AN: Sorry it took so long to get this up. Preparing for college (and actually being there now) has really sapped my writing time. That being said, I hope you all still enjoy this chapter. Sadly I wasn't able to work Mini-Jack into it, but to explain on him...he is a 'Captain' like Sam was in S1/S2. He isn't the Captain of the Atlas anymore than old-Jack was the Captain of any of the Ha'taks they captured. I hope that clears things up...so onwards to the chapter!********************
Pegasus Galaxy
TNS Archimedes
October 3rd, 1998*********************
While the Atlas was defending the Tok'ra base, the other ship that the Terrans had built since coming to the past was in Pegasus. This vessel strongly resembled the old Prometheus, though it was more bulky and carried more powerful weaponry. It was the BC-303B Archimedes, and it was the first ship to make a foray into Pegasus since the older Daedalus had left it behind in its old timeline.
And it was a very important mission at that. Realizing that checking on Atlantis and gaining allies in Pegasus was a good idea, the Archimedes had been towed by a Beliskner to Pegasus and sent off to check on the city and gain what allies they could.
The first stop had obviously been Lantea, where the ship had seen Atlantis still submerged beneath the surface of the Lantean Sea. Not being able to beam down into the city, and being unwilling to use a gate and drain the power, the Archimedes continued on its journey after planting an Asgard satellite in orbit to watch over the system.
The ship had then moved on to check on other planets and peoples. First were the Athosians, who aside from Teyla being missing were okay. The Terran crew was sure that if Teyla had been with them, they would have had to find space on the ship for her people. As it is though, they moved on. The next group they found was the Travellers, and it was a much more peaceful meeting this time.
With a trade agreement reached, the Archimedes continued on its way. They made a stop at 'The Tower' and freed its people, gaining the supply of drone weapons, the control chair, and the Jumpers. The first two were left behind for whenever Atlantis was raised from its watery grave, while four of the Jumpers were placed in the small hanger of the cruiser.
The Terran cruiser then moved on to searching for the Aurora. The crew had heard of this ships fate, and were determined to save it this time. So when they had eventually found the old Lantean cruiser, they searched top and bottom for any Wraith. Not finding any, the Archimedes took the ship in tow (despite the vastly different sizes) and brought it back to Lantea. There it was slowly lowered to the mainland, and left there until the Terrans could get the resources to repair it and find a way to save the crew. But the whole operation had taken a month, considering towing a ship was slow at the best of times…and the Aurora dwarfed the BC-303B.
So now beginning to run out of supplies, the cruiser had headed for Taranis, to gain supplies and the Orion. Once they had arrived, they had set about getting the Taranians to trade with them. Just like the first time around, the crew's knowledge of Ancient technology had allowed them access to the cruiser. But this time, the Terrans had managed to convince the Taranians to not rely so much on the shield, and thus keep the super-volcano from erupting as soon. Thankfully with that warning they had upwards of a decade to prepare, as the volcano wouldn't have erupted for eight years anyway.
Because of this, the Terrans were able to leave behind a small group of former Atlantis Expedition members, and an Asgard named Eir. The group had stayed behind to use the Lantean repair facilities to get the Orion up and running again. It was hoped that by using the actual shipyard, the old cruiser would be better able to fight the Wraith when the time came…the Terrans weren't about to sacrifice the warship this time around. It was also hoped that once the ship was repaired, its cavernous cargo holds could be used (with Asgard transporters and other help) to move a disassembled shipyard to a new planet to keep it intact when the Taranis volcano inevitably erupted. And from there be used to repair the Aurora and build new vessels.
Once that was done, the Archimedes continued on to its final destination…Sateda. The crew didn't have a definite date on when the planet had fell (Ronon didn't even know for sure) so they could only hope they arrived in time to save its people from the Wraith. And that was where the Terran cruiser found itself now, in orbit of a thankfully intact Sateda.
With that worry out of their minds, the crew was preparing to send one of the Jumpers down to talk to the population, and see about gaining them as allies against the Wraith.
"Is the Jumper ready yet?" Ronon asked, his need to see his people intact leading him to go on this mission.
"Not yet sir. Their power was depleted and even Eir wasn't sure if our generators would work for powering it. We need to test the engines and make sure they won't fail halfway into the atmosphere," one of the crew informed him.
Ronon grunted and nodded. He hadn't seen his people in over a decade…he could wait a little longer. But while the materials for the trip were being loaded onto the Jumper, the Archimedes started to shake heavily. It didn't take long for Ronon to figure out what it was either…the only thing that made sense was that the Wraith had arrived and were attacking his world.
So ignoring the looks from the more inexperienced crew members, Ronon ran for the bridge, hearing the captain giving orders over the intercom.
"Report to battlestaions…we are under attack by a Wraith cruiser. Repeat, report to battlestations, we are under attack by a Wraith cruiser."
When the Satedan reached the bridge, he saw the blue shields of the Archimedes being bombarded by equally blue bolts of plasma from the Wraith cruiser. While nowhere near as damaging or threatening as a Hive, a cruiser would still have been more than a match for the Prometheus that the Archimedes so closely resembled. But the Terran built cruiser was more powerful than its Earth built counterpart…and it was showing its fangs at the Wraith that dared to attack Sateda.
"Fire the heavy railguns…target the Cruisers hangers," the Captain ordered, her voice remarkably calm, all things considered.
With a nod, the weapons officer fired off the new weapons mounted on the 303B. The heavy railguns were (as the name suggested) more powerful versions of the standard Tau'ri weapons littered across the cruisers hull. But these were far more powerful, if slower firing. When the shells hit the Wraith's organic hull, they tore through with little effort.
The heavy tungsten shells impacted on the launching Darts, and the docked fighters…detonating both, and causing a chain reaction that wrecked the Cruisers hanger, and left a gaping hull in its side. While the Wraith crew tried to compensate for this damage, the warship started to list to the side. Until the Terran cruiser fired a volley from its single Ion Cannon. While not as effective as it was against the Goa'uld, the weapon still carved massive holes in the Wraith vessel. It didn't take long before one of the shots found the reactor, making the Cruiser go up in a massive fireball that quickly dissipated as all the oxygen was eaten up.
With that skirmish done, the Archimedes diverted power to regenerating its shields…which had nearly buckled before the Wraith could be destroyed. While powerful, the Terran warships still weren't invincible, and some of the damage had bled through, delaying the launch of the Jumper even further. But Ronon just went back to the hanger and would wait as long as it took…his people were still alive and that was all that mattered.
*************
Tok'ra World
October 4th, 1998
Tok'ra Base*************
SG-1 had been at the Tok'ra base for a couple of days now. They hadn't really done much though. The Tok'ra council still had yet to meet with them again, though Martouf had visited a couple of times and offered some information.
It seemed that a couple of Goa'uld Motherships had been approaching the planet, and the Tok'ra had been planning on evacuating. But then an unidentified warship had destroyed the vessels…meaning the Tok'ra no longer had to rush their evacuation. They were still leaving their current world, but it was a much slower process, and safer to boot.
But that didn't explain why they hadn't been allowed the meet the council…and it didn't help that Sam had been called away to see her father. Jacob Carter was near-death from cancer, and it wasn't looking good for him. So Sam had left with Jack, leaving SG-3 (who had come to recover her) alone with the remainder of SG-1, watching Tok'ra walk by their room carrying crates of supplies.
"Have they been doing this since you got here Dr. Jackson?" Colonel Makepeace asked.
Daniel turned away from watching the Tok'ra, "Yes they have. Apparently the Goa'uld discovered the base and were going to attack, but they were stopped before they could get here."
Makepeace raised an eyebrow, "Then why are they still leaving?"
"The Tok'ra are the most hated enemy of the Goa'uld Colonel Makepeace. The Goa'uld will not stop attacking them until they are destroyed," Teal'c answered this time.
"Very true," Makepeace said with a nod.
The group then went back to watching the Tok'ra move, until Garshaw stopped by.
"You may aid us in moving our base if you wish. The Council will meet with you when Colonel O'Neill and Captain Carter return," the Tok'ra leader said.
Daniel and Teal'c looked at Makepeace who shrugged and moved for the door, the rest of SG-3 in tow. Deciding that it was in their best interest to help the Tok'ra too, the two SG-1 members followed the other team and began to move crates. While they were doing that, Sam and Jack had returned from Earth with Jacob in tow.
"This is another planet? It just looks like the Sahara," Jacob said, weakly shielding his eyes.
"I know Dad…come on, we need to get you to the Tok'ra base," Sam said, taking hold of one of Jacob's arms and moving him towards the waiting Tok'ra sentries.
They continued walking to the base, Jacob stumbling every few steps. The cancer had weakened him to that extent, and it worried Sam. She didn't know if Selmak, the Symbiote the Tok'ra were offering, would be strong enough to save her father. Jack noticed that and flashed Sam a grin to try and reassure her.
"Come on Carter's, let's keep moving," Jack said with the grin on his face.
Sam shot him a half-hearted glare. She knew why he was acting out, and she hated that her feelings were that obvious. Worried about her father or not, she shouldn't be showing it in the middle of a mission…especially with the man in question right next to her. As they continued to walk, a familiar face ran up to greet them.
"Samantha, Colonel O'Neill! You have returned," Martouf shouted, walking up to the small group.
"Yes we have…Martouf this is my father, Jacob Carter. Dad, this is Martouf, one of the Tok'ra," Sam replied.
Jacob nodded weakly, "Nice to meet you."
"It is nice to meet you too Mr. Carter. But we need to hurry, Selmak can't wait much longer," Martouf said, gesturing to a spot nearby.
When the little group stood in that spot, the rings from the Tok'ra base shot up and enveloped them in a golden light. When the light faded, they were standing in a near-empty base. The Tok'ra had almost finished moving the supplies by the time they had reached the base, since it had taken them a while to reach the base.
"That was interesting…" Jacob said, looking around at the crystal tunnels.
Martouf started to lead them off to a different room. Along the way, they picked up Daniel and Teal'c, with the former looking worriedly at Jacob. Daniel knew that he was weak and that it was a long-shot that the Tok'ra could heal him…and he didn't want to see Sam hurt. She was his friend after all.
Soon enough, the group had reached the room where Selmak was waiting. Jacob looked over at Sam, who gave him a nod and a reassuring smile. With a sigh, Jacob walked into the room and was left alone with Selmak to talk about the implantation process, and get to know the Tok'ra.
While he was doing that, SG-1 was lead back to the meeting room to finally talk with the High Council. When they arrived, the first one to talk was Garshaw once more.
"We have reviewed your case, and have a couple of questions," the former Goa'uld started.
"Ask away," Jack replied, leaning on the nearest table.
"We want to know what you ask of us. You did not go into detail our last meeting," one of the male councilors asked.
"We would like an Alliance…trade technology, and help each other fight the Goa'uld," Daniel replied.
"What technology do you have to offer? And are you being truthful in your want to fight the Goa'uld?" another councilor asked.
"We are designing a battlecruiser that can be used to fight the Goa'uld," Sam started, "And we are sincere in our desire to see their Empire fall."
The Council nodded at that and another of the female councilors asked the next question,
"But is this 'Battlecruiser' able to be built with your technology level? Or will the Tok'ra have to provide the technology and knowledge to build it?"
"We are not capable of building it on our own…not yet. One of our primary missions is to recover advanced technology, so we hope to use that to build it," Sam replied.
"So you do not posses any combat vessels as of yet?" Garshaw inquired of the team.
"No we don't, not yet," Daniel replied.
"Then the Tok'ra will have to supply any advanced technology. What reason do you give us to trust you with that?""Our resources and numbers. The Tok'ra can't have that many members or you would have defeated the Goa'uld by now."
"We have always fought the Goa'uld from the shadows…it is our way, and it has served us well. But you are correct…we do not have the numbers to fight the Goa'uld and Jaffa in the open.""Then let us help you fight them. We do have the numbers…if you would let us help you."
Garshaw looked at her fellow councilors and then back at SG-1,
"Normally we would not even consider this alliance. It goes against all of our instincts and experience. However, the activities of the Terrans have changed the situation, and we find ourselves in need of more resources and personnel. So we will agree to this Alliance."SG-1 let out a collective (sans Teal'c) sigh at that. They had secured an alliance with a race just as advanced as the Goa'uld. Now they stood a real chance of winning this war…if the Alliance held together.
"Of course, we still cannot inform you of our new bases location…not yet. We will send a group to escort you back to the Chappa'ai and from there back to Earth. Jacob Carter will remain amongst our people until Selmak can complete healing him, at which point we will allow him to return to Earth as our representative," Garshaw continued, gesturing at the door where a group of Tok'ra guards were waiting to escort the SGC group out.
**************
Earth
Several Cities
Sometime Later***************
"Why exactly are we here again?" Mary Sheppard asked her husband.
Mark looked over at his wife, "My sources have told me that the Government is running some sort of project out of Cheyenne Mountain. They couldn't get me more than that, but I'm hoping to find out more here."
The two Sheppards were standing in the center of the town of Colorado Springs. It was the closest city to Cheyenne Mountain (and the SGC) and thus they had moved their 'Missing Ones' operation to this town. Mark Sheppard's sources had said that something was going on in the mountain other than NORAD, and no one would talk about it. So the best way to get information on a secret government project was to talk to the people who lived nearby.
Even conspiracy theories couldn't be discounted…not with this many people missing. So they had set up shop in Colorado Springs, and started to spread the posters their fellow families had made, along with TV ads showing John, their son, and several prominent military figures who were missing.
If anything would get a reaction from the population, and the military, they figured it would be that. There were several families who had missing relatives/friends in Colorado Springs, and they were helping with the mission as much as they could too. So far, it hadn't done much, though the visitors from Cheyenne seemed to be more on edge than normal.
"Are you sure this will work?" Mrs. Sheppard asked, as they watched some of those military men and women walk by.
"It will dear…we just need to continue pushing the Military, and eventually something will give," Mr. Sheppard replied.
As the two continued to walk down the main road, they saw all of their ads plastered over the walls of shops and other buildings. A picture of Earth, but with a collage made of the Missing One's faces taking the place of the planet's surface/ocean. It was simple, but very effective at gaining sympathy amongst the people who weren't missing anyone.
Several people in Colorado Springs had already come forward with wild stories, some seemingly too hard to believe. A couple of former soldiers had claimed that they were discharged from a secret facility at Cheyenne for refusing to keep it secret. They wouldn't give their names though, so that made it harder for the Sheppards to verify the stories.
But that wasn't all…it seemed that the amount of military personnel had skyrocketed in the past year. NORAD had been a big operation, but it couldn't be big enough to explain the amount of Air Force, Army, and Marines who came through the town towards the mountain on a regular basis. Something was fishy, and the Sheppards were going to get to the bottom of it, since their son was in the Air Force that made up the majority of the soldiers.
Of course, they couldn't know that all this work was getting attention from the Air Force. Several of the SGC security force had been diverted to watch the Sheppards. They were digging far too close to the SGC, and something needed to be done about it. So they were being spied on by a handful of Air Force officers, who weren't letting them get near classified materials, even going so far as heading off over-eager civilians and retired soldiers.
None of them had been informed of Daniels 'visit' with the Terrans however, so they didn't know how important it was that the people they were watching were named 'Sheppard'. If they had known however, it would have shocked the men and women and been sent to Hammond right away. As it was, they just continued to observe, and keep the SGC a secret.
************************
Meanwhile, in Washington DC, the NID was gearing up for a major intelligence operation. They had been watching the families closely, looking for any information they could gain. And what they had found was interesting to say the least. As opposed to what it had seemed like at first, it wasn't just military families. Several prominent scientists had vanished, including a scientist who worked at the infamous Area 51.
Rodney McKay was his name…and some people considered him to be, despite the ego, second only to Samantha Carter in his knowledge of the Stargate. He was just the most high-profile scientist too…a lot of others had vanished, mostly from the infant Battle-Cruiser program. Which meant that whatever had happened to these people it had something to do with the Stargate Program.
Thus, the reason the head of the NID had called a specific Colonel into his office. That man was Harry Maybourne, the man with the most experience with the SGC who wasn't actually a member of that group. The NID's head hoped that Maybourne could use his sources to get more information from out of the SGC, and wasn't afraid to admit that.
"Harry, I called you here for a reason…I'm sure you've seen the ads about the 'Missing One's' correct?" the head of the NID asked.
Maybourne nodded, "Yes I have sir. I assume you want my opinion on if the SGC is involved?"
"Yes I do Harry…if those fools are involved we need to know. This could be just what we need to get the Stargate under our control."
"If you want my honest opinion…I doubt that the SGC was involved in this. I dislike them just as much as you do, but if they were involved, my agents would have known. As it is, they seem to be just as in the dark as we are."
"Are you sure Harry?"
Maybourne nodded again. He had sources high up in the SGC, and none of them had any idea what was going on. And if they didn't know, it was quite likely that no one, not even George Hammond, knew. Of course, Maybourne wasn't going to give up, since he wanted the 'Gate under NID control too. It was just too dangerous to leave with the idealistic people currently running it. The SGC couldn't do what needed to be done to safeguard Earth…like use the Tollan Communication Device to set an ambush for the Terrans and steal their technology.
As it was…the NID had their agents looking for a way to steal the device, and use it for their own goals. If they could gain more advanced technology then the President would have no choice but to let the NID have its way. The only problem was that SG-1 had recently gotten an alliance with the Tok'ra…that coupled with the communication device being given to one of their members meant that the SGC was currently in the President's favor, not the NID.
"Harry, I want your agents to get closer to Hammond. If anyone knows what's going on he does," the higher ranked man said.
"Of course sir. I'll send a message to them as soon as this meeting is over," Maybourne replied.
The head of the NID nodded, "Oh and Harry…I know you have some ties with O'Neill…use them. He may not like you, but you know how to get information out of him."
Maybourne was very tempted to sigh when he heard that. If there was one person at the SGC he couldn't stand it was Jack O'Neill. The man was infuriating with his refusal to follow orders, and it drove Harry Maybourne up the wall. But unlike O'Neill, he would follow his orders.
"Yes sir, I'll see what I can do," Maybourne replied saluting and heading out of the room.
**************************
AN: And there was the chapter. As you can tell, several bad things happened here.
One: The Wraith have been upped in power. This is to counter how weak the Goa'uld are...the Wraith are more on par with the Asurans now. A Cruiser can handle anything short of an upgraded (as in post-Unending) 304, and expect to win. The Atlas is the only Terran ship that can handle a Hive right now.
Two: You'll notice no mention of the Tok'ra spy...that is because he was never caught. He can still cause damage to the Tok'ra now...so by destroying the Ha'taks, the Terrans have led to a major leak in the Tok'ra network.
Finally...I hope you all leave a review on the way out. I like answering questions...it keeps the creative juices flowing