One Big Jump

by goulmeister1

AU:An Aerlion ship on patrol encounters the Cylons at the beginning of the first Cylon war and suffers a misjump, forty years later an expedition leaves Earth bound for Abydos, the Stargate has just been opened for the first time.

23. Chapter 23

Aschen Prime

13th October 2065

An invisble object sped through the orbital clutter around the planet, looking for the right location to conduct their mission, the Goa'uld tel'tak was undetectable to the Aschen sensors as it deftly avoided ships and stations in orbit of the world.

Chad watched all this from his position near the back of the shuttle, watching as the Tok'ra agent, Jalrow, piloted them around the planet, they were looking for a spot to set up a transmission to the planet below, the eggheads had spent the past few days since he was assigned to the mission sorting out the communications systems.

He sighed when a woman gripped on to his arm, Nyxion was hiding her fear well but ever since she came clean with him had been far more emotional, his arm snaked around her waist and he pulled her closer.

This mission had been her brainchild, she had convinced the brass to attempt to contact her rebel superiors on Aschen prime, and roped Chad, Flint and Williams in to guard her too, up beside the Tok'ra was a spook from the intel department and a Fleet Commander was sitting in the back with the comms gear, stuff cobbled together from Ashen systems left in the comms centre on Volia.

"Ms Nyxion, is this location sufficient?", Jalrow finally asked as the shuttle came to a stop away from most of the Aschen orbital infrastructure.

Nyxion untangled herself from Chad and moved to the front of the craft, "Right above Kraelion, our base is on that continent", her finger jabbed out to point at some place on the ground, "There", the continent in question took up the majority of the planet, a few smaller Australia sized ones were dotted about on the world too, with big oceans separating everything.

Chad had asked her what he name of the planet was before they left, apparently Aschen prime hadn't always been the name, she told him it used to be called Xeridia before the Aschen council had come to power, renamed after the Aschen won a war a few centuries ago, before they had space travel.

"We are ready to transmit, Ms Nyxion, you will be needed in the back", Jalrow nodded to her, Chad followed her to the back where the equipment was set up, he nodded to Flint and Williams who were sitting on some folding chairs and moved over to join them.

"Looks like we're nearly done here", he said as he approached.

Flint stretched in his chair, the popping of bones and joints audible around the room, "About time, this is the most boring shit man, sitting here for hours on end with nothing to do, worse than being stuck on a plane all day"

Brad turned a page on the paper book he was reading, he looked over the top at Flint, "Shut it Flint, you should have brought something to read like me"

Chad dropped into the empty chair and turned to look at Nyxion, they had been dropped off a few light years from the system by one of the large Colonial battlestars, he was told it would take a few days to get here otherwise, then it was several hours via hyperspace to this point.

He craned his ears to hear what Nyxion and the fleet Commander were saying, "I've modified the equipment from the communications centre, to the people on the ground it will look like a transmission from one of the colonies, I should be able to send a message to the rebellion leadership then"

Commander Styles nodded his head, "Are we at risk of detection?"

Nyxion shook her head, "If we stay here and transmit for a few hours then someone will notice something is off, a simple message shouldn't flag any systems"

"Alright", Styles let her sit at the comms gear, "You have our pre-recorded message right?"

"Yes, first I'll need to verify myself to my superior and explain what's happened", she began to type away at the console, "Then I can send your message, we shouldn't have to wait more than a few hours for a response"

"Ah man", Flint groused, he had been listening in too, Chad turned around to see Williams give him a slap on the back of the head.

"Keep it down you idiot, you want us to get in trouble"

Flint rubbed his head, "C'mon man, give me a lend of your handheld, I'll be bored to tears otherwise"

Brad sighed and pulled a small games handheld from his pocket, "Don't run the battery down, I cant recharge it here"

Chad put his hands behind his head, resting his eyes he listened to the conversations in the room, the messages were sent and now they would be waiting, he expected a visit to these rebels soon too, it was part of the plan to meet in person, it was why the three marines we onboard in the first place.

Volia System

Alarms blared in the command centre as Captain Stone rushed in, "Report!", he ordered as soon as he passed the door, of course something would happen on the night watch he groused as he threw himself into the captains chair.

"An enemy contact appeared one million klicks from the planet, no active weapons or shield readings and no other activity since", the sensor officer was quick to answer,

"Sir!, radio transmission from the bogey"

Stone raised an eyebrow, "Lets hear it"

"This is commander Kaelen of the Aschen rebellion, we come seeking an alliance"

Stone was stunned, and of course he was the most senior officer in the system since Commander Burnside was still in medical, "Comms, prepare a transmission to the Aschen ship"

"Ready sir"

Stone cleared his throat, "Attention Aschen vessel, maintain position and keep all systems in a powered down state, deviation will be met with lethal force"

Stone nodded to the comms officer to cut communications, "Warm up the HPG, we'll need to notify Admiral Rooks.

"Aschen ship is powering it shields and weapons down Captain"

Stone nodded, "Inform admiral rooks of the situation then open a channel to the enemy ship", Stone glanced at the system map showing the position of all Union forces in the system, "Get Captain Chekov to round up patrol group two and have them move to circle the Aschen ship"

"Channel open sir"

A rather attractive black haired woman appeared on the screen in front of Stone, "Greetings, I am commander Kaelen, who am I addressing?"

"Captain Stone will do for now", Stone kept his tone even, "You are part of a rebel group in the Confederation?"

Kaelen nodded, "Yes, coming here was a risk I we felt the reward was worth it, we seek to overthrow the corrupt government of the Confederation but we need help, you are the only ones we can turn to"

Stone sighed, "Alright, lets put the trust issues aside for a moment, can you speak for your group?"

"I can, I have the authority to negotiate for the rebels, my position within the Aschen security forces has granted me a high rank in the rebellion"

Stone scratched at his stubble, he needed a shave, "Do you have a shuttle or other means of transport onboard?"

"Yes, we have a small personnel shuttle, do you require me to travel to your vessel?"

Not a chance of that he thought, "No, the planet, I'll grant clearance for yourself and one other to travel there with no weapons, we can discuss matters further then, your ship will remain unmolested but we will be stationing ships around it, a precaution I'm sure you understand"

Kaelen nodded, "Very well, I shall leave presently"

The channel closed, "Inform whatever diplomatic personnel we have down there to expect a guest", Stone turned to the XO, "I'm heading down to see what this is all about, you're in charge"

Commander Ben Taylor nodded, "I'll have some marines waiting for you, who knows if this is on the up and up"

Stone gave a grim nod, "This could be the foot in the door we need, access to Aschen military technology and information, even if the rebel part turns out to be nothing"

Aschen Central Administration Office

Aschen Prime

A grim pall hung around the room as the various members of the Aschen governing council convened again, every face had the same look of haggardness, their previous arrogant certainty in themselves was now gone.

The big three councillors were arguing amongst themselves as minister of communication Kynes took his seat, he sighed as he watched the ruling council descend to name calling and indecisiveness, even though it was useful to him in the long run it was painful to watch in person.

"Due to the expected shortfalls in the food supply I have initiated a comprehensive rationing program, a seventy percent reduction in the daily calorie intake of all adults and children on Aschen prime will buy us months of time", Minister Cydrik announced.

"We wont be experiencing a shortage for weeks, all the ships still in transit will take that long to arrive, surely a less severe rationing program will suffice?", Chief minister Vex asked a hint of confusion lacing his voice.

Left unsaid was that the average citizen on Aschen prime had already been under a rationing program that barely kept them fed, most of the produce from the highly inefficient farming worlds was used for luxury good production for the rich in the orbital habitats and on Aschara, the teeming masses still stuck on Aschen prime made do with poor quality leftovers.

"Better we start now rather than cut into our reserves, we'll last longer", Cydrik was adamant.

"Your rationing is already causing security problems, I've had to deal with multiple riots in the major cities, destruction of government property and damage to security automatons, we're a hairs breath from it blowing up in our faces", Cyrlen spoke angrily to Cydrik.

"Blame the Terrans then, we can only do so much with what we have"

Kynes cleared his throat, "Yes minister Kynes, you have something to add?", Vex looked his way.

"Er, couldn't we reduce the amount of food wasted on luxury products for the orbital platforms, we can reduce that without needing to institute severe rationing"

Vex gave him a smile, "Ah to be young", Kynes was sixty five, young for the long lived Aschen, "The majority of our political power comes from the upper classes Kynes, touching their food supplies will see us all replaced"

Cydrik shook his head, "No, our citizens on Aschen prime are used to hardship, they will simply have to suffer this out", Cydrik rubbed his chin, "Perhaps increasing the allocated dosage for Proterzium will quell the rioting, or putting it in the food"

A beeping came from Cyrlen, she pulled out a communicator and read a message, "Another incident, rioters have broken into the central administrative office in Kyroth province, the chief administrator is dead", you could hear a pin drop as the room went silent.

Kynes watched as veins bulged on Cydrik's head, "The cretins, they need to be punished harshly for this, if only we could reduce their numbers, it would solve many of our current problems"

Vex nodded, "Yes, those useless eaters are far too numerous, a culling would do us a world of good", he scratched at his chin as Kynes mouth fell open at the words he was hearing, "Perhaps Mollem was on the right track, a bio attack?"

Cydrik nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, we can blame the Terrans too, it all fits together neatly"

"All we would need to do is manufacture an attack on Aschen prime and use it as cover to deploy a weapon, something lethal enough to reduce them to manageable numbers but not kill too many", Vex looked to Cyrlen, she had adopted a blank look, "Cyrlen, do we have such a weapon in stock?"

Cyrlen kept her stone faced expression, "For what you are proposing, no, our current weapons are projected to have a ninety nine percent lethality rate", she sighed, "The majority of our industrial production is located on Aschen prime, if we were to do as you propose the Terran forces would be able to stroll in and take over"

Vex nodded, a smile was still etched on his face, "And how long would it take to develop something that was say, only thirty percent lethal?"

"Normally years but some of our early weapons were not as effective, it might be possible to modify an old strain to achieve the results you want but I advise against such a course of action"

"Noted minister, now we shall vote", Vex initiated a vote, minutes later the results were in, eight were in favour, two against, it passed, "Well then minister, please arrange for the development of the proposed weapon, we will also need to engineer a Terran attack on the system"

Cyrlen sighed, "I'm afraid that will be a large task Chief minister, all our analysts agree that the Terrans will leave Aschen prime alone, their current strategy appears to be to cut off all food shipments to Aschen prime and starve us out"

Vex's smile never left his face, beside him his top crony Cydrik had the look of joy one would see in a child killing bugs, his fat face scrunched up with delight, "That wont be an issue minister, we shall fake the attack, please arrange matters in a timely fashion"

Cyrlen bowed her head, "Yes Chief minister, I shall arrange something but it will still take at least a month to ready a weapon"

Vex nodded, "Good, now on to other matters of state"

A beeping came from Kynes pocket, he glanced down to see a message waiting, he concealed his shock at the contents and placed the communicator back in his pocket after deleting it, he had a meeting to attend it would seem.

"Increasing production of military ships will take some time even with the additional resources allocated, it still wont solve our biggest issue, the Terran FTL drives, which are vastly superior to our own", Cyrlen was recounting some details to the council when everyone's communicators began to beep, something big had just happened.

Cyrlen was fastest, a result of her previous military experience, her shocked face told everyone enough, "Thalaris is under attack"

"What!", An apoplectic Cydrik exploded, "Vyralon was only attacked the other day and now they are already attacking Thalaris"

Cyrlen was glue to the small screen of her comms device, "It looks like the same fleet that attacked Vyralon, I told you their FTL drives were a nearly insurmountable advantage, we think they can cross all of Aschen space inside a day"

"It is of no matter", Vex spoke, "Concentrate our forces on Aschara and Aschen prime, those are the only worlds of import, once the population is more manageable our food production should be able to easily support the population, we can then fortify and stop these Terrans in their tracks"

Cyrlen looked annoyed, "We can't cede the initiative to them, right now, they'll be catching up in the areas where they are behind, thanks to the technology they will recover from our worlds, time favours them"

The same sinister smile graced Vex's lips, "You forget Minister that we know how large their territory is, their industry, ambassador Faxon was quite emphatic after his interrogation, our own industry far outstrips theirs and once we gain access to their FTL drive we shall rise ascendant"

"Recall all vessels, civil and military to those systems minister, we are abandoning the other worlds", Vex stood, "You have your orders, this meeting is over", Vex bored his eyes into Cyrlen's, "I expect regular updates on your progress with the weapon"

Kynes was quick to leave, things had been going from bad to worse and now this, it was a good thing he recorded everything but even that wouldn't be enough, hopefully his upcoming meeting would offer a solution.

A hand gripped his shoulder and pulled him into a side room, he was turned around to come face to face with Cyrlen, the woman towering over him, "I've considered our earlier conversation and I have an answer, I'm in"

Kynes smiled, it would seem that the end of an era was approaching, "Excellent, and I have just the meeting you need to attend too, lets go"

Thalaris Orbit

Space distorted above the arid world as the ships of the Union and the Colonials arrived, the defenders rushed to form up as shields popped into existence and weapons systems charged, Rooks took it all in on the command deck of the Pride.

"Cruisers and Destroyers report torpedo lock on the enemy formation sir"

"Orders to torpedo ships fire preplanned volleys then hold fire", there was no grand strategy this time, no moon to hide behind, the fleet had jumped in three hundred thousand kilometers away from the planet, their most powerful ships at the front, and waited well outside the weapons range of the Aschen ships and defence stations but well in range of the torpedoes.

Rooks watched as the scattered Aschen ships began to get into formation as dozens of long range torpedoes flew out of the many tubes on the Terran ships, over three hundred projectiles launched towards the distant enemy, the four Ranger cruisers adding their payloads to the barrage.

"ETA to target, five minutes"

"Enemy ships launching drones"

Rooks expected as much, "Launch our ASF, inform admiral Ferore to deploy his vipers in defence of the fleet"

Another volley of torpedoes left the fleet, speeding off towards the Aschen while the enemy drones formed a swarm and began to race towards the first volley, their acceleration topping out at over twelve hundred gravities, over double the slow torpedoes maximum.

Already the first volley had ceased thrust, their fuel reserves unable to keep the torpedoes going at five hundred gees, but it was enough to draw the drones closer, "Orders to fleet, set a course to intercept enemy formation, max fleet thrust", the top acceleration of the slowest ships, in their case the Colonial battlestars.

The ships began to slowly approach the distant Aschen who had already gotten into a semblance of a formation to face Rooks' ships, "Enemy forces holding position sir"

Rooks nodded, he didn't think they'd fall for the same trick twice, "Status of drones?"

"Approaching the first torpedo volley", Over a hundred drones were racing towards the torpedoes, as soon as they entered range red bolts of fire spewed out and began to shred them, in a matter of seconds the volley was reduced to floating debris.

"Torpedo volley destroyed"

Things were going as planned so far, the Aschen doing exactly as he expected, keeping their forces from barging into another jump attack was easy enough to plan for, that was why he had the fleets torpedo armament loaded up with the now obsolete pre Abydos warheads, things that were going to be recycled.

The first volley was full of old standard yield nuclear warheads, not a drop of Kobolium among the lot, the second volley was full of experimental anti Cylon raider warheads, things designed before the arrival of Star League and Goa'uld tech changed the paradigm completely, back then the Union planned to take out vast swarms of Raiders, so they developed the canister torpedo and missile.

Each warhead was filled with thousands of depleted uranium pellets and a shaped charge explosive to sent them on their way, the drones after finishing with the first volley turned to the second which had just cut thrust, they ignited their ion engines and raced further away from the Aschen fleet.

"Drones approaching second volley, eta ten seconds"

Rooks smirked, "Prepare to detonate warheads, now!"

Once the drones were close enough the signal was sent, hundreds of torpedoes released thousands of pellets each, the explosive charges sending them hurtling out towards the drone swarm, red shields became visible as the pellets created a cloud of destruction through the drones formation, they failed under the relentless barrage, leaving only shards of metal in their wake.

A few lucky drones weathered the storm by hiding behind other drones, letting them take the brunt of the deadly pellet cloud, it passed on towards the planet, where they would burn up harmlessly.

"Ninety five percent of drones destroyed sir"

"Orders to fleet, target laser cannons on the remaining drones, all ships are to cease thrust and maintain position, status of the enemy formation?"

"Still maintaining position over the planet, no signs of movement"

"Weapons ready sir"

"Fire"

The few dozen remaining drones had turned back to their ships when the storm of laser fire was unleashed from the fleet, none survived.

"Range to enemy formation?"

"Two hundred and fifty thousand kilometres sir"

Rooks looked at the tactical readouts, noting the five large enemy targets, all labelled as contacts red one through five, the five enemy battleships, "Order all cruisers and destroyers to resume torpedo barrages on targets red one through five, all ships are to prepare to receive enemy fire"

The torpedo armed ships let loose again, this time with kobolium enhanced warheads, the simple fusion rockets kicked in as soon as the large missiles cleared their tubes, speeding off towards the enemy and gaining speed as they did.

"Orient fleet one ninety degrees on the x axis, half thrust, target lasers on red one"

The fleet began to move again, rotating to being to move parallel to the planet and the Aschen ships before high energy beams leapt from turrets on the fleet, the lasers easily able to hit the non moving targets so far away, even though some of the power was reduced from the distance.

The Aschen battleship in receipt of the fire flared its shields as the light speed weapons hit, draining nearly a quarter of the shield strength, the fire from the forty four Terran and Colonial ships attenuated from distance and the inherent weakness of laser weapons on shields.

"Sir, power surge from enemy ships"

"Hyper drives", Rooks muttered, "New orders for the fleet, break into assigned groups and prepare for missile barrage on targets red one through five, re target the torpedoes onto the orbital defensive satellites"

The fleet split into four separate groups as the Aschen ships powered up their hyper drives and began to accelerate away from the planet, the still moving torpedo volley began to target the orbital satellites instead as the Aschen ships ripped open portals and entered them.

"Hyperspace distortion detected to our rear!"

"Rotate the group one hundred and eighty degrees, ahead full, fire as soon as you get target lock"

Portals opened up behind the fleet, the Aschen ships racing out and into the full firepower of the Terran and Colonial ships, massive turrets on the Pride opened up on the Aschen, PPC, lasers and auto cannon shells raced downrange and crashed into the lead Aschen battleship as it crested the hyperspace portal, the concentrated firepower of seven ships ripping the shields down to less than ten percent.

Return fire lanced out, large red blobs impacting the shields on the pride, causing them to become visible, "Shields at eighty percent", more Aschen ships left hyperspace and joined in, trading fire with the allied fleet, "Missiles locked, firing!"

White plumes of smoke clouded the Terran ships as they unleashed their devastating missile barrage, hundreds of rapid objects vectored in on the enemy fleet, nuclear flashes lit up the skies of Thalaris as the Aschen ships vanished under the bright light.

The lead battleship disintegrated under the barrage, it's already weakened shields failing as its siblings suffered the same fate, all five battleships disappearing from the scopes once the radiation faded.

More red blots flew out from the Aschen survivors, the cruisers and corvettes pounded away at the heavy allied ships, one Terran cruiser suffered the most, three enemy cruises focused their fire and burned through the shields, coring right through the thick armour soon after, flames trailed from the hole as the ship drifted out of formation, three destroyers and five frigates joined it in death as the Aschen unleashed their fury.

It was their last gasp though, the allied fleet spoke again as PPC fire tore through the shields on the advancing cruisers, obliterating three wholesale and depleting the shields of the others as another round of missiles screamed in, when the light cleared only two heavily damaged cruisers remained as laser fire began to tear into the small escort corvettes, vipers and heavy ASF began to strafe the small ships as they began to turn away, opening hyperspace portals to escape.

Rooks released his grip on the armrest, "Status"

"Shields at forty seven percent, no other damage", the voice paused, "No response from the cruiser Constellation and eight other ships, the rest of the fleet is reporting various levels of damage", the operator paused while more information flooded in, "The Triton reports the complete destruction of two Berzerk cruisers and minor damage to the battlestar Solaria"

In the distance flashes of light lit up the fleet, the torpedoes beginning to impact the defensive satellites around the world, Rooks watched wordlessly as it happened, "Begin search and rescue operations", his finger traced the tactical display, "Have the least damaged ships from groups two and three start to pick off the remaining satellites"

His eyes spotted something near the planet on the tactical readout, red bolts rising from the surface and heading towards the torpedoes racing around the planet, "Sensors, identify where that fire is coming from"

"Sir, we are detecting several concealed anti orbital batteries, power output suggests they are a threat to our ship"

The anti orbital fire began to take out the remaining torpedoes but the damage had been done, most of the satellites were destroyed, "Contact commander Kinsella, I want a ground attack mission to take those guns out, we wont be able to land troops until they are", Rooks glanced a his display, "Tell her to coordinate with the Colonials, their vipers could be useful if there's more drones"

…

Forty aircraft raced towards the surface, another torpedo volley used for cover and the exploitation of a dead zone in the guns orbital coverage let them get through without issue, Kinsella vectored her Rapier towards the first of the targets, a large building sized turret sticking out of the desert below.

"Bogies on an intercept vector, eight o clock, twelve contacts"

Kinsella looked at her radar screen, "Drones?", she opened a channel to her Colonial escorts, "Hey Deadshot", Captain Finch was the commander of the Vipers escorting her ASF, he earned the call sign Deadshot after scoring a kill at extreme ranges during his training.

"Deadshot here, reading you loud and clear Princess", Kinsella sighed, imagine getting a call sign like that because her fellow trainees had spotter her buying bath salts in an expensive boutique on Terra.

"We have twelve enemy contacts approaching from our eight o clock, should be enough for you to stretch your legs"

"Confirmed Princess", Finch replied, "We'll chase them off, you continue on with your bombing run, over"

Twenty four vipers peeled off from the formation, boosting away on their new fusion thrusters, Kinsella kept her eyes on the target coming up miles ahead and readied the two heavy glide bombs hanging out under the wings of her plane.

Finch and the vipers raced towards the twelve drones approaching, the small unmanned craft let loose with a barrage of red bolts which the vipers deftly danced around, "Let them have it", Finch announced on the wing channel, red beams burst forth from the vipers, the laser beams leaving trails of fire in the sky as they impacted the small drones shields.

The two formations flew passed, the vipers turning one eighty and firing into the backs of the banking drones, laser beams burned through the sky again, tearing through the weak shields and thin armour, flaming debris began to fall from the sky.

Finch was taking notes as it happened, all the better to prepare for the next time, "All drones destroyed Princess, lets finish this off and head to the next target"

Kinsella hit transmit to her squadron, "Alpha flight will bomb this target, the rest of you save them for the next"

Four Rapiers peeled off from the group and hit supersonic speeds as they flew over the anti orbital gun below, sonic booms heralded their passage as the eight two ton glide bombs flew in behind, the gun erupted as the bombs pierced the base of the turret, flinging the barrel into the air and leaving a crater behind.

"Good hits", Kinsella heard on the squadron channel, "Target destroyed"

She nodded to herself and hit transmit, "Alright ladies, on to the next", the ASF and vipers sped off towards the next orbital gun as above the planet the invasion force started to arrive, flashes of light revealing the dozens of transports and freighters and sitting in the middle the Abyssal and Diana alongside the heavy Colonial transport ships.

Once the guns were silent and the satellites were gone the invasion would begin.

Thalaris Surface

Later

A rumble filled the air as the Union slowly came in for a landing, hovering on its fusion thrusters above the Aschen spaceport near the largest settlement on the planet, a small city of one hundred thousand stretched out from the port on one side while the other was filled with artificial canals and aqueducts feeding the tall grain bearing plants being farmed.

Large hovering robots turned their guns to the sky and unleashed their fire onto the descending Union, scorching and blackening the paint before the weapons mounts turned on them, ppc's and lasers reduced them to scrap as enemy infantry dived into cover, missiles and auto cannon shells streaked out and began reducing them to bloody smears.

Kieran Slade saw none of that, simply waiting for the clunk of touchdown and for the ramp to drop, "Lieutenant Slade, take your platoon and secure the northern part of the space port, intel reports a security facility of some sort there, stay there until the infantry arrive and secure the building", The voice of Captain Jones came over the channel.

"Roger sir", he flicked on to the platoon channel, the Union mech platoon consisted of four mechs, similar to the Star League lance and commanded by a Lieutenant it was based on current armoured platoons in use by Earth armies.

"Alright boys, were moving north to secure a facility until the infantry arrive, way point alpha on your tac maps"

The ship touched down and the ramps dropped, Slade hit the throttle on his mech, sending the sixty ton machine hurtling out of the dropship, lasers and ppc's crossed the red energy fire from the Aschen, robots and infantry popping out of cover to fire on the ship and mechs.

Slade spotted a group of car sized hovering machines rounding a building ahead, he triggered his LRM launchers and sent dozens of missiles arcing into the rear most one while his twin large lasers cored through the first, more beams and missiles joined in from his platoon, the mechs racing up the landing strip and leaving burning wrecks in their wake.

"Heads up", Sergeant Chase's voice announced, over a warehouse Slade saw four shapes rise up and turn towards them, the aerial drones the Aschen used, he dived his mech out of the way as a rapid staccato of red bolts intersected where the platoon stood, the other mechs likewise evading the fire but corporal Davis was just a bit slower, his machine received several bolts in the arm, tearing the limb off as he moved behind cover.

"Shit", Davis' voice came over the radio, "They burned through the armour in seconds, lost two of my guns"

Slade looked up as missiles and blue bolts streaked overhead, a window shattering boom followed as ASF performed a high speed pass on the hovering drones, he watched as the machines fell to the ground as flaming wrecks, "Alright men, move out", he pushed his throttle forward, resuming the march up the runway.

Sporadic fire leapt from the occasional window, silenced by judicious use of medium lasers before they arrived at the location, a walled off building with turrets mounted at the corners, his platoons large lasers removed them quickly but not before some armour was burned off his mechs torso.

"Chase, Davis, circle around to the left, me and Kerry will take the right", the mechs split up, circling around the tall wall, taking out the occasional man sized robot that popped up, until they arrived at the gateway where a visible red shield barred entry into the complex.

Metal barriers had been placed in the courtyard as Aschen infantry huddled down, car sized robots opened fire with their cannons as the mechs moved beck into cover, burning more armour off their frames, "Those things pack a punch", Kerry commented as she maneuvered her mech behind a building.

"Chase, you in position?"

"Yep, ready to rock"

"Alright, we'll all pop out and unload on that shield, Davis, you send some LRM's over the top and keep them poor saps in cover, on three", he paused and counted, "Three!"

The four mechs popped out of cover, unleashing their firepower on the shield barrier, which grew brighter as it strained under the fire of large and medium lasers, LRM's streaked in over the walls as Davis unleashed his missiles, men and robots were tossed about as explosions covered the courtyard before the shield finally had enough and fizzled out, burning out the emitters.

Lasers streaked in and started to burn the heavy robots to cinders as the heavy stomping of the mechs came closer, the surviving men ran for the building, leaving the robots to die in their place, "Chase, cover the entrance, Davis the gateway", Slade and Kerry walked around the building, sending the occasional laser inside when the enemy got frisky, "Slade to command, objective secure, infantry are clear to approach"

"Roger lieutenant, infantry en route, eta five minutes"

Up in the sky more ships were descending, dropships and heavy Colonial landing craft bringing the thousands of men and equipment down from orbit, Slade watched in awe as the massive ships came in, minutes later he spotted his infantry, APC's were approaching from the runway as the distant sound of enemy fire and mechs grew fainter, the battle was already winding down here, it was just mopping up now.

Nebet

Edge of Apophis' Territory

Nebet was a cold and harsh world, it's only value its naquadah mines and production of the rare fruit, Kephiri's bloom, a large round fleshy fruit similar to a melon, a delicacy among the Goa'uld, the planet was home to many plantations filled with slaves and Jaffa and ruled over by Apophis' under lord, Emekh.

In orbit was a single Cheops class ship, a gift from Apophis for a bountiful harvest several decades ago and several Al'kesh, a potent force to contend with under normal circumstances but with the galaxy in turmoil following the death of Ra it seemed far from adequate.

"My lord", a shout from a Jaffa drew Emekh's attention, "Hyperspace distortions are forming near near the ship!"

"Raise shields", Emekh sighed, was Cronus up to his old tricks again, he wondered what the bribe would cost this time.

His ambivalence disappeared when twenty Ha'tak's burst into real space over his world, plasma blasts already flying out as they exited the portals, "Order all ships to attack!", Emekh jumped to his feet and shoved the Jaffa away from the controls, "Tell them to die for their god"

Golden bolts began to impact the smaller Cheops, rapidly draining the shields of the obsolescent ship, Al'kesh raced towards the battle, plasma bolts and bombs flying from their guns as death gilders began to race from within the Ha'tak's.

Emekh decided he rather liked living and moved his hand to engage the hyperdive but it was too late, the shields failed and sent him hurtling into the wall, he blinked his eyes to realise he was still alive, standing up he moved back to the console, all the Al'kesh were gone, the Ha'tak's moving into orbit of his world and the last one was sitting across from his ship.

The console beeped, an incoming transmission, "Who dares attack the mighty realm of Apophis!", Emekh projected a bravado he didn't feel.

The screen rippled as a face formed on the screen, a red armoured Jaffa was sneering down at him, the unmistakable icon of Sokar inscribed on his forehead, "Cease your blather, you only live so you might sent a message from my lord"

The Jaffa's eyes bored into Emekh, "Tell your petty god this, Sokar has returned, he shall have his vengeance upon those who cast him out, repent, for the time of reckoning has come"

"Tell Apophis this, Sokar comes for him, now leave my sight before I change my mind", the transmission cut out.

Emekh stood frozen, Sokar was alive?, he shivered and activate the hyper drive, he hoped that Apophis would understand what had happened but perhaps it was best to send a messenger in his stead.

The Cheops ripped open a portal and vanished through as the Ha'tak began to deploy thousands of Jaffa to conquer the world below, the opening act of Sokar's return had started, the very same events were occurring across dozens of Apophis' worlds and soon chaos would reign in Goa'uld space.

Thalaris Orbit

Above the world debris burned up in the atmosphere as the remains of the battle tumbled down to the ground, the night sky was light up by flaming streaks as the ships of the fleet slowly orbited above.

The conference room on the Pride was packed as the officers of the fleet met to discuss the next steps in what looked to be an increasingly grinding war, Rooks took his seat at the front and glanced out at the many faces of his command staff.

"The mobile repair ship should arrive tomorrow, it'll take a few trips for it to haul the damaged ships back to FOB gamma, we'll be replacing them in the formation with ships from the reserves for now"

The mobile repair ship had finally arrived after being delayed for sometime, for now it would haul the disabled ships back to the small station over FOB gamma, the ships were probably complete write-offs at this point, the Union ships were built tough compared to the Aschen ships which tended to be completely destroyed but the sheer scale of the internal damage left most of them as burned out husks only fit for the scrap yard.

"Are we pausing our advance?", a question floated out.

Rooks nodded, "So far we have taken out the easy targets", he brought up a map on the holoprojector, "The planets we have taken so far are among the Aschen's newest colonies and had far less time to develop but the rest are a different story"

"They have also been quick to adapt to our tactics, I expect future battles to be slogging matches and casualties will be heavy"

Rooks manipulated the controls as a murmur spread around the officers after his comment, he brought up the latest intel report from their next target, Noxara.

"This is the next planet on our list, Noxara, what we would call a water world", several spots on the world were highlighted, "Ground to orbit cannons give the world total coverage and every base has a hangar facility according to our scans, I doubt our fighters will have as easy a time trying to take them out"

The image zoomed out to show the orbital space, "They also have four large stations and hundreds of satellite defence platforms in addition to fifty warships protecting the world"

Admiral Ferore nodded from beside him, "You don't think we can take this world?"

"Not with the forces we have available", Rooks sighed, "I already recalled Borman and Ivanov from their raiding mission, they haven't had much luck since the first few days", The Aschen were quick to adapt to the raiding forces, baiting attacks now failed to draw them off and ships were constantly under the cover of drones and other defences so long range missile attacks were out too.

"We'll be pausing offensive actions for now while we reassess our options but there is some good news on that front, Captain Stone has informed me about the defection of an Aschen ship, part of this rebel group heard about"

"When did this happen?", Ferore asked, curiosity lacing his aged voice.

"During the battle a ship dropped out of hyperspace near Volia, an Aschen cruiser, Stone informed us right then but we were in combat at the time, he should be meeting their commander on the surface about now, we'll know more in a few hours"

A Colonial major excitedly stood up, "Sirs, requesting permission to depart for Volia"

Ferore gave him a small smile, "I see no issue with that", he looked to Rooks, "Admiral?"

Rooks nodded, "I already planned on sending our top analysts to Volia to assist, Major Boxman would be welcome to join them"

The major nodded and sat down, "This could be just what we need, first hand accounts of how the Aschen operate, their training, known commanders, the works, not to mention the data the ship itself will contain"

"Exactly Major, it's half the reason I'm pausing offensive operations, even knowing more about their ships will increase our effectiveness for the future and access to the military database on the ship should give us access to the names and faces of our counterparts, a coup on their psychology and tactics"

"As for the planet below", Rooks changed the projection again, this time showing the arid world below the fleet, "Most of the resistance collapsed after we took the major spaceport in the capital city, General Chernikov reports that there's still some light combat operations in the urban areas but the planet is mostly pacified and expects all combat to end by tomorrow"

"Aschen ground forces are not a threat in comparison to their space bourne counterparts", Commander Yin of Union Fleet intelligence spoke up, "Our troops are easily overcoming even the best the Aschen can field"

"This war will be decided in space, realistically we don't even need to occupy these planets, simply blockading them will be enough to achieve what we want", Ferore mused, "Still, the recovered technology alone makes it worthwhile and the experience gained by out alliance partners is invaluable for them too"

Rooks nodded, "Speaking of, the generals in charge of the Pangaran and Tagrean forces have requested we divide their forces evenly across all occupied worlds, I'll need to speak to the representatives of the Langaran forces when they arrive", he glanced down at a sheaf of papers in front of him, "The first transports should be arriving tomorrow with the Kelownan contingent"

The ground forces representative, Colonel Kent, nodded, "They need to get used to working together, especially if we ever plan joint ops in the future against the Goa'uld but I'm not sure about our transport capacity"

Rooks rubbed his chin, "We can start small, as soon as the Langarans are on Thalaris our transports will be sitting idle", Rooks nodded to the Colonel, "Moving around small contingents to get experience with each other shouldn't be an issue then, we can also assign some of the Union and Colonial ground forces too"

Ferore nodded, "That can be arranged"

"Moving on", Rooks stood and started to toss out the papers to the Terran commanders in the room, "Another reason for the delay is about reinforcements", Rooks returned to his seat, "I've been talking to Admiral Coleman back on Earth, he's promised us major reinforcements but we're running into an issue with experienced manpower"

Rooks looked around as everyone opened the folders, "The new ships will need experienced command crews so myself and Coleman have worked out a solution", Rooks opened the file in front of him, "We'll be replacing twenty fire percent of the fleets staff with fresh recruits while the others are used to crew the new ships", Groans could be heard around the room.

Rooks raised a hand placatingly, "I know what kind of knock-on effects this can have on ship operations but the Union is still a mostly green force, the new ships will need experienced people onboard to handle things, especially among the top ranks"

"The transport ships arriving tomorrow will take the crews listed in these files back to FOB gamma, from there they'll be sent back to Earth using the gate and the fresh crews will arrive and be transported here"

"After that it'll take a few days for the ships to be readied and another week for them to arrive out here", Rooks finger traced along the paper, "So, our operations pause will be two weeks long but scouting and intel efforts will continue and if a target of opportunity pops up we'll also be going for it"

Rooks took in the annoyed faces of his commanders, a smirk appearing on his face, "Page twenty details our reinforcements, take a look"

Rustles of paper filled the room as pages were turned, Rooks watched as the upset faces changed in front of him, murmurs of approval began to echo around, smiles soon appeared, this would shift the balance of power in their favour.

Tauron Shipyards

"Kyle, over here", a voice shouted from a nearby doorway, Kyle hurried over and entered the large observation lounge, tables had been setup within, a bar and a spread of food was nearby, the room was packed with the design team and shipyard workers.

A waving hand drew his attention, the hairy arm of Oliver Poplin was beckoning him over to a packed table, beside him was his daughter and other senior members of the design team, "Kyle, pull up a chair", Poplin jovially called over.

Kyle snagged an empty chair in passing and sat down beside Poplin, "Grab a drink and enjoy the show", Poplin nodded to the large bay window that had a view of one of the docks on the station, the large form of one of the Minotaur battleships was visible through the framework of the dock, running lights illuminated the brand new paint job as small work craft performed a final visual check before launch.

A glass of some unknown Colonial alcoholic drink was thrust into his hand by Poplin's daughter, "Here, it's ambrosia", she said with a wink.

"Thanks", he took a sip, it reminded him of some mead he had once, only stronger, he looked out at the ship, "Cant believe it's already over"

Poplin chuckled, "You get used to it, projects come and go but I have to say I enjoyed every bit of this one", he tipped his glass towards Kyle.

Poplin downed his glass, "So", he looked to his daughter, "How were the space trials, I heard there was a bit of trouble on hull four?"

Eleanor Poplin nodded, her long brown tresses danced about as she smiled, "It wasn't that big of a deal dad, someone just installed the wrong seals on the high pressure fuel pump on engine three, we fixed it quick enough"

Kyle nodded, the ten ships had just finished up their trials yesterday, apart from the engine trouble on one they all passed with flying colours, the military observer were especially impressed with the weapons tests.

Today they were being taken into possession by their respective governments, several small crews had arrived from home to pilot the ships back to Union space and the Colonial ships were heading off for training exercises with their fleet.

"So, Oliver", Kyle took a sip of his drink, "What have you been up to since you left?"

Poplin shrugged, "It was supposed to be the design team for a new generation of ships but they put that on the back burner for now", he waved his glass to the window, "There they go", the first Minotaur was beginning to creep slowly out of its dock, "Anyway, I'm working on one of the old battlestars now, the Pegasus, she's getting the works, including some new weapons"

Kyle nodded as he tracked the ship leaving the dock, it was painted in typical Union grey with a blue stripe painted down the hull, a contrast to the Colonial variants which were a dull white colour with an orange stripe.

"And you Kyle, what's in store for you?", a hand gripped his arm, Eleanor was smiling at him.

"The Union is looking into heavy warships, more on your scale of things", he smiled, "I'll be part of that project"

Oliver smiled back, "Sounds like you could use some Colonial know-how, why don't you bring Eleanor along", Poplin gave them a wink to Kyle's embarrassment, "She's been making noises about visiting your world"

"She would be welcome, my firm is always looking for talent", Even though she was only out of university, Kyle was only two years her senior, and old man Poplin had spent most of their time together playing matchmaker, the first few dates had gone well too, he was planning on asking her to come anyway.

Oliver gave him a knowing smirk, "Atta boy", he turned and looked out the window, "There she is", he tipped his glass to the ship now unobscured outside, it had cleared the dock and now the main thrusters were coming to life and began to push it further away, spotlights kept track of the ship as civilian media craft kept pace.

A grumble came from Kyle, he had missed breakfast to make it here on time for the end of project party, a clap on his back drew him back to the table, Oliver Poplin had stood, "C'mon, let grab some food"

Voila

Space port

The small shuttle craft came in to the landing pad silently and gracefully, small landing struts extended out of he bottom and the craft touched down without making a sound.

"Quiet bugger, isn't it?", One of Stone's marine guards commented from behind, Stone mentally agreed, compared to current Union anti grav engines it was silent, no whines or other noises to hear at all.

A door on the side of the van sized craft recessed and slid open and two people became visible from behind the opaque cockpit screen, a man and a woman, both unarmed as previously agreed.

Stone could feel the marines tense as they exited, Stone strode forward towards the two people, "Commander Kaelen?"

The woman nodded and straightened up with her hands behind her back, "Yes, and you are Captain Stone", she gestured to her companion, "Crewman third class Korth", She had a stern expression, "I trust appropriate facilities have been made available?"

Stone waved them towards a prefab building nearby, "This way", the marines fell in around the Aschen and the party quickly walked into the building, a side room with a table and several chairs awaited them inside, one was already occupied by Stone's legal and diplomatic advisor for this meeting, a large mirror was mounted on the wall, a whole host of intel officers was gathered on the other side.

"Please, have a seat", Stone waved the two Aschen to the far side of the table and took his own seat opposite, "Mr Hanson is here in an advisory capacity", he nodded to the diplomat.

Kaelen nodded, "Very well, I shall plainly state my position, we seek to overthrow the current Aschen government, until now our group has had limited success in that venture", Her expression remained firm, "But", She paused, "Your arrival has changed things, actual change is now possible"

Stone adopted a relaxed and irreverent posture in his chair, "Why should we care?", he waved around the room, "We're winning right now"

A frown creased Kaelen's face, "I would have thought the benefits would be apparent, preventing unnecessary loss of life and speeding the resolution to this conflict"

"What are you proposing then?", Stone said as he leaned forward.

"I can arrange to contact my superiors in the rebellion, working together we should be able to topple the current ruling council and install our own, a benefit to both of our peoples"

Stone nodded, "I see", he paused and scratched at his chin, "Here's a counter offer, we'll help to change your government, part of that will be agreeing to the terms of surrender we have", he wave to Hanson who pulled out a prepared document in the Aschen language and passed it over, "We also want full access to your ship and any databases it has, technical and other"

Kaelen took the documents and handed them to Korth after skimming them, "I see no issue with allowing access to my ship and the data, the terms will need to be examined by my superiors though, but they seem agreeable"

Stone sat up straight and smiled, "Good, now lets talk about how we can help each other"

Unknown world

Beyond the Celestial Curtain nebula

Shadows danced around the dusty warehouse as the day heated up, motes of dust floated in the beams of light as the summer heat penetrated the thin corrugated roof, the scrabbling of rodents echoed around the empty room as old florescent lights hung dark overhead, no one had been here for months.

A vibration caused the dust to dance in the air as it shook off the wooden crates in the room, loud clunking noises scared off the rats and mice, coming from a large flat box, it was propped upright against the wall, a smaller box beside it was missing several panels revealing the DHD contained within.

An explosion of energy carved a circular hole in the large box, like a drop of water exploding horizontally from within, it retreated back into the box revealing a large metal circle containing a shimmering blue wormhole.

Moments later a small remote controlled vehicle drove through, it drove onto the concrete floor of the warehouse and panned its camera around, silence returned as the machine observed for several minutes but no one showed up.

A decision was made on the other side, people began to emerge from the shimmering portal, Colonial marines, all clad in black BDU's and wearing padded steel helmets and goggles, the twelve man team stepped through with weapons raised ready for any threat, they spread out and secured the area around the gate.

Colonel Penelope Varro looked around the dusty warehouse, noting it's disuse, "Maya, check the DHD", Varro directed the technical expert to the crate identified earlier by the remote probe, "Major Valus take that side of the building, secure any doors"

The tall, olive skinned major nodded and began to round up half of Stargate Team one, Varro turned to the rest of the team, "Hargrove and Jansen on me, the rest of you cover specialist Kincaid"

"Sir", the marines began to move along the cleared aisle leading to a large loading door further away, Varro felt sweat begin to form, it was hot inside the building, she spotted a side office near the main doors, "Lets check it out"

Dirty glass left only silhouettes visible in the gloom of the office, the bright sunlight failing to penetrate that corner of the warehouse, the three marines stacked up outside the cheap looking door before Varro gently pushed it open with the tip of her gun, no one was inside, mice scrabbled into hiding holes as the team entered the dusty room.

A styrofoam cup full of mouldy coffee and crumbs littered the desk, papers were strewn everywhere, the language unknown to the Colonials, left where they lay since the last time the warehouse was in use, a large beige screen sat on the desk, a metal rectangular box underneath, an old school computer and CRT monitor.

"No ones home, Colonel", Janson spoke from the side room his flash light was casting shadows around the room as he waved it around revealing the small toilet and sink within, "Looks like it's been a few months"

Light filled the small office as a humming sound filled the air, Hargrove's hand was resting on the wall mounted switch, Varro turned and glared daggers at him, an embarrassed flush lit his face, "Eh, there's still power"

Varro sighed and raised her radio, "Major, anything to report?"

Jensen returned from the side room and moved over to the large boxy computer, he spotted a toggle switch on the side and flipped it up into the on position, a small whump and crackle filled the air as the CRT powered up, revealing a monochrome green screen filled with text.

"Nothing so far Colonel, only boxed filled with files, but Corporal Resnick says he can hear traffic in the distance"

"Alright, start scouting the exterior but stay out of sight for now, who knows why there's no one around here", she looked up and saw the active computer, "Maya, what's the status of the DHD?"

Specialist Kincaid's soft voice came over the radio, "We got the box out of the way, it's fully operational"

"Good, pack up and head over here we have something for you to look at, bring Asher too, we might need him to translate"

Seconds passed as the sound of approaching boot steps grew louder, "Maya, check that old thing out", Varro pointed to the computer on the desk.

The tiny woman moved over and dusted off the office chair before she sat down before the machine, a green glare was cast over her face as she gingerly tapped a key on the keyboard, "This things looks ancient, worse than the crap they pushed after the war"

Varro raised an eyebrow, "That bad, can you guess what it's for?"

Maya nodded, "I cant understand the language but I'd guess its inventory for the warehouse", Maya looked up to the pale marine at the back, Asher was recruited from college, an archaeology student, then run through marine training specifically for the stargate teams.

"Asher, can you read this?", Maya scooched over to let the young man look at the screen.

Asher leaned close to the screen and ran a finger under the flashing text on the screen, he left a clean streak through the dust, "I see similarities to the Terran alphabet and our own", he pulled out a notebook and began to scribble, "Almost like ancient Leonese"

"Can you read it?", Varro asked.

Asher shook his head, "A few words is all", he scribbled some more and read the screen again, "I think it's an inventory alright, looks like old military documents I think?"

Varro sighed, great, they had just infiltrated where this planets military was storing its old files, "Keep at it, Jenson, Hargrove, we're checking the exterior"

The three marines left the office, Varro spotted a small access door beside the main loading bay, a rusty chain and lock was visible through the dirty glass on the door, Varro shrugged, they already came this far, "Jenson, kick it down"

The burly marine nodded, slinging his rifle he walked up to the door and examined it for a moment, a fast boot to the hinges flung it open with a clatter and the sound of shattering glass, Varro froze expecting an alarm but nothing else happened.

Varro silently signalled them to move out, the sun was dipping in the sky casting long shadows from the warehouses outside, a pothole filled road led away to a rusty chain link fence and empty guard post, Varro could see a chain across the gateway in the distance, beyond the gate were more run down looking warehouses and factories covered in graffiti, the whole area looked abandoned except for the vagrant she saw further down the street.

"Stick to the shadows for now", she signalled them to move again and raised her radio to her lips, "Major, we've exited the building, we should be just around the corner from you"

"Confirmed Colonel, I had Ralfi climb a ladder on the building, he's covering us right now", Ralfi was the team sniper.

She raised the radio again when the sound of gunfire echoed in the distance, the marines looked around, "That way", Hargrove pointed to the other side of the warehouse, "It's a good bit away from the sounds of it"

"Major, is that you?"

"Negative Colonel, whoever it is it isn't anything to do with us"

"Alright, we're regrouping and finding out what's happening, Maya, get back to the gate in case we need to extract fast"

Varro and her men sprinted around the corner and met back up with Major Valus, the combined team moved on towards the sound of rifle fire in the distance, passing by more rundown looking warehouses, darkness started to encroach as the sun dipped beyond the horizon.

The team stopped at a corner, the sounds of guns firing now cloud and clear, along with another sound, a high pitched whine, energy weapons fire.

Varro poked her head around the corner, a large space opened up on the side of the warehouse, a car park from the looks of things, a small truck was parked near the warehouse on the far side, boxes of what looked like ammunition were strewn about and a body lay still on the ground, behind the truck was what looked like people in civilian attire exchanging fire with a group of men on the other side.

The others were strange, they wore dark red uniforms with a black armour layer on top, black fully enclosed helmets and small carbines that shot out blue energy pulses, they didn't fit in with what she had seen so far.

"Two groups, one look like civvies or possibly militia, the others have energy guns and are wearing uniforms", she turned to Major Valus, "I don't know if we want to get involved without knowing more"

The major glanced around the corner, a burst of rifle fire caught one of the red clad soldiers in the chest, knocking him to the ground, seemingly unhurt the man quickly climbed back onto his feet and resumed firing on the civvies near the truck.

"Local military?", he took a good look at the weapons fire, "Everything else here looks pre space flight but those guns, they don't make sense"

Varro nodded, "We might need to let General Drakon deal with this diplomatically, we don't want to butt into a police action"

Valus nodded, "Yeah", a humming grew louder in the air, the team looked up and saw a flying craft come in over the car park, it had a cockpit at the front and a wide central body with doors mounted on the sides, it hovered on some kind of anti grav engine over the gun battle, before it rotated towards the Colonial marines behind the warehouse, blue bolts exploded out of the chin mounted gun causing the marines to dive for cover.

"Frack!", Varro shouted as she stood, behind the warehouse the shuttle landed in the car park, disgorging a dozen red clad soldiers, bullets sparked off the hull as the civvies kept up their barrage for all it was worth but the soldiers had another target, the marines.

Aschen Prime

Interplanetary Space

The Tel'tak waited in the dark of space millions of kilometres away from the planet, the past few hours had been spent in contact with the rebels on the ground, first to simply prove who they were, Nyxion had managed to do that, afterwards it was all to set up a face to face meeting with the rebels commanders.

The arrangement was simple enough, a small passenger transport craft would travel to their location and the Tel'tak would dock, precautions were taken in case of a double cross, a nuclear bomb in the cargo hold if the Aschen ship just happened to be full of soldiers to take the ship.

Jalrow had assured everyone that the Tel'tak's universal docking extension would work on the Aschen airlocks first though, there was no point if they couldn't dock, now they were waiting again, far away from patrols, satellites or drones.

"A ship is approaching our location", Jalrow announced.

His copilot for the mission was someone with the charming name of Agent Quest, Chad shook his head, it was the most stupid code name he ever heard.

Quest looked up from his mission folder, "The Rebels?"

Jalrow brought the ship up on the screen, "It matched the description we were given, twenty meters long and unarmed"

"Private Thompson, go and tell the others to get ready, we're about to have company", Quest spoke without moving his head from the image of the approaching ship, Chad nodded and opened the door to the back.

Walking through he saw Flint snoring and Williams still reading his book, "Looks like the rebels are here, Quest wants us to get ready", he spoke to Commander Styles.

Williams shook Flint awake as Styles nodded, "Get your gear on then son", Styles strode past him and into the front of the ship, Chad moved over to the pile where he tossed his gear, he quickly threw on his armour and took his gun, checking the charge level on the battery.

"Nyx", he looked to Nyxion, "Stay behind us if things go wrong"

The girl nodded, "I will", she smiled at him, "But I know these people, we will be fine"

Chad shrugged and move back to the front of the craft as Flint and Williams headed through the door, all eyes were to the front as the Aschen ship was now visible through the cockpit glass.

"You wont need to de cloak to dock?", Quest asked as they watched the ship approach.

"No, it is possible to dock and remain cloaked"

"Alright, time to call them then", Quest pulled out his radio, they had prearranged with the rebels to be expecting his call.

"Orion to Pauper, you ready over there?"

Seconds passed before a voice called back, "We are ready, Orion, port airlock"

Quest nodded to Jalrow and the Tel'tak moved over to the airlock, a clunk and hiss later and the ships were connected, the three marines moved to the airlock door inside the Tel'tak as Quest moved to the fore and pressed the button, the door slid into a recess and exposed the outer door of the Aschen ship, it slid open too, revealing three men wearing the typical grey Aschen clothing.

"Greetings, you are the Terrans?", the lead man asked.

"Yep, Agent Quest", he waved to commander Styles, "And Commander Styles, you know Nyxion of course?"

The man nodded to Nyx at the back, "She is known to me, I am Quaid, one of the leaders of the rebellion", he stood back and invited the men over, "Please, let us talk, I have others to introduce"

Quest nodded, "Williams, Flint, stay here and guard the door, Thompson stick with us", Quest strode forward onto the Aschen ship and Styles followed behind, Chad took the rear, his grip tight on his laser rifle, the interior of the Aschen ship was a barren grey colour, past the small airlock chamber was a larger area with a table and seating and another wall dividing the cockpit from the rest, two other people were waiting at the table, a man and a woman.

Chad took up a position against the wall as Quest and Styles took seats across from the Aschen, Quaid nodded to the two others, "Minister of Communication Kynes and Minister of Security Cyrlen"

Quest and Styles both frowned, Quest spoke first, "I didn't expect government ministers to be part of your rebellion and the security minister?"

The woman shrugged, "Believe me, I didn't expect to be a rebel either, but things have changed, our leader, Vex, has lost it, he's planning a bio attack against our own people and blaming you, a step too far"

Kynes leaned forward, "I have always been part of the rebellion, the suffering of the people on Aschen prime is beyond imagining and our leaders are content to allow it to continue, something I despaired would never change, then you arrived"

Quest narrowed his eyes, "If you have the security minister why bother with us then, couldn't you stage a coup?"

Cyrlen sighed, "I might be minister but the security forces answer to Supreme Commander Renata, she controls what military might we have and she is loyal to the state"

Kynes nodded, "While her power is limited, Cyrlen is able to accomplish what we need", Kynes nodded to Quest, "A coup as you say is possible, your actions have given us the opening to attempt such a thing"

Kynes gestured with his hands, "The war needs to end lest starvation decimates my people, we will work with you to bring it to an end, what are your terms?"

Quest glanced to Styles, the Commander nodded and turned to Kynes, "Destruction of all your bio weapons is a start, access to all your technology, banning the drug proterzium, war costs, we can go into details but that should cover most of it, we'll also want your nation to be open for trade afterwards and an alliance against the Goa'uld"

Kynes nodded, "Quite lenient", he looked to Cyrlen who sighed and nodded, "We agree, but we will need help if our plan is to succeed"

"Alright, I'll bite, what's the plan?", Quest leaned back in his chair and cocked his head slightly.

"It is rather simple actually, we plan to kill the members of the Governing Council"