Chapter 46
Goulmeister
Well-known member
Cyrannus System
Helios Gamma, Acheron Asteroid Belt
The mountain sized rock had floated through space for billions of years, there since the dawn of the solar system itself, long since catalogued and surveyed it contained no valuable tylium or rare elements, just simple iron, it had been given a simple alpha numeric designation and logged in the database to be forgotten.
As the rock tumbled through space a shape approached, recognisable to anyone in the Colonies as the ships that won them the war, a battlestar, a single turret began to track the rock from fifty thousand kilometres away, preparing.
Tests were ran as the ship closed the distance, ammunition checked, the other systems had already been impressive enough but the weapons were the real prize, "We've reached optimum firing distance sir", the ever steady voice of Colonel Tolan announced.
Cain smirked as he smacked his riding crop off the console, "Perfect, lets show them what our weapons can do, open fire"
The twin mount turret locked on and released two streaks of red light, both were highly energetic compressed tylium plasma and the effect they had when they impacted the asteroid was devastating, they bored a molten hole through the centre and detonated within, turning millions of tons of rock and iron into a cloud of dust, Cain spared a glance out of the side of his eye to see the impressed form of Admiral Nagala standing beside the current president Garret Rand, both looked pleased with the results.
That was the twentieth rock they had destroyed today, demonstrating all of the Pegasus' new cannons, small and large, the ship had passed its space trials with flying colours.
"Impressive weapons Commander", Rand spoke, "I think I can get the final approval past the Quorum with these results", Rand turned to Nagala, "How fast can you upgrade the fleet with these weapons?"
"Faster than you'd think, we've already been upgrading our ships with new reactors, shields and laser cannons, while that was happening we put in all the ground work for the plasma guns, we can swap them out fast enough, a week per ship"
Rand nodded, "Good, we've put a lot of effort into this, we don't want things falling apart at the last hurdle", Factories were already producing the new weapons for the fleet upgrade, lab tests had sown the power of the weapons even before these trials, they would do until better stuff came along.
Nagala turned to Cain, "Time for the vipers?"
"It sure is", Cain turned to Tolan, "Contact the Picus, tell them its time"
Tolan was his original XO from the old Pegasus, like most of the bridge crew he had been revived into this strange future, his old ship had been running on a skeleton crew even back then though, the few hundred still left alive not nearly enough to man a ship of this size, most of the main positions were filled by old crew but others like the navigator and FTL officer were new, so was most of the viper complement, only his daughter survived from those.
"Tell Sheba to get our Vipers ready, its time to put on a show"
The Picus was an old war era freighter converted into a drone control ship for pilot training, Colonial drones were dumb machines, following simple attack programming, the Picus normally carried two squadrons of Mimic drones that outwardly resembled old Cylon raiders, they were used for target practice normally.
Today she was carrying something different, captured modern raiders stripped of their organic components and mounted with simple control systems, they would be executing attacks on the Pegasus today, no weapons of course, but it would be a good demonstration of the Viper mark eights.
"Cylon raiders on approach, eta five minutes", the sensor operator called out.
While the president was on the ship he had brought along a gaggle of media types, Cain had managed to fob most of them off and dump them in one of the briefing rooms with a live feed from the sensors, he still had to contend with a few cameras pointed on him today, Rand wanted a good showing to shore up his flagging popularity.
Cain nodded to Nagala then turned to face the crew, "Set condition one, launch alert vipers"
He felt a slight rumble as Vipers blasted out of the launch tubes, twenty four Vipers were soon forming up in front of the ship, not the whole complement but enough for this demonstration, "Shields are up sir, point defences are on standby", Tolan informed him.
"Vipers are clear to engage"
The mark eights blasted away on their new engines, far faster than the old chemical thrusters or even the newer fusion engines that the mark seven's had been refit with, Cain turned to look at the sensor readouts as the small craft vanished from sight, "Bring up the forward telescope view, I want to see this"
He saw the raiders, forty eight of them on approach, exactly twice as many as the vipers, their simple programming was sending them into evasive manoeuvrers as the red plasma began to fly in, the Vipers blasting past far faster than any before.
Explosions blossomed as raiders were hit, the Vipers flipped as they passed and sent more shots into the back of the evading raiders, more exploded leaving only ten, "Raiders entering point defence range sir"
"Engage"
The Pegasus carried a mix of standard laser cannons and bullet spewing flack and chain guns, the beams reached out first and erased the remnant of the raiders in one go, compared to his old ship this Pegasus would mince any fighter that came too close.
It was one of the strange things about this time, while seemingly primitive these Colonies had far more industrial might than his old home, far better faster than light travel too, so much so he imagined if they had something similar back then the Cylons would have been defeated in a day, and their anti fighter defences blew his old ships out of the water.
"Those are the new mark eights right", Rand asked, "I can see a lot of similarities to the mark twos"
"Yes Mr President", Nagala answered, "The vipers on the old Colonial ship were very similar to our mark twos, it was easier to start making a new design based on them with the better technology, we saved a lot of development time"
Cain rubbed his chin as he listened in, he had looked at a mark two up close, it was a smoother more curved looking version of his old vipers, better looking, another of the strange similarities to add to the list, he suspected that outside powers had shaped the development of the Colonies along a similar path as the old ones but he lacked any hard proof.
The returning Vipers caught his eye, the mark eights had taken the best from both Colonies, the agility of the current crop and the speed and power of his old home, tylium fusion rockets gave more thrust than standard fusion engines, they also had turbo mode where more fuel could be dumped into the thrust nozzles like old afterburners, twin plasma guns gave then good hitting power and shields let them take those hits in turn, they would be the mainstay of the Colonial fleet going forward.
Cain watched as the President grew bored and left, the man was a bit grating to be around in Cain's professional opinion, something he knew others taught of him, he was glad to be rid of him, Nagala approached him after the president and his entourage left the CIC.
"Good work Cain, Rand should be able to push the refit program through the Quorum, its better than waiting years for new ships"
Cain hated politicians and wasn't shy about letting everyone know, "I've had my fill of politics, my old government thought it was a great idea to send our whole fleet to a peace signing and leave our worlds completely undefended", Cain turned to face Nagala, "Baltar's plan", a finger jabbed at Nagala, "I know he's alive here in this time"
Nagala sighed, "He's a snake, one I would be happy to hand over to your crew for some justice but he signed a deal with the government, I cant officially do anything"
He would get what was coming to him, Cain would guarantee that, no matter how long it took, "Anyway", Nagala spoke, "I'm putting together a scouting mission to Tellus, we were loaned a stealth ship from the Terrans and I have the leaders of the resistance chomping at the bit to get back, I want your ship involved"
Cain raised an eyebrow, he had seen the reports from that planet, fifty baseship analogues was a tough number to beat even in the best of circumstances, he'd need more than one battlestar for that.
The reptilian Cylons had built quite the empire past that nebula, the Ovions too, he had never cared for those bugs, they had always been a threat to humanity even back then, they were far too quick to bow down to the Cylons.
"What's the plan?"
"Nothing major, I just want your ship nearby the system in case anything goes wrong and sending a fleet might draw attention, we still don't know how good the enemy sensors are"
Cain nodded, supporting a covert mission deep in enemy territory, sounded right up his alley, it would give him the chance to test the crew too, maybe even fight one of the Cylon ships, find out how good they were.
"Count me in Admiral, I could do with the excitement after these last few months"
Atreus, Free Worlds League
Captain-General's Office
14th January 3006 (11h February 2066)
Opulent would be best description of the office, a rich hardwood desk dominated the room, deep purple drapes obscured the outside world and showed the colours of the nation, leather chairs provided more comfort than most knew existed, a man sat behind that desk, middle aged and with dark hair starting to show a hint of grey, he was contemplating the current state of the Sphere with a creased brow, the emblem of the Free Worlds League distorted with his flesh.
The last few years had been disastrous, his forays onto the Capellan and Lyrans had been met with failure and loss, culminating at the humiliation as Solaris and the execution of the man he blamed for the failure, General Crawford, the FWLM had suffered horrendous casualties in Capellan space too, as battles there bogged down into bloodbaths.
On top of that his attempts to leverage his power under the mercenaries in his employ had backfired and made him an enemy in the form of Cranston Snord, but things were changing now, that old fool Alessandro had made a grave mistake.
SAFE had long seen him move his forces to the border, Alessandro thought he could build a wall of forces to prevent the League from encroaching on Lyran territory, what a fool he was, he had left his core completely undefended.
Janos planned to show him how stupid he was, a series of deep raids into the heart of the Commonwealth, plans that were just waiting to be sprung, the moment had come recently, a massive pirate raid on Hesperus was a sign, the Lyrans had scrambled to reinforce the world and left key points dangerously exposed.
It was all he needed to move his plans forward, FWLM forces were already making gains on Coventry as he sat there smirking, the Lyrans had been caught completely flat footed, a fitting turn from the earlier losses they had caused him, not the shoe was on the other foot, his men would run rampant while the Lyrans scrambled to move their mech back into position, their other major battlemech production site would be in ruins by then though, he smirked wider, the Lyrans would be crippled for years.
Those thoughts brought a smile to his face, one that vanished when he remembered what a pit of vipers the Free Worlds League was, any false move and that Andurien bitch Humphreys would be at his back dagger in hand, his own brother was even turning against him, he must have liked Crawford more than he assumed.
A chime came from the antique Terran clock on the wall, five pm local time, his meeting with the head of SAFE, he reached over and hit the intercom to his secretary, "Send in Director Ippolito"
Janos steepled his fingers as the double doors opened, he was dreading this meeting, for one moment in time it seemed that his fortunes and those of the Free Worlds League had begun to change for the better, a sudden call for an emergency meeting from the head of SAFE could only be the start of bad news.
Donna Ippoltio was in her late fifties, her hair was completely grey at this point, she towered over most men at six foot four in height and in her youth she must have been quite the looker, her age didn't stop her as she strode across the expanse from the door to his desk, she was ramrod straight in her impeccable dark pant suit, she slid into the chair across from him without a sound, taking a relaxed pose with her legs crossed.
Janos' eyebrow rose, she seemed to be in a cheerful mood, perhaps it wasn't bad news, "So, what's the emergency?"
A faint smile played out across her face, like a cat that had caught a canary, SAFE had a reputation for being the worst intel agency in the whole Sphere, whatever happened must have been good to put her in that mood, "What would you say if someone walked up and just gave you everything you ever wanted?"
"I don't have time for games Director, get to the point", an angry growl left his lips, he had too much going on to waste time on things like that.
Donna nodded, "We have just been given the full technical specs and production information for Star League freezers"
Janos' mouth dropped open in shock, "What?", that simple sentence went against everything in his world view, no one gave away lostech, especially not how to make it, not without asking for a great price, "Explain, in detail"
"A few weeks ago we received a message on one of our worlds, Ariel, we thought they were some unknown periphery power, they wanted to set up a diplomatic meeting with our government", she ran a hand through her hair, "All we got was they called themselves the Terran Union and were offering to help undo the damage of the succession wars"
Janos snorted, "Repair the damage of centuries", he shook his head, "Fools"
Donna shrugged, "We didn't think much of it until yesterday when we were approached again, in person on Atreus", she reached into a pocked and pulled out a Star League standard data drive, "We were given this and the promise of more, in return they want a meeting with you"
Janos reached over his desk and took the offered drive, "You checked it?"
She nodded, "Copies were made and put into secure storage, its all there, everything on double heat sinks"
Janos rubbed chis chin, "More they said, and only for a meeting?"
"Yes, they have a dropship waiting at the spaceport, Leopard class, I was even onboard after we verified the data, they showed me what more was, a whole memory core, full production specs for mechs, ships, everything"
Janos felt his blood still, a giddy feeling began to build up, a whole Star League memory core for a meeting, the world had surely gone mad, "What?", it was all he could say.
She nodded, "They did mention one other thing, they wanted a star system, New Dallas, I checked, its a world that was destroyed in the first succession war, no real value after the terraforming equipment was ruined"
A tremor went through Janos as he bent over, Donna watched as he shook then heard the laugh break out of his mouth, "A dead system for a memory core, I'd trade dozens of them", he shook his head, "What are our chances of taking the core from the ship?"
She shrugged, "We could take it no problem, taking it intact is the issue, they did have a lance of royal grade mechs onboard though, four Marauders, they looked brand new too, 2R variant I think, they'd blow the core before we could get access in any case"
Janos nodded, "I would expect as much, Royal mechs though, I doubt this is some small periphery nation re contacting the Sphere, this sounds like something else"
Donna nodded, "There's only one explanation, Kerensky, its the only thing that fits, they have to be the SLDF returned", she leaned back in the chair.
"I'll meet them, I'd be a fool not to, when?"
"A few days, said they needed their commander to get in range, whatever that means"
Janos nodded, "Observe them closely Director, I want to know everything, have some contingency plans drawn up in the meantime, if a core's on that ship I will have it by any means"
New Avalon, Federated Suns
Royal Court, Ian Davion's Office
Three men occupied the office, a large man sat behind the desk, from the look on his face it was a place where he didn't want to be, still in the prime of his life Ian Davion listened as the head of MIIO, Nicholas Truston, spun a tale right out of a pulp novel.
"So, they gave us freezers, just like that?"
Truston nodded, "Yes your highness, along with the promise of access to a full memory core should you attend this meeting"
"Sounds like a trap", Hanse spoke up from where he was lounging on a recliner.
Ian looked back to Truston, "Is it?"
"We don't believe so, it would be a poor attempt anyway, the meeting will be a remote one, relayed through the dropship in the spaceport to some other location, implying that they have access to HPG technology"
Ian leaned back in his chair, he hated politics and would have much preferred to solve his problems from the cockpit of a mech but anyone could see this was game changing, any house lord that got access to a memory core would be that much close to being the victor in the current crop of wars.
"And we have no idea who these people are?"
Truston shook his head, "Several we identified with Terran accents, apart from that all we have is a name, the Terran Union, that alone points in only one direction, the SLDF exodus fleet"
Ian leaned back in his chair, a meaty hand rose up to rub his chin as he recalled his lessons about the fall of the Star League and the aftermath, "We never did find out where Kerensky went", he mused.
Truston nodded, "Our best result was the Church expedition, but all they found was an old Rim Worlder base and rumours"
Ian nodded, "You think its them then, returned after two hundred years", a hand ran through his hair, "And now they want to help us?"
Truston shrugged, "Its the best explanation that isn't complete fantasy, its possible they could also be descendants of a secret Hegemony world in the deep periphery, looking for allies in the Sphere, one that retains its full technical databases"
"Either way its an opportunity we would be foolish to ignore", Hanse spoke up, he was far more politically savvy than Ian, his closest advisor and brother all in one, "With access to that memory core we could rebuild our shattered industries and fix the glaring holes in our knowledge"
"What about the Dragoons?", Ian asked, "We have our suspicions about their origins too, could they be related?"
Truston nodded, "It's certainly possible, an advanced force to scout out the Sphere, if they are they must have liked what they saw here"
"Keep an eye on them, see if there have been any unusual communications on New Valencia", Ian decided, the Dragoons were still a mystery after ten months of employment, a dangerous one.
Ian's hands came together as he decided, "We'll have this meeting, I want to know what this is all about"
Tharkad, Lyran Commonwealth
Great Assembly, Government House
Murmurs of voices carried around the cavernous room, the Estates General, the three hundred representatives of the Lyran people, elected by their respective planets, each member was required to place all their assets into trust, a safeguard against political corruption, in years past its power was little, but that had changed over time as more and more power was vested in them and taken from the Archon, right now being the biggest power grab to date.
Katrina watched from her place at the back, hours before she had taken the stand and declared her intent to oust Alessandro from power, something she thought would take months more to arrange but events had moved faster than anyone had anticipated, the FWL was running rampant in the Lyran heartland, Hesperus was heavily damaged, things had to change.
Her uncle had tried to kill her and her husband, only he could have had LOKI make that attempt, ever since she had a mission to rid the Commonwealth of petty and inept tyrants like him, taking power herself was the only option.
An angry Alessandro had stormed into the building hours later, summoned by the Estates General, she watched with a smirk from the background as events unfolded, "A petition of no confidence has been declared for Archon Steiner, we ask that he retires before he brings the whole Commonwealth to its knees"
It wasn't just the Estates General who wanted him gone, she made sure she had backing in the high command of the LCAF, Heimdall too, the people who had saved her life, they were backing her, LOKI was an open question, they would need to be examined carefully once she was Archon.
She had a front row seat as her poor uncle stormed out of the building and right into the high command of the Lyran Armed Forces, there to convince him his time was over, it was either way, his support was gone, all that was left was waiting for it to hit home.
"Katrina", a voice called her, she turned to see her husband Arthur waiting in the shadows, "There has been a strange development"
They retreated to an empty office, guards shadowed their movements, wary of attempts on their life, and guarded the door as they hurried inside, waiting there was their long-time friend Morgan Kell, he had been there for the assassination attempt and had hid with them as they pretended to be pirates to evade detection, he was also her husbands cousin.
"Kat", he smiled, "I see old Alessandro is on the way out, its only a matter of time now"
A cough came from Arthur, racking and wet, they had not escaped the attempt on their lives unscathed, while posing as pirates they had happened across a sealed SLDF bunker, one that was irradiated, they had only found out afterwards, now Arthur was living on borrowed time.
"Come sit", Morgan directed them to thee chairs on the side, "Did you tell her?", he asked Arthur.
A shake of the head was his response, "Alright then", Morgan ran a hand through his beard, "The other day one of our agents was approached, in broad daylight", he seemed perturbed, "I'll skip the boring bits, basically, they gave us freezers"
Katrina raised a delicate blonde eyebrow, "Heatsinks?"
Morgan laughed, "Yeah, not the kind you find in a kitchen but the full specs to build our own Star League double heat sinks, handed over, just like that"
"To Heimdall?", Katrina was confused, why do that.
Morgan nodded, "All they want in return is a meeting, with you, they even promised to give us a full Star League technical database, a memory core", the incredulity could be heard in his voice.
Katrina frowned, was this an elaborate attempt on her life again, lure her out with the promise of lostech, she had her fill of treasure hunting, it had already cost her too much, "Who are these people?"
"They called themselves the Terran Union, I cant find anything to link them to LOKI, I don't think its a ruse, they're sincere"
Katrina looked to Arthur, "What do you think?"
Arthur shrugged, "I have no idea, but they clearly know something about us, they must think you're a shoe in for Archon at least", he smiled, "I say we hear them out, its not an in person meeting, cant be sure if they'll follow up on this whole memory core thing though"
Katrina glanced back to Morgan, "The data, was it real?"
Kell nodded, "I had our best experts take a look, its real"
Katrins sat in thought, she was stuck waiting for events to play themselves out anyway, she could spare the time to talk to whoever this was, it might even give them access to technology not seen in centuries.
"I'll talk to them, when is this meeting?"
P4S-947
13th February 2066
Jack stepped from the climate controlled space station and into a scorching heat, a quick dial of the gate later and it was to a frigid cold morning, armed guards stood a good distance away, weapons trained on SG-1 as they exited the gate, the guns, modified staff weapons from the looks of it returned to the rest position as they saw who had come through, they had arranged matters before hand, no one really trusted this Syndicate just yet.
Jack cast his expert eye around the gate, wooden bunkers and earthen berms hemmed it in on all sides, he saw the barrel's of staff cannons poke out from the fortifications, the whole gate was a kill box, even behind the gate had guns and bunkers ready and that was just the stuff he could see.
A man approached as the gate disconnected, he was wearing what looked to be a uniform, home made probably but a uniform none the less, a far cry from what Kawalsky had described as men wearing leathers and bits of Jaffa armour, it was grey and black and had a leather section near the collar, where a clasp was, otherwise it was unadorned.
Jack examined the two armed men approaching with him, those were wearing leather, dyed black, and what seemed to be some kind of comms gear on their heads, they carried the same modified staff weapons as the rest, he took a moment to take a good look at one as they approached, a staff folded over with a stock and crude sights attached, probably more accurate than Jaffa then,
"You are Colonel O'Neill?", the man had come to a stop and asked, he was bigger when up close and bald, Jack could see the muscles bulge under his clothes, not that it meant much any more to him after the treatment, Jack could take all three on in hand to hand easily enough now.
"Yeah", he pointed to the rest, "Commander Carter, Daniel Jackson, Teal'c and Jolinar"
The man's eyebrow raised as he said the last two names, "You keep quite famous company Colonel, the former first prime of Apophis thought dead and the most wanted Tok'ra"
Jack smirked, "Someone's got to keep them out of trouble, so where's Ma'chello?
The man sighed, "This way, I am Dannic by the way"
Dannic led them down a dirt path towards a walled compound past the defences, it was as big as a largish town to his eyes, he glanced up as a Tel'tak came in for a landing further away, "Sharn had this facility constructed as a training centre and production facility for the Syndicate, he also trains those willing in engineering and technology"
Staff cannon poked out of towers dotting the wall, the road led through a large open gateway, more guards stood alert beside it checking the few dozen people shifitng goods from a landing pad to the side, hover carts loaded with golden Goa'uld boxes were being unloaded from the Tel'tak.
Dannic nodded to one, "The primary currency of all trade in Goa'uld space is naquadah in one form or another, followed by rare metals such as gold and silver, those wont buy much though, only things like food"
Jack remembered some recent history, when Earth started sending ships out in earnest to mine the many rocks in space, one of the early ones was a massive gold deposit on an asteroid, it had tanked the price of gold on the planet, it was dirt cheap nowadays, the Goa'uld didn't seem to bother with space mining though.
"Just food?", Daniel asked.
Dannic shrugged, "While most illegal trade on Lucia is primarily between lesser Goa'uld, Jaffa, humans and other wretches can buy primitive tools and other sundries on the trade worlds around Goa'uld space, most of that trade is in gold"
"The Syndicate earns most of its profit from facilitating the trade between the Goa'uld, we also sell our own product and provide protection to the less fortunate on Lucia and other worlds"
Jack translated, "Drugs and extortion right"
"Put bluntly yes, but things are changing now under Sharn's leadership, while he is content to let the old hierarchs run the Syndiate just like before he has created a new branch that the old one feeds, he is forming a new nation, one that will unite the masses against the oppression of the Goa'uld"
They passed through the gates and entered a well ordered street, wooden buildings were the norm but the occasional brick structure was present, they reminded Jack of late ninteenth century designs, warehouses and apartment buildings lined the streets, there was actually quite a big population, most of them Ma'chello's new soldiers.
Dannic pointed to a building as they passed, "Our new school, something illegal on most Goa'uld worlds, we will teach people science and engineering, they will be the workers and artisans, to make the weapons and ships to oppose the Goa'uld"
A building dominated the centre of the town, "Sharn's command centre", Antenna poked out of the building in the most anachronistic look Jack had seen to date, it was a wood and brick building, it was squat and looked tough, he spotted some firing slits on the walls and more staff cannons on the roof, those pointed towards the sky, anti air mounts?
They were led inside and past dozens of armed Lucians until they reached the top floor, Jack didn't know what to expect but it wasn't this, he imagined some kind of pre war office space, smoke and typewriters clacking away, what he got was Frankenstein's laboratory.
Machines were everywhere in the room, papers and data pads were strewn about, "Sharn, Colonel O'Neill and his team are here", Dannic announced, a large table dominated the room, bits of machinery and tools were piled on top and Ma'chello was crouched over something working away, it looked like a staff weapon.
"Ah, good", his tools were discarded as he stood up, "Please, come in", Ma'chello strode over to the waiting SG-1, "Welcome to New Dendred", Ma'chello stopped a few feet away and took in the team, "Yes, I remember you, Colonel O'Neill was it, I never did ask your name last time"
"Yeah, I'm still a bit sore about the whole pointing guns thing"
Ma'chello chuckled, "I am a slow man to trust Colonel, while you may have gifted me this body I felt it had strings attached, I would prefer to work for myself anyway, working for others would only cause issues"
Jack nodded, "Probably"
Ma'chello smiled, "Come", he directed them deeper into the room, past all the machinery and glowing lights, Jack glanced at his workbench as they passed, it was a staff weapon, halfway through a conversion to what he saw outside, Ma'chello brought them to a clearer room past the workshop, a table and several chairs were waiting there, the exact right amount too.
"Please, make yourselves comfortable", Ma'chello sat down in a leather backed armchair across from them, "Refreshments?", Dannic moved to the corner of the room, and wheeled over a tray with a carafe of water and several earthenware cups then moved to stand behind Ma'chello.
Jack poured a cup and took a sip, it was pretty good and not poisoned, "So, we're here, what did you want"
Ma'chello smirked, "All in due time Colonel", he glanced to Jolinar, "You are familiar to me, Jolinar, last time I looked your bounty was far greater than mine, the Tok'ra work with these people?"
Jolinar nodded, "I do, the Tok'ra owe these people a great debt but I was working with them before that, we are allies"
Ma'chello rubbed at his bearded face, "I have traded weapons to the Tok'ra in the past, if one Goa'uld wants to kill another all the better, never in person though but my old followers are now long gone", he spoke wistfully there then he looked at Teal'c.
"A first prime, strange for one of the Jaffa to fight with humans, tell me, what made you lose faith in your gods?"
A frown marred Teal'c face, wrinkles stretching around the gold brand on his forehead, he answered anyway, "I have long known the Goa'uld are false gods, when Cronus tore the symbiote from my father stomach and let him die in agony I knew the truth, I vowed to have my revenge, becoming first prime of Apophis was merely an avenue to achieving it"
Teal'c bowed his head towards Jack and the rest, "I saw much suffering during that time, suffering I was unable to prevent but when the opportunity to strike a blow against the Goa'uld arose I was quick to take it, my former master also leads a movement to free the Jaffa from Goa'uld control, you are not the only one with grievances against them"
Ma'chello gave Teal'c a solemn nod, "I see, I would like to meet your master, perhaps we can assist each other but for now let us get down to business", he faced Jack again, "Allow me to explain my position first Colonel"
"I wont bore you with my past but lets just say that my old methods were brutal and indiscriminate, they were also for the most part ineffective, Ares still lives, my planet and people devastated and my wife a puppet of some Goa'uld"
His head shook sadly, "A broken old man clinging on to life was what you found on that planet Colonel, but you gave me a new lease on it, one that I wont squander on reckless terrorist acts against the Goa'uld, no, I realised another way was the answer, to build up a force to oppose the Goa'uld, using the very slaves they think so little of, to forge a nation to fight for our freedom"
Ma'chello sighed, "Her name was Sharna, I call myself Sharn in her honour, she is still out there most likely, imprisoned in her own mind as a parasite controls her every action"
Jack nodded, "Sorry to hear that, planning on rescuing her?"
"If I can I will, but getting to her will be an issue on its own, one that I am not prepared to discuss right now", Ma'chello stated flatly, "I have more immediate concerns here", he waved to the workshop behind them, "You saw what I was working on Colonel, I watched you look"
"Yeah, a staff weapon"
Ma'chello nodded, "I am but one man Colonel, I could make a weapon for myself but nor for all my men, that would be the work of years, it is far easier to obtain staff weapons and modify them for our use"
He nodded to the guns carried by SG-1, "Different weapons than last time, energy weapons I believe?"
"Laser rifles", Jack answered.
"Hmm, and you were giving projectile weaponry to the people of Tarnath, weapons clearly produced by an industrial society, mass produced?"
Jack nodded, "Yep, we must have made millions of those things"
"I need weapons Colonel, weapons and other things that only worlds like yours can provide, I need teachers to train my men and the children here, tools, medicine, things I as one man cannot provide for everyone"
Jack rubbed at his chin, "What's in it for us?"
"Many things pass through Lucia Colonel, Goa'uld technology is one but more interesting to you perhaps will be gossip, information, the Syndicate has the largest intelligence network in Goa'uld space, larger than your Tok'ra friends, if perhaps not as highly placed"
Ma'chello smirked, "Many Goa'uld have loose lips around their slaves"
It was a good offer Jack admitted, access to a massive black market and reams of intel from all of Goa'uld space, they'd just need to ignore the drug dealing and other criminal acts, not like they never had before anyway, "Ships?"
Ma'chello shook his head, "No Ha'tak, the Goa'uld keep tight control over those but I have several plans to acquire my own, but smaller vessels, Tel'tak and other cargo transporters, those are obtainable"
The brass would go for it he knew, a few old guns and other equipment rusting away in some warehouse for access to Ma'chello and preventing the poor relations in the other universe with the Lucian alliance, plus the intel, he'd be a fool not to agree, not that it was his choice anyway.
"We're keeping our heads down, we're not ready to directly oppose the Goa'uld I want to make that clear, if we're going to help we're keeping who we are and where we're from a secret for now"
Ma'chello nodded, "I understand, the Goa'uld do not tolerate humans with more advanced technology than fire", he chuckled, "We wont pry into your secrets Colonel, but what will we call you?"
Jack shrugged, "Stargate Command, that works", he nodded to the open window, "You didn't trust us, we don't trust you but we can work together", Jack turned to Daniel, "Some APDD people to help teach the kids I suppose"
Daniel nodded, "Yeah, I have translated some more advanced text books into Goa'uld too, basic engineering stuff"
Ma'chello stood, "Details can come later, I'm sure you must communicate with your superiors", Ma'chello waved to Dannic, "Let our men know these people from Stargate Command have free access to the Syndicate", he nodded to Jack and raised the cup of water he was holding, "To a better future"
"A better future", Jack tipped his glass, if only they knew how to get there.
New Dallas System
17th January 3006 (14h February 2066)
All eyes were on the portal as the ships began to cross over, leading the way was the bulk of the McKenna's Pride, the venerable battleship would be well known to the locals of this reality, sitting in the refurbished command centre was a stone faced bald man, far more youthful than the last time he had been this close to home, he appeared to be in his mid fifties, General Aleksander Kerensky.
Trailing behind the Pride were two other former Star League ships, the Rondeau and Muraca an Essex and Lola class ships, they pushed forward to join their flagship as more ships appeared on the other side behind them.
The next to crest the portal was the massive form of a Minotaur class battleship, the Arizona, lead ship of the Union's second fleet under the command of Admiral James Borman, more ships followed along, Venus class cruisers, Fortress destroyers and Castle frigates, twenty three ships, all modern and armed to the teeth.
Training behind the combat ships came the marine assault ship Diana, a former Colonial Artemis class battlestar modified for planetary assaults, her marines had a different mission this time though, arrayed around her were several transport ships, the logistics for this operation.
"Sir, Admiral Drake is on the line"
"Put her on"
The holoprojector came to life and displayed a full sized version of the admiral, she saluted Kerensky, "General, glad you could come"
A small smile graced his lips, "Its good to come home, even if its not exactly the same one, how are the preparations?"
Drake nodded, her nearly white shoulder length blonde hair bobbed in the ponytail it was tied into, "Our agents have initiated contact with the three nations leaders, all have agreed to the meeting"
"Good, we'll deal with ComStars nascent fleet first", he looked to the comms officer, "Invite Admrial Borman to the conversion"
Moments later the Admiral appeared beside Drake, after the greetings they got down to business, "Admiral Borman will be handling the Ross system, while I take half the fleet and deal with Luyten, the inhabited planets in Ross are not our concern right now, only the fleet"
Kerensky stood and began to pace, "Capture the ships if possible, destroy them if not, our primary target however will be the orbital facilities in Luyten, of particular interest is the computer databased on this station"
As he spoke a new hologram appeared, a massive space station complete with docks was orbiting a habitable world in Luyten, "ComStars primary warship repair facility, apart from their Titan yards in Sol that is, the data there is important for our future operations, marines will board and capture it"
Kerensky turned back to the two Admirals, "We'll go into details during the briefing in two hours, but I want this operation wrapped up fast, we'll neuter ComStars fleet before they have time to activate it, phase two will follow on after"
The Admirals nodded and disappeared as the holoprojector shut down, Kerensky glanced to the side where a man was waiting, his son Nicholas.
"Are you prepared for this son, I have no issue with you returning to the retreat"
Nicholas nodded, "I can do more good here, not in the cockpit of a mech but by your side"
Kerensky smiled, he had been observing his son closely for the past year, watching for any sign of the madness that would lead to the clans, he was confident Nicholas had banished those demons from his mind, there was still the concern of his girlfriend though, Julia Cook, Kerensky knew who she really was, Jes Cole, he had people watching every move his son had made, recordings of their every encounter.
He knew that she really had no blame but her absence had allowed her to be turned into a scapegoat among the fleet, all the blame for the Clans had been placed at her feet, he had allowed it to deflect blame from Nicholas, what she had said to his son though, that had caused him to think deeply.
She was a Cameron, she admitted as much to Nicholas, Kerensky had gotten samples from the Retreat, check it against the data base, confirmed who she was, Jessica Cameron, distant cousin but a Cameron nonetheless, reports taken from the palace after it was recaptured said she had died with the rest in the throne room, her story was true.
He would allow their relationship to continue, hide her identity for now, she could be useful in the Unions plans to reform the Hegemony, a living Cameron would make any claims all the stronger, and she was devoted to his son.
He had asked to come along, he wanted to turn over a new leaf in his life and start a new career, not a mech pilot like before, but a commander in the fleet, Aleksander's position allowed him to come along, officially as his aide for now, his girlfriend too.
"I want you to attend the briefing with me Nicholas", Kerensky stood and stretched, "Come son, invite that woman of yours to a family dinner after, I would like to get to know her better"
Helios Gamma, Acheron Asteroid Belt
The mountain sized rock had floated through space for billions of years, there since the dawn of the solar system itself, long since catalogued and surveyed it contained no valuable tylium or rare elements, just simple iron, it had been given a simple alpha numeric designation and logged in the database to be forgotten.
As the rock tumbled through space a shape approached, recognisable to anyone in the Colonies as the ships that won them the war, a battlestar, a single turret began to track the rock from fifty thousand kilometres away, preparing.
Tests were ran as the ship closed the distance, ammunition checked, the other systems had already been impressive enough but the weapons were the real prize, "We've reached optimum firing distance sir", the ever steady voice of Colonel Tolan announced.
Cain smirked as he smacked his riding crop off the console, "Perfect, lets show them what our weapons can do, open fire"
The twin mount turret locked on and released two streaks of red light, both were highly energetic compressed tylium plasma and the effect they had when they impacted the asteroid was devastating, they bored a molten hole through the centre and detonated within, turning millions of tons of rock and iron into a cloud of dust, Cain spared a glance out of the side of his eye to see the impressed form of Admiral Nagala standing beside the current president Garret Rand, both looked pleased with the results.
That was the twentieth rock they had destroyed today, demonstrating all of the Pegasus' new cannons, small and large, the ship had passed its space trials with flying colours.
"Impressive weapons Commander", Rand spoke, "I think I can get the final approval past the Quorum with these results", Rand turned to Nagala, "How fast can you upgrade the fleet with these weapons?"
"Faster than you'd think, we've already been upgrading our ships with new reactors, shields and laser cannons, while that was happening we put in all the ground work for the plasma guns, we can swap them out fast enough, a week per ship"
Rand nodded, "Good, we've put a lot of effort into this, we don't want things falling apart at the last hurdle", Factories were already producing the new weapons for the fleet upgrade, lab tests had sown the power of the weapons even before these trials, they would do until better stuff came along.
Nagala turned to Cain, "Time for the vipers?"
"It sure is", Cain turned to Tolan, "Contact the Picus, tell them its time"
Tolan was his original XO from the old Pegasus, like most of the bridge crew he had been revived into this strange future, his old ship had been running on a skeleton crew even back then though, the few hundred still left alive not nearly enough to man a ship of this size, most of the main positions were filled by old crew but others like the navigator and FTL officer were new, so was most of the viper complement, only his daughter survived from those.
"Tell Sheba to get our Vipers ready, its time to put on a show"
The Picus was an old war era freighter converted into a drone control ship for pilot training, Colonial drones were dumb machines, following simple attack programming, the Picus normally carried two squadrons of Mimic drones that outwardly resembled old Cylon raiders, they were used for target practice normally.
Today she was carrying something different, captured modern raiders stripped of their organic components and mounted with simple control systems, they would be executing attacks on the Pegasus today, no weapons of course, but it would be a good demonstration of the Viper mark eights.
"Cylon raiders on approach, eta five minutes", the sensor operator called out.
While the president was on the ship he had brought along a gaggle of media types, Cain had managed to fob most of them off and dump them in one of the briefing rooms with a live feed from the sensors, he still had to contend with a few cameras pointed on him today, Rand wanted a good showing to shore up his flagging popularity.
Cain nodded to Nagala then turned to face the crew, "Set condition one, launch alert vipers"
He felt a slight rumble as Vipers blasted out of the launch tubes, twenty four Vipers were soon forming up in front of the ship, not the whole complement but enough for this demonstration, "Shields are up sir, point defences are on standby", Tolan informed him.
"Vipers are clear to engage"
The mark eights blasted away on their new engines, far faster than the old chemical thrusters or even the newer fusion engines that the mark seven's had been refit with, Cain turned to look at the sensor readouts as the small craft vanished from sight, "Bring up the forward telescope view, I want to see this"
He saw the raiders, forty eight of them on approach, exactly twice as many as the vipers, their simple programming was sending them into evasive manoeuvrers as the red plasma began to fly in, the Vipers blasting past far faster than any before.
Explosions blossomed as raiders were hit, the Vipers flipped as they passed and sent more shots into the back of the evading raiders, more exploded leaving only ten, "Raiders entering point defence range sir"
"Engage"
The Pegasus carried a mix of standard laser cannons and bullet spewing flack and chain guns, the beams reached out first and erased the remnant of the raiders in one go, compared to his old ship this Pegasus would mince any fighter that came too close.
It was one of the strange things about this time, while seemingly primitive these Colonies had far more industrial might than his old home, far better faster than light travel too, so much so he imagined if they had something similar back then the Cylons would have been defeated in a day, and their anti fighter defences blew his old ships out of the water.
"Those are the new mark eights right", Rand asked, "I can see a lot of similarities to the mark twos"
"Yes Mr President", Nagala answered, "The vipers on the old Colonial ship were very similar to our mark twos, it was easier to start making a new design based on them with the better technology, we saved a lot of development time"
Cain rubbed his chin as he listened in, he had looked at a mark two up close, it was a smoother more curved looking version of his old vipers, better looking, another of the strange similarities to add to the list, he suspected that outside powers had shaped the development of the Colonies along a similar path as the old ones but he lacked any hard proof.
The returning Vipers caught his eye, the mark eights had taken the best from both Colonies, the agility of the current crop and the speed and power of his old home, tylium fusion rockets gave more thrust than standard fusion engines, they also had turbo mode where more fuel could be dumped into the thrust nozzles like old afterburners, twin plasma guns gave then good hitting power and shields let them take those hits in turn, they would be the mainstay of the Colonial fleet going forward.
Cain watched as the President grew bored and left, the man was a bit grating to be around in Cain's professional opinion, something he knew others taught of him, he was glad to be rid of him, Nagala approached him after the president and his entourage left the CIC.
"Good work Cain, Rand should be able to push the refit program through the Quorum, its better than waiting years for new ships"
Cain hated politicians and wasn't shy about letting everyone know, "I've had my fill of politics, my old government thought it was a great idea to send our whole fleet to a peace signing and leave our worlds completely undefended", Cain turned to face Nagala, "Baltar's plan", a finger jabbed at Nagala, "I know he's alive here in this time"
Nagala sighed, "He's a snake, one I would be happy to hand over to your crew for some justice but he signed a deal with the government, I cant officially do anything"
He would get what was coming to him, Cain would guarantee that, no matter how long it took, "Anyway", Nagala spoke, "I'm putting together a scouting mission to Tellus, we were loaned a stealth ship from the Terrans and I have the leaders of the resistance chomping at the bit to get back, I want your ship involved"
Cain raised an eyebrow, he had seen the reports from that planet, fifty baseship analogues was a tough number to beat even in the best of circumstances, he'd need more than one battlestar for that.
The reptilian Cylons had built quite the empire past that nebula, the Ovions too, he had never cared for those bugs, they had always been a threat to humanity even back then, they were far too quick to bow down to the Cylons.
"What's the plan?"
"Nothing major, I just want your ship nearby the system in case anything goes wrong and sending a fleet might draw attention, we still don't know how good the enemy sensors are"
Cain nodded, supporting a covert mission deep in enemy territory, sounded right up his alley, it would give him the chance to test the crew too, maybe even fight one of the Cylon ships, find out how good they were.
"Count me in Admiral, I could do with the excitement after these last few months"
Atreus, Free Worlds League
Captain-General's Office
14th January 3006 (11h February 2066)
Opulent would be best description of the office, a rich hardwood desk dominated the room, deep purple drapes obscured the outside world and showed the colours of the nation, leather chairs provided more comfort than most knew existed, a man sat behind that desk, middle aged and with dark hair starting to show a hint of grey, he was contemplating the current state of the Sphere with a creased brow, the emblem of the Free Worlds League distorted with his flesh.
The last few years had been disastrous, his forays onto the Capellan and Lyrans had been met with failure and loss, culminating at the humiliation as Solaris and the execution of the man he blamed for the failure, General Crawford, the FWLM had suffered horrendous casualties in Capellan space too, as battles there bogged down into bloodbaths.
On top of that his attempts to leverage his power under the mercenaries in his employ had backfired and made him an enemy in the form of Cranston Snord, but things were changing now, that old fool Alessandro had made a grave mistake.
SAFE had long seen him move his forces to the border, Alessandro thought he could build a wall of forces to prevent the League from encroaching on Lyran territory, what a fool he was, he had left his core completely undefended.
Janos planned to show him how stupid he was, a series of deep raids into the heart of the Commonwealth, plans that were just waiting to be sprung, the moment had come recently, a massive pirate raid on Hesperus was a sign, the Lyrans had scrambled to reinforce the world and left key points dangerously exposed.
It was all he needed to move his plans forward, FWLM forces were already making gains on Coventry as he sat there smirking, the Lyrans had been caught completely flat footed, a fitting turn from the earlier losses they had caused him, not the shoe was on the other foot, his men would run rampant while the Lyrans scrambled to move their mech back into position, their other major battlemech production site would be in ruins by then though, he smirked wider, the Lyrans would be crippled for years.
Those thoughts brought a smile to his face, one that vanished when he remembered what a pit of vipers the Free Worlds League was, any false move and that Andurien bitch Humphreys would be at his back dagger in hand, his own brother was even turning against him, he must have liked Crawford more than he assumed.
A chime came from the antique Terran clock on the wall, five pm local time, his meeting with the head of SAFE, he reached over and hit the intercom to his secretary, "Send in Director Ippolito"
Janos steepled his fingers as the double doors opened, he was dreading this meeting, for one moment in time it seemed that his fortunes and those of the Free Worlds League had begun to change for the better, a sudden call for an emergency meeting from the head of SAFE could only be the start of bad news.
Donna Ippoltio was in her late fifties, her hair was completely grey at this point, she towered over most men at six foot four in height and in her youth she must have been quite the looker, her age didn't stop her as she strode across the expanse from the door to his desk, she was ramrod straight in her impeccable dark pant suit, she slid into the chair across from him without a sound, taking a relaxed pose with her legs crossed.
Janos' eyebrow rose, she seemed to be in a cheerful mood, perhaps it wasn't bad news, "So, what's the emergency?"
A faint smile played out across her face, like a cat that had caught a canary, SAFE had a reputation for being the worst intel agency in the whole Sphere, whatever happened must have been good to put her in that mood, "What would you say if someone walked up and just gave you everything you ever wanted?"
"I don't have time for games Director, get to the point", an angry growl left his lips, he had too much going on to waste time on things like that.
Donna nodded, "We have just been given the full technical specs and production information for Star League freezers"
Janos' mouth dropped open in shock, "What?", that simple sentence went against everything in his world view, no one gave away lostech, especially not how to make it, not without asking for a great price, "Explain, in detail"
"A few weeks ago we received a message on one of our worlds, Ariel, we thought they were some unknown periphery power, they wanted to set up a diplomatic meeting with our government", she ran a hand through her hair, "All we got was they called themselves the Terran Union and were offering to help undo the damage of the succession wars"
Janos snorted, "Repair the damage of centuries", he shook his head, "Fools"
Donna shrugged, "We didn't think much of it until yesterday when we were approached again, in person on Atreus", she reached into a pocked and pulled out a Star League standard data drive, "We were given this and the promise of more, in return they want a meeting with you"
Janos reached over his desk and took the offered drive, "You checked it?"
She nodded, "Copies were made and put into secure storage, its all there, everything on double heat sinks"
Janos rubbed chis chin, "More they said, and only for a meeting?"
"Yes, they have a dropship waiting at the spaceport, Leopard class, I was even onboard after we verified the data, they showed me what more was, a whole memory core, full production specs for mechs, ships, everything"
Janos felt his blood still, a giddy feeling began to build up, a whole Star League memory core for a meeting, the world had surely gone mad, "What?", it was all he could say.
She nodded, "They did mention one other thing, they wanted a star system, New Dallas, I checked, its a world that was destroyed in the first succession war, no real value after the terraforming equipment was ruined"
A tremor went through Janos as he bent over, Donna watched as he shook then heard the laugh break out of his mouth, "A dead system for a memory core, I'd trade dozens of them", he shook his head, "What are our chances of taking the core from the ship?"
She shrugged, "We could take it no problem, taking it intact is the issue, they did have a lance of royal grade mechs onboard though, four Marauders, they looked brand new too, 2R variant I think, they'd blow the core before we could get access in any case"
Janos nodded, "I would expect as much, Royal mechs though, I doubt this is some small periphery nation re contacting the Sphere, this sounds like something else"
Donna nodded, "There's only one explanation, Kerensky, its the only thing that fits, they have to be the SLDF returned", she leaned back in the chair.
"I'll meet them, I'd be a fool not to, when?"
"A few days, said they needed their commander to get in range, whatever that means"
Janos nodded, "Observe them closely Director, I want to know everything, have some contingency plans drawn up in the meantime, if a core's on that ship I will have it by any means"
New Avalon, Federated Suns
Royal Court, Ian Davion's Office
Three men occupied the office, a large man sat behind the desk, from the look on his face it was a place where he didn't want to be, still in the prime of his life Ian Davion listened as the head of MIIO, Nicholas Truston, spun a tale right out of a pulp novel.
"So, they gave us freezers, just like that?"
Truston nodded, "Yes your highness, along with the promise of access to a full memory core should you attend this meeting"
"Sounds like a trap", Hanse spoke up from where he was lounging on a recliner.
Ian looked back to Truston, "Is it?"
"We don't believe so, it would be a poor attempt anyway, the meeting will be a remote one, relayed through the dropship in the spaceport to some other location, implying that they have access to HPG technology"
Ian leaned back in his chair, he hated politics and would have much preferred to solve his problems from the cockpit of a mech but anyone could see this was game changing, any house lord that got access to a memory core would be that much close to being the victor in the current crop of wars.
"And we have no idea who these people are?"
Truston shook his head, "Several we identified with Terran accents, apart from that all we have is a name, the Terran Union, that alone points in only one direction, the SLDF exodus fleet"
Ian leaned back in his chair, a meaty hand rose up to rub his chin as he recalled his lessons about the fall of the Star League and the aftermath, "We never did find out where Kerensky went", he mused.
Truston nodded, "Our best result was the Church expedition, but all they found was an old Rim Worlder base and rumours"
Ian nodded, "You think its them then, returned after two hundred years", a hand ran through his hair, "And now they want to help us?"
Truston shrugged, "Its the best explanation that isn't complete fantasy, its possible they could also be descendants of a secret Hegemony world in the deep periphery, looking for allies in the Sphere, one that retains its full technical databases"
"Either way its an opportunity we would be foolish to ignore", Hanse spoke up, he was far more politically savvy than Ian, his closest advisor and brother all in one, "With access to that memory core we could rebuild our shattered industries and fix the glaring holes in our knowledge"
"What about the Dragoons?", Ian asked, "We have our suspicions about their origins too, could they be related?"
Truston nodded, "It's certainly possible, an advanced force to scout out the Sphere, if they are they must have liked what they saw here"
"Keep an eye on them, see if there have been any unusual communications on New Valencia", Ian decided, the Dragoons were still a mystery after ten months of employment, a dangerous one.
Ian's hands came together as he decided, "We'll have this meeting, I want to know what this is all about"
Tharkad, Lyran Commonwealth
Great Assembly, Government House
Murmurs of voices carried around the cavernous room, the Estates General, the three hundred representatives of the Lyran people, elected by their respective planets, each member was required to place all their assets into trust, a safeguard against political corruption, in years past its power was little, but that had changed over time as more and more power was vested in them and taken from the Archon, right now being the biggest power grab to date.
Katrina watched from her place at the back, hours before she had taken the stand and declared her intent to oust Alessandro from power, something she thought would take months more to arrange but events had moved faster than anyone had anticipated, the FWL was running rampant in the Lyran heartland, Hesperus was heavily damaged, things had to change.
Her uncle had tried to kill her and her husband, only he could have had LOKI make that attempt, ever since she had a mission to rid the Commonwealth of petty and inept tyrants like him, taking power herself was the only option.
An angry Alessandro had stormed into the building hours later, summoned by the Estates General, she watched with a smirk from the background as events unfolded, "A petition of no confidence has been declared for Archon Steiner, we ask that he retires before he brings the whole Commonwealth to its knees"
It wasn't just the Estates General who wanted him gone, she made sure she had backing in the high command of the LCAF, Heimdall too, the people who had saved her life, they were backing her, LOKI was an open question, they would need to be examined carefully once she was Archon.
She had a front row seat as her poor uncle stormed out of the building and right into the high command of the Lyran Armed Forces, there to convince him his time was over, it was either way, his support was gone, all that was left was waiting for it to hit home.
"Katrina", a voice called her, she turned to see her husband Arthur waiting in the shadows, "There has been a strange development"
They retreated to an empty office, guards shadowed their movements, wary of attempts on their life, and guarded the door as they hurried inside, waiting there was their long-time friend Morgan Kell, he had been there for the assassination attempt and had hid with them as they pretended to be pirates to evade detection, he was also her husbands cousin.
"Kat", he smiled, "I see old Alessandro is on the way out, its only a matter of time now"
A cough came from Arthur, racking and wet, they had not escaped the attempt on their lives unscathed, while posing as pirates they had happened across a sealed SLDF bunker, one that was irradiated, they had only found out afterwards, now Arthur was living on borrowed time.
"Come sit", Morgan directed them to thee chairs on the side, "Did you tell her?", he asked Arthur.
A shake of the head was his response, "Alright then", Morgan ran a hand through his beard, "The other day one of our agents was approached, in broad daylight", he seemed perturbed, "I'll skip the boring bits, basically, they gave us freezers"
Katrina raised a delicate blonde eyebrow, "Heatsinks?"
Morgan laughed, "Yeah, not the kind you find in a kitchen but the full specs to build our own Star League double heat sinks, handed over, just like that"
"To Heimdall?", Katrina was confused, why do that.
Morgan nodded, "All they want in return is a meeting, with you, they even promised to give us a full Star League technical database, a memory core", the incredulity could be heard in his voice.
Katrina frowned, was this an elaborate attempt on her life again, lure her out with the promise of lostech, she had her fill of treasure hunting, it had already cost her too much, "Who are these people?"
"They called themselves the Terran Union, I cant find anything to link them to LOKI, I don't think its a ruse, they're sincere"
Katrina looked to Arthur, "What do you think?"
Arthur shrugged, "I have no idea, but they clearly know something about us, they must think you're a shoe in for Archon at least", he smiled, "I say we hear them out, its not an in person meeting, cant be sure if they'll follow up on this whole memory core thing though"
Katrina glanced back to Morgan, "The data, was it real?"
Kell nodded, "I had our best experts take a look, its real"
Katrins sat in thought, she was stuck waiting for events to play themselves out anyway, she could spare the time to talk to whoever this was, it might even give them access to technology not seen in centuries.
"I'll talk to them, when is this meeting?"
P4S-947
13th February 2066
Jack stepped from the climate controlled space station and into a scorching heat, a quick dial of the gate later and it was to a frigid cold morning, armed guards stood a good distance away, weapons trained on SG-1 as they exited the gate, the guns, modified staff weapons from the looks of it returned to the rest position as they saw who had come through, they had arranged matters before hand, no one really trusted this Syndicate just yet.
Jack cast his expert eye around the gate, wooden bunkers and earthen berms hemmed it in on all sides, he saw the barrel's of staff cannons poke out from the fortifications, the whole gate was a kill box, even behind the gate had guns and bunkers ready and that was just the stuff he could see.
A man approached as the gate disconnected, he was wearing what looked to be a uniform, home made probably but a uniform none the less, a far cry from what Kawalsky had described as men wearing leathers and bits of Jaffa armour, it was grey and black and had a leather section near the collar, where a clasp was, otherwise it was unadorned.
Jack examined the two armed men approaching with him, those were wearing leather, dyed black, and what seemed to be some kind of comms gear on their heads, they carried the same modified staff weapons as the rest, he took a moment to take a good look at one as they approached, a staff folded over with a stock and crude sights attached, probably more accurate than Jaffa then,
"You are Colonel O'Neill?", the man had come to a stop and asked, he was bigger when up close and bald, Jack could see the muscles bulge under his clothes, not that it meant much any more to him after the treatment, Jack could take all three on in hand to hand easily enough now.
"Yeah", he pointed to the rest, "Commander Carter, Daniel Jackson, Teal'c and Jolinar"
The man's eyebrow raised as he said the last two names, "You keep quite famous company Colonel, the former first prime of Apophis thought dead and the most wanted Tok'ra"
Jack smirked, "Someone's got to keep them out of trouble, so where's Ma'chello?
The man sighed, "This way, I am Dannic by the way"
Dannic led them down a dirt path towards a walled compound past the defences, it was as big as a largish town to his eyes, he glanced up as a Tel'tak came in for a landing further away, "Sharn had this facility constructed as a training centre and production facility for the Syndicate, he also trains those willing in engineering and technology"
Staff cannon poked out of towers dotting the wall, the road led through a large open gateway, more guards stood alert beside it checking the few dozen people shifitng goods from a landing pad to the side, hover carts loaded with golden Goa'uld boxes were being unloaded from the Tel'tak.
Dannic nodded to one, "The primary currency of all trade in Goa'uld space is naquadah in one form or another, followed by rare metals such as gold and silver, those wont buy much though, only things like food"
Jack remembered some recent history, when Earth started sending ships out in earnest to mine the many rocks in space, one of the early ones was a massive gold deposit on an asteroid, it had tanked the price of gold on the planet, it was dirt cheap nowadays, the Goa'uld didn't seem to bother with space mining though.
"Just food?", Daniel asked.
Dannic shrugged, "While most illegal trade on Lucia is primarily between lesser Goa'uld, Jaffa, humans and other wretches can buy primitive tools and other sundries on the trade worlds around Goa'uld space, most of that trade is in gold"
"The Syndicate earns most of its profit from facilitating the trade between the Goa'uld, we also sell our own product and provide protection to the less fortunate on Lucia and other worlds"
Jack translated, "Drugs and extortion right"
"Put bluntly yes, but things are changing now under Sharn's leadership, while he is content to let the old hierarchs run the Syndiate just like before he has created a new branch that the old one feeds, he is forming a new nation, one that will unite the masses against the oppression of the Goa'uld"
They passed through the gates and entered a well ordered street, wooden buildings were the norm but the occasional brick structure was present, they reminded Jack of late ninteenth century designs, warehouses and apartment buildings lined the streets, there was actually quite a big population, most of them Ma'chello's new soldiers.
Dannic pointed to a building as they passed, "Our new school, something illegal on most Goa'uld worlds, we will teach people science and engineering, they will be the workers and artisans, to make the weapons and ships to oppose the Goa'uld"
A building dominated the centre of the town, "Sharn's command centre", Antenna poked out of the building in the most anachronistic look Jack had seen to date, it was a wood and brick building, it was squat and looked tough, he spotted some firing slits on the walls and more staff cannons on the roof, those pointed towards the sky, anti air mounts?
They were led inside and past dozens of armed Lucians until they reached the top floor, Jack didn't know what to expect but it wasn't this, he imagined some kind of pre war office space, smoke and typewriters clacking away, what he got was Frankenstein's laboratory.
Machines were everywhere in the room, papers and data pads were strewn about, "Sharn, Colonel O'Neill and his team are here", Dannic announced, a large table dominated the room, bits of machinery and tools were piled on top and Ma'chello was crouched over something working away, it looked like a staff weapon.
"Ah, good", his tools were discarded as he stood up, "Please, come in", Ma'chello strode over to the waiting SG-1, "Welcome to New Dendred", Ma'chello stopped a few feet away and took in the team, "Yes, I remember you, Colonel O'Neill was it, I never did ask your name last time"
"Yeah, I'm still a bit sore about the whole pointing guns thing"
Ma'chello chuckled, "I am a slow man to trust Colonel, while you may have gifted me this body I felt it had strings attached, I would prefer to work for myself anyway, working for others would only cause issues"
Jack nodded, "Probably"
Ma'chello smiled, "Come", he directed them deeper into the room, past all the machinery and glowing lights, Jack glanced at his workbench as they passed, it was a staff weapon, halfway through a conversion to what he saw outside, Ma'chello brought them to a clearer room past the workshop, a table and several chairs were waiting there, the exact right amount too.
"Please, make yourselves comfortable", Ma'chello sat down in a leather backed armchair across from them, "Refreshments?", Dannic moved to the corner of the room, and wheeled over a tray with a carafe of water and several earthenware cups then moved to stand behind Ma'chello.
Jack poured a cup and took a sip, it was pretty good and not poisoned, "So, we're here, what did you want"
Ma'chello smirked, "All in due time Colonel", he glanced to Jolinar, "You are familiar to me, Jolinar, last time I looked your bounty was far greater than mine, the Tok'ra work with these people?"
Jolinar nodded, "I do, the Tok'ra owe these people a great debt but I was working with them before that, we are allies"
Ma'chello rubbed at his bearded face, "I have traded weapons to the Tok'ra in the past, if one Goa'uld wants to kill another all the better, never in person though but my old followers are now long gone", he spoke wistfully there then he looked at Teal'c.
"A first prime, strange for one of the Jaffa to fight with humans, tell me, what made you lose faith in your gods?"
A frown marred Teal'c face, wrinkles stretching around the gold brand on his forehead, he answered anyway, "I have long known the Goa'uld are false gods, when Cronus tore the symbiote from my father stomach and let him die in agony I knew the truth, I vowed to have my revenge, becoming first prime of Apophis was merely an avenue to achieving it"
Teal'c bowed his head towards Jack and the rest, "I saw much suffering during that time, suffering I was unable to prevent but when the opportunity to strike a blow against the Goa'uld arose I was quick to take it, my former master also leads a movement to free the Jaffa from Goa'uld control, you are not the only one with grievances against them"
Ma'chello gave Teal'c a solemn nod, "I see, I would like to meet your master, perhaps we can assist each other but for now let us get down to business", he faced Jack again, "Allow me to explain my position first Colonel"
"I wont bore you with my past but lets just say that my old methods were brutal and indiscriminate, they were also for the most part ineffective, Ares still lives, my planet and people devastated and my wife a puppet of some Goa'uld"
His head shook sadly, "A broken old man clinging on to life was what you found on that planet Colonel, but you gave me a new lease on it, one that I wont squander on reckless terrorist acts against the Goa'uld, no, I realised another way was the answer, to build up a force to oppose the Goa'uld, using the very slaves they think so little of, to forge a nation to fight for our freedom"
Ma'chello sighed, "Her name was Sharna, I call myself Sharn in her honour, she is still out there most likely, imprisoned in her own mind as a parasite controls her every action"
Jack nodded, "Sorry to hear that, planning on rescuing her?"
"If I can I will, but getting to her will be an issue on its own, one that I am not prepared to discuss right now", Ma'chello stated flatly, "I have more immediate concerns here", he waved to the workshop behind them, "You saw what I was working on Colonel, I watched you look"
"Yeah, a staff weapon"
Ma'chello nodded, "I am but one man Colonel, I could make a weapon for myself but nor for all my men, that would be the work of years, it is far easier to obtain staff weapons and modify them for our use"
He nodded to the guns carried by SG-1, "Different weapons than last time, energy weapons I believe?"
"Laser rifles", Jack answered.
"Hmm, and you were giving projectile weaponry to the people of Tarnath, weapons clearly produced by an industrial society, mass produced?"
Jack nodded, "Yep, we must have made millions of those things"
"I need weapons Colonel, weapons and other things that only worlds like yours can provide, I need teachers to train my men and the children here, tools, medicine, things I as one man cannot provide for everyone"
Jack rubbed at his chin, "What's in it for us?"
"Many things pass through Lucia Colonel, Goa'uld technology is one but more interesting to you perhaps will be gossip, information, the Syndicate has the largest intelligence network in Goa'uld space, larger than your Tok'ra friends, if perhaps not as highly placed"
Ma'chello smirked, "Many Goa'uld have loose lips around their slaves"
It was a good offer Jack admitted, access to a massive black market and reams of intel from all of Goa'uld space, they'd just need to ignore the drug dealing and other criminal acts, not like they never had before anyway, "Ships?"
Ma'chello shook his head, "No Ha'tak, the Goa'uld keep tight control over those but I have several plans to acquire my own, but smaller vessels, Tel'tak and other cargo transporters, those are obtainable"
The brass would go for it he knew, a few old guns and other equipment rusting away in some warehouse for access to Ma'chello and preventing the poor relations in the other universe with the Lucian alliance, plus the intel, he'd be a fool not to agree, not that it was his choice anyway.
"We're keeping our heads down, we're not ready to directly oppose the Goa'uld I want to make that clear, if we're going to help we're keeping who we are and where we're from a secret for now"
Ma'chello nodded, "I understand, the Goa'uld do not tolerate humans with more advanced technology than fire", he chuckled, "We wont pry into your secrets Colonel, but what will we call you?"
Jack shrugged, "Stargate Command, that works", he nodded to the open window, "You didn't trust us, we don't trust you but we can work together", Jack turned to Daniel, "Some APDD people to help teach the kids I suppose"
Daniel nodded, "Yeah, I have translated some more advanced text books into Goa'uld too, basic engineering stuff"
Ma'chello stood, "Details can come later, I'm sure you must communicate with your superiors", Ma'chello waved to Dannic, "Let our men know these people from Stargate Command have free access to the Syndicate", he nodded to Jack and raised the cup of water he was holding, "To a better future"
"A better future", Jack tipped his glass, if only they knew how to get there.
New Dallas System
17th January 3006 (14h February 2066)
All eyes were on the portal as the ships began to cross over, leading the way was the bulk of the McKenna's Pride, the venerable battleship would be well known to the locals of this reality, sitting in the refurbished command centre was a stone faced bald man, far more youthful than the last time he had been this close to home, he appeared to be in his mid fifties, General Aleksander Kerensky.
Trailing behind the Pride were two other former Star League ships, the Rondeau and Muraca an Essex and Lola class ships, they pushed forward to join their flagship as more ships appeared on the other side behind them.
The next to crest the portal was the massive form of a Minotaur class battleship, the Arizona, lead ship of the Union's second fleet under the command of Admiral James Borman, more ships followed along, Venus class cruisers, Fortress destroyers and Castle frigates, twenty three ships, all modern and armed to the teeth.
Training behind the combat ships came the marine assault ship Diana, a former Colonial Artemis class battlestar modified for planetary assaults, her marines had a different mission this time though, arrayed around her were several transport ships, the logistics for this operation.
"Sir, Admiral Drake is on the line"
"Put her on"
The holoprojector came to life and displayed a full sized version of the admiral, she saluted Kerensky, "General, glad you could come"
A small smile graced his lips, "Its good to come home, even if its not exactly the same one, how are the preparations?"
Drake nodded, her nearly white shoulder length blonde hair bobbed in the ponytail it was tied into, "Our agents have initiated contact with the three nations leaders, all have agreed to the meeting"
"Good, we'll deal with ComStars nascent fleet first", he looked to the comms officer, "Invite Admrial Borman to the conversion"
Moments later the Admiral appeared beside Drake, after the greetings they got down to business, "Admiral Borman will be handling the Ross system, while I take half the fleet and deal with Luyten, the inhabited planets in Ross are not our concern right now, only the fleet"
Kerensky stood and began to pace, "Capture the ships if possible, destroy them if not, our primary target however will be the orbital facilities in Luyten, of particular interest is the computer databased on this station"
As he spoke a new hologram appeared, a massive space station complete with docks was orbiting a habitable world in Luyten, "ComStars primary warship repair facility, apart from their Titan yards in Sol that is, the data there is important for our future operations, marines will board and capture it"
Kerensky turned back to the two Admirals, "We'll go into details during the briefing in two hours, but I want this operation wrapped up fast, we'll neuter ComStars fleet before they have time to activate it, phase two will follow on after"
The Admirals nodded and disappeared as the holoprojector shut down, Kerensky glanced to the side where a man was waiting, his son Nicholas.
"Are you prepared for this son, I have no issue with you returning to the retreat"
Nicholas nodded, "I can do more good here, not in the cockpit of a mech but by your side"
Kerensky smiled, he had been observing his son closely for the past year, watching for any sign of the madness that would lead to the clans, he was confident Nicholas had banished those demons from his mind, there was still the concern of his girlfriend though, Julia Cook, Kerensky knew who she really was, Jes Cole, he had people watching every move his son had made, recordings of their every encounter.
He knew that she really had no blame but her absence had allowed her to be turned into a scapegoat among the fleet, all the blame for the Clans had been placed at her feet, he had allowed it to deflect blame from Nicholas, what she had said to his son though, that had caused him to think deeply.
She was a Cameron, she admitted as much to Nicholas, Kerensky had gotten samples from the Retreat, check it against the data base, confirmed who she was, Jessica Cameron, distant cousin but a Cameron nonetheless, reports taken from the palace after it was recaptured said she had died with the rest in the throne room, her story was true.
He would allow their relationship to continue, hide her identity for now, she could be useful in the Unions plans to reform the Hegemony, a living Cameron would make any claims all the stronger, and she was devoted to his son.
He had asked to come along, he wanted to turn over a new leaf in his life and start a new career, not a mech pilot like before, but a commander in the fleet, Aleksander's position allowed him to come along, officially as his aide for now, his girlfriend too.
"I want you to attend the briefing with me Nicholas", Kerensky stood and stretched, "Come son, invite that woman of yours to a family dinner after, I would like to get to know her better"
