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.

25. Chapter 25

Picon Fleet HQ

25th October 2065

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air as Admiral Nagala and Greenhill digested the events of the previous days, first a raptor from the Rycon had returned with the initial reports on the nebula, a corrosive hazard that hung in space light years away, fortunately their ships could simply jump past it.

Then the survey ship had arrived back in a panic with tales of a massive alien ship attacking the expedition, the whole fleet had gone on alert and questions were coming from the media, the story was being kept under wraps for now.

Then hours later the Rycon herself had come home, unharmed for the most part but the story only got more confusing and worrisome, Tannerson had recounted the whole tale, his strange communications with the aliens included.

A whole day had passed since, Greenhill had worked his men hard extracting every iota of information from the Rycon and her crew, and tapping every other source he could think of, a preliminary report sat on Nagala's desk, woefully incomplete, details and information had been lacking.

"I'll be recommending to the president that we keep the fleet alert status high for the time being", Nagala broke the silence, "Do we know anything about these aliens at all?"

Greenhill nodded, "We learned some things, most of it is five thousand years out of date though"

"Cain?"

"And the database from the Pegasus", he flipped open the folder, "It did include these images, they match the description we got from the Terrans about their encounter on P3X-118, once you peel the armour off anyway"

Nagala sighed, "So, you think the warning was credible?"

"I do, these Ovions captured Cavils ship and most likely gained access to the jump drive", Greenhill shrugged, "The aliens implied to Tannerson that their current drives are inferior, probably similar to the so called 'light speed' drives on the Pegasus"

Nagala nodded, "How fast were those?"

"Roughly two thousand times faster that light, we'd be looking at over a year to get here", Greenhill raised a finger, "And that's only if they never improved them, so even a crappy jump drive would be a major boost"

Nagala started to rub his temples, "Just great, Cavil let them know we exist and gave them a way to get here"

Greenhill pulled out his cigarette case and lit up, "We know some things, the Ovions were apparently part of the old Cylon empire, by force if the records are right, they must have escaped the Goa'uld purge of this sector of space and fled past the nebula", a puff of smoke wafted up, "Best case, they regressed and have inferior tech than us, probably not likely if what Tannerson saw was accurate"

Greenhill took another drag, "Most likely case, they still have the same tech as back then, so we'd be looking at ships with similar tech and power to the Pegasus"

Nagala nodded, "And the worst?"

"They used the last five thousand years to advance far past us but since it was implied that their engines were slow I don't think it's likely, I'm also basing that on another factor"

Nagala raised an eyebrow, "What other factor?"

"The Visitors or Lizard Cylons, our source mentioned they were at war with another party and the aliens Tannerson encountered implied the Ovions were also at war, I doubt there are two separate wars happening past the nebula, they must be fighting each other"

Nagala leaned back in his chair, his face showed his concerned thoughts, "That's a bit of an assumption but it's better than nothing", he frowned, "So, we have two enemy alien nations beyond the nebula and if the reports are right both predate on humans, the media will be in a frenzy if this gets out"

Nagala looked to Greenhill, "Tell me there's some good news"

"There's none, we need to mount further expeditions, whether by ship or the gate, we need to know more about these aliens, right now we're completely in the dark, the one point in our favour right now is the Visitors are completely unaware we exist, I recommend we focus our efforts in their direction for now"

"Alright, tell Drakon he has permission to continue missions on this Tellus, try and find out everything about these Cylons and everything they might know about the Ovions", Nagala felt veins pulse in his temple, is this what Ferore had to deal with all the time.

Nagala rubbed his temples, "Now, we need to have a plan in place if these Ovions show up, what's the progress on our experimental tech?"

"Our old Pegasus has already been striped and the new shields and reactors have been installed, we're still waiting for the weapons to finish development but thanks to Cain's engineering team we expect it should only take a few more weeks to finish then another few to start production"

"Good, the current fleet has already been completely upgraded with laser weapons and Terran shield generators but as we know those are nearly completely ineffective against the shields of our enemies", Nagala spoke.

They had the option to purchase Terran pulse cannons but they wanted an arm and a leg for them, the government had decided to wait for their own plasma weapons instead, it was far cheaper and they didn't want to be reliant on a foreign power for weapons.

Greenhill nodded, "What about the new designs?"

Nagala shrugged, "Postponed for now, the president would rather spend the money on upgrading what we have already than spend money on new ships, I cant say I blame him though, our hulls are still effective with shields and new systems, the Minotaur's have proven that"

Nagala came to a decision, "We need more intel and the only way is to go out there and get it ourselves", he looked at Greenhill, "I can allocate one of our new Minotaur's for this, I want you to arrange a mission past the nebula, find out more about these aliens, I'd rather not just rely on getting everything from the gate"

Greenhill stubbed out his cigarette and rubbed his chin, "Just one Minotaur?, I'll need more than that but I do have someone in mind to command such a mission"

Nagala nodded, "You can have anything below a battlestar, if those start being deployed the media will know something is up, we don't want this getting out just yet"

"A few of the Berzerks have been upgraded", they were actually one of the easier ships to upgrade thanks to its detachable multi-mission package modules, all they needed to do was stuff a reactor and shield generator into a module and slap some weapons on, "Give five and a few Defenders for escort duty"

"Done", Nagala paused to consider something, "Take the Rycon too, we can get away with missing one old battlestar and Tannerson might have gained some insight thanks to his encounter"

Greenhill smiled, "All right, I need to make a call about an admiral"

Tellus

25th October 2065

The stargate burst to life with a violent explosion of energy which stabilised into a shimmering blue portal, soon a machine hovered out of the middle, kept aloft by small thrusters it slowly moved forward and scanned the room, it was the same warehouse the Colonials had visited before, still untouched even after the battle.

The controllers on the other side were content to continue, the drone picked up speed as it hovered over to a window, a small metal probe extended from the main body and tapped the window, causing it to shatter, the missing pane was big enough for their purposes.

The experienced controller deftly piloted the machine out of the building, it quickly gained altitude and began to hover above the warehouses below, back on Pallas multiple eyes were glued to the screens as the camera feed was broadcasted.

"Look there, I think they cleared out the other buildings, probably to stop the rebs from coming back and stealing the rest", a finger pointed to a gatehouse and barrier, two red clad soldiers stood guard at the entrance, "Lowered security since there's nothing left to take"

General Drakon nodded as he chewed on his cigar, "Zoom out corporal, I want to see the whole area"

The buildings on the feed shrank as the camera pulled back in, "Hmm, no patrols either, they must have no idea about the gate or it'd probably be on one of their ships"

Varro examined the outer perimeter of the military depot, "We should be able to slip out easy enough, they only have a chain link fence around the depot", her eyes narrowed at the two aliens guards, "What kind of government would let foreign aliens take over their military assets"

"A traitorous one, unless there's some kind of brainwashing we don't know about?", Drakon directed the question to the one civilian in the room, Tony Leonetti, a native of the world Tellus.

Tony shrugged, "No idea, but it would explain a lot, for all we know our leaders were already aliens, they could have been infiltrating for years"

Drakon spat a wad of chewed up cigar into a bin, "Possibly, the same thing wouldn't work here though, not with all the anti Goa'uld and Cylon testing", he nodded to the drone operator, "Pan up, I want to see the city"

The camera rotated up, in the distance the sprawling city became visible, it was a pretty flat and had barely any high rise buildings but it wasn't the city that drew everyone's eye, it was the massive ship hovering a few hundred meters over it.

"Damn", Varro let out, "We didn't see that last time"

Tony nodded, "Yeah, there's a few low hills in the way, but there she is, Solara city"

"That your capital?", Drakon asked as he examined the city, it reminded him of one near the equator on Caprica, Sunnyridge, the climate looked similar and it had the same dusty red glow of a setting sun.

Tony shook his head, "Nah, that's on the other side of the continent, Capieria, but Solara is the biggest on this side, over five million"

Drakon turned to Varro, "Alright, take your team and make contact with this rebel group", Drakon glanced to Leonetti, "You know where they are?"

Tony nodded, "Yeah, I can take them there"

"Good", he looked back at Varro, "Try and build a rapport with whoever leads them and convince them to move the gate to a more secure location, if they can we can arrange to supply them with weapons"

Varro nodded, "We'll get it done, it'll be strange doing this in civvies though, we wont be able to bring any heavy weapons"

"Though it out Colonel", Drakon smiled, "Now go and get changed, we spend hours in thrift stores to get clothes that would fit in over there"

Varro snapped off a salute, turned and left the room with Leonetti in tow, Drakon turned his attention back to the screen and watched the alien ship, his eyes narrowed as his teeth bit into his cigar, he relished the day a human boot was pounding a lizards face into the dirt, he hoped it was his.

….

An hour later the gate sprung to life again, thirteen people soon emerged, five of them wearing clothing that was civilian in nature and would pass for the fashion on the planet, the other eight wore dark navy BDU's and were armed to the teeth.

"Major, stay here and secure our exit, don't let the guards spot anyone"

"Aye ma'am, they wont have a clue", Valus nodded to her and turned to the other armed soldiers, Varro waved the other four with civvies over to the door.

She examined them one last time, they all looked like back packers with the large rucksacks they were carrying, each contained a disassembled weapon and survival gear, other than they they would be relying on concealed weapons.

"Jenson, take point with Leonetti, Hargrove take the back, myself and Maya will be in the middle, and try not to look out of place", She turned to the native man, "You know how to get to your friends hideout from here?"

Tony nodded, "Yeah, but it's a good distance from here, hours of walking, we might need to hitch-hike"

Varro considered that for a nano second before shaking her head, "No, if someone tried to talk to us we'd give ourselves away in a heartbeat, we'll walk", she took a moment to glance out the dirty stained window near the door, "We'll see if we can commandeer a vehicle"

Tony nodded, "We're near enough to the airport, we could grab one from long term parking"

Varro considered that, "Could work, alright team, lets move"

A simple deadbolt was all that kept the side door locked, Varro pulled it back and the team exited into the cool night air of the planet, hand signals directed the team to the perimeter of the compound and its chain link fence, Jenson pulled off his backpack and took out a folding pair of bolt cutters, moments later a slit had been cut and pulled open to all the team passage.

Once outside Tony took the front and led them down side alleys and on to a main road, they followed it for a bit before coming to what was clearly a large open car park, the sound of jet engines powering up echoed over the buildings around them, "This is it"

Varro took in the facility, one old security guard sat at a booth beside the entrance, it looked like he controlled the barrier, "We look like tourists, so getting in wont be a problem, Leonetti, do you have enough to pay for a car leaving?"

Tony pulled out his wallet, "Yeah, I should, we're just walking in?"

Varro nodded, "We don't need to be making a scene right now, we walk in like we belong, find a big enough vehicle then drive on out"

Tony shrugged, "Alright, leave any talking to me then, those translators are pretty obvious"

Varro nodded and the team crossed the road, she gave a small wave and a smile to the security guard as they passed, he returned the wave and returned to his newspaper, good, now to find something to drive, "Keep an eye out, we need something big enough for all of us"

They wandered deeper into the paved lot, passing primitive looking cars and trucks until Varro spotted the perfect vehicle, a panel van, "You can drive right?", she asked their native guide.

"Sure, but how will we get in?"

Varro smirked, "Maya, open the door, see if you can hot-wire it"

The small woman nodded and moved over to the white van, she pulled a set of picks from her pocket, "Looks simple enough, no alarms or anything", it took her a few seconds to get the door open, she ducked her head under the column, "Yeah, this is pretty primitive alright, I bet the thing still uses a carb"

Soon the engine rumbled to life and the team climbed in, piling in to the back of the van, Tony hopped into the drivers seat while Varro took shotgun, soon the van started to move, Tony drove up to the security desk.

The guard stood and stretched then came out of his post, "Got your ticket?"

Tony affected an embarrassed look, "Sorry man, we lost it while on holiday"

The guard sighed, "Wait here a minute", he went back into his shack and returned with a paper form, "I'll need your details plus we'll have to charge the maximum fee"

"Sure man, got a pen?", The guard handed over the paper to Tony while Varro pretended to be bored, he filled out a fake name and address and forked over the fee, soon they were on the road.

"Alright, it's around a two hour drive from here", Tony said once they started moving.

Varro nodded, "Sun should be up soon too I see", the first rays of light had started to come over the horizon, she could feel the area begin to heat up, she relaxed in the cheap seat and started to take in the looming form of the hovering ship.

The hours passed in silence before they took a turn off the main road and on to a dirt track, they passed through an old brick tunnel before arriving at a derelict looking building with smashed windows, it looked to have been a warehouse or factory in the past.

"This is it, let me do the talking", Leonetti spoke as he exited the van, Varro followed him out as the rest of the team exited the rear doors of the van, she waited as Leonettei moved towards the building and spoke with a man who appeared, he looked like a priest to her eyes.

"C'mon, they're inside", Leonetti waved them over and walked in, Varro and her men followed suit.

They walked inside and went deep into the back to find a confrontation between two groups, she raised her hand to stop her team at the corner and listened.

"How are you doing Gooder", a man with a receding hairline wearing a black leather jacket seemed to be the leader of one group.

"Heh, that's short for dogooder", the man she knew as Donovan spoke, "A little nickname he's got for me"

Varro tuned out the rest and turned to Leonetti, "You know him?"

Tony had a scowl stretched across his face, "Yeah, Ham Tyler, a government spook, me and Mike go way back with him"

Varro nodded, she listened to the back and forward between Donovan and the now named Tyler for a few minutes more before she stepped into the open with her team behind her, "I hope were not interrupting"

Guns were turned her way, she ignored it with her years of experience, Donovan looked surprised, "Tony, you came back, and with them too"

Tyler looked less happy, "You know these people, what language is that?"

"Nothing you know, we came here to help", Varro spoke, watching as Donovan waved for his men to lower their weapons and Tyler nodded for the same, the tension began to drop when the priest ran into the room his face flushed with concern.

"Everyone!, that was Ruby, the Visitors, they're on their way, we've got to get out of here"

"Lets move people, out the back!", Donovan shouted as Tyler approached her.

"Military?"

She nodded, "Yes, you?"

"Covert operations", he took in her team as they began to pull their weapons out of the backpacks, "Those guns of yours work on Visitor armour?"

Varro nodded as she pulled her bull pup assault rifle out, "It worked a treat last time, what about those", She nodded to the men behind him, all sported one weapon or another, from rifles to sub machine guns.

Ham put his hand out as the heavy set mustached man handed him an SMG, "Teflon coated bullets, they work"

Ham looked over to where Donovan was getting people out, "Gooder, you got any explosives, we need to blow this joint"

Donovan nodded, "Yeah, we have some dynamite, I'll get it", he turned and disappeared down a corridor.

Ham looked back to Varro, "I don't know you, or trust you but you're not Visitors and right now that's good enough"

He pointed to the corridor where the rebels were retreating, "We're going to slow them down and buy time for the rest to get out, you with us?"

Varro nodded, this sounded like the perfect in with the rebels, "Yes", she turned to her men, "Through there, find some cover and wait"

They moved into the next room, a laundry room of some type and took up positions beside the machinery as the heavy set man darted down the stairs in the back with the explosive charges Donovan had provided, Donovan came next ushering the last of the rebels through and gave her a nod as he passed.

She could hear the stomping of boots growing closer, footsteps thundering down the stairs above, then weapons fire, the strange twang of the Visitor energy rifles then full automatic fire in retaliation, Tyler rushed through the door dodging several shots and dived behind a large silver laundry machine.

"Here they come!"

The first red clad alien rushed around the corner, clearly not expecting four Colonial marines and a local to unload on him, the reptile was torn to shreds by the heavy anti Cylon rounds, splattering blood and viscera on the wall.

The next combat rolled into cover and fired a few blue bolts in their direction to cover his friends coming in, too bad for him Varro's burst tore through his thin cover of old laundry detergent boxes, she ducked down as more aliens came through the door, blue bolts sparking off the shiny surface of the washing machine.

She popped out and put another burst in one who was standing in the open, the three rounds punching through his armour and out his back, these Visitors weren't the best soldiers if this was all they had.

"Mitch, are you done?", Tyler shouted back to his portly friend, more aliens dove through the door blue bolts making them keep their heads down, she poked her rifle through a gap in her cover and blasted one in the leg, he fell over and took a burst in the face from Maya, it's head exploded like a ripe melon.

"Just about, come on through", a voice shouted back from the hole in the brick wall, Varro gave a hand signal for her men to fall back through, she popped up and put a barrage down range, making the aliens keep their heads down, Tyler stood and did the same as they both backed into the passage.

"Go", Tyler spoke as he took a detonator from his friend, Varro didn't wait to answer she and her men sprinted down the tight hallway to a hole in the ground leading to the sewers, they quickly dropped down as an explosion rang out above, it threw dust down on them as they rushed after the fleeing rebels.

Varro halted, gun trained on the hole as a shape dropped down, Tyler stood and dusted his shoulders off, "Lets move", Varro nodded and followed him out.

….

Hours of wading through a sewer and a truck ride later found them in a country ranch, supposedly used for producing films at some point in the past, there were even sections of railway carriages on site, Varro and her team were seated in a large wooden building, an old pre electricity bar used for filming.

Her men were off to the side at another table but she was sitting with two others, one was Donovan, the other Tyler, it was time to get explanations.

Donovan was leaning back, a look of disbelief on his face, "So, you're telling me there's other planets out there with humans on them?", he sighed, "I thought you were some kind of black ops group when you gave me that story when we first met"

Tyler focused on her, scrutinising every move she made, "We already know humans don't originate here", he spoke to Donovan's surprise.

"What, since when?"

"The government covered it up years ago, I had enough clearance to know", he turned to Varro, "So you came through the gate of the gods, always wondered where they stuffed it"

"It's in the depot where we first met", she nodded to Donovan, "We'll need your help to move it"

Donovan raised his hands, "Now, hold on a minute, we need to rescue our leader first, they have her"

Tyler shook his head, "She's dead by now, or they put her through one of their conversion chambers, if her brain ain't full of holes she'll be singing their praises"

Varro raised an eyebrow, "I thought you were the leader?"

"No, Juliet ran most things here, people look up to her, I'm just a dumb reporter", Donovan sighed out, "I'm going to talk to my contact among the Visitors, he might know something"

Varro's expression shifted to curiosity, "You have a contact with them?, I thought they ate people"

Donovan smiled, "They helped me before, the Fifth Column, the visitors have their own rebels too", he stood up, "I'll be gone for awhile", he walked out of the swinging doors.

Tyler however remained seated, "I talked to Mike's friend, Tony, he had a few storied about your people, a whole fleet of space ships?"

Varron nodded, "We do, but we need to know more before commit to anything, for now if you can move the gate to a secure location", she waved her hand to indicate the ranch, "like here, we can start shipping in arms for the rebels, including heavy weapons like anti aircraft missiles and machine guns"

Tyler nodded, "Our own were completely ineffective against Visitor craft, I know that much from first hand experience, but something tells me yours wont have that problem, would your government be willing to commit forces against the Visitors?"

Varro shrugged, "Not until we know more, about them and their enemies, one of our ships acquired some information about them, nothing good", she nodded to Maya, "Bring over the files"

Maya rooted in her backpack and pulled out a manila folder and brought it over, Varro flipped through the files and stopped on a picture, two alien forms side by side, one a bug eyed insectile alien with compound eyes, the other the same alien in it's coppery organic looking armour.

She tossed the picture to Tyler, "What we believe are the Visitors enemies, they also have a taste for human flesh and seem to be some kind of insectile creatures, we think they are an even bigger threat"

Tyler glanced at the image, "These bugs have a name?"

"Ovions"

He nodded, "So you want information and in return are offering weapons, I got that right?"

Varro nodded, "For now yes, there's no chance the Fleet would let those lizards control this world but right now we need time to prepare and learn everything we can"

"Alright", Tyler stood up, "Follow me"

He led Varro to a broken down van, he moved around the back and threw open the doors, inside was a man wearing a red Visitor uniform, "Rise and shine, we're got some questions", Tyler glanced back to Varro, "This here is Willy, Donovan's group caught him during their raid on the hospital the other night, it caused quite a stir when they exposed the Visitor leader John live on T.V."

The curly blonde haired alien looked up at Tyler, "I mean no harm", he spoke in a distorted voice, it had a reverb that gave away his alien nature.

"Yeah sure", he looked to Varro, "The only good lizard is a dead lizard, but tell that to Donovon, he's too soft", Tyler shoved the picture into Willy's face, "Recognise these?"

The seeming soft hearted alien took a moment to look at the picture before he recoiled in horror, "The enemy, how?, are they here?"

"So you know them, Varro here tells me you Visitors might be at war with them"

Willy hissed and turned away from the picture, "Yes, for many generations we have fought them, the war has been a stalemate for some time but we are slowly loosing", he looked to Varro, "Please, believe me, many of us came here with the best intentions, I didn't know the leader would allow the consumption of humans, that is something the enemy would do"

Varro fixed him with a hard gaze, "So, they eat you too?"

Willy's head dropped, "Yes, they raid our worlds and steal those who are unlucky and take them to their hives", he looked up at Tyler, "They would do the same to you"

Tyler shrugged, "I'll care when they have ships hovering over all our cities", he jumped down and slammed the van door shut, "Alright Colonel, I'm convinced enough to move this gate of yours, give me an hour to set something up"

….

They had loaded up into two large trucks with several of Tyler's men, one a standard box truck the other a flatbed, they then spent the next few hours travelling back to the military depot, the sun had dropped in the sky and darkness had returned by the time they arrived.

"Pull over here", Varro pointed to a side road beside the depot, she pulled out her radio, "Scorpion to Fox, status update", they had decided on her code name simply because she came from Scorpia.

"Fox here, it's been quiet since you left, we remain undetected", Major Valus' voice came over the radio.

"Good, we're with the rebels outside the depot, see if you can take the guards down, silently"

"We're on it, out"

Tyler who had been listening in, nodded, "That should make this easy", he started up the engine and drove the truck so they had sight on the gate into the depot, one of the two red clad guards was standing in front of the closed gate, they had front row seats as a dark form crept up behind it and quietly drove a knife into the base of its skull before dragging the body back into the darkness.

Another had crept up to the door of the guard post and knocked from the shadows, the guard got up and stepped outside in confusion at the lack of someone there before they were pulled to the ground and clobbered with a baton, they too were dragged into the darkness.

"Entryway is clear"

"Good work major, see if you can get that gate up"

Soon the wooden barrier was raised and the trucks drove in, Varro directed them to the warehouse containing the gate and hopped out, Valus stepped out of a shadow and saluted her, "Colonel, these the rebels?"

"Yeah, get the loading door open, I want us gone as fast as possible"

She waved Tyler over and led him inside, the rate with the gate was still where they left it, a neat circular hole burned right through the wood, beside it in a smaller ripped open crate was the DHD, "Watch", Varro pointed to Maya, "Dial home, it's time we reported in"

Moments later the gate burst to life and Varro watched the shocked look on the faces of the rebels, "Varro to Stargate Ops, come in"

A deep voice came out of her radio, "Drakon here, how is the mission proceeding Colonel?"

"We're just about to move the gate from the warehouse, it's a few hours from here to the rebel base"

"Confirmed Colonel, report in once you have finished, unless there's something else?"

Two of her marines appeared dragging the bodies of the guards, one was still alive, "Yes sir, we have a prisoner and another alien body, permission to sent them through"

"Granted", Varro nodded to her men, they hoisted the alien bodies and grabbed their weapons before disappearing through the gate, "We have them Colonel, contact us once the gate has been moved"

"Yes sir, Varro out", she put her radio away.

"How heavy is that thing, I see why you wanted us to bring a flatbed", Tyler gingerly walked closer to where the wormhole had been, he reached out and touched the gate, "We'll need something to load it with"

"There's a forklift in the other warehouse", Valus spoke up from behind, the loading bay door began to slide open and the flatbed truck reversed up.

Minutes passed as the forklift was brought around and the gate and DHD loaded up, the rest of Varro's men hopped in the back of the other truck with the rebels and soon they were done, Varro felt relief wash over her, so far so good.

They exited unopposed, no one was around to sound any alarms and they made it back to the ranch in total darkness, Varro felt the fatigue of the past day catch up, still she smiled to herself, mission accomplished.

Union Building, Earth

Council Chambers

25th October 2065

James Royce settled in to his seat as the council session started, the past few days had been strange, the gift of the Asgard had the whole council, president and parliament in a tizzy, the ramifications of the technology if allowed to proliferate and it's impact on the economy were the chief concerns.

Royce however had other matters on his mind, Xavier Blackwell and his secret project, he had to grit his teeth and allow the Eurondans on the planet, as far as everyone else was concerned Blackwell was simply studying a black hole with a radio telescope, so what issue could Royce have with putting them on a distant planet under their control that contained nothing of value.

He had to allow them there or risk others discovering his pet project, he had increased security at the facility and in the newly forming town to make sure the Nazi wannabe's knew their place but that was the extent of what he could do.

Then there was Blackwell's deteriorating mental state, the reports he received from the people he had embedded in the research and security teams had become disturbing, Blackwell had been a pretty normal scientist, respected by his peers and his knowledge of high energy physics worked for both the project and the cover, now it seemed he was getting delusions of godhood.

He issued orders to his men to stop Blackwell if anything actually happened, but so far, craziness aside the project was still on track although Blackwell had taken up a strange habit of staring into the remains of the Ancient mirror device, perhaps the proximity had affected his mind somehow, he'd make sure they took some brain scans.

Blackwell had said it was nearly time for testing, but he wanted something big, to shutdown the stargate for a week, he claimed the stargate could effect the machine he had built and didn't want anyone dialling in or out during his tests, Royce was still considering the proposal and how he could spin it to the other members of the government, they'd need to ship enough supplies through for the Eurondans first too.

He sighed, another week and he'd be able to do it, he'd see if Blackwell could deliver, if not perhaps it was time to replace him, he tapped his finger on the table in thought, the war seemed to be nearing its end, perhaps it would be best to wait until then.

"Are you ready Chairman Royce?", a Germanic voice asked, Councillor Dussel, she was giving him an ice cold stare, it knocked him out of his introspection.

"Yes, send the director in"

Director Harold Simmons walked in soon after, the tired looking engineer looked to have been lacking sleep for the past few days, he took a seat facing the semi circular council table.

"Councillors, I have the initial assessment of the Asgard technology", even tired a hint of excitement was evident in his voice.

Royce nodded, "Please proceed, Director"

Simmons nodded, "In short, this is revolutionary, the effect this will have on every industrial process is unbelievable, but ill stick to my area for now"

He stood up and began to pace, "It might take a while for us to fully understand this stuff but the alien, Thor, included designs for printers we can produce immediately, things we can build with our own technology"

"I expect in the future we might be able to simply print whole ships but we're a long way from that, what we can do right now is massively speed up our ship hull production, the plans we have are for molecular forges, they could print whole ship sections we can then put together, we'll still need to manufacture the systems ourselves, and yes, we can use molecular printers in those processes too"

He stopped in front of his chair and sat, letting out a sigh, "Our bottleneck right now will be producing the machinery itself, but once we have it we'll be able to pump out ships like no ones business, and that's not even touching the other avenues now open to us, like new alloys and compounds", he shook his head, "Most of that stuff is beyond me"

Royce nodded, "I see, how long to make these machines?"

Simmons rubbed his chin, a layer of unshaven stubble clung to it, "A month or two for the first, after that it'll speed up"

Councillor Wei leaned forward, "And what about all the jobs about to be lost because of this, the whole manufacturing sector could be unemployed"

Simmons shrugged, "Our first machines will be only able to produce simple things, like sheets of armour or unfinished ship sections, not complex machinery", he nodded to Wei, "In time we will be able to print whole devices but not for some time"

He looked at the council, "Think of it like this, we just invented the first radio or TV, it's going to take time until we reach a level similar to say the early twenty first century, right now we're just taking the first steps with this technology"

Councillor Pavlova nodded, "We have time to adjust our economy to the new reality, there will also be a plethora of jobs in transport and primary industries like mining"

Royce nodded, "The space mining industry is experiencing massive growth and expansion, there are still plenty of jobs"

"We are also rapidly expanding our military forces, those people will have somewhere to go", Councillor Kumar added.

Mollified, Wei nodded and relaxed in his chair, Royce looked back to Simmons, "Exactly how fast will ship production become?"

Simmons pulled out a grubby bit of paper, "According to the specs of the machine, in a perfect world assuming no other issues, it should be able to print a hundred meter hull section for a cruiser scaled machine per day, five days for the whole hull"

Simmons looked to Royce, "If every other component is on hand the work crews should be able to finish the entire ship in another three weeks, so around a month, again, assuming no supply disruption or other issues"

Simmons had a faint smile on his lips as he took in the shocked reactions from the Council, "That's not even factoring in the reduced cost of the ship, we're looking at a forty percent reduction in production cost for a whole cruiser"

Royce closed his open astonished mouth, "I see", This was a game changer, forget the heavy industry of the Colonials, with this molecular printer technology the Union would far out strip them, as long as they kept tight control.

Dussel had a smug look on her face, "Excellent news Director, this technology will secure the Unions future"

"Thank you for your time Director, we'll be eager to be kept informed on the progress with the prototype machine", Royce gave him a grin, "We'll be watching with interest"

Simmons nodded and quickly shuffled out of the room, an excited murmur broke out among the council members once the door had shut behind him, Royce cleared his throat to draw their attention.

"Now, the next item on the agenda is Major Zavech's latest report, it seems he's ready to expand the testing pool", he nodded to Kerensky, "Aleksandr will be spearheading this initiative"

The former general and now governor of Arcadia and recently full council member nodded, "Yes, the initial plan is to begin testing on select military forces, we want a full stress test of the genetic upgrades before we allow its full deployment across all departments and the civilian population"

Royce leaned back in his chair, hands rubbing at his chin as he returned to thinking about Blackwell, once the testing was over with it would be time to remove him, clearly the project had a detrimental effect on his mind, he could no longer be assured that he would be able to keep silent, he would need to be removed.

Sentinel Station

Conference Room

Admiralty Meeting

The room felt empty with the absence of Admiral Rooks and the others but meetings had to happen either way, Fleet Admiral Coleman took in the faces sitting around the table, there were some extra faces this time, the fleet had been expanding as fast as it could.

He nodded to Admiral Lila Thorne, she was a new member and would be heading up the logistics department for the fleet, beside her sat another new face, Admiral Ashford, heading up the new intel department, both had been transferred from the dwindling national space forces to take up their new posts.

The familiar faces of Barrowman and Fontana were already in deep discussion when Coleman started the meeting.

"Barrowman, you've gone over the report on the new molecular printer, how will it effect our fleet numbers?"

Barrowman had a smile plastered on his face, "If what I'm being told is true we 'll be able to churn them out in no time, any class"

Coleman nodded, he had heard the same things, "Good, it means we can accelerate our fleet revision and upgrade plans"

The admirals all nodded, it was long over due after all, nearly every one of their early ships were now completely obsolete, even with upgrades, it was time to look to the future with ships like the Castle, Tower and Venus showing the way.

Ashford rubbed his chin, "Forgive me for not getting caught up but what does this entail?, I've been mostly catching up on the intel reports not fleet developments"

Coleman nodded to Ashford, "Our first generation of ships have become obsolete, the frigates have already left production and are being replaced with the new Castle class, next we will be replacing our destroyers and stopping production of the Sword class cruisers"

Ashford raised an eyebrow, "Stopping the cruisers, not replacing them?"

"Yes, the Armour class will be replaced with the new Fortress class Destroyer, the design had been finalised and it will soon enter production", he shrugged, "As for the Swords, we are ending production entirely in favour of the Venus class, which will be re designated as a cruiser rather than a heavy cruiser"

Barrowman nodded with a smile, "The new Fortress will be something else, four hundred meters long and brimming with weapons, it will be a great compliment to the Venus and our new battleship class"

Fontana leaned back with a bored expression, "And just when will we be getting those?"

Barrowman's smile stretched further, "The design has already been finalised, the experience gained from the Minotaur really helped there, right now we just need to build more yards able to handle vessels of it's size"

Coleman leaned forward, "As soon as those yards become operational we'll be starting production, which thanks to the new printer technology will be sooner than expected, it's been tentatively named the Titan Class"

Admiral Thorne nodded, "That's all well and good, but what about our transport capacity, we're overly reliant on Colonial ships right now"

"Already under consideration, Admiral", Barrowman spoke, "We have a few new large scale transport designs under consideration to suit all our needs, and added to the new marine landing ships entering production like the Triumph we should be set for the future"

"Our biggest limiting factor will be crewing these ships not building them", Fontana commented, "We need to build more training centres and increase recruitment"

Coleman nodded, "I'll take it with with the president next time we meet, but the numbers are starting to pick up, your right about our lack of facilities but we should be able to use the old ships for training"

Thalaris

30th October 2065

The fleet looked on as flashes of light lit up orbit of the captured world, three large ships led a procession of smaller ships, the Minotaur's had arrived and brought reinforcements in the form of an additional twenty Castle class frigates.

"Sir, Admiral Borman is on the line"

"Patch him through", Rooks said from his command chair, he turned to the screen beside him where Rooks face awaited.

"Admiral, glad you made it, how is the new ship?"

Borman's face broke out into a big smile, "Everything I could have hoped for, the Aschen wont know what hit them"

Rooks felt Borman's infectious smile and broke into a grin himself, "Good, we'll have a command level meeting in an hour", he nodded to Borman, "Tomorrow we hit Noxara, those new ships will be at the forefront of our plans"

Borman saluted and cut the connection, Rooks relaxed in his chair and looked to the screen showing the new ships, the sleek curved Colonial design to the heavy pulse cannon turrets, Borman was right, the Aschen wouldn't know what hit them.

Aschen Prime

30th October 2065

Quest pushed through the throngs of people and into the large square before the government building, he craned his neck up and took in the colossal structure, nearly a kilometre tall and coloured the same dull grey as the rest of the buildings in Kraelion city.

A shimmering shield enclosed the whole place and kept out the polluted air from outside the city, to him the place seemed clean and well ordered, everyone wore the same robe like clothing in shades from brown to grey, to the untrained eye everything looked normal.

He started walking away from the centre of Aschen power, the fake identity that Minister Cyrlen had arranged granted him trouble free movement around the city, he filed up with more bland looking Aschen civilians and boarded a hovering transport craft, their equivalent of a bus.

Once you got away from the city centre the problems started to become apparent, poor air quality had most people walking around with breathing apparatus, destitute people milled around aimlessly, people lined up at the ration stations for their daily food, it reminded him of images of breadlines during the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The craft came in for a landing and Quest put on a breather, he exited into the thick industrial soup and started to make his way, tired hopeless faces gazed at him as he passed, their expressions soon turned to anger as they took in his clean clothes and healthy appearance.

He stuck out like a sore thumb, healthy and muscular compared to the skinny and dirty people who crowed the slums, they existed at a subsistence level and it showed, bones poked out of skin on everyone he passed by, some too weak to even stand and simply sat and stared, even the Aschen's suppressing drug was rationed here.

His journey was thankfully quick and he ducked into the door of the warehouse, his rebel shadow following in behind him, "So, Agent Quest, what do you think?", the rebel name Quaid asked.

"Guard post with five guards at the front, two of those big robots in the wings there too and turrets on the corners, lethal?"

"Stun weapons, they also have around twenty security drones patrolling around the building and a garrison of another one hundred security troops stationed in the basement"

Quest nodded, "Seems a bit light for the leaders of your nation"

Quaid shrugged, "If anything major were to happen the governing Council would be evacuated to their fall back station from the roof top, as we desire, do you think we can succeed"

"Yes, if they only have a hundred men on call", Quest made his way over to the crates stored within the warehouse and threw one open, a green tube was inside, "We brought a few hundred disposable rocket launchers along with thousands of guns", he turned back to Quaid, "How long until reinforcements arrive?"

"Five minutes at the latest, but with the riots ongoing as we plan that should be far longer"

The plan was simple enough, the rebels planned to spark off a riot in the commercial section of the city, neatly placed between the government building and the main security facility in the city, while rebel agitators were riling up the crowd, half the actual rebel force would assault the government building while the other half attacked the security forces facility.

"How many Molotov's are ready?"

"Several thousand so far", Quaid answered as he moved to stand beside Quest, "I must admit the idea of such improvised weapons did not occur to us, the Proterzium and lack of access to information has dulled our creativity"

Quest grunted as he hefted a crate down, they would be supplying the rioters with the Molotov's and letting it burn for an hour or two before they made their move, just long enough to tie up as many Aschen security forces as they could, it was set to be the biggest riot the world had seen for a long time.

He pried open the crate and took out a rifle, a quick check and he tossed it back before moving on to a crate of ammo, they were down to the last few crates of guns and ammo, the rest had already been distributed to the rebel forces after a crash course in their use from Quest.

"Alright, when does the next group arrive?"

"Two hours"

Quest nodded, he waved over several rebels milling around at the edge of the warehouse, "Start getting this stuff unpacked", he opened another crate that was full of ammo and magazine pouches before closing it again.

"Last one is it?"

Quaid nodded, "Yes, it is the last group, we have been preparing for this ever since the war started, we will not fail", Quest saw a hint of fear in Quaid's eyes, "We have one more day left, then we strike"

The plan was to start the riot the day after tomorrow, just as the news of the attack on Noxara should be spreading around, even if the fleet's attack failed the news alone would cause disruptions to the rationing on Aschen Prime, enough to fuel the riot after the rebels lit a spark.

Quest slapped Quaid on the shoulder, "C'mon, lets hit the range, you need to work on handling the recoil", he led him over to the make shift firing range in the back, "We're at the finish line Quaid, it's time to cross it"

Quaid gave him a solemn nod, "I understand, we will not fail"

Noxara

31st October 2065

Tirron paced back and forward across the bridge, they had arrived here a few days ago, his three remaining ships and the remnants of the Vyralon defence force, they had received the news of the fall of Thalaris on the way, morale was low.

It was during their return to Aschen Prime that he had been ordered here, after he had reported the desertion of Commander Kaelen and her ship, the only conclusion he could draw was that he would be sacrificed here, that became more apparent after they had arrived and discovered that over half the defence fleet had been recalled to Aschen Prime.

It left the planet with a paltry twenty combat vessels for defence when he included the addition of his force, normally a formidable force, especially considering the stout defences on the planet itself and in orbit, but not enough to stop the Terran advance.

He stopped his pacing and turned his eyes to a screen listing all his available forces, another problem foisted upon him by command, he was now in charge after the senior commander had been recalled, his finger touched the screen and went down the list.

"Four stations, minimally armed, not much use against warships", his finger trailed down further, "One hundred defence platforms", the platforms were new, constructed on Aschen prime and brought here once the war had started, unfortunately they were poorly armed and shielded, sporting only light guns and several drones each.

The planet below was also home to the new anti orbital cannons, forty in total to give complete coverage, they still only hit with the power of a cruisers main weapon but it was more than nothing.

He felt his body ache, a symptom of the immense stress he felt, his hair had even started to turn grey, unusual for a man of only eighty in Aschen society, he let out a sigh as he sat in his command chair.

"Lubon, status report"

The man at the control console at the front of the bridge typing away turned to his commander, "No changes, the Terran ship is still holding position two light years away and is still performing subspace scans of the system"

Tirron sighed, the Terrans had been sending a ship every few hours to locations outside the system and scanning away with his forces unable to respond in time, it would take days for his ship to get there, but this time was different, the ship had stayed in position.

"They must man to attack today, bring the fleet to alert status", he looked to Lubon, "Have the drones form up into groups like we discussed, I don't want a repeat of their total loss over Thalaris"

Tirron felt a scowl break through his normally controlled and suppressed emotional state, the Terrans seemed to have unique and inventive weapons systems in spades, they had seemed primitive during their first encounter but that assessment must have been completely wrong.

"Aye, sir", Lubon was his typical efficient and composed self.

Tirron rubbed at the stubble growing on his chin, "Lubon, have you completed the reassessment on the Terrans?"

Lubon turned back around, "Partially sir, there are some notable discrepancies in Terran ship performance, take the ship currently observing this system, it has a fully developed subspace sensor array on par with our own, while the first ships we encountered had only rudimentary radio and laser detectors"

A beep came from his console, "The planet based drones have entered orbit, I have dispersed them evenly around the planet in small groupings, the Terran anti drone weapon should not be as effective as the last time"

Tirron nodded, "Have them stick to our ship formations for anti missile defence, sending them out on their own has half the problem over Thalaris", he rubbed at his chin as he contemplated Lubon's words, "Their ships also lacked shields during our first encounter but afterwards that changed too"

Lubon nodded, "Indeed, I have been analysing these factors and come to several possible conclusions, one, the Terrans rapidly advanced based on their encounters with us, I don't find this scenario likely"

"No, even with their fast FTL method, I doubt they could re-equip their ships and develop new technology that fast"

"Scenario two, their nation is so vast that their outer reaches are near our own, what we first encountered was a patrol group long over due for overhaul and thus were under equipped"

Tirron mulled it over for a moment, "Possible but unlikely, if they were that close I'm sure we would have detected them"

Lubon nodded, "I concur, my last scenario, the ships we encountered were all that was available and were sent, possibly from a fleet reserve yard, this meshes with the existence of an alien empire we know as the Goa'uld who the Terrans are at war with, they have now rerouted more advanced forces to combat us"

Tirron internally cursed the idiot Mollem, what compelled him to send a bio weapon through the gate and draw the ire of a foreign nation they knew nothing about, one that was far more powerful than they realised.

"Sir, if scenario three is right and I believe it is the most accurate, I fear we might not be able to win a protracted war"

Tirron had similar feelings, especially when it appeared the governing council was stripping the mobile assets from the colony worlds, and sending him here instead of allowing him to return to Aschen prime was another warning sign, he was thinking they wanted him gone.

Lubon pressed a button and a holographic image of several Terran ships appeared, Tirron stood and moved closer, examining the very large vessels near the end, one was similar to the ship he had disabled over Volia, the other had a long cylindrical structure with large turrets dotted about, he had not encountered that one.

"I have identified the large ships with the hangar bays as some kind of support vessel, they only seem to be armed with laser weapons and what looks to be shields as an after thought, while large they pose less risk than the other types of ship", Lubon's crisp voice spoke.

The image changed to the large vessel they had first encountered, what they had assumed was a battleship but now that seemed to be wrong, two other ships that were slightly larger joined it floating in the bridge, "We first encountered the vessel on the left without shields but ever since we our forces only found them with shield generators, our scans indicate they are only sixty six percent as strong as the shields on our own cruiser class vessels on a ship that is twice as long and several times more massive"

Lubon hit a control and an Aschen cruiser appeared for scale, a ship just like his own, "While we initial assumed a standard fusion reactor further analysis proves their reactors produce more power than should be possible from fusion alone, although this is lower than our own reactor output it is powerful enough to be competitive"

Tirron nodded, their reactors used hydrogen and anti hydrogen in a controlled anti matter reaction, while the Aschen had access to naquadah and had invented a reactor that utilised it the supply was far too low to consider wasting as fuel, care had to be taken lest the anti matter storage tanks were penetrated, it was why their ships tended to die painfully once the shields had been penetrated.

"Two of these mid sized Terran vessels come equipped with particle weapons that while inferior to our own in raw power have an interesting property when they impact shields", Lubon played a small scene from the battle over Vyralon, the unstable looking Terran particle fire impacting upon Aschen shields with force, "Their unstable nature causes disruption to the shield matrix, giving these weapons a superior performance against shields"

"How great is this effect and can we defend against it?", Tirron asked, it was just more proof they had severely underestimated their foes.

"It increases the weapons effectiveness against shields by fifty percent", Lubon shrugged, "As for defending against this effect, I would need more time and access to equipment, in essence a task for our scientists to work upon"

Tirron felt his energy drain, "And that other massive ship, it has similar design principles as those two large cylindrical vessels"

Lubon nodded, the large ship appeared hovering in front of Tirron, "This seems to be the command ship for the Terran forces, it is armed with numerous particle weapons turrets, all far larger than those on the smaller vessels, even with the more primitive Terran technology this ship is more than a match for anything in our arsenal, I calculate it could handily defeat two of our battleships simultaneously"

"And we have no battleships here, our cruisers are no match for that thing", Tirron returned to his seat, his voice bitter and tired.

A beep sounded from Lubon's console, "Sir, the drones are in position and all ships and platforms are at alert status"

Tirron nodded, "Good, now we wait, I expect the attack will be soon"

A little over an hour later it began, "Commander, enemy forces are arriving", Lubon burst out, "Over one hundred contacts"

A million kilometers from the planet the Terran fleet had arrived and parked right at the front were three new large vessels, each packed full of brand new weapons.

"On screen", was all Tirron could say.

His eyes widened as he took in the forces arrayed against him, "Lubon, analysis"

"Reading one hundred and ten vessels ranging from two hundred meters to one thousand eight hundred, the three twelve hundred meter ships stationed in front are a new type, currently all ships are maintaining position"

Tirron steepled his hands as he began to think, "Order all our ships to hold position for now, I expect they'll begin long range missile attacks, have our drone squadrons on standby and lets hope the new anti missile guns on the defence satellites are as good as we were told"

His eyes drifted to the three new ships, they looked aggressive and powerful with their curves and angles, he could even see the sheer number of turrets dotted about their hulls, "Lubon, give me a detailed analysis of those new ships"

"One moment sir", he began to type on his console, "Oh", more typing, Tirron didn't like the sound of that 'Oh'.

"Lubon, what is it?"

"Those three ships and several others in the fleet have much more advanced technology than the others, the weapons and shields are far more powerful than the other Terran vessels", Tirron watched as the imaged changed to a close up of one of the turrets, "These are the largest weapons on those ships, based on these scans they are twice as powerful as our own battleship cannons and the ship has numerous other weapons systems"

Lubon turned around, "Those three ships alone are more than enough to destroy our forces here"

….

"Jump complete"

"Bring up the planet on the holotable, highlight the enemy forces", Rooks stood from his seat and moved to the table, "Get the senior commanders on the line"

"Aye sir"

A three dimensional image of the planet appeared in front of Rooks, Noxara was a world of mostly water with the occasional island dotted here and there, it was also the largest producer of animal proteins in the Confederation with it's massive fish farms.

Most of the Aschen colony worlds mostly dealt with farming crops, mostly grains, except for two notable exceptions, here and Aschara, Aschara had vast herds of creatures similar to Bovines which fed the upper classes of Aschen society, Noxara provided fish for them too but mostly produced protein paste to be added to the rations the underclasses received.

Rooks watched as red circles formed around every powered Aschen object in orbit, the four huge orbital transfer stations were evenly spread around the planet with small detachments of ships huddling near each one, and over a hundred satellites gave total coverage to the world, scans had shown that most were armed.

"Only twenty warships", he mused, there had been fifty when they first scanned the world, "Must have been recalled"

Their new rebel contacts in the Aschen government had shed some light on the odd fleet movements they had spotted, all the remaining colony worlds had been ordered to send the majority of their combat vessels to Aschen Prime and Aschara, including all the battleships, an edict from the ruling council who were more concerned about themselves than their nation.

Flat panels began to appear on the projector, each one containing the face of the senior officers of the fleet, including the Colonial Admiral Ferore and the three Terran Admirals, Borman, Ivanov and DuGalle.

"Admirals", Rooks nodded to the men, "We'll continue on as planned unless the Aschen make a move", he looked to the three Terran admirals, "Are your ships ready?"

Borman was the first to speak, "Yes, we've tested every system and ran the crew through their paces, we're ready"

The two other admirals echoed a similar statement, "Alright gentlemen, we'll recharge our drives as planned, unless the Aschen forces decide to come out and play", he glanced down at his watch, "After that we'll begin phase one"

…

"What are they doing?", Tirron mused to himself, the enemy ships had arrived outside of weapons range and then proceeded to do absolutely nothing, "Lubon, any change?"

"No sir, enemy ships are maintaining position"

He steepled his fingers as he thought deeply about what to do, was it a good idea to let the Terrans just sit there, perhaps it would be better to attack but the forces arrayed against his were too powerful and numerous, better to let the defence grid cover his ships.

His eyes turned to the sensor feed, the enemy ships just sitting out there, there was no way this battle could be won, the best they could do was inflict some small damage and retreat, but his orders had been clear, fight to the last.

An insistent beeping came from the communications panel, "Sir", the junior officer at comms spoke, "Commander Thalia and Soren are on the line"

Tirron raised an eyebrow, "On screen", Two blank faced commanders appeared, both were part of the local defence fleet before his arrival and promotion to senior commander after the recall of senior Commander Borren, both of them had an intense dislike of him because of that.

"Commander", Thalia spoke, her grey eyes had a hard look, "Myself and Commander Soren have questions about your loyalty"

"What?", Tirron exclaimed, "What do you mean my loyalty"

"You have allowed the enemy to remain unmolested and execute whatever plans they have without the slightest interference, we have begun to question your loyalty to the Confederation, Commander Kaelen's absence also raised questions, did she really desert or did you perhaps remove her"

Tirrons face turned bright red in anger, "Those are very severe accusations Commander, I hope you realise just what this might mean for you", he looked to Lubon who had turned to watch, shock written on his face, "Contact Commander Derin, have him join the conversation"

Thalia's expression grew smug, "Your words mean little commander, the formations you have had the defence fleet take prove where your loyalty lies and your inaction has only cemented that conclusion, the Governing Council had already ordered to be cautious with you, it would seem their suspicions were accurate"

Tirron blew a hot breath out of his nose, "I don't know what this is about Commander or what the Governing Council thinks, but I am loyal to the Confederation, to the Aschen government, these accusations are baseless and moronic"

The face of Commander Derin appeared on the screen beside the other two, he was still withdrawn after his defeat at Vyralon but the current events had brought his anger to the fore, "I don't know what game you are playing Thalia, but Tirron has been our most successful commander in this conflict, this reeks of politics"

Thalia's sneered on the screen, "Our most successful commander who fled his first battle after doing minimal damage to primitive enemy ships and lost Volia alongside several corvettes, who led an attack on the same enemy forces around Voila and again, did minimal damage but then suddenly commander Kaelen just vanished, no Commander, these are not the works of success, but of treason and failure"

Her eyes bored into Tirron, "Ever sine your first encounter we have only known failure, and that begets questions of how these Terran's seem to advance so fast and know our every move, the location of all of our worlds, you were ordered here to die commander, but it seems even that task is not something you could manage alone"

Her smug expression returned as she closed her eyes and nodded, "You are hear by relieved of command, your final orders are to fight and die", her eyes opened, her joy sickened Tirron, "A noble fate for traitors but die you will"

Angry beeps came from Lubon's console as Thalia and Soren vanished from the screen, Derin remained, a look of abject horror and confusion was being projected from the tired commander, "Sir, I have lost access to the drones", another beeping began, Lubon began to pale, "Our hyper drive is offline, disabled by Chief Minister Vex's authority?"

Tirron rushed over to Lubon's console and examined the screen, "That bitch", his first swear in years, "Vex wants us gone and Thalia is happy to oblige, I should have known something was wrong when we were ordered here instead of Aschen prime"

He turned to the screen where Derin was also horrified, "You too Commander?"

Derin nodded, "My cruiser and three three corvettes we arrived here with have been similarly disabled"

Tirron let out a loud sigh, "Alright, get your ship and those corvettes over to us", he looked down at Lubon, "Status of Thalia's ships?"

Lubon typed quickly at his console, a map of the local orbital space appeared, "Their cruisers are maintaining position and powering their hyper drives, the rest of the ships and drones are moving towards this point", a spot highlighted half way between the planet and the Terran ships.

"What are they playing at, our ships will be vulnerable outside the defence grid"

Another beep began, Lubon was quick to open another window on his console, "Sir, we have lost control of the defence grid, both the satellites and stations are now on automatic mode"

The shocked face of Derin disappeared from the screen when it suddenly went blank, followed by every console in the room turning off, "Lubon!, whats happening", Tirron felt the ship move, the inertial dampeners allowing some slight bit of acceleration to be felt.

"We've been locked out of all systems", For the first time Tirron heard a frantic note to Lubon's voice, "The ship is moving to join the others, Derin too, the automatic systems have been programmed to attack the Terran fleet"

Tirron's face paled, "Thalia", Outside the ship two Aschen cruisers tore open hyperspace portals and vanished inside, the rest of the ships began to accelerate towards the Terrans.

Lubon jumped out of his seat, "We need to disable the main computer, I cant override Minister Vex's authority but we can disable the ship"

Tirron nodded, he didn't feel like dying today, "Do it", he moved over to his command chair, fortunately the intercom was still operational, "Attention all hands, the ship is no longer under our control, we have been betrayed and are currently on a suicide course towards the enemy fleet, sound alert stations"

…

"Sir, enemy forces are beginning to move"

Rooks looked away from the other admirals and back to the plotting table, "Where are they going"

"Plotting vectors, they converge five hundred thousand kilometres from our formation"

A red dot appeared in the projection, Rooks watched as the drones that had been covering the stations and satellites broke away from the planet and rushed towards them, a sharp change from the elegant defensive formation they previously had.

"Strange, you'd think they'd take advantage of their defences, we'll be able to destroy them easily away from them", Borman commented.

Rooks eye was drawn to two Aschen cruisers vanishing from the plot, "Sensors, what happened to those ships?"

"They have retreated to hyperspace sir"

Rooks frowned, something weird was happening, a perfectly good defensive position had been abandoned for a headlong rush, he spotted the other two Aschen cruisers begin to move too but they were lagging behind the rest.

"Gentlemen, looks like our plan has been defeated", he spoke with a smile, "Sound battle stations, I want our Minotaur's at the front and have the Castles' cover them and get our fighters in the air"

The admirals nodded and disconnected, "Signal the cruisers and destroyers, tell them to prepare to fire an anti fighter torpedo barrage on the approaching ships"

Rooks turned on his heel and took his seat, "Orders to all fleet units, plot an intercept course, ahead one quarter, cone formation beta, the Minotaur group is to advance ahead and engage"

The fleet slowly angled towards the approaching enemy and ignited thrusters as ships danced around and began to get into formation, the carriers and battlestars were at the centre behind the pointed spike of the cone, covered on all sides by frigates and corvettes while the heavy warships like the cruisers and the Pride moved to be the point.

Racing away from the planet were thousands of drones and close behind were the eighteen remaining ships of the Aschen, only two of which were cruisers, "Detach the Enterprise squadrons to cover the Minotaur's, I expect most of the drones will get through the torpedoes"

The special munitions were nearly depleted, each ship only having a limited amount and most had been used during the last engagement, still, the Castle and Shield classes were designed primarily as escort ships first, they had a heavy anti fighter load out.

The sixty four Valkyrie fighters boosted away from the formation and moved into escort position around the advancing battleships while the rest of the aerospace craft lingered in the centre of the formation, waiting until they were needed.

"Time until our advance forces contact?"

"Five minutes at current velocity, assuming the enemy forces do not stop at the conversion point"

Rooks nodded, "Order to our torpedo ships, fire anti fighter barrage"

Puffs of air blew out the torpedoes from the cruisers and destroyers tubes, sending the remaining near two hundred anti fighter canister torpedoes towards the enemy before their fusion rockets kicked in and propelled them past the advancing Minotaur's.

The Ashen drones had been upgraded though, their programming recognising the danger had the drones begin to spread further apart, minutes passed as the two forces closed and the torpedoes entered range, splitting up themselves to give the most coverage before erupting and sending their deadly payload shooting forward at thousands of kilometres a second.

Drones began to spark and explode as the deadly projectile cloud tore through them, their shields deflecting several pellets each before succumbing to the sheer mass of pellets, still spreading out had helped, the torpedoes destroyed thousands but there were thousands more.

Rooks nodded, about what he had expected, "Comms, order to the fleet, separate into assigned battle groups and begin to encircle the planet, weapons free, I want that satellite defence grid gone", he looked at the sensor feed as the Minotaur's neared the approaching swarm, as the anti fighter turrets on the frigates began to turn and fire and the pd systems on the Minotaur's started to unleash a hail of flak and lead as drones began to die.

….

"Point defence systems engaging", the weapons officer cried out.

"All ships cease thrust, sensors, time until their warships are in range", Borman spat out.

"Forty seconds for the first group, two minutes for the second", the first group was thirteen enemy corvettes, the second that was trailing behind contained the two cruisers and another three corvettes.

"Target heavy pulse cannons on the lead corvette, fire as soon as they enter range, all secondary batteries are free to engage when we enter weapons range, detach the frigates to finish off the drones"

Outside the ship the remains of the drones had arrived, vastly reduced from the tens of thousands at the beginning now only several hundred remained to enter weapons range, red pulses spat out at the Terran ships to little effect, the small weapons on the drones only tickling the shields, droves of them died as pulse laser turrets and auto cannon tore them to pieces, and then the Valkyries dove into the melee, missiles and laser beams spat out and reaped a toll as they performed a high speed pass, flipping as they passed and continuing to unleash more missiles and laser beams.

Borman watched on from the spacious command centre of the Minotaur Atlas, watching as the fighters descended into a brawl with the drones as the pd systems whittled their numbers down while the Minotaur's ploughed on, he kept a detached look as fighters began to die to the remnants of the drones, but it was too late, their numbers were already massively depleted, and soon all that remained was expanding clouds of debris.

As the Minotaur's coasted closer to the Aschen ships, their turrets began to track the enemy, when the range passed less than one hundred thousand the heavy turrets opened up, one hundred centimetre pulse cannons unleashed massive blue blobs, the near light speed energy fire tearing into the lead corvette and physically shoving it backwards at the shields struggled to withstand the fire.

Unlike the old NPPC's the pulse cannons were ready to fire in only two seconds, the Corvettes were slowing down to combat speeds as they fired again, the nearly depleted shields of the first three corvettes popped like soapy bubbles and the energy bolts erased the ships underneath.

Then the lighter turrets began to fire as the heavy turrets began to track another target, a storm of fire leapt from the battleships, dozens of turrets spraying a rapid staccato of particle bolts at the approaching ships, shields blazed red as they struggled under the fire and soon began to disappear as ships succumbed to the immense power of the battleships.

The Aschen ships never even entered weapons range before all thirteen of the small warships were removed from existence.

"Fifty seconds to weapons range"

Borman was smiling, for the first time his ship felt powerful compared to his enemies, for the first time it was cannon fire that was the brunt of the Terran offence, not missiles like in every previous battle, "Fire as she bears"

"Sir, one of the cruisers has dropped out of formation, it seems to be drifting"

Borman scratched at his chin, "Leave it alone for now we might be able to capture it", he looked at the approaching ships, "Have all battleships target the still active cruiser, lets finish this now"

"Ten seconds"

The Aschen ships staggered in with no finesse or formation, the corvettes and the cruiser simply rushed forward and right into the fire of three battleships, the tough shields of the cruiser buckled as the first bolts began to impact, straining to disperse the immense power, but they held until the next volley came in, collapsing as the second Minotaur fired again and crushed the shields, the energy continued on and bored a hole right through the ship, it exploded as the anti matter fuel came into contact with the rest of the ship, spraying debris and hard radiation.

The corvettes struggled as this happened, the smaller turrets on the battleship putting a withering barrage of fire on them, pulse after pulse impacted and quickly tore them to pieces.

Then only one ship remained, still coasting on but with it's shields down and weapons unpowered, the question remained whether they should board or simply destroy it.

….

"Lubon, status", a near frantic Tirron demanded into the intercom, he had watched on the still functional screen as the rest of the Aschen force had been completely destroyed by the massive ships now drawing near to his own.

"Resetting computer systems now, it will default to its first install and get us around the command override"

Tirron held a breath as the screen and consoles flickered momentarily before returning to full functionality, "All stop, raise shields"

He took two large steps over to the communications panel and slammed his hand down on the transmit button, it had been set to broadcast on both subspace and standard radio, "This is the Starlight, we surrender", his hand lifted and he looked at the crewman, "Set it on repeat"

Tirron looked back to the screen, the ships were still approaching and he could even see the large turrets pointing right at them, for the first time in forever he did something he thought he would never do again, he prayed to the old gods for salvation.

His eyes slammed shut and he braced himself for the inevitable, but the gods must have smiled down, a booming voice barked out of the speaker, a language he didn't understand but a translation was laced on top, "Starlight, drop your shields and prepare to be boarded, any attempt at resistance will be met with lethal force"

"Drop our shields, inform the crew to cooperate with the Terrans", he sighed out as he collapsed into his chair, he watched as Lubon rushed in with a flushed face, his quick thinking and computer skills had saved them.

"Good work Lubon, I'd put you up for commendation but I don't think we would receive a warm welcome home"

Lubon nodded as he took his seat, "I concur, all those lives wasted for nothing, Commander Thalia and Minister Vex have much to answer for", a hint of anger was creeping into his normally even voice.

Tirron nodded, "I do not know what game they are playing but we nearly paid the price, unfortunately we will be indisposed for the foreseeable future"

He watched on the screen as small shuttles began to launch from the lead ship, their part in this war was over.

…

Rooks glanced down at the tactical plot as the Minotaur's finished off the Aschen force, "Message from Admiral Borman, he reports the total destruction of all Aschen mobile assets and the capture of one enemy cruiser"

"He can hold position there for now while he deals with that ship, send a message to FOB gamma, tell them to get the recovery ship ready"

Rooks turned away and looked up at the holographic projection of the planets orbit, laser beams were highlighted as they lanced out and removed the satellites from around the planet, the fleet had split into four groups and had begun the slow process of removing the Aschen defences.

The Union was always going to win this battle, there was nothing the few ships they had available could do to stop them, but who ever commanded over there had been a complete fool, if used right they could have slowed down the assault and inflicted some damage.

Now they could remove the satellite grid unopposed and from outside the range of the satellites weapons systems, after that they would deal with the stations and finally the ground based cannons, they could shoot down any fighters or bombers he sent this time due to their better coverage so he planned to simply use the planetary attack missiles with conventional warheads to remove them.

The battle was over, all that was left was to tidy up, he looked at the blue planet again, the tiny islands and occasional sea platform, he doubted they could muster any resistance to the ground invasion either, there was not much point to take anything more than the space port located on the largest island.

They'd wait a few hours anyway, give the Aschen plenty of time to phone home with the bad news, the ball was in Quests court now, him and the Aschen rebels, and tomorrow was the big day.

1st November 2065

Aschen Prime

Quest followed the nondescript man wearing the typical Aschen attire as he pushed through the rowdy crowd, the passed through the angry throngs as they made their way to a waiting hover van parked around the corner.

Once out of earshot Quest voiced a question that had been on his mind since arriving on Aschen prime, "Everyone's very emotional down here, I thought you all suppressed them?"

Quaid raised an eyebrow before breaking out in a smile, "No one down here takes those stupid pills, we only do when forced, the only idiots who believe in all that crap are the bureaucrats and civil servants, the middle classes"

"Oh", Quest rubbed at this chin, "So the poor and the rich both get away with not taking the drug but the bureaucracy, the middle managers, are true believers?"

Quaid nodded, "They believe that suppressing their emotions leads to a safer, more efficient and thus better society, and then stick their heads in the sand when reality comes knocking, in many ways they are worse than the upper classes, at least those don't even pretend to care"

They arrived at the waiting vehicle, several of Quaid's men were already handing out Molotov's to rebel agitators who quickly dispersed into the crowd around the corner, the whole commercial district of the city was about to become a battleground.

Quaid looked back at him after talking with one of his men, "The rioters have already surrounded the ration office and begun mass looting of the nearby shops, I learned just now that the security director for the city has begun to deploy the riot troops"

Quest nodded, "This is it then", he moved around to the back of the van and grabbed his bag, he opened it and pulled out his tactical vest which he tossed on over the grey Aschen clothing he was wearing, around him the Rebels had finished handing out the improvised explosives and began to don their own tactical gear, ammo pouches and bandoliers, each and everyone also wrapped a bright green bit of cloth around their arms.

A crate in the back was pried open and guns started to be handed out, a mix of old M16's and M4's, the rebels were quickly armed up, others received rocket launchers from a different crate and even several belt fed machine guns.

"We move", Quaid spoke to his men, "To the Council building!", Grim determination was written on the rebels faces, they would no longer suffer under the regime of the Confederation, left to starve in the streets and choke in the polluted atmosphere of Aschen prime, the time for change had arrived.

They began to sprint down the street, away from the rioting behind them, Quest spotted other teams doing the same, and soon they were just around the corner from the centre of the Confederation, he poked his head around the corner and took in the defences.

"Looks like they buffed up the defences", He spotted near a hundred Aschen soldiers waiting at the entrance, all armed and waiting, in front of them were several largish robots, around eight feet tall and hovering just above the ground on semi spherical pads, their arms ended in some kind of cannon.

"Sentinel security robots, the council only deploys them during the most serious incidents, they are very dangerous", Quaid said as he took a look.

Quest took a look around the courtyard before the large building then looked up at the building they were hiding behind, "Quaid, get the people with the rocket launchers inside here, we'll need to take those robots out first, we'll be slaughtered if we try to rush across there"

Quaid smiled, "Already done, we are not completely foolish when it comes to battle", he looked back in the direction of the riot, "But first, the riot must really begin", he raised a radio to his lips, Quest had brought a few hundred along with the weapons shipment, "Comrades, it is time, unleash our vengeance upon those who condemned us to starvation"

Several streets over the first Molotov was thrown, further away the riot police came under heavy fire as rebel combat teams began to attack and siege the security command centre deeper in the city, the revolt had begun.