after I drink a beer, or three. Our galaxy should have experienced a period of peace accompanied by huge growth, and not wars, conflicts, mistrust, and more crap that would take me all day to recount it all," he said, full of dissatisfaction.

"Come on. It's not that bad!" Sam replied.

"Do you believe so?" he said curiously. "Let's see. First, we have a Jaffa war that was supposed to happen ten or maybe twenty years down the road. Then, we have the aforementioned 'Big Whale', unstable from the beginning but now becoming belligerent and, for some strange reason, eager to support the Jaffa Empire. Then we have the Galarans and the Lucian Republic doing their thing that we're not too thrilled about. Oh, and there's that mysterious group that sells these new drugs just to spice it up so that we don't get too bored," he said.

"You look at it all wrong. First, as you said, the Jaffa waging war against each other was just a question of when and not if. That means it was inevitable anyway, and it might even be better this way. They certainly have fewer resources now than they would have twenty years later," Sam said.

"Okay, maybe I can agree with that, but what about the rest?" he asked.

"You said that the Union of Planets was unstable from the beginning, so nothing has changed, right? They help the Jaffa Empire by allowing them to pass through their territory. At the same time, the JFN and we have become persona non grata. I agree that it's not ideal—with the severance of diplomatic relations and all—but I consider it far from the end of the world. The JFN will find a way to get around the problem, and we've had no intention of dealing with them directly at this juncture anyway. Admittedly, they make me angry because they forget so quickly who freed them from the Goa'uld, but that's the most brainpower I am willing to spend on them," Sam said.

"When you explain it like that, it seems that not everything is so pitch black. Still, I think the Union's meddling will prolong the war, maybe even by as much as a year. The Jaffa Empire can launch ambushes from their territory. If they are losing a battle, they can flee into the Union's territory where the JFN cannot follow if they don't want to cause a diplomatic incident. In my book, that totally sucks!" he said.

"I agree, it does suck, but knowing what Jaffa are like, you shouldn't worry too much. How many times do you think they'll run away from a battle. Just call them cowards on an open channel, and they'll turn their ships around in an instant and fight you to the death. "I know there will be instances when the Empire will use the Union's territory to its advantage, but it will only happen sporadically and have a marginal impact on the overall course of the war," Sam said.

"I hope you're right. But I mentioned two other points, and you can't dismiss those so easily," he said.

"You're right, I can't," Sam said thoughtfully. "But the Arkhan Empire is doing a great job of disrupting the Galarans and even thwarting a few plans of the Lucian Republic. And after the Hubs become operational, the influence of the Arkhan Empire will soar to new heights."

At one point, Jack realized that Terran scientists had stopped sleeping. It was the only convincing explanation for the countless discoveries they managed to bake daily. Even in areas where the discovery didn't benefit them directly, they did an outstanding job. Among these discoveries was also the development of the Hyperspace Hubs, or abbreviated, just Hubs.

A decade ago, SG1 was hurled inside hyperspace at a ridiculous speed. That resulted from riding an exploding star's shockwave while opening a hyperspace window. It took the Ha'tak they controlled just a few minutes to reach a neighboring galaxy. It was weird even to think that such speeds were possible, which was precisely why Earth scientists were excited to learn how it happened and maybe somehow reproduce the whole process.

To cut a long story short, they realized that the explosion managed to push the ship to a much higher hyperband than intended. After years of meticulous research, they came up with a way to safely reproduce the phenomenon. Of course, they couldn't achieve identical results because sending a ship at such ridiculous speeds entailed unacceptable risks, with more than a thirty percent probability the vessel would suffer significant damage or perhaps even disintegrate upon entering hyperspace. No captain would ever expose his crew to such unfavorable odds, knowing that it was only a matter of time before something went horribly wrong. People would also think twice before joining the Navy if they knew ships utilized such dangerous methods of travel.

Anyway, to make the story even shorter, the bunch working on the new propulsion system discovered that there would be no detrimental effect if they limited the jump to one or at most two hyper bands higher. It was believed that the chances of something going awry were negligible. The result was Hubs capable of helping a ship enter hyperspace in a higher band as long as two of them were placed so that the gravitational field gradient along the entirety of the hyper-corridor summed up to near zero. Unfortunately, that meant that only a modest number of star systems could provide the right conditions to take advantage of the new hyper-corridors.

And to finally end the story, luck once again smiled on Maybourne as they discovered that his home star system could connect to as many as eight other systems spread across the galaxy. That, in turn, meant the value of his system just hit the roof. From his system, ships would be able to travel great distances in a fraction of the time they would otherwise need. Ha'tak that used the system could shorten the trip to a tenth of the time it otherwise took. Some slower ships, especially cargo ships that could only enter the lower bands, would benefit even more. They could jump two bands higher, which would cut their travel time a hundredfold, provided, of course, they had suitable shields capable of repelling the higher density of exotic particles that were increasingly abundant in the higher layers of hyperspace.

Lady Luck smiled upon Maybourne for the second time when The Terrans discovered that a system that recently joined his Empire could connect with five other star systems.

The Terrans didn't benefit from such a system because they already had the fastest hyperdrives in the galaxy, and the Hubs couldn't propel them into a higher hyperband without risks. At least, that would keep being the case until they improved upon the technology. However, that didn't create any problems for them. Their jumping stations allowed them to cross half the galaxy instantly and weren't limited to a single destination.

Nevertheless, the Terrans would still indirectly benefit from the Hub. The Arkhan Empire would benefit from the system, further increasing its influence in the region while diminishing that of the Galarans and the Lucian Republic. They would be forced to maintain friendly relations with Arkhan if they wished to use its Hubs for speedy travel. Through the Arkhan Empire, the Terrans could influence the region, further limiting what the two local troublemakers could accomplish.

The only thing Jack didn't like was that Maybourne's power kept growing day after day. The very idea of the man enjoying wealth, power, beautiful women, and freedom that few ever did would cause a sudden spike in his blood pressure.

"That man is getting too powerful for my taste!" he growled.

"Who? Maybourne?" Sam asked.

"Yes, Maybourne!" he replied.

"Well, the devil we know is better than the alternative, right? Likewise, now that he has everything he could ever wish for, he will ensure never to lose it. He'll be careful never to do something stupid that would upset us because he knows that we are the ones who can take it all away," Sam said.

"I'm fully aware of that! I know he's not stupid, and that makes things a hundred times worse!" He was close to exploding in righteous indignation. "He's enjoying life too much! The point of sending him to that godforsaken planet was banishment from Earth to an undesirable place where he would spend the rest of his life in misery. The main point was for him to live a mediocre life until the day he died!" Jack said sharply.

"Yes, the point indeed was to banish him from Earth, but the other part is just your desire and nothing more. It was never our goal to make the guy have a bad time," Sam said.

"Of course, it was! That was the most important part! If not, what is the lesson of all this? You do bad things, betray your country, kill people, sell dangerous stuff for profit, etcetera, etc., and when you are finally caught, what happens then? You are rewarded by becoming emperor with no less than four wives?"

"Huh! It sounds just like how things went on Earth in the past. You conquer, kill, plunder, and do whatever else you want, and then they make you king," Sam said thoughtfully.

"You're going off-topic, Sam. I would expect that from Daniel, but not from you," he said. "We were talking about Maybourne."

"We were talking about the problems that are happening in the Milky Way. Maybourne wasn't that important," Sam concluded.

"You're right. Let's put Maybourne aside for now," he said.

"Does that mean we'll get back to him later?" Sam asked.

Jack glared at her.

"I'm just asking," Sam said, backing off quickly. "Anyway, to end my lengthy explanation, I think the last concern you mentioned is the most worrying."

"Really? The drug thing? I'd put it no higher than third place," he said, convinced that wars and races that wanted to increase their influence in the galaxy were far more troubling.

"As I see it, not only does this group have a chance to rise to a position of power, but the biggest drawback for us is that there's nothing we can do to prevent it," Sam said.

He nodded in agreement, especially about the last part. "They sell some fancy drugs."

"It is because these drugs are great that our hands are tied. We cannot prevent the sale of drugs that have only positive effects," Sam said.

Prolong was the mysterious group's best seller. The drug could double a person's lifespan, and the best part was—for the person selling the stuff, of course—that people had to take it every month. An individual who took it would only age fifteen days instead of thirty. But after a month, the effect would begin to weaken, forcing people to buy the next dose. For the opportunity to live twice as long, people would be willing to spend vast sums of money. After all, what could be more precious than your life?

The drug also had no side effects and wasn't known for causing addiction.

Jack knew how lucrative such a job was. Worst of all, only highly advanced civilizations such as the four members of the SGA could succeed in producing these drugs. Or rather, another player knew how to do it, but they had no idea who it was. The price also wasn't a complete rip-off as one would expect for such a sought-after product. If so, competition would inevitably emerge, even with a lower quality product. But at the price at which it was sold and combined with the difficulties in its production, no one would want to enter this specific market, leaving this group with an incredibly lucrative monopoly.

They had other drugs, most of which were enhancers of one kind or another. Some increased endurance, while others increased a person's strength. Some healed light wounds, while others increased concentration. They all had a significant effect on a person. They all came with detailed warnings to keep people properly informed not to overdose accidentally. They all had few or no side effects, even when someone abused them.

"I think the Tok'ra are behind it," he said.

"We cannot be sure. The few planets on which we found the manufacturing facilities only had humans, with no Tok'ra or Goa'uld anywhere to be found, and we checked thoroughly to be sure," Sam said.

That was the first thing they did, making sure no symbiote was involved, regardless of the subspecies. But what upset Jack was that he couldn't think of any other group with enough knowledge to produce such drugs except for them. The Tok'ra were in a good position, with Egeria's clone repopulating their previously dwindling population with new symbiotes. If the Tok'ra found such a significant source of income, it would allow them to grow in strength, perhaps in time enough even to enter the top ten most influential races in the Milky Way. However, if they were indeed behind the drugs, there was one point he couldn't understand.

"I'm not sure either. I don't get why the Tok'ra would do it in secret. They have nothing to fear. They could sell the drugs openly, and no one would mind. I also believe the Goa'uld are behind it even less. It's not their style, and it wouldn't help them expose themselves like this. It may take time, but sooner or later, we will discover who's behind it all, and if it's them, it would only make it easier for us to go after them. But I have no idea who else could be behind it. Who else has the expertise to produce something like this and on such a scale?" he said.

"No idea. As far as I know, except us, only the Aschen and Tollan had the expertise to invent something so complex and the capacity to sell it on a galactic scale. Not just the drugs, but the way they masked the chemical formulas against tampering and reverse engineering. Only races at level seven or higher could do that," Sam said.

"Yeah, we just ran out of candidates," he said breathlessly, knowing that not the Aschen nor the Tollans were in a state to do it.

"But other than the last point that you made, which I'm sure will cause us trouble, the overall situation in the Milky Way isn't as bad as you make it sound," Sam concluded.

He had difficulty refuting her last statement. Still, deep down, he had a feeling things were supposed to be a lot better than they were. Why did the Jaffa have to split up and start fighting each other? Why did the Galarans and the Lucian Republic have expansionistic thoughts? The Union of Planets was made up of a bunch of former slaves who had finally found freedom. Why not try to enjoy it instead of creating trouble unnecessarily? Nothing good could come out of interfering in the Jaffa War.

And last but not least, the mysterious group sold various enhancement drugs. It was true that they sold decent medicines that displayed no side effects and didn't cause addiction other than the reliance on the product that it promoted in people. It was nearly impossible to return to the way things were after experiencing improved concentration, strength, endurance, or slowed aging. This dependence could prove to be as bad an addiction as any other. But, as far as they were concerned, the drugs were completely legal. Therefore the Terrans, or anyone else for that matter, had no right to stop their sale. Yet, these people hiding their identity made him suspect the whole story would eventually turn into something problematic they would have to get involved in.

After spending decades fighting in wars or experiencing countless adventures as he traveled through the past, he wanted a period of peace in which he could leisurely spectate the progress the races in the Milky Way made, even if it turned out as an incredibly boring time to be living in.

"Well, our advance into Vargas territory will proceed slowly; I simply can't see us making any big leaps any time soon. We will have the time to sort out what's exactly going on. I may even have some time to go sightseeing in the Triangulum Galaxy," he said, smirking.

"There's no way you'll get to go there. You had enough fun on your long—very, very long—vacation while you explored our galaxy for two hundred years," Sam replied.

She seemed angry. It wasn't Jack's fault that she got stuck at work. It was amazing how she could always point out the good bits of his journeying through the past while completely disregarding the fact that all the missions were a massive pain to go through. No one could say that chasing after some weird cult and their idol, the Shrike, was a fun experience they would be thrilled to repeat. "Tell the truth for once! It bothers you that you can't go."

"Of course, it does! That's a given! Triangulum is perfect for exploration. I'm sure we could enjoy endless adventures without getting bored for months or even a year. But instead… instead, I'm stuck here working!" Sam exploded in righteous rage.

Too much work was never fun, even for those who liked their job, and Sam was no exception. Excess work could lead her to one day reach a breaking point. Even the strongest of us had one; for some, it just took more to get there.

"Don't worry, Sam! I have a plan. Why don't we—and by that, I mean the old gang—get together and go on a few missions in the unexplored Triangulum Galaxy. You, Teal'c, Daniel, and I, what do you say?" He asked.

"The last time you suggested something similar, we didn't particularly enjoy it," Sam said, with a look filled with condemnation.

She really had a good memory; he had to give her credit for that. It was true that some strange creatures chased them the last time they went on a mission together. What's worse, as they fled, they ran straight into the pit where these animals usually did their business. After that, Sam didn't speak to him for days. He had to bribe her with various types of sweets before that could change.

"Come on! It was one time, and you have to admit we had a stroke of terrible luck. No one could have predicted what happened that day. The planet seemed like a wonderful place where to have an easy mission. Perfect for the four of us who have become a little rusty. But I'm sure going to the Triangulum Galaxy would be different, and I'm certain we would have a far more rewarding experience. Don't forget that we have a long life ahead of us, and if you work too hard, you will end up completely spent in less than ten years, and with little to look forward."

"Yes, some will have more time than others, but I get what you're saying," Sam said. "I think if I continue to work at my current pace, I'll start hating my job."

Triangulum Galaxy—until recently an utterly unexplored place. However, six months ago, the Terrans sent a ship to set up a supergate. It was an integral part of the program to set up one supergate in each of the ninety-four galaxies parts of the Local Group. Later, Copernicus, commanded by Nicholas Rush, was sent to map the galaxy. Nothing extensive, just to get them the lay of the land. However, Rush soon discovered that the place was teeming with intelligent life. An even bigger surprise was the discovery of the existence of humans on one planet. It was utterly unexpected, almost as much as the discovery of a strange technology left behind by a long-forgotten race that allowed ships to jump from one system to another.

The place was littered with tens of thousands of these transit stations, allowing even races with slow or no FTL propulsion systems to travel to the stars. Since the place had people, the Terrans would have no problem scouting the area while inconspicuously mingling with the locals. Also, the place was so interesting precisely because humans were a minority in an incredibly diverse galaxy. The treasure trove of information they could get by interacting with races never seen before was staggering. The Milky Way and Pegasus had been robbed of the vast majority of nonhuman species, thanks to the Goa'uld and the Wraith's effort. Very little was left, and these races were highly cautious in getting involved with humans, leaving the Terrans with little chance of interacting with other species.

"Look, it's not that I plan to go there today or next week. But it wouldn't be a bad idea to start thinking about ways to achieve our goal: to get us some leave time and escape to the Triangulum galaxy. Let's call it a temporary change in our daily life if you know what I mean," he said.

He imagined the four flying the corvette he'd built across another galaxy and enjoying every minute of it.

"I know what you mean, but I can't believe we can be relieved of our daily responsibilities. You and Daniel may not be as busy as I am, but none of us can neglect work for a few months, much less a year," Sam said.

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with daydreaming. If you don't at least dream of going on an adventure, you rule out the chance even before someone tells you that you can't go. Let's be a little more positive and figure out a way to achieve that. For example, Daniel can probably go if he really wants it, right? He's the chief diplomat in the Terran Federation and an anthropologist. Trying to find out how humans ended up in the Triangulum Galaxy should be a valid excuse. We asked the Nox, Asgard, and Ancients, and they all said they never went there, much less took humans to that galaxy. So, we have a mystery in need of solving," he said.

"Okay, maybe Daniel could have a justification to go, although I'm not sure if the others in the council would agree with such a weak excuse. But how does that help the two of us?" Sam asked.

"I'm not sure. Not yet!" he said, thinking deeply. "It's not like I planned everything, you know. But having Daniel as the main candidate makes us a step closer to achieving our goal. If he's in, we can say that Teal'c, you, and I are his irreplaceable comrades without whom he doesn't feel comfortable going... or something like that."

"Yeah, we need to work on that plan a little bit before it even starts making sense," Sam said.

"Hey! Stop complaining and start contributing. Or are you telling me that the three most powerful people in the Terran Federation can't think of a way to get some vacation time? We would still spend it working, just on something we like! As far as I'm concerned, I would agree even if it were unpaid vacation days," he said.

"Yes, I should receive some vacation days to spend however I please, Daniel too should get some, and God knows Teal'c should definitely get the chance to go on some fun missions. But you? Nope, not even close. Not for at least another two hundred years!" Sam said.

He had indeed been on vacation not too long ago, but there was a gap in Sam's way of thinking. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You've spent two hundred years roaming the galaxy! That's what I'm talking about," Sam shouted in righteous anger, especially for someone who hadn't had a vacation in years.

"Show me the proof! Where is it written that I took two hundred years of Leave from work?" he said with a disgusting grin plastered all over his face.

"You're playing that card, huh. It's true that, as far as the rest of us are concerned, you were missing for only a few weeks," Sam said, frustrated.

"Exactly! Time travel is damn confusing, but the reality is that I traveled into the past and came back to work only two weeks later. It doesn't matter what I did, where I was, or how long it took me. As far as the rest of the universe is concerned, I haven't spent even my regular vacation days," he said triumphantly.

"Let's stop with this for now. If you feel your way of thinking will fly with the rest of the council, go for it; I'm not so sure it will, though. But even if it does, it still doesn't solve my problem. No way I can get out of my work while we are so swamped," Sam said.

"That's true, but you could also solve that by changing the way you do things," he said.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"It's because you're doing the same thing all workaholics do without realizing there's a better way. Instead of increasing your payload, ending up working on multiple projects until late into the night, you should work more on the recruitment side of your job description. Find more people who can do what you do. Invest time into finding new scientists and start a program that would get the Tollans involved in the R&D, just like Rodney is doing by poaching them incessantly. Also, try delegating more work to the Asgard, Nox, Edenians by starting more joint research projects. And finally, find yourself a few capable assistants that could do at least part of your duties. Then you might be able to take a few months off without the Navy's R&D succumbing under the weight of new requests. I'm telling you, you workaholics never realize that you aren't alone and that others can do a big part of your job," Jack said.

"That sounds… doable. But what about Teal'c?" Sam asked.

"We ask him first and see what he says. He's a resourceful guy, which means that if the war ends, a ceasefire is declared, or there is a stalemate, he could get a few months to go around exploring. He could say that it's vital for the Jaffa Free Nation to get involved in exploring other galaxies, learning more about other species, blah-blah, and so forth, and so forth. He makes up stuff the council would like to hear. Since they have no other way to travel to other galaxies except for tagging along with us, Teal'c is the best candidate for it. And in the end, if he says that he won't or can't go, we can always grab Vala with us. It's never boring when she's around. Dangerous, yes, but never boring," he concluded.

"When she and Daniel got stuck on that planet, it was because she kept flirting with some guys, and they ended up delayed. She's a magnet for trouble. But, indeed, Mitchell and the rest of SG-1 always have remarkable stories to tell whenever she's around," Sam agreed.

They were having trouble finding interesting topics to chat about. More or less, they went through the critical things happening in the neighborhood and in the distant places their fleet was fighting the big war. He was trying to develop the next topic lest he starts repeating himself. Beginning with another story of his adventures wasn't a good idea either. He would have plenty of opportunity during the holidays once the gang was all back together.

"Been on Earth lately?" Sam asked while he was deep in thoughts.

"Does Terrania count?" he asked back.

"Nope."

"Then the answer is no. Why? Is there something interesting happening down there?" he asked. There must be a reason she started talking about Earth unless she too was out of subjects to chat about.

"Well, energy-wise, the whole planet is now able to satisfy the demand of power with the newly built fusion reactors. The new ways of producing food improved the situation in many developing countries, and food is getting cheaper and available even to the less fortunate. Housing is cheaper than ever before. A building or a house can be constructed quickly, and the cost is a fraction of what it once was. As for travel, we have the greatest improvement there. Electric cars with a charge that can last for days, fast trains, and planes that use inertial dampeners, making trips shorter and safer at a fraction of the cost. Also, we are introducing long-distance teleportation terminals, making travel from one continent to another instantaneous," Sam said.

"Is there a point to what you're telling me?" he asked. Sam was on a roll, but he knew all this already, and the only explanation for her rant was that she must have something specific in mind.

"I think that we have greatly improved the standard of living on Earth. We made things possible that twenty years ago could only be seen in science fiction movies," Sam said, pausing for a moment. "But it remains crowded down there."

"Huh?" he asked, not sure if he understood what she meant.

"Just what I said. The last time I visited Cassie, New York was crawling with people every hour of the day. Even the new methods of travel and even v-Earth didn't help in that regard. And the worst part is that Earth still has more than seven billion people," Sam concluded.

"How many should it have?" he asked, puzzled.

"Five, maybe four," Sam replied.

He thought about it for a moment, trying to understand where she was going with this. It finally dawned on him. When colonization of other worlds began, they calculated that it would be best for Earth if it didn't have more than four billion people living on it. It was primarily because of the planet's resources, and it was true that too many people living down there harmed the Earth. Still, they could manage even if the population doubled with the technology they had at their disposal. With their current tech, they could make skyscrapers miles tall, each capable of housing hundreds of thousands of people.

But they decided that that wasn't what they wanted. They liked an Earth filled with nature, low buildings, parks, and in general, an environment in which no one would complain how crowded it was, even in cities like New York. In rural places, the planet should have a sparse population, allowing those who didn't enjoy living in a frantic place to live a peaceful and quiet life. Even though people had fewer kids these days, the Genesis extending people's lifespan and the availability of technology that could cure most illnesses, it would be possible for Earth's population to suffer an explosive growth.

That was why they thought four billion should be the ideal number of people living on Earth. They were planning to have no more than two billion on each for their Colonies, but it would probably be one or even less. That was why they currently had Tollana, Terra Nova, Haven, Asura, and the unplanned but still welcomed Chinese Colony. Each could easily accept between half and one billion people, leaving the Earth with less than four billion—a cozy number.

"Well, it takes time to transfer so many people," he stated.

"True, but it's not like we are trying all that hard. I know that it's not easy to transfer billions from one planet to another. The ships we built for that purpose can carry up to five thousand passengers. Still, to transfer even one billion people, it would take two hundred thousand trips!" Sam explained.

"Right, but we have more than one ship, right?" he said, unsure of the exact number.

"Yes, we have fifty," Sam deadpanned.

"That isn't all that many," he said. "How long does it take for one trip?"

"It takes around eighteen hours to reach the jump station, the jump is instantaneous, then eighteen more hours to get to the colony, and then the same trip to get back. It's seventy-two hours to get the ship back on Earth.

"So, three days to ferry five thousand people, multiplied by fifty, we get 250 000 people. Then in a year, we can relocate thirty million, give or take," he said. "Yep, that's too little."

"To get three billion people off the Earth, it would take us a hundred years," Sam said.

"No wonder our colonies are still small. Although, that might not be a bad thing. Since they are of manageable sizes, we have very little trouble. I don't want to even think of the nightmare it would be to manage hundreds of millions of people immigrating each year. But I get your point," he said

"That's not all. Since life is massively improving on Earth, the demand for relocation to other planets isn't as pronounced as we would hope. Tax incentives are helping a little, as well as various programs helping people settle once they get onto the new planet, but we should be doing more," Sam said.

Whoever lived in a colony didn't need to worry about many things. Taxes were a fraction of those on Earth, and the Terrans Federation also provided ready-made houses or comfortable apartments for free. There were great employment programs, combined with courses for requalification or additional education if a person wishes for it. The unemployment rate in the colonies was on the low end, making it difficult for a person to hate relocating.

Terra Nova was incredibly cheap when real estates were concerned, especially for those who wished to grow food. Haven was a little more expensive, but the wealth of resources unavailable on other planets made it a most sought-after destination for anyone who wanted to start a new business. The Navy's Marine Corps was also there, which brought a lot of families.

It all sounded great, but those colonies still numbered in the low millions—not nearly close enough to make a dent in Earth's population. However, all four settlements in the Milky Way galaxy still had many people immigrating, entirely in contrast to Asura that had practically no newcomers. It was because people who might have decided to relocate to another planet wouldn't choose Asura that was in the Pegasus galaxy—a little too far out for many people's taste. It was also a scientific mecca, but not much more than that. Scientists who wanted to work on cutting-edge research thought of Asura as their ideal destination, but that could bring hundreds of thousands of people, but never billions. There simply weren't that many scientists.

"So, what you are saying is that we have a lot of work ahead of us," he said.

"You betcha!" Sam replied, smiling wickedly. "And it's not we, but you. I'm swamped already."

"Why me? Wouldn't Paul be more suited?" he said, hoping to pass the ball on another council member. Paul seemed like the perfect victim.

"Nope, I talked to him, and he's swamped even more than I am. He already forfeited sleeping altogether," Sam said.

"Well, he's responsible for everything we are building these days. It can't be easy," he said, thinking hard if there was another member in the council who could do the job. Unfortunately, he couldn't think of anyone, and all of them could quickly reply they had more work piled up than he had. "Fine! I'll do it."

"That's the spirit!" Sam retorted. For some reason, she seemed happy that she dumped work on him. She must enjoy sharing the misery.

"So, in the next year or two, we have to put a lead on whoever is causing trouble here, we have to secure the IC-1001 so that we can use it as a springboard for further expansion, and we have to improve our colonization effort drastically," he said.

"Yes, and by improving the colonization effort, we must achieve our goal of having three billion people off Earth inside ten years," Sam explained.

"That's a massive increase. I'm not sure we can do it. It's not just about building five hundred passenger ships. It's the campaign to promote colonization that will be a bottleneck," he said.

In truth, the best would be to give the job of ferrying people to private companies. However, no one wanted the job. The reason was simple. The Terran Federation did it for free! It was part of the relocation package at zero cost they were promoting. What company would want to join in a free program? The Terrans Federation might absorb the cost, but private companies couldn't and would never even want to.

"Think of building bigger passenger ships. The logistics will worsen, but I think the only solution is to make ships capable of ferrying ten times the number of passengers that our current ships can. About the promotion of the program on Earth, I'm not sure how to improve it. I suggest you talk to Hayes and see what's his take. Leave Asura and focus on the colonies in the Milky Way. Only scientists would be excited to go there, anyway," Sam said. "The rest, you know what to do. Help the JFN, hamper the efforts of the Lucian Republic and the Galarans, and find who this mysterious group selling drugs is. In the IC-1001, find ways to better deal with the Dinos and make sure there are no Vargas in the galaxy. That will go a long way toward achieving all our goals."

"Yeah, I'll need your input on how to increase the survivability of our soldiers on the ground. Those Dinos and abominations are hard to deal with. There are too many of them, they are expendable, and their weapons aren't half bad, making them a pain to deal on the surface," he said.

"We can talk about it after the holidays, and let's at least spend Christmas without talking about work-related stuff," Sam said.

"Well, we can always try, but with the bunch that's coming, it won't be easy," he said, thinking of the people that will be present around the dinner table on Christmas Eve. Everyone was involved in the war against the Vargas or some trouble in the Milky Way galaxy. He also thought about what he should prepare as food for Thor. "Thor's coming as well. He can't find any more Vargas in the IC-1001 to vent his anger while testing new weapons on them, so he's thinking of taking some R&R instead."

"He probably wants to meet Liam just as badly as we do," Sam asked.

"That too. Aenea is the one bringing him home," Jack said. "I wonder how the rescue went."

He knew it was today they went to pick up Liam, but he was now eager to know the details.

"Don't know. We should hear something soon," Sam said, remaining pensive for a moment. "Well, I think we went through all the major troubles. Nothing short-term, but as you've said, we should deal with them in the next two years."

"Yeah, or at least that's most of them," Jack said, reluctant to even open the discussion.

"There's more?" Sam asked.

"Well, Daniel came to me the other day complaining about the Kobolians wanting to explore the galaxy," he said.

"Aren't they still under quarantine?" Sam said.

"I'm not completely sure. The moment Daniel mentions the Kobolians, I usually stop paying attention. Frankly, I'm ninety percent sure he came to me just to vent, not to ask for my advice. As far as I know, the Kobolians will soon be out of the quarantine. They are already building what they call exploration vessels so that they are ready to begin exploring the moment the Terrans removed the shackles," he said.

"Exploration vessels?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. I remember that part because I wanted to hear more about these new ships. It turns out there is a very subtle distinction between an exploration vessel and a warship, at least when the Kobolians are concerned. I think the difference is in one or maybe two turrets missing so that they can place a few sensor arrays more," he said, exaggerating a little, but not by much.

Sam laughed. "They do seem like a bunch that puts scores of cannons even on a cargo ship."

"That they do. Daniel's concerned about what will happen when they finally venture into space. On the one hand, I think their exploration vessels are good the way they are since they could encounter Reapers or some other threat. On the other, they might come out as too threatening for some races they might meet. Adama was the cool-headed one among his people, the type that can calmly analyze any situation and respond appropriately. On the other hand, Cain demonstrated that not every Kobolian is like that," Jack said.

"That's true, and their tech is also below the galactic standard," Sam added.

Many races had advanced considerably in the last few years, especially their armaments. While once the Milky Way had only a few races capable of interstellar travel, now many could buy or maybe even produce spaceships. It was rare for a ship not to be armed with energy weapons and an adequate shield to protect it.

"Yes, but not by much. The Kobolians also compensate for their shortcomings with the size of their ships, and they have the industry to back it all up—an industry that no other race in the Milky Way can compare with. Excluding us, of course," he said.

Not even the Jaffa would choose to build ships more than a mile long without first thinking twice. On the other hand, the Kobolians had a massive post-war industry they had to utilize somehow.

Building big ships was a great way to do it.

"Not by much?" Sam asked.

"Well, whoever doctor Desai was, he gave the Kobolians shields and energy weapons to play with. They've stabilized the technology in the past few years and installed it on all their ships. With the size of their ships, they can install large fusion reactors capable of providing adequate power. Doctor Desai also developed decent energy capacitors to compensate for the lack of Naquadah reactors. He also gave the Kobolians crystal-based computers. They are still behind the other races; for example, their shields aren't as sophisticated as the Jaffa's. However, a Battlestar has a mass twenty times that of a Ha'tak, and I think that compensates for that," he said.

"I still think a Ha'tak is stronger. But yes, with a larger size and in enough numbers, the Kobolians can somewhat level the playing field. As you've said, they have the industry for it," Sam responded.

"And that is all I know about the Kobolians. I don't even know if Daniel plans to support them, try to convince them to keep close to home, or if he'll stop caring altogether and let them do whatever they wish. But enough about them!" he said, abruptly getting up. "I still have work that I need to finish before Christmas, and I won't make it if I waste my time in your office."

"You're right. I better deal with any burning issues before the holidays, so I don't get calls when least desired," Sam said.

"See ya at Christmas. I'll inform you if there's any news about Liam and the Destiny," he said, already moving out the door. He waved without even looking back. "See ya."

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