Chapter 34 - Altera and The Future
Sorry for the delayed chapter but this is a bit longer than normal as i wanted to get through this part rather than have to drag it out over more chapters.
I have also decided that the Atlantis Expedition will take place in June 2004 Earth Time given that apart from which year it is there is no real confirmation about the dates of missions and events in the stargate timelines I've looked at.
Waypoint Station - Alteran Meeting - 36 DAH - ET-Nov 2001
Leo led the Alteran Officials into another smaller conference room and waited for them to sit down before activating the security measures to stop anybody listening in on the meeting. He took the security of his people seriously as even though it's an Alteran station there have been a lot of visitors lately and any one of them could be a spy or hear the wrong thing and spread it to those who could use the information for nefarious purposes.
Once they were sat down around an expertly crafted table with more technology than some ships in the Colonial Fleet. As he sat down Louise stood and brought the meeting to order.
"Before we start I would like to point out that we should approach the Colonial representative about possible recruitment of any survivors that are willing to change allegiance to Altera. I think this would be ideal as given the limited development of their own colony they might be willing to compromise and allow the lesser skilled refugee's leave as long as we dont target the more skilled citizens given they now have a limited pool of labour as well." Louise started.
Leo nodded and responded. "I think that is an excellent idea and will allow us to increase our own population as even with the backing of the highest members of the admiralty we still have a population in the low millions."
The others in the meeting nodded and councilor Holloway made a note for when she negotiated with the colonials about the treaty.
Louise then moved on to the next point of the meeting. "Now that the business with the Colonials is covered it's time to go over the progress we have made with developing Alterra and the Alterra Prime system." She then proceeded to plug a device into the table and flicked a few switches that brought the table to life with a 3D image of a solar system. "Let's start with Alterra herself and move outwards from there. For that I turn the meeting over to councilor Holloway."
Councilor Holloway stood up as Louise returned to her seat and pressed a button on the table and the image zoomed in on a planetoid labelled Alterra. "Thank you, councillor Corman, I can happily report that our population has risen to 2.5 million before the attacks. Most are older people who with the aid of Gene Therapy have decades ahead of them and didn't take much additional training to use the technology we have since created. I am also glad to announce that the birth rate has remained steady at just about 1.2 for the last few years and with the increase in new-borns we have made developing the education system a priority as well as pediatrics."
Leo was somewhat shocked at the total number of people they have recruited as well as the amount of people having children in the last decade. He recovered from his shock pretty quickly and concentrated on what Holloway was saying.
"Of the 2.5 million citizens only 2.1 million are of age adults that can contribute to the development and growth of the Nation. Further of that 2.1 million a fair amount were retired military and 60% of those decided to reenlist in the Alteran Navy or the Spartan Marines." Leo nodded along and smiled when he thought of his idea of renaming his nation's marines after the Spartan's from his earth. He remembered having to explain it to General Spencer that the name came from a warrior centred city state from earth that had the closest beliefs to the colonials and would give the marines an identity to be proud of. "With those numbers it left us with only 1.7 million available for different industrial and agricultural sectors."
She then went on to give them a breakdown on the development of the Altera and what it means for their future plans. She finished up by describing the Altera prime system as a whole and describing their progress with mining operations throughout the system. They went on to discuss possible future plans to increase resource recovery and ways to do so without damaging their own home world and leaving waste throughout the system.
The last point they covered was the production of civilian craft and what rules they put into place when it came to private ownership such as the craft were limited to traveling within the main system only. The second main restriction was that they were only given permission to produce and operate a limited jump drive and had no access to hyperdrive at the moment. Leo agreed with these restrictions as given their current limited population he didn't want them spreading out too much and given the limited exploring they have done they didn't know if there were any other races out there and couldn't afford to create another enemy at this time.
Overall Leo liked what he heard from the councilor as it showed that they were well on their way to creating a stable and expanded economy with not only publicly owned companies but privately owned ones as well. He knew that he couldn't take the new Alterans down the same route as the old as he was worried that they would make the same mistakes as the old. Although he wasn't against maintaining overall control to not allow corruption and greed to take centre stage he still wanted to give his people the drive to better their lives through their own hard work and not to take the easy way out when things got difficult.
Councilor Holloway finished her part of the meeting and passed the meeting back to Louise. "Thank you councilors, now to move on from the civilian side. I will now pass the meeting over to Admiral (James) Adama, the overall military commander of the Alteran Armed forces." She then sat back down allowing Admiral (James) Adama to take over.
"Thank you councilor Corman and thank you councilor Holloway for that informative presentation. Now to start off with the current numbers of enlisted personnel total 430 thousand split between the two branches of the military. The first being the Spartans who number close to 170 thousand personnel with most currently stationed on Altera or within the Altera Prime system." He picked up a folder and handed it to Leo and said. "That is a more detailed breakdown of force allocations for the Spartans for you to look over in your own time."
"Thank you Admiral i will give it a more detailed look after this meeting finishes" Leo put the folder with the other documents he would have to spend time reviewing after today's meeting. "Now if you could break down the current status of our Navy."
Admiral Adama nodded and continued his presentation. "Currently the navy's number of active personnel stands at around 255 thousand split between the two fleets and stations here and the Navy assets in the Altera Prime system." He then picked up a sheet of paper and said. "With current numbers we have enough personnel to man enough ships for 3 more commands without leaving us short staffed at home."
Leo nodded and was satisfied with the numbers he was hearing but knew from the Admirals face that the bubble was about to burst.
"What we lack currently is ships and small craft to make use of those numbers and with current production capabilities it will take another 5 years before we can use all the available man power." He then picked up another folder and handed it to Leo. "With that in mind what I would like to do is to focus on cross training the younger personnel so they can fulfill multiple roles to allow for better versatility when they are eventually assigned to ships."
"I agree with those plans but give the option for additional training to those older personnel as well as we will not discriminate due to age as with the additional strengths of Gene therapy that will be available in the few decades they have more than enough time to become skilled in multiple fields." Leo said as he looked over the proposal. "What I would like to hear about is ship development and when the Argonaut will be ready for production."
What Leo was asking about is the plan he put into place for the eventual journey to seek out and recover the technology left behind within the Pegasus galaxy but he will be unable to do it until the trip between galaxies is reduced to a level that won't take most of his natural life.
Louise was the one to speak up when Leo asked about that project. "Well currently we are looking at another 2 years for development and another 6-8 months for production unless there are some major breakthroughs that would speed up the project." Leo was not looking happy about the time it will take but understood that even if he can focus his energy and time on guiding the development of technologies he still has to be realistic about it.
The meeting got back on track but didn't last much longer after that before they went their separate ways and Leo was left with a stack of folders and files to go over now he has taken his place as the leader of their civilization.
Ascended Plain
Athena was meeting with the leaders of the movement to descend and join Leo's growing number of Alterans. What she was doing was bringing the conditions set by the elders for anyone who wanted to descend and join with Leo going forward. The elders decided that to outright refuse to allow them their freedom to descend would cause a rift within their people that those outside their territory to take advantage of.
The meeting time was approaching and she was preparing herself for what was sure to be a very difficult discussion. Surprisingly it was her Brother Aries that was leading the charge to descend and help their descendants rebuild their once great civilisation. She couldn't say she was tempted to do so as well but she still had to get past what her people became after millions of years of disasters starting with the plague and didn't want to repeat the same mistakes that ended with their entire race reduced to a few tens of thousands of survivors.
She was broken from her contemplation by the approach of her brother and his group's other leaders. "Welcome brother." She addressed Aries as he approached. "And welcome to your group's other chosen representatives."
"Thank you sister, it's good to see you too." Aries smiled and continued. "I take it this meeting is in response to our plea to be allowed to descend and join our descendants in there struggle to rebuild our race in the lower plains."
Athena nodded and said. "Why yes the elders received your plea and have made a decision that they feel will meet everyone's desires." She then directed the group towards a table and chairs that she summoned using her ascended powers. "Why don't we do this like they would in the lower plains and take a seat."
The group of ascended proceeded towards the table and each member taking a place at the table and sitting down. The group consisted of 3 males and 2 females including Aries. Looks didn't mean much in the ascended plane as they could change their looks to anything they wanted.
"So let's skip any pleasantries and get right down to business. The elders have decided to allow you to descend but with some restrictions to not only your powers but your knowledge as well as it was agreed that the journey Leo and our descendants must travel should not allow for shortcuts in development to the level we were before ascending." She saw that while they didn't like the idea of restrictions they looked like they understood the reason behind it. "While the elders will allow you to descend you will also be asked not to take over and control their development as the idea is that they will do things differently than we did and clean up the mess we left as they do."
Aries nodded and replied. "While I can agree to those restrictions I would like more information on what knowledge will be restricted and how they will implement those restrictions?"
She replied. "They decided that you will have blocks placed on your knowledge that will be released as the knowledge is rediscovered through scientific discovery. Also it was decided that while they won't allow you to elevate their technological level they will allow the knowledge of the intergalactic drive and standard cloning knowledge in the hope that you could help them use it to not only retrace our steps but to help those still stuck in the lower plane."
One of the females addressed Athena next. "So how are they going to introduce us to them without causing problems to the already delicate balance between themselves and the other group of our descendants who still worship us as gods?"
Athena thought for a minute as she prepared her answer. "It was agreed that I will contact Leonidas and discuss staging a rescue of those who want to descend who happened to be inside a damaged ship that crash landed on a planet close to where they currently reside who are in suspended animation to allow for the inclusion into their civilisation after a brief adjustment period."
They all agreed that it would allow them to not only join the New Alterans as themselves but allow for the hyperdrive of the ship to be the access they need to develop the intergalactic drive without giving them a full road map.
They then went onto discussing numbers and timing before they went their separate ways to allow for them to report back to their people about what had been discussed.
Altera Space Dock - 12 months later - ET-Nov 2002
Leo was standing at the large reinforced window looking out upon the newest addition to the Alteran Navy. The ship in question was a new design that looked massively different from both the Alteran ships of old and the colonial battlestars. The ship they named Legacy was designed to replace the role of battlestars going forward as not only have they fixed some of the flaws that were prevalent with the battlestars but also would keep any future contacts from mistaking the two separate civilisations for each other.
The ship itself was just as long as a mercury class battlestar but had three additional decks giving it a more bulkier profile compared to the more slim looking battlestars.
The new design kept the alligator head design as it allowed for fixed forward facing weapon mounts without compromising the structure of the ship. The Alligator head was also the place where the newer missile pods were situated, being divided between two sizes. The first was a new missile pod system that focused more on being able to strike and damage smaller ships allowing for the main batteries to focus on the heavier class of enemy ships. The second design was 12 fixed launch tubes allowing for the deployment of improved conventional ship killer missiles and nuclear tipped warheads for taking on enemy capital ships.
Also spread throughout the ship itself was the newer close-in weapon system using a design Leo plagiarised from his old memories called CIWS. Leo moved for less of the old style flak screen and focused more on specifically targeting and destroying incoming small craft and missiles by using their new advanced sensors to locate said targets and then destroy them with concentrated fire. The weapon was the same as the ones found on the front of a Cylon heavy raider using the two minigun design but of a higher calibre. They also had a field of fire that went as high as 360 degrees depending on how it was mounted.
Following that the middle of the ship has had a complete redesign with the massive hanger pods from either side of the ship removed. What replaced the hanger pods was a massive landing bay that had entrances on both sides of the ship.
A major weakness that was overcome was that massive reinforced doors were fitted to both landing bay entrances so when not in active use the doors are closed and no longer vulnerable to boarding parties as the old hanger pods were. Added to that new security were 8 weapon emplacements situated around the hanger deck entrances for when the doors are open and the bay in use.
To allow for continued use of the Viper design that has proven itself for over 50 years, 10 launch tubes are situated below the hanger bay entrances on either side of the ship allowing for the deployment of a full squadron almost immediately upon launch orders. Access to these tubes was made from a central internal lift system that feeds the small craft from the hanger deck of the ship that can be found behind the landing bay and before the engine block.
The hangar deck was expanded from the old battlestars to service the entire complement of small craft and with the use of stacked storage allowed for a complement of 12 squadrons of Vipers at any one time along with 40 raptors and 10 larger shuttles.
The centre of the ship also housed two turrets armed with High calibre railguns with 2 railguns per turret. The turrets themselves were secured to the spine of the ship being installed on the top and bottom of the ship allowing for a 360 arc of fire when targeting ships at longer ranges.
Moving to the rear of the ship the massive engine pods commonly seen on battlestars was replaced with 4 larger engines that used a new more efficient engine that was powered by the reactors rather than combustible fuel allowing for the removal of the vulnerable fuel tanks. What replaced the fuel tanks was a larger and more powerful reactor that has been further improved from the design that was used on there ships during the attack on the colonies.
The crew requirement of the ship was also reduced with more streamlined systems allowing for a reduction of almost 50% compared to the Mercury Class Battlestars and numbered only around 1700 but with room for a further 400 Spartan ground forces if needed.
When Leo first saw the design he was impressed but sceptical about the viability of the ship but now looking at it he is happy that he gave the go ahead for the first of its class to be built for trials. What made Leo really happy and excited for the first time in a while was that he had managed to allocate a period of 4 weeks leave for himself to be in command of the ship during its trials to really get a feel for how different the ship would be to the battlestars of old.
The ship launch ceremony had been held the day before with the ship being christened the ANS(Alteran Navy Ship) Legacy hoping that it would be the first step in rebuilding their ancestors' civilization and cleaning up the mess they left in their wake.
ANS Legacy - Admirals Quarters
He just finished reviewing the ship's manifests and making sure they had all the supplies they needed when Louise entered the room. He looked up and smiled. "What brings you here my love?" Leo asked.
Louise smiled in return and answered. "Just hoping to say one last goodbye before you leave on your trip." She then proceeded to walk over to Leo and sit on his lap. "I still find it hard sometimes to come to terms with everything that's changed in a short 12 months."
He nodded and said. "I feel the same every morning when I wake up next to you and ask myself if this is all a dream. I still wait for the moment I wake up and learn that I dreamt it all while recovering from some sort of accident." He then kissed Louise before looking down at the matching wedding bands on their clasped hands. They had their wedding ceremony 6 months ago and given his position it became a national event that allowed the people to celebrate an event that didn't require mourning those lost.
Louise couldn't help but blush at what he was saying and kissed him back with as much passion as he did her. "Yes my love it does feel like a dream sometimes but we cant let that feeling take over as we still have much work to do before we can let ourselves relax." She then handed him a file and said. "We just received word from Waypoint station that they have rescued the last of the survivors they could find from the colonies given how high the radiation levels have gotten."
Having already heard about the recovery of Admiral Nagala and his small group of survivors 11 months ago during one of his stealth ships scouting missions. The current level of survivors from the colonies numbered just over 3 million with a further 500 thousand choosing to emigrate to Altera in the hopes of starting fresh in peace.
The biggest upset was the rescue of a second Boomer who was found to be pregnant with her RIO's baby. The copy of her already aboard the Galactica had already been revealed as a Cylon and as an unwilling accomplice she was given sanctuary with the Alterans after deprogramming given that the colonials wouldn't accept her. The pregnant copy that was also given sanctuary along with Helo Agathon some 7 months ago really strained the relationship between the colonial civilian government and the Alterans given that Roslin wanted to terminate the pregnancy as soon as she found out about it. She was worried that given the union between the two races that it could lead to anti-war sentiment as well as more importantly pro-war sentiment that could escalate to violence given what has happened.
The Alteran Transports and the outfitted colonial transports were due to finish transferring all the recovered survivors in the next 6 months as long as nothing happens to delay them. Over all Leo was washing his hands of the colonies and their troubles and allowing Admiral Stokes as commander of Waypoint Station to be the decision maker as long as it didn't affect Altera or her people.
After a few hours of back and forth between the couple Louise left his quarters to make her way back to the docking arm and the station given that they were due to launch on their extended trials in less than 4 hours from now.
Edge of Altera Prime System - ANS Legacy Bridge - ET-Dec 2002
Leo stood on the newly designed bridge of the ANS Legacy as they reached the edge of the Altera Prime System after an exhausting 2 weeks of tests in the system to square away and problems that the ships systems still had. The Legacy was joined by 4 other ships to escort her on her voyage exploring the surrounding systems for the next 2 weeks. The ships joining her included 2 modified Gunstar's named Hydra and Manticore. Then there were 2 Corvettes scout ships named Ghost and Silence who were to scout ahead of the fleet as they moved from system to system.
They planned to explore 8 systems that were within short distance of the Alterans home system and scout them for resources as they have decided as a people to not strip mine there home system unless absolutely necessary. The idea was that they would mine resources and then ship them to refineries and factories situated on the more barren worlds within their own system before sending the finished products to where they were needed.
The first system they were looking to scout was a short hop of 8 hours away given their new and improved hyperdrives that were the result of exhaustive research and testing by their scientists. Leo really looked forward to this trip as he has spent the last 12 months being the leader his people needed and that has led to him holding back his more adventurous side.
Leo confirmed the time and spoke out an order to the officers waiting. "Let Silence know they can launch and that we will be 15 minutes behind them."
"Yes, Sir" Replied the officer in charge of communications. A few minutes later the same officer said. "Silence is away sir and all ships report ready to follow and just waiting for orders."
Leo nodded and looked around the bridge at the officers and enlisted crew present and decided this moment deserved a few words. "Ensign, open up a channel fleet wide." He then took a breath when the channel was confirmed open. "My fellow Alterans I am glad to say that today we take the first step in the long road to bring the Alteran people back to the universe. We take this first step with full knowledge that the journey will be long and filled with struggle and hardships. But fear not as we Alterans have known struggle and heartbreak but as a people we know what it takes to overcome the road blocks placed in front of us. So it is with those thoughts in mind that I am honoured to share this momentous occasion with you. So without any more delay let's get this show on the road."
He indicated for the ensign to cut the channel and ordered the helm to engage the hyperdrive. If you watched from outside you would see the ship speed up and a tear in the fabric of reality appear and the ship to disappear within the tear. It was closely followed by three more ships entering their own tears and disappearing from view.
5 Days Later - ANS Legacy Admirals Quarters - ET-Jan 2002
Leo was going over the reports from the scouting of the first 4 systems when he heard a cough come from in front of him so he looked up and was surprised to see both Athena and Aries stood in front of him. "What are you guys doing here?"
Athena answered first. "Well we need your help with something that could help you achieve your goals a little faster than you planned." They proceeded to sit down in the seats on the other side of his desk. "The elders have taken note of your progress and are satisfied that you will eventually rebuild our civilization as long as you don't make any major blunders along the way."
Leo nodded and said. "Well that's good news i suppose, so what's this help you wanted and how will it help my people achieve their goals faster?" He noticed that Aries was being quieter than usual.
Athena looked towards her brother before answering. "Well with the re-emergence of the Alterans as a power in the lower planes has led to many ascended expressing the desire to descend and join you in bringing peace and some stability to the galaxies we left in chaos." From the look on Leo's face you could tell he was shocked to hear this. "The elders have approved the request but with some rules and restrictions that they have agreed to."
Leo looked at a still silent Aries and had to ask. "Ok i get that you are what we call a point of contact with the ascended but i'd like to know why Aries is here?"
Aries looked a little started being addressed and asked why he was there but it was Athena who answered. "Well to put it bluntly Aries is one of the ones who will be leading the group who are descending."
Aries picked up where Athena left it. "She is right, Me and several hundred others are descending to help you rebuild our race and we are hoping we will be paving the way for others who have had enough of the stagnant way of life that being ascended has become for those who want more than unlimited knowledge and power."
Leo had to agree as from he understood of being ascended they had too much power and little freedom to use it even when it could save millions of lives. "Well I would be happy to accept you all but would still like to understand what restrictions were agreed upon."
Athena once again took the lead from there side of the conversation. "The elders agreed that they could descend but they would be limited in what knowledge they would have access to so that they would not lead you down the wrong path after getting access to technology you don't understand and using it in a destructive way as we have seen in the past. Secondly they have been told that they won't be allowed to take any high ranking leadership positions within your government due to the fact that the journey is yours to take and they want you to experience what it means to make mistakes and achievements with your own effort." She then looked at her brother and continued. "But what the elders have allowed is the knowledge of a moderately powerful intergalactic hyperdrive and power generation. Lastly they have decided as a gift to give you the knowledge of basic shields and a few other basic technologies that will be made available to you for reasons you will realise in the future."
Leo was beyond ecstatic about what was being given to his people as it meant that his plans to start their journey towards what he knew to be the Pegasus galaxy could start earlier than they originally thought. "I am beyond grateful for the gift and access to those pieces of knowledge as I had hoped to make our first journey towards the Pegasus galaxy in the next 3 years as long as the technology continued to advance at its current pace."
Aries spoke next. "We should discuss how we are going to pass that technology on so you have a better idea of how it will fit into your plans." He then paused for a minute to let Leo understand what he said before continuing. "We plan for you to find a crashed Ancient ship on a planet in the next system you will be scouting and the technology is on that ship along with those who are descending who will be in status on the ship waiting for you to find them. We have also made it possible to explain the lack of knowledge about our previous technology to your people by saying it was a side effect of us being in status for so long."
Leo nodded but had to ask. "That's all well and good but your arrival could cause friction with those who still question our version of events as we made it public knowledge. Then there are those who still worship you as gods despite what we have said and they would likely not take well to you being mortal again despite what we tell them."
Athena and Aries understood his worries but knew they needed to take this step now for the benefits they will give him to make the biggest difference in the challenges to come.
They continued to go back and forth discussing the best way to introduce them to the public as well as how to best use the technology and approved skills they will bring with them. They just finished their discussion when the comm buzzed with the officer of the watch informing him of their imminent arrival in the system.