Tjaru
15th September 2065
Dust swirled in the empty streets of the city as the last people were evacuated through the gate, transport ships had arrived and left until only a few remained, the Jaffa population having been shipped to a world without a gate in the Union, a military base and spaceport the only access to anything beyond the planet, the slaves and Rhososians were sent to Heliopolis, the refugee centres there were already struggling to deal with the numbers.
Rooks had heard a deal had been struck with another planet, they would relieve some of the burden and take in large numbers of the slaves from this world, he cast his eyes over the map as the last people departed from the gate, "Sir, the stargate relocation team is ready to begin", the comms officer informed him.
"Permission granted", A Skymarshall transport left the Diana, it's task would be to haul the gate back to the ship, Selmak had informed them it was something the Goa'uld did from time to time, stealing the gates from other planets, they would take this worlds gate back with them, in addition to all the other things they had recovered.
The palace had contained most of Ptahmose's treasures, including a small workshop where he manufactured Zat'nik'tel pistols, it was a major find for the Union, not for the weapon itself, but for the machinery to produce liquid naquadah power cells, apart from that the world contained little else of value except a sarcophagus, the rest was simply staff weapons and other jaffa armaments, but the red clad soldiers had given the engineers back home some insight into man portable shield units.
Rooks watched restlessly as the gate was hoisted into the air on his screen, the men on the ground were broadcasting the live footage to the fleet above, elsewhere on the planet the last of the Unions troops were boarding their landing craft, the spoils of the battle already long gone, soon the transport was burning for orbit with the gate secured to its underbelly, the DHD was already loaded inside.
"Sir all our forces have left the planet"
Rooks nodded, eager to be done with the place, "Contact Selmak, have him if his Goa'uld sensors can detect any signs of life below"
Minutes passed in silence as the ships of the fleet prepared to leave the planet behind, Rooks would be glad to be gone, any moment now and a ship from Sokar could find them here, the sooner they were gone the better.
"Sir, Selmac reports no human life signs on the surface of the planet, he requests permission to deploy the bomb"
Rooks absently waved his hand, "Granted"
Minutes later he watched the Tel'tak depart the planet, a large spherical device was left behind at the palace, Selmak's ship broke orbit and made its way to the flight bay on the Pride, soon the man was standing beside Rooks, "The bomb is ready to be detonated", he spoke in his distorted Tok'ra voice.
Rooks nodded, "Sensors, give me a view of the city, Selmak you may detonate when ready, comms, warn the fleet, we depart as soon as this is done"
"Aye sir"
Selmak pulled out a Goa'uld pad, "Initiating now, five seconds to detonation"
"4, 3, 2, 1…."
A flash blinded the cameras for a second, a massive shock wave was emanating from the location of the palace, hidden underneath the massive fireball reaching up towards orbit, Rooks watched as the nearby city and surrounding forest were erased by the shock wave and then incinerated by the fireball, a massive mushroom cloud formed as the explosion travelled out from where the city used to be, leaving only devastation in its wake.
Shocked gasps escaped the command crew, Rooks included, once the smoke cleared only a massive crater was left where once a city stood, "How powerful was that?", Rooks asked eventually.
A shocked sensor operator stared blankly at the screen for a second before Rooks' question permeated his brain, he quickly set to work, "Estimated at around five gigatons, sir"
Rooks shook his head, sometimes it still hit how powerful the weapons were in this reality, he dreaded the thought of naquadah being found in his home reality, the house lords would destroy humanity if such weapons were available.
Rooks stood from his chair, a novelty that had yet to wear off, "Alright, we've been here long enough, order the fleet to begin jumping, we have another war to fight"
Four days home and several days to recuperate then they needed to get a move on to Volia, they'd meet up with the Colonial reinforcements at Earth and hopefully Borman had gotten enough ships back into working order, after that it was two weeks travel to Baltar's scouting force, he hoped the Aschen didn't get there first.
Bug Planet, BP6-3Q1
"Alright drop it there", Kawalsky ordered his men to place the large gas canister on the ground, their newest attempt to kill the huge pest problem on this world, for the past few days they had been coming here, first to capture one of the insects for study and now for testing the new insecticide out on them.
He could hear the buzzing getting louder, the stupid things still tried to sting them when they got close, he was glad the artificial skin was easy enough to repair, Harlan was a dab hand at fixing rips and tears.
"Warren, how long till our batteries drain?"
Carl Warren looked down at his watch, even though he could perfectly recall the information such habits made him feel more human, "Another two hours before we start to loose function, after that we need to head back"
"Right, here will do then", this was the furthest they had gone into the city, all their other missions had kept to the area around the gate, this time they wanted a big swarm to test the new chemical on.
"Oi, Pierce, hold still for a second", Sands whispered out from behind, Kawalsky looked back to see him move his hand and slap Pierce on the back, a crunchy squelch could be heard, "Ugh, bug juice", Sands wiped his hand on Pierces back.
"Fuck sake man, now I got bug guts all over me", Pierce moaned.
"Keep it quiet back there, you bring the swarm down before we're ready", Kawalsky spoke out, his eyes scanning the towering buildings around them, his mechanical ears could hear the low droning buzz of the insects all around them.
"Casey, get the canister set up, the rest of you, eyes peeled"
Casey bent down over the gas canister and began fiddling with valves and the timer, "Give me a minute"
"Hey Bell, I heard you were considering that offer from the crazy scientists", Sands asked as they spread around Casey.
"Sure am", Bell replied with a smile, the offer involved one of the Cylon bodies that had been transferred to Earth, they wanted to see if they could transfer their mind back into a mostly organic body using tech from someone called Ma'chello, unfortunately they only had one body, the rest were already assigned to some place called P2A-347, a crashed ship with a bunch of people trapped in someone's head, he heard SG-3 was handling that, he missed his talks with Ferretti, the current leader of SG-3.
"Don't care if I become a woman, I want to taste and feel again", Bell smirked, "Am if I end up with tits out to here", he raised his hands to his chest and mimicked holding breasts, "Who am I to complain"
"Weird man", Sands shook his head, "I'll wait till they can grow a copy of my body, scientist man said it would only take a year or so"
Kawalsky tuned out their banter, keeping his ear open for changes in the tone of the swarm, his enhanced hearing heard a different note though, a metallic ting like a fork hitting the ground.
"Shut up you too, I heard something", Kawalsky raised his hand, "In there", he pointed to the large apartment complex across the street from them.
Kawalsky scanned the building for sings of anything, "We're checking it out", he pointed to Casey, "Wait here with the canister, Pierce and Warren, too", he pointed to the building, "The rest of us will check it out"
The team split in two, Kawalsky, Sands and Bell jogged over to the building, "Doors open", Sands pushed through the glass doors, gun raised in his other hand as the other two followed him in, eerie silence greeted them on the inside.
"Creepy", Bell muttered, his gun tightly gripped as he moved towards the stairwell, the lifts and the rest of the city were unpowered, the team stacked up and breached through as quietly as they could, Kawalsky kept his ears open for any other noises.
"We'll walk to the top, if we find nothing we're going back", he whispered to his men, who nodded, they began to slowly creep up the stairs, darkened corridors loomed out of open doors as they passed but no signs of life, insect or human.
About halfway up the forty story building he heard something again, like scuffling feet sliding across a tiled floor, quiet but audible to his senses, "You hear that?", he whispered.
Sands and Bell both nodded, "Three floors up, it's there alright", Sands commented as he glanced up in the darkened stairwell, his robotic eyes easily able to pierce the gloom.
They moved again and reached the access door to the floor with the noise, "It's locked", Bell twisted the handle, he looked to Kawalsky who nodded, Bell gripped the door handle harder and it gave under the power of his arm, breaking the lock, he pushed the door gently open, gun raised towards the darkness inside.
Kawalsky raised his hand, his ears picking up a new sound now, the sound of shallow breathing, "Fuck, I think its a person", a sense of urgency came over them and they rushed towards the sound, passing blacked out windows and barred doors, it looked like someone had barricaded themselves inside.
They stacked up outside the door of an apartment, the sound now joined by others inside, Kawalsky pushed open the door, huddled in a corner was a family, eyes closed in fear and huddled together, "Shit, Bell check them out", Kawalsky waved his men inside and closed the door, he turned to the people who were now staring fearfully at them, Kawalsky raised his hands, "We're here to help"
Looks of confusion lit their faces, Bell hovered over them and shined a flash light around, "Looks like malnutrition, no signs of bug bites or infection"
Kalalsky raised his radio, "Casey, high tail it back to the gate, tell them we found survivors"
…
They had to leave them behind for now, they barred every door they could on the way out, told them they would soon return, but their batteries were running low and they had no way to safely remove the family from the building without risking bug attacks.
They did eventually talk once the shock wore off, tales of the fall of their world, its name Svoriin, how there were other survivors in the city, scavenging the little food that remained, if the insects didn't get them the lack of food soon would.
Plans were in motion though, supposedly SG-1 had encountered a society with a highly effective pesticide that worked against the bugs in testing, the stuff they were meant to deploy on their mission, canisters were being loaded up with the stuff as he recharged, armoured space suits had also been shipped in too, the plan was for his team to return and escort the family back to the gate while drones loaded up with pesticides would fly over the city and spray it down, he hoped it would be enough.
Anything past that would require deploying troops to the planet, the talk was that armoured suits were already being manufactured and soon flamethrower units loaded down with chemicals would be going there to try and rescue the remaining populace, he checked his charge level, good for a few hours, it was time to leave.
At the gate his team awaited, a box load of suits on a cart ready to go, "Dial her up"
A quick internal check of his clock and he turned to his men, "The drones should be flying in from Pluto station after we arrive, we'll let them deploy and then head for the building, remember to keep an ear to the ground for signs of other survivors, but right now our priority is that family"
They move through the gate, eagerness was written on their faces, they were finally able to do something after months being cooped up on Altair, able to make a difference, even if only one family at a time.
P2A-347
Ferretti stood in the shadow of the crashed ship, the heat was more tolerable here than in direct sunlight, he saw the plume of dust approaching from the gate, "That's them now", he spoke to Baker beside him.
They were waiting on the delivery of bodies, as morbid as that was, and a portable fusion generator to restore power to the ship, the cloud approaching was a Colonial vehicle, they were providing the new bodies for the bodiless crew of the crashed ship, he turned to watch the ill looking Pharrin, he was basically suffering from schizophrenia from all the minds in his head.
"You can transfer the minds out of your head?", Ferretti asked.
A shaky Pharrin nodded, struggling to control the voices in his head, "Once power is restored yes", he hugged himself, muttering, Ferretti pretended to ignore it.
Soon the cloud of dust revealed itself as a column of trucks, each one loaded with Cylon bodies, enough for all the crew of the ship who had lost theirs in the time since the crash, they also contained Colonial marines and engineers, they would be studying the ships systems, their price.
Behind the column was another approaching cloud, the fusion reactor was on the way, he let a sigh of relief come out, his nerves were fraying being around Pharrin, he felt like one wrong move and his head would be full of other people too.
He turned to look up at the looming form of the ship, apparently it was actually quite primitive, apart from the mind transfer tech anyway, no FTL, no gravity, Pharrin had told them it was one of three built to escape a solar flare on their planet, the other two were still probably travelling to their destination.
He pulled his cap off and ran a hand over his head, he wondered if the Union would send a ship out after them, he knew this lot would probably end up in the Heliopolis camps, or maybe that Vyus place would take them.
A humvee knock off pulled up beside them as Ferretti put his cap back on, time to greet the Colonials.
Caprica City University
Baltar relaxed in his new office, a pleased smirk plastered to his face, here he was, the new professor of ancient history, and he had the president to thank for it, revealing the knowledge of the old colonies to the public in a bid to boost his popularity, it didn't help much and actually pushed the more religious types away, too bad for him but great news for Baltar, as the only surviving person from that time he could spin the narrative to suit himself.
His charm worked a treat on the Dean and now he was here enjoying his new position, he smirked again, he would help shape the youth of these strange colonies, to better prepare them for the future, smug satisfaction emanated from his body, and if some young naive girls ended up doing some extra curricular activities, well, it was his job to show them the correct path.
His smug gaze found the mirror he had installed on the wall, his narcissism had him staring at this reflection for a few moments, preening, admiring his now youthful visage, his dazzling smile, he turned to the stack of papers on his desk, his memoirs, they would be required reading once he was finished.
He joined the faculty on a whim, his mansion and solitude had grated on his need to control others, to be visibly amongst the common man, to lead, to be adored, he was thankful to Rand for releasing the information from the Pegasus, it's what led to his current employment and away from a life of utter boredom.
"Professor Baltar, your lecture begins in ten minutes", His ever lovely secretary announced through the intercom, he was sure his charms would net some success there soon.
"Thank you my dear", he spoke back through it, soon he would share his wisdom with the youth of this modern world, and there were so many, there were far more people in the Colonies now than in his time, all the better for him.
His mind turned to another member of staff, the youth Gaius Baltar, teacher of computer technology, a possible relative, although quite distant, rumour had it he had been blacklisted from the government and military for some kind of mistake, his career had taken a nose dive afterwards, no media outlets were courting him for appearances now, but old uncle Baltar would be around to listen to his stories, guide him back to the height of popularity, he felt a kindred soul in Gaius.
That reminded him, he needed to choose a first name, a strange custom these modern Colonials had of two names, Zadok was the name he kept coming back to, Baltar the righteous, it fit him perfectly.
He glanced at the printed information sheet on his desk as he made to stand, the other major political party was making noise about Rand's policies, led by the man Adar, perhaps he needed wise council, someone with experience in the political realm to whisper in his ear, Baltar smirked at the thought, perhaps he would pursue such aims in the future, after all he had plenty of time now.
Pallas
Helios Beta, Cyrannus
Star Gate Operations
Greenhill stood at the base of the ramp leading up to the stargate, watching as a large crate was slowly pushed through the portal by a forklift, the machine whined its way down the ramp and deposited the crate by Greenhills feet.
"Is this it?", Colonel Penelope Varro asked as she walked into the room, she was the leader of the Colonials premier stargate team, ST-1, and second in command of the facility after marine General Darius Drakon, so far the Colonial teams had been stuck exploring the worlds the Union had deigned to share with them but soon that would change.
Greenhill nodded to her, "It is", he turned to her, "It took a hell of a lot of negotiations for them to loan us this machine, and it only happened when they got another"
"Right, move it through here", Someone shouted as Greenhill stood back as workers moved in and began the process of moving the large crate further into the base.
Greenhill and Varro followed the crate deeper into the base where it was deposited in a room full of scientists, the head honcho approached Greenhill as the workers began the process of removing the packaging.
"We'll run some tests first, light injuries that kind of thing before we move on to the Pegasus crew", Doctor Demos spoke, a clipboard in hand as they watched the sarcophagus be revealed from within the crate.
Greenhill nodded, he had been waiting months for this, the frozen crew were kept in special freezers while he tried in vain to get access to the Terrans sarcophagus, things had changed recently though, trade for unused Cylon bodies had given him the wedge he needed and then they had gained another from the Goa'uld Ptahmose, now he had the access he needed to revive the crew.
They had also gained access to the Tok'ra intel network to boot, the parasites were clamoring for the Cylon bodies to house all the new Tok'ra on the way, and access to tech they had shared with the Terrans, crystal computing and subspace technologies, they were behind the Terrans but would soon catch up in those areas.
Included in the Tok'ra intel was a full list of all known to the Goa'uld gate addresses, they would stay away from Goa'uld worlds for now but could explore the rest without begging the Union for access, plans were already being drawn up to start supplying human worlds with arms in return for naquadah, something he heard the Terrans were contemplating, the base warehouses were already full of first war surplus and trainers were on hand to teach primitives how to use the weapons, he hoped it would be a thorn in the Goa'uld's ass.
"Keep me informed how those tests go doctor, I want to know if we have the slightest problem", he looked to the fully exposed sarcophagus, a gaudy box of gold and jewels, "I'll be back when you start on the crew"
Earth Orbit
19th September 2065
Battlestar Triton
Ferore stood in the CIC, staring at the image of the planet below, the past few days had been a whirlwind of press tours and meeting dignitaries, he was sick of the fanfare at this point, simply looking forward to getting the mission on the way.
Still, he was surprised at the similarities to home down there, and the differences, but you could add that planet to the Colonies without major issues, people seemed to be the same wherever you travelled it seemed.
The orbit of the planet was busy too, his fleet was parked at the northern pole, away from major traffic, he could see the rapid expansion of the infrastructure with his own eyes too, the amount of construction going on in orbit and elsewhere in the system was insane, the Union was building new facilities and ships at a breakneck pace, it was still far less than the mature and developed Cyrannus system though but quickly catching up.
He turned from the screens, taking in his ship, he managed to snag most of his crew from the Atlantia but there were plenty of new faces around he was still memorising, and then there were the new systems to contend with, laser turrets dotted the hull where the old cannons had been ripped out, small fusion reactors powered capacitor banks to fire the weapons but they were on the lighter side of things, the equivalent of the weapons on a Terran Frigate with more recharge time.
And at the bow of the ship, the forward facing main guns had seen changes too, several had been removed and something different installed in their place, a development he was unaware of, massive chemical lasers, using massive chemical cartridges for ammo, not as powerful as a fusion powered large navel laser but close enough to matter, the other ships had one or two as well, some heavy firepower for the Colonial fleet.
All that seemed worthless when he saw the reports from Abydos and Volia, he knew the Goa'uld were powerful but it was something else to see the damage they could do, and the Aschen, their weapons would rip his ships to pieces and his lasers would not be enough to even the odds.
He looked back to the screen, a camera was pointed to his ships ventral hull, where flashes of welders could be seen in the darkness, a large hump was becoming visible there, a fusion reactor was being strapped to the outside of his ship and covered in what armour they could fit over it, elsewhere others were installing emitters for shields, something everyone considered a minimum for engaging the enemies they faced.
The scene was being repeated on the other ships in his fleet, the bolt on shields would not be as good as a properly installed set but better than nothing, designed for a Terran cruiser they would be pushed to their limit to cover a ship as large as a Mercury, they were the only sets available right now, the extra volume covered would leave the shields weaker than normal but good enough to take a few shots from the Aschen.
He was thankful nonetheless, the gesture from the Union was much appreciated by him and his crews, soon they would be ready to face these Aschen.
"Sir, your shuttle is ready to depart", an ensign informed him.
Ferore nodded to the man, "Inform them I'll be there shortly", it was time to meet the leader of this expedition, Admiral Sven Rooks, their first face to face meeting, there was much planning to be done in the short time left before they departed to Volia, they needed to be prepared, he expected a hard fight ahead.
Union Flight Academy
Penrose Station
Earth Orbit
Mason Decker was normally a reserved man, a useful trait in a bomber pilot, keeping your nerve while flying at the massive array of weapons on a capital ships sorted the wheat from the chaff, but now he was feeling excited, his ride was about to get an upgrade, an edge they needed against the Aschen.
Following behind him were the curious faces of Thomas Durant his boss and April Phillips a fighter jock, they were tagging along to see his new bomber in person, their own rides were getting an upgrade too, the long awaited Valkyrie fighter was being assigned to the Enterprise along with his upgraded bomber, the old ships were all getting replaced before they left for Volia.
"Hey Decker", Phillips asked out of the blue as they wandered down a corridor towards the hangars, "What's up with you and Kinsella?"
Mason felt heat rush to his cheeks, he and Jasmine had gotten close on the trip to the Colonies but after they returned things had cooled down, mostly due to distance, she was now CAG on the Pride but they met from time to time, it usually ended in the bedroom, he thought things were going fine.
"What do you mean?"
Phillips made a face at him, "You know she likes you right?"
"Yeah?"
She shook her head, a muttered men could be heard leaving her mouth, Decker just shrugged, they walked in silence towards their destination, soon exiting into the hangars where the pristine form of an Athena bomber lay in wait.
April just looked confused, "It's just a bomber", she blurted out as they approached the craft, a technician was wandering their way as they approached.
"It's not just any bomber, meet the Athena SB-04", the tech spoke, "The major differences from the last version are the inclusion of a small jump drive good for a few light years and a shield generator"
Mason smiled at the bomber, he watched as Aprils face bore the obvious signs of jealousy, "A jump drive?, why aren't our Valk's getting those?"
The new Valkyrie fighter was also getting shields, but was too small to mount a jump drive but the Athena's original design included space for one, it was an easy upgrade.
"Too small April", Durant spoke as he reached out and touched the bomber, running his hand over its surface, "Almost makes me want to fly a bomber"
"This is a massive improvement for the Luna class to project power, Athena bombers armed with new Kobolium enhanced missiles are able to strike from systems away without threatening the safety of the carrier", The tech informed them as they walked around the bomber.
Mason felt a smirk form on his face, "When can I fly it?"
The tech smiled, "She's all fuelled up and ready to go, knock yourself out"
Volia
Another boring day guarding nothing Chad thought, his squad was stuck guarding the gate again, stuck in a field with nothing for miles around, watching as crates packed with the spoils of the battle were shipped back to Earth.
Weapons, armour, bits of robots, computers and even the gun from a harvester were being shipped through today, all neatly packed up into wooden crates for transport, after the initial battle the planet had been quiet, the local farmers knew to keep their heads down.
Once they took the town it was over, apart from the harvesters they had blasted from orbit, the things were on automatic and the control computer in the town had suffered a bullet related malfunction during the battle, there was no way to stop the machines without destroying them.
Their mission had been successful anyway, the computers in the comms building his squad assaulted had contained what they were after, the locations of every Aschen planet and outpost, the info the fleet needed to take out the Aschen's economy and make them beg to surrender.
Tired of standing in one spot he decided to wander around the gate towards Flint and Williams, they were deep in conversation when he neared, "I'm telling you man, I saw him leave her house"
Chad stopped, a sinking feeling coming on, the comms tech had came on to him after the battle, strong enough that she found him days later, one thing led to another but he doubted that Sergeant Brown would see it that way, he could do without another round of KP duty.
"You didn't see shit Eric", Chad approached from behind and spoke, making Flint jump in his skin.
"Shit, Chad, you nearly gave me a heart attack"
Williams was staring at him however, "Watch yourself Thompson, she might be fishing for something"
Chad shrugged, "Its nothing man, I can look after myself"
Williams stared for a few seconds more, "Whatever man, suit yourself"
They stood around in silence for a few moments more, watching the clouds pass overhead, "I did notice something though, these Aschen seem more emotional lately"
"Yeah, I noticed myself too", Flint mused.
Williams laughed, "Do you dopes not listen during the briefings?", he wiped a tear of laughter from his eye, "We took their emotional suppressing drugs off them, their using stuff we brought along, should stop the withdraw but let their emotions return"
"Oh", Chad rubbed his head, "Must have missed that"
Williams started to laugh harder, "I bet that's why she was all over you man, she was a clod bitch when we had her tied up in that room, guess she imprinted on your pudgy self and when she started to feel again, all she knew was you", a guffaw left Williams mouth, "Damn man, this shit is funny"
"Laugh it up Brad", Chad sulked, "I'm patrolling around the gate, Later"
"Later, love boy", Williams waved him off with a smirk on his face.
Chad wandered off, wishing the fleet would hurry up and get here, he was sick of the smell of farm everywhere.
Heliopolis
Alliance Forum
Littlefield City
The Alliance was shaping up before her eyes, human nations from around the galaxy were coming together to present a united front against the Goa'uld, even some of the more primitive planets were being invited as observers and to partake in trade, places like the Land of Light and Simarka, there was even discussion of forming a kind of foreign legion in the Union, made up of people from the most primitive worlds, she knew that weapons were already being stockpiled in preparation.
The Union was also training up spies on those worlds, training them to infiltrate the primitive slave populations of the Goa'uld, rather than relying completely on the Tok'ra.
Wier stepped into the foyer of the building, around her she could see people from many different worlds, the staffers of the ambassadors running about completing their tasks, today they would be welcoming the new ambassador from Tagrea, a Union ship had visited the world and helped them uncover their gate, the report painted them as a paranoid bunch but they seemed friendly enough to her.
Things were progressing fast on the other worlds too, space fighters were being shipped to Pangar, along with small arms and military vehicles, that wasn't even counting the civilian tech shared with them, the Langarans were also buying up military equipment with their naquadria, Kelowna was purchasing from the Colonials rather than the Union, they were still sore about the gunboat diplomacy at the start.
The other two nations however were buying Union goods, already a freighter was being prepared to ship squadrons of old Angel fighters to them, along with other assorted weapons, and the newcomers Tagrea was also interested in buying Union ships and tech.
It would take some time for some of the members to catch up but it needed to be done, right now they were in no position to challenge the Goa'uld and that needed to change, a large issue on some worlds was a simple lack of population, the Colonies and the Union were by far the largest entities followed by Tagrea, Langara and Orban, with population's in the hundreds of millions, the others were far smaller.
Still, things were changing for the better, the more primitive worlds were putting in a massive effort to catch up and start lifting their own weight, she just hoped it would be enough in the face of the Goa'uld.
Sentinel Station
Briefing Room
21st September 2065
Four men sat around a table, admirals pips on all of their uniforms, behind them were the Captains and Commanders of the joint fleet, silent as their leaders discussed the upcoming operation against the Aschen.
Sven Rooks looked at the finalised numbers for his fleet, counting losses and reinforcements at Abydos he brought ninety nine warships back to Sol, the Union had scraped together another twenty Corvettes and four of the new Castle class frigates, bringing the total to one hundred and twenty three ships, it would take more time for more to become available.
The Colonials had also brought along a lot of heavy ships, six battle stars of various types and twelve cruisers, a much larger than their Terran counterparts, the Ranger missile cruisers measured in at over a kilometre, their many launchers now loaded up with Kobolium enhanced missiles and joining them were six Berzerk multi role cruiser, all were equipped with heavy gun modules loaded with new laser weapons systems.
The Colonial ships would be a welcome addition to the battleline, even if their weapons weren't to the same level as the Terran ships, they would also be bringing a veritable swarm of small craft, every battlestar and cruiser had their full complement of Vipers and Raptors, most were still the standard models but many were upgraded with laser cannons and fusion thrusters, factories on Earth were even producing upgrade kits to be shipped to the Colonies and the fleet, he heard that the other members of the Alliance were clamouring to buy up the Colonials old stocks of mark two and three vipers.
"Thanks to Captain Baltar we now know the location of the rest of the Aschen's Colonies", Rooks pointed them out in turn on the map projected above the table, "Aschara, their first colony, they've been offloading some of their extensive population so expect a heavily urbanised environment like Earth or Caprica"
"Sythara, industrial agriculture production, a temperate world with little else of note. Draegan, more agriculture but the planet is quite barren and rocky outside the farms. Noxara, nearly a water planet but it has a few habitable island chains and more food production. Thalaris, a desert world but they have extensive agriculture too thanks to irrigation and climate control and finally Vyralon, an ice ball but they have domes growing more food, it's also the next closest planet to us and our first target"
The worlds all turned red on the holographic map and a coloured sphere encompassed Aschen space, marking it on the map, "As you can see Aschen space is actually quite small, only extending fifty light years past their home world to Volia their most distant colony"
Ferore nodded along, "Do we know how fast their ships are?"
Rooks brought up information recovered from Volia, "Our team at Volia managed to recover some data on their capabilities, we now know their top speed is around three hundred times faster than light, or two months from Aschen prime to Volia"
"A big disadvantage compared to our jump drives", Ferore noted, "The ship that escaped Baltar will still be returning home"
"Another month of travel at least but the Aschen government will know something is wrong, if not that they have been invaded, the comms building was in contact with their home world when the battle began, we can expect that reinforcements will arrive from them in a month at the earliest", Admiral Ivanov drew a line on the map, "We should arrive before them even by our worst estimates"
Rooks nodded to the two men, "The rest of the planets past Vyralon are arranged around Aschen prime, our strategy will be similar to the united states pacific campaign in world war two, we will strike each planet in turn and strangle the Aschen's food transport network and force them to the negotiation table"
Rooks zoomed in on the Aschen home star, "Aschen prime is home to a massive population of over thirty billion with at least ten on the planet itself and the rest on stations and outposts in the rest of the system, suffice to say we do not want to engage the Aschen in that system"
The hologram changed to the limited amount of information they had on Aschen prime, "Our best guess puts the Aschen economic output and industrial might above the Union and the Colonies combined but fortunately for us most of this is turned to supplying their population with goods and food, their lack of decent FTL speed has kept most of their population in their home system and their life extension treatments are a factor in the size of their population"
Rooks looked at each of the Admirals in turn, "We want to keep that industry intact and turned against the Goa'uld, our goals in this war are changing the Aschen government to one more suited to cooperation with us and removing their bio and chemical weapons", he brought up a list of goals, "Removal of the emotional suppression medication is another of our goals, the full list will be in the briefing packet"
He received nods from the Admirals, "What if they wont surrender?", Borman asked.
Rooks shrugged, "We'll burn that bridge if it happens, WMD's might be on the table then"
An uncomfortable look passed among the soldiers in the room, Rooks sighed, "As a last resort only"
Rooks moved on, "Other members of the alliance have offered troops to garrison captured worlds, the Pangarans, Langarans and Tagreans, this will free up our own troops for combat", they would be getting a share of the technology recovered too, he imagined some Aschen techs and scientists would soon be living on those worlds.
"Will they be able for it?", Ivanov asked.
Rooks nodded, "Garrison duty should not be much effort and the Langarans have large infantry armies at the ready, the Tagreans are also at a level similar to early twenty first Earth so they should be able to pull their own weight too"
"And the Pangarans?"
"They're trained soldiers even if their gear isn't top notch, they should be fine for garrison troops. I'll leave their deployment up to generals Chernikov and Bucock"
The Pangarans had being receiving a lot of weapons from the Union anyway, most of it surplus from old cold war stock that was checked over and shipped out, the average Pangaran soldier had traded his old bolt action for an AKM and steel helmet and driving around in old APC's, while their air corps was flying old F-16's and soon would be flying Angel fighters in space, for garrison duty it would be enough.
Rooks changed the projection, 3D models of the known Aschen ships appeared, "Based on the battle with Captain Baltar and intel recovered from their computers we now know more about the warships we expect to face, currently the Aschen have three main types"
The projection changed to the smallest ship, it had a large wing as a body and a pointy front section like an inverted v, "The class two escort or Corvette, around seventy meters long and armed with two turret mounted ion particle cannons at the front and four smaller point defence cannons, like all Aschen ships she has an acceleration far beyond our own at over one thousand gravities and an estimated shield strength of slightly above one of our own frigates"
Pained looks crossed the faces of the men in the room, "And how powerful are their weapons?", Ferore asked.
Rooks sighed, "Based on the damage to the fleet and recovered data, those small cannons are each nearly twice as powerful as a heavy naval PPC on their own and have a rate of fire much greater"
He brought up the next ship, the sandy colour came through on the hologram, it featured a launch bay at the front and a command tower over the engine block at the rear, two large guns could be seen mounted at the front dorsal and ventral position, "The class three patrol vessel or cruiser, at two hundred and fifty meters long we initially thought it was a frigate but the Aschen consider this to be their primary combat ship, she comes with two dual turret mounts up front and four smaller cannons on the rest of the hull similar to the ones on the corvette"
He looked to the other Admirals, "The big guns on this one are three times as powerful as a heavy naval PPC and her shields rival that of a Venus class heavy cruiser, if not better, according to the intel she also comes with several unmanned fighters but we have no data on their capabilities"
The last ship appeared, the big turrets obvious on the rotating model, the command tower was near the front on this ship and she had four obvious launch bays amid ships, "The class five combat vessel or battleship, we have no actual combat data but we can infer some from the information recovered from the Aschen computers, she's three hundred and fifty meters long"
His finger pointed to one of the turrets, "Again, larger weapons than the cruiser and we expect equally more powerful shields, the ship also has a lot more hangar space so it probably carries more drone fighters", Rooks shrugged, "We don't have any hard numbers right now only speculation and guesswork"
Rooks expression became more serious, "These ships might be more powerful per ton than our own but they are a far cry from the Goa'uld and we have more tons, they wont be insurmountable"
The projection changed back to the map, "The intel we recovered tells us their fleet is actually relatively small, most of their space vessels are automated freighters transporting food and resources back to Aschen prime, we'll need to end this quick before they can turn their industry to warfare"
The projection turned off and the lights in the room brightened, showing up the many captains and commanders standing around the table, Rooks stood up and addressed everyone, "We leave tomorrow, if you have any last issues to take care of, get it done now, dismissed"
Aschen Central Administration Office
Aschen Prime
The faces of the governing council of the Aschen confederation looked at the projection of Commander Tirron hovering over the crescent shaped table in the darkened room, each one wore a grey piece of clothing that was a mix of robe and uniform, it would resemble the famous Mao suit of communist China to an observer from Earth, just grey and flowing further down over the legs.
"Your report is very disturbing Commander, rest assured your ordering of the freighters bound for Volia to return to Aschen prime will not be reprimanded", the chairman spoke, "In light of the situation, preventing our ships from falling into the hands of these Terran barbarians was the optimal choice"
"You have my gratitude Chief Minister Vex, but I must ask, what is to be done, foreign barbarians have conquered a member of our confederation"
The aforementioned Vex replied, "We are marshalling a fleet to evict the invaders, once they are ready you will be assigned to Superior Commander Jorlem's taskforce, but we are also mindful that this could just be the beginning of hostile action from this Union, we must also reinforce our other colonies lest they also come under attack"
"Do not concern yourself with our greater strategy Commander, simply ensure Commander Jorlem is informed of everything you learned from the barbarians", Minister of Security Cyrlen spoke.
Tirron bowed his head, "Of course minister, I was simply voicing my concerns", his head turned to somewhere outside the projection, "My ship will arrive to Aschen Prime in a months time, I assume Jorlem will be ready to leave by then?"
Cyrlen shook her head, "No Commander, you misunderstand, we have devised new orders for you, namely you will reverse course and return to Volia and gather more data on these invaders, Commanders Jorlem's taskforce will rendezvous with you and proceed from there"
A line appeared on Tirrons forehead, his concern and fear showing through even his suppressed emotions, "Understood Minister, I shall not fail"
"Good, we have also diverted another cruiser patrol from Vyralon, their defences are much greater than Volia, we fell they can spare a cruiser and two corvettes without issue, they shall assist you in your mission when they arrive in three weeks"
Tirron bowed his head again, "Will I have command Minister?"
Cyrlen nodded, "You have the most experience, Commander Kaelen will be your junior for the duration of your mission, until Jorlem's force arrives", Cyrlen's eyes bored into Tirrons over the transmission, "We are granting you wide latitude to gain more information on these invaders, do not disappoint us"
Tirron gave a salute, bringing his fist to his heart, "On my life Minister"
"That will be all commander", Vex cut the transmission, the other Ministers let their facade of stoicism drop afterwards.
"Damn that fool Mollem, all he had to do was lie to the Terrans about the sterility and this would not have happened, I want his head", Minister of Agriculture Cydrik spoke out angrily.
"We know, Cydrik, appropriate punishments will be met out, have no fear of that, but it will not solve our current problem", Vex sighed out, Cydrik's department was one of the more powerful, simply because of the critical nature of the confederations food supply.
The Ministers were displaying a wider range of emotions than normal Aschen, their position granting them the privilege of forgoing the Proterzium treatment required for the rest of the populace, the leaders of the confederation were exempt since the program had started after the last war on their planet.
Vex sat back in thought, they knew something was wrong when they lost contact with the planet and were unable to open a connection with the gate there, but the exact nature of the problem only became apparent when Tirrons ship had entered comms range with a booster relay a day ago, since then they had scrambled to come up with solutions.
"What about the food shipments, will be be fine without them?", a question directed to Cydrik.
The man gave a slow nod, "We'll need to increase shipments from the other worlds and initiate stricter rationing but we should be fine", he looked to Cyrlen, "That means tying up our production with more freighters, Volia supplied a lot of our grains"
Cyrlen let out an aggrieved sigh, "If Tirron's report on their capabilities is accurate we shouldn't need to worry much but if we are completely wrong…", she shrugged and let the sentence trail off.
"Lack of information on this Union is a problem, what of their ambassador, this Faxon?"
Vex manipulated the controls in front of him, "Sent to one of our re-education centres, I'll have him withdrawn for some more extensive interrogation", a projection of the ambassador appeared in front of them, "We dismissed most of his information as disinformation, the computer we received was primitive and his escorts were using projectile weaponry, the threat from the Union was considered low, if anything"
A scoff was heard from Cydrik, "Typical arrogance from the security ministry"
Cyrlen looked annoyed, "We're looking at his information again now, if accurate the Union has control over several planets and a robust industry and extensive fleet, they also have the backing of a larger nation called Kobol, their disposition is unknown"
"And that fool Mollem sent a plague through the gate, we're lucky they had a space station on the other end or we'd probably be bathing in nuclear fire right now", Cydrik mused.
"Quite", Cyrlen looked to Vex, "Their ships are primitive but massive compared to our own but the biggest advantage they have is something called a jump drive, a method of FTL much faster than our own if Faxon is accurate", she gave a side eye to Cydrik, "So yes, if Mollem had succeeded we might all be dead now, their vengeful fleet would most likely come straight here and unleashed their nuclear arsenals against Aschen prime"
"Mollem took the wrong approach with the Terrans, treating them like the Volians", Vex decided, "Perhaps diplomacy would be the correct course of action, we will need to try and initiate contact with the Terrans"
Cyrlen sighed, "We have been unable to raise anyone at the communications station on Volia nor access the planet through the gate, the best we can hope for now is for Jorlem to carry a message for us"
Vex nodded, "I will ensure the ambassador is well treated, lest they hod it against us but we must also consider what their terms for peace would be, it might be best to defeat their forces on Volia first, they must know our resolve and power or we will be the ones being forced to acquiesce"
Cyrlen nodded, "I concur, they must be defeated on the field of battle first, but we should still plan contingencies if things do not go our way", She changed the projector to a map of Aschen space, "We have no way to retaliate against the Union proper, our drives would take years to reach them, we also have a major weakness"
"Our dependency on imported foodstuffs from the colonies", Cydrik spoke out, "If we loose two or three more colonies we will be in trouble, civil unrest and rioting will happen regardless of the Proterzium if we run out of food, and we have no solution, even if we started to build more orbital farms it would take too long"
Vex sighed, "Start building them anyway and more freighters to cover from the loss of Volia"
"Already begun", Cydrik waved his had at the map.
Cyrlen brought up a map of the Aschen prime system, "We should be safe from incursion here, our defences are extensive but our colonies are vulnerable and it will take time to move forces to cover them, something our enemy will exploit, I have ordered what little industry there is out there to focus on defence platforms and drones for now"
Vex nodded, "Very well", he changed the projection again, a map of the galaxy appeared, shaded in with colours where they estimated the foreign nations were located and around the centre of the galaxy was the elephant in the room, the Goa'uld.
"Regardless of the Terrans there is another problem on the horizon, the reason they were reaching out to us to begin with, the Goa'uld, for now we are taking Faxon's information as accurate and it paints a disturbing picture"
"These parasites control the majority of the galaxy with technology superior to our own, we need to start devising countermeasures in case we are discovered and form a strategy for their long term removal…..."
The Council were in for a long night as they discussed the problems plaguing their realm.
Stargate Operations
Pallas
General Darius Drakon looked around the small briefing room on the base, smoke wafted to the ceiling from cigarettes as the leaders of the few teams paid attention as he walked into the room, behind him was Admiral Greenhill of Colonial intelligence.
"Settle down", Drakon ordered as he took his seat, Greenhill meanwhile was tossing folders in front of the team leaders of his small operation, most of their gate activity was actually sending messages to the Terrans or shipping high value and critical items between the two powers, actual exploration had taken a back seat so far but that was set to change thanks to the Tok'ra gate database they had traded for.
Drakon waved to Greenhill, "It's your show Scott"
Greenhill nodded and moved to stand in front of the large blackboard on the wall, he placed a slide on the projector beside it and pulled down the screen over the board, a dazzling and brilliantly coloured nebula appeared.
"This is the Celestial Curtain nebula, around four thousand light years past Cylon space towards the galactic rim and will be the target for your upcoming operations"
Greenhill turned to address the men and women in the room, "Our telescopes have never been able to see what lies beyond but we did learn from the Tok'ra that several gates are known to be there", he paused and changed the slide to a map of the zone beyond the nebula, "They also informed us that only a few attempts were made to settle human populations there but all had been abandoned well before we even left Kobol, they didn't give a reason why"
He continued, "The data from the Pegasus also sheds little light on the area, the old colonies never explored out that way as it was also past the old Cylon empire"
A hand was raised and Greenhill nodded, "Why bother then?", Colonel Varro asked.
"Multiple reasons", he raised a finger, "We want to stay far away from the Goa'uld", another, "It's close enough for us to get there with ships in a reasonable time frame", and another, "We need sources of Kobolium, this area looks ripe for that"
The Cyrannus system and nearby area suffered from a sever lack of Kobolium, just like Sol, the current theory was that the area was mined out by the ancients long ago. Thus the Colonials needed their own sources of the stuff and the surveys along the Terran corridor had turned up little so far.
"There's one more reason, we suspect that the Cylon leader Cavil might have escaped in that direction, one of your objectives will be to look for evidence of his or other Cylon presence", Drakon added.
Greenhill nodded to the general, "We also hope to find ancient technology in the area, the Goa'uld never explored much and even then only through the gate, they never sent ships out this way"
Varro nodded, "Makes sense sir"
"We've decided to start at the closest address past the nebula and work our way out", he looked around the room again, "We only have eight teams so this will take some time"
"When do we start?", Varro asked.
"Next week Colonel", Drakon's deep voice carried over, "We're waiting on some diplomats and archaeologists to arrive to fill out the team rosters"
"Just in case you encounter any other civilisations or ancient tech, we'll also be looking for colonisation candidates and locations for deep space outposts in the region", Greehill spoke.
"And if there are Goa'uld out there?"
"We don't expect you to find any but if you do, retreat, denying them knowledge of our existence is still the best defence we have"
Greenhill brought up another slide, areas coloured on it to denote the known Goa'uld empires, "Heru'ur and Apophis are the closest Goa'uld system lords to us", his finger jabbed at a red area just beyond Apophis' space, "Sokar is here according to the Tok'ra and the rest are further away than that"
He overlaid another slide, this one showed Ra's domain before his death, the area was much larger and included the Terrans, "The area claimed by Ra before his death, a lot of it was in name only but the area beyond the nebula isn't included in any Goa'uld claimed space, the chances are low you will encounter any"
Greenhill nodded to Drakon, the General stood up and addressed the soldiers under his command, "Those were the official reasons why we are choosing to investigate this reigon of space, now we'll tell you the real reason"
Drakon moved over to the projector while Greenhill took a seat, "Data recovered from the Cylon colony told us they mounted several scouting missions past the nebula, never an organic model or a baseship but raiders", he jabbed a finger at the nebula, "None ever reported back"
"Normally this would be of little concern, perhaps they ran into some issue or other problem but a few years before the war Caprica mounted an expedition to the nebula, one of the few times any exploration took place outside the colonies"
Drakon pulled out a tape player and set it down on the table, "Everything was fine until they arrived at the nebula itself, the logs indicate that the gas clouds were highly radioactive and energetic but nothing the ship couldn't handle"
"Its when they neared the far edge that things changed", he hit play on the tape player, insectile clicking and chirping could be heard on the scratchy tape, definitely from an organic source, "They picked up this transmission echoing around the nebula", he nodded to the tape, "A few minutes later their DRADIS array began to pickup unknown contacts fading in and out, the captain wisely decided to leave than remain"
"The Caprican government decided to bury the whole thing when they arrived back, even the records of the ships mission entirely and then the whole Cylon war happening put it on the back burner", he bored his eyes into his soldiers, "This is still highly classified so not a word to anyone not in this room, your men included"
"Your primary mission is to determine the source of these transmissions, find out their disposition and threat level", Greenhill spoke, "We don't need an enemy at our backs when facing the Goa'uld"
"And if their friendly?", Varro asked, her voice subdued.
"That's what the diplomats are for, we could always use another ally against the Goa'uld", the next bit was hard for him to wrap his head around, "Even if they are likely alien lifeforms"
"If you do encounter live ones", Drakon spoke, she turned her head to him, "The same rules as an encounter with Jaffa apply, gate to a known safe location and contact here, we don't need some aliens knowing our location", he hoped the Cylon ships hadn't already given it away.
"Alright, your rosters will be up by tomorrow, dismisses", Drakon wandered over to Greenhill as the team leaders filed out, "I'm hoping they find nothing out there"
Greenhill nodded, "Me too"
Tauron Shipyards
Kyle Kenmore looked out of the observation window at the hulking ship, its armour had been peeled off leaving a skeleton framework of girders, ready for the installation of the new ablative armour layer.
Further back near the engine block the extent of the refit became clearer, the old engine nozzles were gone completely, removed to make room for the new gravitic enhanced fusion thrusters, only a yawning opening in the back of the ship remained now, and just ahead of the engine block the hull had been completely gutted, the old reactor and jump drive removed.
A large kilometre long freighter was holding station above the gutted ship, its massive cargo bay doors open as space suited men directed a large spherical object out, one of the two enhanced fusion reactors that would power the ship alongside the Colonials new gasified tylium reactor, a new piece of kit reverse engineered from the Pegasus wreck.
He was surprised when Poplin had told him about the ship and its advanced technology, even more surprised when it was plastered all over Colonial media, alongside the story of the ancient history of the Colonials, who would have known they and made the exodus from Kobol twice, then the Union had confirmed their story, apparently some data had been found on Kobol to corroborate.
That was immaterial to his purpose here though, but the old ship was providing another boon to the Minotaur project, more advanced shields, over twice as strong at the current Terran model, the ten ships would all be receiving a set alongside the new reactor which put out about ten percent more than the enhanced fusion types but was a fuel hog.
Thats why the ship was running three, the two fusion ones for standard operations and the tylium one for extra combat power to shields and weapons, Poplin had also given him the known specs of the Pegasus' weaponry, they were powerful plasma devices but unfortunately the research was slow and they wouldn't have any in time for the Minotaur project.
Instead the ship would be fitted with pulse cannons, dozens of the things, ranging from small twenty centimetre turrets to the most massive ones to date, the 100cm ultra heavy pulse cannons, a special design just for the Minotaur, its output just a hair over half of a Goa'uld Ha'tak cannon, the ship would have ten of the things and with all the rest Kyle felt confident the Minotaur could take a Ha'tak one on one.
His eye moved over the ship in the dock and then past it to the other nine ships further away, all were in similar states of disassembly, Terrans and Colonials hard at work cutting and welding, installing power conduit and stripping out old systems for new, he was amazed at how much progress had already been made.
He felt a presence beside him, Oliver Poplin, his Colonial counterpart had walked over to stand beside him, a smell of stale coffee and old cigarettes wafted from his stained shirt, "It never gets old watching these beasts come together"
Kyle nodded, "I didn't think we'd get this far so soon", mostly because of the Colonials lack of automation but he was pleasantly surprised that their civilian infrastructure was more open to computerisation than their fleet, the average Colonial shipyard worker were also dab hands at building ships, a testament to their centuries of experience in the field.
Poplin smiled, "Ha, you should have seen how fast they built them back during the war, we had them rolling out the door every other week"
A hairy hand clapped Kyle on his shoulder, "It's been a pleasure working with you Kenmore", Poplin extended his hand.
Kyle shook it, "Leaving already?", he asked with some confusion, the ships were still far from done.
Poplin gave him a bemused smirk, "My firm just got hired on to design the next generation of warships for the fleet, their very impressed with the Minotaur project, word is every ship in mothballs is getting this treatment"
Kyle nodded, "Congratulations then, if you ever travel to Terra drop me a line"
Another clap on the shoulder, "I'll still be around every now and then", he nodded to the back of the room where a suit clad woman was waiting, she gave them a small wave, "My daughter, she's taking over here", Poplin waved back, "Just graduated from Tauron Technical University, so be nice", Poplin winked at the younger man and leaned in to whisper, "She's single too"
Kyle felt embarrassment rush to his cheeks, he spluttered out a farewell as Poplin walked away to talk to his daughter, Kyle shook his head and turned back to looking out of the window, the flash of welders and glare of thrusters was a balm to his nerves.
Stargate Command
Pluto Station
Hammond walked into the briefing room, already waiting were the commanders of several SG teams, Colonel O'Neill, Major's Kawalsky and Jenson and Colonel Manning of the heavily armed combat team SG-7, curious faces examined him as he moved to the top of the table.
"I wont mince words", Hammond spoke after he sat down, his face bearing a determined look, "After Colonel O'Neill's success on P3R-118, the Council is now proposing we perform a similar feat with the Eurondans"
"Those Nazis?", O'Neill angrily spoke, "We should just leave them to rot"
Hammond shrugged, "I share your sentiments Colonel but the Council is firm on this, we have permission to take control of the facility by any means and after that we are to remove the civilians in stasis to an uninhabited world under our control while we take their database and attempt communication with the so called 'Breeders'"
Hammond pulled out a pad and brought up the Sheppard files on Euronda, "The mission report from the other reality gives us some insight into the layout of the base and amount of personnel currently active"
O'Neill sighed and picked up his own pad, "If we want a repeat of the dome then I suggest we try radio contact and pretend to be friendly, the report indicates they came to us first in the other reality, they know they were taken from Earth"
"What are you suggesting Colonel?"
"We act all friendly, here's your distant relatives come to help kind of thing, then my team will map out the base on the other side and return, says here they need Deuterium for their reactors so we ship some in and have our other teams here carry it through the gate, it'll be easy enough to take the base once we're through the gate"
"Very well Colonel, but keep your feelings in check, try to keep it as bloodless as possible"
"Do we have a time frame for this operation General?", Major Jenson asked.
"The Council wants this done before our fleet reaches Aschen territory, so two weeks"
"Plenty of time to work this out, we'll need Zat's if we want to keep the casualties down", Kawalsky nodded along.
"Sure", O'Neill nodded to Jenson and Manning, "We have plenty of heavy firepower too"
"Alright gentlemen, you have two days to get a plan on my desk, remember, low casualties", Hammond stood and left the men to plan, he had a stack of paperwork to get done.
Earth Orbit
September 22nd 2065
The CIC of the Pride was busy as the fleet prepared to leave, Rooks took one last look at the planet below, so similar yet so different than his own Terra, but it was enough to firm his resolve, outside the fleet began to form up for the jump, over a hundred warships of Terran make and the massive forms of Colonial ships right beside them.
Behind the warships were the many support ships, from the massive Abyssal and Diana to the dozens of freighters and cargo ships carrying men and supplies, some of them would be pulling transport duty when they got to Volia, transporting the Alliance troops from FOB Gamma to Volia for garrison duty, the gate on Volia was only used for dialling out currently and blocked otherwise so as to prevent the Aschen from attacking.
His screen lit up with the faces of the other Admirals of the fleet, Ferore had allowed a video link on his ship, hardened faces gave him nods of readiness, "We leave in five minutes", Rooks said as he looked to his antique watch.
"Two weeks to Volia and then on to the next Aschen world", Borman spoke.
Rooks nodded, "I considered splitting the fleet and letting the ships with LF battieries go ahead but I feel it's better we all arrive together", Rooks sighed as he thought of Captain Baltar and his unshielded ships, "I will send a detachment ahead though, the new frigates and a few corvettes"
"Probably a wise choice, we have no idea when Achen reinforcements will arrive, even with their slow FTL ships might have been nearby", Ferore mused.
Rooks took another glance at his watch, "Alright gentlemen, I shall see you on Volia"
The admirals nodded and disconnected, an ensign turned to Rooks, "Sir, all ships are signalling readiness to jump"
"Final checks complete and jump drive charged, the Pride is ready"
Rooks nodded, it was time, "Signal all ships, begin jump sequence"
Millions on Earth and in space watched the bright flashes as the fleet vanished, many cheered while some worried for the future, the Aschen had dared to attack Earth, it was only happenstance the gate was on Pluto, now they would face the consequences.